From Empire to Colony: The Halifax Cholera Outbreaks of 1834 and 1866

This article explores the relationship between emigration and outbreaks of cholera in Halifax between 1832 and 1866. Pressures associated with migration from the British Isles, as well as the threat and reality of transmittable diseases like cholera, reveal the vulnerability and strains felt as a colonial port town located off the North Atlantic. This article presents the struggles and tensions apparent with managing emigrants, many of which were bound for territory beyond Nova Scotia, and contributes not only to the historical understanding of how cholera was dealt with in Halifax but also provides a unique perspective on understanding the greater struggles of 19th-century colonial life.Cet article explore le lien entre l’émigration et les épidémies de choléra à Halifax entre 1832 et 1866. Les pressions associées à la migration en provenance des îles Britanniques ainsi que la menace et l’existence de maladies transmissibles telles que le choléra révèlent la vulnérabilité et les contraintes ressenties en tant que ville portuaire coloniale située au bord de l’Atlantique Nord. Cet article présente les difficultés et les tensions évidentes suscitées par la gestion des émigrants, dont beaucoup se rendaient à un territoire au-delà de la Nouvelle-Écosse. Non seulement elle aide à comprendre l’histoire des mesures de gestion du choléra à Halifax, mais aussi elle procure une perspective unique sur les grandes difficultés de la vie coloniale au 19e siècle

Seascapes of ‘submarine squatters’: commercial dugong fisheries of North Queensland

Submarine squatting, dugong fishing on the Queensland (Australia) coast during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is a poorly understood livelihood. This study provides a fine-grained interpretation to expand our knowledge of the operation of commercial dugong fisheries through the practices of two commercial dugong fishers, John Lionel Ching and Daniel Dewar, operating in the Newry Island Group. Archaeological surveys of the Newry Island Group and nearby Stewarts Peninsula have highlighted the ephemeral nature of the commercial dugong industry in the seascape today. Despite this ephemeral landscape, contextualising the archival and archaeological research within a seascape framework has enriched our understanding of the daily lives of the commercial dugong fishers. It is important to acknowledge that a seascape approach is rarely applied to non-Indigenous archaeological contexts in Australia. The seascape approach used here has been successful in encompassing Western systems of maritime knowledge

Validation of a priori candidate Alzheimer’s disease SNPs with brain amyloid-beta deposition

The accumulation of brain amyloid β (Aβ) is one of the main pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the role of brain amyloid deposition in the development of AD and the genetic variants associated with this process remain unclear. In this study, we sought to identify associations between Aβ deposition and an a priori evidence based set of 1610 genetic markers, genotyped from 505 unrelated individuals (258 Aβ+ and 247 Aβ−) enrolled in the Australian Imaging, Biomarker & Lifestyle (AIBL) study. We found statistically significant associations for 6 markers located within intronic regions of 6 genes, including AC103796.1-BDNF, PPP3R1, NGFR, KL, ABCA7 & CALHM1. Although functional studies are required to elucidate the role of these genes in the accumulation of Aβ and their potential implication in AD pathophysiology, our findings are consistent with results obtained in previous GWAS efforts

Aboriginal artefacts on the continental shelf reveal ancient drowned cultural landscapes in northwest Australia

This article reports Australia’s first confirmed ancient underwater archaeological sites from the continental shelf, located off the Murujuga coastline in north-western Australia. Details on two underwater sites are reported: Cape Bruguieres, comprising > 260 recorded lithic artefacts at depths down to −2.4 m below sea level, and Flying Foam Passage where the find spot is associated with a submerged freshwater spring at −14 m. The sites were discovered through a purposeful research strategy designed to identify underwater targets, using an iterative process incorporating a variety of aerial and underwater remote sensing techniques and diver investigation within a predictive framework to map the submerged landscape within a depth range of 0–20 m. The condition and context of the lithic artefacts are analysed in order to unravel their depositional and taphonomic history and to corroborate their in situ position on a pre-inundation land surface, taking account of known geomorphological and climatic processes including cyclone activity that could have caused displacement and transportation from adjacent coasts. Geomorphological data and radiometric dates establish the chronological limits of the sites and demonstrate that they cannot be later than 7000 cal BP and 8500 cal BP respectively, based on the dates when they were finally submerged by sea-level rise. Comparison of underwater and onshore lithic assemblages shows differences that are consistent with this chronological interpretation. This article sets a foundation for the research strategies and technologies needed to identify archaeological targets at greater depth on the Australian continental shelf and elsewhere, building on the results presented. Emphasis is also placed on the need for legislation to better protect and manage underwater cultural heritage on the 2 million square kilometres of drowned landscapes that were once available for occupation in Australia, and where a major part of its human history must lie waiting to be discovered

Fifteen years of the Australian imaging, biomarkers and lifestyle (AIBL) study: Progress and observations from 2,359 older adults spanning the spectrum from cognitive normality to Alzheimer\u27s disease

Background: The Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study commenced in 2006 as a prospective study of 1,112 individuals (768 cognitively normal (CN), 133 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 211 with Alzheimer\u27s disease dementia (AD)) as an \u27Inception cohort\u27 who underwent detailed ssessments every 18 months. Over the past decade, an additional 1247 subjects have been added as an \u27Enrichment cohort\u27 (as of 10 April 2019). Objective: Here we provide an overview of these Inception and Enrichment cohorts of more than 8,500 person-years of investigation. Methods: Participants underwent reassessment every 18 months including comprehensive cognitive testing, neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging, MRI; positron emission tomography, PET), biofluid biomarkers and lifestyle evaluations. Results: AIBL has made major contributions to the understanding of the natural history of AD, with cognitive and biological definitions of its three major stages: preclinical, prodromal and clinical. Early deployment of Aβ-amyloid and tau molecular PET imaging and the development of more sensitive and specific blood tests have facilitated the assessment of genetic and environmental factors which affect age at onset and rates of progression. Conclusion: This fifteen-year study provides a large database of highly characterized individuals with longitudinal cognitive, imaging and lifestyle data and biofluid collections, to aid in the development of interventions to delay onset, prevent or treat AD. Harmonization with similar large longitudinal cohort studies is underway to further these aims

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Aboriginal missions and post-contact maritime archaeology: A South Australian synthesis

The post-contact maritime archaeological research of Aboriginal missions has hitherto been an un-developed area of study. This paper argues that research in this area is now required to investigate the 'hidden histories' of Indigenous peoples in relation to the lacustrine, riverine and coastal waterways of the late 19th and early 20th century Australian land and waterscape. As such this paper presents a synthesis of information on this topic including an analysis of available literature and historical sources to better understand Indigenous peoples' activities in the post-contact maritime land and waterscape. Ultimately, it is also argued that the maritime archaeology of Aboriginal missions has the potential to contribute knowledge about cross-cultural exchange and cultural continuity . This study is timely because many maritime mission sites are deteriorating and their associated intangible heritage is in need of preservation

<i>Please God Send Me A Wreck: Responses to Shipwreck in a 19^th Century Australian Community</i>. Brad Duncan and Martin Gibbs. New York: Springer, 2015, 243 pp. $129.00, cloth. ISBN 978-1-4939-2641-1

The title of Brad Duncan and Martin Gibbs's 2015 book, Please God Send Me a Wreck, rapidly conveys the contradiction between wrecks as crises and wrecks as boons— savior and salvor, altruism and opportunity. This third volume in the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology (ACUA) and Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) series When the Land Meets the Sea represents the work of the state maritime archaeologist (New South Wales Heritage Branch) and a professor of Australian archaeology (University of New England), respectively. This Springer-published set covers archaeological work on single, or a collection of related, sites that encompass both underwater and terrestrial investigations. The recent addition, in the genre of anthropologically oriented archaeological essays, adopts the nineteenth- and twentieth-century communities of Queenscliffe, in the southern Australian state of Victoria, as a case study. It casts the community as the central protagonist in a landscape where shipping mishaps take center stage. Pilot, lighthouse, hydrographic, lifeboat, and customs services act as the key players, orchestrating responses to shipping mishaps encompassing stranding, wrecking, rescue, salvage, looting, caching, beachcombing, and souveniring