Comparative study of the crafts traditions in the Batanes islands (Philippines) and Lanyu (Taiwan, Republic of China) based on plant anatomy-phytolith analysis and ethnobotany

Aquesta tesi doctoral pretén donar a conèixer nous coneixements botànics i artesania tradicional utilitzada per dissenyar cistelleria a les illes Bashiic, ubicades al sud de Taiwan i nord de Filipines. Aquestes illes són excel·lents contextos realitzar estudis etnobotànics, de fet les illes de Batanes i Lanyu estan aïllades i preserven moltes espècies autòctones o endèmiques que es poden utilitzar com els marcadors de contacte. La cistelleria està formada per fibres vegetals definit per qualitats específiques de longitud, resistència, flexibilitat, imputrescibilitat etc. La col·lecció referencia de plantas actual utilitzada per Els fabricants de cistelles Ivatan (Batanes) i Tao (Yami) (Lanyu) presentats en aquest volum pretenen millorar la identificació de restes arqueobotàniques i la seva interpretació tecnològica. Aquesta pot també s'utilitza per identificar restes vegetals trobades en peces arqueològiques gràcies a les parts anatòmiques, grans de midó o fitòlits. Algunes cistelleries destinades a protegir cossos i objectes, es caracteritzen per una tècnica de disseny amb vinculació única per a nusos que utilitza principalment fibres de plàtan inclosa Musa textilis-abaca. Les diferents espècies de plataners presents o no a les illes Bashiic poden aportar, amb les altres plantes forestals, nova informació sobre la web propagació dels humans i plantes, i en particular a la diàspora austronèsia.Esta tesis doctoral tiene como objetivo entender el conocimiento botánico y sobre cestería en las islas Bashic, localizadas en el sur de Taiwan y el norte de Filipinas. Estas islas son un marco geográfico excelente para llevar a cabo estudios etnobotánicos, de hecho, las islas Batanes y la isla Lanyu están aisladas y preservada numerosas especies autóctonas o endémicas, que pueden usarse como marcadores de contacto. La cestería se compone de fibras vegetales que se definen por sus cualidades específicas en longitud, resistencia, flexibilidad, resistencia a la putrefacción, etc. La colección de referencia actual de las plantas utilizadas por las personas que fabrican cestas Ivatan (Batanes) y Tao (Yami) (Lanyu) se presentan en este volumen con el objetivo de mejorar la identificación de restos arqueobotánicos y su interpretación tecnológica. También tiene como objetivo último identificar restos de plantas encontradas en las piezas arqueológicas gracias al hallazgo de partes anatómicas, restos de almidón o fitolitos. Ciertas cestas destinadas a proteger cuerpos y objetos, se caracterizan por una técnica de diseño única conocida como "anudado" que emplea principalmente fibras de plátano, incluida Musa textilis-abaca. Las diferentes especies de los plátanos presentes o ausencia en las islas Bashiic pueden aportar, junto con otras plantas, nueva información sobre la propagación de humanos y plantas, y en particular sobre la diáspora austronesia.This doctoral thesis aims at providing a better knowledge of basketry traditions and plantbased raw materials that were used for this craft in the Bashiic islands located in Southern Taiwan and Northern Philippines. These islands are excellent context to carry out ethnobotanical studies: Batanes and Lanyu Islands are both isolated contexts and host numerous vegetal taxa, most of which are indigenous or even endemic and can be used as markers of contact. Handicraft is mostly made of plant fibres of specific properties, such as limited length, flexibility, strength, un-putrescibility, among others. Creating a reference collection of Ivatan (Batanes Islands) and Tao (Yami) (Lanyu Island) present-day handicraft will be useful in identifying and comparing plants and the techniques used for manufacturing ancient handicrafts. This type of analysis can be applied to archaeological artefacts where botanical micro remains- such as anatomical parts, starch grains and phytoliths- may have been preserved. Some baskets which are used to protect bodies and things are made into a knotting-tying technique employing Musa textilis- abaca and other banana species fibers, these baskets are representing a unique knowledge. Musa spp. status within other useful forest products can be of great interest to understand human and plant propagation through times, especially the Austronesian diaspora

Start a business in Spain: mission impossible?

With unemployment reaching record rates almost every month, families losing purchasing power and a dramatic credit crunch for small business, the situation in Spain does not seem very favourable for entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition, the country has a one of the heaviest process for business creation, with taxes, authorisations and delays that make quite difficult initiate a new company. Is there any hope for entrepreneurs? There are three main challenges that anyone willing to invest in Spain is likely to face

Pour une restitution d’un patrimoine (re)naissant : méthodes d’analyse et perspectives de l’imagerie numérique 3D sur un corpus d’éventails des îles Marquises

Objets de prestige, les éventails tahi’i des îles Marquises sont pourtant bien mystérieux : complexité de mise en œuvre et d’identification des fibres végétales, savoir-faire perdu. Ces interrogations appellent des méthodes d’investigations nouvelles. Huit éventails conservés dans les collections du musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac ont fait l’objet d’une étude interdisciplinaire croisant historiographie, analyse technologique des procédés de mise en œuvre et étude anatomique comparative pour collecter, ensemble, informations biologiques et culturelles. Si le microscope digital 3D s’est imposé naturellement pour qualifier la nature des fibres (observation directe sans prélèvement), il est très vite apparu qu’il permettait grâce à sa palette d’oculaires et à la restitution en 3D, combinées à la tomographie à rayons X, d’étudier les techniques de fabrication et de mener des séances d’investigation réflexive. Une collection de référence anatomique actuelle des taxons attendus a été constituée pour augmenter la lecture des caractères diagnostiques clés (herbier du Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle de Paris et collecte effectuée in situ). Expérimenter et échanger aux côtés des praticiens est indispensable pour comprendre tant la sélection faite sur le végétal que l’intelligence des gestes. Les nombreux clichés et mesures 2D et 3D enregistrés lors de cette étude peuvent pallier l’absence d’éventail original aux îles Marquises et participer à la reconstruction de leur mode opératoire.Fans, called tah’i, coming from the Marquesas Islands, are understood to be prestigious objects but they remain mysterious, particularly for the identification of the vegetal fibres from which they were made and the technical know-how of their fabrication, which has now been lost. These difficulties call for new investigative methods. Our study will take a look at a collection of eight fans preserved in the Paris Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. The fans were studied with an interdisciplinary approach comprising historiography, a technical study of the fabrication processes and comparative anatomy. Biological and cultural information has been acquired in parallel. A 3D digital microscope was clearly the appropriate tool for the identification of the fibres, using direct observation without any destructive extraction of samples. It also became apparent that the microscope’s range of high-quality lenses and its 3D restitution process, associated with X-rays tomography, was also a suitable tool for studying the manufacturing processes of the fans, allowing for better integrated sessions of analysis. A present-day reference collection of possible taxa has been created in order to identify the key diagnostic characteristics (plant specimens from the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle and taxa collected in situ). Experimental sessions with local basket makers were also used to understand how the different plant fibres were chosen and to record the physical gestures of the craft processes. The pictures and measurements taken during this study can perhaps offer some compensation for the fact that none of these fans survive in the Marquesas Islands themselves. They might also underpin the development of revived fabrication techniques

The invisible Plant Technology of Prehistoric Southeast Asia: Indirect Evidence for Basket and Rope Making at Tabon Cave, Philippines, 39-33,000 Years Ago.

A large part of our material culture is made of organic materials, and this was likely the case also during prehistory. Amongst this prehistoric organic material culture are textiles and cordages, taking advantage of the flexibility and resistance of plant fibres. While in very exceptional cases and under very favourable circumstances, fragments of baskets and cords have survived and were discovered in late Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological sites, these objects are generally not preserved, especially in tropical regions. We report here indirect evidence of basket/tying material making found on stone tools dating to 39–33,000 BP from Tabon Cave, Palawan Philippines. The distribution of use-wear on these artefacts is the same as the distribution observed on experimental tools used to thin fibres, following a technique that is widespread in the region currently. The goal of this activity is to turn hard plant segments into supple strips suitable as tying material or to weave baskets, traps, and even boats. This study shows early evidence of this practice in Southeast Asia and adds to the growing set of discoveries showing that fibre technology was an integral part of late Pleistocene skillset. This paper also provides a new way to identify supple strips of fibres made of tropical plants in the archaeological record, an organic technology that is otherwise most of the time invisible

Cardiac-Specific Elevations in Thyroid Hormone Enhance Contractility and Prevent Pressure Overload-Induced Cardiac Dysfunction

Thyroid hormone (TH) is critical for cardiac development and heart function. In heart disease, TH metabolism is abnormal, and many biochemical and functional alterations mirror hypothyroidism. Although TH therapy has been advocated for treating heart disease, a clear benefit of TH has yet to be established, possibly because of peripheral actions of TH. To assess the potential efficacy of TH in treating heart disease, type 2 deiodinase (D2), which converts the prohormone thyroxine to active triiodothyronine (T3), was expressed transiently in mouse hearts by using the tetracycline transactivator system. Increased cardiac D2 activity led to elevated cardiac T3 levels and to enhanced myocardial contractility, accompanied by increased Ca(2+) transients and sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+) uptake. These phenotypic changes were associated with up-regulation of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) 2a expression as well as decreased Na(+)/Ca(2+) exchanger, beta-myosin heavy chain, and sarcolipin (SLN) expression. In pressure overload, targeted increases in D2 activity could not block hypertrophy but could completely prevent impaired contractility and SR Ca(2+) cycling as well as altered expression patterns of SERCA2a, SLN, and other markers of pathological hypertrophy. Our results establish that elevated D2 activity in the heart increases T3 levels and enhances cardiac contractile function while preventing deterioration of cardiac function and altered gene expression after pressure overload

PI3Kγ Protects from Myocardial Ischemia and Reperfusion Injury through a Kinase-Independent Pathway

BACKGROUND: PI3Kgamma functions in the immune compartment to promote inflammation in response to G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) agonists and PI3Kgamma also acts within the heart itself both as a negative regulator of cardiac contractility and as a pro-survival factor. Thus, PI3Kgamma has the potential to both promote and limit M I/R injury. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Complete PI3Kgamma-/- mutant mice, catalytically inactive PI3KgammaKD/KD (KD) knock-in mice, and control wild type (WT) mice were subjected to in vivo myocardial ischemia and reperfusion (M I/R) injury. Additionally, bone-marrow chimeric mice were constructed to elucidate the contribution of the inflammatory response to cardiac damage. PI3Kgamma-/- mice exhibited a significantly increased infarction size following reperfusion. Mechanistically, PI3Kgamma is required for activation of the Reperfusion Injury Salvage Kinase (RISK) pathway (AKT/ERK1/2) and regulates phospholamban phosphorylation in the acute injury response. Using bone marrow chimeras, the cardioprotective role of PI3Kgamma was mapped to non-haematopoietic cells. Importantly, this massive increase in M I/R injury in PI3Kgamma-/- mice was rescued in PI3Kgamma kinase-dead (PI3KgammaKD/KD) knock-in mice. However, PI3KgammaKD/KD mice exhibited a cardiac injury similar to wild type animals, suggesting that specific blockade of PI3Kgamma catalytic activity has no beneficial effects. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data show that PI3Kgamma is cardioprotective during M I/R injury independent of its catalytic kinase activity and that loss of PI3Kgamma function in the hematopoietic compartment does not affect disease outcome. Thus, clinical development of specific PI3Kgamma blockers should proceed with caution

HSPB1, HSPB6, HSPB7 and HSPB8 Protect against RhoA GTPase-Induced Remodeling in Tachypaced Atrial Myocytes

BACKGROUND: We previously demonstrated the small heat shock protein, HSPB1, to prevent tachycardia remodeling in in vitro and in vivo models for Atrial Fibrillation (AF). To gain insight into its mechanism of action, we examined the protective effect of all 10 members of the HSPB family on tachycardia remodeling. Furthermore, modulating effects of HSPB on RhoA GTPase activity and F-actin stress fiber formation were examined, as this pathway was found of prime importance in tachycardia remodeling events and the initiation of AF. METHODS AND RESULTS: Tachypacing (4 Hz) of HL-1 atrial myocytes significantly and progressively reduced the amplitude of Ca²⁺ transients (CaT). In addition to HSPB1, also overexpression of HSPB6, HSPB7 and HSPB8 protected against tachypacing-induced CaT reduction. The protective effect was independent of HSPB1. Moreover, tachypacing induced RhoA GTPase activity and caused F-actin stress fiber formation. The ROCK inhibitor Y27632 significantly prevented tachypacing-induced F-actin formation and CaT reductions, showing that RhoA activation is required for remodeling. Although all protective HSPB members prevented the formation of F-actin stress fibers, their mode of action differs. Whilst HSPB1, HSPB6 and HSPB7 acted via direct prevention of F-actin formation, HSPB8-protection was mediated via inhibition of RhoA GTPase activity. CONCLUSION: Overexpression of HSPB1, as well as HSPB6, HSPB7 and HSPB8 independently protect against tachycardia remodeling by attenuation of the RhoA GTPase pathway at different levels. The cardioprotective role for multiple HSPB members indicate a possible therapeutic benefit of compounds able to boost the expression of single or multiple members of the HSPB family

Conserved expression and functions of PDE4 in rodent and human heart

PDE4 isoenzymes are critical in the control of cAMP signaling in rodent cardiac myocytes. Ablation of PDE4 affects multiple key players in excitation–contraction coupling and predisposes mice to the development of heart failure. As little is known about PDE4 in human heart, we explored to what extent cardiac expression and functions of PDE4 are conserved between rodents and humans. We find considerable similarities including comparable amounts of PDE4 activity expressed, expression of the same PDE4 subtypes and splicing variants, anchoring of PDE4 to the same subcellular compartments and macromolecular signaling complexes, and downregulation of PDE4 activity and protein in heart failure. The major difference between the species is a fivefold higher amount of non-PDE4 activity in human hearts compared to rodents. As a consequence, the effect of PDE4 inactivation is different in rodents and humans. PDE4 inhibition leads to increased phosphorylation of virtually all PKA substrates in mouse cardiomyocytes, but increased phosphorylation of only a restricted number of proteins in human cardiomyocytes. Our findings suggest that PDE4s have a similar role in the local regulation of cAMP signaling in rodent and human heart. However, inhibition of PDE4 has ‘global’ effects on cAMP signaling only in rodent hearts, as PDE4 comprises a large fraction of the total cardiac PDE activity in rodents but not in humans. These differences may explain the distinct pharmacological effects of PDE4 inhibition in rodent and human hearts