Woven Cultures: New Insights into Pictish and Viking Culture Contact Using the Implements of Textile Production

THIS PAPER PRESENTS A new approach to Pictish and Viking culture contact in Orkney using the material culture of everyday life, focusing in this case on implements used in textile production. The production of textiles was a major component of everyday life between the 5th and 12th centuries and the tools of production have survived well in the archaeological record. This paper uses a study of the implements used in textile production from six Viking and Pictish period sites on Orkney to assess the nature of textile production at this time and investigate whether or not it was affected by the arrival of Scandinavians. The results demonstrate that significant changes took place at the beginning of the Viking Age, with different thicknesses of thread being spun and woven, new materials and styles of artefacts being used, and new types of tools employed for particular tasks. The early Viking Age (9th–10th centuries) produced a great variety of textile tools, representing both Pictish and Scandinavian practices, suggesting a time of transition in which both Pictish and Viking styles were accommodated

Identification and Characterization of the Host Protein DNAJC14 as a Broadly Active Flavivirus Replication Modulator

Viruses in the Flavivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family are arthropod-transmitted and contribute to staggering numbers of human infections and significant deaths annually across the globe. To identify cellular factors with antiviral activity against flaviviruses, we screened a cDNA library using an iterative approach. We identified a mammalian Hsp40 chaperone protein (DNAJC14) that when overexpressed was able to mediate protection from yellow fever virus (YFV)-induced cell death. Further studies revealed that DNAJC14 inhibits YFV at the step of viral RNA replication. Since replication of bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), a member of the related Pestivirus genus, is also known to be modulated by DNAJC14, we tested the effect of this host factor on diverse Flaviviridae family members. Flaviviruses, including the pathogenic Asibi strain of YFV, Kunjin, and tick-borne Langat virus, as well as a Hepacivirus, hepatitis C virus (HCV), all were inhibited by overexpression of DNAJC14. Mutagenesis showed that both the J-domain and the C-terminal domain, which mediates self-interaction, are required for anti-YFV activity. We found that DNAJC14 does not block YFV nor HCV NS2-3 cleavage, and using non-inhibitory mutants demonstrate that DNAJC14 is recruited to YFV replication complexes. Immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that endogenous DNAJC14 rearranges during infection and is found in replication complexes identified by dsRNA staining. Interestingly, silencing of endogenous DNAJC14 results in impaired YFV replication suggesting a requirement for DNAJC14 in YFV replication complex assembly. Finally, the antiviral activity of overexpressed DNAJC14 occurs in a time- and dose-dependent manner. DNAJC14 overexpression may disrupt the proper stoichiometry resulting in inhibition, which can be overcome upon restoration of the optimal ratios due to the accumulation of viral nonstructural proteins. Our findings, together with previously published work, suggest that the members of the Flaviviridae family have evolved in unique and important ways to interact with this host Hsp40 chaperone molecule

Sequence variants in oxytocin pathway genes and preterm birth: a candidate gene association study

Peer reviewe

Early Medieval Shellfish Exploitation in Northwest Europe: Investigations at the Sands of Forvie Shell Middens, Eastern Scotland, and the Role of Coastal Resources in the First Millennium AD

Coastal shell middens represent a well-known element of the archaeological record of island and coastal regions across the world and shellfish have been an important resource for subsistence since the mid Holocene. However, the factors that influence shellfishing remain poorly understood and in many regions investigations into the role of shellfish gathering often have remained focused on prehistoric examples to the detriment of shell middens of later dates. This article reports on the emerging evidence for large-scale exploitation of shellfish during a hitherto understudied period for shell midden archaeology in northwest Europe: the first millennium AD. The article includes a review of a series of previously unknown large mussel-dominated middens in eastern Scotland, an outline of their chronology and character, including Bayesian modeling of dates, and a synthesis of the emerging evidence for shellfish gathering in northwest Europe during the first millennium AD. The research represents the first investigation of large-scale early Medieval middens in Britain and the first review of their international parallels and the important new information they can provide for the early Medieval economy

Early Medieval Shellfish Gathering at the Sands of Forvie, Aberdeenshire : Feast or Famine?

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