The impact of the crusading movement in Scotland 1095-1560

In 2 volsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D44317/83 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Editorial

In November 2008 the Child Care History Network held its inaugural conference at the Barns Conference and Study Centre at Toddington in Gloucestershire. The meeting was attended (among others) by three staff from the Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care. SIRCC has a warm interest in the work of the Child Care History Network and continues to be involved at various levels. I was privileged to attend the second annual conference of CCHN at the Barns Centre in November 2009. We have been fortunate in securing the publication of the main papers from this inspiring event, and these form the core of this issue of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care. We are most grateful to the speakers for revising their conference presentations for publication

Editorial

I am grateful to the editors of the Scottish Journal of Residential Child Care for inviting me to edit this special themed edition on historical research and historical subjects. It has been an enriching experience to see the research which is being carried out and the lessons which are being learned from it

Drowsy and dangerous? Fatigue in paramedics: an overview

BackgroundFatigue is a complex phenomenon that has effects on physical characteristics, cognition, behaviours, and physical and mental health. Paramedicine crosses the boundaries of many high-risk industries, namely medicine, transport and aviation. The effects of fatigue on paramedics thus need to be explored and considered in order to begin to identify appropriate interventions and management strategies.AimThe aim of this article was to provide an overview of fatigue in paramedics and its potential effects on various areas of paramedic practice and paramedic health, and to outline potential solutions to assess and manage the risk of fatigue in paramedics as suggested by the literature.MethodsWe conducted unstructured, non-systematic searches of the literature in order to inform an overview of the literature. An overview is a summary of the literature that attempts to survey the literature and describe its characteristics. We thematically structured the review under the following headings: defining occupational activity and health status; clinical performance and patient safety; shift length and time at work; effects on paramedic health; effects on driving abilities; fatigue risk management; and, fatigue proofing.DiscussionFatigue should be considered in the context of overall paramedic health status and paramedic occupational activity. The nature of paramedic shift work, and the associated occupational activity place paramedics at increased risk from fatigue. Shift work may also contribute to sleep disorders among paramedics. Fatigue is associated with increased errors and adverse events, increased chronic disease and injury rates, depression and anxiety, and impaired driving ability.ConclusionThe issue of fatigue in paramedicine is complex and has serious consequences for patients and paramedics. Paramedic services and paramedics need to work collaboratively to identify and action appropriate measures to reduce the effects of fatigue on the wellbeing of the workforce and mitigate its effects on clinical performance and safety

Influence of zinc on glycosaminoglycan neutralisation during coagulation

This work was supported by the British Heart Foundation (grant codes: PG/15/9/31270 and FS/15/42/31556). SJP is supported by a Royal Society of Edinburgh Biomedical Fellowship.Heparan sulfate (HS), dermatan sulfate (DS) and heparin are glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that serve as key natural and pharmacological anticoagulants. During normal clotting such agents require to be inactivated or neutralised. Several proteins have been reported to facilitate their neutralisation, which reside in platelet α-granules and are released following platelet activation. These include histidine-rich-glycoprotein (HRG), fibrinogen and high-molecular-weight kininogen (HMWK). Zinc ions (Zn2+) are also present in α-granules at a high concentration and participate in the propagation of coagulation by influencing the binding of neutralising proteins to GAGs. Zn2+ in many cases increases the affinity of these proteins to GAGs, and is thus an important regulator of GAG neutralisation and haemostasis. Binding of Zn2+ to HRG, HMWK and fibrinogen is mediated predominantly through coordination to histidine residues but the mechanisms by which Zn2+ increases the affinity of the proteins for GAGs are not yet completely clear. Here we will review current knowledge of how Zn2+ binds to and influences the neutralisation of GAGs and describe the importance of this process in both normal and pathogenic clotting.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

The name Govan, the Kirk and the Doomster Hill

The modern Gaelic name of Govan is Baile a'Ghobhainn, "smith's homestead", although there is no early attestation to this. I have suggested that this is probably a back-formation, since in modern pronunciation this would become Balgowan or Balgown, and since Govan appears to have been first and foremost an ecclesiastical settlement rather than a secular one, I have tentatively made the alternative suggestion that the name might derive from a diminutive form of Gaelic gob, "beak, nose": gobán, "little beak", referring to the promontory of raised ground on which the kirkyard is situated, stretching into the flood plain of the Clyde

Scotland and the Crusades

In his Ph.D. thesis, Alan Macquarrie tells us, he wanted to answer the question; what was the impact of the crusading movement on Medieval Scotland? Scotland and the Crusades is an adaptation of his answer to the question that he posed to himself. In his preface, Professor Macquarrie lists several articles he has had published, the view of Holy War in Scotland and a brief overview of the Knights of St. John in Scotland to name two, which are not in the current work. It is hard to imagine what could be contained in these articles, if one considers the information he has included in this work

The historical context of the Govan stones

A chapter on the historical context of the Govan stone

Medieval Scotland: Kingship and Nation, AD 80-1460

Examination of kingship and nation in medieval Scotland from AD 80-1460

The Kings of Strathclyde, c. 400-1018

This chapter discusses the British kingdoms in early historical Scotland with emphasis on the kingdom of Strathclyde, with its great citadel at Dumbarton Rock. This study attempts to provide some detail about its individual rulers, together with a narrative of the development and decline of the kingdom from the post-Roman period until its incorporation into the wider kingdom of the Scots