A study of the work of Dr. Felix Oswald on the Oswald-plicque collection of samian pottery, now at Durham University

The purpose of this thesis is to re-assess the work of Dr.Felix Oswald on the Oswald-Plicque Collection of samian pottery. The Oswald-Plicque collection was the personal samian collection of Dr.Oswald and was acquired by Professor Eric Birley for Durham University in 1950. It is now at the Museum of Archaeology, Durham. The first part of the thesis describes the history of the Collection. Its importance to samian specialists is discussed and a brief account is given of its organisation before and after arriving in Durham. The second part of the thesis analyses the Central Gaulish ware in the Collection. Dr.Oswald wrote brief notes and names on the back of each sherd indicating the potter to whom he attributed the piece. Each potter is discussed alphabetically, and an opinion is expressed as to the accuracy of Dr.Oswald's classifications. The third section of the thesis discusses the South Gaulish ware. Dr.Oswald wrote more extensive notes on the South Gaulish sherds and these have been recorded in full. The sherds have been divided on the basis of date rather than potter, and the accuracy of the dates given for each sherd is assessed. Finally the work of Dr.Oswald on the Collection is placed in the context of his times. It is concluded that many of the sherds are incorrectly attributed and that Dr.Oswald's attempt to name a style for each sherd is over ambitious and influenced by 19th century thinking. Dr.Oswald used information on figure types derived from the Collection in one of his most important works, his "Index of Figure Types on Terra Sigillata" (1936-7), and it is suggested that extreme caution should be taken when using references from this Index to unsigned work from the Oswald-Plicque Collection

‘A green thought in a green shade’; Compositional and typological observations concerning the production of emerald green glass vessels in the 1st century A.D.

The results of a programme of compositional analysis on a series of emerald green glass vessels of known form and date suggest that emerald green vessels have distinct characteristics that set them apart from most contemporary glasses. These specific compositional peculiarities presented here will be evaluated in the context of the varieties of vessel forms produced in the colour. In the light of our findings we will suggest a number of ways forward in the understanding of the structure of the early Roman glass industry

Effect of remote ischaemic conditioning on clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI): a single-blind randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Remote ischaemic conditioning with transient ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We investigated whether remote ischaemic conditioning could reduce the incidence of cardiac death and hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months. METHODS: We did an international investigator-initiated, prospective, single-blind, randomised controlled trial (CONDI-2/ERIC-PPCI) at 33 centres across the UK, Denmark, Spain, and Serbia. Patients (age >18 years) with suspected STEMI and who were eligible for PPCI were randomly allocated (1:1, stratified by centre with a permuted block method) to receive standard treatment (including a sham simulated remote ischaemic conditioning intervention at UK sites only) or remote ischaemic conditioning treatment (intermittent ischaemia and reperfusion applied to the arm through four cycles of 5-min inflation and 5-min deflation of an automated cuff device) before PPCI. Investigators responsible for data collection and outcome assessment were masked to treatment allocation. The primary combined endpoint was cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure at 12 months in the intention-to-treat population. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02342522) and is completed. FINDINGS: Between Nov 6, 2013, and March 31, 2018, 5401 patients were randomly allocated to either the control group (n=2701) or the remote ischaemic conditioning group (n=2700). After exclusion of patients upon hospital arrival or loss to follow-up, 2569 patients in the control group and 2546 in the intervention group were included in the intention-to-treat analysis. At 12 months post-PPCI, the Kaplan-Meier-estimated frequencies of cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure (the primary endpoint) were 220 (8·6%) patients in the control group and 239 (9·4%) in the remote ischaemic conditioning group (hazard ratio 1·10 [95% CI 0·91-1·32], p=0·32 for intervention versus control). No important unexpected adverse events or side effects of remote ischaemic conditioning were observed. INTERPRETATION: Remote ischaemic conditioning does not improve clinical outcomes (cardiac death or hospitalisation for heart failure) at 12 months in patients with STEMI undergoing PPCI. FUNDING: British Heart Foundation, University College London Hospitals/University College London Biomedical Research Centre, Danish Innovation Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, TrygFonden