Examining the relationships between Holocene climate change, hydrology, and human society in Ireland

This thesis explores human-environment interactions during the Mid-Late Holocene in raised bogs in central Ireland. The raised bogs of central Ireland are widely-recognised for their considerable palaeoenvironmental and archaeological resources: research over the past few decades has established the potential for such sites to preserve sensitive records of Holocene climatic variability expressed as changes in bog surface wetness (BSW); meanwhile archaeological investigations over the past century have uncovered hundreds of peatland archaeological features dating from the Neolithic through to the Post-Medieval period including wooden trackways, platforms, and deposits of high-status metalwork. Previous studies have attempted to explore the relationship between records of past environmental change and the occurrence of peatland archaeological sites reaching varying conclusions. More recently, environmentally-deterministic models of human-environment interaction in Irish raised bogs at the regional scale have been explicitly tested leading to the conclusion that there is no relationship between BSW and past human activity. These relationships are examined in more detail on a site-by-site basis in this thesis. To that end, testate amoebae-derived BSW records from nine milled former raised bogs in central Ireland were produced from sites with known and dated archaeological records. Relationships between BSW records and environmental conditions within the study area were explored through both the development of a new central Ireland testate amoebae transfer function and through comparisons between recent BSW records and instrumental weather data. Compilation of BSW records from the nine fossil study sites show evidence both for climate forcing, particularly during 3200-2400 cal BP, as well as considerable inter-site variability. Considerable inter-site variability was also evident in the archaeological records of the same sites. Whilst comparisons between BSW and archaeological records do not show a consistent linear relationship, examination of records on a site-by-site basis were shown to reveal interpretatively important contingent relationships. It is concluded therefore, that future research on human-environment interactions should focus on individual sites and should utilise theoretical approaches from the humanities in order to avoid the twin pitfalls of masking important local patterns of change, and of environmental determinism.

The fractured lives of German Bohemian children, born 1933-40 in the area known as Sudetenland: a memory study, Nablonz-Neugablonz

At the Paris Peace Conferences of 1918-1919, new states aspiring to be nation-states were created for 60 million people, but at the same time 25 million people found themselves as ethnic minorities. This change of the old order in Europe had a considerable impact on one such group, more than 3 million Bohemian German-speakers, later referred to as Sudeten Germans. After the demise of the Habsburg Empire In 1918, they became part of the new state of Czechoslovakia. In 1938, the Munich Agreement – prelude to the Second World War – integrated them into Hitler’s Reich; in 1945-1946 they were expelled from the reconstituted state of Czechoslovakia. At the centre of this War Child case study are German children from the Northern Bohemian town and district, formerly known as Gablonz an der Neisse, famous for exquisite glass art, now Jablonec nad Nisou in the Czech Republic. After their expulsion they found new homes in the post-war Federal Republic of Germany. In addition, testimonies have been drawn upon of some Czech eyewitnesses from the same area, who provided their perspective from the other side, as it were. It turned out to be an insightful case study of the fate of these communities, previously studied mainly within the context of the national struggle between Germans and Czechs. The inter-disciplinary research methodology adopted here combines history and sociological research to demonstrate the effect of larger political and social developments on human lives, not shying away from addressing sensitive political and historical issues, as far as these are relevant within the context of the study. The expellees started new lives in what became Neugablonz in post-war Bavaria where they successfully re-established the industries they had had to leave behind in 1945-1946. Part 1 of the study sheds light on the complex Czech-German relationship of this important Central European region, addressing issues of democracy, ethnicity, race, nationalism, geopolitics, economics, human geography and ethnography. It also charts the developments leading to the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after 1945. What is important in this War Child study is how the expellees remember their history while living as children in Sudetenland and later. The testimony data gained indicate that certain stereotypes often repeated within the context of Sudeten issues such as the confrontational nature of inter-ethnic relations are not reflected in the testimonies of the respondents from Gablonz. In Part 2 the War Child Study explores the memories of the former Sudeten war children using sociological research methods. It focuses on how they remember life in their Bohemian homeland and coped with the life-long effects of displacement after their expulsion. The study maps how they turned adversity into success by showing a remarkable degree of resilience and ingenuity in the face of testing circumstances due to the abrupt break in their lives. The thesis examines the reasons for the relatively positive outcome to respondents’ lives and what transferable lessons can be deduced from the results of this study.

Dystrophin immunoreactivity in normal and Duchenne human fetal neurons in culture.

Dystrophin, the protein product defective in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), is present in all types of muscle and in the brain. The function of the protein is unknown and its role in the brain is unclear, although 30% of DMD patients show nonprogressive mental retardation. We have therefore studied the localisation of dystrophin in cultures of normal and DMD human fetal neurons using antibodies raised to different regions of the protein. Dystrophin immunoreactivity was demonstrated in the soma and axon hillock of normal neurons and appeared to be associated with the inner part of the cell membrane, although some intracellular staining was also observed. Positive dystrophin staining was present only in cells with fully developed neuronal features, although not all the neurons were positive. Glial cells were always negative for the antigen. Immunostaining with antibodies to the brain spectrins indicate that the dystrophin antibodies did not crossreact with these proteins. The possibility of cross-reactivity with other proteins is discussed. Studies of cells cultured from a DMD fetus also showed specific dystrophin immunostaining in neurons, although the muscle was generally negative for dystrophin. However, the localisation of dystrophin immunostaining and that of the brain spectrins and neurofilaments appeared abnormal, as did the overall morphology of the cells. This suggests that dystrophin may play a role during brain development and dystrophin deficiency results in abnormal neuronal features. This would be consistent with the nonprogressive nature of the mental retardation observed in DMD patients.

From insect to man: Photorhabdus sheds light on the emergence of human pathogenicity

Photorhabdus are highly effective insect pathogenic bacteria that exist in a mutualistic relationship with Heterorhabditid nematodes. Unlike other members of the genus, Photorhabdus asymbiotica can also infect humans. Most Photorhabdus cannot replicate above 34°C, limiting their host-range to poikilothermic invertebrates. In contrast, P. asymbiotica must necessarily be able to replicate at 37°C or above. Many well-studied mammalian pathogens use the elevated temperature of their host as a signal to regulate the necessary changes in gene expression required for infection. Here we use RNA-seq, proteomics and phenotype microarrays to examine temperature dependent differences in transcription, translation and phenotype of P. asymbiotica at 28°C versus 37°C, relevant to the insect or human hosts respectively. Our findings reveal relatively few temperature dependant differences in gene expression. There is however a striking difference in metabolism at 37°C, with a significant reduction in the range of carbon and nitrogen sources that otherwise support respiration at 28°C. We propose that the key adaptation that enables P. asymbiotica to infect humans is to aggressively acquire amino acids, peptides and other nutrients from the human host, employing a so called “nutritional virulence” strategy. This would simultaneously cripple the host immune response while providing nutrients sufficient for reproduction. This might explain the severity of ulcerated lesions observed in clinical cases of Photorhabdosis. Furthermore, while P. asymbiotica can invade mammalian cells they must also resist immediate killing by humoral immunity components in serum. We observed an increase in the production of the insect Phenol-oxidase inhibitor Rhabduscin normally deployed to inhibit the melanisation immune cascade. Crucially we demonstrated this molecule also facilitates protection against killing by the alternative human complement pathway.

Just another case of treaty interpretation? Reconciling humanitarian law and human rights law in the ICJ

This chapter offers a fresh critique of the approach taken by the International Court of Justice to the relationship between humanitarian law and human rights law. In so doing, it seeks to move beyond the intractable debates that have dominated this area, offering an original account of the relationship that is firmly grounded in general international law concepts of treaty interpretation.

Thin place exhibition

Thin Place is an interdisciplinary project which aims to find connections between the fields of art, archaeology, astrophysics, astrology, alternative therapy, poetry and theology. The nature of this project goes beyond the exhibition and incorporates a symposium, catalogue and education programme which will attempt to dissolve the boundaries that separate fields of knowledge and, in so doing, create a thin place at Oriel Myrddin. The five exhibiting artists and the other contributors to this project have produced work that is concerned with or responds to two particular locations: West Wales and the West of Ireland. In ancient times it was believed that the West was where departed souls easily entered Otherworlds. This is because the delineation between worlds was more permeable along these coasts. Archaeological excavations reveal that West Wales and the West of Ireland were thought by some to be ‘thin places.’ In considering the notion of a ‘thin place’, this exhibition addresses the ways in which we value our relationship with Place, particularly in landscapes where human and non-human relationships are well established.

'More-than-human’ resilience(s)? Enhancing community in Finnish forest farms

Community resilience is widely understood as a critical element in the relatively under-explored concept of social resilience. Through engaging with ‘more-than-human’ literatures, a more expansive view of the ‘social’ emerges, which repositions individuals as networked and agency as relational. This moves resilience away from its hegemonic positioning as a neoliberal strategy of individualisation and responsibilisation, with it instead emerging as an everyday ‘doing’ embedded in the human and non-human networks of relationality that we form and are formed by. The paper develops this socio-cultural conceptualisation through an original and empirically grounded discussion of Finnish farm communities and the role of the forest in developing, maintaining and enhancing these essential, connective assemblages. Resilience becomes conceptualised as dynamic, uneven, multiple and contextual performances or resiliences. While this further problematizes the comparative measurement and operationalisation of resilience, its networked and relational nature arguably offers a more inclusive and ethically grounded concept that, furthermore, negates the socio-ecological divide that persists in resilience thinking.

It’s not the size, it’s the relationship: from ‘small states’ to asymmetry

Debate about the definition of “small state” has produced more fragmentation than consensus, even as the literature has demonstrated its subjects’ roles in joining international organizations propagating norms, executing creative diplomacy, influencing allies, avoiding and joining conflicts, and building peace. However, work on small states has struggled to identify commonalities in these states’ international relations, to cumulate knowledge, or to impact broader IR theory. This paper advocates a changed conceptual and definitional framework. Analysis of “small states” should pivot to examine the dynamics of the asymmetrical relationships in which these states are engaged. Instead of seeking an overall metric for size as the relevant variable—falling victim in a different way Dahl’s “lump-of-power fallacy,” we can recognize the multifaceted, variegated nature of power, whether in war or peacetime.

Detection and attribution of human influence on regional precipitation

Understanding how human influence on climate is affecting precipitation around the world is immensely important for defining mitigation policies, and for adaptation planning. Yet despite increasing evidence for the influence of climate change on global patterns of precipitation, and expectations that significant changes in regional precipitation should have already occurred as a result of human influence on climate, compelling evidence of anthropogenic fingerprints on regional precipitation is obscured by observational and modelling uncertainties and is likely to remain so using current methods for years to come. This is in spite of substantial ongoing improvements in models, new reanalyses and a satellite record that spans over thirty years. If we are to quantify how human-induced climate change is affecting the regional water cycle, we need to consider novel ways of identifying the effects of natural and anthropogenic influences on precipitation that take full advantage of our physical expectations.

Natural Plasmodium infections in Brazilian wild monkeys: Reservoirs for human infections?

Four hundred and forty-eight samples of total blood from wild monkeys living in areas where human autochthonous malaria cases have been reported were screened for the presence of Plasmodium using microscopy and PCR analysis. Samples came from the following distinct ecological areas of Brazil: Atlantic forest (N = 140), semideciduous Atlantic forest (N = 257) and Cerrado (a savannah-like habitat) (N = 51). Thick and thin blood smears of each specimen were examined and Plasmodium infection was screened by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (multiplex PCR). The frequency of Plasmodium infections detected by PCR in Alouatta guariba clamitans in the Sao Paulo Atlantic forest was 11.3% or 8/71 (5.6% for Plasmodium malariae and 5.6% for Plasmodium vivax) and one specimen was positive for Plasmodium falciparum (1.4%); Callithrix sp. (N = 30) and Cebus apella (N = 39) specimens were negative by PCR tests. Microscopy analysis was negative for all specimens from the Atlantic forest. The positivity rate for Alouatta caraya from semideciduous Atlantic forest was 6.8% (16/235) in the PCR tests (5.5, 0.8 and 0.4% for P. malariae, P. falciparum and P. vivax, respectively), while C apella specimens were negative. Parasitological examination of I he samples using thick smears revealed Plasmodium sp. infections in only seven specimens, which had few parasites (3.0%). Monkeys from the Cerrado (a savannah-like habitat) (42 specimens of A. caraya, 5 of Callithrix jacchus and 4 of C. apella) were negative in both tests. The parasitological prevalence of P. vivax and P. malariae in wild monkeys from Atlantic forest and semideciduous Atlantic forest and the finding of a positive result for P.falciparum in Alouatta from both types of forest support the hypothesis that monkeys belonging to this genus could be a potential reservoir. Furthermore, these findings raise the question of the relationship between simian and autochthonous human malaria in extra-Amazonian regions. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Calcium intake and its relationship with adiposity and insulin resistance in post-pubertal adolescents

Background Dietary calcium intake has been described as being a negative contributor to adiposity. In adolescents, this relationship is not well established. The objectives of the present study were to compare the calcium intake of normal-weight and obese adolescents and to evaluate its relationship with adiposity and insulin resistance. Methods A cross-sectional analysis of 96 post-pubertal adolescents; 47 normal weight and 49 obese, mean age 16.6 (SD +/- 1.3) years. Body composition was assessed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Dietary intake was evaluated using a 3-day dietary record. The biochemical evaluation comprised the measurements of serum lipids, lipoproteins, glucose and insulin. Insulin resistance was calculated using the Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Results The mean calcium intake, adjusted for energy, was lower in obese adolescents, 585.2 (+/- 249.9) mg, than in normal weight adolescents, 692.1 (+/- 199.5) mg. Only 4% of adolescents had an adequate intake of calcium. Calcium intake was inversely associated with body trunk fat, insulin and HOMA-IR in the obese group. The quartile analysis of calcium intake provided evidence that girls in the highest quartile had decreased adiposity and insulin resistance. Conclusions This study showed a negative relationship between calcium intake and body fat and insulin resistance, mainly in obese girls, and demonstrates the importance of an increased dietary calcium intake.

Clonal Relationship among Atypical Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Different Animal Species and Humans

Forty-nine typical and atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) strains belonging to different serotypes and isolated from humans, pets (cats and dogs), farm animals (bovines, sheep, and rabbits), and wild animals (monkeys) were investigated for virulence markers and clonal similarity by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). The virulence markers analyzed revealed that atypical EPEC strains isolated from animals have the potential to cause diarrhea in humans. A close clonal relationship between human and animal isolates was found by MLST and PFGE. These results indicate that these animals act as atypical EPEC reservoirs and may represent sources of infection for humans. Since humans also act as a reservoir of atypical EPEC strains, the cycle of mutual infection of atypical EPEC between animals and humans, mainly pets and their owners, cannot be ruled out since the transmission dynamics between the reservoirs are not yet clearly understood.

Iron Concentrations in Breast Milk and Selected Maternal Factors of Human Milk Bank Donors

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between iron concentration in mature breast milk and characteristics of 136 donors of a Brazilian milk bank. Iron, vitamin A, zinc, and copper concentrations were assessed in human milk and maternal blood. Data were collected on maternal anthropometrics, obstetric, socioeconomic, demographic, and lifestyle factors. Iron, zinc, and copper in milk and zinc and copper in blood were detected by spectrophotometry. Vitamin A in milk and blood was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Hemoglobin was measured by electronic counting and serum iron and ferritin by colorimetry and chemoluminescence, respectively. Transferrin and ceruloplasmin were determined by nephelometry. According to multivariate linear regression analysis, iron in milk was positively associated with vitamin A in milk and with smoking but negatively associated with timing of breast milk donation (P < .001). These results indicate that iron concentration in milk of Brazilian donors may be influenced by nutritional factors and smoking. J Hum Lact. 26(2):175-179

Relationship Between Expression of Voltage-Dependent Anion Channel (VDAC) Isoforms and Type of Hexokinase Binding Sites on Brain Mitochondria

Voltage-dependent anion channels (VDAC) are pore-forming proteins found in the outer mitochondrial membrane of eukaryotes. VDACs are known to play an essential role in cellular metabolism and in early stages of apoptosis. In mammals, three VDAC isoforms have been identified. A proteomic approach was exploited to study the expression of VDAC isoforms in rat, bovine, and chicken brain mitochondria. Given the importance of mitochondrially bound hexokinase in regulation of aerobic glycolysis in brain, we studied the possibility that differences in the relative expression of VDAC isoforms may be a factor in determining the species-dependent ratio of type A/type B hexokinase binding sites on brain mitochondria. The spots were characterized, and the signal intensities among spots were compared. VDAC1 was the most abundantly expressed of the three isoforms. Moreover the expression of VDAC1 plus VDAC2 was significantly higher in bovine than in rat brain. Chicken brain mitochondria showed the highest VDAC1 expression and the lowest of VDAC2. Bovine brain mitochondria had the highest VDAC2 levels. We concluded that the nature of hexokinase binding site is not determined by the expression of a single VDAC isoform.

Influence of multi-scale landscape structure on the occurrence of carnivorous mammals in a human-modified savanna, Brazil

So Paulo is the most developed state in Brazil and contains few fragments of native ecosystems, generally surrounded by intensive agriculture lands. Despite this, some areas still shelter large native animals. We aimed at understanding how medium and large carnivores use a mosaic landscape of forest/savanna and agroecosystems, and how the species respond to different landscape parameters (percentage of landcover and edge density), in a multi-scale perspective. The response variables were: species richness, carnivore frequency and frequency for the three most recorded species (Puma concolor, Chrysocyon brachyurus and Leopardus pardalis). We compared 11 competing models using Akaike`s information criterion (AIC) and assessed model support using weight of AIC. Concurrent models were combinations of landcover types (native vegetation, ""cerrado"" formations, ""cerrado"" and eucalypt plantation), landscape feature (percentage of landcover and edge density) and spatial scale. Herein, spatial scale refers to the radius around a sampling point defining a circular landscape. The scales analyzed were 250 (fine), 1,000 (medium) and 2,000 m (coarse). The shape of curves for response variables (linear, exponential and power) was also assessed. Our results indicate that species with high mobility, P. concolor and C. brachyurus, were best explained by edge density of the native vegetation at a coarse scale (2,000 m). The relationship between P. concolor and C. brachyurus frequency had a negative power-shaped response to explanatory variables. This general trend was also observed for species richness and carnivore frequency. Species richness and P. concolor frequency were also well explained by a second concurrent model: edge density of cerrado at the fine (250 m) scale. A different response was recorded for L. pardalis, as the frequency was best explained for the amount of cerrado at the fine (250 m) scale. The curve of response was linearly positive. The contrasting results (P. concolor and C. brachyurus vs L. pardalis) may be due to the much higher mobility of the two first species, in comparison with the third. Still, L. pardalis requires habitat with higher quality when compared with other two species. This study highlights the importance of considering multiple spatial scales when evaluating species responses to different habitats. An important and new finding was the prevalence of edge density over the habitat extension to explain overall carnivore distribution, a key information for planning and management of protected areas.