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Mummification is one of the defining customs of ancient Egypt. The nuances of the embalming procedure and the composition of the embalming mixtures have attracted the attention of scientists and laypeople for a long time. Modern analytical tools make mummy studies more efficient. Comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (GCxGC/HRMS) with complementary ionization methods (electron ionization, positive chemical ionization, and electron capture negative ionization [ECNI]) with a Pegasus GC-HRT+4D instrument was used to identify embalming components in the mummy from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts acquired in 1913 in London at the de Rustafjaell sale. The mummy dates back to the late Predynastic period (direct accelerator mass spectrometry-dating 3356-3098 bc), being one of the oldest in the world. The results showed the complexity of the embalming mixtures that were already in use 5000 years ago. Several hundred organic compounds were identified in the mummy samples. Various types of hydrocarbons (triterpanes, steranes, isoprenoid, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) prove the presence of petroleum products. Iodinated compounds detected using ECNI define oils of marine origin, whereas esters of palmitic acid indicate the use of beeswax. The nature of the discovered components of conifer tar proves that the preliminary processing of conifer resins involved heating. GCxGC/HRMS also allowed a number of modern contaminants (phthalates, organophosphates, and even DDT) to be identified. Application of a powerful GCxGC/HRMS technique with complementary ionization methods allowed significant widening of the range of organic compounds used for mummification that could be identified. The complexity of the embalming mixtures supports the hypothesis of the high social status of the child made on the basis of the preliminary study of the mummy.
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The hunting of large whales has shaped the lifeways of many coastal communities for millennia, yet its origins remain debated, often associated with postglacial cultures in Arctic and subarctic regions dating to approximately 3500-2500 years ago. Here, we present evidence that large baleen whales were likely hunted 5000 years ago by Indigenous groups in southern Brazil. We analysed museum collections of cetacean bones and artefacts from archaeological shellmounds, known as sambaquis, in the region of Babitonga Bay. Zooarchaeological, typological, and molecular analyses of bone remains and artefacts indicate that Sambaqui people exploited southern right whales (Eubalaena australis), humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) and dolphins in coastal waters. The abundance of whale bone remains, the presence of specialised marine hunting artefacts, and the importance of whales in funerary contexts are consistent with archaeological and ethnographic evidence of whaling societies. Our results also illuminate species distributions prior to commercial exploitation, providing insights for conservation strategies. Whale exploitation was an element of Indigenous maritime knowledge in southern Brazil long before European contact; an unwritten history preserved in museum collections and in the sambaquis that have survived the impacts of modern human activities.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mental health disorders contribute to significant healthcare expenses. Lifestyle approaches that empower and enable patients to participate in their recovery are needed with the increasing complexity of cardiac patients. Traditional Tamil medical practice of Siddha self-inquiry meditation targets holistic health through intuitive lifestyle transformation. We describe 4 complex cardiac patients who explored Siddha based Hunger Gratitude Experience (HUGE) mindful eating and reported elevated levels of optimism and deeper experience of life as outlined by the 5000-year-old secular Siddha medical tradition. We cannot exclude the role of suggestion and placebo effect in descriptive series. However, the simultaneous improvement in physical health and emotional wellbeing along with demonstrated resilience against unforeseen adversities suggests this is Uvagai, the true essence of Siddha higher consciousness. Uvagai is extreme happiness and may be accessible universally with little formal training and targets positive psychology to improve wellbeing. While flow and bliss states are transient transcendental experiences, Uvagai may be more profound and therapeutic in CVD despite age and comorbidities. Seeking Uvagai can potentially overcome health disparities, including rural, minority, and underprivileged populations for better health. HUGE allows CVD patients to safely engage in Uvagai, experience higher consciousness and intuitively sustain lifestyle transformation.
Research Background. With the enhancement of China's international influence, China has stepped into the international ecological environment in the fields of economy, politics, culture, art, and so on, accompanied by the spread of China's culture and literature. China's 5000-year-old cultural history and artistic characteristics are integrated into the ecological field of the international environment. Research Purpose. The international spread of Chinese literature also has a certain impact on the physical and mental health of teenagers. This paper studies and discusses the impact of international communication of Chinese literature on teenagers' physical and mental health in the digital humanistic environment. Under the development environment of Digital Humanities in China, the impact of Chinese literature on the healthy psychology of teenagers, the impact content, and the characteristics of each were evaluated. Through the comparison of physical and mental health growth of adolescents in different ages, the characteristics of physical and mental health of adolescents are explored. The coupling degree of physical and mental health of adolescents in different development environments is compared and analyzed. Research Results. Through the research, it is found that with the development of Digital Humanities, the spread of Chinese literature with internationalization has a positive impact on the physical and mental health and psychological quality construction of teenagers and plays a promoting role in promoting mental health, increasing personal quality, and improving teenagers' correct values. The various ideological and moral qualities of Chinese literature can play a greater role in helping and growing up the physical and mental health education of young people in the new era and are also the literary value of promoting the quality education of the next generation of young people in the world.
This study aimed to characterize Neolithic human maxillary molars from archeological remains at the Jiaojia site, Shandong, China, and compare their ultrastructural features with sex and age-matched modern locals. Maxillary first (n = 86) and second (n = 80) molars in 5000-year-old individuals (n = 50) from the Jiaojia site were scanned by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Sex and age-matched control groups were assigned from oral surgical patients at Shandong University. Images were analyzed for crown size, root length, root morphology, canal inter-orifice distances, mesiobuccal canal morphology, and second mesiobuccal (MB2) canal prevalence and location. Neolithic and modern values were compared statistically using Chi-squared and Mann-Whitney test at p < .05. Crown and root size were smaller, and canal inter-orifice distances were shorter in Neolithic maxillary molars than their modern counterparts. For mesiobuccal roots, Weine's Type I single canals were the most prevalent in Neolithic and modern first and second molars. MB2 canal prevalence were not significantly different (p > .05) in Neolithic (53.3%) or modern (60.5%) first molars, and Neolithic (11.3%) or modern (21.3%) second molars. But, MB2 prevalence was significantly higher for modern than ancient male first (p = .032) and second (p = .005) molars. Additionally, MB2 were located more mesially and closer to MB1 in Neolithic than modern molars. Maxillary molar root and canal morphology of ancient 5000-year-old remains at the Jiaojia site resemble that of local patients. A trend towards larger tooth size, and more dispersed MB2 canals over this short evolutionary period warrants additional investigation.
Yoga is a 5000-year-old practice developed in ancient India by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. The word yoga means deep association and union of mind with the body. It is used to keep both mind and body in equilibration in all flip-flops of life by means of asana, meditation, and several other techniques. Nowadays, yoga has gained worldwide attention due to increased stress levels in the modern lifestyle, and there are numerous methods or resources for learning yoga. Yoga can be practiced in yoga centers, through personal tutors, and can also be learned on one's own with the help of the Internet, books, recorded clips, etc. In fast-paced lifestyles, many people prefer self-learning because the abovementioned resources might not be available all the time. But in self-learning, one may not find an incorrect pose. Incorrect posture can be harmful to one's health, resulting in acute pain and long-term chronic concerns. In this paper, deep learning-based techniques are developed to detect incorrect yoga posture. With this method, the users can select the desired pose for practice and can upload recorded videos of their yoga practice pose. The user pose is sent to train models that output the abnormal angles detected between the actual pose and the user pose. With these outputs, the system advises the user to improve the pose by specifying where the yoga pose is going wrong. The proposed method was compared to several state-of-the-art methods, and it achieved outstanding accuracy of 0.9958 while requiring less computational complexity.
Migraine is generally recognized as a complex condition, which is often challenging to treat. Patients are often open to novel approaches to understanding why this pain occurs and how to prevent future attacks. Ayurvedic medicine, which is a 5000-year-old healing system, offers additional understanding on this disease by categorizing patients into a unique dosha (mind-body) type. Specific herbals, dietary modifications, and lifestyle changes have been utilized for thousands of years to create balance in the system to improve chronic conditions. Evaluating migraine patients utilizing the Ayurvedic model allows patients and practitioners a further layer of understanding and offers additional treatment options for the patient.
Saddam Hussein's calculated destruction of the marshes of southern Iraq had an overwhelming impact on the marsh ecosystem, the physical environment, and its inhabitants. Hussein succeeded in disrupting the 5000-year-old culture of the Marsh Arabs, severely affecting the health and well-being of this unique culture. Complexity science provides a foundation that supports an appreciation of the effects that changes in environment and climate have on health. Application of a complexity model provides guidance for understanding the intricate networks of connectivity among the components of the ecological system of the marshes of Southern Iraq that is necessary for restoration efforts.
On rare occasion, the body or skeleton of a murder victim may be discovered hundreds of years, or even millennia, after the crime. The murder of the 5000-year-old Stone Age man, found frozen in the ice of the Italian Alps, being the most recent example. In most of these cases too much time has passed to allow the application of modern forensic technology. We describe here a homicide that occurred between 1310 and 1390. The victim died of a crossbow injury, with a bolt passing between the 2nd and 3rd vertebrae, completely transecting the brainstem. The crossbow was, for more than 2 and one half centuries (1200-1460), the weapon of choice in European armies, and its use would not have been unusual. The choice of weapon, and other features of the crime, makes it possible to arrive at some reasonable conclusions about the circumstances of the death.
Bacopa monnieri is a plant used as a nootropic in Ayurveda, a 5000-year-old system of traditional Indian medicine. Although both animal and clinical studies supported its role as a memory enhancer, the molecular and cellular mechanism underlying Bacopa's nootropic action are not understood. In this study, we used deep sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify the transcriptome changes upon Bacopa treatment on SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. We identified several genes whose expression levels were regulated by Bacopa. Biostatistical analysis of the RNA-Seq data identified biological pathways and molecular functions that were regulated by Bacopa, including regulation of mRNA translation and transmembrane transport, responses to oxidative stress and protein misfolding. Pathway analysis using the Ingenuity platform suggested that Bacopa may protect against brain damage and improve brain development. These newly identified molecular and cellular determinants may contribute to the nootropic action of Bacopa and open up a new direction of investigation into its mechanism of action.
Dear Editor, the practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine described psoriasis some 2000 years ago (1). Psoriasis vulgaris is a common, chronic inflammatory skin disease whose worldwide prevalence ranges from 0.1-3% (2,3). Understanding the role of the immune system in psoriasis and the interplay between the innate and adaptive immune system has helped to manage this complex disease, which affects patients far beyond the skin changes themselves (2). In addition to the usual and widely accepted methods of treatment of psoriasis, including topical therapies, phototherapy, and conventional and biological systemic therapies, data can be found in the literature that suggest a favorable effect of acupuncture on the course of psoriasis (4,5). Despite that, this complementary method of traditional treatment of various diseases is not yet widely accepted worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), acupuncture has been an officially recognized method of treatment for more than 50 diseases from 1979 (5). At the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital Center Zagreb, acupuncture has been used since 2011 for the treatment of various types of headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, and spinal pain syndromes. We report the case of a patient with a known history of psoriasis who was treated for chronic migraines with acupuncture. The 49-year-old female patient was examined for headache of a pulsating character that she had had for 16 years. The headache was mainly located on the left side of head and accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and both photophobia and phonophobia, and there was a worsening of symptoms upon exertion. The headaches were occurring once a week with an average duration of 2-3 continuous days. The patient also had frequent mild headaches. Additionally, the patient was diagnosed with psoriasis at the age of 29 and was occasionally treated with phototherapy. Systemic therapy for psoriasis had not been given to the patient thus far. After the clinical evaluation and considering the medical history and clinical findings, the diagnosis of chronic migraine was established and prophylactic therapy with dual antidepressant was introduced. On follow-up examinations, a reduction in the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches was observed. After one year there was a progression of symptoms, and treatments with acupuncture were started. Stainless steel filiform needles of 25 mm in length were inserted perpendicularly into points on the head, arm, and legs and retained for 30 minutes. The treatment was administered once a day for 10 days with an interval of 2-3 days between treatments. The patient showed significant improvement for a period of 6 months after the acupuncture treatment, which is why the treatment with acupuncture was repeated. The patient stated that very soon after the beginning of each acupuncture treatment, she had noticed a significant improvement regarding psoriatic lesions as a "side effect". On the first day of acupuncture, extensive erythematosquamous plaques were noticed on the skin of the dorsum of the feet (Figure 1), palms, and elbows. It is important to emphasize that the patient did not use any specific topical antipsoriatic therapies during the acupuncture treatment, but only bland emollients. During the third week of treatment, a significant improvement was observed, or according to the patient, "she has not had such a good skin for a long time" (Figure 2). The improvement of the clinical status can be explained by overlapping acupuncture points used in the treatment of pain syndromes and psoriasis or to the holistic effect of acupuncture. In recent years, several high-quality evidence-based Western medicine guidelines have been developed for the treatment of psoriasis (6,7). In addition to that modern approach, several studies confirmed the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of psoriasis. The recent review by Coyle et al. (4) indicates promising evidence of the efficacy of acupuncture for psoriasis treatment with an increasing number of people achieving clinical and statistical improvements. Furthermore, Wang et al. (8) have recently published the protocol for a systematic review which aims to assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for patients with psoriasis. In acupuncture, hair-thin needles are inserted into the skin, releasing natural pain killers such as adenosine, endorphins, and serotonin into the body. It is known that patients with psoriatic arthritis can benefit from the treatment. Some patients may be concerned that acupuncture needles could worsen a skin flare-up but an acupuncturist uses sterile needles to prevent any risk to flaring skin. The advantage of acupuncture is that it is a very safe alternative medicine treatment and is not likely to interfere with any existing psoriasis treatment. It is important to note that acupuncture is a 5000-year-old alternative medicine treatment and that it has been officially recognized by the WHO for more than three decades (5). After achieving clinical improvement and regression of psoriatic plaques during the acupuncture for headache, the authors reviewed the literature and found reports about possible benefits of treating psoriasis with acupuncture. Therefore, the purpose of this letter and case study is to raise awareness and inform dermatologists about the different and until now under-explored possibilities of acupuncture in treating psoriasis.
An approximately 5000-year-old mummified human body was recently found in the Tyrolean Alps. The DNA from tissue samples of this Late Neolithic individual, the so-called "Ice Man," has been extracted and analyzed. The number of DNA molecules surviving in the tissue was on the order of 10 genome equivalents per gram of tissue, which meant the only multi-copy sequences could be analyzed. The degradation of the DNA made the enzymatic amplification of mitochondrial DNA fragments of more than 100 to 200 base pairs difficult. One DNA sequence of a hypervariable segment of the mitochondrial control region was determined independently in two different laboratories from internal samples of the body. This sequence showed that the mitochondrial type of the Ice Man fits into the genetic variation of contemporary Europeans and that it was most closely related to mitochondrial types determined from central and northern European populations.
Tropical peatlands cover an estimated 440,000 km2 (~10% of global peatland area) and are significant in the global carbon cycle by storing about 40-90 Gt C in peat. Over the past several decades, tropical peatlands have experienced high rates of deforestation and conversion, which is often associated with lowering the water table and peat burning, releasing large amounts of carbon stored in peat to the atmosphere. We present the first model of long-term carbon accumulation in tropical peatlands by modifying the Holocene Peat Model (HPM), which has been successfully applied to northern temperate peatlands. Tropical HPM (HPMTrop) is a one-dimensional, nonlinear, dynamic model with a monthly time step that simulates peat mass remaining in annual peat cohorts over millennia as a balance between monthly vegetation inputs (litter) and monthly decomposition. Key model parameters were based on published data on vegetation characteristics, including net primary production partitioned into leaves, wood, and roots; and initial litter decomposition rates. HPMTrop outputs are generally consistent with field observations from Indonesia. Simulated long-term carbon accumulation rates for 11,000-year-old inland, and 5000-year-old coastal peatlands were about 0.3 and 0.59 Mg C ha(-1) yr(-1), and the resulting peat carbon stocks at the end of the 11,000-year and 5000-year simulations were 3300 and 2900 Mg C ha(-1), respectively. The simulated carbon loss caused by coastal peat swamp forest conversion into oil palm plantation with periodic burning was 1400 Mg C ha(-1) over 100 years, which is equivalent to ~2900 years of C accumulation in a hectare of coastal peatlands.
While genetic diversity can be quantified accurately from high coverage sequencing data, it is often desirable to obtain such estimates from data with low coverage, either to save costs or because of low DNA quality, as is observed for ancient samples. Here, we introduce a method to accurately infer heterozygosity probabilistically from sequences with average coverage [Formula: see text] of a single individual. The method relaxes the infinite sites assumption of previous methods, does not require a reference sequence, except for the initial alignment of the sequencing data, and takes into account both variable sequencing errors and potential postmortem damage. It is thus also applicable to nonmodel organisms and ancient genomes. Since error rates as reported by sequencing machines are generally distorted and require recalibration, we also introduce a method to accurately infer recalibration parameters in the presence of postmortem damage. This method does not require knowledge about the underlying genome sequence, but instead works with haploid data (e.g., from the X-chromosome from mammalian males) and integrates over the unknown genotypes. Using extensive simulations we show that a few megabasepairs of haploid data are sufficient for accurate recalibration, even at average coverages as low as [Formula: see text] At similar coverages, our method also produces very accurate estimates of heterozygosity down to [Formula: see text] within windows of about 1 Mbp. We further illustrate the usefulness of our approach by inferring genome-wide patterns of diversity for several ancient human samples, and we found that 3000-5000-year-old samples showed diversity patterns comparable to those of modern humans. In contrast, two European hunter-gatherer samples exhibited not only considerably lower levels of diversity than modern samples, but also highly distinct distributions of diversity along their genomes. Interestingly, these distributions were also very different between the two samples, supporting earlier conclusions of a highly diverse and structured population in Europe prior to the arrival of farming.
The cultivation of yeasts from up to 5000-year-old beer vessels in Israel allows insights into early domestication of microbes for food production, but also raises questions about long-term survival of microbes under dormancy or slow growth.
In 5000-year-old premolars from Nubia and in 500-year-old teeth from Greenland, the lead concentrations were very low; modern teeth contained 10-100 times more lead. In contrast, cadmium concentrations varied by 30-fold in the two prehistorical populations; modern-day cadmium levels were in the lower range of this interval. These data suggest that, when compared to preindustrial exposures, the impact of current environmental lead pollution is considerable, while that of cadmium pollution is much less.
The farming way of life originated in the Near East some 11,000 years ago and had reached most of the European continent 5000 years later. However, the impact of the agricultural revolution on demography and patterns of genomic variation in Europe remains unknown. We obtained 249 million base pairs of genomic DNA from ~5000-year-old remains of three hunter-gatherers and one farmer excavated in Scandinavia and find that the farmer is genetically most similar to extant southern Europeans, contrasting sharply to the hunter-gatherers, whose distinct genetic signature is most similar to that of extant northern Europeans. Our results suggest that migration from southern Europe catalyzed the spread of agriculture and that admixture in the wake of this expansion eventually shaped the genomic landscape of modern-day Europe.