Livestock Changes at the Beginning and End of the Roman Period in Britain: Issues of Acculturation, Adaptation and ‘Improvement’

This article reviews aspects of the development of animal husbandry in Roman Britain, focusing in particular on the Iron Age/Roman and Roman/early medieval transitions. By analysing the two chronological extremes of the period of Roman influence in Britain we try to identify the core characteristics of Romano-British husbandry by using case studies, in particular from south-eastern Britain, investigated from the perspective of the butchery and morphometric evidence they provide. Our aim is to demonstrate the great dynamism of Romano-British animal husbandry, with substantial changes in livestock management occurring at the beginning, the end, and during the period under study. It is suggested that such changes are the product of interactions between different cultural and social traditions, which can be associated with indigenous and external influences, but also numerous other causes, ranging from ethnic origins to environmental, geographic, political, and economic factors

Impact of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in children from Europe and Rural Africa

peer reviewe

Performance of three model-based iterative reconstruction algorithms using a CT task-based image quality metric

In this study we evaluated the task-based image quality of a low contrast clinical task for the abdomen protocol (e.g., pancreatic tumour) of three different CT vendors, exploiting three model-based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) levels. We used three CT systems equipped with a full, partial, advanced MBIR algorithms. Acquisitions were performed on a phantom at three dose levels. Acquisitions were reconstructed with a standard kernel, using filtered back projection algorithm (FBP) and three levels of the MBIR. The noise power spectrum (NPS), the normalized one (nNPS) and the task-based transfer function (TTF) were computed following the method proposed by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine task group report-233 (AAPM TG-233). Detectability index (d') of a small lesion (small feature; 100 HU and 5-mm diameter) was calculated using non-prewhitening with eye-filter model observer (NPWE).The nNPS, NPS and TTF changed differently depending on CT system. Higher values of d' were obtained with advanced-MBIR, followed by full-MBIR and partial-MBIR.Task-based image quality was assessed for three CT scanners of different vendors, considering a clinical question. Detectability can be a tool for protocol optimisation and dose reduction since the same dose levels on different scanners correspond to different d' values.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 3 table

Boceprevir is highly effective in treatment-experienced hepatitis C virus-positive genotype-1 menopausal women

AIM: To investigate the safety/efficacy of Boceprevirbased triple therapy in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-G1 menopausal women who were historic relapsers, partial-responders and null-responders. METHODS: In this single-assignment, unblinded study, we treated fifty-six menopausal women with HCV-G1, 46% F3-F4, and previous PEG-α/RBV failure (7% null, 41% non-responder, and 52% relapser) with 4 wk lead-in with PEG-IFNα2b/RBV followed by PEGIFNα2b/RBV+Boceprevir for 32 wk, with an additional 12 wk of PEG-IFN-α-2b/RBV if patients were HCV-RNA-positive by week 8. In previous null-responders, 44 wk of triple therapy was used. The primary objective of retreatment was to verify whether a sustained virological response (SVR) (HCV RNA undetectable at 24 wk of follow-up) rate of at least 20% could be obtained. The secondary objective was the evaluation of the percent of patients with negative HCV RNA at week 4 (RVR), 8 (RVR BOC), 12 (EVR), or at the end-of-treatment (ETR) that reached SVR. To assess the relationship between SVR and clinical and biochemical parameters, multiple logistic regression analysis was used. RESULTS: After lead-in, only two patients had RVR; HCV-RNA was unchanged in all but 62% who had ≤ 1 logio decrease. After Boceprevir, HCV RNA became undetectable at week 8 in 32/56 (57.1%) and at week 12 in 41/56 (73.2%). Of these, 53.8% and 52.0%, respectively, achieved SVR. Overall, SVR was obtained in 25/56 (44.6%). SVR was achieved in 55% previous relapsers vs. 41% non-responders (Ρ = 0.250), in 44% F0-F2 vs 54% F3-F4 (Ρ = 0.488), and in 11/19 (57.9%) of patients with cirrhosis. At univariate analysis for baseline predictors of SVR, only previous response to antiviral therapy (OR = 2.662, 95%CI: 0.957-6.881, Ρ= 0.043), was related with SVR. When considering "on treatment" factors, 1 log10 HCV RNA decline at week 4 (3.733, 95%CI: 1.676-12.658, Ρ= 0.034) and achievement of RVR BOC (7.347, 95%CI: 2.156-25.035, Ρ= 0.001) were significantly related with the SVR, al-though RVR BOC only (6.794, 95%CI: 1.596-21.644, Ρ = 0.010) maintained significance at multivariate logistic regression analysis. Anemia and neutropenia were managed with Erythropoietin and Filgrastim supplementation, respectively. Only six patients discontinued therapy. CONCLUSION: Boceprevir obtained high SVR response independent of previous response, RVR or baseline fibrosis or cirrhosis. RVR BOC was the only independent predictor of SVR

Glutamine Synthetase 1 Increases Autophagy Lysosomal Degradation of Mutant Huntingtin Aggregates in Neurons, Ameliorating Motility in a Drosophila Model for Huntington's Disease

Glutamine Synthetase 1 (GS1) is a key enzyme that catalyzes the ATP-dependent synthesis of l-glutamine from l-glutamate and is also member of the Glutamate Glutamine Cycle, a complex physiological process between glia and neurons that controls glutamate homeostasis and is often found compromised in neurodegenerative diseases including Huntington's disease (HD). Here we report that the expression of GS1 in neurons ameliorates the motility defects induced by the expression of the mutant Htt, using a Drosophila model for HD. This phenotype is associated with the ability of GS1 to favor the autophagy that we associate with the presence of reduced Htt toxic protein aggregates in neurons expressing mutant Htt. Expression of GS1 prevents the TOR activation and phosphorylation of S6K, a mechanism that we associate with the reduced levels of essential amino acids, particularly of arginine and asparagine important for TOR activation. This study reveals a novel function for GS1 to ameliorate neuronal survival by changing amino acids' levels that induce a "starvation-like" condition responsible to induce autophagy. The identification of novel targets that inhibit TOR in neurons is of particular interest for the beneficial role that autophagy has in preserving physiological neuronal health and in the mechanisms that eliminate the formation of toxic aggregates in proteinopathies