Bjerre 7 is a modest Late Bronze Age house in Thy, Denmark. Excellent preservation and full-recovery techniques provided comprehensive evidence of farm self-sufficiency, local exchange, and amber collection for trade. Spatial analyses of ceramics, lithics, plant macrofossils, and amber identified distinctive activity areas at both ends of the house and outside. Routines are discussed for refuse disposal, ceramic use in everyday activities, ad hoc knapping and use of flint tools, plant processing, and amber storage. The household was economically generalized and largely self-sufficient, with limited specialization. Located close to the North Sea, the householders collected raw amber for trade. Metal was obtained from outside for a small-scale, household industry. Although some division of labour is likely, it seems that the whole household engaged in the diverse activities identified on site.

Limited knowledge is available on total fluoride exposure, excretion and retention in infants, despite the first year of human life being the critical period for dental development and risk of dental fluorosis. This study investigated total daily fluoride intake (TDFI), excretion (TDFE) and retention (TDFR) in infants living in fluoridated and non-fluoridated water areas at pre- and post-weaning stages of development. Healthy infants, aged 0–12 months, were recruited and their TDFI (mg/kg body weight (BW) per d), from diet and toothpaste ingestion, was assessed over a 3-d period using a dietary diary and tooth-brushing questionnaire. TDFE (mg/kg BW per d) was estimated by collecting 48-h urine and faeces. TDFR (mg/kg BW per d) was estimated by subtracting TDFE from TDFI. A total of forty-seven infants completed the study: sixteen at pre-weaning and thirty-one at post-weaning stages, with a mean age of 3·4 and 10·0 months, respectively. TDFI was lower in the non-fluoridated area (P<0·001) and at the pre-weaning stage (P=0·002) but higher in formula-fed infants (P<0·001). TDFE was mainly affected by type of feeding, with higher excretion in formula-fed infants (P<0·001). TDFR was lower in the non-fluoridated area (P<0·001) and at the pre-weaning stage (P<0·001) but higher in formula-fed infants (P=0·001). In conclusion, a relatively large proportion of fluoride intake is retained in the body in weaned infants. This is an important consideration in fluoride-based prevention programmes, with goals to maximise caries prevention while minimising the risk of dental fluorosis.

Megalithic or earth-cut chambered tombs containing large numbers of buried individuals are a key feature of the Late Neolithic of northern France. The discovery and analysis of one such tomb at Bury offers an exceptional opportunity to investigate changing burial practices during the fourth and third millennia BC. This was not a static monument: funerary practice changed significantly over time, and several different episodes of mortuary use have been identified. Comparing and contrasting these episodes suggests that there was no substantial change in the local population using the grave, but changes in burial practice reveal a shift towards more selective inclusion. These may reflect broader changes in contemporary society during the third millennium BC.

At a nursing home in France, 1 year after a first case of a cluster of urinary tract infections caused by an extended-spectrum β-lac-tamase-producing strain of Escherichia coli, 9 (22%) of 49 residents were colonized with the outbreak strain. Colonization was associated with poor state of health (P = .04), incontinence (P = .007), and recent treatment with fluoroquinolones and/or cephalosporins (P = .003).

The over-inhibition of thalamic relay cells by hyperactivity of the internal part of the globus pallidus is a cornerstone of the parkinsonian pathophysiology that leads to a distortion of the thalamocortical dynamics called thalamocortical dysrhythmia (TCD). Here, we present the results of the stereotactic pallidothalamic tractotomy (PTT), which interrupts selectively the enhanced pallidal output to the thalamus in a restricted location in the fields of Forel. This operation represents a reactualization of Spiegel's campotomy. PTT was offered to 41 patients (66.1±8.5 years) suffering from chronic, therapy-resistant Parkinson's disease. It was performed bilaterally in 21 patients. Forty patients displayed mixed, i.e. tremulent and akinetic parkinsonian signs, and seven had drug-induced dyskinesias. One patient had only rest tremor. The evaluation was based on the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) scores, comparing the patients' preoperative medicated state with the state at the last postoperative follow-up. We, thus, tested surgical success in terms of superiority to drug treatment. Mean follow-up was 22.4 months with 15 patients followed for >2 years. Mean improvement was 60% (P<0.001) for UPDRS III and 51% (P<0.001) for UPDRS II. Significant improvement (P<0.001) appeared in subscores for tremor (87%), limb akinesia (58%) and axial akinesia (33%). Improvement of postural stability and gait was at the limit of significance (P<0.05). Improvement of hypomimia and hypophonia did not reach statistical significance. Increase of dysarthria was significant (P<0.01). Intake of L-DOPA was reduced significantly and 21 patients were able to stop intake. Median improvement of the Quality of Life score was 67%. Improvement remained, independent of follow-up length. In conclusion, PTT provides a high, stable level of relief to parkinsonian patients whose condition cannot be controlled with pharmacotherapy. The rationale of the surgical therapy is based on a selective extrathalamic regulation of the parkinsonian TCD.

The bchI gene (synonym: chlI), whose product is involved in magnesium chelatase activity, is located in the small single-copy region of the plastid genome of Heterosigma carterae (heterokont alga, Raphidophyceae; formerly named Olisthodiscus luteus). As a unique feature, bchI in H. carterae overlaps an upstream open reading frame (ORF97) of unknown function by 23 base-pairs. Cells contain mRNAs for the full (1.6 kb) cotranscript as well as transcripts for bchI (1.2 kb) and ORF97 (0.4 kb). Transcription initiation in a plastid run on assay of the ORF97/bchI gene cluster is approximately 5-fold higher in cultures sampled in the light versus the dark. In contrast, Northern analysis shows that all three transcripts are in equal abundance at both light and dark sampling times. An antibody raised against a BchI fragment expressed in Escherichia coli recognized a protein of the expected size in the plastid fraction of H. carterae on a Western blot. Analysis of BchI amino acid sequences suggests that the protein may be membrane translocated and could bind ATP. Phylogenetic analysis of bchI sequences documents a deep evolutionary branching between chlorophyll a/b and non-chlorophyll b plastids.