Northern Scotland (northern + scotland)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The training needs, attitudes and experience of pharmacy support staff in Northern Scotland

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY PRACTICE, Issue 4 2004
Sarah M. Smith BSc Research assistant
Objective The purpose of this survey was to explore: attitudes towards training; experience of training; and training needs of support staff in hospital and community pharmacies in Northern Scotland. Method A postal questionnaire was sent to hospital and community pharmacies in the five regions of Northern Scotland. The intended respondents were community pharmacists, community pharmacy support staff, hospital pharmacists, and hospital pharmacy support staff. Key findings Data were collected from 105 (62.9%) community pharmacists, 463 (57.0%) community pharmacy support staff, 19 (90.5%) hospital pharmacists, and 88 (83.8%) hospital pharmacy support staff. Pharmacists and support staff in both settings: agreed that support staff currently receive insufficient training; were in favour of support staff receiving training; and agreed that training enhances both the confidence that support staff have in themselves and the confidence that pharmacists have in their staff. Barriers to training for support staff included: lack of availability of local relevant courses; lack of time in the working day; distance to training events; insufficient staff levels to enable staff to participate in training; and the financial cost of training. There was considerable variation in respondents' preferences for format and frequency of training. Conclusions Pharmacists and support staff in hospital and community sectors have positive attitudes towards training for support staff. Future training initiatives need to address barriers to training and accommodate different preferences for training format and frequency where possible. [source]


Patterns of phenotypic and genetic variability show hidden diversity in Scottish Arctic charr

ECOLOGY OF FRESHWATER FISH, Issue 1 2007
C. E. Adams
Abstract,,, This study examined the degree and pattern of variability in trophic morphology in Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus L.) at three spatial scales: across 22 populations from Scotland and between and within two adjacent catchments (Laxford and Shin) in northern Scotland. In addition, the variability at six microsatellite loci between and within the Laxford and Shin systems was determined. Habitat use by charr differed significantly between populations. The pattern of variability in trophic morphology, known to influence foraging ability in charr, showed a very high degree of between-population variation with at least 52% of population pairs showing significant differences in head shape. Trophic morphology and genetic variation was also high over small geographical scales; variation being as high between charr from lakes within the same catchment, as between adjacent catchments. The pattern of both phenotypic and genotypic variation suggests a mosaic of variation across populations with geographically close populations often as distinct from each other as populations with much greater separation. Very low levels of effective migrants between populations, even within the same catchment, suggest that this variation is being maintained by very low straying rates between phenotypically and genetically distinct populations, even when there is no apparent barrier to movement. We conclude that the genetic and phenotypic integrity of charr populations across Scotland is high and that this adaptive radiation constitutes a ,hidden' element of diversity in northern freshwater systems. Two consequences of this are that the population (rather than the species) makes a more rational unit for the consideration of conservation strategies and that the habitat requirements and therefore management needs may differ significantly between populations. [source]


Ice caps existed throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial in northern Scotland,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 5 2008
Tom Bradwell
Abstract We constrain, in detail, fluctuations of two former ice caps in NW Scotland with multibeam seabed surveys, geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic 10Be isotope analyses. We map a continuous sequence of 40 recessional moraines stretching from ,10,km offshore to the Wester Ross mountains. Surface-exposure ages from boulders on moraine ridges in Assynt and the Summer Isles region show that substantial, dynamic, ice caps existed in NW Scotland between 13 and 14,ka BP. We interpret this as strong evidence that large active glaciers probably survived throughout the Lateglacial Interstadial, and that during the Older Dryas period (ca. 14,ka BP) ice caps in NW Scotland were thicker and considerably more extensive than in the subsequent Younger Dryas Stadial. By inference, we suggest that Lateglacial ice-cap oscillations in Scotland reflect the complex interplay between changing temperature and precipitation regimes during this climatically unstable period (ca. 15,11,ka BP). © Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) copyright 2008. Reproduced with the permission of NERC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Extent of the last ice sheet in northern Scotland tested with cosmogenic 10Be exposure ages,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 2 2008
William M. Phillips
Abstract The extent of the last British,Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) in northern Scotland is disputed. A restricted ice sheet model holds that at the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ca. 23,19,ka) the BIIS terminated on land in northern Scotland, leaving Buchan, Caithness and the Orkney Islands ice-free. An alternative model implies that these three areas were ice-covered at the LGM, with the BIIS extending offshore onto the adjacent shelves. We test the two models using cosmogenic 10Be surface exposure dating of erratic boulders and glacially eroded bedrock from the three areas. Our results indicate that the last BIIS covered all of northern Scotland during the LGM, but that widespread deglaciation of Caithness and Orkney occurred prior to rapid warming at ca. 14.5,ka. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Glacial refugia and recolonization pathways in the brown seaweed Fucus serratus

MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 17 2007
G. HOARAU
Abstract The last glacial maximum (20 000,18 000 years ago) dramatically affected extant distributions of virtually all northern European biota. Locations of refugia and postglacial recolonization pathways were examined in Fucus serratus (Heterokontophyta; Fucaceae) using a highly variable intergenic spacer developed from the complete mitochondrial genome of Fucus vesiculosus. Over 1500 samples from the entire range of F. serratus were analysed using fluorescent single strand conformation polymorphism. A total of 28 mtDNA haplotypes was identified and sequenced. Three refugia were recognized based on high haplotype diversities and the presence of endemic haplotypes: southwest Ireland, the northern Brittany-Hurd Deep area of the English Channel, and the northwest Iberian Peninsula. The Irish refugium was the source for a recolonization sweep involving a single haplotype via northern Scotland and throughout Scandinavia, whereas recolonization from the Brittany-Hurd Deep refugium was more limited, probably because of unsuitable soft-bottom habitat in the Bay of Biscay and along the Belgian and Dutch coasts. The Iberian populations reflect a remnant refugium at the present,day southern boundary of the species range. A generalized skyline plot suggested exponential population expansion beginning in the mid-Pleistocene with maximal growth during the Eems interglacial 128 000,67 000 years ago, implying that the last glacial maximum mainly shaped population distributions rather than demography. [source]


A New Jawless Vertebrate from the Middle Devonian of Scotland

PALAEONTOLOGY, Issue 1 2001
M. J. Newman
A new jawless vertebrate, Cornovichthys blaauweni gen. et sp. nov., is described from a single complete specimen from the Achanarras fish bed at Achanarras Quarry in Caithness, northern Scotland. The Achanarras fish bed consists of lacustrine laminites and was deposited in a major deep-water phase of the Orcadian lake during the deposition of the cyclic Caithness Flagstone Group. The Achanarras fish bed is of Middle Devonian (Eifelian) age. The new animal compares closely with Euphanerops, one ofthe Frasnian ,anaspids' (Hyperoartii) of the Escuminac Formation at Miguasha, Quebec, Canada. [source]