Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of History

The Bronze Age of Eurasia (around 3000–1000 BC) was a period of major cultural changes. However, there is debate about whether these changes resulted from the circulation of ideas or from human migrations, potentially also facilitating the spread of languages and certain phenotypic traits. We investigated this by using new, improved methods to sequence low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia. We show that the Bronze Age was a highly dynamic period involving large-scale population migrations and replacements, responsible for shaping major parts of present-day demographic structure in both Europe and Asia. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesized spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age. We also demonstrate that light skin pigmentation in Europeans was already present at high frequency in the Bronze Age, but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on lactose tolerance than previously thought. An analysis of 101 ancient human genomes from the Bronze Age (3000–1000 bc) reveals large-scale population migrations in Eurasia consistent with the spread of Indo-European languages; individuals frequently had light skin pigmentation but were not lactose tolerant. Was the Bronze Age of a period of major cultural changes because of circulation of ideas or because of large-scale migrations? The authors sequence and analyse low-coverage genomes from 101 ancient humans from across Eurasia to reveal large-scale population migrations and replacements during this time. Analyses indicate that light skin pigmentation was already frequent among Europeans in the Bronze Age but not lactose tolerance, indicating a more recent onset of positive selection on the latter trait than previously believed. The reported findings are also consistent with the spread of Indo-European languages during the Early Bronze Age reported on page 207 of this issue.

. Here, to investigate the cross-continental effects of these migrations, we shotgun-sequenced 317 genomes-mainly from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods-from across northern and western Eurasia. These were imputed alongside published data to obtain diploid genotypes from more than 1,600 ancient humans. Our analyses revealed a 'great divide' genomic boundary extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were highly genetically differentiated east and west of this zone, and the effect of the neolithization was equally disparate. Large-scale ancestry shifts occurred in the west as farming was introduced, including near-total replacement of hunter-gatherers in many areas, whereas no substantial ancestry shifts happened east of the zone during the same period. Similarly, relatedness decreased in the west from the Neolithic transition onwards, whereas, east of the Urals, relatedness remained high until around 4,000 BP, consistent with the persistence of localized groups of hunter-gatherers. The boundary dissolved when Yamnaya-related ancestry spread across western Eurasia around 5,000 BP, resulting in a second major turnover that reached most parts of Europe within a 1,000-year span. The genetic origin and fate of the Yamnaya have remained elusive, but we show that hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region contributed ancestry to them. Yamnaya groups later admixed with individuals associated with the Globular Amphora culture before expanding into Europe. Similar turnovers occurred in western Siberia, where we report new genomic data from a 'Neolithic steppe' cline spanning the Siberian forest steppe to Lake Baikal. These prehistoric migrations had profound and lasting effects on the genetic diversity of Eurasian populations.

BACKGROUND: This study investigates the competence of patients with dementia, depression and schizophrenia to make treatment decisions. The outcome of an objective test instrument is presented and compared with clinical assessment of competence by the attending physician. METHOD: The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool-Treatment (MacCAT-T), a test instrument to assess abilities in different standards of competence, was administered to patients with diagnoses of dementia (N = 31), depression (N = 35) and schizophrenia (N = 43). Statistical significance of group differences in the MacCAT-T results were tested with the chi-square test. The concordance of the test and clinical assessment of competence by the attending physician were evaluated by Cohen's kappa coefficient. RESULTS: Patients with dementia, as a group, showed significantly more often impaired performance than those with schizophrenia who were still more impaired than depressed patients. Patients were classified as impaired or not depending on the standards used. By combination of all standards substantially more patients were classified as impaired than by clinical assessment (67.7 v. 48.4% of patients with dementia, 20.0 v. 2.9% of patients with depression, 53.5 v. 18.4% of patients with schizophrenia). CONCLUSIONS: Using different standards of competence the study showed substantial differences among patients with dementia, depression and schizophrenia. The high proportion of patients identified as incompetent raises several ethical questions, in particular, those referring to the selection of standards or the definition of cut-offs for incompetence. The discrepancy between clinical and formal evaluations points out the influence of the used procedure on competence judgements.

Background: researchers and sponsors increasingly confront the issue of whether participants in a clinical trial should have post-trial access (PTA) to the trial drug. Legislation and guidelines are inconsistent, ambiguous or silent about many aspects of PTA. Recent research highlights the potential importance of systematic reviews (SRs) of reason-based literatures in informing decision-making in medicine, medical research and health policy. PURPOSE: to systematically review reasons why drug trial participants should, or need not be ensured PTA to the trial drug and the uses of such reasons. DATA SOURCES: databases in science/medicine, law and ethics, thesis databases, bibliographies, research ethics books and included publications' notes/bibliographies. Publication selection: a publication was included if it included a reason as above. See article for detailed inclusion conditions. Data extraction and analysis: two reviewers extracted and analyzed data on publications and reasons. RESULTS: of 2060 publications identified, 75 were included. These mentioned reasons based on morality, legality, interests/incentives, or practicality, comprising 36 broad (235 narrow) types of reason. None of the included publications, which included informal reviews and reports by official bodies, mentioned more than 22 broad (59 narrow) types. For many reasons, publications differed about the reason's interpretation, implications and/or persuasiveness. Publications differed also regarding costs, feasibility and legality of PTA. LIMITATIONS: reason types could be applied differently. The quality of reasons was not measured. CONCLUSION: this review captured a greater variety of reasons and of their uses than any included publication. Decisions based on informal reviews or sub-sets of literature are likely to be biased. Research is needed on PTA ethics, costs, feasibility and legality and on assessing the quality of reason-based literature.

Summary Western Eurasia witnessed several large-scale human migrations during the Holocene 1–5 . To investigate the cross-continental impacts we shotgun-sequenced 317 primarily Mesolithic and Neolithic genomes from across Northern and Western Eurasia. These were imputed alongside published data to obtain diploid genotypes from >1,600 ancient humans. Our analyses revealed a ‘Great Divide’ genomic boundary extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers (HGs) were highly genetically differentiated east and west of this zone, and the impact of the neolithisation was equally disparate. Large-scale ancestry shifts occurred in the west as farming was introduced, including near-total replacements of HGs in many areas, whereas no substantial ancestry shifts happened east of the zone during the same period. Similarly, relatedness decreased in the west from the Neolithic transition onwards, while east of the Urals relatedness remained high until ∼4,000 BP, consistent with persistence of localised HG groups. The boundary dissolved when Yamnaya-related ancestry spread across western Eurasia around 5,000 BP resulting in a second major turnover that reached most parts of Europe within a 1,000-year span. The genetic origin and fate of the Yamnaya have remained elusive but we demonstrate that HGs from the Middle Don region contributed ancestry to them. Yamnaya-groups later admixed with individuals associated with the Globular Amphora Culture before expanding into Europe. Similar turnovers occurred in western Siberia, where we report new genomic data from a ‘Neolithic steppe’ cline spanning the Siberian forest steppe to Lake Baikal. These prehistoric migrations had profound and lasting effects on the genetic diversity of Eurasian populations.

Aerogels are open-porous, high-performance thermal insulation materials that can be used for very thin building insulation. So far, the application conditions of these materials and their potential in heritage buildings have not yet been described comprehensively. This review shows the technical properties of commercially available aerogel materials – such as blankets, boards and renders – and their use scenarios in heritage buildings, taking into account the heritage criteria of authenticity, integrity, reversibility and compatibility. Additionally, historic buildings that were refurbished using aerogels are presented. The study by theoretical evaluations and calculated U-values indicates that superinsulating aerogel materials have an exceptional potential in the refurbishment of heritage buildings. The presented examples show the feasibility of refurbishments with aerogel and the resulting improvements in terms of both comfort and thermal properties. Hence, aerogel materials are well suited to be used in preservation of heritage objects according to generally known rules and conditions of heritage preservation, thus contributing to the reduction of energy consumption in the building sector.

Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is a ubiquitous human pathogen associated with a number of conditions, such as fifth disease in children and arthritis and arthralgias in adults. B19V is thought to evolve exceptionally rapidly among DNA viruses, with substitution rates previously estimated to be closer to those typical of RNA viruses. On the basis of genetic sequences up to ∼70 years of age, the most recent common ancestor of all B19V has been dated to the early 1800s, and it has been suggested that genotype 1, the most common B19V genotype, only started circulating in the 1960s. Here we present 10 genomes (63.9-99.7% genome coverage) of B19V from dental and skeletal remains of individuals who lived in Eurasia and Greenland from ∼0.5 to ∼6.9 thousand years ago (kya). In a phylogenetic analysis, five of the ancient B19V sequences fall within or basal to the modern genotype 1, and five fall basal to genotype 2, showing a long-term association of B19V with humans. The most recent common ancestor of all B19V is placed ∼12.6 kya, and we find a substitution rate that is an order of magnitude lower than inferred previously. Further, we are able to date the recombination event between genotypes 1 and 3 that formed genotype 2 to ∼5.0-6.8 kya. This study emphasizes the importance of ancient viral sequences for our understanding of virus evolution and phylogenetics.

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The aim of this study was to psychometrically evaluate the shortened version of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) in Czech adolescents. A nationally representative sample of 4217 adolescents participated in the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. The internal consistency of the SWBS was assessed using Cronbach's alpha (α) and Mean Inter-Item Correlation (MIIC) values. The factor structure was evaluated using principal component analyses. After adjustment, our new seven-item version of the scale supports a two-factorial model of the SWBS with satisfactory internal consistency (α = 0.814, MIIC = 0.379). This version of the SWBS is suitable for measuring spiritual well-being in a secularising environment.

Using structural equation modeling techniques, we evaluated the effect of academic self-concept (ASC) on the development of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and antisocial behaviors in early adolescence. Participants (n = 445) were recruited from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research study. Eligibility was determined by the presence of complete data for the following variables at the specified time periods: reading at age 7, teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 7, self-ratings of ASC at ages 9 and 11, and teacher reports of ADHD and antisocial behaviors at age 13. The results indicated that ASC is an important construct that directly contributes to the development of antisocial behaviors rather than to symptoms of ADHD. The results also indicated that children's early history of behavioral problems and academic performance contribute to the development of a more robust understanding of the impact of ASC on the development of disruptive behaviors in early adolescence.

Summary This article compares theories and social policies of social democrats and other representatives of the left-wing political spectrum in six European countries to explain why, in certain countries such as Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland, weak social groups became the target of illiberal and negative eugenic policy, especially isolation and sterilization, while elsewhere left-wing politicians and theorists were far less radical. One striking feature that emerges is the difference between a communitarian-organic and a class-bound form of socialism. Following Zygmunt Bauman, Michel Foucault, and James C. Scott, the article discerns a first variant of citizenship that is conditional and intended only for those with the right social attitude. Eugenics was perfectly consistent with such a view, since it offered a diagnosis and at the same time a cure. Prominent representatives of this approach were the Webbs in Britain and the Myrdals in Sweden. Such an organic-medical approach was less likely, however, in a more class-dependent variant of socialism embedded in a strong civil society. As long as social democrats and other leftist politicians believed social problems such as inequality and poverty were caused primarily by an unjust capitalist system, there was little cause for a eugenicist solution.

Bell Beaker pottery spread across western and central Europe beginning around 2750 BCE before disappearing between 2200–1800 BCE. The mechanism of its expansion is a topic of long-standing debate, with support for both cultural diffusion and human migration. We present new genome-wide ancient DNA data from 170 Neolithic, Copper Age and Bronze Age Europeans, including 100 Beaker-associated individuals. In contrast to the Corded Ware Complex, which has previously been identified as arriving in central Europe following migration from the east, we observe limited genetic affinity between Iberian and central European Beaker Complex-associated individuals, and thus exclude migration as a significant mechanism of spread between these two regions. However, human migration did have an important role in the further dissemination of the Beaker Complex, which we document most clearly in Britain using data from 80 newly reported individuals dating to 3900–1200 BCE. British Neolithic farmers were genetically similar to contemporary populations in continental Europe and in particular to Neolithic Iberians, suggesting that a portion of the farmer ancestry in Britain came from the Mediterranean rather than the Danubian route of farming expansion. Beginning with the Beaker period, and continuing through the Bronze Age, all British individuals harboured high proportions of Steppe ancestry and were genetically closely related to Beaker-associated individuals from the Lower Rhine area. We use these observations to show that the spread of the Beaker Complex to Britain was mediated by migration from the continent that replaced >90% of Britain’s Neolithic gene pool within a few hundred years, continuing the process that brought Steppe ancestry into central and northern Europe 400 years earlier.

This article examines the potential conflict of interest of underwriters in London's foreign sovereign debt markets prior to the Baring crisis of 1890. We describe the main sources of information for investors concerning Argentina, whose government debt default contributed to Baring's collapse, and compare them with those of the underwriters, particularly Baring's. We then present some empirical evidence using data on bond prices and underwriting fees that demonstrate that Baring did not exploit its information lead to the detriment of investors. Finally, we present historical evidence that shows that Baring foresaw default before markets did and consequently planned a bailout loan that could not be issued due to political instability in Buenos Aires.

Abstract Taking into account the problems in differential diagnosis between lesions caused by the primary osseous tumour myeloma multiplex and the lytic form of metastatic carcinoma even in living patients, several authors of palaeopathological papers have been hesitant in accepting the possibility of distinguishing between the two processes in dry bones. In the light of several newly detected cases of both lesions in material from archaeological sites in central Europe, Egypt and Nubia, several features that might be of use in the separation of both disorders are demonstrated and discussed.

Summary Experimentally it was observed that the dynamic modulus of elasticity calculated from the velocity of stress wave or ultrasonic wave and the density of wood in green condition increased with increasing moisture content. This statement disagrees with the physical meaning of data observed with static tests, namely the decreasing of all mechanical properties of wood with increasing moisture content. To elucidate this discrepancy a simulation procedure was developed to study the effect of free water, present in wood above the fiber saturation point on wave velocity. For this purpose the coefficient k, related to the mobility of free water was defined, as a ratio of free water vibrating simultaneously with water present in cellular wall (k = 0.6 for stress wave velocity and k = 0.7 for ultrasonic velocity). The simulation procedure using corrected values of velocity and density showed that the elastic moduli are relatively constant above the FSP, as all the mechanical parameters determined with static tests.

In the years 1694 to early 1697, cold winters and cool and wet springs and autumns led to extreme famine in northern Europe, particularly in Finland, Estonia, and Livonia. It is estimated that in Finland about 25–33% of the population perished (Jutikkala, 1955; Muroma, 1972), and in Estonia-Livonia about 20% (Liiv, 1938). As far as is known the population disasters associated with the famines of the 1690s in France, Italy, and Scotland; 1816–17 in western Europe; 1845–46 in Ireland; and 1867–68, again in Finland; were all notably smaller than those of Finland, Estonia, and Livonia in 1695–97. A reconstruction is attempted of the coarse features of weather conditions in northern Europe in the years preceding the famine. This is based on previous work by other investigators (especially Jutikkala), and on contemporary documents and literature examined by the present authors. Records indicate that in the absence of an appropriate diet, the population consumed unwholesome and partly or fully indigestible ‘foods’ which led to widespread diseases and epidemics (diarrhea of sorts, including lientery, dysentery, etc.). There were even some cases of cannibalism, The greatest rise in mortality took place in spring and early summer of 1697, when weather conditions were already in the process of improving. Somewhat paradoxically, city residents suffered less than the utterly poor landless peasants and small peasants. Many of the farms were abandoned during the crisis, either through the death of either all or some members of the family concerned, or through migration (where migration included begging). The number of people who turned to begging was massive. The abandoned farms were reoccupied, shortly after the crisis, by landless peasants and by others.

Journal Article The 1941 Galician Deportation and the Kamenets-Podolsk Massacre: A Prologue to the Hungarian Holocaust Get access George Eisen, George Eisen Nazareth College of Rochester geisen1@zimbra.naz.edu Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Tamás Stark Tamás Stark Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Research Centre for Humanities, Institute of History Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Volume 27, Issue 2, Fall 2013, Pages 207–241, https://doi.org/10.1093/hgs/dct023 Published: 01 August 2013

The aim of the present research was to determine chemical elements using the inductive plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) in Estonian archaeological human bones to establish the possible content of the menu in different communities. Among the studied material clear differentiation can be made between the Pärnu cemetery of St John’s church (the cemetery of the Pärnu garrison) from the 16–18th cc. and the Tääksi village cemetery from the 14–18th century. The material from the 12–13th cc. Pada cemetery remains between the two above-mentioned cemeteries concerning the content of the observed elements. The initial data show only the differences of the general trends of the content of chemical elements between the inland and the coastal areas, the village and the town, the higher and the lower social status communities. The contents of chemical elements in the Estonian archaeological bones were similar to the respective contents in Latvia.

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The first case of metastatic carcinoma ever detected in Slovakia comes from a Slavonic cemetery at Borovce, in the district of Piest'any, which is dated from the end of the 8th to the middle of the 12th century AD. The disease afflicted a 50-60-year-old male, buried in a grave from the older phase of inhumation (8th-early 9th century AD). A number of osteolytic metastases were found in all bones of the skull and postcranial skeleton except for the forearms, hands, lower legs, and feet. They were studied macroscopically by standard X-rays, and by scanning electron microscopy and laser scanning confocal microscopy. Analogous finds from Central European countries were also obtained. They are discussed in relation to their chronology, which shows a tendency of increasing occurrence culminating in the Middle Ages. Some demographic and paleopathological characteristics of the burials in the Borovce cemetery are also provided.