Atrazine and cancer incidence among pesticide applicators in the agricultural health study (1994-2007).

Atrazine is a triazine herbicide used widely in the United States. Although it is an animal carcinogen, the mechanism in rodents does not appear to operate in humans. Few epidemiologic studies have provided evidence for an association

Shipping amphorae and shipping sheep? Livestock mobility in the north-east Iberian peninsula during the Iron Age based on strontium isotopic analyses of sheep and goat tooth enamel

Animal mobility is a common strategy to overcome scarcity of food and the related over-grazing of pastures. It is also essential to reduce the inbreeding rate of animal populations, which is known to have a negative impact on fertility and productivity. The present paper shows the geographic range of sheep provisioning in different phases of occupation at the Iron Age site of Turó de la Font de la Canya (7th to 3rd centuries BC). Strontium isotope ratios from 34 archaeological sheep and goat enamel, two archaeological bones and 14 modern tree leaves are presented. The isotopic results suggest that sheep and goats consumed at the site were reared locally (within a few kilometres radius) during the whole period of occupation. The paper discusses the isotopic results in light of the socio-political structure of this period, as complex, strongly territorial societies developed during the Iron Age in the north-east Iberian Peninsula

Redefining the timing and circumstances of the chicken's introduction to Europe and north-west Africa

This is the final version. Available on open access from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this recordLittle is known about the early history of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus), including the timing and circumstances of its introduction into new cultural environments. To evaluate its spatio-temporal spread across Eurasia and north-west Africa, the authors radiocarbon dated 23 chicken bones from presumed early contexts. Three-quarters returned dates later than those suggested by stratigraphy, indicating the importance of direct dating. The results indicate that chickens did not arrive in Europe until the first millennium BC. Moreover, a consistent time-lag between the introduction of chickens and their consumption by humans suggests that these animals were initially regarded as exotica and only several centuries later recognised as a source of ‘food’.Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)Chair of Palaeoanatomy, LMU Munic

The Herbicide Atrazine Activates Endocrine Gene Networks via Non-Steroidal NR5A Nuclear Receptors in Fish and Mammalian Cells

Atrazine (ATR) remains a widely used broadleaf herbicide in the United States despite the fact that this s-chlorotriazine has been linked to reproductive abnormalities in fish and amphibians. Here, using zebrafish we report that environmentally relevant ATR concentrations elevated zcyp19a1 expression encoding aromatase (2.2 µg/L), and increased the ratio of female to male fish (22 µg/L). ATR selectively increased zcyp19a1, a known gene target of the nuclear receptor SF-1 (NR5A1), whereas zcyp19a2, which is estrogen responsive, remained unchanged. Remarkably, in mammalian cells ATR functions in a cell-specific manner to upregulate SF-1 targets and other genes critical for steroid synthesis and reproduction, including Cyp19A1, StAR, Cyp11A1, hCG, FSTL3, LHß, INHα, αGSU, and 11ß-HSD2. Our data appear to eliminate the possibility that ATR directly affects SF-1 DNA- or ligand-binding. Instead, we suggest that the stimulatory effects of ATR on the NR5A receptor subfamily (SF-1, LRH-1, and zff1d) are likely mediated by receptor phosphorylation, amplification of cAMP and PI3K signaling, and possibly an increase in the cAMP-responsive cellular kinase SGK-1, which is known to be upregulated in infertile women. Taken together, we propose that this pervasive and persistent environmental chemical alters hormone networks via convergence of NR5A activity and cAMP signaling, to potentially disrupt normal endocrine development and function in lower and higher vertebrates

The Place of Palms: An Urban Park at Aphrodisias – Faunal Remains from the Late Antique to Ottoman Periods: Online Supplements

This dataset contains Online Supplements with zooarchaeological data from The Place of Palms at Aphrodisias. It supports the chapter: Trentacoste, A. (forthcoming) Faunal Remains from the Late Antique to Ottoman Periods. In Wilson, A. I. and Russell, B., The ‘Place of Palms’: An Urban Park at Aphrodisias. Results of The Mica and Ahmet Ertegün South Agora Pool Project. Reichert Verlag, Wiesbaden. The above chapter presents a zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal material from The Place of Palms, including figures, tables, discussion, and regional contextualisation. This online dataset contains supplemental materials relevant to this study: a full description of the recording methodology, the recorded faunal assemblage data, and summary tables with information on skeletal element abundance (quantified through the minimum number of elements (MNE) / minimum animal units (MAU)) and bone fusion. Full details on the recording methodology are given in Supplement 1, which also contains a description of the organisation of the data table containing the recorded faunal assemblage. Supplement 2 contains the complete faunal assemblage in tabular format, including measurements. Body part distribution for the main taxa with MNE and MAU counts is presented in Supplements 3–5. Bone fusion is quantified in Supplements 6–9. These tables are presented online to save space in the printed volume and to facilitate re-use. About zooarchaeological analysis at Aphrodisias: Faunal remains were excavated between 2012 and 2017 from ‘The Place of Palms’, an area within the urban centre of Aphrodisias, defined by a massive monumental pool. The pool functioned from its construction in the first century AD into Late Antiquity. With the decline of the late antique city, the pool was no longer maintained, and, from the seventh century AD, its basin progressively became filled by dumped materials and sedimentation. By the fifteenth century AD the basin of the pool was completely covered by siltation and sediment run-off, and an Ottoman village came to occupy the site. Animal remains were recovered from throughout this chronology, from Imperial Roman to modern times. As the first systemic analysis of faunal material from Aphrodisias for the Late Antique and later periods, this zooarchaeologial study focused on general patterns of animal exploitation over the long chronology of the assemblage. Faunal material was hand collected, save for a few contexts which were subject to flotation. The majority of the material came from Ottoman deposits (c. 1500 specimens identified to taxon and element). Late Antique contexts were also well represented (c. 600 specimens identified to taxon and element). The total number of quantified specimens (identified to taxon and element) was just over 2400. In addition to new data on the Ottoman period, notable finds include the disarticulated remains of at least seven Late Antique equids, an abundance of turtles (Mauremys sp.) found in Byzantine pool deposits, a series of rough Late Antique bone tools, possibly used as scrapers, and evidence for suid – especially wild boar – consumption in Ottoman times. For further details see the volume and chapter cited above. Links and related references: - http://aphrodisias.classics.ox.ac.uk/excsouthagora.html - Wilson, A., Russell, B., and Ward, A. 2016. ‘Excavations in an urban park (“South Agora”), 2012’ in R.R.R. Smith, J. Lenaghan, A. Sokolicek and K. Welch (eds.), Aphrodisias Papers 5: Excavation and Research at Aphrodisias, 2006-2012, Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 103, 77-90. - Robinson, M. 2016. 'The environmental archaeology of the South Agora Pool, Aphrodisias' in Smith R.R.R. Smith, J. Lenaghan, A. Sokolicek and K. Welch (eds) Aphrodisias Papers 5: Excavation and Research at Aphrodisias, 2006-2012, Portsmouth, RI: Journal of Roman Archaeology Supplement 103, 91-99 - Wilson, A. (2019). ‘Aphrodisias in the long sixth century’, in I. Jacobs and H. Elton (eds), Asia Minor in the Long Sixth Century: Current Research and Future Directions. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 197–221