Geographical and temporal distribution of SARS-CoV-2 clades in the WHO European Region, January to June 2020

We show the distribution of SARS-CoV-2 genetic clades over time and between countries and outline potential genomic surveillance objectives. We applied three available genomic nomenclature systems for SARS-CoV-2 to all sequence data from the WHO European Region available during the COVID-19 pandemic until 10 July 2020. We highlight the importance of real-time sequencing and data dissemination in a pandemic situation. We provide a comparison of the nomenclatures and lay a foundation for future European genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2.Peer reviewe

Prevalence of Frailty in European Emergency Departments (FEED): an international flash mob study

Introduction Current emergency care systems are not optimized to respond to multiple and complex problems associated with frailty. Services may require reconfiguration to effectively deliver comprehensive frailty care, yet its prevalence and variation are poorly understood. This study primarily determined the prevalence of frailty among older people attending emergency care. Methods This cross-sectional study used a flash mob approach to collect observational European emergency care data over a 24-h period (04 July 2023). Sites were identified through the European Task Force for Geriatric Emergency Medicine collaboration and social media. Data were collected for all individuals aged 65 + who attended emergency care, and for all adults aged 18 + at a subset of sites. Variables included demographics, Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS), vital signs, and disposition. European and national frailty prevalence was determined with proportions with each CFS level and with dichotomized CFS 5 + (mild or more severe frailty). Results Sixty-two sites in fourteen European countries recruited five thousand seven hundred eighty-five individuals. 40% of 3479 older people had at least mild frailty, with countries ranging from 26 to 51%. They had median age 77 (IQR, 13) years and 53% were female. Across 22 sites observing all adult attenders, older people living with frailty comprised 14%. Conclusion 40% of older people using European emergency care had CFS 5 + . Frailty prevalence varied widely among European care systems. These differences likely reflected entrance selection and provide windows of opportunity for system configuration and workforce planning

Taphonomy and diagenesis of human bone in underwater archaeology: A review of the current status and the proposal of Post-Mortem Submersion Interval (PMSI) as a potential forensic application

Diagenesis is the collective word for the physical, biological, and chemical processes that bones undergo in the post-mortem period, until their physical destruction or fossilization. In forensic anthropology, the analysis of macroscopic and microscopic bone alterations, alongside the taphonomy of the soft tissues of a body, has proven valuable for the estimation of the time-of-death, or Post-Mortem Interval (PMI), of skeletonized individuals. To date, bone alterations have been mostly researched in terrestrial settings, such as exposed or buried skeletal remains, but here the scientific literature regarding human bones submerged underwater has been reviewed. It features 20 publications in the last 42 years, of which 9 are reviews, 8 are studies on ancient material and 3 are experimental studies. Future research on analysis of microscopic diagenetic parameters of submerged bones, together with the refinement of the correlation with time of the slightly better known macroscopic underwater alterations, will prove valuable for the estimation of a Post-Mortem Submersion Interval (PMSI) in both forensic and archaeological contexts, because bones have always been and still are regularly recovered underwater. The concurrent estimation of both PMI and PMSI of bones recovered underwater will add vital information to criminal investigations. Diagenetic parameters have been identified in Histological Index, protein content, porosity and crystallinity of bioapatite. They are depicted with the analytic techniques currently available to assess their presence and magnitude, and to relate them to the diagenetic processes of bioerosion, abrasion, and encrustation, but also to the extremes of dissolution or fossilization

Recommended conventions for defining transition moments and intensity factors in diatomic molecular spectra

Two recommendations are made that can eliminate persistent confusion in the study of diatomic spectroscopy by providing uniform and consistent definitions of the electronic transition moments and the rotational line intensity factors. First, it is recommended that the equation for the line strength of a single rotational line be adopted to specify the relationship between the electronic transition moment and the rotational line intensity factor. Second, it is recommended that the electronic transition moment operator for perpendicular transitions be defined by (1/21/2)(μx ± iμy). The adoption of these conventions results in a value of (2S + 1)(2J + 1) for the sum rule of the rotational line intensity factor for Σ± ↔ Σ± transitions and a value of 2(2S + 1)(2J + 1) for the sum rule for all other spin-allowed transitions

Foraminifera – A new find in the microtaphonomical characterisation of bones from marine archaeological excavations

Foraminifera are marine single-celled organisms, ubiquitous in marine environments, present in brackish waters and absent in terrestrial locations. Their presence has been associated with archaeological and forensic studies only rarely, and just once and superficially with bones of terrestrial mammals. In this study, a new association is presented between foraminifera enclosed in the dissolving trabecular spaces of terrestrial mammalian bones, recovered in underwater archaeological excavations between 1968 and 1980. Research on the new association aims to detail the micro-characterization of bone in underwater environments, leading to a better understanding of bone taphonomic trajectories, the chronological sequences of changes occurring between death and the incorporation of the remains of an organism within the depositional environment. The analysis of taphonomic trajectories is known to hold relevance in distinct disciplines, such as archaeology, palaeontology and forensic sciences. Different foraminiferal taxa are linked to different marine environments, characterized by specific ranges of water depth, amount of light and oxygen, temperature and composition of sediment. The association between foraminifera and terrestrial mammalian bones indicates deposition in a marine or brackish environment, thus the analysis of the specific ecology of the identified foraminiferal taxa can point to a specific environment, adding information to paleontological, archaeological or forensics casework

Bone diagenesis in the marine environment‐I: Characterization and distribution of trace elements in terrestrial mammalian bones recovered from historic shipwrecks

Unlike the chemical composition and diagenetic modification of buried bones, subaqueous archaeological bone diagenesis has not been studied in detail. This observational work presents a macroscopic and microscopic characterization of 11 variably preserved archaeological terrestrial mammalian bones submerged in seawater and/or surrounded by marine sediment for 169–347 years. In situ trace element analysis was undertaken to identify geochemical fingerprints of diagenesis. The analyzed bones belong to a collection of underwater archaeological faunal materials excavated from four shipwreck sites. With one exception, all archaeological bones were fragmented, some were also heavily stained, and in two samples, the damage to the cortical layer was extensive. Bioerosion was assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and bone trace element chemistry (by laser ablation inductively coupled mass spectrometry—LA-ICP-MS) was compared with that of an unsubmerged modern sheep bone control. In the control, several trace elements were low in concentration (weighted mean concentration <1 ppm; Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Y, rare earth elements, Th, U). In the submerged archaeological bones, the weighted mean concentration of Li, Cr, Cu, and U was enriched relative to the modern sheep bone, whereas Rb and Ba were depleted. The best-preserved bone, recovered from Batavia, showed less variation in trace element patterns compared with the more poorly preserved bones. The only archaeological bone with preserved macroscopic structure and cortex showed a gradual decrease in trace element concentration from the outer surface towards the medullary cavity, whereas in samples where more cortical damage was noted, the distribution of these elements is more irregular. With the exception of Cu and Cr, the elements focused on in this work (Li, U, Rb, and Ba) are nonessential to life, supported by their low concentration in the modern sheep bone (with the exception of Ba). The results suggest that early macroscopic and microscopic diagenetic alteration influences the concentration and distribution of chemical elements in submerged bones and that in situ trace element analysis provides clues for the reconstruction of taphonomic trajectories