Ankylosis of a knee joint from Medieval London: Trauma, congenital anomaly or osteoarthritis?

Disability and care in Western Europe during Medieval times: A bioarchaeological perspective

This Special Issue has its foundation in presentations delivered in the symposium Disability and Care in Medieval Times: a Bioarchaeological Perspective into Health-related Practices held at the 2019 European Association of Archaeologists conference in Switzerland. It comprises 12 papers, all relevant to aspects of pathology experience and/or care provision in Western Europe during the Early to Late Middle Ages (500 - 1500 CE). Reflecting the 1000 year timespan involved, these papers are characterised by diversity in subject matter and in the lifeways in which they are located, but all contribute to the symposium's primary aim: to demonstrate that our understanding of the Medieval period is enhanced by cross-disciplinary, bioarchaeological research into individual and collective experiences of disability and care. This Introduction provides the background to the 2019 symposium, and briefly discusses the papers contained in the Special Issue which emerged from this.

Inhibition of LINC00958 hinders the progression of osteoarthritis through regulation of the miR-214-3p/FOXM1 axis

OBJECTIVE

We investigated the impact of the long noncoding RNA LINC00958 on cellular activity and oxidative stress in osteoarthritis (OA).

METHODS

We performed bioinformatics analysis via StarBase and luciferase reporter assays to predict and validate the interactions between LINC00958 and miR-214-3p and between miR-214-3p and FOXM1. The expression levels of LINC00958, miR-214-3p, and FOXM1 were measured by qRT-PCR and western blotting. To assess effects on CHON-001 cells, we performed MTT proliferation assays, evaluated cytotoxicity with a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay, and examined apoptosis through flow cytometry. Additionally, we measured the levels of apoptosis-related proteins, including BAX and BCL2, using western blotting. The secretion of inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α) was measured using ELISA.

RESULTS

Our findings confirmed that LINC00958 is a direct target of miR-214-3p. LINC00958 expression was upregulated but miR-214-3p expression was downregulated in both OA cells and IL-1β-stimulated CHON-001 cells compared to the corresponding control cells. Remarkably, miR-214-3p expression was further reduced after miR-214-3p inhibitor treatment but increased following LINC00958-siRNA stimulation. Silencing LINC00958 significantly decreased its expression, and this effect was reversed by miR-214-3p inhibitor treatment. Notably, LINC00958-siRNA transfection alleviated the IL-1β-induced inflammatory response, as evidenced by the increased cell viability, reduced LDH release, suppression of apoptosis, downregulated BAX expression, and elevated BCL2 levels. Moreover, LINC00958 silencing led to reduced secretion of inflammatory factors from IL-1β-stimulated CHON-001 cells. The opposite results were observed in the miR-214-3p inhibitor-transfected groups. Furthermore, in CHON-001 cells, miR-214-3p directly targeted FOXM1 and negatively regulated its expression.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that downregulating LINC00958 mitigates IL-1β-induced injury in CHON-001 cells through the miR-214-3p/FOXM1 axis. These results imply that LINC00958 plays a role in OA development and may be a valuable therapeutic target for OA.

Kinship and the familial occurrence of skeletal developmental anomalies in the noble Swéerts-Sporck family (Bohemia, 17th to 20th centuries)

OBJECTIVE

To determine the degree of similarity of biologically related individuals according to the occurrence of skeletal developmental anomalies (SDA), to see whether these anomalies reflect documented biological relationships.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The sample consists of the skeletal remains of seven members of the noble Swéerts-Sporck family from the 17th-20th centuries. Eighty-nine SDA were examined using morphological assessment, X-ray and CT. The degree of similarity was calculated using a similarity coefficient (Cvrček et al., 2018).

RESULTS

There were three shared SDA in the sample (cranial shift at the C-T border, cervical ribs, hypoplasia of rib 12), and another fifteen individual SDA were reported. The degree of similarity between individuals supports their documented relationships. The greatest similarity was found in closely related individuals such as father/son or siblings, and the least between unrelated individuals.

CONCLUSIONS

SDA can be used as a supportive tool for detecting family relationships. The results correspond to the conclusions of earlier analyses of non-metric traits and frontal sinuses in the same sample: the smaller the biological distance between individuals, the greater the degree of their similarity.

SIGNIFICANCE

Using unique human skeletal collections, this communication contributes to the expansion of knowledge about the familial occurrence of SDA.

LIMITATIONS

The small number of individuals limits the use of statistical approaches.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

The results call for research on this topic using a larger sample with known genealogical data and the same approaches, to confirm our conclusions.