What’s in a name? : some reflections on naming and identity in prosopography

A prosopography will start from the identification of different individual persons among a mass of name records drawn from the primary sources. Individuals can be discerned even where all or part of the name is missing: for example, “the poor man”, is a person who has been distinguished from others by the description “poor”. But names are normally present in our records, because all human beings have them. They are easy to take for granted, and all too often they are taken for granted even by prosopographers. This paper reflects on the meaning and function of names, and explores their use as descriptions intended to designate and to categorize a single specific individual, even though there may be other persons with the same name. Name evidence is a peculiarly rich resource for the historian, but it cannot be used uncritically but has to be assessed in relation to who recorded the name as we have it – very rarely the name-bearer him/herself –, and how and why.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi

Switch from canonical to noncanonical Wnt signaling mediates high glucose-induced adipogenesis

Human bone marrow mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPCs) are multipotent cells that play an essential role in endogenous repair and the maintenance of the stem cell niche. We have recently shown that high levels of glucose, conditions mimicking diabetes, cause impairment of MPCs, resulting in enhanced adipogenesis and suppression of osteogenesis. This implies that diabetes may lead to reduced endogenous repair mechanisms through altering the differentiation potential of MPCs and, consequently, disrupting the stem cell niche. Phenotypic alterations in the bone marrow of long-term diabetic patients closely resemble this observation. Here, we show that high levels of glucose selectively enhance autogenous Wnt11 expression in MPCs to stimulate adipogenesis through the Wnt/protein kinase C noncanonical pathway. This novel mechanism may account for increased bone marrow adipogenesis, severe bone loss, and reduced vascular stem cells leading to chronic secondary complications of diabetes. Stem Cells 2014;32:1649-1660 © 2014 AlphaMed Press

Geophysical imaging of ophiolite structure in the United Arab Emirates

The Oman-United Arab Emirates ophiolite has been used extensively to document the geological processes that form oceanic crust. The geometry of the ophiolite, its extension into the Gulf of Oman, and the nature of the crust that underlies it are, however, unknown. Here, we show the ophiolite forms a high velocity, high density, >15 km thick east-dipping body that during emplacement flexed down a previously rifted continental margin thereby contributing to subsidence of flanking sedimentary basins. The western limit of the ophiolite is defined onshore by the Semail thrust while the eastern limit extends several km offshore, where it is defined seismically by a ~40–45°, east-dipping, normal fault. The fault is interpreted as the southwestern margin of an incipient suture zone that separates the Arabian plate from in situ Gulf of Oman oceanic crust and mantle presently subducting northwards beneath the Eurasian plate along the Makran trench

The relationship between anthropometric measures and cardiometabolic health in shift work: findings from the Atlantic PATH Cohort Study

PurposeTo evaluate the relationship between anthropometric measures and cardiometabolic health in shift workers compared to non-shift workers.MethodsA population health study was conducted with 4155 shift workers and 8258 non-shift workers from the Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (PATH) cohort. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the differences in anthropometric measures (body adiposity) and self-reported cardiometabolic disease outcomes (obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease) between shift workers and non-shift workers.ResultsThere was a significant increased risk of cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes among shift workers compared to matched controls despite higher levels of physical activity and lower levels of sedentary behaviour. Shift workers were 17% more likely to be obese (95% CI 7–27) and 27% more likely to have diabetes (95% CI 8–51). The strength of this association was demonstrated by also controlling for body mass index and fat mass index.ConclusionsShift work is associated with obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes despite higher levels of physical activity and lower levels of sedentary behaviour. The association between shift work and cardiometabolic health was independent of body mass index for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and independent of fat mass index for diabetes

Relationship between Adiponectin and apoB in individuals with diabetes in the Atlantic PATH Cohort

ContextThe increasing prevalence of obesity and diabetes greatly influences the risk for cardiovascular (CV) comorbidities and affects the quality of life of many people. However, the relationship among diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular risk is complex and requires further investigation to understand the biological milieu connecting these conditions.ObjectiveThe aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between biological markers of adipose tissue function (adiponectin) and CV risk (apolipoprotein B) in body mass index (BMI)–matched participants with and without diabetes.DesignNested case-control study.SettingThe Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health (PATH) cohort represents four Atlantic Canadian provinces: Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; and Prince Edward Island.ParticipantsThe study population (n = 480) was aged 35 to 69 years, 240 with diabetes and 240 without diabetes.Main Outcome MeasuresGroups with and without diabetes were matched for sex and BMI. Both measured and self-reported data were used to examine disease status, adiposity, and lifestyle factors. Immunoassays were used to measure plasma markers.ResultsIn these participants, plasma adiponectin levels were lower among those with diabetes than those without diabetes; these results were sex-specific, with a strong relationship seen in women. In contrast, in participants matched for sex and adiposity, plasma apoB levels were similar between participants with and those without diabetes.ConclusionMeasures of adiposity were higher in participants with diabetes. However, when matched for adiposity, the adipokine adiponectin exhibited a strong inverse association with diabetes

Geophysical imaging of ophiolite structure in the United Arab Emirates.

The Oman-United Arab Emirates ophiolite has been used extensively to document the geological processes that form oceanic crust. The geometry of the ophiolite, its extension into the Gulf of Oman, and the nature of the crust that underlies it are, however, unknown. Here, we show the ophiolite forms a high velocity, high density, >15 km thick east-dipping body that during emplacement flexed down a previously rifted continental margin thereby contributing to subsidence of flanking sedimentary basins. The western limit of the ophiolite is defined onshore by the Semail thrust while the eastern limit extends several km offshore, where it is defined seismically by a ~40-45°, east-dipping, normal fault. The fault is interpreted as the southwestern margin of an incipient suture zone that separates the Arabian plate from in situ Gulf of Oman oceanic crust and mantle presently subducting northwards beneath the Eurasian plate along the Makran trench

Learning To Be Affected: Social suffering and total pain at life’s borders.

The practice of Live Sociology in situations of pain and suffering is the author’s focus. An outline of the challenges of understanding pain is followed by a discussion of Bourdieu’s ‘social suffering’ (1999) and the palliative care philosophy of ‘total pain’. Using examples from qualitative research on disadvantaged dying migrants in the UK, attention is given to the methods that are improvised by dying people and care practitioners in attempts to bridge intersubjective divides, where the causes and routes of pain can be ontologically and temporally indeterminate and/or withdrawn. The paper contends that these latter phenomena are the incitement for the inventive bridging and performative work of care and Live Sociological methods, both of which are concerned with opposing suffering. Drawing from the ontology of total pain, I highlight the importance of (i) an engagement with a range of materials out of which attempts at intersubjective bridging can be produced, and which exceed the social, the material, and the temporally linear; and (ii) an empirical sensibility that is hospitable to the inaccessible and non-relational