Late Period (late + period)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Trophy-taking and dismemberment as warfare strategies in prehistoric central California

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
Valerie A. Andrushko
Abstract We document evidence for trophy-taking and dismemberment with a new bioarchaeological database featuring 13,453 individuals from prehistoric central California sites. Our study reveals 76 individuals with perimortem removal of body parts consistent with trophy-taking or dismemberment; nine of these individuals display multiple types of trophy-taking and dismemberment for a total of 87 cases. Cases span almost 5,000 years, from the Early Period (3000,500 BC) to the Late Period (AD 900,1700). Collectively, these individuals share traits that distinguish them from the rest of the population: a high frequency of young adult males, an increased frequency of associated trauma, and a tendency towards multiple burials and haphazard burial positions. Eight examples of human bone artifacts were also found that appear related to trophy-taking. These characteristics suggest that trophy-taking and dismemberment were an important part of the warfare practices of central Californian tribes. Temporally, the two practices soared in the Early/Middle Transition Period (500,200 BC), which may have reflected a more complex sociopolitical system that encouraged the use of trophies for status acquisition, as well as the migration of outside groups that resulted in intensified conflict. Overall, trophy-taking and dismemberment appear to have been the product of the social geography of prehistoric central California, where culturally differentiated tribes lived in close proximity to their enemies. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Application of white-beam X-ray microdiffraction for the study of mineralogical phase identification in ancient Egyptian pigments

JOURNAL OF APPLIED CRYSTALLOGRAPHY, Issue 6 2007
P. A. Lynch
High-brightness synchrotron X-rays together with precision achromatic focusing optics on beamline 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source have been applied for Laue microdiffraction analysis of mineralogical phases in Egyptian pigments. Although this task is usually performed using monochromatic X-ray diffraction, the Laue technique was both faster and more reliable for the present sample. In this approach, white-beam diffraction patterns are collected as the sample is raster scanned across the incident beam (0.8,µm × 0.8,µm). The complex Laue diffraction patterns arising from illumination of multiple grains are indexed using the white-beam crystallographic software package XMAS, enabling a mineralogical map as a function of sample position. This methodology has been applied to determine the mineralogy of colour pigments taken from the ancient Egyptian coffin of Tjeseb, a priestess of the Apis bull dating from the Third Intermediate to Late period, 25th Dynasty to early 26th Dynasty (747 to 600 BC). For all pigments, a ground layer of calcite and quartz was identified. For the blue pigment, cuprorivaite (CuCaSi4O10) was found to be the primary colouring agent with a grain size ranging from ,10 to 50,µm. In the green and yellow samples, malachite [Cu2(OH)2CO3] and goethite [FeO(OH)] were identified, respectively. Grain sizes from these pigments were significantly smaller. It was possible to index some malachite grains up to ,20,µm in size, while the majority of goethite grains displayed a nanocrystalline particle size. The inability to obtain a complete mineralogical map for goethite highlights the fact that the incident probe size is considerably larger than the grain size. This limit will continue to improve as the present trend is toward focusing optics approaching the diffraction limit (,1000× smaller beam area). [source]


Light-induced gene expression of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase during heterotrophic growth in a cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp.

FEBS JOURNAL, Issue 1 2009
PCC 680
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 exhibits light-activated heterotrophic growth (LAHG) under dark conditions with glucose as a carbon source. The light activation is remarkable at a late period of photoautotrophic preculture, such as the late-linear and stationary growth phases. To understand the physiological effects of light irradiation and glucose under LAHG conditions, their effects on the expression of soluble proteins were analyzed by means of 2D-PAGE. Various soluble proteins, which were minimal under photoautotrophic preculture conditions, were observed clearly under LAHG conditions, suggesting that proteins were synthesized actively under these conditions. Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, one of the glycolytic enzymes, was found to be induced under LAHG conditions on 2D-PAGE. The activity of fructose 1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, which had decreased during photoautotrophic preculture, also increased under LAHG conditions, similar to the mRNA level of the encoding gene, fbaA. In addition, we found that a deletion mutant of sll1330, a putative gene containing a helix-turn-helix DNA-binding motif, could not grow under LAHG conditions, whereas it could grow photoautotrophically. The increases in the protein level of FbaA and fbaA gene expression observed in wild-type cells under LAHG conditions were greatly inhibited in the deletion mutant. These results suggest that the regulation of fbaA gene expression by way of sll1330 is one of the important processes in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 under light pulse LAHG conditions. [source]


Morphological development and nutritive value of herbage in five temperate grass species during primary growth: analysis of time dynamics

GRASS & FORAGE SCIENCE, Issue 2 2009

Abstract In a 2-year field experiment, morphological development and measures of the nutritive value of herbage for livestock during primary growth in Meadow foxtail, Tall oatgrass, Cocksfoot, Perennial ryegrass and Yorkshire fog were investigated. All measured variables were affected significantly by both species and sampling date, and their interaction (P < 0·001), in the period of primary growth. Changes with time in mean stage weight for Meadow foxtail and Cocksfoot were different from the other species due to their indeterminate growth habits. Mean stage weight of Tall oatgrass and Yorkshire fog increased more rapidly than that of Perennial ryegrass with time. Changes in mean stage weight with time were described by linear, parabolic and sigmoid relationships. Crude protein (CP) concentration of herbage was higher for Cocksfoot and Meadow foxtail than for Perennial ryegrass. A parabolic relationship of CP concentration with time was typical for all the species. Concentrations of neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) and acid-detergent fibre (ADF) in herbage of the species differed most during the mid-period of primary growth. Their increases with time showed curvilinear (sigmoid and parabolic) relationships. Perennial ryegrass had lower concentrations of both NDF and ADF in herbage than the other species. Differences between the in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility among the grasses increased in mid- and late periods of primary growth. Perennial ryegrass had higher values for in vitro DM digestibility but the difference from other species was small in the early period of primary growth and from cocksfoot in the late period of primary growth. In vitro DM digestibility showed, in most cases, a sigmoid and, in others, a linear decrease with time. Principal component analysis showed that perennial ryegrass and meadow foxtail were the most distinctive of the species in characteristics relating to morphological development and the nutritive value of herbage to livestock. [source]


Stability and optimum polymerized condition of polysiloxane,polyacrylate core/shell polymer

ADVANCES IN POLYMER TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Chengyue Ge
Abstract The stable emulsion of core/shell latex with little coagulum (no more than 0.5% in quality relative to total monomers) has been prepared at low temperature with potassium-persulfate (KPS), sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate (SFS), and 2,2,-azobis(2-(2-imidazolin-2-yl)propane)dihydrochloride (VA-044) as composite initiators by staged emulsion polymerization. Reactive surfactants were used to significantly improve the stability of emulsion. More interestingly, reverse core/shell structure was investigated when the organic silicon was added in the late period of polymerization. The effects of the emulsifier, initiators, dosage of organic silicon, and monomer's content on conversion and graft efficiency were studied in detail. Moreover, the stability of emulsion was investigated by the values of zeta potential (,) and coagulum. More importantly, the thermal performance and stability of PSI/PA composite latex was studied by the glass transition temperature (Tg). The results showed that there are appropriate values for all factors to obtain high conversion, graft efficiency, and excellent stability: The dosage of surfactant was about 0.44 g, the dosage of VA-044 was about 1000 mg kg,1, the dosage of organic silicon was about 15%, and the monomer's content was about 30%. In addition, the introduction of organic silicon improved the Tg. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 29:161,172, 2010; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary. DOI 10.1002/adv.20182 [source]


Weaning pig performance and faecal microbiota with and without in-feed addition of rare earth elements

JOURNAL OF ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY AND NUTRITION, Issue 9-10 2006
M. Kraatz
Summary Two 6-week feeding trials were conducted on a total of 112 newly weaned piglets to examine the recently reported growth promoting effects of dietary rare earth elements (REE) in European pig production. Rare earth element-diets were supplemented with a REE-citrate premix of lanthanum and the light lanthanoides cerium, praseodymium and neodymium at 200 mg/kg for 6 weeks after weaning. Overall for both trials, growth performance of REE-citrate and control fed piglets did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). An early enhancive tendency for REE-citrate in trial 1 (feed conversion ratio, FCR ,3%, p = 0.15) proved irreproducible in trial 2. In the late period of trial 1, in-feed addition of REE-citrate significantly impaired piglet performance (FCR + 8%, p =0.01). A cultivation-independent molecular approach, polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was further applied to assess REE induced alterations in the predominant faecal microbiota from weaning pigs. Calculation of various ecological characteristics does not indicate (p > 0.05) an often discussed selective effect on local microbial composition of dietary REE. [source]


Association of parental pretransplant psychosocial assessment with post-transplant morbidity in pediatric heart transplant recipients,

PEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 5 2006
David Stone
Abstract:, Because parents assume the primary responsibility for providing ambulatory post-transplant care to pediatric patients, pretransplant psychosocial evaluation in these recipients is usually focused on parents rather than on patients themselves. We sought to determine whether pretransplant parental psychosocial evaluation predicts post-transplant medical outcome at current levels of psychosocial support. We compared relative risk (RR) of rejection and hospitalizations (days of all-cause hospitalization) following initial discharge in patients in ,risk' and ,control' groups defined by their pretransplant parental psychosocial evaluation. We also compared the two groups of patients for the proportion of all outpatient trough cyclosporine A (CSA) or tacrolimus (FK) levels that were <50% of the target level (defined as the mid-therapeutic range level). There were seven patients in the ,risk' group with a median age 0.25 yr (range 0.19,14.7 yr) and total follow up 20.5 patient-yr. There were 21 patients in the ,control' groups with a median age of 2.1 yr (range 0.05,16.2 yr) and total follow up of 71.3 patient-yr. There was no significant difference between the groups in rejection-risk or days of all-cause hospitalization early after transplant (first six months). During the late period (after the first six months), there were 11 rejection episodes in the ,risk' group over 17.4 patient-yr and four rejection episodes in control group over 61.8 patient-yr of follow up. After adjustment for age and race, patients in the ,risk' category had a RR of 3.4 for developing a rejection episode (p = 0.06) and 3.1 for being inpatient (p < 0.001) during the late period. Patients in the risk group were 2.9 times more likely to have subtherapeutic trough levels (<50% target level) of calcineurin inhibitor (CSA or FK) during both early and late periods (p < 0.01 for both periods) after adjustment for patient age and race. We conclude that pretransplant parental psychosocial risk assessment is associated with post-transplant morbidity in children after cardiac transplantation. These patients may benefit from closer outpatient monitoring and a higher level of psychosocial support. [source]


Changes in estrogen receptor alpha expression in the bursa of Fabricius during chick embryonic development

ANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008
Young-Ha SHIN
ABSTRACT Sex steroid hormones have been reported to be modulators that augment or suppress immune functions. Applying estrogen to chick embryos has been reported to influence antibody production after hatching, suggesting that estrogen acts on B cell differentiation and proliferation in the bursa of chick embryos. We previously reported the presence of estrogen receptor , (ER,) in the bursa during the late period of embryogenesis. In the present study we examined the time course of ER, expression in the bursa of chick embryos at the late period of embryogenesis by ER,-messenger RNA (mRNA) expression analysis by reverse-transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using primers for chicken ER,, and immunohistochemistry using an anti-ER antibody. The quantity of ER,-mRNA expressed, estimated from the relative densities of the ER, RT-PCR products to those of ,-actin, changed with time during the late period of embryogenesis (day 10 to day 21). ER,-mRNA expression was observed at all ages examined in the present experiment. The expression increased between day 10 and day 15 of embryogenesis and then the value was decreased between day 15 and day 21 of embryogenesis. The numbers of ER-positive cells in the bursa also changed with time during the late period of embryogenesis (day 14 to day 18). ER-positive cells showed the highest level on day 14 of embryogenesis, and then the value declined. ER-positive cells were observed in lymphoid follicular cells, stromal cells and epithelial cells, and the density of ER-positive cells was highest in epithelial cells among the three cell components of the bursa. The high level of ER expression in the bursa of Fabricius (BF) of chick embryos at the late period of embryogenesis suggests that this stage of embryogenesis is critical in B cell differentiation in the bursa in connection with estrogen effects on antibody production after hatching. [source]


Nonregenerative stimulation of hepatocyte proliferation in the rat: Variable effects in relation to spontaneous liver growth; a possible link with metabolic induction

CELL PROLIFERATION, Issue 5 2000
C. Nadal
Three procedures were used to stimulate hepatocyte proliferation in the rat without reducing liver mass, resulting in a supplementary growth which differs from the regenerative growth observed after loss of liver mass by hepatectomy or toxic necrosis. They were: (a) the ingestion of cyproterone, a cytochrome P450 inducing drug (b) the injection of an irritant which provokes glycogenesis and synthesis of acute-phase proteins (c) the injection of albumin-bound bilirubin leading to elimination of glucuronated bilirubin in bile. This ensuing supplementary growth was studied in the rat under several conditions of hepatic proliferation: 1In normal adult rats, in which hepatocyte proliferation is very low, the effect on proliferation was either weak or undetectable. 2In suckling rats, with a rapid body and liver growth, all the stimulants provoked a synchronized wave of proliferation with a steep increase of the percentage of S-phase hepatocytes from 4.5% in controls to 15,30% in treated rats. This increase was followed by a compensatory period of low proliferation during which a treatment with a second stimulant was much less effective. 3In 2/3 hepatectomized adult rats, the proliferation induced by cyproterone was higher than the spontaneous regenerative proliferation alone and additional to it during all of the regenerative process. The proliferation induced by acute inflammation was competitive with the synchronous spontaneous proliferation during the early period of synchronized proliferation following surgery, suggesting that both are similar acute responses. Differently, during the late period of lower and unsynchronized regenerative proliferation, the proliferation provoked by acute inflammation was additional to the spontaneous one. A stimulation of proliferation by injection of the albumin-bilirubin complex was observed during the late period after 2/3 hepatectomy. The highest level of stimulation occurred when the liver growth and the hepatocyte proliferation were already high. This suggests that these stimulants are not complete mitogenic stimuli and need cofactors which are present during the spontaneous growth or, alternatively, that the effect of stimulants is opposed by an inhibitory mechanism present in the adult rat. [source]


Immunoexpression of Cbfa-1/Runx2 and VEGF in sinus lift procedures using bone substitutes in rabbits

CLINICAL ORAL IMPLANTS RESEARCH, Issue 6 2010
Leandro Soeiro De Souza Nunes
Abstract Objectives: To analyze and compare the expression of core binding factor-1 (Cbfa-1)/Runx2 and vascular endothelium growth factor (VEGF) in sinus lift procedures using bovine hydroxyapatite (HA) and ,-tricalcium phosphate (,-TCP). Material and Methods: Twenty-four male rabbits that had undergone bilateral sinus lift procedures were divided into three groups, according to the sinus filling material: Group 1: autogenous bone graft; Group 2: bovine HA; and Group 3: ,-TCP. All groups were sacrificed after 7, 14, 30 and 60 days, for microscopic, histomorphometry and immunohistochemistry analysis. Results: Microscopic analysis showed a similar bone repair pattern between the tested groups. New bone formation, soft and medular tissue, remaining material or particulate bone graft area were obtained by histomorphometric analysis. After 14 days, statistically significant differences in new bone formation were found between Group 1 (27.76±7.8) and Groups 2 (14.22±3.2) and 3 (11.1±7.7). After 30 days, statistically significant differences (P<0.05) were detected in bone formation between Groups 1 (31.39±36.5) and 2 (14.13±3.2). The last period showed improved bone formation in Group 2. Also, Group 2 showed higher Cbfa-1/Runx2 immunoexpression when compared with Group 3. No remarkable differences were observed in VEGF immunoexpression among groups. Conclusion: Taken together, both biomaterials allowed bone tissue growth in a conductive pattern and did not interfere with bone remodeling in the late period, with a slight improvement in bone tissue formation when using HA, confirmed by marked expression of Cbfa-1 at initial periods. To cite this article: Nunes LSS, De Oliveira RV, Holgado LA, Nary Filho H, Ribeiro DA, Matsumoto MA. Immunoexpression of Cbfa-1/Runx2 in sinus lift procedures using bone substitutes in rabbits. Clin. Oral Impl. Res. 21, 2010; 584,590. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0501.2009.01858.x [source]


The National Trend in Quality of Emergency Department Pain Management for Long Bone Fractures

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 2 2007
PA-C, Tamara S. Ritsema MPH
Background Despite national attention, there is little evidence that the quality of emergency department (ED) pain management is improving. Objectives To compare the quality of ED pain management before and after implementation of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' standards in 2001. Methods The authors performed a retrospective cohort study by using the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1998,2003. Patients who presented to the ED with a long bone fracture (femur, humerus, tibia, fibula, radius, or ulna) were compared. The authors extracted data on patient, visit, and hospital characteristics. The primary outcomes were the proportion of patients who received assessment of pain severity and who received analgesic treatment. Results There were 2,064 patients with a qualifying fracture in the study period, 834 from 1998,2000 and 1,230 from 2001,2003. Compared with the early period, a higher proportion of patients in the late period had their pain assessed (74% vs. 57%), received opiates (56% vs. 50%), and received any analgesic (76% vs. 56%). Patients in the late period had higher odds of receiving any analgesia (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.43) and opioid analgesia (adjusted OR, 1.27) compared with the early period. Patients in the middle age group (adjusted OR, 2.28) or those seen by physician assistants (adjusted OR, 2.05) were more likely, whereas those with Medicaid (adjusted OR, 0.58) and those in the Northeast were less likely, to receive opiates. Conclusions Although the quality of ED pain management for acute fractures appears to be improving, there is still room for further improvement. [source]


Morphological development and nutritive value of herbage in five temperate grass species during primary growth: analysis of time dynamics

GRASS & FORAGE SCIENCE, Issue 2 2009

Abstract In a 2-year field experiment, morphological development and measures of the nutritive value of herbage for livestock during primary growth in Meadow foxtail, Tall oatgrass, Cocksfoot, Perennial ryegrass and Yorkshire fog were investigated. All measured variables were affected significantly by both species and sampling date, and their interaction (P < 0·001), in the period of primary growth. Changes with time in mean stage weight for Meadow foxtail and Cocksfoot were different from the other species due to their indeterminate growth habits. Mean stage weight of Tall oatgrass and Yorkshire fog increased more rapidly than that of Perennial ryegrass with time. Changes in mean stage weight with time were described by linear, parabolic and sigmoid relationships. Crude protein (CP) concentration of herbage was higher for Cocksfoot and Meadow foxtail than for Perennial ryegrass. A parabolic relationship of CP concentration with time was typical for all the species. Concentrations of neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) and acid-detergent fibre (ADF) in herbage of the species differed most during the mid-period of primary growth. Their increases with time showed curvilinear (sigmoid and parabolic) relationships. Perennial ryegrass had lower concentrations of both NDF and ADF in herbage than the other species. Differences between the in vitro dry matter (DM) digestibility among the grasses increased in mid- and late periods of primary growth. Perennial ryegrass had higher values for in vitro DM digestibility but the difference from other species was small in the early period of primary growth and from cocksfoot in the late period of primary growth. In vitro DM digestibility showed, in most cases, a sigmoid and, in others, a linear decrease with time. Principal component analysis showed that perennial ryegrass and meadow foxtail were the most distinctive of the species in characteristics relating to morphological development and the nutritive value of herbage to livestock. [source]


Association of parental pretransplant psychosocial assessment with post-transplant morbidity in pediatric heart transplant recipients,

PEDIATRIC TRANSPLANTATION, Issue 5 2006
David Stone
Abstract:, Because parents assume the primary responsibility for providing ambulatory post-transplant care to pediatric patients, pretransplant psychosocial evaluation in these recipients is usually focused on parents rather than on patients themselves. We sought to determine whether pretransplant parental psychosocial evaluation predicts post-transplant medical outcome at current levels of psychosocial support. We compared relative risk (RR) of rejection and hospitalizations (days of all-cause hospitalization) following initial discharge in patients in ,risk' and ,control' groups defined by their pretransplant parental psychosocial evaluation. We also compared the two groups of patients for the proportion of all outpatient trough cyclosporine A (CSA) or tacrolimus (FK) levels that were <50% of the target level (defined as the mid-therapeutic range level). There were seven patients in the ,risk' group with a median age 0.25 yr (range 0.19,14.7 yr) and total follow up 20.5 patient-yr. There were 21 patients in the ,control' groups with a median age of 2.1 yr (range 0.05,16.2 yr) and total follow up of 71.3 patient-yr. There was no significant difference between the groups in rejection-risk or days of all-cause hospitalization early after transplant (first six months). During the late period (after the first six months), there were 11 rejection episodes in the ,risk' group over 17.4 patient-yr and four rejection episodes in control group over 61.8 patient-yr of follow up. After adjustment for age and race, patients in the ,risk' category had a RR of 3.4 for developing a rejection episode (p = 0.06) and 3.1 for being inpatient (p < 0.001) during the late period. Patients in the risk group were 2.9 times more likely to have subtherapeutic trough levels (<50% target level) of calcineurin inhibitor (CSA or FK) during both early and late periods (p < 0.01 for both periods) after adjustment for patient age and race. We conclude that pretransplant parental psychosocial risk assessment is associated with post-transplant morbidity in children after cardiac transplantation. These patients may benefit from closer outpatient monitoring and a higher level of psychosocial support. [source]