Archaeological Evidence of Atypical Burials in the Middle Ages

The research into the Medieval necropolises in the territory of present-day Serbia has established a relatively standardized mode of interment of the bodies of men, women, and children. The deceased were laid supine oriented west to east, with their head to the west. This paper addresses the deviations from this practice recorded in the necropolises dated into the period from the 10th to the 15th centuries. The evidence is critically discussed on the individuals oriented contrary to the established standard, the ones buried in the foetal position, the deceased thrown into the burial pit or laid prone, facing downward. The aim of the paper is to raise the question who were these people, deprived of the prescriptive Christian funeral and the adequate treatment of their bodies in death. The research is based on the precept that there is a correlation between the persons laid in extraordinary positions in their graves, and the outcasts, stigmatized and marginalized individuals. The paper is based upon the theoretical basis that postulates the burial and the treatment of a dead body as the community’s encounter with a social loss and the additional unwanted outcome of death – the cadaver. Additionally, the modes of marginalization and the generation of the marginalized in a society through the deprivation of a decent burial are discussed from various perspectives, starting with the ideas of Robert E. Park, Erving Goffman and Elisa Perego. Regardless of the fact that the phenomenon of the atypically buried individuals has not been duly investigated in the Serbian Medieval archaeology, the analysis of the evidence shows that contexts corresponding to this type are registered at no less than 19 sites. In order to offer a more precise answer to the question which of these individuals have indeed been marginalized and why, it is essential to conduct physical-anthropological analyses, present in only two instances treated here. Considering the quality of the data at the disposal, the paper reaches the conclusion that the individuals laid contrary to the norm (with the exception of children), thrown into the burial pit, or laid prone facing downward, are indeed the marginalized ones. Particularly are indicative the situations where more than one parameter of stigmatization is present in one funerary context. The suggestion is put forward that the flexed individuals laid in foetal position are the ones who could not have been laid prone due to some illness, such as muscular atrophy of paralysis. The extraordinary treatment of some new-borns and children, buried under the stećci, raises the issue of the social position of children in this cultural context. In spite of the limitations of reinterpretation of old evidence, the potential is demonstrated of the research integrating various lines of evidence: archaeological, physical-anthropological, ethnographic, historiographic, and legal-historic.

Surgical site infection in benign abdominal gynaecological surgeries

Background: Surgical site infection is the commonest complication after gynecological surgeries. Limited studies have been done in India to know the magnitude of the problem. This study aims to know the incidence of surgical site infection, analyze the risk factors and identify the causative organisms.Methods: A prospective observational study .All women who underwent abdominal surgeries for benign pathologies in department of obstetrics and gynecology, Government medical college, Thrissur from April 2016 to March 2017, were included in the study women more than 80 years old, evidence of infection preoperative or within 48 hours of surgery, laparoscopy procedures unless combined with open surgeries and emergency surgeries were excluded.Results: The incidence of SSI was found to be 7.9%. Re suturing had to be done in 24 patients. The risk factors found to be significant were age more than 50 years ,patients with education <7th std, diabetes, BMI>30,pre hospital stay >10 days, ASA score >3, duration of surgery >2 hours and peri-operative blood transfusion. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common causative organism and was sensitive to amikacin, vancomycin, cloxacillin and its combinations.Conclusions: SSI pose a significant problem in the post operative period that can affect recovery. It was associated with multiple predisposing factors which could be prevented if these risk factors are identified early and appropriate measures are adopted to support host defense system in the peri operative time.

Blowin’ in the Wind

This study provides a critical and interdisciplinary review of the archaeological record of the Aeolian Islands (Italy), from their earliest settlement in the mid-sixth millennium BC (Middle Neolithic) to the establishment of trans-Mediterranean networks at the end of the second millennium BC (Final Bronze Age). We combine archaeological, archaeometric, bioarchaeological and environmental data to explore the interplay between different prehistoric practices and their spatial settings, revisiting old evidence and presenting new data. The resulting picture reveals different levels of interaction and the critical role of these small island communities in establishing and/or facilitating networks at the local and (inter)regional scale. Ceramic networks allow us to trace connections between the islands and their neighbours, underscoring the centrality of the island of Lipari, which is further supported by the spatial analysis of the settlement data, in particular concerning the growing web of intervisibility between contemporary settlements on the Aeolian Islands, Sicily and Calabria. We also highlight significant environmental factors, such as arid phases and volcanic events, and assess their impact in light of the islanders’ responses, underscoring their long-term adaptability to the challenges of insularity. The study is supported by a new and up-to-date database of 50 prehistoric sites, incorporating unpublished results of ongoing archaeological investigations by the authors.

Stable choice coding during changes of mind

How do we choose the best action in a constantly-changing environment? Many natural decisions unfold in dynamic environments where newer observations carry better information about the present state of the world. Recent work has shown that rats can learn to optimally discount old evidence, updating their provisional decision when the environmental state changes. Provisional decisions are thought to be represented in the Frontal Orienting Fields (FOF), but this has only been tested in static environments where the provisional and final decisions are not easily dissociated. Here, we characterize the representation of accumulated evidence in rat FOF during decision-making in a dynamic environment. We find that FOF encodes evidence throughout decision formation with a temporal gain modulation that rises until the period when the animal may need to act. Using a behavioral model to predict the timing of changes of mind revealed that FOF neurons respond rapidly to these events, representing the new provisional decisions in their firing rates. Our results suggest that the FOF represents provisional decisions even in dynamic, uncertain environments, allowing for rapid motor execution when it is time to act.