The 'Manx Crosses', Scandinavian-style gravestones from the Isle of Man, are a unique collection of stone monuments unequalled in the medieval Viking World. Focussing on one particular example, ...'Thorvald's cross', this book collates all the available information and presents a new interpretation as to how to understand this remarkable monument.
The carved stone crosses of the Isle of Man of the late fifth to mid-eleventh century are of national and international importance. They provide the most coherent source for the early history of ...Christianity in the Island, and for the arrival and conversion of Scandinavian settlers in the last century of the Viking Age - a century which produced some of the earliest recognisable images of the heroes and gods of the North; earlier, indeed, than those found in Scandinavia. This, the first general survey of the material for more than a century, provides a new view of the political and religious connections of the Isle of Man in a period of great turmoil in the Irish Sea region. The book also includes an up-to-date annotated inventory of the monuments.
Wolves on a wilderness island illuminate lessons on the environment, extinction, and life.For more than a quarter century, celebrated biologist John Vucetich has studied the wolves, and the moose ...that sustain them, of the boreal forest of Isle Royale National Park, an island in the northwest corner of Lake Superior. During this time, he has witnessed both the near extinction of the local wolf population, driven largely by climate change, and the intensely debated relocation of other wolves to the island in an effort to stabilize and maintain Isle Royale's ecosystem health. In Restoring the Balance, Vucetich combines environmental philosophy with field notes chronicling his day-to-day experience as a scientist. Examining the fate of wolves in the wild, he shares lessons from these wolves and explains their impact on humanity's fundamental responsibilities to the natural world. Vucetich's engaging narrative and unique, clear-eyed perspective provide an accessible course in wolf biology and behavioral ecology. He tackles profound unresolved questions that will shape our future understanding of what it means to be good to life on earth: Are humans the only persons to inhabit Earth, or do we share the planet with uncounted nonhuman persons? What does a healthy relationship with the natural world look like? Should we intervene in nature's course in order to care for it? Touching on the triumph and tragedy of how wolves kill moose to the Shakespearian drama of wolves' social lives, Vucetich comments on ravens, mice, winter ticks, and even a life-changing encounter he shared with a toad. Vucetich produces exquisite insight by masterfully connecting his observations to a far-reaching history of ideas about the environment. Combining natural history and memoir with fascinating commentary on humanity's relationship with nature, Restoring the Balance evokes our connections with wolves as fellow apex predators, demonstrating how our shifting views on nature have implications for both their survival and ours. This book will be treasured by any thoughtful reader looking to deepen their relationship with nature and learn about the wolves of Isle Royale along the way.
Abstract Objective Child abuse is an important risk for adult psychiatric morbidity. However, not all maltreated children experience mental health problems as adults. The aims of the present study ...were to address the extent of resilience to adult psychopathology in a representative community sample, and to explore predictors of a good prognosis. Methods Data are drawn from a follow-up of the Isle of Wight study, an epidemiological sample assessed in adolescence and at midlife. Ratings of psychiatric disorder, peer relationships and family functioning were made in adolescence; adult assessments included a lifetime psychiatric history, personality and social functioning assessments, and retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse. Results Ten percent of individuals reported repeated or severe physical or sexual abuse in childhood. Prospective measures revealed increased rates of adolescent psychiatric disorders in this group. Rates of adult psychopathology were also high. A substantial minority of abused individuals reported no mental health problems in adult life. Resilience of this kind was related to perceived parental care, adolescent peer relationships, the quality of adult love relationships, and personality style. Conclusion Good quality relationships across childhood, adolescence and adulthood appear especially important for adult psychological well being in the context of childhood abuse.
The meridional overturning circulation (MOC) decreases rapidly in subpolar and Nordic regions where the warm upper layer loses its buoyancy due to intense heat loss, sinks, and flows south. The major ...volume loss of the upper limb of the MOC, ~9.6 Sv out of 18.4 ± 3.4 Sv, occurs as subduction across the Iceland Basin and Irminger Sea while the major heat loss, 273 TW out of 395 ± 74 TW is associated with the MOC branch that continues into the Nordic Seas where North Atlantic deep overflow water is produced. The 122 ± 79 TW heat flux convergence in the subpolar gyre appears to be significantly larger than various estimates of heat loss to the atmosphere. Much of the 0.09 ± 0.02 Sv freshwater divergence is presumably balanced by runoff from the Greenland shelf. These estimates suggest that the Nordic Seas, not the Labrador Sea, are key to the state of the MOC.
Plain language summary
The meridional overturning circulation is a two‐dimensional view of the flow north of upper‐ocean warm water and its return south as cold deep and intermediate water. But the actual pathways of warm‐to‐cold conversion are several and remarkably diverse: One branch continues into the Nordic Seas where very dense water is produced and eventually spills back into the deep North Atlantic, another branch weaves its way around the entire subpolar basin and the southern tip of Greenland to the Labrador Sea where intermediate water is formed, and the third branch is an overturning that takes place within the subpolar waters between Greenland and Scotland. Volumetrically, this is the largest branch, but in terms of heat loss the Nordic Seas, branch surrenders far more heat to the atmosphere than the other two combined. It thus plays the key role in maintaining a strong meridional overturning circulation.
Key Points
Great heat loss and production of dense water overflow water in Nordic Seas key to the state of the MOC not the Labrador Sea
Heat flux convergence greater than climatological estimates of subpolar gyre heat loss
Subpolar fresh water divergence balanced by freshwater loss from Greenland shelf
Genetic rescue – ameliorating inbreeding depression and restoring genetic diversity of inbred populations through gene flow - is valuable in wildlife conservation. Empirically validated ...recommendations for genetic rescue supported by evolutionary genetics theory advise maximizing genetic diversity in target populations. Instead, recent papers based on genomic studies of island foxes, Isle Royal wolves, and simulation modeling claim it would be preferable to minimize introduction of harmful variation by avoiding genetic rescue altogether or by selecting partially-inbred sources presumed to have fewer harmful alleles. We examined the assertions and evidence underlying these new recommendations. The claim that long-term persistence of a few small inbred populations invalidates the small population paradigm commits the survivorship fallacy by ignoring population extinctions through inbreeding. The claim that island foxes show no inbreeding depression conflicts with elevated levels of putatively harmful alleles, low fecundity, and island-specific disease susceptibilities. The claim that the history of Isle Royale wolves represents likely outcomes of genetic rescues using immigrants from larger source populations is invalid: the unplanned addition of a single male to an inbred population capped at ~25 individuals does not represent sound genetic rescue. The simulations in Robinson et al. (2018, 2019) and Kyriazis et al. (2019 pre-print) apply several unrealistic assumptions and parameter distributions that disfavor large, outbred sources for genetic rescue. Accordingly, the simulations' conclusions conflict profoundly with those of >120 meta-analysed real datasets, and do not overturn current empirically validated recommendations to maximize genetic diversity in the target population.
•Inbreeding and loss of gene diversity are unavoidable in small isolated populations and increase extinction risks•Such populations can be often be rescued by gene flow from another population (genetic rescue)•Gene flow from genetically diverse populations is better at reversing genetic erosion than that from small populations•Proposals to minimize introduction of harmful variation are based on unrealistic simulations that contradict real-life outcomes•Maximizing genetic diversity in the target population is the best current strategy to improve fitness and ability to evolve
Subcutaneous site is ideal for clinical islet transplantation because it has the advantage of simple operation procedure under local anesthesia and can be biopsied when needed. However, the ...transplantation outcomes at subcutaneous site have been disappointing due to hypoxia-induced oxidative stress by poor vascularization. We hypothesized that subcutaneously transplanted islets would have hypoxia resistance by using internalization of metallothionein (MT), an antioxidant scavenging enzyme, which was mediated by fusion between MT and cell penetrating Tat peptide. The Tat-MT was dose-dependently transduced into islets without any damage. Tat-MT-treated islets could be protected from oxidative stress induced by intracellular nitric oxide donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP). When Tat-MT-treated islets were subcutaneously transplanted into diabetic nude mice, they normally controlled the blood glucose levels without severe fluctuation (median survival time (MST): >30days), whereas most untreated islets were rejected (MST 17days). From the intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test 5days after posttransplantation, glucose responsiveness of Tat-MT-treated islets was similar to that of normal healthy mice, while untreated islets had delayed glucose responsiveness. From the results of immunohistochemical stain, Tat-MT-treated islets had strong anti-insulin positive cells and lower anti-HIF-1α positive cells. However, untreated islets had rare anti-insulin positive cells and strong anti-HIF-1α-positive cells. Collectively, these findings demonstrated that Tat-MT delivery into islet could offer a new strategy for successful islet transplantation under subcutaneous space.
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Abstract
Docodonta are one of the earliest diverging groups of mammaliaforms, and their morphology provides key information on the transition between non-mammalian cynodonts and Mammalia. We describe ...the partial skulls of two docodontans Borealestes serendipitus and Borealestes cuillinensis sp. nov. from the Kilmaluag Formation (Middle Jurassic: Bathonian), Isle of Skye, Scotland. We visualize their cranial anatomy using laboratory and synchrotron X-ray micro-CT. The skulls belong to two partial skeletons, currently comprising the most complete Mesozoic mammal fossils reported from the British Isles. The associated upper and lower dentitions show that the lower dentition of Borealestes is not diagnostic to species level. We establish, B. cuillinensis, based on upper molar characters, and re-identify upper molars previously assigned to ‘Borealestes’ mussettae as belonging to B. cuillinensis. ‘Borealestes’ mussettae, based on distinctive lower molars, is found to be morphologically and phylogenetically distinct from Borealestes, necessitating assignment to a new genus, Dobunnodon gen. nov. The skulls of Borealestes retain many plesiomorphic features seen in Morganucodon but absent in more crownward mammaliaforms. Our study highlights that generic and species taxonomy of docodontans are more reliable when based on both upper and lower teeth, while lower molar morphology may underrepresent the true diversity of Mesozoic mammaliaforms.
With the thought of treasure, Isle of Wight islander, Derek Williams researched ancient local wreck records. Top of his extensive wreck list was the 40-gun frigate Assurance lost in 1753 while ...returning from Jamaica with Governor Trelawny on board, whose story possibly inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write Treasure Island. Derek's first dive at the western point of the Isle of Wight called "The Needles" put him on top of cannons, various wreckage and Spanish-American "Pieces of Eight", all scattered at the foot of the rock face. He reported this astonishing discovery to the authorities which resulted in the site being designated the 6th British historic protected wreck site. When the authorities decided that further professional help was needed, author and diver John Bingeman supplied his Portsmouth Royal Naval diving team, and together with David Tomalin, County Archaeologist, developed the full potential of this important site. Over the next nine years John Bingeman's team conducted annual visits to excavate the site; they successfully recovered 3,471 artefacts including cannon weighing 1½ tons. Some of these cannon post-dated the Assurance, leading to the identification of a second 38-gun frigate, the Pomone, lost in 1811. Her Captain, Robert Barrie's extensive correspondence was discovered by Paul Simpson to have been archived by Duke University, North Carolina. It features Pomone's continuous actions during the French Napoleonic wars, followed by his appointment to the 74-gun Dragon when he saw action in Chesapeake Bay during the 1812-15 war with the USA. Returning to North America as Senior Naval Officer Canada, Commodore Barrie made quite a name for himself improving the political relationship between the USA and Canada; he is remembered by the Canadian City named Barrie.Previously un-researched archaeological finds are featured, including the development of rigging blocks, gunlocks, military buttons and ship's chain pumps, all superbly illustrated, as well as the results of research into numerous other artefacts of the period. Appendices contain the transcripts of the two ship's court martials and make fascinating reading. Captains seem to be blameless while their navigating officers are held responsible even going to prison. Perhaps not surprising when tried by fellow Captains!
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