Faculty Bibliography

A number of archaeological studies have used chemical analysis of preserved, human biological tissues to assess the potential exposure of historic figures and ancient populations to heavy metals. Accurately assessing historic levels of heavy-metal body burden for these individuals based on analysis of remnant soft-tissue, hair and bone collected from preserved human remains is often complicated by the potential for post-mortem chemical modifications and contamination of the body and burial site. This study employs high-resolution, synchrotron-based elemental X-ray fluorescence mapping, tomography and absorption spectroscopy of human remains collected in an archaeological context in an effort to discriminate between heavy metals such as mercury and lead that may have been incorporated through either endogenous or exogenous processes. These methods were used to analyze bone and hair samples from Ferrante II of Aragon, King of Naples (1469-1496) and Isabella of Aragon, Duchess of Milan (1470-1524). These individuals are likely to have been exposed to generally similar levels of heavy metals in their lifetime, would have been embalmed using similar methods and the post-mortem exposure to contaminants is likely to have been similar. Although the remains from both Ferrante II of Aragon and Isabella of Aragon contain high amounts of mercury and lead, the high-resolution and sensitivity synchrotron microprobe techniques employed in this study provide insight in to the likelihood these metals were incorporated pre-mortem rather than as ante-mortem contaminants. Although synchrotron X-ray fluorescence mapping and tomography are generally consistent with measured mercury from Isabella hair samples being endogenous in nature, the high levels of mercury seen in Ferrante II's remains are most likely related to post-mortem embalming of the corpse. However, application of microfocused X-ray fluorescence compositional mapping and lead L-2 edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy to bone samples collected from Ferrante II show that the measured lead is likely endogenous and the result of in-life exposure to this heavy metal. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dental enamel is prone to damage by chipping with large hard objects at forces that depend on chip size and enamel toughness. Experiments on modern human teeth have suggested that some ante-mortem chips on fossil hominin enamel were produced by bite forces near physiological maxima. Here, we show that equivalent chips in sea otter enamel require even higher forces than human enamel. Increased fracture resistance correlates with more intense enamel prism decussation, often seen also in some fossil hominins. It is possible therefore that enamel chips in such hominins may have formed at even greater forces than currently envisaged.

Long period biological timing, as deduced from a primate enamel formation rhythm termed the repeat interval (RI), varies predictably with body size and primate life-history characteristics. RI is a manifestation of a fundamental metabolic rhythm termed the Havers-Halberg oscillation (HHO). Because body size is highly associated with RI (and the HHO), we assume that RI should also have relationships with primate tissue and organ masses that likely covary with body size. We evaluate body mass and constituent tissue and organ masses, as well as basal metabolic rate (BMR), for twelve primate taxa. Regressing RI against tissue, organ, and body masses, as well as BMR, we find the relationships to be significant. Partial correlations controlling for the effects of either body mass or fat-free body mass suggest that the significant associations that tissue and organ masses have with each other are likely related to their dependence on body size in general. Body mass and most tissue masses approximate 1/4 scaling. However, brain mass has a singularly high slope in relation to RI. The relatively slow growth of other tissue and organ masses with increasing RI may provide 'payment' for the high mass specific metabolic rate of the brain. (C) 2014 The Linnean Society of London.

This study focuses on the gross anatomy, anatomic relations, microanatomy, and the meaning of three enigmatic, geographically patterned, and quasi-continuous superstructures of the posterior cranium. Collectively known as occipital superstructures (OSSs), these traits are the occipital torus tubercle (TOT), retromastoid process (PR), and posterior supramastoid tubercle (TSP). When present, TOT, PR, and TSP develop at posterior cranial attachment sites of the upper trapezius, superior oblique, and sternocleidomastoid muscles, respectively. Marked expression and co-occurrence of these OSSs are virtually circumscribed within Oceania and reach highest recorded frequencies in protohistoric Chamorros (CHamoru) of the Mariana Islands. Prior to undertaking scanning electron microscopy (SEM) work, our working multifactorial model for OSS development was that early-onset, long-term, and chronic activity-related microtrauma at enthesis sites led to exuberant reactive or reparative responses in a substantial minority of genetically predisposed (and mostly male) individuals. SEM imaging, however, reveals topographic patterning that questions, but does not negate, activity induction of these superstructures. Although OSSs appear macroscopically as relatively large and discrete phenomena, SEM findings reveal a unique, widespread, and seemingly systemic distribution of structures over the occipital surface that have the appearance of OSS microforms. Nevertheless, apparent genetic underpinnings, anatomic relationships with muscle entheses, and positive correlation of OSS development with humeral robusticity continue to suggest that these superstructures have potential to at once bear witness to Chamorro population history and inform osteobiographical constructions of chronic activity patterns in individuals bearing them. Further work is outlined that would illuminate the proximate and ultimate meanings of OSS. Anat Rec, 2014. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios in mammalian tooth enamel are commonly used to understand the diets and environments of modern and fossil animals. Isotope variation during the period of enamel formation can be recovered by intra-tooth microsampling along the direction of growth. However, conventional sampling of the enamel surface provides highly time-averaged records in part due to amelogenesis. We use backscattered electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope (BSE-SEM) to evaluate enamel mineralization in developing teeth from one rodent and two ungulates. Gray levels from BSE-SEM images suggest that the innermost enamel layer, <20 mu m from the enamel-dentine junction, is highly mineralized early in enamel maturation and therefore may record a less attenuated isotopic signal than other layers. We sampled the right maxillary incisor from a woodrat subjected to an experimentally induced water-switch during the period of tooth development, and demonstrate that secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) can be used to obtain delta O-18 values with 4-5-mu m spots from mammalian tooth enamel. We also demonstrate that SIMS can be used to discretely sample the innermost enamel layer, which is too narrow for conventional microdrilling or laser ablation. An abrupt delta O-18 switch of 16.0 parts per thousand was captured in breath CO2, a proxy for body water, while a laser ablation enamel surface intra-tooth profile of the left incisor captured a delta O-18 range of 12.1 parts per thousand. The innermost enamel profile captured a delta O-18 range of 15.7 parts per thousand, which approaches the full magnitude of delta O-18 variation in the input signal. This approach will likely be most beneficial in taxa such as large mammalian herbivores, whose teeth are characterized by less rapid mineralization and therefore greater attenuation of the enamel isotope signal. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. C1 [Blumenthal, Scott A.] CUNY, Grad Ctr, Dept Anthropol, New York, NY 10016 USA. NYCE!

The study compared images of mature Streptococcus mutans biofilms captured at increasing magnification to determine which microscopy method is most acceptable for imaging the biofilm topography and the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS). In vitro S. mutans biofilms were imaged using (i) Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), which requires a dehydration process; (ii) SEM and Ruthenium Red (SEM-RR), which has been shown to support the EPS of biofilms during the SEM dehydration; and (iii) Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscopy (VPSEM), which does not require the intensive dehydration process of SEM. The dehydration process and high chamber vacuum of both SEM techniques devastated the biofilm EPS, removed supporting structures, and caused cracking on the biofilm surface. The VPSEM offered the most comprehensive representation of the S. mutans biofilm morphology. VPSEM provides similar contrast and focus as the SEM but the procedure is far less time consuming, and the use of hazardous chemicals associated with SEM dehydration protocol is avoided with the VPSEM. The inaccurate representations of the biofilm EPS in SEM experimentation is a possible source of inaccurate data and impediments in the study of S. mutans biofilms