524 research outputs found
European ancient settlements - A guide to their composition and morphology based on soil micromorphology and associated geoarchaeological techniques; introducing the contrasting sites of Chalcolithic Bordus, ani-Popina, Borcea River, Romania and Viking Age Heimdaljordet, Vestfold, Norway
Specific soil micromorphological, broader geoarchaeological and environmental archaeology signatures of settlement activities and land use have been identified from numerous case studies across Europe â from Romania to western Norway. In order to demonstrate how such investigations contribute to our understanding of settlement morphology and its wider landscape, an improved way of organising site-specific information or guide was created (Macphail and Goldberg, in press). Activities and land use are divided into âWithin Settlementâ, âPeripheral to Settlementâ and âThe Settlement's Wider Landscapeâ. Major themes identified are: Constructions (and materials), Trackways and paths (and other communication/transport-associated features), Animal Management, Water Management, Waste Disposal (1: middening; 2: human waste), Specialist Domestic and Industrial Activities and Funerary Practices. In the case of trackway deposits, their characterisation aids the identification of intensely occupied areas compared to rural communications, although changing land use within urban areas has also produced ârural signaturesâ (e.g. as associated with animal management), for example in Late Roman cities. Specialist activities such as fish and crop processing or working with lead and other metals, in-field and within-wall manuring, stabling and domestic occupation floor-use evidence, and identification of different funerary practice â cremations, boat graves and other inhumations, and excarnation features â and peripheral constructions such as boat-houses, are also noted. New information from the Chalcolithic tell site of BorduĆani-PopinÄ, Romania and seasonally occupied Viking settlement of Heimdaljordet, Norway, is introduced
Compound-specific amino acid isotopic proxies for distinguishing between terrestrial and aquatic resource consumption
PCN3 EFFECTIVENESS OF BORTEZOMIB IN MULTIPLE MYELOMA: PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM AN INTERNATIONAL ELECTRONIC OBSERVATIONAL STUDY
Fee Arrangements and Fee Shifting: Lessons From the Experience in Ontario
About one-third of oestrogen receptor alpha-positive breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen relapse. Here we identify the nuclear receptor retinoic acid receptor alpha as a marker of tamoxifen resistance. Using quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics, we show that retinoic acid receptor alpha protein networks and levels differ in a tamoxifen-sensitive (MCF7) and a tamoxifen-resistant (LCC2) cell line. High intratumoural retinoic acid receptor alpha protein levels also correlate with reduced relapse-free survival in oestrogen receptor alpha-positive breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen solely. A similar retinoic acid receptor alpha expression pattern is seen in a comparable independent patient cohort. An oestrogen receptor alpha and retinoic acid receptor alpha ligand screening reveals that tamoxifen-resistant LCC2 cells have increased sensitivity to retinoic acid receptor alpha ligands and are less sensitive to oestrogen receptor alpha ligands compared with MCF7 cells. Our data indicate that retinoic acid receptor alpha may be a novel therapeutic target and a predictive factor for oestrogen receptor alpha-positive breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant tamoxifen
In vivo measurement of tumor estradiol and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor in breast cancer patients
© 2008 Garvin and Dabrosin; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Recent enhancement of central Pacific El Niño variability relative to last eight centuries
published_or_final_versio
A novel MC1R allele for black coat colour reveals the Polynesian ancestry and hybridization patterns of Hawaiian feral pigs
Pigs (Sus scrofa) have played an important cultural role in Hawaii since Polynesians first introduced
them in approximately AD 1200. Additional varieties of pigs were introduced following Captain
Cookâs arrival in Hawaii in 1778 and it has been suggested that the current pig population may
descend primarily, or even exclusively, from European pigs. Although populations of feral pigs today
are an important source of recreational hunting on all of the major islands, they also negatively impact
native plants and animals. As a result, understanding the origins of these feral pig populations has
significant ramifications for discussions concerning conservation management, identity and cultural
continuity on the islands. Here, we analysed a neutral mitochondrial marker and a functional nuclear
coat colour marker in 57 feral Hawaiian pigs. Through the identification of a new mutation in the
MC1R gene that results in black coloration, we demonstrate that Hawaiian feral pigs are mostly the
descendants of those originally introduced during Polynesian settlement, though there is evidence
for some admixture. As such, extant Hawaiian pigs represent a unique historical lineage that is not
exclusively descended from feral pigs of European originPeer reviewe
Integrating isotopes and documentary evidence : dietary patterns in a late medieval and early modern mining community, Sweden
We would like to thank the Archaeological Research Laboratory, Stockholm University, Sweden and the Tandem Laboratory (Ă
ngström Laboratory), Uppsala University, Sweden, for undertaking the analyses of stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes in both human and animal collagen samples. Also, thanks to Elin Ahlin Sundman for providing the ÎŽ13C and ÎŽ15N values for animal references from VĂ€sterĂ„s. This research (BĂ€ckströmâs PhD employment at Lund University, Sweden) was supported by the Berit Wallenberg Foundation (BWS 2010.0176) and Jakob and Johan Söderbergâs foundation. The âSala projectâ (excavations and analyses) has been funded by Riksens Clenodium, Jernkontoret, Birgit and Gad Rausingâs Foundation, SAUâs Research Foundation, the Royal Physiographic Society of Lund, Berit Wallenbergs Foundation, Ă
ke Wibergs Foundation, Lars Hiertas Memory, Helge Ax:son Johnsonâs Foundation and The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A retrospective analysis of clinical outcome of patients with chemo-refractory metastatic breast cancer treated in a single institution phase I unit
BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Novel approaches to treat chemo-refractory metastatic breast cancer (MBC) are currently under investigation. This retrospective series reviews the outcome of 70 MBC patients who have participated in 30 phase I trials at the Royal Marsden Hospital from 2002 to 2009. RESULTS: The median treatment lines before phase I trial entry for MBC was 5 (range: 1-12 lines). The overall response rate was 11.4% (95% CI: 4.0-18.9%) and the clinical benefit rate at 4 months was 20% (95% CI: 10.6-29.3). The median time to progression was 7.0 weeks (95% CI: 6.4-7.5) and median overall survival was 8.7 months (95% CI: 7.6-9.8) from start of first phase I treatment. No patients discontinued trial because of treatment-related toxicities. Abnormal lactate dehydrogenase, serum albumin <35 mg per 100 ml, >or=5 previous treatment lines, liver metastases and Eastern Cooperative Group performance status >or=2 at study entry were significantly associated with poor overall survival in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: This retrospective analysis provides evidence that patients with MBC tolerate phase I clinical trials and a significant proportion of patients with chemo-refractory disease, particularly those with triple-negative or Her2-positive breast cancer, may benefit from treatment
Old World megadroughts and pluvials during the Common Era
Climate model projections suggest widespread drying in the Mediterranean Basin and wetting in Fennoscandia in the coming decades largely as a consequence of greenhouse gas forcing of climate. To place these and other âOld Worldâ climate projections into historical perspective based on more complete estimates of natural hydroclimatic variability, we have developed the âOld World Drought Atlasâ (OWDA), a set of year-to-year maps of tree-ring reconstructed summer wetness and dryness over Europe and the Mediterranean Basin during the Common Era. The OWDA matches historical accounts of severe drought and wetness with a spatial completeness not previously available. In addition, megadroughts reconstructed over north-central Europe in the 11th and mid-15th centuries reinforce other evidence from North America and Asia that droughts were more severe, extensive, and prolonged over Northern Hemisphere land areas before the 20th century, with an inadequate understanding of their causes. The OWDA provides new data to determine the causes of Old World drought and wetness and attribute past climate variability to forced and/or internal variability
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