Investigating migration and mobility in the Early Roman frontier: The case of the Batavi in the Dutch Rhine delta (c. 50/30 BC–AD 40)

The study of migration is essential for understanding the earliest phases of the Roman period in the Lower Rhine delta. This paper applies an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, combining and comparing historical, archaeological and science-based evidence and methodologies, allowing a more detailed reconstruction of immigration during this period. Our study suggests that various groups migrated to our region, probably over a longer period of time, originating from different regions and arriving in a land with a (probably limited) residual population. This marked and varied immigration should be understood in the context of Roman frontier policy and the (ethnic) recruitment of Germanic groups by the Roman military.Material Culture Studie

The HERMES Dual-Radiator Ring Imaging Cerenkov Detector

The construction and use of a dual radiator Ring Imaging Cerenkov(RICH) detector is described. This instrument was developed for the HERMES experiment at DESY which emphasizes measurements of semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. It provides particle identification for pions, kaons, and protons in the momentum range from 2 to 15 GeV, which is essential to these studies. The instrument uses two radiators, C4F10, a heavy fluorocarbon gas, and a wall of silica aerogel tiles. The use of aerogel in a RICH detector has only recently become possible with the development of clear, large homogeneous and hydrophobic aerogel. A lightweight mirror was constructed using a newly perfected technique to make resin-coated carbon-fiber surfaces of optical quality. The photon detector consists of 1934 photomultiplier tubes for each detector half, held in a soft steel matrix to provide shielding against the residual field of the main spectrometer magnet.Comment: 25 pages, 23 figure

Polymorphic markers related to a single Tcrb-V6 gene segment

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46749/1/251_2004_Article_BF00230507.pd

School's Out: Seasonal Variation in the Movement Patterns of School Children.

School children are core groups in the transmission of many common infectious diseases, and are likely to play a key role in the spatial dispersal of disease across multiple scales. However, there is currently little detailed information about the spatial movements of this epidemiologically important age group. To address this knowledge gap, we collaborated with eight secondary schools to conduct a survey of movement patterns of school pupils in primary and secondary schools in the United Kingdom. We found evidence of a significant change in behaviour between term time and holidays, with term time weekdays characterised by predominately local movements, and holidays seeing much broader variation in travel patterns. Studies that use mathematical models to examine epidemic transmission and control often use adult commuting data as a proxy for population movements. We show that while these data share some features with the movement patterns reported by school children, there are some crucial differences between the movements of children and adult commuters during both term-time and holidays.AJK was supported by the Medical Research Council (fellowship MR/K021524/1, http://www.mrc.ac.uk/) and the RAPIDD program of the Science & Technology Directorate, Department of Homeland Security, and the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health (http://www.fic.nih.gov/about/staff/pages​/epidemiology-population.aspx#rapidd). AJKC was supported by the Alborada Trust (http://www.alboradatrust.com/). KTDE was supported by the NIHR (CDF-2011-04- 019, http://www.nihr.ac.uk/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.This is the final version. It was first published by PLOS at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0128070#

Evaluation of Convalescent Plasma for Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea

: In the wake of the recent outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in several African countries, the World Health Organization prioritized the evaluation of treatment with convalescent plasma derived from patients who have recovered from the disease. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of convalescent plasma for the treatment of EVD in Guinea. : In this nonrandomized, comparative study, 99 patients of various ages (including pregnant women) with confirmed EVD received two consecutive transfusions of 200 to 250 ml of ABO-compatible convalescent plasma, with each unit of plasma obtained from a separate convalescent donor. The transfusions were initiated on the day of diagnosis or up to 2 days later. The level of neutralizing antibodies against Ebola virus in the plasma was unknown at the time of administration. The control group was 418 patients who had been treated at the same center during the previous 5 months. The primary outcome was the risk of death during the period from 3 to 16 days after diagnosis with adjustments for age and the baseline cycle-threshold value on polymerase-chain-reaction assay; patients who had died before day 3 were excluded. The clinically important difference was defined as an absolute reduction in mortality of 20 percentage points in the convalescent-plasma group as compared with the control group. : A total of 84 patients who were treated with plasma were included in the primary analysis. At baseline, the convalescent-plasma group had slightly higher cycle-threshold values and a shorter duration of symptoms than did the control group, along with a higher frequency of eye redness and difficulty in swallowing. From day 3 to day 16 after diagnosis, the risk of death was 31% in the convalescent-plasma group and 38% in the control group (risk difference, -7 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -18 to 4). The difference was reduced after adjustment for age and cycle-threshold value (adjusted risk difference, -3 percentage points; 95% CI, -13 to 8). No serious adverse reactions associated with the use of convalescent plasma were observed. : The transfusion of up to 500 ml of convalescent plasma with unknown levels of neutralizing antibodies in 84 patients with confirmed EVD was not associated with a significant improvement in survival. (Funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02342171.).<br/

Polymorphism in a T-cell receptor variable gene is associated with susceptibility to a juvenile rheumatoid arthritis subset

This report demonstrates a T-cell receptor (Tcr) restriction fragment length polymorphism, defined by a Tcrb-V6.1 gene probe and Bgl II restriction enzyme, to be absolutely correlated with allelic variation in the coding sequence of a Tcrb-V6.1 gene. A pair of non-conservative amino acid substitutions distinguish the Tcrb-V6.1 allelic variants. An association of this Tcrb-V6.1 gene allelic variant with one form of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA) was established in a cohort of 126 patients. The association was observed in patients possessing the HLA-DQA1*0101 gene. Among HLA-DQA*0101 individuals, 19 of 26 patients (73.1%) carried one particular Tcrb-V6.1 gene allele as opposed to 11 of 33 controls (33%; p<0.005). Haplotypes carrying this HLA gene have previously been shown to confer increased risk for progression of arthritis in JRA. This demonstration of a disease-associated Tcrb-V gene allelic variant has not, to our knowledge, been previously reported and supports the contribution of polymorphism in the Tcr variable region genomic repertoire to human autoimmune disease.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46750/1/251_2004_Article_BF00166831.pd