Imports and isotopes: a modern baseline study for interpreting Iron Age and Roman trade in fallow deer antlers

The European Fallow deer (Dama dama dama) became extinct in the British Isles and most of continental Europe at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, with the species becoming restricted to an Anatolian refugium (Masseti et al. 2008). Human-mediated reintroductions resulted in fallow populations in Rhodes, Sicily, Mallorca, Iberia and other parts of western Europe (Sykes et al. 2013). Eventually, the species was brought to Britain by the Romans during the 1st century AD, with a breeding population being established at Fishbourne Roman Palace (Sykes et al. 2011). The human influence on the present-day distribution of the species makes it particularly interesting from a zooarchaeological perspective. This paper describes my MSc research, as part of the AHRC-funded project Dama International: Fallow Deer and European Society 6000 BC–AD 1600, looking at antlers from Iron Age and Roman sites in Britain for evidence of trade in body parts and whether this can be elucidated by a parallel stable isotope study of modern fallow antlers of known provenance

Thermal Manipulation Mid-term Broiler Chicken Embryogenesis: Effect on Muscle Growth Factors and Muscle Marker Genes

ABSTRACT Thermal manipulation (TM) during broiler chicken embryogenesis has been shown to promote muscle development and growth. However, the molecular bases of promoting broiler muscle development and growth are not fully understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular bases of muscle growth and development in broiler chickens subjected to TM. This included the investigating of the changes in mRNA expression levels of muscle marker genes, namely MyoD, myogenin, paired box transcription factor (Pax7) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and muscle growth factors namely insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), myostatin and growth hormone (GH) during embryogenesis and on posthatch days 10 and 28. Fertile Cobb eggs (n=1500) were divided into four groups. Eggs in the first group (control) were incubated at 37.8°C and 56% RH, whereas, eggs in the second group (TM1), third group (TM2), and fourth group (TM3) were subjected to 39 ºC and 65% RH daily during embryonic days (ED) 12-18 for 9, 12, and 18 hours, respectively. Body weight (BW) during embryogenesis and posthatch days (1, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35) was recorded. mRNA expression levels of muscle marker genes and muscle growth factor genes during ED 12, 14, 16 and 18 and on posthatch days 10 and 28 were analyzed using real-time RT-PCR. TM upregulated the mRNA expressions of muscle marker and growth factors genes. This upregulation was accompanied by improvement of body weight near and at market age