Shiver My Timbers: Images, Objects and Ideas in the Popular Culture of Seafaring

The sea constitutes a vast and influential environment, and human interaction with it has produced a special maritime culture. In the Western world, this maritime culture has, in turn, generated a distinct catalogue of popular, recurrent images, objects and ideas that permeate the media and the marketplace. This paper offers an informal examination of some of the most notable aspects of maritime popular culture and argues the case for including popular culture within contemporary collections of maritime heritage. Indeed, with Western nations becoming increasingly alienated from life and work at sea, maritime popular culture has to some extent become the relevant maritime culture, serving as both a mediator of popular perceptions of the past, and as an important material-culture record in its own right. Résumé La mer constitue un environnement vaste et influent et l'interaction que les êtres humains ont eue avec elle a produit une culture maritime particulière. En Occident, cette culture a à son tour donné naissance à un répertoire distinct d'images, d'objets et d'idées populaires qui font régulièrement surface et se répandent dans les médias et sur le marché. Cet article offre un libre examen de certains des aspects les plus notables de la culture maritime populaire et présente des arguments en faveur de l'intégration de la culture populaire aux collections contemporaines du patrimoine maritime. En fait, étant donné que les sociétés occidentales sont de plus en plus étrangères à la vie et au travail en mer, dans une certaine mesure, la culture populaire maritime est devenue la culture maritime pertinente, servant d'intermédiaire pour les perceptions populaires du passé tout en étant elle-même un important témoignage de la culture matérielle

Serbia’s relations with its Western Balkan neighbours as a challenge for its accession to the EU

Serbia, as the second regional frontrunner (after Montenegro) in the EU accession process, hopes to be able to meet the required conditions and join the EU by 2025 which the European Commission 2018 enlargement strategy declared as the earliest possible date for the admission of new EU members. However, some of the EU’s expectations and requirements which Serbia has to meet, particularly those regarding the ‘normalisation’ of its relations with Kosovo and the resolution of ‘bilateral disputes’ which it has with some other neighbours, seem to be very tough and challenging for the Serbian government. The article discusses the recent developments in Serbia’s relations with its ‘most problematic’ neighbours and critically assesses the strength of problems in these relations as an obstacle for Serbia’s accession to the EU. The article shows that thanks to EU assistance and the commitment of interested parties to find a common ground, Serbia’s relations with Kosovo may become even less of an obstacle to its accession than its relations with its three western neighbours, particularly Croatia

Alcohol brief interventions in youth and social work settings in Scotland

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Creatinine and myoglobin are poor predictors of anaerobic threshold in colorectal cancer and health

Aims Myoglobin is a haem protein produced in skeletal muscles. Serum concentrations of myoglobin have been proposed as a surrogate marker of muscle mass and function in both cachectic cancer patients and healthy non-cancer individuals. Creatinine, a metabolite of creatine phosphate, an energy store found in skeletal muscle, is produced at a constant rate from skeletal muscle. Urinary and plasma creatinine have been used in clinical practice as indicators of skeletal muscle mass in health and disease. Our study aimed to test the hypothesis that plasma myoglobin and creatinine concentration could accurately predict skeletal muscle mass and aerobic capacity in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and matched healthy controls and thereby an indicative of aerobic performance. Methods We recruited 47 patients with CRC and matching number of healthy volunteers for this study. All participants had their body composition measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scan, aerobic capacity measured to anaerobic threshold (AT) by cardiopulmonary exercise testing and filled in objective questionnaires to assess the qualitative functions. This study was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, after approval by the local National Health Service (NHS) Research Ethics Committee. Results Age-matched groups had similar serum myoglobin and creatinine concentrations in spite of differences in their aerobic capacity. AT was significantly lower in the CRC group compared with matched controls (1.18 ± 0.44 vs. 1.41 ± 0.71 L/min; P < 0.01). AT had significant correlation with lean muscle mass (LMM) among these groups, but myoglobin and creatinine had poor correlation with LMM and AT. Conclusions Serum myoglobin is a poor predictor of muscle mass, and serum myoglobin and creatinine concentrations do not predict aerobic performance in CRC patients or healthy matched controls