Quantitative reconstruction of climatic variations during the Bronze and early Iron ages based on pollen and lake-level data in the NW Alps, France

International audienceVegetation and lake-level data from the archaeological site of Tresserve, on the eastern shore of Lake Le Bourget (Savoie, France), are used to provide quantitative estimates of climatic variables over the period 4000-2300 cal BP in the northern French Pre-Alps, and to examine the possible impact of climatic changes on societies of the Bronze and early Iron Ages. The results obtained indicate that phases of higher lake level at 3500-3100 and 2750-2350 cal BP coincided with major climate reversals in the North Atlantic area. In west-central Europe, they were marked by cooler and wetter conditions. These two successive events may have affected ancient agricultural communities in west-central Europe by provoking harvest failures, more particularly due to increasing precipitation during the growing season. However, archaeological data in the region of Franche-Comté (Jura Mountains, eastern France) show a general expansion of population density from the middle Bronze Age to the early Iron Age. This suggests a relative emancipation of proto-historic societies from climatic conditions, probably in relation to the spread of new modes of social and economic organisation

TRAITE A LA MACHINE DES BREBIS PRÉALPES DU SUD. IMPORTANCE DES DIFFÉRENTES OPÉRATIONS DE LA TRAITE

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Factors affecting the survival of patients with oesophageal carcinoma under radiotherapy in the north of Iran

Factors relevant to the survival of patients with oesophageal cancer under radiotherapy have been studied in northern Iran where its incidence is high. We conducted an analytical study using a historical cohort and information from the medical charts of patients with oesophageal cancer. Out of 523 patients referred to the Shahid Rajaii radiotherapy centre in Babolsar from 1992 to 1996, we followed 230 patients for whom an address was available in 1998. The frequency of prognostic factors among those not contacted was very similar to those included in the study. The data were analysed using survival analysis by the nonparametric method of Kaplan Meier and the Cox regression model to determine risk ratios (RR) of prognostic factors. Survival rates were 42% at 1 year, 21% at 2 years, and 8% at 5 years after diagnosis. Patients aged 50–64 were found to have poorer survival compared with those less than 50 (RR = 1.73, P = 0.03); the risk ratio for ages f = 65 was 1.88 (P = 0.03). Females had significantly better survival than males (RR = 0.71, P = 0.02). For each 100 rads dose of radiotherapy, the risk ratio was significantly decreased by 1% (RR = 0.99, P = 0.05); for each session of radiotherapy, the risk ratio was significantly decreased by 4% (RR = 0.96, P = 0.0001); for each square centimetre size of surface under radiotherapy, the risk ratio significantly increased (RR = 1.002, P = 0.04). We did not observe a significant difference on survival by histology, anatomical location of tumours, or type of treatment (P > 0.05). Prognosis is extremely poor. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer.co

Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe

Update notice Author Correction: Dairying, diseases and the evolution of lactase persistence in Europe (Nature, (2022), 608, 7922, (336-345), 10.1038/s41586-022-05010-7) Nature, Volume 609, Issue 7927, Pages E9, 15 September 2022In European and many African, Middle Eastern and southern Asian populations, lactase persistence (LP) is the most strongly selected monogenic trait to have evolved over the past 10,000 years(1). Although the selection of LP and the consumption of prehistoric milk must be linked, considerable uncertainty remains concerning their spatiotemporal configuration and specific interactions(2,3). Here we provide detailed distributions of milk exploitation across Europe over the past 9,000 years using around 7,000 pottery fat residues from more than 550 archaeological sites. European milk use was widespread from the Neolithic period onwards but varied spatially and temporally in intensity. Notably, LP selection varying with levels of prehistoric milk exploitation is no better at explaining LP allele frequency trajectoriesthan uniform selection since the Neolithic period. In the UK Biobank(4,5) cohort of 500,000 contemporary Europeans, LP genotype was only weakly associated with milk consumption and did not show consistent associations with improved fitness or health indicators. This suggests that other reasons for the beneficial effects of LP should be considered for its rapid frequency increase. We propose that lactase non-persistent individuals consumed milk when it became available but, under conditions of famine and/or increased pathogen exposure, this was disadvantageous, driving LP selection in prehistoric Europe. Comparison of model likelihoods indicates that population fluctuations, settlement density and wild animal exploitation-proxies for these drivers-provide better explanations of LP selection than the extent of milk exploitation. These findings offer new perspectives on prehistoric milk exploitation and LP evolution.Peer reviewe

Surface Mol (CD11b/CD18) glycoprotein is up-modulated by neutrophils recruited to sites of inflammation in vivo

Inasmuch as the recruitment of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) to inflammatory foci in vivo involves adhesion-dependent events (e.g., margination, diapedesis, and directed migration), we sought to characterize the relationship between the local accumulation of PMNs in sterile peritonitis and their surface expression of the adhesion-promoting plasma membrane glycoprotein. Mol (CD11b/ CD18). In an immunofluorescence analysis of PMNs isolated from rats injected intraperitoneally with sterile 1% glycogen solution, we detected a significant enhancement of surface Mol expression by exudative peritoneal PMNs. In contrast, no significant rise in Mol expression was noted over time by circulating intravascular PMNs (isolated simultaneously). However, these intravascular PMNs had the capacity to increase their surface Mol density upon exposure to peritoneal fiuid supernatant at 37°C. These results demonstrate that PMNs at sites of inflammation in vivo do up-modulate their surface expression of the adhesion-promoting Mol glycoprotein during their recruitment from the circulating, intravascular leukocyte pool.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44502/1/10753_2004_Article_BF00916757.pd

Discovery of an underwater deposit of Neolithic polished axeheads and a submerged stone alignment at Petit Rohu near Saint-Pierre-Quiberon (Morbihan, France),

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