Striking out and digging in: A bioarchaeological perspective on the impacts of the Wari expansion on populations in the Peruvian central highlands.

The Wari empire emerged near the present day city of Ayacucho, Peru around AD 600 and collapsed approximately 400 years later. There is no doubt that Wari influence was widespread in the Andes; however, the extent to which the empire successfully integrated regional territories is not as well understood. This study examined the impact of the rise and fall of the Wari empire on the structure of interaction between populations hypothesized to have been within its sphere of influence. The relative frequencies of cranial non-metric traits were used to explore biological affinities among 17 populations that lived during and after the Wari empire. The samples include populations from regions with archaeological evidence of Wari influence. A basic premise of this study is that the economic, ideological, and political goals of the Wari created a cultural horizon that would have increased contact between regional populations that would in turn lead to gene flow and patterned differences in biological affinities between groups. On a large scale results indicated that the Wari empire did not have a significant impact on gene flow in the central Andes. However, several suggestive patterns were observed when the data were examined on the smaller regional scale. The mechanisms by which Wari influence spread within and between regions is not easily understood and consistency in ideology could be mistaken for similarity in social action and interaction. Biological distance analyses of regional populations were a useful proxy for unraveling the complex pattern of social interactions required to transmit the consistent Wari ideology that characterized the Middle Horizon. Results of this study support hypotheses regarding a strong relationship between the Wari and Nasca, add new detail to the current understanding of interaction within the Nazca Valley during the height of the Wari empire, find little evidence of intensive interaction between the Wari and populations in the north-central highlands, and suggest that dualistic social organization documented by Spanish chroniclers truly has a deep history in the Andes. The findings of this study are illustrative of the multivariate and unpredictable nature of imperial expansion

Identification of Novel Avian Influenza Virus Derived CD8+ T-Cell Epitopes

Avian influenza virus (AIV) infection is a continuing threat to both humans and poultry. Influenza virus specific CD8+ T cells are associated with protection against homologous and heterologous influenza strains. In contrast to what has been described for humans and mice, knowledge on epitope-specific CD8+ T cells in chickens is limited. Therefore, we set out to identify AIV-specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. Epitope predictions based on anchor residues resulted in 33 candidate epitopes. MHC I inbred chickens were infected with a low pathogenic AIV strain and sacrificed at 5, 7, 10 and 14 days post infection (dpi). Lymphocytes isolated from lung, spleen and blood were stimulated ex vivo with AIV-specific pooled or individual peptides and the production of IFNγ was determined by ELIspot. This resulted in the identification of 12 MHC B12-restricted, 3 B4-restricted and 1 B19-restricted AIV- specific CD8+ T-cell epitopes. In conclusion, we have identified novel AIV-derived CD8+ T-cell epitopes for several inbred chicken strains. This knowledge can be used to study the role of CD8+ T cells against AIV infection in a natural host for influenza, and may be important for vaccine development

Endothelial dysfunction contributes to severe COVID-19 in combination with dysregulated lymphocyte responses and cytokine networks

The systemic processes involved in the manifestation of life-threatening COVID-19 and in disease recovery are still incompletely understood, despite investigations focusing on the dysregulation of immune responses after SARS-CoV-2 infection. To define hallmarks of severe COVID-19 in acute disease (n = 58) and in disease recovery in convalescent patients (n = 28) from Hannover Medical School, we used flow cytometry and proteomics data with unsupervised clustering analyses. In our observational study, we combined analyses of immune cells and cytokine/chemokine networks with endothelial activation and injury. ICU patients displayed an altered immune signature with prolonged lymphopenia but the expansion of granulocytes and plasmablasts along with activated and terminally differentiated T and NK cells and high levels of SARS-CoV-2-specific antibodies. The core signature of seven plasma proteins revealed a highly inflammatory microenvironment in addition to endothelial injury in severe COVID-19. Changes within this signature were associated with either disease progression or recovery. In summary, our data suggest that besides a strong inflammatory response, severe COVID-19 is driven by endothelial activation and barrier disruption, whereby recovery depends on the regeneration of the endothelial integrity

If these walls could speak: reading displays of primary children's work

The first thing a visitor notices when entering Hollytree primary school is the art-work displayed on every wall. This paper, based on a three-year ethnographic study of the school, mobilizes field notes and interview and photographic data to probe the meanings of this visual 'display'. We argue that the walls (re)produce and promote normative meanings of 'good work', the 'good student', the 'good teacher' and the 'good school', which serve both internal and external purposes. They are also a means of promoting an inclusive culture which, while true of arts activities, may not always be the case in mainstream classes. In addition, the school walls support aspects of the school timetable of collective work, and also constitute resources for children to construct narratives about their collective and individual histories in the school