Prehistoric trans-continental cultural exchange in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China

We report dozens of direct radiocarbon dates on charred grains from 22 archaeological sites of the Neolithic and Bronze Ages in the Hexi Corridor, northwest China, a key region for trans-Eurasian exchange in prehistoric and historical times. These charred grains include remains of wheat and barley domesticated in southwest Asia and broomcorn and foxtail millet which originated from north China. Together with previously published radiocarbon dates, we consider these newly obtained radiocarbon results in the context of material cultures associated with them, to explore an episode of trans-continental cultural exchange foci at the Hexi Corridor. Our results show that millet cultivators who used painted potteries from the western Loess Plateau first settled the Hexi Corridor around 4800 BP. Communities who cultivated wheat and barley moved into this region from the west around 4000 BP, bringing with them technologies and materials not seen in central China before, including bronze metallurgy, mud bricks, and mace heads. This was part of the east-west contact which became evident in the Hexi Corridor since the late fifth millennium BP, and continued over the subsequent two millennia, and predated the formation of the overland Silk Road in the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220)

The genetic architecture of membranous nephropathy and its potential to improve non-invasive diagnosis

Membranous Nephropathy (MN) is a rare autoimmune cause of kidney failure. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for primary MN in 3,782 cases and 9,038 controls of East Asian and European ancestries. We discover two previously unreported loci, NFKB1 (rs230540, OR = 1.25, P = 3.4 × 10−12) and IRF4 (rs9405192, OR = 1.29, P = 1.4 × 10−14), fine-map the PLA2R1 locus (rs17831251, OR = 2.25, P = 4.7 × 10−103) and report ancestry-specific effects of three classical HLA alleles: DRB1*1501 in East Asians (OR = 3.81, P = 2.0 × 10−49), DQA1*0501 in Europeans (OR = 2.88, P = 5.7 × 10−93), and DRB1*0301 in both ethnicities (OR = 3.50, P = 9.2 × 10−23 and OR = 3.39, P = 5.2 × 10−82, respectively). GWAS loci explain 32% of disease risk in East Asians and 25% in Europeans, and correctly re-classify 20–37% of the cases in validation cohorts that are antibody-negative by the serum anti-PLA2R ELISA diagnostic test. Our findings highlight an unusual genetic architecture of MN, with four loci and their interactions accounting for nearly one-third of the disease risk

The genetic architecture of membranous nephropathy and its potential to improve non-invasive diagnosis

Membranous Nephropathy (MN) is a rare autoimmune cause of kidney failure. Here we report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for primary MN in 3,782 cases and 9,038 controls of East Asian and European ancestries. We discover two previously unreported loci, NFKB1 (rs230540, OR = 1.25, P = 3.4 × 10-12) and IRF4 (rs9405192, OR = 1.29, P = 1.4 × 10-14), fine-map the PLA2R1 locus (rs17831251, OR = 2.25, P = 4.7 × 10-103) and report ancestry-specific effects of three classical HLA alleles: DRB1*1501 in East Asians (OR = 3.81, P = 2.0 × 10-49), DQA1*0501 in Europeans (OR = 2.88, P = 5.7 × 10-93), and DRB1*0301 in both ethnicities (OR = 3.50, P = 9.2 × 10-23 and OR = 3.39, P = 5.2 × 10-82, respectively). GWAS loci explain 32% of disease risk in East Asians and 25% in Europeans, and correctly re-classify 20-37% of the cases in validation cohorts that are antibody-negative by the serum anti-PLA2R ELISA diagnostic test. Our findings highlight an unusual genetic architecture of MN, with four loci and their interactions accounting for nearly one-third of the disease risk

Dietary shift after 3600 cal yr BP and its influencing factors in northwestern China: Evidence from stable isotopes

Human diets rely on natural resource availability and can reflect social and cultural values. When environments, societies, and cultures change, diets may also shift. This study traced the extent of dietary change and the factors influencing such change. Through stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic analysis of late Neolithic and early Bronze Age human and animal bone collagen, we found that significant shifts in human diets were closely associated with intercontinental cultural exchanges in Eurasia and climate change in northwestern China. The isotopic evidence indicated that human diets mainly consisted of C-4 foodstuffs (presumably millet and/or animals fed with C4 foods) around 4000 calibrated years before the present (cal yr BP), corresponding to the flourishing of millet agriculture in the context of the optimal climate conditions of the mid-Holocene. Subsequently, more C-3 foods (probably wheat, barley, and animals fed with C3 foods) were added to human diets post-3600 cal yr BP when the climate became cooler and drier. Such dietary variation is also consistent with the increasing intensity of long-distance exchange after 4000 cal yr BP. While many factors can lead to human dietary shifts (e.g. climate change, population growth, cultural factors, and human migration), climate may have been a key factor in Gansu and Qinghai. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The collapse of the North Song dynasty and the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods : geoarchaeological evidence from northern Henan Province, China

From AD 1048 to 1128, Yellow River flooding killed over a million people, left many more homeless and destitute, and turned parts of the once fertile North China Plain into a silted-up agricultural wasteland. Brought on in part by climate change and the Northern Song dynasty’s (AD 960–1127) mismanagement of the environment, the Yellow River floods likely hastened the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty. Despite the magnitude of this flood event, no sedimentary deposits have yet been linked to these historically recorded floods. In this research paper, we provide archaeological, sedimentary, and radiocarbon evidence of the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods at the Dazhanglongcun, Xidacheng, and Daguxiancun sites in Neihuang County, Henan Province. Based on our data, we argue that the AD 1048–1128 Yellow River floods deposited over 5 m of alluvium on villages in the North China Plain, radically changing both the physical and political landscape of Northern Song dynasty China.NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore)MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)Accepted versio

Ion‐change promoting Co nanoparticles@N‐doped carbon framework on Co2SiO4/rGO support forming “double‐triple‐biscuit” structure boosts oxygen evolution reaction

Abstract Exploring economic and high‐performance electrocatalysts to decrease the overpotential of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and facilitate its reaction kinetics is a frontier subject in line with green energy. Herein, metal‐organic framework (MOF)‐derived Co nanoparticles@N‐doped carbon (Co NPs@N,C) is rationally designed on sandwich‐like cobalt silicate/reduced graphene oxide (Co2SiO4/rGO) support to acquire Co NPs@N,C/Co2SiO4/rGO “double‐triple‐biscuit”‐like structure as enhanced OER electrocatalysts. Co NPs@N,C on Co2SiO4/rGO support optimizes its geometric architecture and introduces new active sites. The “double‐triple‐biscuit”‐like Co NPs@N,C/Co2SiO4/rGO structure achieves excellent OER ability compared with the existing materials based on transition metal silicates (TMSs). The overpotential of 278 mV is achieved at the current density of 10 mA cm−2, and it is prominently higher than Co2SiO4/rGO support (390 mV). This excellent OER activity is rooted in its structural peculiarity, enabling efficient ion and electron transport. Co NPs@N,C are highly dispersed on the Co2SiO4/rGO support, increasing the active sites and avoiding self‐aggregation of Co NPs in the OER process. This work combines the advantages of Co2SiO4/rGO support with the triple biscuits' structure and MOF to implement the preparation of boosted Co NPs@N,C/Co2SiO4/rGO, and it opens a new avenue for designing novel architectures to promote the OER activity of TMSs

In situ confined vertical growth of Co2.5Ni0.5Si2O5(OH)4 nanoarrays on rGO for an efficient oxygen evolution reaction

Rational design of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalysts at low cost would greatly benefit the economy. Taking advantage of earth-abundant elements Si, Co and Ni, we produce a unique-structure where cobalt-nickel silicate hydroxide [Co2.5Ni0.5Si2O5(OH)4] is vertically grown on a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) support (CNS@rGO). This is developed as a low-cost and prospective OER catalyst. Compared to cobalt or nickel silicate hydroxide@rGO (CS@rGO and NS@rGO, respectively) nanoarrays, the bimetal CNS@rGO nanoarray exhibits impressive OER performance with an overpotential of 307 ​mV@10 ​mA ​cm−2. This value is higher than that of CS@rGO and NS@rGO. The CNS@rGO nanoarray has an overpotential of 446 ​mV@100 ​mA ​cm−2, about 1.4 times that of the commercial RuO2 electrocatalyst. The achieved OER activity is superior to the state-of-the-art metal oxides/hydroxides and their derivatives. The vertically grown nanostructure and optimized metal-support electronic interactions play an indispensable role for OER performance improvement, including a fast electron transfer pathway, short proton/electron diffusion distance, more active metal centers, as well as optimized dual-atomic electron density. Taking advantage of interlay chemical regulation and the in-situ growth method, the advanced-structural CNS@rGO nanoarrays provide a new horizon to the rational and flexible design of efficient and promising OER electrocatalysts

Asynchronous Transformation of Cropping Patterns from 5800–2200 cal BP on the Southern Loess Plateau, China

Archaeobotanical studies have largely illuminated spatiotemporal differences in agricultural development across the Loess Plateau. However, the particularities of local agricultural development have not been adequately studied for complex geographical, environmental, and prehistoric contexts. Here, new archaeobotanical data and radiocarbon dating results from 27 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites in Baoji are reported. Combining these data with published archaeobotanical datasets, this study explores shifts (and underlying driving factors) in cropping patterns from the late Neolithic to Bronze Age on the southern Loess Plateau (SLP). Regional geographic, environmental, and climatic factors produced mixed millet-rice agricultural systems in the Guanzhong Plain (GZP) and western Henan Province (WHN) and foxtail and broomcorn millet dry-farming systems in the Upper Weihe River (UWR) from 5800–4500 cal BP. Wheat and barley were added to the agricultural systems of the UWR as auxiliary crops after ~4000 cal BP, while cropping patterns remained largely unchanged in GZP and WHN from 4500–3500 cal BP. Cultural exchanges and technological innovations may have influenced the formation of different agricultural patterns across the three regions (i.e., GZP, WHN, and UWR) from 4500–3500 cal BP. From 3500–2200 cal BP, wheat and barley became increasingly important crops on the SLP, although their importance varied spatially, and rice was rarely cultivated. Spatiotemporal variation in cropping patterns was driven by altered survival pressures associated with climate deterioration and population growth from 3500–2200 cal BP. This process was reinforced by internal social developments, as well as interactions with close northern neighbors, in the Shang-Zhou period