A warrior’s journey? Some recent taxonomic, trace element and lead isotope analyses of Mediterranean later Bronze Age metalwork in the Central and West Balkans

The question of mobility between the different geographic and cultural regions of the Balkans, Aegean and Central Mediterranean remains an issue of crucial importance for understanding the development of Bronze Age societies in each region. While mobility can take many forms, in this paper we are particularly concerned with the movement of personal objects as a means to explore personal mobility. To do this, the paper brings together typological, trace element and lead isotope analyses and the role of portable XRF in this process is explored. It is concluded that a multiproxy analyses that includes typologies can offer valuable insights into the nature and directionality of mobility

Conservative Management of Paediatric Clavicle Fractures

Paediatric clavicle fractures have traditionally been treated nonoperatively. Recent studies have recommended operative management for displaced midshaft fractures. We conducted a retrospective review of all clavicle fractures in children aged one to sixteen over a two-year period. We classified fractures and evaluated followup and clinical outcome. We identified 190 fractures. There were 135 boys and 55 girls. 65% of fractures were displaced and 35% undisplaced. Mean radiographic and clinical followup was 35 days and 44 days, respectively. Clavicle fractures in children heal with nonoperative management. Radiographs of clavicle fractures in children are unnecessary in the absence of clinical symptoms

Replication and exploratory analysis of 24 candidate risk polymorphisms for neural tube defects.

BackgroundNeural tube defects (NTDs), which are among the most common congenital malformations, are influenced by environmental and genetic factors. Low maternal folate is the strongest known contributing factor, making variants in genes in the folate metabolic pathway attractive candidates for NTD risk. Multiple studies have identified nominally significant allelic associations with NTDs. We tested whether associations detected in a large Irish cohort could be replicated in an independent population.MethodsReplication tests of 24 nominally significant NTD associations were performed in racially/ethnically matched populations. Family-based tests of fifteen nominally significant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were repeated in a cohort of NTD trios (530 cases and their parents) from the United Kingdom, and case-control tests of nine nominally significant SNPs were repeated in a cohort (190 cases, 941 controls) from New York State (NYS). Secondary hypotheses involved evaluating the latter set of nine SNPs for NTD association using alternate case-control models and NTD groupings in white, African American and Hispanic cohorts from NYS.ResultsOf the 24 SNPs tested for replication, ADA rs452159 and MTR rs10925260 were significantly associated with isolated NTDs. Of the secondary tests performed, ARID1A rs11247593 was associated with NTDs in whites, and ALDH1A2 rs7169289 was associated with isolated NTDs in African Americans.ConclusionsWe report a number of associations between SNP genotypes and neural tube defects. These associations were nominally significant before correction for multiple hypothesis testing. These corrections are highly conservative for association studies of untested hypotheses, and may be too conservative for replication studies. We therefore believe the true effect of these four nominally significant SNPs on NTD risk will be more definitively determined by further study in other populations, and eventual meta-analysis

Folate status assessment history: implications for measurement of biomarkers in NHANES12345

This article presents a historical perspective on the different methods used to measure folate status in populations and clinical settings. I discuss some of the advantages and limitations of these procedures. For >50 y researchers have used microbiological assay methods to assess folate status in clinical settings and in population-based studies, such as NHANES. Serum and red blood cell folate values obtained with the Lactobacillus casei assay have formed the basis for current ranges and cutoffs for the establishment of folate sufficiency and for the current dietary reference intakes for folate. Over the past 30 y competitive folate protein binding assays, which are available in kit form, have supplanted microbiological assays in many clinical laboratories because of their ease of use. Several NHANES cycles have used these assays. Folate concentrations obtained with these kits are lower than those from microbiological assays and show a wide variation between different protein binding assay kits. This variation has complicated the setting of values for normal ranges of folate status and the comparison of status changes between different NHANES cycles. The recent development of mass spectrometry methods for folate opens up the possibility of measurement of individual folate vitamers such as folic acid. Past experience with microbiological and competitive protein binding assays indicates some of the technical problems that research will need to address before this promise becomes reality

Remission in psoriatic arthritis: is it possible and how can it be predicted?

10.1186/ar3021Arthritis Research and Therapy123R9