January 18, 2016 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Interesting…

Microbes found in the stomach of a prehistoric hunter dubbed “Otzi” are giving scientists new clues about the migration patterns of humans thousands of years ago. By 

ROBERT LEE HOTZ

Microbes that once troubled the stomach of a prehistoric hunter known as “Otzi the Iceman,” who died on an Alpine glacier 5,300 years ago, are offering researchers a rare insight into the early settlement of Europe.

In findings reported Thursday in Science, an international research group analyzed remnants of ulcer-causing microbes called Helicobacter pylori exhumed from the well-preserved mummy of the Neolithic nomad. With modern DNA sequencing technology, they reconstructed the genetic structure of this ancient microbe—the oldest known pathogen sequenced so far.

By comparing the specimen to modern variants, they discovered that this early European wanderer was infected with a strain that survives today only in India and South Asia, and not those more prevalent in modern Europe. The finding suggests that multiple waves of migrants settled the region, introducing new strains of the bacteria as they intermingled, they said.

 “This one genome has put things into wonderful perspective for us,” said evolutionary biologist Yoshan Moodley of the University of Venda in South Africa, who helped analyze the bacteria’s genome. “It is mind-boggling, really.”

Otzi the Iceman, as he is popularly known, is one of the most well-studied corpses in the history of forensic medicine.

Since two German hikers stumbled over his mummy in 1991, researchers have probed, prodded, biopsied, X-rayed, and CAT-scanned the remains. They have noted his healed bone fractures, diagnosed hints of Lyme disease, examined the food stuck between his teeth, and mulled the meaning of his 61 tattoos. They analyzed his own genetic inheritance, including the DNA of the energy-producing mitochondria that powered his cells.

“We know he had a rough lifestyle,” said Frank Maixner at the European Academy Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Bolzano, Italy, who led the team of 23 scientists. “We found a lot of pathological conditions.”

 Mountaineers with Otzi where he was found in the Alps in 1991. PHOTO: GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES

In the new study, they defrosted the mummy and rummaged through the contents of his stomach. There, they recovered evidence of a microbe that has infected humankind for so many thousands of years that distinctive strains evolved as anatomically modern humans migrated out of Africa in successive waves starting about 60,000 years ago. It serves as a biomarker for the global travels of humankind.

“The Iceman’s strain must have been the original population that inhabited the stomachs of Europeans 5,000 years ago,” Dr. Moodley said.

That ancestral strain apparently mixed with variants thought to have originated more recently in North Africa, to create the variant common in Europe today. All told, strains of Helicobacter pylori infect about half the world’s population.

The researchers also determined that the bacteria had inflamed his stomach lining, indicating that the prehistoric hunter, fleeing into the icy highlands where he was shot in the back with an arrow and beaten, may have been feeling ill on the day he was murdered.

The oldest previous pathogen to have had its genome sequenced involved samples of microbes that caused outbreaks of plague during the heyday of the Roman Empire about 1,500 years ago. That DNA was from ancient samples of the pathogen Yersinia pestis, which caused two of the world’s most devastating plagues, the Black Death and Plague of Justinian—each responsible for killing as many as half the people then in Europe.

A reconstruction of what Otzi the Iceman may have looked like. PHOTO: EURAC/MARION LAFOGLER

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
The sun reflects in the water of Brouwersgracht canal seen through the mechanism of a draw bridge, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday.Peter Dejong/AP

An environmental activist wears a mask made from tree bark as he takes part in march in defense of Europe’s last ancient forest, the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, in Warsaw, Poland, Sunday. Kacper Pempel/Reuters

Market Closes for January 18^th, 2016

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

Canada

By Gerrit De Vynck

     (Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell, as declining oil prices dragged down the country’s energy companies.

     The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index dropped 1.1 percent to 11,942.17 as U.S. benchmark oil fell to $28.94 in electronic trading as Iran began efforts to boost production after international sanctions were lifted, heralding more supply for a global economy already awash in oil.

     Kelt Exploration Ltd. and Penn West Petroleum Ltd. led decliners among energy producers, both falling more than 6.5 percent. Canadian Oil Sands surged 11 percent to C$8.27 after agreeing to a sweetened takeover offer from Suncor Energy Inc, which clinched the deal after it raised its all-stock offer by 12 percent to C$4.2 billion. Suncor fell 4.6 percent to C$29.77.

     The session followed one of the worst weeks for Canadian stocks in history, as commodity prices tumbled amid speculation China’s economic growth will slow, crimping global demand.

     Monday’s volume on the S&P/TSX was 61 percent lower than average as U.S. markets were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. European stocks fell for a third day while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 percent, led by small cap stocks.

US

US markets were closed for Martin Luther King Day

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

Self is not something as opposed to something else,

it is sunya: we are also all things;

the self represented in all forms, good or bad,

not exclusively or exhaustively in any.

Ramchandra Gandhi

As ever,

Carolann

The time is always right to do what is right.

          -Martin Luther King, Jr., 1929-1968

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Portfolio Manager &

Senior Vice-President

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7