The social agency of instruments of surveying and exploration c.1830-1930.

This paper utilizes the concept of the agency of material objects, proposed as a tenet by several historians of science in the late twentieth century. It argues that scientific instruments have agency in the field due to their value and fragility, both of which attributes served to dictate a social hierarchy of activity. Furthermore, the resulting numerical outputs served to discriminate between various groups. The principal focus is the role of instruments used by travellers sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society, London, but it also looks at the role of instruments on a larger triangulation; the project to survey the African part of the arc of the 30th meridian east of Greenwich. Seeing the instruments as material objects allows insights into the social arrangements and interactions taking place. It is argued that instruments, and the results of instrument use, entrenched existing power hierarchies, imparting greater prestige to those who were previously endowed with privilege. It is argued the instruments contributed to 'othering' both in the field and in the publications resulting from the expeditions.

In the Shadow of the 1919 Total Solar Eclipse: The Two British Expeditions and the Politics of Invisibility.

This paper addresses the legendary total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919. Two British teams confirmed the light bending prediction by Albert Einstein: Charles R. Davidson and Andrew C. C. Crommelin in Sobral, Brazil and Arthur S. Eddington and Edwin T. Cottingham on the African island of Príncipe, then part of the Portuguese empire. By jointly analyzing the two astronomical expeditions supported by written and visual sources, I show how, despite extensive scholarship on this famous historical episode and the historiographical emphasis on the plural dimensions of knowledge construction, many human and non-human actors have been kept in the shadow of the eclipse. I do so by focusing on what I call knowledge from the periphery together with knowledge from below, grounded literally on how localities (sites) affect choices and events, and growing outward to encompass a wide range of participants. I show how the geopolitical status of the two nations where the observational sites were located, and specifically Portugal's condition of colonial power, affected main decisions and events, while highlighting the active role of participants, ranging from experts from the peripheries and those involved in the travels to local elites and anonymous peoples, some of whom contributed to the observation of totality.

The legacy of the fieldwork of E. W. Nelson and E. A. Goldman in Mexico (1892-1906) for research on poorly known mammals.

More than a century ago, Edward W. Nelson and Edward A. Goldman spent 14 years (1892-1906) traveling across much of Mexico in one of the most critical biological expeditions ever undertaken by two naturalists. This long-term survey was a cornerstone in Mexican mammalogy development; however, their specific role in discovering taxa that were practically unknown before the expedition is not yet necessarily recognized. In a time when the historical aspect of knowledge on mammals is being ignored for the new generations of mammalogists, a detailed analysis of the legacy of the survey is essential. Here I focus on shrews (Eulipotyphla, Soricidae) to analyze how the fieldwork and the specimens they collected have contributed to the current knowledge of shrews in the country. Nelson and Goldman collected 474 specimens of shrews, representing 31 of the 40 species that have currently been recognized. This collection has been key to building taxonomic, evolutionary, and biogeographic knowledge of shrews in the country. The success of the expedition was primarily due to the epistemic role of novel methods and approaches in natural history research at the time. The collection also offers the opportunity to document the loss of species and ecological interactions as indirect consequences of human activities, especially in montane regions. I argue that the value of this expedition can still increase with the use of modern biodiversity study tools and the digitization and access of ancient material such as photographs, field notes, and correspondence.

[History of the discovery and study of tick-borne encephalitis in Russia: three Far Eastern expeditions (1937-1939)].

The review provides a brief historical outline of the discovery and study of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) during three expeditions to the Far East (19371939). As a result of the Far Eastern expeditions, the TBE virus was discovered, numerous strains were isolated, a vector-borne transmission pathway was established, the main features of epidemiology, clinic and pathomorphology of the disease were described, serotherapy was tested, first inactivated "brain" vaccine against TBE was developed and its effectiveness was proved. The history of the discovery and study of TBE is marked by the heroism of researchers and tragic events illness of some participants, death during the development of the first vaccine, arrest of L.A. Zilber and two performers.

[The organizational forms of the Soviet Mongol cooperation in the area of medicine and health care in 1920s-1930s. Part I. Formation of two approaches].

In 1920s - late 1980s, active cooperation between the USSR and Mongolia in the field of medicine and health care had been occurred. The Mongolian People's Republic was the first country to which the USSR exported its organization of health care system, using it as a means of geopolitical influence and instrument of the socialist transformation of traditional nomadic society. At the same time, assistance to Mongolia began when the USSR itself had not yet completed the organization of new health care system, including needed medical personnel and resources, receiving assistance from Germany and other European countries. The article discusses the reasons of the Soviet leadership's hasty decision to force assistance to the Mongolian People's Republic in the field of medicine and health care. Two approaches to its implementation are singled out and explained: the evolutionary one, when experienced Soviet doctors were selected and sent to the Mongolian Department of Health care, and the forced one - through organization of expeditions of the People's Commissariat of Health of the RSFSR, which simultaneously studied the medical and sanitary situation in the country and organized medical institutions where the assistance was needed the most.

Cacao breeding in Colombia, past, present and future.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is considered a key crop in Colombian social programs aiming at alleviating rural poverty, promoting peace in post-conflict regions and, replacing crops used for illicit purposes. Colombia is thought to be part of the center of origin of cacao; several germplasm collecting expeditions have been implemented, dating back to the 1940s. Despite that history, the first breeding program based on creating, selecting, and releasing full-sib progenies made extensive use of accessions introduced from other countries as parents. A new breeding strategy was adopted in the 1990s, based on mass selection of promising trees (high-yield and disease-resistant) in farmers' fields, resulting in the selection of clones released to farmers as planting material. In 2012, a new strategy, Recurrent Selection, was adopted by the Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research, Agrosavia, based on the development of improved populations and allowing the selection of clones at the end of each cycle of recombination. The use of molecular markers is being integrated into this program in order to assist breeders in selecting material. This review provides details about the history and perspectives of the cacao breeding program in Colombia.

An Experience of Improvised Laryngoscopy.

Airway management in the wilderness runs the gamut from basic airway support to endotracheal intubation. Fortunately, direct laryngoscopy is a seldom called upon skill in expedition medicine. However, the medical skills required during a mission or expedition are never truly known in advance. Improvisation during evolving medical events is a mainstay of expedition medicine education and practice. It is unlikely, given constraints of weight and size of expedition medical kits, that a conventional laryngoscope would find its way into a standard "go bag." Faced with the real but rare event of needing to intubate a patient in an austere environment, how can improvisation be used? Multiple ideas for improvised laryngoscopes can be found in the wilderness medicine literature, but which, if any, of these devices have true clinical utility? To this end, participants of a recent Wilderness Medical Society preconference in medical elements of light search and rescue were given the opportunity to devise and construct their own improvised laryngoscopes and attempt intubation of a training mannequin. Participants with varying degrees of intubating experience improvised effective laryngoscopes from provided materials and successfully intubated an airway mannequin.

[What Charles Darwin owed to Joseph Banks]. / Ce que Charles Darwin doit à Joseph Banks.

History has remembered Joseph Banks as the explorer-botanist of the first voyage of James Cook. Yet, shortly after his return, he got elected president of the Royal Society and, for over 40 years, he then played in Great Britain an eminent role in reorganizing natural sciences and advocating an "economic botany". He actively intervened in acclimatization and varietal selection of plants and animals in Great Britain as in the future English colonies. Thus he built an intellectual environment which will promote the emergence of Charles Darwin's thoughts.

L'histoire retient Joseph Banks comme l'explorateur-botaniste du premier voyage de James Cook. Pourtant, peu de temps après son retour, il se fait élire président de la Royal Society et joue alors, pendant plus de 40 ans, un rôle éminent en Grande-Bretagne en réorganisant les sciences naturalistes et en prônant une « botanique économique ¼ . Il intervient activement pour l'acclimatation et la sélection variétale de plantes et d'animaux en Grande-Bretagne comme dans les futures colonies anglaises. Ainsi il construit un environnement intellectuel qui favorisera l'émergence de la pensée de Charles Darwin.

Menopause and High Altitude: A Scoping Review-UIAA Medical Commission Recommendations.

Mateikaite-Pipiriene, Kaste, Dominique Jean, Peter Paal, Lenka Horakova, Susi Kriemler, Alison J. Rosier, Marija Andjelkovic, Beth A. Beidleman, Mia Derstine, Jacqueline Pichler Hefti, David Hillebrandt, and Linda E. Keyes for the UIAA MedCom writing group on Women's Health in the Mountains. Menopause and high altitude: A scoping review-UIAA Medical Commission Recommendations. High Alt Med Biol. 25:1-8, 2024. Background: Older people are an important fraction of mountain travelers and climbers, many of them postmenopausal women. The aim of this work was to review health issues that older and postmenopausal women may experience at high altitude, including susceptibility to high-altitude illness. Methods: We performed a scoping review for the UIAA Medical Commission series on Women's Health in the mountains. We searched PubMed and Cochrane libraries and performed an additional manual search. The primary search focused on articles assessing lowland women sojourning at high altitude. Results: We screened 7,165 potential articles. The search revealed three relevant articles, and the manual search another seven articles and one abstract. Seven assessed menopausal low-altitude residents during a high-altitude sojourn or performing hypoxic tests. Four assessed high-altitude residents. We summarize the results of these 11 studies. Conclusions: Data are limited on the effects of high altitude on postmenopausal women. The effects of short-term, high-altitude exposure on menopause symptoms are unknown. Menopause has minimal effect on the physiological responses to hypoxia in physically fit women and does not increase the risk of acute mountain sickness. Postmenopausal women have an increased risk of urinary tract infections, which may be exacerbated during mountain travel. More research is needed on the physiology and performance of older women at high altitude.

Doubling the known diversity of a remote island fauna: marine bivalves of the Juan Fernández and Desventuradas oceanic archipelagos (Southeastern Pacific Ocean).

Juan Fernández and Desventuradas are two oceanic archipelagos located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean far off the Chilean coast that received protected status as marine parks in 2016. Remoteness and access difficulty contributed to historically poor biodiversity sampling and limited associated research. This is particularly noticeable for bivalves, with most prior regional publications focused on single taxa or un-illustrated checklists. This study investigates marine bivalves collected between the intertidal and 415 m depth during (1) the 1997 IOC97 expedition aboard the M/V Carlos Porter, with special focus on scuba-collected micro-mollusks of both archipelagos, (2) two expeditions by the R/V Anton Bruun (Cruise 12/1965 and Cruise 17/1966), and (3) Cruise 21 of USNS Eltanin under the United States Antarctic Program, which sampled at Juan Fernández in 1965. Also, relevant historical material of the British H.M.S. Challenger Expedition (1873-1876), the Swedish Pacific Expedition (1916-1917), and by German zoologist Ludwig H. Plate (1893-1895) is critically revised. A total of 48 species are recognized and illustrated, including 19 new species (described herein) and six other potentially new species. The presence of two species mentioned in the literature for the region (Aulacomya atra and Saccella cuneata) could not be confirmed. The genera Verticipronus and Halonympha are reported for the first time from the Eastern Pacific, as are Anadara and Condylocardia from Chilean waters. Lectotypes are designated for Arca (Barbatia) platei and Mytilus algosus. These findings double the number of extant bivalve species known from the Juan Fernández and Desventuradas archipelagos, highlighting the lack of attention these islands groups have received in the past. A high percentage of species endemic to one or both archipelagos are recognized herein, accounting for almost 78% of the total. The newly recognized level of bivalve endemism supports the consideration of Juan Fernández and Desventuradas as two different biogeographic units (Provinces or Ecoregions) of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The wet nurses of the Hospital Real of Santiago de Compostela between 1803 and 1808.

Objective: To analyze the duties of wet nurses at the Hospital Real in Santiago de Compostela (Spain). The secondary objectives were to compare the mortality rate and distribution by parish of the foundlings under the care of the Royal House between 1803 and 1808; and to determine the origin of the Galician foundlings who participated in the Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Smallpox Vaccine in 1803. Methods: Historiographic study that analyzed sorted and not sorted in series indirect positional and quantitative historical sources. Results: The duties of wet nurses during the studied period were to provide basic care and cultural instruction. The mortality rate of foundlings fluctuated during that period and their distribution by parish (functional unit of healthcare services at that time) was similar in those years, with a predominance in the provinces of A Coruña and Pontevedra. A total of 5 Galician foundlings from the House analyzed were part of the smallpox vaccine expedition, their names were Juan Antonio, Jacinto, Gerónimo María, Francisco Florencio and Juan Francisco. Conclusion: During the observed period the wet nurses of the Hospital Real of Santiago de Compostela were in charge of pediatric care. Wet nurses were vital in the role of keeping the foundlings alive and can be considered as one of the forerunners of the pediatric nurse profession at that time.

Dental extractions using improvised equipment.

Extracting a tooth is the final treatment for multiple dental problems. Persons who are not dentists, however, have little experience with tooth extractions. When a remote setting makes it impossible to send a patient for optimal dental treatment, the clinician may need to extract teeth, sometimes using improvised equipment. The following cases of two patients with three carious, painful molars describe such a situation. The non-dental clinicians had to improvise not only appropriate dental tools, but also personal protective equipment, a functional suction machine, medications for a dental block, a dental chair, and dental consent forms and follow-up instructions in the patients' language. In these cases, they also communicated with their patients through a translator. To prepare to do tooth extractions in remote settings, clinicians should learn and practice dental blocks and review extraction techniques before they deploy. If they must do an extraction, clinicians should use the closest approximation available to the appropriate dental tools. When done correctly, a dental extraction can take some time and should not be rushed.

New records of moth flies (Diptera, Psychodidae) for the Dutch Fauna.

Background: Prior to this study, the moth flies in The Netherlands were represented by 61 species. Our findings derive from a citizen-science expedition in the Vondelpark in Amsterdam, one of the oldest public parks and best known parks in The Netherlands. The combination of citizen science and the exploration of a well-known urban park has allowed us to contribute to the knowledge of moth fly species present in The Netherlands. The findings from this study provide valuable insights into the distribution, taxonomy and genetic resources of Psychoda and Panimerus species, enhancing our understanding of insect biodiversity and promoting future research in this field. New information: Our study provides two new geographical records of the moth flies in The Netherlands, namely, Psychodauniformata Haseman, 1907 and Panimerusmaynei (Tonnoir, 1920) elevating the total number of species to 63. Furthermore, we provide re-descriptions of the females of Panimerusnotabilis (Eaton, 1893) and P.goetghebueri (Tonnoir, 1919). Additionally, we make available for the first time, the sequence of the 5'-end of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene or COI Barcodes for Panimerusnotabilis, P.goetghebueri and P.maynei. These COI Barcodes serve as valuable tools for future species identification within the genus.

Frostbite and Mortality in Mountaineering Women: A Scoping Review-UIAA Medical Commission Recommendations.

Kriemler, Susi, Kaste Mateikaite-Pipiriene, Alison Rosier, Linda E. Keyes, Peter Paal, Marija Andjelkovic, Beth A. Beidleman, Mia Derstine, Jacqueline Pichler Hefti, David Hillebrandt, Lenka Horakova, and Dominique Jean; for the UIAA MedCom Writing Group on Women's Health in the Mountains. Frostbite and mortality in mountaineering women: a scoping review-UIAA Medical Commission recommendations. High Alt Med Biol. 24:247-258, 2023. Background: The harsh environment of high altitudes (HA) poses many serious health risks for mountaineers, including cold injuries and death. The aim of this work was to review whether female mountaineers are at special risk for frostbite or death at HA compared with their male counterparts. Methods: The UIAA Medical Commission convened an international author team to review women's health issues at HA and to publish updated recommendations. Pertinent literature from PubMed and Cochrane was identified with additional publications found by hand search. The primary search focus was for articles assessing cold injuries and death in women mountaineers at HA. Results: We reviewed the literature and identified 20 relevant studies: 2 studies on frostbite at HA, plus 7 studies and 1 report for death at HA. An additional 10 studies about frostbite at low altitude were included. We found that female mountaineers at HA were at lower risk of death than their male counterparts, but sex differences in frostbite were inconclusive. Conclusions: The frequency of cold injuries and mortality in female mountaineers is not yet well studied, and the studies that have been published tend to lack precise exposure data. More studies and registries with sex-differentiated data are needed.

Sampling and curation of rove beetles (Insecta, Coleoptera, Staphylinidae) for comprehensive and DNA-grade collections to enhance biodiversity exploration in Northern Eurasia.

Staphylinidae beetles form a major portion of terrestrial biodiversity globally and, in particular, in Northern Eurasia, a large area with a historically better known north temperate, subarctic and arctic biota. However, even here, rove beetles remain amongst the so-called "dark taxa" with a high fraction of taxonomically unknown lineage diversity. The propagation of DNA-based technologies in systematic entomology in recent decades has brought new opportunities for biodiversity exploration, true also for Staphylinidae. Simultaneously, new methods have revealed limitations of specimens sampled and curated by traditional practices, as existing legacy collections, whether institutional or private, unfortunately do not always qualify as a source of DNA-grade material. In addition, both legacy and newly-collected DNA-grade material of Staphylinidae remain highly biased towards Central Europe, a region with a traditionally well-developed scientific infrastructure and long-established culture for the maintenance of entomological collections. To increase the degree of biodiversity knowledge for our target organismal group across the globe, efficient sampling of DNA-grade material and, in particular, the development of comprehensive local collections in under-studied regions is highly desirable. To facilitate that, here we provide a practical guide for collecting and curation of Staphylinidae with a focus on capacity building for DNA-grade collections in Siberia and elsewhere in Northern Eurasia.

Strengthening Altitude Knowledge: A Delphi Study to Define Minimum Knowledge of Altitude Illness for Laypersons Traveling to High Altitude.

Berendsen, Remco R., Peter Bärtsch, Buddha Basnyat, Marc Moritz Berger, Peter Hackett, Andrew M. Luks, Jean-Paul Richalet, Ken Zafren, Bengt Kayser, and the STAK Plenary Group. Strengthening altitude knowledge: a Delphi study to define minimum knowledge of altitude illness for laypersons traveling to high altitude. High Alt Med Biol. 23:330-337, 2022. Introduction: A lack of knowledge among laypersons about the hazards of high-altitude exposure contributes to morbidity and mortality from acute mountain sickness (AMS), high-altitude cerebral edema (HACE), and high-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) among high-altitude travelers. There are guidelines regarding the recognition, prevention, and treatment of acute-altitude illness for experts, but essential knowledge for laypersons traveling to high altitudes has not been defined. We sought expert consensus on the essential knowledge required for people planning to travel to high altitudes. Methods: The Delphi method was used. The panel consisted of two moderators, a core expert group and a plenary expert group. The moderators made a preliminary list of statements defining the desired minimum knowledge for laypersons traveling to high altitudes, based on the relevant literature. These preliminary statements were then reviewed, supplemented, and modified by a core expert group. A list of 33 statements was then presented to a plenary group of experts in successive rounds. Results: It took three rounds to reach a consensus. Of the 10 core experts invited, 7 completed all the rounds. Of the 76 plenary experts, 41 (54%) participated in Round 1, and of these 41 a total of 32 (78%) experts completed all three rounds. The final list contained 28 statements in 5 categories (altitude physiology, sleeping at altitude, AMS, HACE, and HAPE). This list represents an expert consensus on the desired minimum knowledge for laypersons planning high-altitude travel. Conclusion: Using the Delphi method, the STrengthening Altitude Knowledge initiative yielded a set of 28 statements representing essential learning objectives for laypersons who plan to travel to high altitudes. This list could be used to develop educational interventions.

NEW SPECIES OF ALIPPISTRONGYLUS (TRICHOSTRONGYLINA: NIPPOSTRONGYLINAE) FROM THE ELEGANT RICE RAT, EURYORYZOMYS NITIDUS, OF LA CONVENCIÓN, PERU.

A new species of AlippistrongylusDigiani and Kinsella, 2014, was found in the intestines of the elegant rice rat, Euryoryzomys nitidus, collected in the Amazon rainforest. These mammals were preserved in alcohol and archived in the Colección Científica de Mamíferos del Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Mayor de San Marcos and accessed for the observation and investigation for the diversity of their endo-parasites. A total of 857 worms were recovered from the 3 individuals examined. Morphological investigations and comparisons with the only known species of the genus indicate that this is an undescribed species. These nematodes feature the diagnostic characteristic of the genus, being a bifurcated posterior end that consists of a tail and a conical appendage near the level of the vulva and uninterrupted ridges in the synlophe of unequal size. However, the orientation of this conical appendage on the female tail, features of the synlophe, and shape of the copulatory bursa warrant the proposal of an amended diagnosis to include character variability detected in the new species.

Hydraena (s.str.) dinarica, new species (Coleoptera: Hydraenidae) along with further records of Hydraena spp. from Durmitor National Park, Montenegro and comments on the DNA barcoding problem with the genus.

BACKGROUND: Long-palped Water Beetles were collected during a taxon expedition in Montenegro which involved citizen scientists, students and taxonomists. The material was collected from springs, brooks, fens and the Tara River, at altitudes between 600 m and 1450 m above sea level, using fine-meshed hand-nets and by manual checking of submerged substrates. The morphological species delimitation was supplemented and congruent with mtDNA sequences mainly obtained in the field using the newly-developed MinION-based ONTrack pipeline. NEW INFORMATION: The new species Hydraena dinarica Freitag & de Vries, sp. n. from Durmitor Mt. is described, illustrated and compared in detail to closely-related congeners of the H. saga d'Orchymont, 1930/H. emarginata Rey, 1885 species complex. Five additional species and female specimens of two unidentified morphospecies of the genus were also recorded in the vicinity of Durmitor National Park. New records and the first DNA barcodes for Hydraena biltoni Jäch & Díaz, 2012 (endemic to Montenegro) and H. morio Kiesenwetter, 1849 are provided. Further records of H. nigrita Germar, 1824, H. minutissima Stephens, 1829, H. subintegra Ganglbauer, 1901 and females of two unidentified morphospecies are commented upon. The resulting inter- and intraspecific genetic distances and some observations of low or zero sequence divergence between recently-diverged species of Hydraena Kugelann, 1794 are briefly discussed.

Inclusion of resistance routines in a hypoxia training program does not interfere with prevention of acute mountain sickness.

OBJECTIVES: Acclimatization strategies have been shown to be the best solutions to avoid acute mountain sickness. In this context, we have designed a protocol performed in hypoxia that includes resistance routines in combination with classical endurance training exercises with mountain trekking at mid altitude. METHODS: Thirty-two volunteers preparing different mountain expeditions participated in the study distributed into two groups. One group trained at 2000 m, while another group trained at 4500-5800 m of simulated altitude in a hypoxic chamber. Acute mountain sickness was monitored by answering the Lake Louise Scale questionnaire during 2 sleeping sessions at 4800 m of simulated altitude at the beginning and at the end of the study. At the same time, oxygen saturation was determined in both groups to monitor physiologic adaptation. Data were also collected from the base camps in each expedition before ascension. RESULTS: Acute mountain sickness incidence in the hypoxic group decreased from 100% at the beginning to 12% of individuals at the end of the training period, and it was 25% at the base camps of expeditions. On the other hand, the control group passed from 100% to 88% of individuals at the end of the intervention and 70% at the base camps. At the same time, acute mountain sickness severity was mild in the experimental group compared to moderate-severe in the control group. These data were supported by the oxygen saturation values, indicating adequate adaptation changes for altitude in the hypoxic group. CONCLUSION: The inclusion of resistance workouts in combination with endurance exercises, all performed in hypoxic conditions, does not interfere with an optimal adaptation to altitude and to prevent acute mountain sickness.