Synthesis of a Vocal Sound from the 3,000 year old Mummy, Nesyamun ‘True of Voice’

The sound of a 3,000 year old mummified individual has been accurately reproduced as a vowel-like sound based on measurements of the precise dimensions of his extant vocal tract following Computed Tomography (CT) scanning, enabling the creation of a 3-D printed vocal tract. By using the Vocal Tract Organ, which provides a user-controllable artificial larynx sound source, a vowel sound is synthesised which compares favourably with vowels of modern individuals

Aging, care and dependency in multimorbidity: how relationships affect elderly women’s homecare and health service use

Relationships are multidimensional, and we know little about the facets of relationships in the way elderly patients’ with multimorbidity utilise homecare and health services. Gerontology literatures emphasize the importance of place of care, inequalities, availability of health services and affordability. However, the diversity of relationships and associated dependency in elderly care remain underassessed. A qualitative study involving a demographic survey and interviews was conducted to explore relationship experiences of elderly women with multimorbidity in homecare and health services utilization. Civil Surgeon of Sylhet District in Bangladesh was contacted to recruit participants for the study, and this resulted in 33 interviews [11 staff and 22 elderly women with multimorbidity]. Three domains of Axel Honneth’s Theory of Recognition and Misrecognition [i.e. intimate, community and legal relationships] were used to underpin the study findings. Data was analysed using critical thematic discourse method. Four themes were emerged: nature of caregiving involved; intimate affairs [marital marginalization, and parent-children-in law dynamics]; alienation in peer-relationships and neighbourhood [siblings’ overlook, neighbourhood challenges, and gender inequality in interactions]; and legal connections [ignorance of rights, and missed communication]. A marginalization in family relationships, together with poor peer supports and a misrecognition from service providers, resulted in a lack of care for elderly women with multimorbidity. Understanding the complexities of elderly women’s relationships may assist in policy making with better attention to their health and well-being support needs. Staff training on building relationships, and counselling services for family and relatives are essential to improve the quality of care for the women. &nbsp

VALIDATE:Exploiting the synergy between complex intracellular pathogens to expedite vaccine research and development for tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, melioidosis and leprosy

For several complex intracellular pathogens, we have an urgent need for effective vaccines and yet there are common barriers to vaccine development. These diseases, including tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, leprosy and melioidosis, cause a huge burden of disease and disproportionately affect low and middle income countries. They are therefore often neglected due to the marginalisation of affected populations and the poor predicted commercial return on investment. Barriers to vaccine development include an incomplete understanding of protective immunity and translation from the bench into clinical vaccine trials. The current linear approach to vaccine research and development for these pathogens, which involves basic research, vaccine design, and vaccine evaluation in preclinical challenge models and clinical trials, is inefficient for these complex intracellular pathogens. We have established a Global Challenges Research Fund Network for VAccine deveLopment for complex Intracellular neglecteD pAThogEns, “VALIDATE”, where we aim to adopt a more flexible, integrated cross-pathogen approach to accelerate vaccine research and clinical development for these four pathogens, by cross-pathogen analyses, cross-discipline collaborations, and repeated integration of data from human and animal studies. This network provides a unique opportunity to bring together individuals working on four exemplar complex intracellular neglected pathogens (M.tb, Leishmania spp., B. pseudomallei and M.leprae), which share a common lifestyle as pathogens of macrophages, induce similar end-stage pathologies and alter host immune and metabolic responses. The horizontal collaborations established throughout this network, together with the provision of a protected environment for early data sharing, will exploit these biological synergies. By interrogating mechanisms that lead from infection to disease, we will be able to develop common vaccine development strategies for these and other complex intracellular pathogens. Keyword

Clean Coal Program Research Activities

Although remarkable progress has been made in developing technologies for the clean and efficient utilization of coal, the biggest challenge in the utilization of coal is still the protection of the environment. Specifically, electric utilities face increasingly stringent restriction on the emissions of NO{sub x} and SO{sub x}, new mercury emission standards, and mounting pressure for the mitigation of CO{sub 2} emissions, an environmental challenge that is greater than any they have previously faced. The Utah Clean Coal Program addressed issues related to innovations for existing power plants including retrofit technologies for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) or green field plants with CCS. The Program focused on the following areas: simulation, mercury control, oxycoal combustion, gasification, sequestration, chemical looping combustion, materials investigations and student research experiences. The goal of this program was to begin to integrate the experimental and simulation activities and to partner with NETL researchers to integrate the Program's results with those at NETL, using simulation as the vehicle for integration and innovation. The investigators also committed to training students in coal utilization technology tuned to the environmental constraints that we face in the future; to this end the Program supported approximately 12 graduate students toward the completion of their graduate degree in addition to numerous undergraduate students. With the increased importance of coal for energy independence, training of graduate and undergraduate students in the development of new technologies is critical

Specificity of Clinical Breast Examination in Community Practice

BACKGROUND: Millions of women receive clinical breast examination (CBE) each year, as either a breast cancer screening test or a diagnostic test for breast symptoms. While screening CBE had moderately high specificity (∼94%) in clinical trials, community clinicians may be comparatively inexperienced and may conduct relatively brief examinations, resulting in even higher specificity but lower sensitivity. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the specificity of screening and diagnostic CBE in clinical practice and identify patient factors associated with specificity. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SUBJECTS: Breast-cancer-free female health plan enrollees in 5 states (WA, OR, CA, MA, and MN) who received CBE (N = 1,484). MEASUREMENTS: Medical charts were abstracted to ascertain breast cancer risk factors, examination purpose (screening vs diagnostic), and results (true-negative vs false-positive). Women were considered “average-risk” if they had neither a family history of breast cancer nor a prior breast biopsy and “increased-risk” otherwise. RESULTS: Among average- and increased-risk women, respectively, the specificity (true-negative proportion) of screening CBE was 99.4% [95% confidence interval (CI): 98.8–99.7%] and 97.1% (95% CI: 95.7–98.0%), and the specificity of diagnostic CBE was 68.7% (95% CI: 59.7–76.5%) and 57.1% (95% CI: 51.1–63.0%). The odds of a true-negative screening CBE (specificity) were significantly lower among women at increased risk of breast cancer (adjusted odds ratio 0.21; 95% CI: 0.10–0.46). CONCLUSIONS: Screening CBE likely has higher specificity among community clinicians compared to examiners in clinical trials of breast cancer screening, even among women at increased breast cancer risk. Highly specific examinations, however, may have relatively low sensitivity for breast cancer. Diagnostic CBE, meanwhile, is relatively nonspecific

Archaeometric evidence for the earliest exploitation of lignite from the bronze age Eastern Mediterranean

This paper presents the earliest evidence for the exploitation of lignite (brown coal) in Europe and sheds new light on the use of combustion fuel sources in the 2nd millennium BCE Eastern Mediterranean. We applied Thermal Desorption/Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry and Polarizing Microscopy to the dental calculus of 67 individuals and we identified clear evidence for combustion markers embedded within this calculus. In contrast to the scant evidence for combustion markers within the calculus samples from Egypt, all other individuals show the inhalation of smoke from fires burning wood identified as Pinaceae, in addition to hardwood, such as oak and olive, and/ or dung. Importantly, individuals from the Palatial Period at the Mycenaean citadel of Tiryns and the Cretan harbour site of Chania also show the inhalation of fire-smoke from lignite, consistent with the chemical signature of sources in the northwestern Peloponnese and Western Crete respectively. This first evidence for lignite exploitation was likely connected to and at the same time enabled Late Bronze Age Aegean metal and pottery production, significantly by both male and female individuals

The Egyptian Hair Pin: practical, sacred, fatal

Generally regarded as little more than a mundane tool employed in daily life, the humble hairpin occasionally played a rather more prominent role in history than has perhaps been appreciated. As the most ancient implements associated with hair styling, simple pins of bone and ivory were commonly employed in Egypt by c.4000 BC as a means of securing long hair in an upswept style (e.g. Petrie and Mace 1901, 21, 34). Although their occasional use by men undermines the assumption that hairpins are 'a relatively certain example of a “gendered” artefact' (Wilfong 1997, 67), the vast majority have been found in female burials. They can be made of bone and ivory, wood, steatite, glass, gold, silver and bronze, and two 12cm long bronze examples were found within the hair of Princess Ahmosi c.1550 BC (Fletcher 1995, 376, 441) while the hair of an anonymous woman at Gurob c.AD 110 had been secured in a bun with pins of bone, tortoiseshell and silver (Walker and Bierbrier 1997, 209)

An Ancient Egyptian Wig: Construction and Reconstruction

A study of ancient Egyptian hair styling and wig construction. The article describes wig construction and decoration in the period and a modern recreation of an ancient Egyptian wig

Insectivorous bat assemblage in the hill dipterocarp forest of Temengor Forest Reserve, Peninsular Malaysia

Bat diversity in the hill forests of Peninsular Malaysia is often poorly studied due to reasons such as rough terrain and accessibility. Temengor is a 148 870 ha forest reserve that is well known for its rich biodiversity, but is constantly facing pressure from poaching, expansion of the timber industry and land development. In this study, we describe the insectivorous bat diversity of Temengor's hill dipterocarp forest. We captured 20 insectivorous bat species, most of which were forest specialists and compared our results to a previous study done in the lower regions of the Temengor forest. The species composition clearly shows that while cavernicolous bats dominated the lower regions, the hill regions were dominated by tree/foliage roosting species. These distinct species communities suggest that the large area of continuous forest in Temengor should be a conservation priority

INVESTIGATION ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE USE OF NATRON SALT IN THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN EMBALMING PRACTICES

Artificial mummification of the bodies in ancient Egypt was practiced making use of Natron as dehydrating agent. It is in the New Kingdom, specifically the 18 th Dynasty (c.1500-1300 BC), when a solution of Natron was used to preserve the elite, rather than dry natron salt as previously supposed. To test this hypothesis we have treated pig skin with Natron prepared following Sandison [1]. The skin was treated with salt in dry conditions (covered with salt) and in the liquid formulation (immersed in a salt saturated solution, 4M, pH 10.93). Both samples were maintained in an oven at about 40°C for total 70 days to mimic the Egyptian environmental conditions. Fourier Transform InfraRed (FTIR) spectra of pig skin treated with Natron were studied in the OH stretching band range (3800-3000 cm-1) and in the Amide I and II region (1700-1500 cm-1), the peptide backbone absorption region. Both the features change in dependence on the treatment with salt. In pig skin maintained in salt solution, the changes in the ν(OH) shape and the dramatic increase in the Amide II band amplitude with respect to Amide I suggested the amino-group involvement in the collagen conformational modifications produced by salt. In pig skin treated with dry Natron a continuous and regular decrease of the ν(OH) intensity was observed as a consequence of the water removal by the salt but Amide II band did not change significantly. Parallel SEM measurements, accomplished by recording the cathodoluminescence emitted by the samples submitted to both the treatments, monitored the time kinetic of salt penetration in the tissues. The main results obtained were compared with those collected from measurements on the skin of a human volunteer successfully embalmed in recent times [2] and on the skin fragments of Egyptian mummies belonging to the IV-XI Dynasties [3]. [1] A. T. Sandison (1963) Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22:259-267 [2] http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/mummifying-alan-taxi-driver-alan-86266 [3] C. Stani, A. Baraldi, R. Boano, R. Cinquetti, and M. G. Bridelli (2014). J. Biol. Res. 87: 2133, 26-28. Investigation on the development of the use of Natron salt in the ancient Egyptian embalming practices. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303666300_Investigation_on_the_development_of_the_use_of_Natron_salt_in_the_ancient_Egyptian_embalming_practices [accessed Jun 28, 2017]