Glucocorticoids are beneficial in many muscular dystrophies but they are ineffective in treating dysferlinopathy, a rare muscular dystrophy caused by loss of dysferlin. We sought to understand the molecular basis for this disparity by studying the effects of a glucocorticoid on differentiation of the myoblast cell line, C2C12, and dysferlin-deficient C2C12s. We found that pharmacologic doses of dexamethasone enhanced the myogenic fusion efficiency of C2C12s and increased the induction of dysferlin, along with specific myogenic transcription factors, sarcolemmal and structural proteins. In contrast, the dysferlin-deficient C2C12 cell line demonstrated a reduction in long myotubes and early induction of particular muscle differentiation proteins, most notably, myosin heavy chain. Dexamethasone partially reversed the defect in myogenic fusion in the dysferlin-deficient C2C12 cells. We hypothesize that a key therapeutic benefit of glucocorticoids may be the up-regulation of dysferlin as an important component of glucocorticoid-enhanced myogenic differentiation.

This study investigates the feasibility of using hydrophilic deep eutectic solvent (DES) as green and effective extractant for the extraction and preconcentration of alkyl gallates from vegetable oils. In a typical experiment, 120 µL of choline chloride:ethylene glycol DES was added to 1.0 g of oil sample which was previously diluted with 1 mL of n-hexane. The extraction was accelerated by vortex stirring of the two phases. At this stage, hydrogen bonding interactions between the phenyl hydroxyls of alkyl gallates and chloride anion of choline salt were likely the main forces driving the extraction. After extraction, the analytes in the DES phase were separated and determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The method detection limits for propyl gallate and octyl gallate were 2.1 and 4.6 µg kg -1 , respectively. The precision of the method varied between 4.6-6.4% (intra-day) and 5.4-7.5% (inter-day). The recoveries (accuracies) obtained from spiked vegetable oil samples were in the range of 78-106%.

Many burned skeletal remains have been found in the Çayönü Skull Building. The upper layer yielded 71 skulls and some post-cranial remains which might have been burned during the intentional burning of the building. In the earlier layer BM la, there were also many burned human remains. A burned bone deposit from this layer was studied using taphonomic approach so as to reconstruct the burial phases. It appears that the bones were selected prior to their deposit in the pit ; they were then broken in situ by natural process and finally burned may be due to the burning of the building. Although burned human bones are frequently uncovered at Near Eastern Epipalaeolithic and Neolithic sites, a relation with mortuary practices can rarely be established. The earliest cremations date back to the end of the Neolithic period (Halaf culture) but burned human bones have been uncovered from a number of older sites. Most of them were probably accidentally burned. At a few sites (Kebara, Jerf el Ahmar, Dja' de el Mughara, Aşikh, Nahal Hemar), the burning of the human remains might be connected to mortuary practices. It appears that the practice of plastering skulls during the PPNB period is the only mortuary practice involving fire with certainty, even if indirectly.

The Archaeology Museums of Istanbul have been conducting large-scale rescue excavations at Yenikapi since 2004 within the construction site of the tube-tunnel project to cross the Sea of Marmara. As the site of the res cue excavations is the now filled in ancient Byzantine harbor located within the historic centre of Istanbul, numer ous outstanding finds, among them over 30 Late Roman-Byzantine ships, have been recovered. The recovery of a Pottery Neolithic site that was established prior to the formation of the ancient harbor when Marmara was in lacustrine stage and later inundated with the rise in the level of the sea, was another discovery of prime impor tance. Prehistoric levels yielding assemblages representative of the various stages of the local Neolithic Fikirte pe culture (6500-5600 cal. BC) have also revealed human remains. Even if they are few in number, the diver sity of funerary practices is surprising ranging from simple or multiple, secondary or primary burials to crema tions, the latter being the earliest of its sort yet recovered in Turkey. Moreover, the exceptionally well preserva tion of wood at the site provided ample evidence to reconstruct unexpected funeral practices. The analysis of the cremations is still in process. Seven urns contained remains of adults and immature indi viduals. Burnt human bones were also found into two pits or scattered. Two of the burials are multiple. Burial 1 counts four individuals found all in primary context. Three of them were probably placed simultaneously and the last individual added somewhat later. There are two adults, a woman and probably a man, and two immature aged ofl to 5 years old at the time of the death. Burial 2 comprises two individuals, an adult and an immature. The adult is a female found in a primary burial context. The imma ture belongs also to the category of 1-5 years old at the time of the death and is in a secondary position. It is likely that the immature was buried into this place, then, when the adult has been added, its bones were col lected, put into a pot and left there. The two other burials include one adult each, a male in Burial 3 and a female

Despite the region's complex sociopolitical history and indication for increased genetic diversity over time, we find no evidence for sharp shifts in north Mesopotamian maternal genetic composition within the last 10,000 years.