The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Inca child sacrifice victims high, study on mummies reveal Posted: 30 Jul 2013 08:20 PM PDT Researchers revealed yesterday that drugs and alcohol played a key part in Inca practice of child sacrifice. Tests on three Inca child mummies found atop a 20,000-foot volcano in Argentina show that the children consumed increasing amounts of cocaine and corn beer for up to a year before they were sacrificed, stated the researchers in a paper published in the Proceedings of ther National Academy of Sciences. Sedation by the drugs and alcohol combined with the frigid, high-altitude setting may explain how the children were killed. There is no evidence for direct violence, the researchers noted. The drug and alcohol consumption rises about six months before death and then skyrockets in the final weeks, especially for the eldest, a 13-year-old girl known as the "Ice Maiden." "She was probably heavily sedated by the point at which she succumbs to death," Andrew Wilson, an archaeologist at the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom and the study's lead author, told NBC News, in an MSN report. The finding is based on detailed analyses of hair taken from the more than 500-year-old mummified remains, which also include a four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy. The boy and girl were perhaps the maiden's attendants. The data corroborate earlier research showing the children ate more meat and corn in their final year. Taken together, the studies suggest the peasant children were selected for the ritual sacrifice and lived a high-status life until their death near the top of the Llullaillacao Volcano in Argentina, Wilson said. Dr Emma Brown, from the department of archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford, told The BBC: "The Spanish chroniclers suggest that children were sacrificed for all kinds of reasons: important life milestones in the lives of the Incas, in times of war or natural disasters, but there was a calendar of rituals too." Like They Are Asleep The mummified remains were discovered in 1999, entombed in a shrine near the summit of the 6,739m-high Llullaillaco volcano in Argentina. Three children were buried there: a 13-year-old girl, and a younger boy and girl, thought to be about four or five years old. Their remains date to about 500 years ago, during the time of the Inca empire, which dominated South America until the Europeans arrived at the end of the 15th Century. "The preservation is phenomenal. These three children look like they are asleep." The international team of researchers used forensic tests to analyse the chemicals found in the children's hair. They discovered that all three had consumed alcohol and coca leaves (from which cocaine is extracted) in the final months of their lives. Historical records reveal that these substances were reserved for the elite and often used in Incan rituals. Death from exposure An analysis of the teenage girl's hair, which was longer than the hair of the younger victims, revealed more. The girl, known as the "Llullaillaco maiden", was probably considered more highly valued than the younger children, because of her virginal status. "In the case of the maiden, there is no sign of violence. She is incredibly well looked after: she has a good layer of fat, she has beautifully groomed hair, beautiful clothes," Dr Brown told The BBC. NBC News stated that the Ice Maiden was inside a tomb structure, surrounded by offerings from the four corners of the Inca empire such as seashells, bird feathers, coca and corn. Her head is bowed as if she fell asleep, sedated, and succumbed to the biting cold and thin air as is inevitable at such altitude. The mummies are now housed in the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology in Salta, Argentina. – July 31, 2013. |
| Print, web aids help men decide on cancer screening Posted: 30 Jul 2013 08:02 PM PDT Both print and online tools outlining the possible benefits and harms of prostate cancer screening can help men understand the disease and feel more confident in their screening-related decisions, a new study suggests. Researchers found, however, that men who had access to those decision aids weren't any more or less likely to be screened in the following year than those who didn't receive extra information. "We really wanted to develop something that clearly presented both sides of the issue so that men could make an informed decision with regards to whether they wanted to undergo screening," said Kathryn Taylor, who led the new study at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. Last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel, recommended against prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests for average-risk men. Other groups, including the American Urological Association, say men of certain ages should weigh the risks and benefits with their doctors and come to an individual decision about screening. Data conflict about whether screening saves any lives. It's clearer that treatment after a positive test and biopsy can cause side effects, such as impotence and incontinence, and that some cancers picked up on screening would never have caused symptoms because they are so slow-growing. Taylor and her colleagues randomly assigned close to 1,900 middle-aged men to receive print or Internet-based prostate cancer decision aids or no extra information. Both tools contained information on the prostate gland, prostate cancer screening tests and treatment options, as well as prompts to help men define their screening-related values and encouragement to talk about screening with a doctor. The web version also included video testimonials and pop-up definitions of some terms. Before receiving any information, men in each of the three groups scored an average of 10.4 on an 18-question exam about prostate cancer. One month later, men who had received either print or web decision aids scored a 13.5, versus 11.1 among those in the comparison group. Those differences shrank slightly but remained a year later, the study team wrote in JAMA Internal Medicine. One thing that didn't change was the proportion of men who decided to get screened: across study groups, between 45 and 48 percent of participants had a PSA test in the year following the study. But after receiving decision aids, 60 percent of those in the print group and 52 percent in the web-based group reported a high satisfaction with their screening decisions, compared to 46 percent of the men who received usual care. Taylor said lingering uncertainty about the PSA test and its potential benefits may have contributed to men continuing to get screened. "The fact that it's easy to do, the fact that many doctors recommend it or perhaps don't discuss it and just do it, all make it easier to just undergo the test," she told Reuters Health. Dr. Daniel Reuland from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who co-wrote a commentary published with the study, said it's not obvious the information men took away from the aids helped them make informed decisions about screening. "I don't think it's clear from the study whether the knowledge that they gained and retained, how clinically important it is and whether it's sufficient to counteract known biases," he told Reuters Health. "Men overestimate the likelihood that the PSA test is going to benefit them and underestimate the likelihood it's going to harm them." In a separate study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers led by Linda Squiers at RTI International in Rockville, Maryland, surveyed 1,100 men about the new USPSTF recommendations while they were in draft form. Although 62 percent of men agreed with the recommendation after reviewing it, only 13 percent intended to follow the new guidelines and not be screened. Taylor said before going in to see their doctors, men can read up about screening on the USPSTF, National Cancer Institute and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention websites. "Before undergoing screening, men really should educate themselves about the benefits and limitations," she said - including about all of the tests and procedures that could follow a positive PSA test. "It's more than just thinking about, should I get this blood test or not?" she said. – Reuters, July 31, 2013. |
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