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Cobalt was commonly used as a colourant in the Egyptian glass industries of the 18th dynasty, dark blue glass being a regular find at palatial and settlement sites, including Amarna and Malqata. The main source of cobalt ore used during this period has been identified in the Egyptian western desert, around the oases of Kharga and Dakhla. In order to better understand the chaîne opératoire of Late Bronze Age glass production and -working, in particular with regard to cobalt ore, at Amarna, chemical analysis by portable X-Ray fluorescence was carried out in the field. This was done on contextualised archaeological material excavated at the site of Amarna, which cannot be exported from Egypt for analysis. The results of this study demonstrate how cobalt ore was used in the various known workshop sites at Amarna, resulting in a deeper understanding of raw materials use and exchange across this settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the elemental composition of a representative group of glass-working and -production samples from Amarna in the collection of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung Berlin, obtained by quantitative laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). These analyses were carried out to verify the results from a set of on site analyses of glass objects at Amarna, carried out by pXRF. The main research question of this study was whether the various sources of Co-ore can be identified using transition metal data from pXRF analysis only. The 40 samples from the Berlin collection were confirmed as belonging to the group of Type A, Co- and Co-Cu coloured glass objects, produced in the Egyptian 18th dynasty, coloured with cobalt-containing ores originating from the western desert in Egypt (close to the Dakhla and Kharga Oases). The element composition revealed correlations between Co and Al, Mn, Fe, Ni and the REEs. However, the major, minor and trace element composition revealed no further distinction between the various workshops in the collection, indicating that similar recipes and raw materials were used in the workshops at Amarna. Thus, quantitative pXRF using Co, Ni, Mn and Zn concentrations alone, such as by pXRF, can be used as an indicative instrument for provenancing cobalt in glass objects, directly on site of objects that cannot be removed from a site or a museum collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synaptic transmission depends on the regulated surface expression of neurotransmitter receptors, but many of the cellular processes required to achieve this remain poorly understood. To better define specific mechanisms for the GABAB receptor (GABABR) trafficking, we screened for proteins that bind to the carboxy-terminus of the GABAB1 subunit. We report the identification and characterization of a novel 130-kDa protein, GPCR interacting scaffolding protein (GISP), that interacts directly with the GABAB1 subunit via a coiled-coil domain. GISP co-fractionates with GABABR and with the postsynaptic density and co-immunoprecipitates with GABAB1 and GABAB2 from rat brain. In cultured hippocampal neurons, GISP displays a punctate dendritic distribution and has an overlapping localization with GABABRs. When co-expressed with GABABRs in human embryonic kidney cells, GISP promotes GABABR surface expression and enhances both baclofen-evoked extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) phosphorylation and G-protein inwardly rectifying potassium channel (GIRK) currents. These results suggest that GISP is involved in the forward trafficking and stabilization of functional GABABRs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]