PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

What amino acids in shells can tell us about Bronze Age people

2014-06-18
(Press-News.org) A new study by scientists at the University of York has shed new light on the use of mollusc shells as personal adornments by Bronze Age people. The research team used amino acid racemisation analysis (a technique used previously mainly for dating artefacts), light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy, to identify the raw materials used to make beads in a complex necklace discovered at an Early Bronze Age burial site at Great Cornard in Suffolk, UK. They discovered that Bronze Age craftspeople used species like dog whelk and tusk shells, both of which were likely to have been sourced and worked locally, to fashion tiny disc-shaped beads in the necklace. The research is published in PLOS ONE. The researchers included archaeologists, mathematicians, chemists and physicists, the latter from the BioArCh and York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis (YCCSA) and the Departments of Archaeology, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics at the University of York. Dr Sonia O'Connor, of the University of Bradford's Department of Archaeological Sciences, carried out the light and electron microscopy, and prehistoric jewellery specialist Dr Alison Sheridan, of National Museums Scotland, facilitated access to the Great Cornard necklace, which had been excavated by Suffolk Archaeology. When it was first realised that the tiny white beads had been made from shell, the question arose as to its source. Had the shell been obtained locally or did it originate from a species from further afield, perhaps even the Mediterranean thorny oyster (Spondylus)? The Mediterranean thorny oyster is a shell of long-standing symbolic and cultural significance which is known to have been used on the Continent around the time when the Great Cornard necklace was made. But this collaborative research, led by Dr Beatrice Demarchi, of York's Department of Archaeology and BioArCh, and Dr Julie Wilson, of the Departments of Chemistry and Mathematics and YCCSA, has shown this not to be the case, and has suggested an alternative possibility. Dr Demarchi said: "Dog whelks and tusk shells were likely to be available locally so these people did not have to travel far to get hold of the raw materials for their beads. "There is evidence, from elsewhere in Britain and further afield, for the use of tusk shells at various times in the past. This may well be because they are relatively easy to work and their hollow shape is very distinctive." Dr Wilson added: "The statistical analysis used pattern recognition algorithms for taxonomic identification, comparing the composition of the beads with a large database of shell amino acid compositions. Although we cannot know the origin of the beads for certain, our multidisciplinary approach provides additional evidence for the identifications." INFORMATION: This research was possible thanks to funding from the EU FP7 Re(In)tegration grant PERG07-GA-2010-268429 (project: mAARiTIME) and the AHRC/EPSRC Science and Heritage programme, Award AH/H032150/1(Project: Cultural Objects Worked in Skeletal Hard Tissues), with contributions from NERC, the Wellcome Trust, the Leverhume Trust and English Heritage for amino acid analyses, and the Brazilian funding councils CAPES and CNPq for Raman spectroscopy. The team is grateful to all the collaborators who, throughout the years, have submitted their shell samples for analysis at the NEaar laboratory, allowing the amino acid database to be developed.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Brain imaging shows enhanced executive brain function in people with musical training

Brain imaging shows enhanced executive brain function in people with musical training
2014-06-18
BOSTON (June 17, 2014)—A controlled study using functional MRI brain imaging reveals a possible biological link between early musical training and improved executive functioning in both children and adults, report researchers at Boston Children's Hospital. The study, appearing online June 17 in the journal PLOS ONE, uses functional MRI of brain areas associated with executive function, adjusting for socioeconomic factors. Executive functions are the high-level cognitive processes that enable people to quickly process and retain information, regulate their behaviors, make ...

Stress hormone elevation is associated with working memory deficits in aging

2014-06-18
Washington, DC — A new study published in the June 18 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience adds to a body of evidence suggesting stress may accelerate cognitive decline later in life. The study found that aged rats with high levels of the stress hormone corticosterone showed structural changes in the brain and short-term memory deficits. While most people will experience some cognitive decline as they get older, the extent of these changes and how rapidly they progress varies greatly from one person to the next. Scientists are interested in understanding the factors ...

Penn Medicine study shows 'clot-busting' drugs reduce deaths from pulmonary embolism by nearly half

Penn Medicine study shows clot-busting drugs reduce deaths from pulmonary embolism by nearly half
2014-06-17
PHILADELPHIA - Bringing clarity to a decades-long debate, a national team of researchers led by experts from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has found that adding clot-busting medications known as thrombolytics to conventional approaches when treating sudden-onset pulmonary embolism patients is associated with 47 percent fewer deaths than using standard intravenous or under-the-skin anticoagulant medications alone. A pulmonary embolism is a blockage of one or more arteries in the lungs, primarily because of blood clots that travel there ...

Analysis finds mixed results for use of thrombolytic therapy for blood clot in lungs

2014-06-17
In an analysis that included data from 16 trials performed over the last 45 years, among patients with pulmonary embolism, receipt of therapy to dissolve the blood clot (thrombolysis) was associated with lower rates of death, but increased risks of major bleeding and intracranial hemorrhage, according to a study in the June 18 issue of JAMA. The authors note that these findings may not apply to patients with low-risk pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary embolism (PE; a blockage of the main artery of the lung or one of its branches) is an important cause of illness and death, ...

Survey suggests that self-reported health of young adults has improved

2014-06-17
Findings of a large survey indicate that since 2010, when young adults could be covered under their parents' health insurance plans until age 26, self-reported health among this group has improved, along with a decrease in out-of-pocket health care expenditures, according to a study in the June 18 issue of JAMA. Beginning September 23, 2010, the Affordable Care Act allowed young adults to be covered under their parents' plans until 26 years of age. This dependent coverage provision increased insurance coverage and access among young adults. However, little is known about ...

TNF inhibitors for treatment of bowel disease not linked with increased risk of cancer

2014-06-17
In a study that included more than 56,000 patients with inflammatory bowel disease, use of a popular class of medications known as tumor necrosis factor alpha antagonists was not associated with an increased risk of cancer over a median follow-up of 3.7 years, although an increased risk of malignancy in the long term, or with increasing number of doses, cannot be excluded, according to a study in the June 18 issue of JAMA. Tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) antagonists are drugs that have been shown to be beneficial in reducing the inflammation in inflammatory ...

Study compares survival for treatments of uncommon eye cancer

2014-06-17
In patients with advanced uveal melanoma, treatment with the agent selumetinib, compared with chemotherapy, resulted in an improved cancer progression-free survival time and tumor response rate, but no improvement in overall survival, according to a study in the June 18 issue of JAMA. The modest improvement in clinical outcomes was accompanied by a high rate of adverse events. Uveal melanoma arises from melanocytes within the choroid layer of the eye. There are about 1,500 new cases of uveal melanoma per year in the U.S., which is biologically distinct from skin related ...

'Trophy wife' stereotype is largely a myth, new study shows

2014-06-17
Don't be so quick to judge. Most people are familiar with the "trophy wife" stereotype that attractive women marry rich men, placing little importance on their other traits, including physical appearance, and that men look for pretty wives but don't care about their education or earnings. New research, however, by University of Notre Dame Sociologist Elizabeth McClintock, shows the trophy wife stereotype is largely a myth fueled by selective observation that reinforces sexist stereotypes and trivializes women's careers. In "Beauty and Status: The Illusion ...

Move over, silicon, there's a new circuit in town

Move over, silicon, theres a new circuit in town
2014-06-17
When it comes to electronics, silicon will now have to share the spotlight. In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, researchers from the USC Viterbi School of Engineering describe how they have overcome a major issue in carbon nanotube technology by developing a flexible, energy-efficient hybrid circuit combining carbon nanotube thin film transistors with other thin film transistors. This hybrid could take the place of silicon as the traditional transistor material used in electronic chips, since carbon nanotubes are more transparent, flexible, and can be ...

Anonymous peer feedback through social networking helped residents improve their skills

Anonymous peer feedback through social networking  helped residents improve their skills
2014-06-17
Surgical residents who received anonymous feedback from their peers through a social networking site on their robotic surgery skills improved more than those who did not receive any peer feedback on their procedures, UCLA researchers found. The study is the first to examine the use of social networking to facilitate peer review of surgical procedure videos, said senior author Dr. Jim Hu, UCLA's Henry E. Singleton Professor of Urology and director of robotic and minimally invasive surgery in the urology department at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The study ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Exercise as an anti-ageing intervention to avoid detrimental impact of mental fatigue

UMass Amherst Nursing Professor Emerita honored as ‘Living Legend’

New guidelines aim to improve cystic fibrosis screening

Picky eaters by day, buffet by night: Butterfly, moth diets sync to plant aromas

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Leanne Redman honored with the E. V. McCollum Award from the American Society for Nutrition

CCNY physicists uncover electronic interactions mediated via spin waves

Researchers’ 3D-printing formula may transform future of foam

Nurture more important than nature for robotic hand

Drug-delivering aptamers target leukemia stem cells for one-two knockout punch

New study finds that over 95% of sponsored influencer posts on Twitter were not disclosed

New sea grant report helps great lakes fish farmers navigate aquaculture regulations

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

How GPS helps older drivers stay on the roads

Estrogen and progesterone stimulate the body to make opioids

Dancing with the cells – how acoustically levitating a diamond led to a breakthrough in biotech automation

Machine learning helps construct an evolutionary timeline of bacteria

Cellular regulator of mRNA vaccine revealed... offering new therapeutic options

Animal behavioral diversity at risk in the face of declining biodiversity

Finding their way: GPS ignites independence in older adult drivers

Antibiotic resistance among key bacterial species plateaus over time

‘Some insects are declining but what’s happening to the other 99%?’

Powerful new software platform could reshape biomedical research by making data analysis more accessible

Revealing capillaries and cells in living organs with ultrasound

American College of Physicians awards $260,000 in grants to address equity challenges in obesity care

Researchers from MARE ULisboa discover that the European catfish, an invasive species in Portugal, has a prolonged breeding season, enhancing its invasive potential

Rakesh K. Jain, PhD, FAACR, honored with the 2025 AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Deporting immigrants may further shrink the health care workforce

Border region emergency medical services in migrant emergency care

Resident physician intentions regarding unionization

[Press-News.org] What amino acids in shells can tell us about Bronze Age people