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During the 4th millennium BC, an intensive artefact circulation system existed among the hunter-gatherer peoples of north-eastern Europe. Along with other goods, ring-shaped ornaments that were mainly made of different kinds of slates or tuffites were commonly distributed. Although commonly referred to as 'slate rings', these ornaments consist mainly of fragments of rings. In this paper, we suggest that the 'slate rings' were never meant to be intact, complete rings, but were instead fragmented on purpose and used as tokens of social relationships relating to the gift-giving system. By refitting artefact fragments together, analysing their geochemical composition, micro details, and use-wear, we were able to prove that these items were not only intentionally fragmented but also likely worn as personal ornaments. Moreover, ED-XRF analysis of 56 of the artefacts showed a correlation between their geochemical characteristics and stylistic detailing, suggesting different production phases or batches. Comparative data analysis confirmed the provenance hypothesis that the majority of the analysed objects, or at least their raw materials, were exported over hundreds of kilometres from the Lake Onega region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Statin use has increased in older age groups, although there is little evidence for the benefits of statin therapy in the elderly, especially in low-risk persons. The aim of this paper is to describe recent trends in the prevalence and incidence of statin use among the Finnish older population, according to the person's estimated cardiovascular (CV) event risk. Methods: We conducted a register study covering the whole community-dwelling population of Finland, aged >70 years in 2000-2008 ( N = 883,051). Data on reimbursed purchases of statins, antidiabetic and CV drugs, and pre-existing CV diseases were retrieved from comprehensive national registers. We stratified each person into low, moderate or high CV risk category, and according to age (70-74, 75-79, and >80 years) and sex. Results: Between 2000 and 2008, the age-sex-standardized prevalence of statin use tripled from 12.2 % to 38.7 % (rate ratio 3.0, 95 % CI 3.0-3.1), and the incidence almost doubled (from 3.7 % to 6.8 %; rate ratio 1.8, 95 % CI 1.8-1.9). The prevalence and incidence of statin use were consistently highest among high-risk persons. The greatest relative increases were observed in persons aged >80 years and in those at low risk; however, the proportion of statin users at low CV risk remained the same (∼7 % of all users). Conclusions: Statin prescribing is shifting towards older age groups. A substantial increase in prevalence and incidence was seen across all risk categories, but the channeling of statin use towards high-risk persons remained unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to model small scale neighbourhood in a house price model by implementing the newest methodology in spatial econometrics. A common problem when modelling house prices is that in practice it is seldom possible to obtain all the desired variables. Especially variables capturing the small scale neighbourhood conditions are hard to find. If there are important explanatory variables missing from the model, the omitted variables are spatially autocorrelated and they are correlated with the explanatory variables included in the model, it can be shown that a spatial Durbin model is motivated. In the empirical application on new house price data from Helsinki in Finland, we find the motivation for a spatial Durbin model, we estimate the model and interpret the estimates for the summary measures of impacts. By the analysis we show that the model structure makes it possible to model and find small scale neighbourhood effects, when we know that they exist, but we are lacking proper variables to measure them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]