Towards refining the classification of glass trade beads imported into Southern Africa from the 8th to the 16th century AD

Tracing the origin of glass trade beads excavated at archaeological sites can contribute significantly to dating a site and reconstructing prehistoric trade routes. Wood developed a temporally sensitive bead sequence dating from the 8th to the 16th century AD for beads excavated at southern African sites that is commonly used by archaeologists to classify beads according to their morphology. In this study we develop a multidisciplinary methodology to refine the classification of glass beads based on morphology alone. Glass trade beads excavated at 11 sites along the upper reaches of the Limpopo River in east-central Botswana are used as case study. The beads were visually classified according to their morphological properties (colour, size, etc.) and analysed with Raman spectroscopy and portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) of one bead showed that two types of glass were sintered together to form a recycled product, explaining the divergence of Raman spectra recorded on different zones. The study confirms the value of a morphological classification based on existing data sets as a first approach, but demonstrates that both Raman and XRF measurements can contribute to a more exact classification of glass beads imported into southern Africa from the East before the 17th century AD.Farahnaz Koleini and Linda C. Prinsloo acknowledge the financial contribution from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa and Philippe Colomban from EGIDE PROTEA.http://www.journals.elsevier.com//journal-of-cultural-heritage2017-05-31hb2016Anthropology and ArchaeologyPhysic

Predictors of early death in a cohort of Ethiopian patients treated with HAART

BACKGROUND: HAART has improved the survival of HIV infected patients. However, compared to patients in high-income countries, patients in resource-poor countries have higher mortality rates. Our objective was to identify independent risk factors for death in Ethiopian patients treated with HAART. METHODS: In a district hospital in Ethiopia, we treated adult HIV infected patients with HAART based on clinical and total lymphocyte count (TLC) criteria. We measured body weight and complete blood cell count at baseline, 4 weeks later, then repeated weight every month and complete blood cell count every 12 weeks. Time to death was the main outcome variable. We used the Kaplan Meier and Cox regression survival analyses to identify prognostic markers. Also, we calculated mortality rates for the different phases of the follow-up. RESULTS: Out of 162 recruited, 152 treatment-naïve patients contributed 144.1 person-years of observation (PYO). 86 (57%) of them were men and their median age was 32 years. 24 patients died, making the overall mortality rate 16.7 per 100 PYO. The highest death rate occurred in the first month of treatment. Compared to the first month, mortality declined by 9-fold after the 18(th )week of follow-up. Being in WHO clinical stage IV and having TLC<= 750/mcL were independent predictors of death. Haemoglobin (HGB) <= 10 g/dl and TLC<= 1200/mcL at baseline were not associated with increased mortality. Body mass index (BMI) <= 18.5 kg/m2 at baseline was associated with death in univariate analysis. Weight loss was seen in about a third of patients who survived up to the fourth week, and it was associated with increased death. Decline in TLC, HGB and BMI was associated with death in univariate analysis only. CONCLUSION: The high mortality rate seen in this cohort was associated with advanced disease stage and very low TLC at presentation. Patients should be identified and treated before they progress to advanced stages. The underlying causes for early death in patients presenting at late stages should be investigated

IL-12 and GM-CSF in DNA/MVA Immunizations against HIV-1 CRF12_BF Nef Induced T-Cell Responses With an Enhanced Magnitude, Breadth and Quality

In Argentina, the HIV epidemic is characterized by the co-circulation of subtype B and BF recombinant viral variants. Nef is an HIV protein highly variable among subtypes, making it a good tool to study the impact of HIV variability in the vaccine design setting. We have previously reported a specific cellular response against NefBF with low cross-reactivity to NefB in mice. The aim of this work was to analyze whether the co-administration of IL-12 and GM-CSF, using DNA and MVA vaccine vectors, could improve the final cellular response induced. Mice received three DNA priming doses of a plasmid that express NefBF plus DNAs expressing IL-12 and/or GM-CSF. Afterwards, all the groups were boosted with a MVAnefBF dose. The highest increase in the magnitude of the NefBF response, compared to that induced in the control was found in the IL-12 group. Importantly, a response with higher breadth was detected in groups which received IL-12 or GM-CSF, evidenced as an increased frequency of recognition of homologous (BF) and heterologous (B) Nef peptides, as well as a higher number of other Nef peptide pools representing different viral subtypes. However, these improvements were lost when both DNA cytokines were simultaneously administered, as the response was focused against the immunodominant peptide with a detrimental response towards subdominant epitopes. The pattern of cytokines secreted and the specific-T-cell proliferative capacity were improved in IL-12 and IL-12+GM-CSF groups. Importantly IL-12 generated a significant higher T-cell avidity against a B heterologous peptide

Co-infection by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1): does immune activation lead to a faster progression to AIDS?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recent data have shown that HTLV-1 is prevalent among HIV positive patients in Mozambique, although the impact of HTLV-1 infection on HIV disease progression remains controversial. Our aim was to determine the phenotypic profile of T lymphocytes subsets among Mozambican patients co-infected by HIV and HTLV-1.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We enrolled 29 patients co-infected by HTLV-1 and HIV (co-infected), 59 patients mono-infected by HIV (HIV) and 16 healthy controls (HC), respectively.</p> <p>For phenotypic analysis, cells were stained with the following fluorochrome-labeled anti-human monoclonal antibodies CD4-APC, CD8-PerCP, CD25-PE, CD62L-FITC, CD45RA-FITC. CD45RO-PE, CD38-PE; being analysed by four-colour flow cytometry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We initially found that CD4⁺T cell counts were significantly higher in co-infected, as compared to HIV groups. Moreover, CD4⁺T Lymphocytes from co-infected patients presented significantly higher levels of CD45RO and CD25, but lower levels of CD45RA and CD62L, strongly indicating that CD4⁺T cells are more activated under HTLV-1 plus HIV co-infection.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data indicate that HTLV-1/HIV co-infected patients progress with higher CD4⁺T cell counts and higher levels of activation markers. In this context, it is conceivable that in co-infected individuals, these higher levels of activation may account for a faster progression to AIDS.</p

Unravelling the glass trade bead sequence from Magoro Hill, South Africa: separating pre-seventeenth-century Asian imports from later European counterparts

Excavations conducted between 2010 and 2012 at Magoro Hill, a site in South Africa\u27s Limpopo Province frequented or intermittently occupied by African farming communities since the first millennium AD, yielded a substantial glass bead assemblage. A selection of the beads was studied non-destructively by classifying them according to morphological attributes, supplemented by Raman analyses and XRF measurements. It became evident that a morphological classification of beads recovered from sites that include imports into Africa after the seventeenth century AD could be problematic due to apparent morphological similarities between earlier and later beads. This paper demonstrates the use and archaeological application of Raman and XRF measurements to separate earlier imported beads from later counterparts by identifying glass nanostructure, as well as pigments and opacifiers, which were not used in bead series pre-dating the seventeenth century AD. Results obtained from Raman and XRF measurements indicate that although some beads retrieved from Magoro Hill pre-date the seventeenth century and belong to the Indo-Pacific (K2, East Coast, Khami) and Zimbabwe series, the largest number of beads is from a later European origin. This ties in with the settlement history of the site, which suggests that it primarily served as a rendezvous for episodic rainmaking rituals before it became the stronghold and capital of a Venda chiefdom, headed by the Magoro dynasty, in the second half of the eighteenth century AD. The comparative analysis of the long bead sequence sheds new light on changing patterns in the availability, range, consumption and origin of glass trade beads imported into the northern interior of South Africa over a period of about 1000years. Graphical abstract GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT CAPTIO

Towards refining the classification of glass trade beads imported into Southern Africa from the 8th to the 16th century AD

Tracing the origin of glass trade beads excavated at archaeological sites can contribute significantly to dating a site and reconstructing prehistoric trade routes. Wood developed a temporally sensitive bead sequence dating from the 8th to the 16th century AD for beads excavated at southern African sites that is commonly used by archaeologists to classify beads according to their morphology. In this study, we develop a multidisciplinary methodology to refine the classification of glass beads based on morphology alone. Glass trade beads excavated at 11 sites along the upper reaches of the Limpopo River in east-central Botswana are used as case study. The beads were visually classified according to their morphological properties (colour, size, etc.) and analysed with Raman spectroscopy and portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) of one bead showed that two types of glass were sintered together to form a recycled product, explaining the divergence of Raman spectra recorded on different zones. The study confirms the value of a morphological classification based on existing data sets as a first approach, but demonstrates that both Raman and XRF measurements can contribute to a more exact classification of glass beads imported into southern Africa from the East before the 17th century AD

Raman signatures of the modern pigment (Zn,Cd)S 1- xSe x and glass matrix of a red bead from Magoro Hill, an archaeological site in Limpopo Province, South Africa, recalibrate the settlement chronology

Two glass trade beads, one red and one yellow, retrieved from a secure archaeological context on Magoro Hill, an erstwhile Venda stronghold in South Africa\u27s Limpopo Province, were analyzed with Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy identified the pigment coloring the yellow bead as lead tin yellow Type II and the glass as a typical soda-lime-silica glass. Both pigments and glass type were in use over a long time span and therefore the bead cannot be used as a temporal marker. The pigment coloring the red bead, on the other hand, was identified as nano-(Zn,Cd)S 1-xSe x mixed crystals, a pigment that was only widely used in the early 20th century. This date casts doubt on local oral tradition that associates the brick-built structure from which the beads were recovered with Manzinzinzi, a Venda chief who, according to contemporary documentary accounts, had already passed away in the 1880s. The more recent date for the red bead resolves the apparent discord between the oral and written records, suggesting that the building was probably erected and/or occupied by one of Manzinzinzi\u27s successors

From uterus to jar : the significance of an infant pot burial from Melora Saddle, an early nineteenth-century African farmer site on the Waterberg Plateau

The interment of infants in ceramic receptacles was a fairly widespread funerary practice in southern Africa during the Iron Age. Using the rich source of ethnographic data on child-death and mortuary practices among Southeast Bantu speakers, we explore the cultural significance and symbolic meaning of an infant pot burial uncovered on Melora Saddle, an early nineteenth-century African farmer settlement on the Waterberg Plateau, Limpopo Province. The skeletal remains belong to a perinatal individual, aged between 34 weeks gestation and newborn. The short-necked jar was interred in an upright position either inside, or close to, a house. Ethnographic data show that a conceptual link was made between a woman’s reproductive capacity and the land’s fertility, as well as between potting and procreation. A close symbolic link existed between pots, wombs, mothers and their houses. Child-birth and child-death were fraught with ritual danger that had to be averted to ensure the well-being of the family and the community. Any deviations from the natural order of things generated pollution (heat or dirt), which threatened a woman’s fertility and a lineage’s continuation. Such ritual impurity not only destabilised the social order, but also disturbed the natural order, as a result of which the rains, the ultimate sign of a community’s well-being, might stay away. To counter the ritual danger, and thereby to restore a woman’s fertility and avoid a drought, foetuses and infants were buried in jars, either in a cool, wet place in the bank of a river, or inside a house or in the shade under its eaves. As in the case of the Melora Saddle jar, the bases of such burial vessels were often deliberately perforated, evidently a symbolic act to ensure that a woman would become pregnant again. Ash, representing an extinguished fire, served as an important cooling agent in such burials, which would account for the location of several midden burials uncovered in Iron Age sites