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Excavations of the port facilities in Aizier (Eure), carried out over several years between 2009 and 2013, led to the discovery of a small instrumentum, composed of 84 objects. The functional and contextual analysis of this corpus sheds light on objects for ordinary and domestic use that circulated in this port or in its surroundings, and also provides a better understanding of the last phases of activity on the port terraces and their subsequent abandonment, as early as during the 3rd c. AD. The objects collected are common and quite varied, as is the case for the instrumentum recovered from nearby estuary sites and also dated to the Early Roman Imperial period. In addition to objects illustrating the everyday life of the port users, certain elements, made of remarkable materials, also make it possible to study small-scale and large-scale networks, within which Aizier must be considered as being a significant crossing point.

Studies of age at menarche in Poland have a long history and consistently show an urban-rural gradient. The objectives of the study were to to estimate the age at menarche among school girls resident in ten rural communities of the Greater Poland province in 2016 and to compare ages at menarche by weight status and by population growth. The sample included 1146 girls, 7–16 years of age, resident in ten rural communities. Menarcheal status was obtained via interview. Heights and weights were measured; the BMI was calculated. Based on the latter, the girls were classified as thin, normal weight and overweight (including the obese) relative to IOTF criteria. Population growth between 1986 and 2016 in each community was estimated from local records. Ages at menarche were estimated with the probit regression protocol (SPSS) using the logistic model with log 10 transformation for the total sample and for the subsamples by weight status and population growth. The median age at menarche for the total sample of rural girls was 13.25±0.20 years. Menarche was earlier among Overweight (13.06±0.32 years) compared to Normal Weight (13.25±0.37 years) and Thin (13.81±0.41 years), and among girls resident in communities with Major population growth (12.58±0.44 years) compared to Little/No growth (13.65±0.14 years). Results of the present survey were generally consistent with recent surveys of age at menarche among rural girls in Poland and among girls classified by weight status. Corresponding comparative data relating menarche to population growth are lacking.

Anthropometric, functional and physical activity characteristics of contemporary adult descendants of Upper Silesian immigrants to Texas in the mid-19th century and current residents in Upper Silesia were compared. The sample included 45 residents in Central Texas, 25 women and 20 men, and 36 residents in rural Upper Silesia, 24 women and 12 men, 54-76 years of age. Variables included selected demographic characteristics, anthropometry, estimated body composition, several physiological indicators, strength and functional fitness, and physical activity. Sex-specific MANCOVA and Chi square were used for comparisons. Descendants of Silesian immigrants to Texas were taller, on average, while differences in other anthropometric variables were variable. All residents in Silesia and the majority of descendants of Silesian migrants to Texas were overweight or obese. Differences in hemodynamic and respiratory functions and responses to a 6-minute walk were inconsistent, while none of the fitness variables differed significantly between the samples. Although residents in Upper Silesia were significantly more physically active descendants of Silesians in Texas, >80% of the men and women in both samples scored below the criterion-reference standard for the maintenance of physical independence in the 6-minute walk.

Under marginal nutritional conditions, growth in utero is related to subsequent growth and adult height. The aim of this research is to compare the young adult body size of women grouped by estimated duration of pregnancy relative to World War II. Subjects were 620 university students 18-25 years, for whom archival data for date of birth, age, height and weight were available; the BMI was calculated. Based on estimated time of pregnancy and birth relative to WWII, the women were grouped as follows: (1) pregnancy and birth before the war (n=203); (2) pregnancy before the war, birth during the war (n=54); (3) pregnancy and birth during the war (n=173); (4) pregnancy during the war, birth after the war (n=16); and (5) pregnancy and birth after the war (n=174). Heights of women born before and after WWII were significantly taller than heights of women born during the war. Though not significant, the height of women who were conceived before but born during the war was intermediate between those of women born before and during the war. The height of women conceived during the war but born after the war was similar to that of women conceived and born during the war. In contrast, BMIs and the distributions of women by weight status did not differ among the five pregnancy groups. The results suggested that heights of young adult women exposed in utero to the conditions of WWII (marginal nutritional status, maternal stress, among other factors) were shorter than women who were not exposed in utero to wartime conditions.