A pilot randomised, open, uncontrolled, clinical study of two dosages of St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) herb extract (LI-160) as an aid to motivational/behavioural support in smoking cessation

There is an association between smoking and depression, yet the herbal antidepressant St John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.: SJW) herb extract has not previously been investigated as an aid in smoking cessation. In this open, uncontrolled, pilot study, 28 smokers of 10 or more cigarettes per day for at least one year were randomised to receive SJW herb extract (LI-160) 300mg once or twice daily taken for one week before and continued for 3 months after a target quit date. In addition, all participants received motivational/behavioural support from a trained pharmacist. At 3 months, the point prevalence and continuous abstinence rates were both 18%, and at 12 months were 0%. Fifteen participants (54%) reported 23 adverse events up to the end of the 3-month follow-up period. There was no statistically significant difference in the frequency of adverse events for participants taking SJW once or twice daily (p > 0.05). Most adverse events were mild, transient and non-serious. This preliminary study has not provided convincing evidence that a SJW herb extract plus individual motivational/behavioural support is likely to be effective as an aid in smoking cessation. However, it may be premature to rule out a possible effect on the basis of a single, uncontrolled pilot study, and other approaches involving SJW extract may warrant investigation.

The Identity of the St Bees Lady, Cumbria: An Osteobiographical Approach

Using an Osteobiographical approach, this contribution considers the identity of the woman found alongside the St Bees Man, one of the best-preserved archaeological bodies ever discovered. Osteological, isotopic and radiocarbon analyses, combined with the archaeological context of the burial and documented social history, provide the basis for the identification of a late 14th-century heiress whose activities were at the heart of medieval northern English geopolitics.

Mutated bodies: stage performances of Beckett's late prose texts by Mabou Mines (1984) and Gare St. Lazare Players, Ireland (2005)

An exploration of the stage adaptations of Beckett's fictional texts by the New York based Mabou Mines theatre company.

Children of the golden minster: St. Oswald's Priory and the impact of industrialisation on child health.

This study explores the disease experience of children buried within the cemetery of St. Oswald’s Priory, Gloucester from AD1153 to 1857. Evidence for ages-at-death, infant mortality, and the prevalence of stress indicators, trauma, and pathology were compared between the early and postmedieval periods. The skeletal remains of these children provide evidence for child health spanning the economic expansion of Gloucester at St. Oswald’s, from a mostly rural parish to a graveyard catering for families from the poorer northern part of the town and the workhouse. Results showed that the children from the postmedieval period in Gloucester suffered higher rates of dental caries (38%) and congenital conditions (17.3%) than their counterparts from the early and later medieval period. This paper serves to highlight the value of nonadult skeletal material in the interpretation of past human health in transitional societies and illustrates the wide variety of pathological conditions that can be observed in nonadult skeletons.