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As part of an interdisciplinary research project on the Late La Tène period settlement at Basel-Gasfabrik, ceramic sherds, animal bones and archaeological sediments from different archaeological structures (one large pit, two ditches and four archaeological layers) were examined in respect of 21 taphonomic features (proxies). These proxies, in turn, were linked to different processes that can leave traces on objects or sediments: primary use, mechanical stress, heat impact, water, redeposition, exposure, covering and postdepositional processes. The different proxies were compared using a statistical procedure. Our results show significant differences between the different features with regard to taphonomic alteration. For example, ceramic sherds and animal bones from archaeological layers show severe alteration due to exposure, whilst a good and uniform preservation within the pit points to its rapid filling. Furthermore, there is evidence of middens which probably served as material depots. Our results suggest that waste was not simply seen as rubbish, but was stored as a resource. Therefore, materials could take different "paths", each of which resulted in specific taphonomic processes (alterations). The interdisciplinary approach taken in this project has provided new insight into the complex but probably clearly defined handling of various materials at Basel-Gasfabrik, thus allowing us to visualise part of the cultural biography of things., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objectives: To study whether low dietary magnesium (Mg) intake and serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) predict the development of clinical knee osteoarthritis (OA)., Methods: The cohort consisted of 4,953 participants of a national health examination survey who were free of knee and hip OA at baseline. Information on the incidence of knee OA leading to hospitalization was drawn from the National Care Register for Health Care. During the follow-up of 10 years, 123 participants developed incident knee OA. Dietary magnesium intake was assessed on the basis of a food frequency questionnaire from the preceding year. We used Cox's proportional hazards model to estimate the strength of the association between the tertiles of dietary Mg intake and incident knee OA, adjusted for baseline age, gender, energy intake, BMI, history of physical workload, leisure time physical activity, injuries, knee complaints, the use of Mg supplements, and serum hs-CRP levels., Results: At baseline, dietary Mg intake was inversely associated with serum hs-CRP even after adjustment for all the potential confounding factors. During the follow-up, the adjusted hazard ratios (with their 95% confidence intervals) for incident knee OA in dietary Mg intake tertiles were 1.00, 1.28 (0.78-2.10), and 1.38 (0.73-2.62); the p value for trend was 0.31. Serum hs-CRP level at baseline did not predict incident knee OA., Conclusions: The results do not support the hypothesis that low dietary Mg intake contributes to the development of clinical knee OA, although Mg intake is inversely associated with serum hs-CRP level., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Regular fish and omega-3 consumption may have several health benefits and are recommended by major dietary guidelines. Yet, their intakes remain remarkably variable both within and across populations, which could partly owe to genetic influences., Objective: To identify common genetic variants that influence fish and dietary eicosapentaenoic acid plus docosahexaenoic acid (EPA+DHA) consumption., Design: We conducted genome-wide association (GWA) meta-analysis of fish (n = 86,467) and EPA+DHA (n = 62,265) consumption in 17 cohorts of European descent from the CHARGE (Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology) Consortium Nutrition Working Group. Results from cohort-specific GWA analyses (additive model) for fish and EPA+DHA consumption were adjusted for age, sex, energy intake, and population stratification, and meta-analyzed separately using fixed-effect meta-analysis with inverse variance weights (METAL software). Additionally, heritability was estimated in 2 cohorts., Results: Heritability estimates for fish and EPA+DHA consumption ranged from 0.13-0.24 and 0.12-0.22, respectively. A significant GWA for fish intake was observed for rs9502823 on chromosome 6: each copy of the minor allele (FreqA = 0.015) was associated with 0.029 servings/day (~1 serving/month) lower fish consumption (P = 1.96x10-8). No significant association was observed for EPA+DHA, although rs7206790 in the obesity-associated FTO gene was among top hits (P = 8.18x10-7). Post-hoc calculations demonstrated 95% statistical power to detect a genetic variant associated with effect size of 0.05% for fish and 0.08% for EPA+DHA., Conclusions: These novel findings suggest that non-genetic personal and environmental factors are principal determinants of the remarkable variation in fish consumption, representing modifiable targets for increasing intakes among all individuals. Genes underlying the signal at rs72838923 and mechanisms for the association warrant further investigation.