Highlights • Cicero Parker Meek was working as a general practitioner at the Aiken County Hospital in South Carolina, USA. • He had a special interest in the treatment of burn patients. • The Meek procedure for a device-based expansion of split-skin (micrografting) was invented before the mesh grafting. • The technique first presented in 1958 by Meek is a milestone in the history of burn surgery. • About the person of CP Meek, very little information has been found. Abstract Cicero Parker Meek (1914–1979) was working as a general practitioner at the Aiken County Hospital in South Carolina, USA, and had a special interest in the treatment of burn patients. The procedure first presented in 1958 by Meek for a device-based expansion of split-skin (micrografting), which was invented before the mesh technique, is a milestone in the history of burns surgery. The method was forgotten until well into the 90s of the last century, and was only readopted and improved by no longer identifiable physicians at the Red Cross Hospital in Beverwijk. The Meek translation procedure was subsequently modified through the innovations of Kreis and Raff. With increased survival of massively burned patients, mesh grafting fell short of requirements. Mesh grafts of 1:9 expansion are difficult to handle and are vulnerable to dislodgement on the wound bed. Kreis and Raff showed in 1994 that 1:9 expanded mesh grafts did not achieve a true 1:9 expansion on the wound surface, in contrast to 1:9 expanded Meek grafts. Thus Meek grafts provided a highly effective autograft expansion in very large burns. Cicero Parker Meek was an exceptional person in the history of burn therapy.
Consistent individual variation in animal behaviour is nearly ubiquitous and has important ecological and evolutionary implications. Additionally, suites of behavioural traits are often correlated, forming behavioural syndromes in both humans and other species. Such syndromes are often described by testing for variation in traits across commonly described dimensions (e. g. aggression and neophobia), independent of whether this variation is ecologically relevant to the focal species. Here, we use a variety of ecologically relevant behavioural traits to test for a colony-level behavioural syndrome in rock ants (Temnothorax rugatulus). Specifically, we combine field and laboratory assays to measure foraging effort, how colonies respond to different types of resources, activity level, response to threat and aggression level. We find evidence for a colony level syndrome that suggests colonies consistently differ in coping style-some are more risk-prone, whereas others are more risk-averse. Additionally, by collecting data across the North American range of this species, we show that environmental variation may affect how different populations maintain consistent variation in colony behaviour.
Chester Lamar Meek (1944-2000), 2009 AMCA Memorial Lecture Honoree, was husband to Sharon Kay Meek, father of Bradley Lamar and Jody Keith., and a member of the faculty of Louisiana State University for 25 years when he passed away on June 27, 2000, while conducting field research on mosquitoes in Cleveland, Mississippi. Dr. Meek was born in Monticello, Arkansas, and attended Ouachita Baptist University, University of Arkansas, and Texas A&M University, where he took his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D., respectively. He was an expert in the biology and control of rice-field mosquitoes and in forensic entomology. He served in the medical service corps of the US Army, authored or co-authored over 65 scientific publications, and was mentor to graduate students in medical and forensic entomology. Dr. Meek was a member of the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association, the Texas Mosquito Control Association, the American Mosquito Control Association, the Entomological Society of America, the American Registry of Professional Entomologists, and the Society for Vector Ecology. He received the American Mosquito Control Association's awards for Meritorious Service (1986) and the Memorial Lectureship Award (1991) and was recognized for his service by the Louisiana Mosquito Control Association with the 1989 Hathaway-Ritter Distinguished Achievement award.
High-street homewares and furnishings retailer The Pier recently deployed Sarian's mobile routing technology to provide backup connections to support online chip-and-pin transactions at all 35 of its stores. The nationwide rollout involved equipping each of The Pier's outlets with Sarian HR4110 routers, which provide back-up data communications links over new high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) mobile networks. Alex Meek, head of information systems at The Pier, tells us about the project.