The first demonstration of laser action in ruby was made in 1960 by T. H. Maiman of Hughes Research Laboratories, USA. Many laboratories worldwide began the search for lasers using different materials, operating at different wavelengths. In the UK, academia, industry and the central laboratories took up the challenge from the earliest days to develop these systems for a broad range of applications. This historical review looks at the contribution the UK has made to the advancement of the technology, the development of systems and components and their exploitation over the last 60 years.

The radiocarbon (14C) calibration curve so far contains annually resolved data only for a short period of time. With accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) matching the precision of decay counting, it is now possible to efficiently produce large datasets of annual resolution for calibration purposes using small amounts of wood. The radiocarbon intercomparison on single-year tree-ring samples presented here is the first to investigate specifically possible offsets between AMS laboratories at high precision. The results show that AMS laboratories are capable of measuring samples of Holocene age with an accuracy and precision that is comparable or even goes beyond what is possible with decay counting, even though they require a thousand times less wood. It also shows that not all AMS laboratories always produce results that are consistent with their stated uncertainties. The long-term benefits of studies of this kind are more accurate radiocarbon measurements with, in the future, better quantified uncertainties.

Diet has a major influence on the composition and metabolic output of the gut microbiome. Higher-protein diets are often recommended for older consumers; however, the effect of high-protein diets on the gut microbiota and faecal volatile organic compounds (VOC) of elderly participants is unknown. The purpose of the study was to establish if the faecal microbiota composition and VOC in older men are different after a diet containing the recommended dietary intake (RDA) of protein compared with a diet containing twice the RDA (2RDA). Healthy males (74⋅2 (sd 3⋅6) years; n 28) were randomised to consume the RDA of protein (0⋅8 g protein/kg body weight per d) or 2RDA, for 10 weeks. Dietary protein was provided via whole foods rather than supplementation or fortification. The diets were matched for dietary fibre from fruit and vegetables. Faecal samples were collected pre- and post-intervention for microbiota profiling by 16S ribosomal RNA amplicon sequencing and VOC analysis by head space/solid-phase microextraction/GC-MS. After correcting for multiple comparisons, no significant differences in the abundance of faecal microbiota or VOC associated with protein fermentation were evident between the RDA and 2RDA diets. Therefore, in the present study, a twofold difference in dietary protein intake did not alter gut microbiota or VOC indicative of altered protein fermentation.

Hill (Twin Research and Human Genetics, Vol. 21, 2018, 84–88) presented a critique of our recently published paper in Cell Reports entitled ‘Large-Scale Cognitive GWAS Meta-Analysis Reveals Tissue-Specific Neural Expression and Potential Nootropic Drug Targets’ (Lam et al., Cell Reports, Vol. 21, 2017, 2597–2613). Specifically, Hill offered several interrelated comments suggesting potential problems with our use of a new analytic method called Multi-Trait Analysis of GWAS (MTAG) (Turley et al., Nature Genetics, Vol. 50, 2018, 229–237). In this brief article, we respond to each of these concerns. Using empirical data, we conclude that our MTAG results do not suffer from ‘inflation in the FDR [false discovery rate]’, as suggested by Hill (Twin Research and Human Genetics, Vol. 21, 2018, 84–88), and are not ‘more relevant to the genetic contributions to education than they are to the genetic contributions to intelligence’.

At the centre of the Parkes 64—m radio telescope a region of diameter 17 m has recently been resurfaced to improve its efficiency at high frequencies. The first measurements using this section have been made at 22 GHz, in observations of both continuum sources and water tfapour masers. For these observations the receiver front-end used a mixer cooled in liquid nitrogen, followed by a 5 GHz cryogenic parametric amplifier as a second stage. The option of switching against an offset horn was available and the total systemnoise temperature was ∽ 750 K.

An experimental study incorporating the use of the Background-Oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique was performed to measure the density field of a rectangular supersonic jet. This technique is easier to set up than conventional schlieren since the optical alignment involving the various mirrors, lenses and knife-edge is replaced by a background pattern and a single digital camera. The acquired images which contain information of density gradients in the flow are solved as a Poisson equation and further processed using deconvolution and tomographic algorithms to generate a 3D domain which contains information about the actual density. 2D slices can then be extracted to quantitatively visualise the density along any required planes. The results from supersonic axisymmetric jets are used for validation of the code; these show excellent agreement with pre-validated CFD data. The results for a rectangular supersonic jet are then obtained. These show good agreement with the CFD data, in terms of shock-cell spacing and overall structure of the jet. The technique has proved useful for investigating axis-switching, a phenomenon generally associated with non-axisymmetric jets.

This report, which was sponsored by the Life Board of the Faculty and Institute of Actuaries, was originally published in November 1997.

Because it is referred to several times in the paper ‘Reserving, Pricing and Hedging for Policies with Guaranteed Annuity Options’, and in the discussions of the paper, and because it is not easily accessible elsewhere, it is printed here as a background paper for reference.

The sequence of 165 nucleotides at the 3´ end of the 1D (VP1) gene of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) virus was determined for 44 type Asia 1 strains isolated from throughout Asia between 1954–92. Analysis of the relationships between the virus genomes showed epidemiological links not previously evident. The possible origin of the only outbreak of FMD Asia 1 to have occurred in Europe, in Greece in 1984, was identified because the nucleotide sequence of this virus was closely-related to the sequences of those present in the Middle East between 1983–5.

Variation in the region sequenced was not as great as that seen in the other FMDV serotypes and all viruses shared greater than 85% nucleotide identity. Thus all the virus isolates examined were considered to belong to a single genotype.

A database of Asia 1 virus sequences has been established which will facilitate the rapid analysis of new outbreaks strains.

In March 1999, a large community outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 infection occurred in North Cumbria. A total of 114 individuals were reported to the Outbreak Control Team (OCT); 88 had laboratory confirmed E. coli O157. Twenty-eight (32%) of the confirmed cases were admitted to hospital, including three children (3·4%) with haemolytic uraemic syndrome. There were no deaths. A case-control study found that illness was strongly associated with drinking pasteurized milk from a local farm (P=<0·0001) on single variable analysis. Microbiological investigations at the farm revealed E. coli O157 phage type (PT) 21/28 VT 2 which was indistinguishable from the human isolates by pulsed field gel electrophoresis. At the time of occurrence this was the largest E. coli O157 outbreak in England and Wales and the first E. coli O157 PT 21/28 VT 2 outbreak associated with pasteurized milk. This outbreak highlights lessons to be learnt regarding on-farm pasteurization.

A study investigating the causes of rash diseases using systematic laboratory testing was conducted in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, between January 1994 to April 1998. Sera from 327 patients were tested for evidence of anti-rubella virus, measles virus, human parvovirus B19 and dengue fever virus specific immunoglobulin IgM and anti-human herpes virus type 6 (HHV-6) IgG antibodies. A laboratory confirmed diagnosis was achieved in 71·3% of the cases investigated: dengue fever (33·0%), rubella (20·2%), parvovirus B19 (9·2%), measles (6·7%) and HHV-6 (2·1%). No diagnosis was established for 94 cases (28·7%). An outbreak of measles was detected during 1997, with a peak in September and October. All of the diseases studied here presented with clinical features similar to measles and classical symptoms were found in all measles confirmed cases. The large overlap of combinations of signs and symptoms seen in this study highlights the difficulties of diagnosing a rash illness on clinical grounds alone.

In a double-blinded study we examined the effect of supplementing patient-controlled morphine analgesia with intercostal nerve blockade to identify if this improved analgesia and reduced morphine requirements following renal transplantation. Fifty patients were randomized to receive unilateral intercostal nerve block with either 0.5% bupivacaine or saline to the lower five intercostal nerves. Each block was performed on the side of surgical incision following the completion of surgery. Patients receiving bupivacaine blockade reported reduced pain scores and used less morphine in the initial 4 h following renal transplantation, but did not demonstrate a significant reduction in overall pain scores, total 24 h morphine requirements, or sedation scores. Two patients developed a pneumothorax, neither of which were clinically apparent at the time of diagnosis, and only detected by chest radiography. A chest radiograph should therefore be considered mandatory after intercostal nerve blockade.

The Fifth International workshop on chromosome 9 comprised a gathering of 36 scientists from seven countries and included a fairly even distribution of interests along chromosome 9 as well as a strong input from more global activities and from comparative mapping. At least eight groups had participated in the goal set at the previous workshop which was to improve the fine genetic mapping in different regions of chromosome 9 by meiotic breakpoint mapping in allocated regions and this has resulted in some greatly improved order information. Excellent computing facilities were available and all contributed maps were entered not only into SIGMA (and thence submitted to GDB) but also into a dedicated version of ACEDB which can be accessed on the Web in the form of one of 28 slices into which the chromosome has been arbitrarily divided. It was generally agreed that the amount of data is now overwhelming and that the integration and validation of all data is not only unrealistic in a short meeting but probably impossible until the whole chromosome has been sequenced and fully annotated. Sequence-ready contigs presented at the meeting totalled about 3 MB which is about one fiftieth of the estimated length. The single biggest barrier to integration of maps is the problem of non-standard nomenclature of loci. In the past 2 workshops efforts have been made to compare traditional ‘consensus’ maps made by human insight (still probably best for small specific regions) with those generated with some computer assistance (such as SIGMA) and those generated objectively by defined computer algorithms such as ldb. Since no single form of map or representation is entirely satisfactory for all purposes the maps reproduced in the published version of the report are confined to one of the genetic maps, in which Genethon and older markers have been incorporated, a Sigma map of the genes as symbols together with a listing of known ‘disease’ genes on chromosome 9, and a revised assessment of the mouse map together with a list of mouse loci predicted to be on human chromosome 9. One of the 28 ACEDB slices is also shown to illustrate strengths and weaknesses of this approach. Workshop files include not only all maps available at the time but also details of loci and details of the meiotic breakpoints in the CEPH families (http://www.gene.ucl.ac.uk/scw9db.shtml).

This report and other information on chromosome 9 can be found on the chromosome 9 homepage at the URL: http://www.gene.ucl.ac.uk/chr9/

Although the formation of our Society was not directly due to movements in the academic world, it did in fact take place shortly before a new epoch opened in English historiography. In 1868 the study of history as an academic discipline was non-existent in England save as part of a classical education. In that field those who seriously attempted to portray the ancient civilization were controlled by an austere literary tradition, and by the excellence and relatively small bulk of their sources. In addition to this, the work of the great Germans from Niebuhr to Mommsen penetrated to England long before Ranke and his seminar, or the early Monumentists, were known and imitated at Oxford and Cambridge. Consequently, the classical historians such as Thirlwall, Grote, Arnold and Finlay were far more sober, critical and quellenmässig than their contemporaries in English history. But they had no direct influence on historians in other fields or on academic practice, and they were all in a sense amateurs: Thirlwall was a bishop, Grote a banker, Finlay a man of private means and Arnold primarily a headmaster. In other fields of history the four principal names—and admittedly very great names—are of men who wrote either all or at least a principal part of their works as individuals at home and without academic position