Culinary continuity in central Japan across the transition to agriculture.

Unlabelled: Rice and millet arrived in Western Japan from Korea around 3,000 years ago and spread eastwards across the archipelago in the next 700 years. However, the extent to which agriculture transformed traditional Jōmon hunter-gatherer-fisher communities is debated. Central Japan is a key area of study as remodelling of radiocarbon dates shows a slowdown in the dispersal rate of rice agriculture in this area.

The impact of farming on prehistoric culinary practices throughout Northern Europe.

To investigate changes in culinary practices associated with the arrival of farming, we analysed the organic residues of over 1,000 pottery vessels from hunter-gatherer-fisher and early agricultural sites across Northern Europe from the Lower Rhine Basin to the Northeastern Baltic. Here, pottery was widely used by hunter-gatherer-fishers prior to the introduction of domesticated animals and plants. Overall, there was surprising continuity in the way that hunter-gatherer-fishers and farmers used pottery.

Chemical analysis of pottery reveals the transition from a maritime to a plant-based economy in pre-colonial coastal Brazil.

Understanding long-term dynamics of past socio-ecological systems is essential for their future management. The southern Atlantic Forest coast of Brazil with its biodiverse littoral zone and artisanal fishing communities, is a priority for conservation. Traditional maritime knowledge is thought to have a deep-history and indeed, marine exploitation can be traced back to the middle Holocene.

Cuisine in transition? Organic residue analysis of domestic containers from 9th-14th century Sicily.

From the 9th to 14th centuries AD, Sicily experienced a series of rapid and quite radical changes in political regime, but the impact of these regime changes on the lives of the people that experienced them remains largely elusive within the historical narrative. We use a multi-faceted lipid residue approach to give direct chemical evidence of the use of 248 everyday domestic ceramic containers from Islamic and post-Islamic contexts in western Sicily to aid our understanding of daily habits throughout this period of political change. A range of commodities was successfully identified, including animal fats, vegetable products, fruit products (potentially including wine) and plant resins.

Stable isotope analyses of amino acids reveal the importance of aquatic resources to Mediterranean coastal hunter-gatherers.

Determining the degree to which humans relied on coastal resources in the past is key for understanding long-term social and economic development, as well as for assessing human health and anthropogenic impacts on the environment. Prehistoric hunter-gatherers are often assumed to have heavily exploited aquatic resources, especially those living in regions of high marine productivity. For the Mediterranean, this view has been challenged, partly by the application of stable isotope analysis of skeletal remains which has shown more varied coastal hunter-gatherer diets than in other regions, perhaps due to its lower productivity.

The transmission of pottery technology among prehistoric European hunter-gatherers.

Human history has been shaped by global dispersals of technologies, although understanding of what enabled these processes is limited. Here, we explore the behavioural mechanisms that led to the emergence of pottery among hunter-gatherer communities in Europe during the mid-Holocene. Through radiocarbon dating, we propose this dispersal occurred at a far faster rate than previously thought.

High-resolution dietary reconstruction of victims of the 79 CE Vesuvius eruption at Herculaneum by compound-specific isotope analysis.

The remains of those who perished at Herculaneum in 79 CE offer a unique opportunity to examine lifeways across an ancient community who lived and died together. Historical sources often allude to differential access to foodstuffs across Roman society but provide no direct or quantitative information. By determining the stable isotope values of amino acids from bone collagen and deploying Bayesian models that incorporate knowledge of protein synthesis, we were able to reconstruct the diets of 17 adults from Herculaneum with unprecedented resolution.

Vaccine Effectiveness Against Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations Among Adults, 2018-2019, US Hospitalized Adult Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network.

We estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) for prevention of influenza-associated hospitalizations among adults during the 2018-2019 influenza season. Adults admitted with acute respiratory illness to 14 hospitals of the US Hospitalized Adult Influenza Vaccine Effectiveness Network (HAIVEN) and testing positive for influenza were cases; patients testing negative were controls. VE was estimated using logistic regression and inverse probability of treatment weighting.

Correction to 'Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter-gatherers'.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192016.

Organic residue analysis shows sub-regional patterns in the use of pottery by Northern European hunter-gatherers.

The introduction of pottery vessels to Europe has long been seen as closely linked with the spread of agriculture and pastoralism from the Near East. The adoption of pottery technology by hunter-gatherers in Northern and Eastern Europe does not fit this paradigm, and its role within these communities is so far unresolved. To investigate the motivations for hunter-gatherer pottery use, here, we present the systematic analysis of the contents of 528 early vessels from the Baltic Sea region, mostly dating to the late 6th-5th millennium cal BC, using molecular and isotopic characterization techniques.

Influence of temperature on the δ C values and distribution of methanotroph-related hopanoids in Sphagnum-dominated peat bogs.

Methane emissions from peat bogs are mitigated by methanotrophs, which live in symbiosis with peat moss (e.g. Sphagnum).

Identification of a xenobiotic as a potential environmental trigger in primary biliary cholangitis.

Background & Aims: Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) is an autoimmune-associated chronic liver disease triggered by environmental factors, such as exposure to xenobiotics, which leads to a loss of tolerance to the lipoic acid-conjugated regions of the mitochondrial pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, typically to the E2 component. We aimed to identify xenobiotics that might be involved in the environmental triggering of PBC.

Methods: Urban landfill and control soil samples from a region with high PBC incidence were screened for xenobiotic activities using analytical, cell-based xenobiotic receptor activation assays and toxicity screens.

Lipid biomarker signatures as tracers for harmful cyanobacterial blooms in the Baltic Sea.

The recent proliferation of harmful cyanobacterial blooms (cyanoHABs) in the Baltic and other marginal seas poses a severe threat for the health of infested ecosystems as e.g. the massive export and decay of cyanobacterial biomass facilitates the spread of bottom water hypoxia.

A mixed-methods feasibility and external pilot study to inform a large pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the effects of surgical wound dressing strategies on surgical site infections (Bluebelle Phase B): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Surgical site infections (SSIs) are common, occurring in up to 25% of > 4 million operations performed in England each year. Previous trials of the effect of wound dressings on the risk of developing a SSI are of poor quality and underpowered.

Methods/design: This study is a feasibility and pilot trial to examine the feasibility of a full trial that will compare simple dressings, no dressing and tissue-glue as a dressing.

Methanotroph-derived bacteriohopanepolyol signatures as a function of temperature related growth, survival, cell death and preservation in the geological record.

Interpretation of bacteriohopanepolyol (BHP) biomarkers tracing microbiological processes in modern and ancient sediments relies on understanding environmental controls of production and preservation. BHPs from methanotrophs (35-aminoBHPs) were studied in methane-amended aerobic river-sediment incubations at different temperatures. It was found that: (i) With increasing temperature (4°C-40°C) a 10-fold increase in aminopentol (associated with Crenothrix and Methylobacter spp.

The Bacteriohopanepolyol Inventory of Novel Aerobic Methane Oxidising Bacteria Reveals New Biomarker Signatures of Aerobic Methanotrophy in Marine Systems.

Aerobic methane oxidation (AMO) is one of the primary biologic pathways regulating the amount of methane (CH4) released into the environment. AMO acts as a sink of CH4, converting it into carbon dioxide before it reaches the atmosphere. It is of interest for (paleo)climate and carbon cycling studies to identify lipid biomarkers that can be used to trace AMO events, especially at times when the role of methane in the carbon cycle was more pronounced than today.

Analysis of non-derivatised bacteriohopanepolyols by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Rationale: Traditional investigation of bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs) has relied on derivatisation by acetylation prior to gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or liquid chromatography/MS (LC/MS) analysis. Here, modern chromatographic techniques (ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)) and new column chemistries were tested to develop a method for BHP analysis without the need for derivatisation.

Methods: Bacterial culture and sedimentary lipid extracts were analysed using a Waters Acquity Xevo TQ-S triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in positive ion atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) mode.

A temperate river estuary is a sink for methanotrophs adapted to extremes of pH, temperature and salinity.

River Tyne (UK) estuarine sediments harbour a genetically and functionally diverse community of methane-oxidizing bacteria (methanotrophs), the composition and activity of which were directly influenced by imposed environmental conditions (pH, salinity, temperature) that extended far beyond those found in situ. In aerobic sediment slurries methane oxidation rates were monitored together with the diversity of a functional gene marker for methanotrophs (pmoA). Under near in situ conditions (4-30°C, pH 6-8, 1-15 g l(-1) NaCl), communities were enriched by sequences affiliated with Methylobacter and Methylomonas spp.

Ribosylhopane, a novel bacterial hopanoid, as precursor of C35 bacteriohopanepolyols in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2).

Wild-type Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) produces aminobacteriohopanetriol as the only elongated C35 hopanoid. The hopanoid phenotype of two mutants bearing a deletion of genes from a previously identified hopanoid biosynthesis gene cluster provides clues to the formation of C35 bacteriohopanepolyols. orf14 encodes a putative nucleosidase; its deletion induces the accumulation of adenosylhopane as it cannot be converted into ribosylhopane.

Workshop on immunizations in older adults: identifying future research agendas.

Goals for immunization in older adults may differ from those in young adults and children, in whom complete prevention of disease is the objective. Often, reduced hospitalization and death but also averting exacerbation of underlying chronic illness, functional decline, and frailty are important goals in the older age group. Because of the effect of age on dendritic cell function, T cell-mediated immune suppression, reduced proliferative capacity of T cells, and other immune responses, the efficacy of vaccines often wanes with advanced age.

Oxidative decolorization of acid azo dyes by a Mn oxide containing waste.

A Mn oxide containing mine tailings, generated in the Kalahari Mn fields, has been shown to oxidatively breakdown acid azo dyes acid orange (AO) 7, acid red 88, acid red 151 and acid yellow 36 but not acid yellow 9. The total reducible Mn content of the tailings is 33%, of which 3% is hydroquinone extractable and thus easily reducible. The net oxidation state of the Mn within the tailings is 3+.

Parents with learning disabilities: perceived incidence and needs.

Recent literature and government guidance has highlighted the rights of parents with leaming disabilities and role of services in meeting their needs. In the present study, three focus groups were conducted involving 35 members of community health visiting teams in order to identify estimated incidence and needs of parents with learning disabilities and the needs of services in supporting them. The health visiting teams identified clinically significant numbers of parents with learning disabilities and--through qualitative focus group discussion--suggested a significant need for intervention and support for these parents, greater resources and knowledge within health visiting services, and improved interagency co-ordination and communication.

Safety and immunogenicity of inactivated, Vero cell culture-derived whole virus influenza A/H5N1 vaccine given alone or with aluminum hydroxide adjuvant in healthy adults.

Dosage-sparing strategies, adjuvants and alternative substrates for vaccine production are being explored for influenza vaccine development. We assessed the safety and immunogenicity of a Vero cell culture-grown inactivated whole virus influenza A/H5N1 vaccine with or without aluminum hydroxide adjuvant [Al(OH)(3)] in healthy young adults. Vaccines were well tolerated, but injection site discomfort was more frequent in groups receiving Al(OH)(3).