Micro‐CT Imaging and Analysis of Enamel Defects on the Early Late Pleistocene Xujiayao Juvenile

Dental pathologies and enamel defects in East Asian hominins have rarely been reported. Here, we systematically document and describe a suite of enamel defects in the Xujiayao juvenile maxilla, an East Asian hominin from the early Late Pleistocene that may represent an unknown hominin lineage. In addition, we determine the chronology of growth disruptions represented by matched linear enamel hypoplasias, evaluate the long‐held hypothesis that the large brownish pit on the I¹ is evidence of dental fluorosis and assess the utility of micro‐computed tomography (micro‐CT) techniques in analyzing enamel defects. With the use of binocular microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and micro‐CT imaging techniques, the Xujiayao teeth were found to exhibit a high number of pit‐form defects seldom seen in the fossil record. By matching the timing of linear enamel hyperplasia across multiple teeth, a minimum of five developmental disruptions were identified, indicating that the Xujiayao juvenile experienced several growth disturbances during its short lifespan. Our SEM and micro‐CT analyses suggest that the large pit on the I¹ is an enamel hypoplasia due to its morphology and pre‐eruptive enamel thinning. It is not a post‐eruptive fluorotic pit, and there is no evidence of chalkiness or opacity associated with dental fluorosis. The micro‐CT technique made it possible to verify the presence of enamel hypoplasia and to more precisely quantify defect dimensions, especially in unerupted teeth and shallow hypoplasias that are difficult to detect by binocular microscopy or SEM. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chinese Indentured Mine Labour and the Dangers Associated with Early 20th Century Deep‐level Mining on the Witwatersrand Gold Mines,South Africa

Trauma analysis in archaeological human remains can aid our understanding of cultural practices, socio‐economic status, environmental and social conditions, and even aspects of a person's occupation. For this reason, fracture patterns and frequencies can be useful in making inferences about the environment people lived and worked in. This is especially true for the 20th century mining industry where unskilled migrant labourers were often subjected to harsh working and living conditions. In this study, the skeletal remains of 36 Chinese indentured mine labourers, who worked and died on the Witwatersrand mines, South Africa, during the period ad 1904–1910, were assessed for evidence of trauma. Historical information suggests that these indentured Chinese labourers were unfamiliar with the workings of deep‐level mines and as a result sustained many work‐related injuries. Analyses suggest low frequencies of ante‐mortem trauma. In the few instances where they occurred, these healed fractures most probably reflect injuries already sustained in China, some time before Chinese indentured employment on the Witwatersrand mines. A high frequency of traumatic lesions, specifically peri‐mortem fractures, however, suggests a drastic shift in their working environment attesting to the hazardous working conditions associated with deep‐level mining in the early 20th century. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Neonatal Mortality,Young Calf Slaughter and Milk Production during the Early Neolithic of North Western Mediterranean

The North‐Western Mediterranean witnessed a rapid expansion of farmers and their livestock during the Early Neolithic period. Depending on the region, cattle played a more or less important role in these communities; however how these animals were exploited for their milk is not clear. Here we investigate calf mortality to determine indirectly whether cattle dairying was practised by Early Neolithic stock herders. Age‐at‐death (AtD) frequencies for calves from two sites: Trasano (Italy, Impressa culture: 7–6^th millennium BC) and La Draga (Spain, Cardial culture: 6^th millennium BC) were estimated from dental eruption and development stages, and measurements of un‐fused post‐cranial material. Adult age classes are well represented in the dental AtD frequencies and were interpreted as the result of the slaughter of prime beef and retired lactating females. For calves aged less than 12 months, there was no statistical difference in the AtD frequencies based on dental and post‐cranial material indicating that the data is a good representation of the mortality patterns of calves, either natural or deliberate. At both sites there was a strong mortality peak at 3–6 months in all AtD profiles. At La Draga, this peak was clearly differentiated from a peak at 0–1 month, which can be interpreted neonatal mortality possible a consequence of the birthing season coinciding with the end of winter during more humid climatic conditions that at present. The deliberate slaughter peak around 3–6 months is discussed, and we propose that stock herders controlled the mortality of infant classes, possibly in response to variable external environment pressures while maintaining animal productivity. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Observations on the undersurface of the skeletalized human acromion in two populations

In late life, the humeral impingement disorder becomes common due to degenerative changes in the rotator cuff which allow the proximal humerus to press against the acromion in elevation of the arm, so producing facets on the tip region of the subacromial surface and on the lateral margin of the greater tubercle of the humerus. To discover what changes occur prior to those described, 184 acromions below the age of 55 years were examined. During the 18–25 year period, the subacromial surface showed patterns of formation of surface trabeculae of new bone, some associated with union of the epiphysis or with remodelling as a response to the presence of the proximal humerus at a distance of 10–15 mm; others indicated a subacromial attachment of the coraco‐acromial ligament. As early as 30 years of age, flattening of the surface trabeculae of bone was noted in association with compression lipping of the outer margin of the greater tubercle of the humerus, the part that crosses closest to the subacromial surface during elevation of the arm. Although resembling changes found in the impingement disorder, in both populations by the age of 35 years the changes were too common to be so and were not associated with the erosive pitting of the upper surface of the tubercle regarded as the earliest bony criterion of degenerative change in the cuff. It is postulated that, in the normal shoulder joint, in raising the arm, pressure is exerted, perhaps transiently, in the subacromial bursa and adjacent soft tissues which induces the compressive changes described. Probably due to the physically arduous lifestyle of the islanders, these changes occurred earlier among them; so did (but later) cuff degeneration indicated by erosion of the humeral tubercle. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

中共三代领导集体全球战略观的演变

建国以来 ,中共三代领导集体根据国际战略形势的变化发展 ,提出不同时期的全球战略思想 ,毛泽东依据世界格局的变化 ,提出了三个世界理论 ,并从战略高度及时调整了我国的内外政策 ;邓小平分析了当代世界格局的新变动 ,提出了和平与发展是时代主题的理论 ,进一步调整了中国的外交政策 ;江泽民分析了我国改革开放和现代化建设的新国际环境 ,提出了“争取一个长期的和平国际环境”的战略方针 ,开创了面向新世纪的外交新局面。从建国初期的“一边倒”战略到六七十年代的“一条线”战略 ,从“一条线”战略再到 80年代确立的不当头、不结盟的战略方针 ,中共三代领导集体的全球战略观有着内在的密切联系 ,即都始终坚持了独立自主和反对霸权主义 ,维护世界和平的原则立场。表明了中国共产党人深邃敏锐的世界历史眼光和对世界历史进程的自觉把握。     

Lingual cortical mandibular defects (Stafne's defect): an anthropological approach based on prehistoric skeletons from the Canary Islands

While posterior lingual mandibular depressions (Stafne's defect) are often discussed in clinical reports, they are rarely the subject of anthropological research. This situation is paradoxical since osteologists and skeletal biologists are in a position to enhance understanding of the trait's aetiology by systematically recording the trait in recent and prehistoric skeletal collections. This report reviews anthropological studies of cortical defects of the mandible, recommends a protocol for recording observations in trait variation, and presents new data for the prevalence of Stafne's defect—lingual cortical defects of the mandibular corpus. Among the Guanches of Tenerife in the Canary Islands (Spain), the prevalence of lingual cortical defects is 3.32% (15/452), males are more frequently affected than females, and there is a tendency for individuals with antemortem tooth loss to display larger lesions than individuals without antemortem loss of teeth. Defects of the left side are somewhat more variable in position than defects located on the right. In comparative perspective, prevalence of lingual cortical defects among the Guanches is high, given the overall 1.07% prevalence reported for archaeological series (Finnegan & Marcsik,1980), but is similar to figures reported for the Avar period sample from Hungary 3.73%. Prospects for the use of lingual cortical defects as non‐metric traits of value in population distance studies remain uncertain since variation in trait expression may have a high environmental component. However, if human osteologists routinely include observations of lingual mandibular cortical defects in their analysis of skeletal collections, the data required to elucidate factors responsible for the trait's cultural, ecological, temporal and geographical patterning will more rapidly become established. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Building the Reservoir to Nowhere: The Role of Agencies in Advocacy Coalitions

The purpose of the advocacy coalition framework is to explain policy change over time through an examination of the stability of advocacy coalitions within policy subsystems. Recently, scholars have confirmed that advocacy coalitions are held together by shared belief systems, specifically in distributive policy arenas. We contend that federal agencies, in distributive policy arenas, provide both the anchors and support systems for the development and maintenance of belief systems. This anchoring helps provide adequate resources, access to political institutions, ability to control administrative process, and/or the capacity to deliver public goods and services. We conducted an analysis of the policy changes that occurred during the implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act for the construction of the Bureau of Reclamation's Animas‐La Plata project. This is an example where administrators, through the management of information, were able to control the policy process. The analysis provides a needed replication of previous findings regarding policy change and offers new insights into how institutions are critical to subsystem stability over time.     

Sexing cattle horn‐cores: problems and progress

It has long been recognised that cattle horn‐cores are sexually dimorphic, and many methods have been developed using archaeological material for differentiating between specimens belonging to cows, bulls and oxen. Whilst these techniques have been adopted widely by zooarchaeologists, in particular those studying medieval and post‐medieval tannery and horn‐working assemblages, they are highly subjective and their reliability has never been tested using material from cattle of known sex. This paper seeks to redress the balance. It presents the results of a study of 19th and 20th century cattle horn‐cores, from animals of known age, sex and breed, which were examined and measured in order to test the validity of traditional horn‐core sexing techniques. Previously claimed traits of sexual variation are here refuted, and a new metrical threshold for separating the males and females of ‘medium‐horned’ and ‘long‐horned’ types are presented. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Well preserved non‐collagenous extracellular matrix proteins in ancient human bone and teeth

Ancient bones in a good preservation state, ascertained by microscopic techniques, conserve extracellular matrix proteins over thousands of years. With new techniques, intact extracellular matrix proteins from ancient bones and teeth are extracted and separated by one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional electrophoresis. Proteins were identified in Western blots by special antibodies against different human extracellular matrix (ECM) molecules of bone. We have confirmed different types of ECM human bone molecules such as osteonectin, osteopontin, and alkaline phosphatase with specific antibodies in human bone samples from different age groups. Additionally, we selected bone samples from different cultural time periods, such as the Middle Ages, the Bronze Age and the Late Pre‐Pottery Neolithic Phase (PPNB), and teeth from individuals from the Early Middle Ages and from the Late PPNB. The survival of intact extracellular matrix proteins in ancient bones and teeth dating from recent times to the Late PPNB, and reliable techniques to identify these proteins, present a great challenge to further research. A Match Set with PD‐Quest 7.2 shows that only 16% of protein spots in the teeth are also found in the bone of the same individual. In combination with the results of macro‐ and microscopic investigation, biochemical techniques will help us in obtaining a better understanding of bone and teeth in health and disease. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.