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This study presents new analytical data from the site of el-Ahwat, a short-lived Iron Age I settlement located at the northern edge of the Central Hill Country in Israel. The site’s substantial metal assemblage, including copper and bronze spills and slag, provides direct evidence for on-site bronze production. Microstructural features indicate that primary alloying of copper and tin—rather than the re-melting of scrap—was practiced at the site. Lead isotope analysis, chemical composition, and microstructure link some of the metal specifically to the Faynan ores, and other finds to the Timna ores, suggesting that both ores, possibly controlled by a joint polity, supplied copper to el-Ahwat. These findings challenge long-standing assumptions about the localization of bronzeworking in urban lowland centers, and open new perspectives on the inland trade routes and social organization of the early Iron Age southern Levant. We propose that el-Ahwat was part of a broader and more complex network of copper distribution and bronze production, extending from the Arabah to the coast, including also peripheral highland communities.

Apart from many lost wax cast metal fragments, crucible fragments and several heated sediment nodules were found at the Chalcolithic site Fazael 2 (central Jordan Valley). Petrographic investigations on the heated sediment nodules revealed many features characteristic of the Chalcolithic Southern Levantine lost wax casting moulds. Heating temperatures were assessed using infrared spectroscopy, showing that casting did not vitrify the clay fraction in the moulds. Consequently, Fazael is the first identified Chalcolithic Southern Levant production site for lost wax cast metal items. These findings confirm the existence of a metallurgical tradition with lost wax casting in the Jordan Valley parallel to the unalloyed copper metallurgy in the Northern Negev. Moreover, crucibles and heated sediment nodules are made of local ferruginous loess, a material not mentioned in previous studies on lost wax casting mould fragments. Therefore, the existence of more than one such production site must be assumed.

Excavations at the Chalcolithic site Fazael in the central Jordan Valley uncovered a large number of metal items, many of them polymetallic copper alloys cast in the lost wax technique. Metallography and SEM–EDS analysis on a subset of the assemblage confirm previous notions of the lost wax metallurgy in the Chalcolithic Southern Levant but extend them significantly in three aspects: The Fazael metal assemblage is slightly depleted in its arsenic content compared to metal assemblages from other sites, silt-sized quartz inclusions in unalloyed and polymetallic copper items, and the presence of unalloyed copper inclusions. These latter provide the earliest direct evidence for mixing of different metal types in West Asia, potentially alloying or recycling.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare condition with the potential to progress to right heart failure. Point-of-Care Ultrasonography (POCUS), used and interpreted in real time at the bedside to further the cardiopulmonary assessment, has the potential to improve the longitudinal care of PAH patients in the ambulatory setting. Patients from PAH clinics at two academic medical centers were randomized to either a POCUS assessment cohort or non-POCUS standard care (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05332847). The POCUS group received blinded heart, lung, and vascular ultrasound assessments. Thirty-six patients were randomized to the study and followed over time. Mean age was 65 in both groups and majority female (76.5% and 88.9% females in POCUS and control, respectively). Median time for POCUS assessment was 11 min (range 8–16). There were significantly more changes in management in the POCUS group than control (73% vs. 27%, p-value < 0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that management changes were more likely to occur with a POCUS assessment, with an odds ratio (OR) of 12 when POCUS was added to physical exam vs. OR of 4.6 compared to physical examination alone (p < 0.001). POCUS in the PAH clinic is feasible and, when combined with physical examination, increases the number of findings and results in changes in management without significantly prolonging visit encounters. POCUS may help support clinical evaluation and decision making in ambulatory PAH clinics.

In The Dawn of the Bronze Age Shay Bar presents a detailed account of the pattern of settlement during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age I periods (mid-Fifth to late Fourth Millennia BCE), in one of the least explored areas of the southern Levant - the lower Jordan valley and the desert fringes of the Samaria mountains. More than 120 surveyed sites and five excavation reports form an essential database for every scholar interested in the archaeology of the Near East in these periods. \"Bar has accomplished an impressive task and has provided valuable new information on this important region that forms the transition between the central hill country and the eastern side of the Jordan River.\" Eva Kaptijn, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Bibliotheca Orientalis LXXIV n° 1-2 (2017)

The book presents the results of a complete detailed archaeological survey of parts of Eastern Samaria. It is Volume 6 of the Manasseh Hill Country Survey series of publications. This territory is one of the most important in the country from the archaeological, Biblical and other points of view, and the survey is a valuable tool for scholars of the Bible, archaeology, Near Eastern history and other aspects of the Holy Land.

Excavation at the Chalcolithic site of Fazael 2 in the Jordan Valley in 2013 revealed a third infant burial, in addition to the two previous burials excavated at the site in 2006. This burial, uncovered at the northwestern corner of a rectangular structure in the courtyard of the complex, was primary, found in articulation on a sherd below the floor, and was covered by another large sherd. Infant burials with the body placed on a sherd and covered by another sherd are known from other sites dated from the Pottery Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic period to the Early Bronze Age I. This burial practice is discussed below in relation to other infant and fetus burial practices during this timespan in the southern Levant.

The application of structure-based in silico methods to drug discovery is still considered a major challenge, especially when the x-ray structure of the target protein is unknown. Such is the case with human G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), one of the most important families of drug targets, where in the absence of x-ray structures, one has to rely on in silico 3D models. We report repeated success in using ab initio in silico GPCR models, generated by the PREDICT method, for blind in silico screening when applied to a set of five different GPCR drug targets. More than 100,000 compounds were typically screened in silico for each target, leading to a selection of <100 \"virtual hit\" compounds to be tested in the lab. In vitro binding assays of the selected compounds confirm high hit rates, of 12-21% (full dose-response curves,$K_{{\\rm i}}<5\\ \\mu {\\rm M}$. In most cases, the best hit was a novel compound (New Chemical Entity) in the 1- to 100-nM range, with very promising pharmacological properties, as measured by a variety of in vitro and in vivo assays. These assays validated the quality of the hits as lead compounds for drug discovery. The results demonstrate the usefulness and robustness of ab initio in silico 3D models and of in silico screening for GPCR drug discovery.

A recently excavated Early Bronze Age IB Canaanean blade knapping pit, located at Fazael 4, Israel, is presented. Following a detailed analysis of the waste characteristics we suggest a reconstruction of the chaîne opératoire of the Canaanean blade production at the site. We further discuss the evident variability within the regional Canaanean industry, in view of the technological conservatism found at the Fazael 4 site; the distribution trajectories and the nature of trade or exchange among Canaanean blade workshops and \"consumer sites\"; and the extent of independence versus elite control over specialized workshops during the Early Bronze Age. To date, studies of only a few sites containing Canaanean industry knapping waste have been published, emphasizing the importance of this site. The Fazael 4 waste pit analysis offers insights into the last highly complex and sophisticated flint technology of the southern Levant.