Compilation of planktonic foraminiferal census counts from the Southern Hemisphere Oceans

We present an improved database of planktonic foraminiferal census counts from the Southern Hemisphere Oceans (SHO) from 15°S to 64°S. The SHO database combines 3 existing databases. Using this SHO database, we investigated dissolution biases that might affect faunal census counts. We suggest a depth/[DCO3]2- threshold of ~3800 m/[DCO3]2- = ~-10 to -5 µmol/kg for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and ~4000 m/[DCO3]2- = ~0 to 10 µmol/kg for the Atlantic Ocean, under which core-top assemblages can be affected by dissolution and are less reliable for paleo-sea surface temperature (SST) reconstructions. We removed all core-tops beyond these thresholds from the SHO database. This database has 598 core-tops and is able to reconstruct past SST variations from 2° to 25.5°C, with a root mean square error of 1.00°C, for annual temperatures. To inspect dissolution affects SST reconstruction quality, we tested the data base with two "leave-one-out" tests, with and without the deep core-tops. We used this database to reconstruct Summer SST (SSST) over the last 20 ka, using the Modern Analog Technique method, on the Southeast Pacific core MD07-3100. This was compared to the SSST reconstructed using the 3 databases used to compile the SHO database. Thus showing that the reconstruction using the SHO database is more reliable, as its dissimilarity values are the lowest. The most important aspect here is the importance of a bias-free, geographic-rich, database. We leave this dataset open-ended to future additions; the new core-tops must be carefully selected, with their chronological frameworks, and evidence of dissolution assessed.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of ferromanganese concretions from the Bothnia Gulf, the Baltic Sea and the Barents sea collected by Boström, K. and Ingri, J. (Technical University of Lulea)

The collection of ferromanganese nodules at Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden has been donated by Pr. Boström, K. and Ingri, J. from the Technical University of Lulea. They have been collected in the Bothnia Gulf, the Baltic Sea anfd the Barents sea from 1976 until 1985. In 1997 it is was put to the care custody of the Laboratory for Isotope Geology (LIG) of NRM. As part of the Access Project at LIG, Curt Boman has gone through the collection and established a database with detailed information about the samples it contains. Ferromanganese nodules typically display a rounded shape and are formed by redox processes at the interface between the seabed sediment and water. In addition to iron and manganese they also contain other metal elements. Nodules chemical composition reflects the substances found in the sediment to which they are associated. Since the nodules grow continuously, they reflect changes in the sedimentary environment chemistry on a yearly basis, which makes them very interesting as environmental archives. The nodules can be found locally in large quantities and due to their metal content they are also economically interesting as a source of raw materials.

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn nodules recovered from the VA04 expedition (R/V Valdivia) in the Pacific Ocean

Twenty-four manganese nodules from the surface of the sea floor and fifteen buried nodules were studied. With three exceptions, the nodules were collected from the area covered by Valdivia Cruise VA 04 some 1200 nautical miles southeast of Hawaii. Age determinations were made using the ionium method. In order to get a true reproduction of the activity distribution in the nodules, they were cut in half and placed for one month on nuclear emulsion plates to determine the alpha-activity of the ionium and its daughter products. Special methods of counting the alpha-tracks resolution to depth intervals of 0.125 mm. For the first time it was possible to resolve zones of rapid growth (impulse growth) with growth rates, s > 50 mm/106 yr and interruptions in growth. With few exceptions the average rate of growth of all nodules was surprisingly uniform at 4-9 mm/10 yr. No growth could be recognized radioactively in the buried nodules. One exceptional nodule has had recent impulse growth and, in the material formed, the ionium is not yet in equilibrium with its daughter products. Individual layers in one nodule from the Indian Ocean could be dated and an average time interval of t = 2600±400 yr was necessary to form one layer. The alternation between iron and manganese-rich parts of the nodules was made visible by colour differences resulting from special treatment of cut surfaces with HCl vapour. The zones of slow growth of one nodule are relatively enriched in iron. Earlier attempts to find paleomagnetic reversals in manganese nodules have been continued. Despite considerable improvement in areal resolution, reversals were not detected in the nodules studied. Comparisons of the surface structure, microstructure in section and the radiometric dating show that there are erosion surfaces and growth surfaces on the outer surfaces of the manganese nodules. The formation of cracks in the nodules was studied in particular. The model of age-dependent nodule shrinkage and cracking surprisingly indicates that the nodules break after exceeding a certain age and/or size. Consequently, the breaking apart of manganese nodules is a continuous process not of catastrophic or discontinuous origin. The microstructure of the nodules exhibits differences in the mechanism of accretion and accretion rate of material, shortly referred to as accretion form. Thus non-directional growth inside the nodules as well as a directional growth may be observed. Those nodules with large accretion forms have grown faster than smaller ones. Consequently, parallel layers indicate slow growth. The upper surfaces of the nodules, protruding into the bottom water appear to be more prone to growth disturbances than the lower surfaces, immersed in the sediment. Features of some nodules show, that as they develop, they neither turned nor rolled. Yet unknown is the mechanism that keeps the nodules at the surface during continuous sedimentation. All in all, the nodules remain the objects of their own distinctive problems. The hope of using them as a kind of history book still seems to be very remote.

Geochemical composition of nodules and crusts from the Indian Ocean recovered from R/V Marion Dufresne expeditions from 1977 until 1981

Following the launch of the "Marion Dufresne 1", first supply ship of the Terres Australes and Antarctiques Françaises and part time oceanographic vessel in the Indian Ocean, a new marine geology program was developped at the Laboratoire de Géologie, MNHN. The first oceanographic cruise of the "Marion Dufresne 1" started in 1973 in the Southwestern Indian Ocean (OSIRIS I cruise). Forty piston-cores recovered nearly 200 m of sediments consisting in the first of the 450 cores of the Indian Ocean collection now deposited at the Museum. L. Leclaire being Director from 1980 to 1991, a multidisciplinary team (including sedimentologists and micropaleontologists) was involved in many oceanographic cruises in the Indian Ocean. Marine sedimentology was developped during annual cruises programs in collaboration with geophysicists, geochemists, and biologists. In 1995, the "Marion Dufresne 2" replaced the initial "Marion Dufresne 1".

Annotated record of the detailed examination of Mn deposits from the R/V Rig Seismic Cruise 11 (BMR 66) in 1986 over the Great Australian Bight Basin area

Late Cretaceous and younger sediments dredged from the upper continental slope and canyon walls in the Great Australian Bight Basin between 126° and 136°E broadly confirm the stratigraphy which had been established previously from scattered exploration wells. Late Cretaceous to Early Eocene marine and marginal marine terrigenous sediments are overlain by Middle Eocene and younger pelagic carbonate (fine limestone and calcareous ooze). The samples provide the first evidence of truly marine Maastrichtian sedimentation, with abundant calcareous nannoplankton, on the southern margin of the continent. Other samples of interest include Precambrian sheared granodiorite on the upper slope south of Eyre Terrace, Paleocene phosphatic sediment in 'Eucla' Canyon at 128° 30'E, and terrigenous Early Miocene mudstone at 133° 20' and 134° 50'E. The mudstone is of note as an exception to the uniform pelagic carbonate wackestone and ooze which characterise Middle Eocene and younger sedimentation at all other sites. Fragments of alkali basalt lava of unknown age were recovered in 'Eucla' Canyon. Cores are mostly pelagic calcareous ooze, but those from submarine canyons include terrigenous turbidites.

Three-dimensional tomographic reconstruction of an exceptionally well preserved ichnological assemblage from the Stainmore Foundation, Carboniferous, UK

This Ph.D. thesis addresses current issues with ichnotaxonomic practice, and characterizes an exceptionally well preserved ichnological assemblage from the Carboniferous Stainmore Formation, Northumberland, United Kingdom. Samples were collected from closely localized float representative of various units throughout the succession, which was deposited in a storm-dominated marine shoreface. Three dominant ichnotaxa were selected for three-dimensional morphological analysis due to their complicated morphology and/or unclear taxonomic status: 1) Dactyloidites jordii isp. nov.; 2) Beaconites capronus, and; 3) Neoeione moniliformis comb. nov. Using serial grinding and photography, these ichnotaxa were ground and modelled in true colour. High-resolution models of three taxa produced in this study are the basis of the first complete three-dimensional consideration of the traces, and forms the basis for refined palaeobiological and ethological analysis of these taxa. Dactyloidites jordii isp. nov. is a stellate to palmate burrow composed of numerous long, narrow rays that exhibit three orders of branching arranged into tiered galleries radiating from a central shaft. It is considered to be the feeding structure produced by a vermiform organism. Beaconites capronus is a winding trace with distinctly chevron-shaped, meniscate backfill demonstrated herein to backfill the vertical shafts associated with its burrows in a comparable fashion to the horizontal portion of the burrow. This lack of a surface connection would result in the trace making organism being exposed to low-oxygen porewater. Coping with this porewater dysoxia could be approached by burrowing organisms in a number of ways: 1) revisiting the sediment-water interface; 2) creating periodic shafts; or 3) employing anaerobic metabolism. Neoeione moniliformis was originally introduced as Eione moniliformis, however, the genus Eione Tate, 1859 is a junior homonym of Eione Rafinesque, 1814. This led to the transfer of Eione moniliformis to Parataenidium. Through careful examination and three-dimensional characterization of topotypes, the transfer to Parataenidium moniliformis is demonstrated herein to be problematic, as Parataenidium refers to primarily horizontal burrows with two distinct layers and Eione moniliformis is composed of one distinct level. As such, the new ichnogenus Neoeione is created to accommodate Neoeione moniliformis.

Planktonic foraminiferal faunas from surface-sediment samples from the South China Sea and the western Pacific

We present 30 new planktonic foraminiferal census data of surface sediment samples from the South China Sea, recovered between 630 and 2883 m water depth. These new data, together with the 131 earlier published data sets from the western Pacific, are used for calibrating the SIMMAX-28 transfer function to estimate past sea-surface temperatures. This regional SIMMAX method offers a slightly better understanding of the marginal sea conditions of the South China Sea than the linear transfer function FP-12E, which is based only on open-ocean data. However, both methods are biased toward the tropical temperature regime because of the very limited data from temperate to subpolar regions. The SIMMAX formula was applied to sediment core 17940 from the northeastern South China Sea, with sedimentation rates of 20-80 cm/ka. Results revealed nearly unchanged summer temperatures around 28°C for the last 30 ky, while winter temperatures varied between 19.5°C in the last glacial maximum and 26°C during the Holocene. During Termination 1A, the winter estimates show a Younger Dryas cooling by 3°C subsequent to a temperature optimum of 24°C during the Bölling=Alleröd. Estimates of winter temperature differences between 0 and 100 m water depth document the seasonal variations in the thickness of the mixed layer and provide a new proxy for estimating past changes in the strength of the winter monsoon.

Carbonate deposition in the Palaeoproterozoic Onega basin from Fennoscandia : a spotlight on the transition from the Lomagundi-Jatuli to Shunga events

Date of Acceptance: 08/05/2015 Date of online publication: 16/05/2015 Elemental and isotopic data, thin and polished sections used in this contribution were obtained through two large umbrella-projects with grants provided by the Norwegian Research Council grant 191530/V30 to VAM and NERC grant NE/G00398X/1 to AEF. We thank A. Črne, the editor A. Strasser as well as one anonymous reviewer and D. Papineau for providing their valuable criticism and suggestions.

The Palaeoproterozoic global carbon cycle : insights from the Loch Maree Group, NW Scotland

Fieldwork was supported by the Edinburgh Geological Society Clough & Mykura Fund, the Carnegie Undergraduate Scholarship and a stipend provided by the Irvine Bequest through the University of St Andrews to G.B.K. Laboratory work, and isotope and geochronology analyses were financed by NERC grant NE/G00398X/1 to A.R.P., A.E.F., D.J.Condon and A.P.M. Thanks go to T. Donnelly, J. Dougans, A. Calder, D. Herd, B. Pooley and A. Mackie for laboratory assistance.

The Palaeoproterozoic global carbon cycle : insights from the Loch Maree Group, NW Scotland

Fieldwork was supported by the Edinburgh Geological Society Clough & Mykura Fund, the Carnegie Undergraduate Scholarship and a stipend provided by the Irvine Bequest through the University of St Andrews to G.B.K. Laboratory work, and isotope and geochronology analyses were financed by NERC grant NE/G00398X/1 to A.R.P., A.E.F., D.J.Condon and A.P.M. Thanks go to T. Donnelly, J. Dougans, A. Calder, D. Herd, B. Pooley and A. Mackie for laboratory assistance.

The Longitudinal Course of Fatigue in Rheumatoid Arthritis : Results from the Norfolk Arthritis Register

Acknowledgment: The authors would like to thank the University of Manchester for access to the Norfolk Arthritis Register data and Professor Deborah Symmons for comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript. K.L.D. is funded by a studentship from the Institute of Applied Health Sciences, University of Aberdeen.

Building an alternative economic network? Consumer cooperation in Scotland from the 1870s to the 1960s

Peer reviewed

Psychosocial morbidity in women with abnormal cervical cytology managed by cytological surveillance or initial colposcopy : longitudinal analysis from the TOMBOLA randomised trial

We are grateful for the co-operation and assistance that we received from NHS staff in the co-ordinating centres and clinical sites. We thank the women who participated in TOMBOLA. The TOMBOLA trial was supported by the Medical Research Council (G9700808) and the NHS in England and Scotland. The TOMBOLA Group comprises the following: Grant-holders: University of Aberdeen and NHS Grampian, Aberdeen, Scotland: Maggie Cruickshank, Graeme Murray, David Parkin, Louise Smart, Eric Walker, Norman Waugh (Principal Investigator 2004–2008) University of Nottingham and Nottingham NHS, Nottingham, England: Mark Avis, Claire Chilvers, Katherine Fielding, Rob Hammond, David Jenkins, Jane Johnson, Keith Neal, Ian Russell, Rashmi Seth, Dave Whynes University of Dundee and NHS Tayside, Dundee, Tayside: Ian Duncan, Alistair Robertson (deceased) University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada: Julian Little (Principal Investigator 1999–2004) National Cancer Registry, Cork, Ireland: Linda Sharp Bangor University, Bangor, Wales: Ian Russell University of Hull, Hull, England: Leslie G Walker Staff in clinical sites and co-ordinating centres Grampian Breda Anthony, Sarah Bell, Adrienne Bowie, Katrina Brown (deceased), Joe Brown, Kheng Chew, Claire Cochran, Seonaidh Cotton, Jeannie Dean, Kate Dunn, Jane Edwards, David Evans, Julie Fenty, Al Finlayson, Marie Gallagher, Nicola Gray, Maureen Heddle, Alison Innes, Debbie Jobson, Mandy Keillor, Jayne MacGregor, Sheona Mackenzie, Amanda Mackie, Gladys McPherson, Ike Okorocha, Morag Reilly, Joan Rodgers, Alison Thornton, Rachel Yeats Tayside Lindyanne Alexander, Lindsey Buchanan, Susan Henderson, Tine Iterbeke, Susanneke Lucas, Gillian Manderson, Sheila Nicol, Gael Reid, Carol Robinson, Trish Sandilands Nottingham Marg Adrian, Ahmed Al-Sahab, Elaine Bentley, Hazel Brook, Claire Bushby, Rita Cannon, Brenda Cooper, Ruth Dowell, Mark Dunderdale, Dr Gabrawi, Li Guo, Lisa Heideman, Steve Jones, Salli Lawson, Zoë Philips, Christopher Platt, Shakuntala Prabhakaran, John Rippin, Rose Thompson, Elizabeth Williams, Claire Woolley Statistical analysis Seonaidh Cotton, Kirsten Harrild, John Norrie, Linda Sharp External Trial Steering Committee Nicholas Day (chair, 1999–2004), Theresa Marteau (chair 2004-), Mahesh Parmar, Julietta Patnick and Ciaran Woodman.

Important factors in predicting mortality outcome from stroke : findings from the Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study

The Anglia Stroke Clinical Network Evaluation Study (ASCNES) is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research for Patient Benefit Programme (PB-PG-1208-18240). This paper presents independent research funded by the NIHR under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) programme (Grant Reference Number PB-PG-1208-18240). The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. EAW receives funding support from the NIHR Biomedical Research Centre award to Cambridge