Nongenetic Determinants of Risk for Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer

Background: Incidence of early-onset (younger than 50 years of age) colorectal cancer (CRC) is increasing in many countries. Thus, elucidating the role of traditional CRC risk factors in early-onset CRC is a high priority. We sought to determine whether risk factors associated with late-onset CRC were also linked to early-onset CRC and whether association patterns differed by anatomic subsite. Methods: Using data pooled from 13 population-based studies, we studied 3767 CRC cases and 4049 controls aged younger than 50 years and 23 437 CRC cases and 35 311 controls aged 50 years and older. Using multivariable and multinomial logistic regression, we estimated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to assess the association between risk factors and early-onset CRC and by anatomic subsite. Results: Early-onset CRC was associated with not regularly using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.21 to 1.68), greater red meat intake (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.16), lower educational attainment (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.16), alcohol abstinence (OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.08 to 1.39), and heavier alcohol use (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.50). No factors exhibited a greater excess in early-onset compared with late-onset CRC. Evaluating risks by anatomic subsite, we found that lower total fiber intake was linked more strongly to rectal (OR = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.14 to 1.48) than colon cancer (OR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.02 to 1.27; P =. 04). Conclusion: In this large study, we identified several nongenetic risk factors associated with early-onset CRC, providing a basis for targeted identification of those most at risk, which is imperative in mitigating the rising burden of this disease

Pratiques funéraires et dynamique spatiale à Oakaie 1: Une nécropole à la transition du Néolithique à l’âge du Bronze au Myanmar (Birmanie) [Funerary practices and spatial dynamic at Oakaie 1, a burial ground at the transition of the Neolithic and Bronze Age in Myanmar (Burma)]

En Asie du Sud-Est, la fin de la préhistoire – de l’apparition de l’agriculture à la naissance de proto-États – ne dure que de 1500 à 2000 ans. Les cimetières sont des sites essentiels pour comprendre ces changements marqués par des influences culturelles indiennes et chinoises. Le Myanmar est le seul pays d’Asie du Sud-Est avec lequel ces pays partagent une frontière terrestre. Les données archéologiques nouvellement acquises pour le Myanmar permettent d’éclairer cette période charnière. Cet article présente les résultats de l’étude de la nécropole d’Oakaie 1 (région de Sagaing), fouillée durant deux saisons entre 2014 et 2015 dans le cadre de la Mission Archéologique Française au Myanmar (MAFM). La nécropole est datée entre la fin du Néolithique et le début de l’âge du Bronze. Les 55 sépultures et 57 inhumés mis au jour permettent d’analyser l’évolution des pratiques funéraires pendant plusieurs siècles. L’organisation de l’espace sépulcral est particulière. Les fosses, organisées en rangées sont distribuées selon deux grandes orientations, N-S et NNO-SSE. Les inhumations sont individuelles ou plurielles (9 cas) et, dans un cas, un chien a été inhumé avec des humains. L’analyse taphonomique suggère l’usage de contenants périssables larges ou étroits, avec des bords montants, probablement des troncs d’arbres évidés. Les biens funéraires les plus communs sont des céramiques généralement placées près des membres inférieurs ou dans le comblement de la fosse. Des éléments de parure (perles en coquillages et en pierre, bracelets en pierre polie et en matière dure animale) étaient aussi associés aux défunts, tandis qu’une unique sépulture a fourni un objet en métal (une hache en bronze). L’usage croisé de critères variés, dont l’organisation spatiale de la nécropole, les recoupements de sépultures, les pratiques funéraires et le mobilier déposé auprès des défunts a permis d’établir que la nécropole a fonctionné durant trois phases. La première est caractérisée par 20 inhumations orientées dans un axe N-S, généralement individuelles, dotées d’un mobilier funéraire réduit constitué d’une seule céramique et de rares éléments de parure en coquillage et matière dure animale. La deuxième phase est composée de 30 sépultures orientées dans un axe NNO-SSE. Elles contiennent des inhumations individuelles et plurielles associées à des céramiques distinctes de celles rencontrées lors de la première phase et à des objets de parures, dont certains sont d’origine exotique, plus nombreux et plus fréquents. La troisième phase est représentée par une inhumation, exceptionnellement riche pour la nécropole. Le défunt était associé à 19 céramiques, une perle en pierre et une hache en bronze. Ce dépôt présente un parallèle avec des sépultures de la nécropole de Nyaung’gan située à 2,7 km de Oakaie 1. Notre analyse permet d’établir que les deux premières phases correspondent à une utilisation intermittente de la nécropole par une même population alors que la troisième marque une rupture lié à l’introduction du métal. In Southeast Asia, the late prehistoric period, from the appearance of farming to the rise of proto-states, lasts only 1500-2000 years, and is thus extremely brief in comparison to Europe. Cemeteries represent critical sites in the chronological and cultural understanding of these changes, stimulated by influences from both China and India. Myanmar is the only Southeast Asia nation to share terrestrial frontiers with both these vast neighbours, but in comparison even with Thailand and Viet Nam, archaeological investigation in Myanmar is in a phase of rapid expansion. As such, the late prehistoric dataset is beginning to offer opportunities for detailed and synthetic interpretations of this critical transitional period. This present study attempts a fine phasing of a Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site, Oakaie 1, in the Sagaing Division of central Myanmar. Oakaie 1 is a well preserved cemetery at the heart of a rich archaeological area, which was investigated by the French Archaeological Mission in Myanmar (MAFM) between 2014 and 2016. As a result of these efforts, the Oakaie area has the most secure radiometric chronological sequence in Myanmar, with 52 determinations, and has been the focus of a number of advanced approaches, many of them firsts for the country. The excavation of the Oakaie 1 cemetery, during two four-week field seasons in 2014-15, lead to the exposure of 55 graves containing 57 individuals. This discovery gave us the opportunity to study the evolution of funerary practices in a single cemetery over a period of several centuries. The Oakaie 1 graves were cut in a hard volcanic tuff and filled with a more humid and brown soil, which made them extremely easy to recognize. The graves are arranged in well-defined rows, following one of two orientations, N-S or NNW-SSE. The graves are mainly single primary supine extended burials but some nine graves contain at least two individuals, and maybe more. One grave also contains the burial of a dog. The taphonomic analysis of the burials shows that most of the bodies decomposed within an open volume. The study of the constraints marked on the skeletons shows that a common type of container, a hollowed out tree trunk was probably used throughout the cemetery, with some differences in terms of narrowness. Taphonomic study of the multiple graves has failed to establish whether individuals were buried simultaneously. The main grave good is pottery, which was deposited in various places around the body, mainly on the lower limbs and during the filling of the graves. Some ornaments were found, consisting of beads, made of stone and shell, as well as bangles made of stone and animal bone. Only one grave, S15, furnished a metal artefact, a socketed bronze axe. Graves goods were quite sparse throughout the cemetery, as compared to its well-known neighbour, Nyaung’gan, with the exception of S15, which contained by far the most pottery, in addition to the sole bronze. The comprehensive study of the cemetery’s spatial organization, the intercutting of the burials, the funerary practices as identified via taphonomic analysis, and the study of the grave goods lead us to propose three main phases of funerary use. The first is characterized by primary supine extended burials disposed in rows, with the graves oriented on a N-S axis. The burials were predominantly individual but three graves contained two individuals. Two further graves may also contain multiple burials. The phase one grave goods were very limited, a single pot of an almost universally homogenous form was placed during the filling of the grave. Ornaments made from shell or animal bone were rare. Two bivalve shells were found as a baby’s grave good. The second phase of burials were also primary supine extended graves in clear rows but oriented on a NNW-SSE axis. The graves were mainly individual but multiple graves were nevertheless frequent, and systematically contain an adult with a child, in one case two children. The grave goods were mainly pots, deposited on the lower limbs of the individuals. The pottery assemblage could be clearly differentiated from the first phase in its style and presents an internally homogeneous group. Ornaments grave goods were more frequent and examples made from hard stone and in bangle form appear. Bivalve shell deposits were found within the grave goods of very young children, with the exception of one adult. The third burial phase is represented by a single grave containing one individual. This grave, S15, contains far more grave goods than any other in the Oakaie 1 cemetery, comprising 19 pots, one bronze axe and a stone bead. S15 represents a strong match to some of the burials at the neighbouring (2.7 km) cemetery site, Nyaung’gan. The three phases identified at Oakaie 1 could theoretically represent as many populations. However, the cultural basis of each phase is clearly inter-related and leads us to propose that the cemetery – the area that could be excavated at least - was used by the same population over cyclical periods for a substantial length of time. This model is supported not only by the taphonomic analysis but also that of the ceramics and the strontium isotope signatures. The third phase, representing the shift to the Bronze Age at around 1000 BC, cannot be evaluated in detailed due to a lack of evidence but shows that while funerary practices changed significantly, the individual is highly likely to be a descendent, culturally at least, of the two preceding phases

Corrigendum to “Social differences in Neolithic/Bronze Age Myanmar: 87Sr/86Sr in skeletal remains from Oakaie 1 and Nyaung'gan” [J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 21 (2018) 32–37]

International audienc

Social differences in Neolithic/Bronze Age Myanmar: 87Sr/86Sr in skeletal remains from Oakaie 1 and Nyaung'gan

Here we begin to investigate prehistoric kinship and social differentiation in ancient Myanmar, through analyses of strontium isotopes in human tooth samples from excavated skeletal remains of 18 individuals from the archaeological sites of Oakaie 1 and Nyaung'gan, in Sagaing Division, central Myanmar. The archaeological deposits at these sites span the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age (approximately 12th to 8th c. BCE). These isotopic data are interpreted in association with bioarchaeological, material culture and stratigraphic data. These preliminary results suggest a differentiation in mean strontium signatures between the sites, which are <3 km apart, but with sex-based patterns within the sites. This indicates kinship was a strong organizing principle, with little long-distance migration, despite apparently considerable long-distance exchange networks active by the early Bronze Age in Myanmar

Late Neolithic to Early-Mid Bronze Age semi-precious stone bead production and consumption at Oakaie and Nyaung'gan in central-northern Myanmar

For many decades, the appearance of semi-precious stone ornaments in Mainland Southeast Asian late prehistoric assemblages was closely associated with external actors: Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia in the case of nephrite, and South Asia in the case of carnelian. Carnelian beads in particular have long been held as a type marker of early contact across the Bay of Bengal, from the mid-late 1st millennium BC. With this paper we demonstrate, from the central-northern Myanmar settlement and cemetery sites of Oakaie and Nyaung'gan, not only the presence of semi-precious stone beads, but also their production during the Late Neolithic to Early-Mid Bronze Age, late 2nd millennium to early-mid 1st millennium BC. We employed the chaîne opératoire technique to establish reliable links between the industrial and funerary evidence, as represented by 489 finished beads and a vast quantity of production debris. The sites in question are chronologically-overlapping and separated by only five kilometres, but such ornaments are found across the region and it is of fundamental importance to provide a solid foundation to expand semi-precious stone ornament studies and unravel the complex networks of social interactions that led to their exchange

Living in the dry zone: Stable isotope insights into palaeodiet in ancient Myanmar

International audienceSoutheast Asia is becoming a region of increasing interest in discussions of past migration, the origins of agriculture, and past impacts of human land-use change on environments. Myanmar, situated at a geographic and cultural crossroads between East, South and Mainland Southeast Asia, is potentially a critical region for exploring these themes. However, direct data relating to subsistence in the region has been lacking. Here, we apply stable carbon and oxygen isotope analysis to tooth enamel from humans and associated fauna to examine the subsistence economy of two communities from Myanmar, Oakaie and Nyaung’gan, spanning the transitional period from the late Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (ca. 1300-700BC). Situated within the broader regional and local environmental context, our data demonstrate the δ13C values of the individuals from the communities of Oakaie and Nyaung’gan are significantly higher, and the δ18O values are significantly lower, than individuals from the other sites in Southeast Asia, however, neither are significantly different to the Chinese sites and they overlap broadly with individuals from Mayutian in Southern Yunnan Province. These findings provide a unique insight into the subsistence economy of the ancient inhabitants of the Central Dry Zone of Myanmar

A Partial Prehistory of the Southwest Silk Road: Archaeometallurgical Networks along the Sub-Himalayan Corridor

Historical phenomena often have prehistoric precedents; with this paper we investigate the potential for archaeometallurgical analyses and networked data processing to elucidate the progenitors of the Southwest Silk Road in Mainland Southeast Asia and southern China. We present original microstructural, elemental and lead isotope data for 40 archaeological copper-base metal samples, mostly from the UNESCO-listed site of Halin, and lead isotope data for 24 geological copper-mineral samples, also from Myanmar. We combined these data with existing datasets (N = 98 total) and compared them to the 1000+ sample late prehistoric archaeometallurgical database available from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan. Lead isotope data, contextualized for alloy, find location and date, were interpreted manually for intra-site, inter-site and inter-regional consistency, which hint at significant multi-scalar connectivity from the late second millennium bc . To test this interpretation statistically, the archaeological lead isotope data were then processed using regionally adapted production-derived consistency parameters. Complex networks analysis using the Leiden community detection algorithm established groups of artefacts sharing lead isotopic consistency. Introducing the geographic component allowed for the identification of communities of sites with consistent assemblages. The four major communities were consistent with the manually interpreted exchange networks and suggest southern sections of the Southwest Silk Road were active in the late second millennium bc

Resposta da aplicação do 1-MCP em frutos de mamoeiro 'Golden' em diferentes estádios de maturação Responses of 1-MCP applications in 'Golden' papaya fruits on differents maturation stages

O estudo de fatores que influenciam no processo de amadurecimento é fundamental para o planejamento do processo de comercialização, principalmente em frutos com padrão de respiração climatérico e perecível, como é o caso do mamão. Nesse trabalho, avaliou-se o efeito da aplicação do 1-MCP (1-metilciclopropeno) sobre o amadurecimento de frutos de mamoeiro nos estádios 0; 1 e 2 de maturação. O 1-MCP diminui a produção de etileno (&#8776;79%) e a taxa respiratória (&#8776;45%), principalmente em frutos no estádio 0 de maturação. O uso deste inibidor da ação do etileno retardou a perda de coloração verde da casca dos frutos, principalmente em frutos nos estádios 0 e 1 de maturação. Houve redução na perda de firmeza do fruto e do mesocarpo nos estádios 1 e 2. Entretanto, em frutos no estádio 0 de maturação, a firmeza do mesocarpo manteve-se alta, o que pode comprometer a aceitação destes frutos pelo consumidor. O teor de sólidos solúveis não foi influenciado pela aplicação do 1-MCP. O efeito do 1-MCP na redução da atividade das enzimas PME e PG foi maior em frutos nos estádios 0 e 1 de maturação em comparação a frutos no estádio 2 de maturação. A atividade da PME demonstrou crescente aumento ao longo do período de armazenamento, porém a atividade da PG permaneceu baixa ao longo dos cinco primeiros dias, com aumento posterior. Os resultados mostraram que a PME exerce influência significativa na perda de firmeza da polpa nos primeiros dias, com atuação posterior da PG. O 1-MCP mostrou-se eficiente em retardar o processo de amadurecimento de frutos de mamoeiro, tornando-se mais eficiente quando associado a estádios de maturação iniciais.<br>The study of factors that influence the process of ripening is critical for planning the marketing process, mainly in standard breathing climacteric and perishing fruits, as it is the case of papaya. In this work it was evaluated the effect of the application of 1-MCP (1- methylcyclopropene) in the pattern of fruit ripening of papaya at the maturation stages 0, 1 and 2. The 1-MCP delayed the production of ethylene (&#8776;79%) and the respiratory rate (&#8776;45%) mainly in fruit maturation stages 0. The use of the inhibitor of the ethylene action delayed the degreening of the fruits, especially in fruit maturation stages 0 and 1. With 1-MCP application there was a reduction in loss of flesh and fruit firmness in stages 1 and 2. However, in fruit maturation stage 0, the flesh firmness showed excessively high, which may decrease the acceptance for consumer of these fruits. The solid soluble content was not influenced by the application of the 1-MCP. The effect of 1-MCP in the reduction of the activity of the enzymes PME and PG was bigger in fruit maturation stages 0 and 1 than fruit maturation stage 2. The PME enzyme activity demonstrated an increasing over the shelf life; however, the PG enzyme activity remained low during the first five days of shelf life, increasing later. The results showed that the PME enzyme exerts significant influence on loss of flesh firmness, and the PG acting later. The 1-MCP was effective delaying the process of ripening of papaya fruits being more efficient when associated with initial maturation stages