Queen Nefertari, the Royal Spouse of Pharaoh Ramses II: A Multidisciplinary Investigation of the Mummified Remains Found in Her Tomb (QV66)

Queen Nefertari, the favourite Royal Consort of Pharaoh Ramses II (Ancient Egypt, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty c. 1250 BC) is famous for her beautifully decorated tomb in the Valley of the Queens. Her burial was plundered in ancient times yet still many objects were found broken in the debris when the tomb was excavated. Amongst the found objects was a pair of mummified legs. They came to the Egyptian Museum in Turin and are henceforth regarded as the remains of this famous Queen, although they were never scientifically investigated. The following multidisciplinary investigation is the first ever performed on those remains. The results (radiocarbon dating, anthropology, paleopathology, genetics, chemistry and Egyptology) all strongly speak in favour of an identification of the remains as Nefertari’s, although different explanations—albeit less likely—are considered and discussed. The legs probably belong to a lady, a fully adult individual, of about 40 years of age. The materials used for embalming are consistent with Ramesside mummification traditions and indeed all objects within the tomb robustly support the burial as of Queen Nefertari.

Development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for discrimination among isolates of Fusarium proliferatum

The plant pathogen Fusarium proliferatum has a wide host range and occurs worldwide. Many isolates of the fungus produce mycotoxins in plant tissues, which, if ingested, can cause harm to animals and humans. In 2008, an outbreak of salmon blotch of onions, caused by F. proliferatum, was detected in southern Israel. The source and distribution of the fungus in Israel were unknown. Inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) were used to identify repetitive motifs present in seven isolates of F. proliferatum from Israel, Germany and Austria. ISSR repeat motifs were, used to develop 17 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci. Six of these SSR markers were polymorphic in and consistently amplified from ten isolates collected in Israel, Germany, Austria and North America, from cucumber, onion, garlic, maize, and asparagus. These six polymorphic SSR alleles included 5 to 12 copies of di-, tri, and pentanucleotide motifs and yielded six to 9 alleles each. Sixteen of the SSR loci were amplified at least one of the seven Fusarium species, F. verticillioides, F. thapsinum, F. subglutinans, F. andiyazi, F. globosum, F. fujikoroi and F. oxysporum. The data demonstrate that these SSRs can be used for characterization of F. proliferatum isolates from diverse hosts and geographic locations and that they are transferable to other species of Fusarium.

Response of 33 UK patients with infantile-onset Pompe disease to enzyme replacement therapy

BACKGROUND

Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for infantile-onset Pompe disease has been commercially available for almost 10 years. We report the experience of its use in a cohort treated at three specialist lysosomal treatment centres in the UK.

METHODS

A retrospective case-note review was performed, with additional data being gathered from two national audits on all such patients treated with ERT. The impact on the outcome of various characteristics, measured just prior to the initiation of ERT (baseline), was evaluated using logistic regression.

RESULTS

Thirty-three patients were identified; 13/29 (45%) were cross-reactive immunological material (CRIM) negative, and nine were immunomodulated. At baseline assessment, 79% were in heart failure, 66% had failure to thrive and 70% had radiological signs of focal pulmonary collapse. The overall survival rate was 60%, ventilation-free survival was 40% and 30% of patients were ambulatory. Median follow-up of survivors was 4 years, 1.5 months (range 6 months to 13.5 years). As with previous studies, the CRIM status impacted on all outcome measures. However, in this cohort, baseline failure to thrive was related to death and lack of ambulation, and left ventricular dilatation was a risk factor for non-ventilator-free survival.

CONCLUSION

The outcome of treated patients remains heterogeneous despite attempts at immunomodulation. Failure to thrive at baseline and left ventricular dilation appear to be associated with poorer outcomes.

Shedding New Light on the 18th Dynasty Mummies of the Royal Architect Kha and His Spouse Merit

The mummies of Kha and his wife Merit were found intact in an undisturbed tomb in western Thebes near the ancient workers’ village of Deir el-Medina. Previous MDCT (this abbreviation needs spelling out) investigations showed that the bodies of Kha and Merit did not undergo classical royal 18th Dynasty artificial mummification, which included removal of the internal organs. It was, therefore, concluded that the retention of the viscera in the body, combined with an absence of canopic jars in the burial chamber, meant the couple underwent a short and shoddy funerary procedure, despite their relative wealth at death. Nevertheless, all internal organs - brain, ocular bulbs/ocular nerves, thoracic and abdominal organs - showed a very good state of preservation, which contradicts the previous interpretation above. In order to better understand the type of mummification used to embalm these bodies, both wrapped mummies were reinvestigated using new generation X-ray imaging and chemical microanalyses Here we provide evidence that both individuals underwent a relatively high quality of mummification, fundamentally contradicting previous understanding. Elucidated “recipes”, whose components had anti-bacterial and anti-insecticidal properties, were used to treat their bodies. The time and effort undoubtedly employed to embalm both Kha and Merit and the use of imported costly resins, notably Pistacia, do not support the previously held view that the two individuals were poorly mummified. Despite a lack of evisceration, the approach clearly allowed their in situ preservation as well as affording a fairly successful mummification.

Medical management of patients with peripheral arterial disease

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is one of the most frequent manifestations of atherosclerosis and is associated with atherosclerosis in the coronary and carotid arteries, leading to a highly increased incidence of cardiovascular events. Major risk factors of PAD are similar to those that lead to atherosclerosis in other vascular beds. However, there are differences in the power of individual risk factors in the different vascular territories. Cigarette smoking and diabetes mellitus represent the greatest risks of PAD. For prevention of the progression of PAD and accompanying cardiovascular events similar preventative measures are used as in coronary artery disease (CAD). However, recent data indicate that there are some differences in the efficacy of drugs used in the prevention of atherothrombotic events in PAD. Antiplatelet treatment is indicated in virtually all patients with PAD. In spite of the absence of hard evidence- based data on the long term efficacy of aspirin, it is still considered as a first line treatment and clopidogrel as an effective alternative. The new antiplatelet drugs ticagrelol and prasugrel also represent promising options for treatment of PAD. Statin therapy is indicated to achieve the target low density lipoprotein cholesterol level of ≤2.5 mmol/L (100 mg/dL) and there is emerging evidence that lower levels are more effective. Statins may also improve walking capacity. Antihypertensive treatment is indicated to achieve the goal blood pressure (<140/90 mmHg). All classes of antihypertensive drugs including beta-blockers are acceptable for treatment of hypertension in patients with PAD. Diabetic patients with PAD should reduce their glycosylated haemoglobin to ≤7%. As PAD patients represent the group with the highest risk of atherothrombotic events, these patients need the most intensive treatment and elimination of risk factors of atherosclerosis. These measures should be as comprehensive as those in patients with established coronary and cerebrovascular disease.

Primer modification improves rapid and sensitive in vitro and field-deployable assays for detection of high plains virus variants

A high consequence pathogen, High plains virus (HPV) causes considerable damage to wheat if the crop is infected during early stages of development. Methods for the early, accurate, and sensitive detection of HPV in plant tissues are needed for the management of disease outbreaks and reservoir hosts. In this study, the effectiveness of five methods-real-time SYBR green and TaqMan reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), endpoint RT-PCR, RT-helicase dependent amplification (RT-HDA) and the Razor Ex BioDetection System (Razor Ex)-for the broad-range detection of HPV variants was evaluated. Specific PCR primer sets and probes were designed to target the HPV nucleoprotein gene. Primer set HPV6F and HPV4R, which amplifies a product of 96 bp, was validated in silico against published sequences and in vitro against an inclusivity panel of infected plant samples and an exclusivity panel of near-neighbor viruses. The primers were modified by adding a customized 22 nucleotide long tail at the 5' terminus, raising the primers' melting temperature (Tm; ca. 10°C) to make them compatible with RT-HDA (required optimal Tm = 68°C), in which the use of primers lacking such tails gave no amplification. All of the methods allowed the detection of as little as 1 fg of either plasmid DNA carrying the target gene sequence or of infected plant samples. The described in vitro and in-field assays are accurate, rapid, sensitive, and useful for pathogen detection and disease diagnosis, microbial quantification, and certification and breeding programs, as well as for biosecurity and microbial forensics applications.

The Pontin series of recombinant alien translocations in bread wheat: single translocations integrating combinations of Bdv2, Lr19 and Sr25 disease-resistance genes from Thinopyrum intermedium and Th. ponticum

Two bread wheat lines each with a translocation on chromosome 7DL from either Thinopyrum intermedium (TC5 and TC14) or Thinopyrum ponticum (T4m), were hybridized in a ph1b mutant background to enhance recombination between the two translocated chromosomal segments. The frequency of recombinants was high in lines derived from the larger and similar-sized translocations (TC5/T4m), but much lower when derived from different-sized translocations (TC14/T4m). Recombinant translocations contained combinations of resistance genes Bdv2, Lr19 and Sr25 conferring resistance to Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), leaf rust and stem rust, respectively. Their genetic composition was identified using bioassays and molecular markers specific for the two progenitor Thinopyrum species. This set of 7DL Th. ponticum/intermedium recombinant translocations was termed the Pontin series. In addition to Thinopyrum markers, the size of the translocation was estimated with the aid of wheat markers mapped on each of the 7DL deletion bins. Bioassays for BYDV, leaf rust and stem rust were performed under greenhouse and field conditions. Once separated from ph1b background, the Pontin recombinant translocations were stable and showed normal inheritance in successive backcrosses. The reported Pontin translocations integrate important resistance genes in a single linkage block which will allow simultaneous selection of disease resistance. Combinations of Bdv2 + Lr19 or Lr19 + Sr25 in both long and short translocations, are available to date. The smaller Pontins, comprising only 20 % of the distal portion of 7DL, will be most attractive to breeders.