A Century of Banking Consolidation in Europe: The History and Archives of Mergers and Acquisitions. Edited by Manfred Pohl, Teresa Tortella, and Herman van der Wee. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2001. Pp. 320. $84.95.

Inspired by the present merger and acquisition wave, which, according to Youssef Cassis, appears to herald a new era in the history of banking consolidation in Europe (p. 15), this book assembles a number of papers on mergers from a 1997 conference of the European Association for Banking History. Mergers and acquisitions are one of the most ubiquitous aspects of business life, yet, like bankruptcies or business failures, rarely have historians studied them in any systematic manner. Manfred Pohl boldly claims in his concluding remarks that a discernibly French, German, Italian or Spanish banking sector will no longer exist at the end of the coming decade (p. 305). Thus, understanding the history of mergers, the dilemmas merging companies have faced, and why some banks have grown so large has huge implications for analyzing present banking trends and practices. Indeed, Cassis hopes that meaningful lessons will still be learnt from the study of past national experiences (p. 15). Until now, nations have largely set the boundaries of the banking business just one reason why cross-border mergers and acquisitions represent a new caesura in the history of European banks.

Blood pressure and blood glucose concentration amongst middle-aged men conceived and/or born on Guernsey during the 1940-45 German occupation

Session - Obesity, diet and exercisepublished_or_final_versio

Early probiotic supplementation and the risk of celiac disease in children at genetic risk

Abstract Probiotics are linked to positive regulatory effects on the immune system. The aim of the study was to examine the association between the exposure of probiotics via dietary supplements or via infant formula by the age of 1 year and the development of celiac disease autoimmunity (CDA) and celiac disease among a cohort of 6520 genetically susceptible children. Use of probiotics during the first year of life was reported by 1460 children. Time-to-event analysis was used to examine the associations. Overall exposure of probiotics during the first year of life was not associated with either CDA (n = 1212) (HR 1.15; 95%CI 0.99, 1.35; p = 0.07) or celiac disease (n = 455) (HR 1.11; 95%CI 0.86, 1.43; p = 0.43) when adjusting for known risk factors. Intake of probiotic dietary supplements, however, was associated with a slightly increased risk of CDA (HR 1.18; 95%CI 1.00, 1.40; p = 0.043) compared to children who did not get probiotics. It was concluded that the overall exposure of probiotics during the first year of life was not associated with CDA or celiac disease in children at genetic risk