Early medieval interactions with the dead did not stop after the funeral. The graves were often reopened at a later time to examine and manipulate their contents. Archaeologists frequently... Show moreEarly medieval interactions with the dead did not stop after the funeral. The graves were often reopened at a later time to examine and manipulate their contents. Archaeologists frequently interpret this phenomena as grave robbery, an economically motivated criminal practice. But many aspects of the graves in question do not align with this hypothesis. Martine van Haperen studied over 1300 graves from 11 cemeteries in the Netherlands and Belgium with surprising results. It became clear that the diggers left many objects behind in the reopening pits and prioritized men’s graves even though these contained fewer valuable materials. Instead, they focused on removing object types with crucial symbolic roles in the funerary ritual and early medieval society at large. The high percentage of reopened graves (41%) suggests this was a socially accepted practice. Van Haperen therefore argues that reopenings were part of the normal interactions between the living and the dead, for instance in the form of an ancestor relic cult and as a way of dealing with unquiet dead. Show less
A subgroup of patients with thyroid cancer (10-15% of patients with DTC) with distant metastases have high remission rates after conventional RaI-treatment. We have explored several routes which in... Show moreA subgroup of patients with thyroid cancer (10-15% of patients with DTC) with distant metastases have high remission rates after conventional RaI-treatment. We have explored several routes which in time may help to improve the prognosis for this subset of patients, focussing on the TSHR. The combination of troglitazone and lovastatin may have potential use in DTC as we observed a strong reduction of growth and distinct changes in morphology in the follicular thyroid carcinoma cell-line FTC-133 at clinically achievable concentrations. Furthermore, the combination of troglitazone and lovastatin was able to increase the expression of NIS and the TSHR which may prove to be beneficial in sensitizing thyroid tumor cells to conventional RaI therapy. Secondly, we explored the possibility of thyroid specific membrane associated therapy by using the TSHR as a target. We succeeded in modifying TSH into a potential vehicle for toxins by converting it into a single chain protein with improved binding to the TSHR. The fusion of short proteins to our modified single chain TSH did not impair binding thus confirming the potential in using modified TSH as a vehicle for therapeutic proteins. We have demonstrated in our studies that a balanced attitude is feasible in commonly used TSH suppressing thyroxine replacement therapy, thus preventing those patients from the potential negative effects of long term TSH suppression on other organs. Show less
