Elemental Analysis of Colonial Period Ceramics from Moquegua, Peru

Recent scholarship demonstrates growth in archaeological analysis of Spanish colonial reducciones in Andean South America. Critical to understanding the impact of reducciones on indigenous populations is examining production and circulation of craft goods after Spanish conquest. Because it characterizes the elemental composition of archaeological pottery, Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is an invaluable tool for examining resource procurement and long distance exchange. In this thesis, I report data derived from XRF and LA-ICP-MS analyses of pottery from two sites in the Moquegua Valley, Peru: Torata Alta and Sabaya. Both sites were founded during Inca control of the valley (c. 1450-1535) but were also occupied into the seventeenth century and have strong Spanish colonial components. Comparing the data with an existing ICP-MS database on locally available clays, I examine differential resource procurement as well as access to imported goods among indigenous and Spanish communities in early colonial Moquegua

Stratified analyses refine association between TLR7 rare variants and severe COVID-19

Summary: Despite extensive global research into genetic predisposition for severe COVID-19, knowledge on the role of rare host genetic variants and their relation to other risk factors remains limited. Here, 52 genes with prior etiological evidence were sequenced in 1,772 severe COVID-19 cases and 5,347 population-based controls from Spain/Italy. Rare deleterious TLR7 variants were present in 2.4% of young (<60 years) cases with no reported clinical risk factors (n = 378), compared to 0.24% of controls (odds ratio [OR] = 12.3, p = 1.27 × 10−10). Incorporation of the results of either functional assays or protein modeling led to a pronounced increase in effect size (ORmax = 46.5, p = 1.74 × 10−15). Association signals for the X-chromosomal gene TLR7 were also detected in the female-only subgroup, suggesting the existence of additional mechanisms beyond X-linked recessive inheritance in males. Additionally, supporting evidence was generated for a contribution to severe COVID-19 of the previously implicated genes IFNAR2, IFIH1, and TBK1. Our results refine the genetic contribution of rare TLR7 variants to severe COVID-19 and strengthen evidence for the etiological relevance of genes in the interferon signaling pathway