Aim: Can gene expression profiling be used to identify patients with T1–T2 melanoma at low risk for sentinel lymph node (SLN) positivity? Patients & methods: Bioinformatics modeling determined a population in which a 31-gene expression profile test predicted <5% SLN positivity. Multicenter, prospectively-tested (n = 1421) and retrospective (n = 690) cohorts were used for validation and outcomes, respectively. Results: Patients 55–64 years and ≥65 years with a class 1A (low-risk) profile had SLN positivity rates of 4.9% and 1.6%. Class 2B (high-risk) patients had SLN positivity rates of 30.8% and 11.9%. Melanoma-specific survival was 99.3% for patients ≥55 years with class 1A, T1–T2 tumors and 55.0% for class 2B, SLN-positive, T1–T2 tumors. Conclusion: The 31-gene expression profile test identifies patients who could potentially avoid SLN biopsy.

Post-processual theorists have characterized landscape archaeology as practised in the second half of the twentieth century as over-empirical. They have asserted that the discipline is sterile, in that it deals inadequately with the people of the past, and is also too preoccupied with vision-privileging and Cartesian approaches. They have argued that it is therefore necessary to ‘go beyond the evidence’ and to develop more experiential approaches, ‘archaeologies of inhabitation’. This article argues that such a critique is misguided, notably in its rejection of long-accepted modes of fieldwork and argument and in its annexation of Cosgrove's rhetoric. ‘Post-processual’ landscape archaeology has involved the development of phenomenological approaches to past landscapes and the writing of hyper-interpretive texts (pioneered by Tilley and Edmonds respectively). It is argued that phenomenological fieldwork has produced highly questionable ‘results’. Some of the theoretical and practical consequences of adopting post-processual landscape archaeology are discussed; it is concluded that the new approaches are more problematic than their proponents have allowed. Although new thinking should always be welcomed, it would not be advisable to abandon the heuristic, argument-grounded strengths of conventional landscape archaeology.

The lumpfish, Cyclopterus lumpus, was found to be a common intermediate host of the larvae of the copepod, Lernaeocera branchialis, in the Newfoundland and neighboring areas. Large numbers of these larvae occurred on the gills of lumpfish from inshore Newfoundland areas from the latter half of June to the first half of August, whereas only minor infection was found in any month in offshore areas. Some larvae of the year reached the final or seventh stage on the intermediate host in May on the west coast of Newfoundland and in June on the east coast. By July on the west coast and early August on the east coast, this was by far the most numerous stage present. The larvae were attached mainly near the tips of the gill filaments. Most larvae were attached to the gills of the first two branchial arches, less to those of the third, and much less to those of the fourth. There were more larvae on the right than on the left gills. Infection of the final host Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), by stage-7 female L. branchialis was apparently mainly inshore.Adult L. branchialis on Atlantic cod, typically located near the anterior ventral apex of the branchial arches, were numerous throughout the year in the areas of high infection. Infection rates of cod with the adult parasite were usually considerably higher near the coast than farther offshore, the rates declining with distance from the coast. Rates of infection with the adult parasite usually increased from the smaller to intermediate cod lengths and declined rapidly at greater lengths. Infection rates were found useful as evidence of inshore and offshore migrations of cod. Infection with the copepod apparently delayed sexual maturity in cod. Most infected cod (86%) had one adult copepod and declining numbers (12–0.05%) possessed two to five adult copepods. The Greenland cod, G. ogac, was the only other fish of the area found to be highly infected with adult L. branchialis.

Viewed from the south Devon littoral with its series of good harbours the dark bulk of Dartmoor is clearly visible across the flat coastal plain. It is the largest of the five granite masses that provide a spine to the south-west English peninsula (Dartmoor, Bodmin Moor, Hensbarrow, Carnmenellis and Penwith) that were formed by the consolidation of molten material. The 500 square kilometres of the Moor form an undulating upland up to 600 m OD on the north-east side, where the greatest elevations occur. In the southern parts of the Moor the rolling tableland is 300 m to 420 m high—modern cultivation tends to cease at the 300 m contour, that is broken by numerous upland valleys and the eroded remains of tors. Today this expanse of moorland is bleak and treeless except in river valleys at the rim of the granite escarpment, although patches of contorted oak woodland survive at Piles' Wood on the River Erme, Wistman's Wood on the West Dart and Black Tor Beare on the West Okement. Pollen analyses have shown, however, that up to a height of about 360 m Dartmoor was probably covered by a deciduous forest dominated by oak that was gradually eroded by climatic trends and human activity (e.g. Simmons, 1969). It is from this central mass that the rivers of south Devon diverge. The wide upland valleys of the Tavy, Plym, Yealm, Erme, Avon and Dart plunge through characteristic deep wooded gorges near the southern granite escarpment into the South Hams and around this border modern settlement—numerous villages and a few towns are situated.

It is argued that the field data do not support the claims made by Tilley in his A Phenomenology of Landscape (1994) for intentional relationships between the placing of Welsh megalithic tombs and natural features of the landscape. The critique relates to sample quality, observational rigour and failure to examine alternative hypotheses concerning the siting factors involved in the placing of the tombs.