Late Iron Age longhouse chronology: A study aimed at constructing a formal house chronology for the Late Iron Age, based on selected localities in central and eastern Jutland

This paper presents a formalised chronological study of the longhouses of the Late Iron Age. This is based on the correspondence analysis of data relating to house ground plans recorded at a number of Iron Age settlements in central and eastern Jutland, which, as a region, has the most comprehensive relevant data set, including many constructional details. The chronology constitutes a formalisation of the house-chronological considerations undertaken to date in reference to settlements in Jutland and results in a seriable sequence, the chronological significance of which is supported by stratigraphic observations. The study demonstrates that, in general, the investigated settlements follow the same chronological development and can therefore be correlated. Moreover, it shows that the placing of each individual house in the chronology is subject to some uncertainty, due to the relatively small number and long duration of the chronological features

Maternal adiposity, smoking, and thyroid function in early pregnancy

Objective: A high activity of the deiodinase type 2 has been proposed in overweight, obese, and smoking pregnant women as reflected by a high triiodo thyronine (T3)/thyroxine (T4) ratio. We speculated how maternal adiposity and smoking would associate with different thyroid function tests in the early pre gnancy. Design: Cross-sectional study within the North Denmark Region Pregnancy Cohort. Methods: Maternal thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), total T4 (TT4), total T3 (TT3), free T4 (fT4), and free T3 (fT3) were measured in stored blood samples (median gestational week 10) by an automatic immunoassay. Results were linked to nationwide registers, and live-birth pregnancies were included. The associations between maternal adiposity (overweight or obese), smoking, and log-transformed TSH, fT3/fT4 ratio, and TT3/TT4 ratio were assessed using multivariate linear regression and reported as adjusted exponentiated β coefficient (aβ) with 95% CI. The adjusted model included maternal age, parity, origin, week of blood sampling, and diabetes. Results: Altogether 5529 pregnant women were included, and 40% were cl assified with adiposity, whereas 10% were smoking. Maternal adiposity was associated with higher TSH (aβ 1.13 (95% CI 1.08–1.20)), whereas maternal smoking was associated with lower TSH in the early pregnancy (0.875 (0.806–0.950)). Considering the T3/T4 ratio, both maternal adiposity (fT3/fT4 ratio: 1.06 (1.05–1.07); TT3/TT4 ratio: 1.07 (1.06–1.08)) and smoking (fT3/fT4 ratio: 1.07 (1.06–1.09); TT3/TT4 ratio: 1.10 (1.09–1.12)) were associated with a higher ratio. Conclusions: In a large cohort of Danish pregnant women, adiposity and smoking showed opposite associations with maternal TSH. On the other hand, both conditions were associated with a higher T3/T4 ratio in early pregnancy, w hich may reflect altered deiodinase activity