The utilisation and management of the semi-natural woodlands of Lochtayside, 1650-1850

There has been in Scotland, in recent years, a resurgence in interest the past history of our woodland, and their future management. The work of Lindsay in the 1970's did much to scotch earlier misconceptions about the utilisation and management of Highland woodlands (Lindsay 1974). Rather than being wholly exploitative, commercial influences during the 18th and 19th centuries may, in fact, have helped temper further woodland decline. It is now generally recognised that non-commercial influences may have been more significant in the evolution of woodlands in the historic period. It is now generally recognised that an understanding of past influences can contribute to future management strategies. This thesis therefore set out to examine the utilisation and management of the semi-natural woodlands of Lochtayside, and in particular, the commercial and non-commercial uses of the woodlands, and their subsequent management. It is hoped that results of this study would both suppliment our existing understanding of Scottish woodland history, and be taken into consideration in the debate on future management strategies. Initially, the study provides a context for the processes of woodland utilistion and management. Thus, the principal decisionmakers involved in the determination of woodland policies on Lochtayside were examined: the Campbells of Glenorchy. Both internal and external factors which might affect their decisions were also investigated. A critical evaluation of the sources for a woodland history study followed. Sources included, contemporary published works relating to the Highland rural society and the economy; the primary documentary source, i.e., the Breadalbane muniments; and cartographic sources, primarily, the Pont Map, the Roy Map, both the Fair and the Protracted versions, the 1769 Survey of Lochtayside and the 1st edition Ordnance Survey. A critical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages is regarded as fundamental to woodland history, and the study explored the limitations of using such sources, in particular the cartographic evidence. Finally, the non-commercial use of the produce and area of the semi-natural woodlands on Lochtayside, and the commercial use of these woodlands, including for bark, timber and charcoal was examined. Conclusions reached suggest there was a complex relationship between these two forms of use which affected the management of the woodlands, and ultimately the extent and composition of the woodlands on Lochtayside. It became clear that the relationship between the agriculture and woodlands was critical. The precise nature of this relationship, however, requires further examination

Prevalence and implications of frailty in acute stroke: systematic review & meta-analysis

Background: frailty is common in older adults and associated with poor outcomes following illness. Although stroke is predominantly a disease of older people, our knowledge of frailty in stroke is limited. We aimed to collate the literature on acute stroke and frailty to estimate the prevalence of pre-stroke frailty and its associations with outcomes. Methods: paired researchers searched multidisciplinary electronic databases for papers describing frailty and acute stroke. We assessed risk of bias using Newcastle-Ottawa tools appropriate to study design. We created summary estimates of pre-stroke frailty using random effects models. We collated whether studies reported significant positive associations between frailty and clinical outcomes in adjusted models. Results: we included 14 studies (n = 27,210 participants). Seven studies (n = 8,840) used a frailty index approach, four studies (n = 14,924) used Hospital Frailty Risk Scores. Pooled prevalence of pre-stroke frailty was 24.6% (95% confidence interval, CI: 16.2–33.1%; low quality evidence, downgraded due to heterogeneity, bias). Combining frailty and pre-frailty (nine studies, n = 23,827), prevalence of any frailty syndrome was 66.8% (95%CI: 49.9–83.7%). Seven studies were at risk of bias, from participant selection or method of frailty assessment. Pre-stroke frailty was associated with all adverse outcomes assessed, including longer-term mortality (positive association in 6 of 6 studies reporting this outcome; odds ratio: 3.75 [95%CI: 2.41–5.70]), length of admission (3 of 4 studies) and disability (4 of 6 studies). Conclusions: despite substantial heterogeneity, whichever way it is measured, frailty is common in patients presenting with acute stroke and associated with poor outcomes. This has implications for the design of stroke services and pathways

The inflammatory microenvironment in colorectal neoplasia

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Development of a recombinant protein-based ELISA for diagnosis of larval cyathostomin infection

SUMMARYCyathostomins are ubiquitous nematodes of horses. Once ingested, they can spend a substantial time as encysted larvae in the intestinal wall. The larvae can comprise up to 90% of the total burden, with up to several million worms reported in individuals. These stages can emerge in large numbers to cause life-threatening colitis. Direct methods for detection of encysted larval burdens in live horses do not exist. Previously, two antigen complexes were identified as promising markers for infection. A component of these, cyathostomin gut associated larval antigen-1 (Cy-GALA-1), was identified following immunoscreening of a complementary DNA library. Serum immunoglobulin G(T) (IgG(T)) responses to Cy-GALA-1 were shown to inform on larval infection. Sequence analysis of polymerase chain reaction products amplified from individual worms indicated that Cy-GALA-1 was derived from Cyathostomum pateratum. As cyathostomin infections always comprise multiple species, a diagnostic test must account for this. Here, segments of the Cy-gala gene were isolated from four common species, Cyathostomum catinatum, Cylicocyclus ashworthi, Cylicostephanus goldi and Cylicostephanus longibursatus, and the associated proteins expressed in recombinant form. The specificity and immunogenicity of each protein was confirmed. Each protein was assessed by enzyme linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA) for its ability for informing on the presence of encysted larval infection and the level of burden.</jats:p

Conceptualizing historical organization studies

© 2016 Academy of Management Review. The promise of a closer union between organizational and historical research has long been recognized. However, its potential remains unfulfilled: The authenticity of theory development expected by organization studies and the authenticity of historical veracity required by historical research place exceptional conceptual and empirical demands on researchers. We elaborate the idea of historical organization studies-organizational research that draws extensively on historical data, methods, and knowledge to promote historically informed theoretical narratives attentive to both disciplines. Building on prior research, we propose a typology of four differing conceptions of history in organizational research: History as evaluating, explicating, conceptualizing, and narrating. We identify five principles of historical organization studies-dual integrity, pluralistic understanding, representational truth, context sensitivity, and theoretical fluency-and illustrate our typology holistically from the perspective of institutional entrepreneurship. We explore practical avenues for a creative synthesis, drawing examples from social movement research and microhistory. Historically informed theoretical narratives whose validity derives from both historical veracity and conceptual rigor afford dual integrity that enhances scholarly legitimacy, enriching understanding of historical, contemporary, and future-directed social realities

Vaccine-induced time- and age-dependent mucosal immunity to gastrointestinal parasite infection

Individuals vary broadly in their response to vaccination and subsequent challenge infection, with poor vaccine responders causing persistence of both infection and transmission in populations. Yet despite having substantial economic and societal impact, the immune mechanisms that underlie such variability, especially in infected tissues, remain poorly understood. Here, to characterise how antihelminthic immunity at the mucosal site of infection developed in vaccinated lambs, we inserted gastric cannulae into the abomasa of three-month- and six-month-old lambs and longitudinally analysed their local immune response during subsequent challenge infection. The vaccine induced broad changes in pre-challenge abomasal immune profiles and reduced parasite burden and egg output post-challenge, regardless of age. However, age affected how vaccinated lambs responded to infection across multiple immune pathways: adaptive immune pathways were typically age-dependent. Identification of age-dependent and age-independent protective immune pathways may help refine the formulation of vaccines, and indicate specificities of pathogen-specific immunity more generally

Macrophages trigger cardiomyocyte proliferation by increasing epicardial vegfaa expression during larval zebrafish heart regeneration

Cardiac injury leads to the loss of cardiomyocytes, which are rapidly replaced by the proliferation of the surviving cells in zebrafish, but not in mammals. In both the regenerative zebrafish and non-regenerative mammals, cardiac injury induces a sustained macrophage response. Macrophages are required for cardiomyocyte proliferation during zebrafish cardiac regeneration, but the mechanisms whereby macrophages facilitate this crucial process are fundamentally unknown. Using heartbeat-synchronized live imaging, RNA sequencing, and macrophage-null genotypes in the larval zebrafish cardiac injury model, we characterize macrophage function and reveal that these cells activate the epicardium, inducing cardiomyocyte proliferation. Mechanistically, macrophages are specifically recruited to the epicardial-myocardial niche, triggering the expansion of the epicardium, which upregulates vegfaa expression to induce cardiomyocyte proliferation. Our data suggest that epicardial Vegfaa augments a developmental cardiac growth pathway via increased endocardial notch signaling. The identification of this macrophage-dependent mechanism of cardiac regeneration highlights immunomodulation as a potential strategy for enhancing mammalian cardiac repair