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Background: Acute isolated abdominal aortic dissection (IAAD) is a rare condition and treatment recommendations are lacking. Most previous studies included both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. The aims were to determine the proportion of IAAD among patients with acute type B aortic dissection as well as to describe patient characteristics, radiological findings, and frequency of early and late complications and to explore sex differences., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study including all patients hospitalized with acute symptomatic IAAD in Stockholm County during 2012-2021., Results: A total of 277 patients with acute type B aortic dissection were identified, of whom 10% (n = 28/277) had acute IAAD. Median age was 56 years and 43% (n = 12/28) were women. Hypertension was diagnosed in 46% (n = 13/28) prior to admission. At onset, abdominal pain was the predominant complaint (93%, n = 26/28) and 93% (n = 26/28) were hypertensive on admission. The suprarenal aorta was involved in 39% (n = 11/28) and at least 1 of the iliac arteries in 50% (n = 14/28). All but 1 patient had uncomplicated IAAD (96%, n = 27/28). One patient presented with aortic rupture, treated with open surgical repair. Among patients with primarily uncomplicated IAAD, 7% eventually developed chronic complications (n = 2/27). Median maximum aortic diameter at 1-year follow-up was 21 mm (interquartile range 17-28). Only 1 patient had an aortic diameter exceeding 30 mm. None of the patients died during follow-up; median follow-up was 3.0 years (interquartile range 2-8)., Conclusions: Early and late complications are rare in patients with acute symptomatic IAAD and a conservative approach with antihypertensive treatment and surveillance in uncomplicated cases seems reasonable., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

With the Neolithic transition, human lifestyle shifted from hunting and gathering to farming. This change altered subsistence patterns, cultural expression, and population structures as shown by the archaeological/zooarchaeological record, as well as by stable isotope and ancient DNA data. Here, we used metagenomic data to analyse if the transitions also impacted the microbiome composition in 25 Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-gatherers and 13 Neolithic farmers from several Scandinavian Stone Age cultural contexts. Salmonella enterica, a bacterium that may have been the cause of death for the infected individuals, was found in two Neolithic samples from Battle Axe culture contexts. Several species of the bacterial genus Yersinia were found in Neolithic individuals from Funnel Beaker culture contexts as well as from later Neolithic context. Transmission of e.g. Y. enterocolitica may have been facilitated by the denser populations in agricultural contexts., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

We investigate a 2,000-year genetic transect through Scandinavia spanning the Iron Age to the present, based on 48 new and 249 published ancient genomes and genotypes from 16,638 modern individuals. We find regional variation in the timing and magnitude of gene flow from three sources: the eastern Baltic, the British-Irish Isles, and southern Europe. British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia from the Viking period, whereas eastern Baltic ancestry is more localized to Gotland and central Sweden. In some regions, a drop in current levels of external ancestry suggests that ancient immigrants contributed proportionately less to the modern Scandinavian gene pool than indicated by the ancestry of genomes from the Viking and Medieval periods. Finally, we show that a north-south genetic cline that characterizes modern Scandinavians is mainly due to the differential levels of Uralic ancestry and that this cline existed in the Viking Age and possibly earlier., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests A.H., K.H.S.M., K.S., and S.S.E. are employees of deCODE genetics., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Due to the marine reservoir effect, radiocarbon dates of marine samples require a correction. Marine reservoir effects, however, may vary among different marine species within a given body of water. Factors such as diet, feeding depth and migratory behaviour all affect the 14 C date of a marine organism. Moreover, there is often significant variation within single marine species. Whilst the careful consideration of the Δ R values of a single marine species in a given location is important, so too is the full range of Δ R values within an ecosystem. This paper illustrates this point, using a sample pairing method to estimate the reservoir effects in 17 marine samples, of eight different species, from the archaeological site of Ekven (Eastern Chukotka, Siberia). An OxCal model is used to assess the strength of these estimates. The marine reservoir effects of samples passing the model range from Δ R (Marine20) = 136 ± 41-Δ R  = 460 ± 40. Marine reservoir effect estimates of these samples and other published samples are used to explore variability in the wider Bering Strait region. The archaeological implications of this variability are also discussed. The calibrating of 14 C dates from human bone collagen, for example, could be improved by applying a dietary relevant marine reservoir effect correction. For humans from the site of Ekven, a Δ R (Marine20) correction of 289 ± 124 years or reservoir age correction of 842 ± 123 years is suggested., (© The Author(s) 2021.)

Analyzing the δ 2 H values in individual amino acids of proteins extracted from vertebrates, we unexpectedly found in some samples, notably bone collagen from seals, more than twice as much deuterium in proline and hydroxyproline residues than in seawater. This corresponds to at least 4 times higher δ 2 H than in any previously reported biogenic sample. We ruled out diet as a plausible mechanism for such anomalous enrichment. This finding puts into question the old adage that "you are what you eat".