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Specimens of a Neobisium (Pseudoscorpiones: Neobisiidae) were collected from Craig yr Aber woods, Bridgend, Wales, in November 2017. Using morphological characters and DNA barcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene they were identified as N. simile (L. Koch, 1873), a species new to Britain. Molecular comparison with other Neobisium specimens confirms N. simile as the most similar species (88% similarity) with which it forms a single clade, although the degree of dissimilarity could suggest an unrecognized sibling species. A detailed morphological description of N. simile from Craig yr Aber is provided, along with the DNA barcode, in view of the potential for future taxonomic revision. A probable record of N. simile from Wales in 1984 is discussed. Knowledge of the distribution and ecology of N. simile is summarized. The Welsh population of N. simile was probably introduced from the Pyrenees or south-western France, possibly with imports of raw materials for the steel industry. British pseudoscorpion workers should be vigilant for N. simile, though it may be restricted to South Wales.

Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of the risk of malignancy index (RMI) which combines serum CA-125 levels, ultrasound score, and menopausal state, in discriminating between benign and malignant adnexal masses in the Welsh population. Materials and methods: Two hundred and forty-seven women with pelvic masses discussed consecutively at the South West Wales Gynaecological Oncology multidisciplinary meeting between January 2010 and June 2011 were included in this retrospective study. The main outcomes were surgical and pathological findings. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of CA-125 at 35kU/L were 76% and 67%, respectively. CA-125 was found to be a relevant predictor of malignancy but the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for each of the risk of malignancy indices was greater than the area for the CA-125 serum levels alone. Each of the RMIs has a different optimal threshold, however using a threshold of 200, RMI 1 had a sensitivity of 66% and a specificity of 91%; RMI 2 had a sensitivity of 74% and a specificity of 79%; and RMI 3 had a sensitivity of 68% and a specificity of 85%. Conclusion: This is the first study in Wales to evaluate the RMI in triaging women with pelvic masses. Overall, RMI 1 and RMI 2 are better malignancy predictors than RMI 3. It would be recommended that RMI 1 and RMI 2 be compared in a head-to-head prospective study, although we suspect that RMI 1 is likely to be the overall best malignancy predictor.

Wales is the first country in the United Kingdom to have introduced a charge for single-use carrier bags. A 2x2 quasi-experimental field study was set up to evaluate the effectiveness and further attitudinal and behavioural impacts of the charge. Independent nationally representative quota samples were interviewed before and after the introduction of the carrier bag charge in Wales and at the same times in England (n=500 each). England, where no carrier bag charge was introduced, served as the comparator for the study. The study found increases in own bag use in both countries. However, the increase was much greater in Wales than in England. The study also found evidence for the policy becoming more popular after its implementation in Wales. While support for the carrier bag charge was already high before its introduction, the Welsh population became even more supportive afterwards. Although no support was found for positive behavioural spillover, the study found changes in self-reported environmental identity that could produce positive spillover effects in the longer term. The theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.

From the beginning of the genre, women writers have made a major contribution to the development of industrial writing. Although prevented from gaining first-hand experience of the coalface, Welsh women writers were amongst the first to try to fictionalize those heavy industries—coal and metal in the south, and slate in the north—which dominated the lives of the majority of the late nineteenth-century Welsh population. Treatment of industrial matter is generally fragmentary in this early women's writing; industrial imagery and metaphor may be used in novels that are not primarily “about” industry at all. Yet from c. 1880–1910, Welsh women writers made a significant—and hitherto critically neglected—attempt to make sense in literature of contemporary industrial Wales in powerful and innovative ways. This essay maps their contribution and considers anglophone Welsh women writers' adaptations and innovations of form (particularly romance) as they try to find a way of representing industrial landscapes, communities and the daily realities of industrial labour. It identifies the genesis in women's writing of tropes that would become central to later industrial fiction, including depictions of industrial accident, injury, death and disability. And it explores the representation of social relations (class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality) and conflict on this tumultuous, dangerous new stage.

Summary Background: Demand for dialysis, particularly, in-centre haemodialysis (HD), is growing, and more units will be needed. Travel time to treatment is consistently a major area of concern for patients. Aim: To analyse access to current dialysis facilities in Wales, and use the data to help plan for new dialysis units. Methods: We analysed a combination of UK Renal Registry, Welsh population census data, the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2005 (WIMD), travel time and geographical information systems. Results: Prevalence of HD fell significantly with increasing travel time from units. This was not influenced by the WIMD. Prior to the opening of a new HD unit in Aberystwyth, prevalence in the surrounding area was significantly lower than for Wales as whole, but within 2 years, prevalence had risen to approximate national levels. In Haverfordwest, an area 430 min drive from any current facility, prevalence is consistently and significantly lower than for Wales as a whole, and has not shown the growth seen elsewhere in the country. Discussion: The ability to combine data has enabled modelling of the likely immediate impact of opening a new unit in Haverfordwest, and also provided an estimate of its required capacity. This multidisciplinary approach to demand analysis should help to highlight areas of under-provision, and facilitate the planning of the sites and sizes of new dialysis units in Wales.

Objectives: Partin tables are widely used to select and counsel patients prior to radical surgery for prostate cancer. However, Partin tables have been developed in the USA which has a different ethnic mixture from that of North Wales. We aimed to assess Partin tables’ predictive ability in a Welsh population. Materials and Methods: 193 patients underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy for clinically localized carcinoma of the prostate between April 1993 and July 2004 in a single institution in North Wales. Complete preoperative clinical staging information was available in 177 patients. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used. Results: The mean patient age was 64 (48–73) years. Preoperative clinical staging distribution was: T1c 46.6% and T2 53.4%. 75% had organ-confined disease (TNM 1992). Extracapsular extension without seminal vesicle or lymph node involvement was seen in 13.5%. Nine percent had seminal vesicle invasion without lymph node involvement. Lymph node metastasis was found in 2.2%. The predictive effectiveness of the Partin table was high with an area under ROC curve of 0.733 for organ confinement, 0.738 for seminal vesicle invasion and 0.780 for lymph node involvement (CI 95%). Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the predictive ability of Partin tables for prostate cancer is also applicable to a Welsh population.

Within published reports, the prevalence of reported hearing difficulties is quite variable. In the present study, we have considered factors that could influence the apparent prevalence of hearing difficulties in the Welsh population, surveyed in a number of different studies. The first important factor to emerge was whether the questions were asked in the context of a general health approach (together with questions about other aspects of health), in which case the prevalence was usually less than 15%. When the same questions were posed in conjunction with a number of other questions on auditory function the prevalence was 20% or greater. Secondly, when a household survey approach is used, with one person being asked to respond on behalf of all members of the household, the prevalence among those reporting is markedly higher than among the other members of the household whose problems they are reporting.

Volunteers counted lesser horseshoe bats ( Rhinolophus hipposideros) emerging from 79 roosts throughout Wales prior to parturition over a 5-year period. Analysis of the count data and environmental variables revealed that there was no statistically significant change in the number of bats counted during the monitoring period. A maximum count of 5118 lesser horseshoe bats for one of the years of the study, suggests a Welsh population of >10,000. Within years, date had a strong influence on roost count with higher counts occurring later in the year. Analyses of roosts for which data was available in most years failed to find any evidence of changes in number of emerging bats over time either between roosts or across geographical regions. Over the time period studied, the population of R. hipposideros was stable. Power analysis suggested that the present monitoring programme should be able to detect a 5% increase or decrease over a 5-year period and could detect smaller trends over longer periods of time even when some data were missing. Roost surveys can therefore be a valuable tool to assess the status of a bat species, alert conservationists to population declines and provide feedback regarding the success of conservation management for bats.

Aims To describe and compare general practice (GP) activity for patients with and without diabetes using a survey of general practices representing over 10% of the Welsh population. Methods The Welsh GP Morbidity Database Project (GPMDP) collected data including demographic and lifestyle information and consultation data such as diagnosis, referral and surgical procedures. These data were analysed to establish the annual period prevalence of diabetes and compare the relative number of consultations and referrals. Results A total of 4182 diabetic patients were recorded (prevalence 1.41%) and accounted for 77 371 (4.4%) consultations. Patients with diabetes were four-times more likely to be referred to community services (relative risk (RR) 4.1, 95% CI 3.7–4.7), in particular district nursing (RR 3.8, 1.9–7.7), optician services (RR 8.9, 5.0–15.7), chiropody (RR 8.2 6.4–10.5) and dietician services (RR 21.2, 17.6–25.5). Patients with diabetes were also more likely to be followed-up in general practice (RR 6.7, 6.2–7.2) both within 1 month (RR 6.7, 6.2–7.2) and 1 month to 1 year (RR 9.7, 8.9–10.7). Emergency admissions were also more likely for patients with diabetes (RR 6.8, 6.2–7.5) as were elective admissions to general medicine (RR 5.6, 4.6–6.7), surgery (RR 1.8, 1.5–2.0) and opthalmology (4.2, 3.4–5.2). Conclusion The increased utilization of health services apparent in secondary care was confirmed in primary care. Further research is required to determine levels of community activity after initial referral.

We compared anthropometric indices in samples of elderly people aged 65 years and over living in two French areas. The samples were divided into four age-groups (65–69, 70–74, 75–79 and over 80 years). We observed interregional differences in women aged 65–69 years and in men aged 65–74 years. Weight and anthropometric variables related to body fat percentage and to muscle mass showed a decline with age as already reported by others. We established anthropometric percentile values according to sex in pooled subjects when no integrated difference was found. The 50th percentile of arm circumference, muscle arm circumference and triceps skinfold was higher, and the 50th percentile of body mass index was lower than the one reported for the same indices from an elderly Welsh population. Our results show that an interregional difference in anthropometric indices exists in the elderly. The differences which are observed between our results and those reported from a British population emphasize the importance of establishing local values for the elderly population.

The general exposure of humans to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and SigmaDDT (i.e., p,p'-DDT + p,p'DDE = p,p'-DDD) in Wales (UK) was determined through the analysis of adipose tissue samples collected from 75 individuals during post-mortem examinations in 1990-1991. Fifty PCB congeners were screened, of which 29 were identified in most of the samples. Congener IUPAC numbers 138, 153 and 180 were the most abundant compounds, accounting for an average of 55% of the SigmaPCB congeners analysed. SigmaPCB concentrations varied between 0.2 and 1.8 microg g(-1) of adipose tissue and were positively correlated with the donors age and negatively associated with the percentage of lipid in the adipose tissue. A progressive change in the congener pattern was noted with increasing subject age. Tissue from older individuals generally contained a relatively high proportion of the more persistent and higher chlorinated congeners. SigmaDDT concentrations ranged from 0.11 to 5.6 microg g(-1) adipose tissue, with p,p'-DDE contributing 96% towards the SigmaDDT concentration. SigmaDDT levels were also positively correlated with age. No significant differences in the SigmaPCB and SigmaDDT concentrations were noted between males and females, between people living in rural and urban locations or with the subjects' body weight at the time of their death.

Relations between English and Welsh in medieval Wales are often contextualized by modern historians in terms of twentieth-century imperialism, as a struggle between two nations, at least one of which was “endowed with a sense of racial superiority.”1 When the English king Edward I conquered north Wales, the last remaining princedom in Wales, in 1282, Wales seemed to have lost all hope of retaining its status as an independent nation. Governed as a provincial outpost of the English empire, the royal lands in north Wales were manacled by chains of castles and towns populated largely by English settlers. The borough towns, most of them newly planted, held a monopoly of trade that excluded the local Welsh population on the grounds that they were “foreigners.” As R. R. Davies observed, “Nowhere was the spirit of conquest and of racial superiority so vigorously and selfishly kept alive as in the Edwardian boroughs.”2

In this paper, the fourth in our series of working papers on the fear of crime, we will start to explore in more depth the relationship between our two styles of measuring the fear of crime. The top-line results explored in working paper 3 showed that, when asked the standard questions, a relatively large proportion of the population of England and Wales reported being worried about being robbed (around one-third), being burgled (just under one-half), and having their car stolen (just under one-half of car owners). However, when fielded the new questions, a smaller proportion had actually worried during the previous 12 months (robbery 16%, burglary 32%, and car crime 32%); an even smaller proportion had worried more than once a month (robbery 5%, burglary 11%, and car crime 12%). Intriguingly, the data thus shows that surprising proportions of people who say they worry about crime have not actually worried about crime recently. In actual fact, worry seems to be a relatively infrequent occurrence among the general English & Welsh population. Overall, our findings suggest that the old measures are tapping into some aspect of the fear of crime that includes the frequency of its experience, but is also 'something else.' Herein we attempt to throw further light upon what this 'something else' may be.

A research project to examine the dressings and wound management materials supplied by pharmacy departments in Wales was carried out. Data were collected from the NHS computer database, which contains information on 17 hospitals, servicing 80-90% of the Welsh population. Over a 12-month period, hospital pharmacy departments throughout Wales issued dressings and related materials costing £2.1m. As not all pharmacy departments supply the full range of dressings used in hospitals, and only one issues surgical sutures, this sum probably represents less than half of the total expenditure in Wales on this commodity group. Existing methods for recording the issue of dressings do not provide reliable information either on the range of products used or the total quantities issued throughout Wales. Despite expectations to the contrary, hospital use of dressings did not appear to have a major influence over prescribing patterns in the primary sector. The amount of cavity wound dressings that are supplied on an outpatient basis suggests a real need for these items to be available in the community. (Since completion of this study, cavity wound dressings have been added to the Drug Tariff.)

When asked to examine a patient in a clinical examination, undergraduates and postgraduates characteristically begin with a painstaking observation of the hands. It was of concern that this is done mainly for the benefit of the examiners and that, in routine clinical practice, examination of the hands receives scant attention. The case notes of 70 general medical and surgical inpatients were reviewed and it was found that in only seven was there any mention of physical examination of the hands; in three of these “no clubbing” was the only entry. However, when the authors carefully examined the hands of 197 patients, at least one clinical sign was found in 87 (44%) cases. Heberden’s nodes, cigarette tar staining, and the spectrum of Dupuytren’s contractures were the most common findings. In this population in the South Wales valleys, coal deposits were also commonly seen in men.

Periodicals have always been a barometer of public concerns and interests, but in Wales consideration of the way in which they may reflect cultural, religious or political life has been complicated by the bilingual nature of society. English and Welsh have signified different social classes, aspirations and attitudes, and the two languages have represented two monoglot groups with an expanding bilingual section between them. In modern Wales the monoglot Welsh population has disappeared but it nevertheless remains true that the languages represent distinct separate cultures both for monoglots and bilinguals.

Populations of the common dog-whelk, Nucella lapillus (L.), usually show a gradation in mean shell shape related to the exposure of the shore on which they live. Enclaves from exposed headlands have shorter, squatter shells than do their compatriots in shelter. This paper describes the pattern of shell-shape variation shown by populations in the Isles of Scilly and on the north coast of Wales. In both places a gradation is present, but it is not numerically similar, the Welsh population being more elongated. It is concluded that the selective agents are the same in both places. Wave action always eliminates the most elongate-shelled whelks first, and crabs always find it easier to take the animals with the widest apertures to their shells. The reason for the observed differences between the patterns described here lies in the genetic differences between the populations: Scillonian whelks do not have the option of being as elongated as the Welsh ones, which, in turn, cannot show very short squat shells in exposure.

Summary. The prevalence of antibodies to parietal cells, intrinsic factor and thyroid cytoplasm in the Welsh population has been estimated. Women had a higher prevalence of these antibodies than men and their frequency shows a significant increase with age. There is a significant association between the presence of thyroid and gastric autoantibodies in women but not in men. Parietal-cell antibodies are more common in men with low haemoglobin levels. Three out of 506 women were found to have intrinsic-factor antibody.

Pituitary cysts in the nine-spined stickleback, Pungitius pungitius, were found in the prolactin zone of the rostral pars distalis in 22 per cent of fish caught in May from freshwater, field-drainage ditches near Cardiff, Wales. They were not associated solely with some special environmental or hereditary factor in the Welsh population, for they were also present in 6 per cent of fish caught at a similar time of year in a freshwater lake at Manitoba, Canada. Although the pituitaries of other sticklebacks (Culaea inconstans, Apeltes quadracus and Gasterosteus wheatlandi) are similar to that of P. pungitius, they did not develop large cysts. There were no cysts at all in A. quadracus, and none greater than 50 microns in diameter in C. inconstans and G. wheatlandi. A minority of P. pungitius (less than 1 per cent) develop concretions either within the pituitary ("intraglandular") or in the surrounding capsule ("capsular"). Most of the concretions are filled with a strongly staining and laminated colloid. They are present in males and females, adults and juveniles, in fish killed soon after capture and in animals adapted to laboratory conditions. As far as we are aware, this is the first record of such structures in lower vertebrates.