S. S. Rock Hill Victory Ship Christening Bottle and Album- Accession 1706

This collection consists of the christening bottle used during the launch of the Victory Ship the S. S. Rock Hill. Also included is a commemorative book containing photographs of the ship, the ship’s construction, and the christening ceremony. The book also contains vital statistics of the ship and information about the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore, Maryland. The S.S. Rock Hill Victory Ship was launched on April 6, 1945 at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards in Baltimore, Maryland with the daughter of Rock Hill Mayor Erwin Carothers, Ann Carothers, serving as sponsor. The bottle in this collection was used by Ann Carothers to christen the ship the S. S. Rock Hill. The S. S. Rock Hill Victory like most Victory ships was a cargo ship produced during World War II. It had the MC Hull No. 647, was a Type VC2-S-AP2, was keeled on February 15, 1945, Launched on April 6, 1945, and Delivered on May 2, 1945.https://digitalcommons.winthrop.edu/manuscriptcollection_findingaids/2671/thumbnail.jp

Thirty-five year review of a mercury monitoring service for Scottish dental practice

Aims and objectives: To review a long-standing mercury monitoring service offered to staff in dental practices in Scotland. Methods: During the first 20 years of the service, dentists and their staff were contacted by letter and invited to participate. Respondents were asked to collect samples of head hair, pubic hair, fingernail and toenail for analysis of mercury. After 1995, head hair samples were collected initially and further samples were only measured if head hair mercury was elevated. Results: At the start of this scheme many staff, including administrative staff, had systemic exposure to mercury (defined as increased mercury in all four samples). Incidents of exposure have decreased over the 35 years and are now very rare. Male staff were found to have higher mercury concentrations than female staff and dentists tended to have higher concentrations than other staff. Staff working in dental practices more than five years old had small but discernable increases in head hair mercury concentration. In recent years the use of reusable capsules such as Dentomats has been associated with a slight but statistically significant increase in head hair mercury concentrations when compared to the use of encapsulated amalgam systems. Staff wearing open-toed footwear had significantly higher toenail mercury concentrations compared to those who wore shoes. Conclusions: Exposure of staff to mercury in Scottish dental practices is currently now very low. This is probably as a result of increased awareness to the toxicity of mercury and improved methods of preparing amalgam. It may be possible to reduce exposure further, although probably only slightly, by upgrading practices and using encapsulated mercury amalgam