Pelagic seabirds often nest on islands that are far from productive foraging areas. The Procellariiformes (petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses) are among the longest-ranging seabirds; they have several adaptations that permit them to efficiently utilize distant foraging areas and fast for long periods during incubation (Phillips & Hamer 1999). Giant petrels (Macronectes spp.) are large surface-nesting procellariiforms. They feed both by direct predation and by scavenging carrion, and they are the largest avian predator-scavengers in the Southern Ocean. Among procellariiform seabirds, one partner forages while their mate remains on the nest to incubate their single egg (Warham 1990). Northern giant petrels (Macronectes halli) have incubation shifts lasting up to 17 days (Cooper et al. 2001). In general, incubating procellariiform seabirds do not feed during their shift (Warham 1990). We report the first case to our knowledge of a procellariiform seabird, a northern giant petrel, actively feeding at its nest whilst incubating.

Geochemical and related studies have been made of near-surface sediments from the River Clyde estuary and adjoining areas, extending from Glasgow to the N, and W as far as the Holy Loch on the W coast of Scotland, UK. Multibeam echosounder, sidescan sonar and shallow seismic data, taken with core information, indicate that a shallow layer of modern sediment, often less than a metre thick, rests on earlier glacial and post-glacial sediments. The offshore Quaternary history can be aligned with onshore sequences, with the recognition of buried drumlins, settlement of muds from quieter water, probably behind an ice dam, and later tidal delta deposits. The geochemistry of contaminants within the cores also indicates shallow contaminated sediments, often resting on pristine pre-industrial deposits at depths less than 1m. The distribution of different contaminants with depth in the sediment, such as Pb (and Pb isotopes), organics and radionuclides, allow chronologies of contamination from different sources to be suggested. Dating was also attempted using microfossils, radiocarbon and 210Pb, but with limited success. Some of the spatial distribution of contaminants in the surface sediments can be related to grain-size variations. Contaminants are highest, both in absolute terms and in enrichment relative to the natural background, in the urban and inner estuary and in the Holy Loch, reflecting the concentration of industrial activity.

Acute reactivity of the stress hormone cortisol is reflective of early adversity and stress exposure, with some studies finding that the impact of adversity on the stress response differs by race. The objectives of the current study were to characterize cortisol reactivity to two dyadically based stress paradigms across the first year of life, to examine cortisol reactivity within Black and White infants, and to assess the impact of correlates of racial inequity including socioeconomic status, experiences of discrimination, and urban life stressors, as well as the buffering by racial socialization on cortisol patterns. Salivary cortisol reactivity was assessed at 4 months of age during the Still Face paradigm (N = 207) and at 12 months of age across the Strange Situation procedure (N = 129). Infants demonstrated the steepest recovery after the Still Face paradigm and steepest reactivity to the Strange Situation procedure. Race differences in cortisol were not present at 4 months but emerged at 12 months of age, with Black infants having higher cortisol. Experiences of discrimination contributed to cortisol differences within Black infants, suggesting that racial discrimination is already “under the skin” by 1 year of age. These findings suggest that race-related differences in hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal reactivity are present in infancy, and that the first year of life is a crucial time period during which interventions and prevention efforts for maternal–infant dyads are most likely able to shape hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal reactivity thereby mitigating health disparities early across the life course.

The seventh annual Teaching and Learning Conference (TLC) was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from February 5 to 7, 2010, with 224 attendees onsite. The theme for the meeting was “Advancing Excellence in Teaching Political Science.” Using the working-group model, the TLC track format encourages in-depth discussion and debate on research dealing with the scholarship of teaching and learning.

The Business Meeting of Commission 45 was held on 16 August 2006. It was attended by the president and vice-president of the Commission as well as by twenty other members of the Commission. Attendance was limited, as usual, by the unavoidable occurrence of parallel sessions.

Epidemiological evidence suggests that higher consumption of whole-grain foods can significantly reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as CVD, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. The present study compares whole-grain intake of 2086 adults aged 16–64 years from the 1986–7 Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults with that of 1692 adults aged 19–64 years from the 2000–1 National Diet and Nutrition Survey. For each survey, whole-grain intake was estimated from consumption of all foods containing ≥ 10 % whole-grain content (as DM/fresh weight of food) from 7 d weighed dietary records. In 1986–7, median whole-grain intake was 16 (interquartile range 0–45) g/d v. 14 (interquartile range 0–36) g/d in 2000–1 (P < 0·001). In 1986–7, 77 % of adults had less than three 16 g amounts of whole-grain intake/d; 25 % reported no whole-grain intake. In 2000–1, corresponding percentages were 84 and 29 %, respectively. Foods with < 51 % whole-grain content provided 18 % of whole-grain intake in 1986–7 v. 27 % in 2000–1 (P < 0·001). In both surveys, whole-grain intake was significantly lower among adults with a manual v. non-manual occupation (indicative of lower socio-economic status) and among smokers v. non-smokers, independent of occupational social class. In 1986–7, whole-grain breakfast cereals and wholemeal bread contributed 28 and 48 % of whole-grain intake, respectively, v. 45 and 31 % in 2000–1. At each time, one-third of adults consumed neither of these two largest contributors to whole-grain intake. Findings from the present study suggest that whole-grain intake of British adults was low in 1986–7 and became even lower over the subsequent decade.

Previous studies of vitamin C absorption in man using stable isotope probes have given results which cannot easily be reconciled with those obtained using non-isotope measurement. In order to investigate some of the apparent paradoxes we have conducted a study using two consecutive doses of vitamin C, one labelled and one unlabelled, given 90 min apart. Compatibility of the experimental results with two feasible models was investigated. In Model 1, ingested vitamin C enters a pre-existing pool before absorption, which occurs only when a threshold is exceeded; in Model 2, ingested vitamin C is exchanged with a pre-existing flux before absorption. The key difference between these two models lies in the predicted profile of labelled material in plasma. Model 1 predicts that the second unlabelled dose will produce a secondary release of labelled vitamin C which will not be observed on the basis of Model 2. In all subjects Model 1 failed to predict the observed plasma concentration profiles for labelled and unlabelled vitamin C, but Model 2 fitted the experimental observations. We speculate on possible physiological explanations for this behaviour, but from the limited information available cannot unequivocally confirm the model structure by identifying the source of the supposed flux.