Abstract
We report the detection of a high density of redshift
z
≈ 10 galaxies behind the foreground cluster A2744, selected from imaging data obtained recently with NIRCam on board JWST by three ...programs—GLASS-JWST, UNCOVER, and DDT#2756. To ensure robust estimates of the lensing magnification
μ
, we use an improved version of our model that exploits the first epoch of NIRCam images and newly obtained MUSE spectra and avoids regions with
μ
> 5 where the uncertainty may be higher. We detect seven bright
z
≈ 10 galaxies with demagnified rest frame −22 ≲
M
UV
≲ −19 mag, over an area of ∼37 arcmin
2
. Taking into account photometric incompleteness and the effects of lensing on luminosity and cosmological volume, we find that the density of
z
≈ 10 galaxies in the field is about 10× (3×) larger than the average at
M
UV
≈ −21 ( −20) mag reported so far. The density is even higher when considering only the GLASS-JWST data, which are the deepest and the least affected by magnification and incompleteness. The GLASS-JWST field contains five out of seven galaxies, distributed along an apparent filamentary structure of 2 Mpc in projected length, and includes a close pair of candidates with
M
UV
< −20 mag having a projected separation of only 16 kpc. These findings suggest the presence of a
z
≈ 10 overdensity in the field. In addition to providing excellent targets for efficient spectroscopic follow-up observations, our study confirms the high density of bright galaxies observed in early JWST observations but calls for multiple surveys along independent lines of sight to achieve an unbiased estimate of their average density and a first estimate of their clustering.
Abstract
We present the spectroscopic confirmation of a protocluster at
z
= 7.88 behind the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 (hereafter A2744-z7p9OD). Using JWST NIRSpec, we find seven galaxies within a ...projected radius of 60 kpc. Although the galaxies reside in an overdensity around ≳20× greater than a random volume, they do not show strong Ly
α
emission. We place 2
σ
upper limits on the rest-frame equivalent width <16–28 Å. Based on the tight upper limits to the Ly
α
emission, we constrain the volume-averaged neutral fraction of hydrogen in the intergalactic medium to be
x
HI
> 0.45 (68% C
i
). Using an empirical
M
UV
–
M
halo
relation for individual galaxies, we estimate that the total halo mass of the system is ≳4 × 10
11
M
⊙
. Likewise, the line-of-sight velocity dispersion is estimated to be 1100 ± 200 km s
−1
. Using an empirical relation, we estimate the present-day halo mass of A2744-z7p9OD to be ∼2 × 10
15
M
⊙
, comparable to the Coma cluster. A2744-z7p9OD is the highest redshift spectroscopically confirmed protocluster to date, demonstrating the power of JWST to investigate the connection between dark-matter halo assembly and galaxy formation at very early times with medium-deep observations at <20 hr total exposure time. Follow-up spectroscopy of the remaining photometric candidates of the overdensity will further refine the features of this system and help characterize the role of such overdensities in cosmic reionization.
Leprosy was one of the most outwardly visible diseases in the European Middle Ages, a period during which leprosaria were founded to provide space for the sick. The extant documentary evidence for ...leprosy hospitals, especially in relation to diet, therapeutic, and medical care, is limited. However, human dental calculus stands to be an important source of information as it provides insight into the substances people were exposed to and accumulated in their bodies during their lives. In the present study, microremains and DNA were analysed from the calculus of individuals buried in the late medieval cemetery of St Leonard, a leprosarium located in Peterborough, England. The results show the presence of ginger (Zingiber officinale), a culinary and medicinal ingredient, as well as evidence of consumption of cereals and legumes. This research suggests that affected individuals consumed ingredients mentioned in medieval medical textbooks that were used to treat regions of the body typically impacted by leprosy. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study which has identified Zingiber officinale in human dental calculus in England or on the wider European continent.
Summary The evidence for TB in archaeological human remains for the Old World is reviewed in published and some unpublished sources. The evidence of Pott's disease was considered specific for TB, ...with other bone changes, such as rib lesions, as non-specific. Limitations of the data are discussed. Most evidence for TB comes from skeletons from the northern hemisphere, particularly in Europe in the late Medieval period (12th -16th centuries AD), but there is early evidence in the Near/Middle East and Egypt. Many parts of Africa, Asia and Australasia have very little or no evidence. aDNA analysis has provided data on species and strains of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms affecting people in the past. The extant data suggest the first epidemiological transition (Neolithic agriculture and permanent settlements) led to an increase in TB, with later increases in urban environments of the late Medieval period. A number of causative factors were at play. Future research, particularly using biomolecular analysis, has the potential to further contribute to our understanding of the origin and evolution of TB, thus merging the disciplines of palaeopathology and evolutionary medicine.
Theoretical models suggest that food-related visual attentional bias (AB) may be related to appetitive motivational states and individual differences in body weight; however, findings in this area ...are equivocal. We conducted a systematic review and series of meta-analyses to determine if there is a positive association between food-related AB and: (1.) body mass index (BMI) (number of effect sizes (k) = 110), (2.) hunger (k = 98), (3.) subjective craving for food (k = 35), and (4.) food intake (k = 44). Food-related AB was robustly associated with craving (r = 0.134 (95% CI 0.061, 0.208); p < .001), food intake (r = 0.085 (95% CI 0.038, 0.132); p < .001), and hunger (r = 0.048 (95% CI 0.016, 0.079); p = .003), but these correlations were small. Food-related AB was unrelated to BMI (r = 0.008 (95% CI -0.020, 0.035); p = .583) and this result was not moderated by type of food stimuli, method of AB assessment, or the subcomponent of AB that was examined. Furthermore, in a between-groups analysis (k = 22) which directly compared participants with overweight/obesity to healthy-weight control groups, there was no evidence for an effect of weight status on food-related AB (Hedge's g = 0.104, (95% CI -0.050, 0.258); p = .186). Taken together, these findings suggest that food-related AB is sensitive to changes in the motivational value of food, but is unrelated to individual differences in body weight. Our findings question the traditional view of AB as a trait-like index of preoccupation with food and have implications for novel theoretical perspectives on the role of food AB in appetite control and obesity.
Through an unprecedented multidisciplinary and global approach,
this book documents the dramatic several-thousand-year history of
leprosy using bioarchaeological, clinical, and historical
information ...from a wide variety of contexts, dispelling many
long-standing myths about the disease.
Drawing on her 30 years of research on the infection, Charlotte
Roberts begins by outlining its bacterial causes, how it spreads,
and how it affects the body. She then considers its diagnosis and
treatment, both historically and in the present. She also looks at
the methods and tools used by paleopathologists to identify signs
of leprosy in skeletons. Examining evidence in human remains from
many countries, particularly in Europe and including Britain,
Hungary, and Sweden, Roberts demonstrates that those affected were
usually buried in the same cemeteries as their communities,
contrary to the popular belief that they were all ostracized or
isolated from society into leprosy hospitals. Other myths addressed
by Roberts include the assumptions that leprosy can't be cured,
that leprosy is no longer a problem today, and that what is called
"leprosy" in the Bible is the same illness as the disease with that
name now. Roberts concludes by projecting the future of leprosy,
arguing that researchers need to study the disease through an
ethically grounded evolutionary perspective. Importantly, she
advises against use of the word "leper" to avoid perpetuating
stigma today surrounding people with the infection and resulting
disabilities. Leprosy will stand as the authoritative source on the
subject for years to come.
A volume in the series Bioarchaeological Interpretations of the
Human Past: Local, Regional, and Global Perspectives, edited by
Clark Spencer Larsen
The use of ancient DNA in paleopathological studies of tuberculosis has largely been restricted to confirmation of disease identifications made by skeletal analysis; few attempts at obtaining ...genotype data from archaeological samples have been made because of the need to perform different PCRs for each genetic locus being studied in an ancient DNA extract. We used a next generation sequencing approach involving hybridization capture directed at specific polymorphic regions of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome to identify a detailed genotype for a historic strain of M. tuberculosis from an individual buried in the 19th century St. George’s Crypt, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. We obtained 664,500 sequencing by oligonucleotide ligation and detection (SOLiD) reads that mapped to the targeted regions of the M. tuberculosis genome; the coverage included 218 of 247 SNPs, 10 of 11 insertion/deletion regions, and the repeat elements IS1081 and IS6110. The accuracy of the SOLiD data was checked by conventional PCRs directed at 11 SNPs and two insertion/deletions. The data placed the historic strain of M. tuberculosis in a group that is uncommon today, but it is known to have been present in North America in the early 20th century. Our results show the use of hybridization capture followed by next generation sequencing as a means of obtaining detailed genotypes of ancient varieties of M. tuberculosis , potentially enabling meaningful comparisons between strains from different geographic locations and different periods in the past.
The evolutionary history of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) has previously been studied by analysis of sequence diversity in extant strains, but not addressed by direct examination of ...strain genotypes in archaeological remains. Here, we use ancient DNA sequencing to type 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms and two large sequence polymorphisms in the MTBC strains present in 10 archaeological samples from skeletons from Britain and Europe dating to the second–nineteenth centuries AD. The results enable us to assign the strains to groupings and lineages recognized in the extant MTBC. We show that at least during the eighteenth–nineteenth centuries AD, strains of M. tuberculosis belonging to different genetic groups were present in Britain at the same time, possibly even at a single location, and we present evidence for a mixed infection in at least one individual. Our study shows that ancient DNA typing applied to multiple samples can provide sufficiently detailed information to contribute to both archaeological and evolutionary knowledge of the history of tuberculosis.
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