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PubMedDate not supplied

Infectious disease mortality in two Outer Hebridean islands: 2. pulmonary tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine mortality from pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in the Outer Hebridean islands of Harris and Barra, and to compare it with that in Scotland as a whole. DESIGN: Ages and dates of death from PTB in Harris and Barra between 1855 and 1990 were ascertained from copies of death certificates. For Scotland, annual numbers of deaths in 5-year age-groups were extracted from Annual Reports of the Registrars General. Proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs) were calculated for each population in the 1-14 and 15 or over age-groups, and the 'detrended' PMRs were subjected to spectral analysis. For this purpose the data were divided into the pre-antibiotic (1855-1950) and antibiotic/chemo-therapeutic (1951-1990) periods. RESULTS: PTB was predominantly a disease of adolescence and early adulthood, although ages at death increased towards the end of the period of study. While PMRs for Scotland decreased steadily after the mid-1870s, apart from increases during the 1940s, those for the two islands increased during the late 19th century, and did not decrease markedly until the 1930s. In the younger age-groups the pattern of mortality was similar to that of an acute infectious disease, while in the older age-group the pattern was largely endemic. Spectral analysis of pre-1951 data from both islands showed marked periodicities in mortality, mostly among the younger age-group. The introduction of effective therapy in the 1950s appeared to lengthen inter-epidemic intervals. There appeared to be no relationship in either island between mortality and socio-economic deprivation, as indicated by numbers of new poor registrations. In Harris, mortality was higher in colder and wetter years. This was not the case in Barra. CONCLUSIONS: The findings are reasonably consistent with a hypothesis that PTB was relatively uncommon in the Outer Hebrides until the later 19th century, and that it behaved epidemiologically like an acute infectious disease. This was not the case with Scotland as a whole, where the disease appeared to be largely endemic.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1976

C- and Q-band polymorphisms in the chromosomes of three human populations.

The incidence of the various classes of C-band and Q-band polymorphisms on ten pairs of chromosomes in the human complement have been investigated in three Scottish populations, two from the mainland (newborn and 14 year olds) and one, of individuals over 65 years, from an island in the Outer Hebrides. Although there is an overall similarity between the populations, there are some differences, especially with the island group. For all populations, over 90% of the C-band size variants fall within the medium class. Rather more variation is found in the Q-band intensity polymorphisms: the island population appears to have fewer Brilliant and Intense variants than do the other two groups, 2-9 per person as compared to 4-2 and 3-9 for the newborn and 14 year olds respectively; this may be an age difference rather than a population difference.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1977

Bioassay of kinship in northwestern Europe.

Kinship of Barra (Outer Hebrides) is bioassayed as 0.0096 relative to northwestern Europe, in reasonable agreement with prediction of 0.008 relative to Britain. The exponential decline of kinship with distance is similar to Scandinavia. Kinship of larger populations is consistent with predictions from isolates. Kinship is largely due to local drift rather than Norse admixture, the estimate of which is obscured by drift and appears highly unreliable. Other populations in northwest Europe, including Iceland, Lewis and Orkney, give estimates of kinship which reflect drift and geography, but also do not provide reliable estimates of admixture. Bioassay of kinship from gene frequencies gives observations to be explained in terms of migration and drift, but contributes nothing to the question of whether polymorphism in the species is maintained by neutral mutation or selection. Although the latter is on various grounds more likely, no calculations based on gene frequency distribution can provide critical evidence.

Emigration and Immigration↗

PubMed1976

Familial cancer on a Scottish island.

When the causes of death were determined in 18 relations of a child with Fanconi's anaemia 10 deaths were found to be due to carcinoma of various organs. Cases of osteogenic sarcoma, leukaemia, and Marfan's syndrome were also discovered among relatives. The family was from a remote community in the hebrides and there was considerable intermarriage. Suggestive evidence of heterozygosity was found by chromosome analysis.

Breast Neoplasms↗

PubMed1985

St Kilda: childbirth and the women of Main Street.

In the nineteenth century in the island of St Kilda, faced with maternal mortality which reached 107.1 and excessive neonatal mortality, women went to Obe, now Leverburgh, in the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides to be confined, often marooned there for many months due to treacherous seas. Using family reconstruction techniques the reproductive history of some of these women is traced and these strategies assessed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Nursing at the edge of the world: nurses on St Kilda.

In the early twenty-first century geographically isolated communities continue to experience unequal access to health care. The advent of new technologies such as telemedicine do not overcome the financial constraints of employing professionals such as health visitors or district nurses to meet the needs of these remote areas. In late nineteenth century Britain there were few more isolated communities than the St Kildans. Although it is 70 years since St Kilda was evacuated it continues to capture the popular imagination. This archipelago of islands lies less than 50 miles west of the Outer Hebrides yet remains inaccessible by sea except on the calmest of summer days. Isolation such as this may have been acceptable, even desirable, to the islanders for generations but became problematic with their increasing reliance on supply boats for food. As the population dwindled it became more difficult to be self-sufficient, with few able-bodied men to row to the nearby rocks and climb to harvest the seabirds that were their staple diet. The rocks, or stacs, as they are known, have sheer cliff faces rising spectacularly from the sea. It would be logical to assume that the population had difficulty expanding due to the high male mortality rate from accidents on the these pinnacles. But it was not the skillful rock climbers that were dying in large numbers, it was their babies. Sustained infant mortality rates of between 50-70 per cent during the nineteenth century contributed to the consistently low population levels which led to the eventual death of the community. It is surprising in this context to learn that the first nurses to serve the St Kildans were ostracised and rejected by the islanders.

Community Health Nursing↗

PubMed2000

Sex differences in activity-related osseous change in the spine and the gendered division of labor at Ensay and Wharram Percy, UK.

Sex differences in the distribution of vertebral degenerative and plastic change were examined and compared within and between samples of 51 individuals from the historically and ethnographically documented 16th-19th century site of Ensay, the Outer Hebrides, and 59 individuals from the medieval site of Wharram Percy, the Yorkshire Wolds. Both populations have a known gendered division of labor between males and females and known activity-related stresses on the spine. Osseous changes normally associated with degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis) of the apophyseal facets and osteophytosis of the vertebral bodies were scored and reported separately. Inter- and intrasite differences were found in the frequency and distribution of osseous change down the spine. Overall, the Ensay sample was more highly stressed than that from Wharram Percy. Furthermore, differences between males and females at Ensay could be identified as relating to different types of activities. Distinctions between males and females at Wharram Percy were less marked, suggesting broadly similar lifestyles. These results accorded with expectations regarding contrasting levels of activity-related stress at the two sites and the division of labor between males and females. In particular, the prevalence and distribution of facet remodeling, facet sclerosis/eburnation, and osteophytosis in Ensay females could be related to load-bearing using creels (a form of basket), which disrupted "normal" patterns of osseous change along the spine. Importantly, morphologically distinct osseous modifications recorded on the apophyseal facets produced dissimilar distributions, suggesting that they may have different etiologies. These results highlight the need for a high degree of discrimination in recording, analyzing, and exploring activity-related osseous change.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

Two arrangements of the human fetal globin genes may be responsible for high G gamma values in Chinese newborns: -G gamma-G gamma-delta-beta and -G gamma-A gamma G gamma-A gamma-delta-beta.

High G gamma values (78% and higher) have been observed in about 3% of Chinese newborns from the Shanghai area. We describe here two arrangements different from the normal -G gamma-A gamma-delta-beta arrangement which have been characterized in the DNA from three of these babies. One baby was heterozygous for a chromosome with two linked G gamma globin genes (-G gamma-G gamma-delta-beta), which has also been observed in Black newborns [Powers et al, Nucleic Acids Res 12:7023, 1984], while the two other babies were heterozygous for a chromosome with triplicated gamma globin genes, presumably of the -G gamma-A gamma G gamma-A gamma-delta-beta arrangement. A similar triplication has been observed in natives of the New Hebrides [Trent et al, Nucleic Acids Res 9:6723, 1981].

Asian People↗

PubMed1992

Eosinophilic meningitis beyond the Pacific Basin: the global dispersal of a peridomestic zoonosis caused by Angiostrongylus cantonensis, the nematode lungworm of rats.

The principal etiologic agent of human eosinophilic meningitis, Angiostrongylus cantonensis, was first detected in rats in Canton, China in 1933. The first human case was detected on Taiwan in 1944. Epidemic outbreaks were noted on Ponape (E. Caroline Is.) from 1944 to 1948. The disease may present as transient meningitis or a more severe disease involving the brain, spinal cord and nerve roots, with a characteristic eosinophilia of the peripheral blood and CSF. Since 1961 it has been known that human infections are usually acquired by purposeful or accidental ingestion of infective larvae in terrestrial mollusks, planaria and fresh-water crustacea. There is no effective specific treatment. The African land snail, Achatina fulica played an important role in the panpacific dispersal of the organism: it will be important in Africa in the future as well. Rats were, and will continue to be the principal agents of expansion of the parasite beyond the Indopacific area. During and just after WWII the parasite was introduced, and/or spread passively from South and Southeast Asia into the Western Pacific islands and eastward and southward through Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia and into Polynesia, sequestered in shipments of war material and facilitated by post-war commerce. In the 1950s numerous cases were identified for the first time on Sumatra, the Philippines, Taiwan, Saipan, New Caledonia, and as far east as Rarotonga and Tahiti. Then cases were detected in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Java, Sarawak, the New Hebrides, Guam and Hawaii during the 1960s. Subsequently in the Pacific Basin the disease has appeared on Okinawa, other Ryukyu islands, Honshu, Kyushu, New Britain, American Samoa and Western Samoa, Australia, Hong Kong, Bombay, India, Fiji and most recently in mainland China. The parasite in rats now occurs throughout the Indopacific Basin and littoral. Beyond the Indopacific region, the worm has been found in rodents in Madagascar (ca 1963), Cuba (1973), Egypt (1977), Puerto Rico (1984), New Orleans, Louisiana (1985) and Port Harcourt, Nigeria (1989). Human infections have now been detected in Cuba (1973), Réunion Island (1974) and Côte d'Ivoire (1979) and should be anticipated wherever infected rats of mollusks have been introduced. Caged primates became infected in zoos in Hong Kong (1978) and New Orleans and Nassau, Bahamas (1987). The use of mollusks and crustacea as famine foods, favored delicacies and medicines has resulted in numerous outbreaks and isolated infections. Economic and political instability, illicit trade, unsanitary peridomestic conditions and lack of health education promote the local occurrence and insidious global expansion of parasitic eosinophilic meningitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Africa↗

PubMed1996

Abstaining and carousing: substance use among adolescents in the Western Isles of Scotland.

An account is presented of a survey of self-reported substance use among 839 adolescents in the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides) of Scotland. The study group was aged 13-16. The drinking habits of those surveyed were extremely polarised. Results showed that while only 81.2% had ever used alcohol, nearly 40% of males and a third of females reported having consumed at least 11 units of alcohol on their last drinking occasion. Levels of tobacco and illicit drug use were less striking: 21.4% considered themselves current smokers, while fewer than one-quarter had ever used illicit drugs or solvents. Results are related to recent UK surveys of adolescents and to the distinctive culture of the study area. It is concluded that the polarisation of youthful drinking in the Western Isles poses special problems in relation to the provision of alcohol education.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Characterization and measurement of immunoglobulins in the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus).

Immunoglobulin concentrations were measured in the serum and colostrum of adult and pup Grey seals from North Rona in the outer Hebrides and the Isle of May in the Firth of Forth. IgG was shown to be the main immunoglobulin and two subclasses were identified. Serum immunoglobulin content was low in the week-old pups and increased up to 5 weeks, although it remained substantially lower than in the adults. Colostral immunoglobulins were high and cannot explain the low values in the pup serum. It is considered that the increased opportunistic infections seen in Grey seal pups may be related to this low immunoglobulin status.

Animals↗

PubMed1998

[Medicine in Vanuatu: a voyage to the end of the earth to Espiritu Santo Island].

INTRODUCTION: The republic of Vanuatu, which was previously termed the Hebrides, has been independant since 1981. Colonization by both France and England has left its numerous marks on this country over the years. The authors spent the year 1997 on the Espiritu Santo Island and report their experience as practitioners at the northern district hospital. CURRENT KNOWLEDGE AND KEY POINTS: As Vanuatu is a developing country, medical practice is subject to changes in government, development aid provided by foreign countries and socio-economical conditions. Numerous chronic diseases with historical complications and malpractice are encountered. As well, numerous infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria are still endemic. Means of fighting and preventing infections are great problems, with, for example, deficiencies in immunization programs. Though medical structures are well organized, due to its immature governments and assistance rather than cooperation policies of various helping countries, latitudinarianism is important and medical practice is not continuously organized. FUTURE PROSPECTS AND PROJECTS: Several objectives should be considered: epidemiological studies in order to reconstitute diseases profiles in this archipelago and, most of all, cooperation that would aim at training and education.

Adult↗

PubMed1984

Psychiatric disorder in a rural and an urban population: 3. Social integration and the morphology of affective disorder.

This paper focuses on the morphology of affective disorder. We set out to confirm on the island of Lewis a cross-over result originally found on the island of North Uist, whereby in those sections of the population where the rates of depression were lowest the rates of anxiety were highest. These sections of the population varied in the degree to which their members were integrated into the traditional way of life. 'Integration' was characterized in terms of churchgoing and crofting (the word for farming in the Hebrides). It is predicted here that the churchgoing rather than the crofting component of the integration measure would account for any cross-over result found concerning the morphology of symptoms. This hypothesis, derived from a theoretical concern with links between repression and anxiety, is not confirmed. Instead, crofting is found to be the component of the integration index which predicts anxiety/phobia without depression. In seeking to explain this unexpected finding further significant associations between crofting, pure anxiety/phobia and the style of personal relationships are revealed. It is also confirmed that types of severe events among women are also found to vary with the degree of integration into traditional society. A perspective is then developed which might explain how the interaction between style of personal attachments and types of provoking event could produce variations in the morphology of affective disorder.

Agriculture↗

PubMed2002

Mid-mantle deformation inferred from seismic anisotropy.

With time, convective processes in the Earth's mantle will tend to align crystals, grains and inclusions. This mantle fabric is detectable seismologically, as it produces an anisotropy in material properties--in particular, a directional dependence in seismic-wave velocity. This alignment is enhanced at the boundaries of the mantle where there are rapid changes in the direction and magnitude of mantle flow, and therefore most observations of anisotropy are confined to the uppermost mantle or lithosphere and the lowermost-mantle analogue of the lithosphere, the D" region. Here we present evidence from shear-wave splitting measurements for mid-mantle anisotropy in the vicinity of the 660-km discontinuity, the boundary between the upper and lower mantle. Deep-focus earthquakes in the Tonga-Kermadec and New Hebrides subduction zones recorded at Australian seismograph stations record some of the largest values of shear-wave splitting hitherto reported. The results suggest that, at least locally, there may exist a mid-mantle boundary layer, which could indicate the impediment of flow between the upper and lower mantle in this region.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1995

Biological activities of pyrrolidinoindoline alkaloids from Calycodendron milnei.

Certain genera of the tribe Psychotrieae, specifically Calycodendron and Psychotria, found on Pacific Islands, synthesize a series of Nb-methyltryptamine-derived alkaloids made by linking together 2 to 8 pyrrolidinoindoline units. Nine alkaloids of this class have been isolated from the aerial parts and stem bark of Calycodendron milnei, a species endemic to the Vaté Islands (New Hebrides), and examined for potential application as anti-cancer and anti-infective agents. All members of the series exhibited readily detected cytotoxic activity against proliferating and non-proliferating Vero African green monkey kidney cells in culture, with the most potent activity being exhibited by vatamine and quadrigemine C. Only hodgkinsine A exhibited substantial antiviral activity against a DNA virus, herpes simplex type 1, and an RNA virus, vesicular stomatitis virus. All members of the series showed readily detected anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-candidal activities using both tube dilution and disc diffusion assay methods. The most potent anti-microbial alkaloids were hodgkinsine A and quadrigemine C, which exhibited minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values as low as 5 micrograms/ml.

Alkaloids↗

PubMed1979

Genetic and environmental factors in orientation anisotropy: a field study in the British Isles.

Visual acuity for the detection of gratings at four orientations was measured for groups of ten boys and ten girls aged five to seven years, from the following four populations: Scots in Glasgow, Pakistanis in Glasgow, Gaels in Stornoway (Outer Hebrides) and East Anglians in Littleport (Cambridgeshire fenlands). The Glaswegians, both Scottish and Pakistani, showed the normal pattern of anisotropy, with poorest acuity for oblique orientations; the East Anglians showed no significant anisotropy; while the Gaels were unusual in showing poorest horizontal acuity. A group of fourteen Pakistani children in Stornoway differed slightly from a matched group of Gaels. The group differences bore little relation to the visual environments, and were probably due to genetic or cultural factors. The relatively poor horizontal acuity of the Gaels was not correlated with astigmatism. Sex differences were also found, with the boys showing higher mean acuity and a higher ratio between vertical and oblique acuity.

Child↗

PubMed1982

Effect of species pool size on species occurrence frequencies: Musical chairs on islands.

If species interactions affect species distributions, then species occurrence frequencies (nu(i)), defined as the fraction of an archipelago's islands that species i inhabits, should vary with species pool size. A "natural experiment" approximating this test is provided by the Bismarck, Solomon, and New Hebrides archipelagoes, whose bird species pools decrease in that order, the species of each archipelago being mostly a subset of those of the next richer archipelago. The average nu for an archipelago's species decreases with archipelago pool size. In the archipelago with the largest pool, most species are on few islands and few species are on most islands, whereas the reverse is true in the archipelago with the smallest pool. For species shared between two or more archipelagoes, nu(i) decreases with pool size or number of species in the same guild. These interarchipelagal differences in nu(i) or average nu reflect differences in level of interspecific competition, which reduces nus in species-rich archipelagoes in two ways: usually, by reducing a species' incidence on small islands and restricting the species to larger islands; less often (for so-called supertramps), by restricting a species to small islands.

Journal Article↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Blood group variation in the Isle of Lewis.

Blood groups and protein and enzyme polymorphism distributions were studied in 285 residents on the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. As well as gene frequency calculations for individual loci, genetic distance estimations were made and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. The results indicated several major differences from North-west European populations, with high values of R2(CDe), Rz(CDE) and P1. Among protein and enzyme polymorphisms Hp1, EAPA and PGM1(1) had very high frequencies. Genetic distances show Lewis to be unlike both Western and Eastern North European populations, while the phylogenetic tree shows a common, but rather distant, ancestry with Icelanders. This genetic uniqueness of Lewis as a whole is accompanied by a considerable degree of heterogeneity within the island itself, especially in the ABO and Rh systems. Stornoway, with a greater proportion of residents descended from immigrant stock, shows a greater degree of similarity with neighbouring populations. The reasons for both the overall uniqueness and the heterogeneity within Lewis are discussed, but in the absence of a large time-depth and adequate vital records, the various roles of selection, drift and migration in producing them are difficult to establish.

ABO Blood-Group System↗