Small Change: Economics and the British coin-tree

This is the accepted manuscript for the following article: Ceri Houlbrook, “Small Change: Economics and the British coin-tree”, Post Medieval Archaeology, Vol. 49(1), June 2015. The final published version can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/0079423615Z.00000000074 © Society for Post-Medieval Archaeology 2015Throughout the c.2000 year period coins have been circulated in Britain, they have also been ritually employed, most notably as votive deposits. Focusing specifically on the understudied custom of the British coin-tree, whereby coins are ritually embedded into the barks of trees, this paper considers the coin’s role and applicability as a deposit. It aims to demonstrate that our understanding of the coin’s past, present, and future ritual employment is not only aided by a consideration of economics and the coin’s secular function; it would be utterly incomplete without it.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Laing early onset distal myopathy: slow mysosin defect with variable abnormalities on muscle biopsy

Background: Laing early onset distal myopathy (MPD1) is an autosomal dominant myopathy caused by mutations within the slow skeletal muscle fibre myosin heavy chain gene, MYH7. It is allelic with myosin storage myopathy, with the commonest form of familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and with one form of dilated cardiomyopathy. However, the clinical picture of MPD1 is distinct from these three conditions. Objective: To collate and discuss the histological features reported in the muscle biopsies of MPD1 patients and to outline the clinical features. Results: The phenotype of MPD1 was consistent, with initial weakness of great toe/ankle dorsiflexion, and later development of weakness of finger extension and neck flexion. Age of onset was the only variable, being from birth up to the 20s, but progression was always very slow. The pathological features were variable. In this retrospective series, there were no pathognomonic diagnostic features, although atrophic type I fibres were found in half the families. Rimmed vacuoles are consistently seen in all other distal myopathies with the exception of Myoshi distal myopathy. However, they were found in a minority of patients with MPD1, and were not prominent when present. Immunohistochemical staining for slow and fast myosin showed co-expression of slow and fast myosin in some type I fibres, possibly indicating a switch to type II status. This may be a useful aid to diagnosis. Conclusions: The pathological findings in MPD1 are variable and appear to be affected by factors such as the specific muscle biopsied, the age of the patient at biopsy, and the duration of disease manifestations. Abbreviations: IHC, immunohistochemical; MPD1, Laing early onset distal myopath