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This article critically assesses probabilistic predictions on the theory of contact-induced grammaticalization of the comitative-instrumental polysemy in those Slavic languages which have had a history of long and intense interaction with either German or Italian. Having provided extensive dialectal data, I argue instead that there are no grounds for positing a direct correlation between the introduction of the comitative preposition to instrumental in “high-contact” Slavic languages and the history of language contact with German or Italian. I propose to distinguish between the grammaticalization of the comitative-instrumental polysemy due to analytic simplification and the grammaticalization of the instrumental-comitative polysemy due to synthetic simplification. The comitative marking for instrumentals in Slavic is likely to develop in places of prolonged multilingual contacts, not necessarily with German or Italian. Under these conditions one can predict the development of convergent analytic features in closely related or even areally contingent languages (dialects), as is the case of the Circum-Baltic area.

Diarrhea and fecal incontinence are common in critically ill patients and present a challenging problem in patient management. The Flexi-Seal® Fecal Management System is a device to divert the stools away from the patient, thus improving the care to patients with fecal incontinence. There have been only few case reports describing the complications with the use of this device. Here, we present a case of a 77-year-old woman who was admitted due to massive hematochezia while on anticoagulation. She was found to have a large rectal ulcer caused by the Flexi-Seal device, used during the last hospital stay for fecal incontinence. Flexi-Seal device can be effective for the management of incontinence; however, caution should be exercised during handling and pressure from the retention balloon should be relieved periodically.

Historically, ni-Vanuatu in Port Vila have been portrayed as an un-grounded population, lacking the resources necessary to perpetuate a kastom-based, indigenous identity. Contrary to that approach, I demonstrate how the equation of kastom, place, and identity operates in town. Central to this is the existence of non-geographical communities focussed around shared island of origin, and what I term the “achievement of simultaneity” between town and island. I describe several urban kastom practices that work to achieve town/island simultaneity including recognition of chiefly authority, a dispute settlement exchange, and a ceremony to welcome a new member of a political party. Overall, I suggest that the persistence of island-based identity both illustrates and enables the existence of kastom in town.

AbstractThis article discusses the text and interpretation of passages in Plutarch's Lives of Romulus, Agis and Cleomenes, Pericles, Brutus, Marcellus, Alexander and Marius.

Linda Geddes Wellcome Collection,2019, PB, 256pp, £6.99, 978-1781258330 The sun has had bad press. As GPs we correctly declaim grim warnings to our patients about skin cancer. We rightly warn of the sharp rise in malignant melanomas, the risks of sunbathing on holidays, and frequenting those tanning salons that benight our high streets. On the other hand, we are aware of the sun’s benefits in the production of vitamin D. My results inbox daily has at least one patient with low vitamin D, and we seem to be testing it for a range of conditions, physical and psychological, with a corresponding increase in prescribed vitamin D supplementation. The health benefits of sunlight have been known for centuries. Hippocrates built a solarium at his treatment centre on the Greek island of Kos, and a fellow physician, Aretaeus of Cappadocia, recommended sunlight for ‘lethargics.’ More recently, Florence Nightingale would position patients …