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Secrets of a Silent Miniaturist: Findings from a Technical Study of Miniatures Attributed to Isaac OliverAn evidently accomplished draughtsman, Isaac Oliver (circa 1565–1617) remains an enigmatic artist in many respects. While Nicholas Hilliard’s treatise on the art of limning provides considerable insight into his material use, techniques, and self-perception, no equivalent documentary evidence survives from Oliver’s hand, and many questions regarding his training, approach, and oeuvre have yet to be answered. This article presents key findings from the collaborative and technically focused research project “Secrets of a Silent Miniaturist: Technical Analysis of Isaac Oliver’s Miniatures”, undertaken by the Fitzwilliam Museum and the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge (UK). The project aims to shed light on Oliver’s artistic practice through the detailed, technical study of a representative selection of his surviving miniatures, investigated through an up-to-date, non-invasive analytical and technical lens. The article discusses the discovery of near-invisible changes to compositions implemented during the initial execution, differences in execution and later history between two versions of a portrait of Henry Frederick Prince of Wales, the first identification in a miniature of a rare mercury-based white pigment whose deterioration led to later campaigns of repainting, and the use of a hitherto unacknowledged range of pigments and media in Oliver’s landscape miniatures that raises further questions about Oliver’s connection with artistic traditions on the Continent.
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New evidence for the intentional use of calomel as a white pigmentIn this work, we report the results of the in situ application of micro‐Raman spectroscopy to the analysis of two historic painted objects: a 15th‐century illuminated manuscript and a late 16th‐century portrait miniature. Both objects were unexpectedly found to contain calomel (Hg<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>Cl<jats:sub>2</jats:sub>), intentionally used as a white pigment. Calomel was a widespread and popular medicine until it fell out of use at the end of the 19th century due to its toxicity, and a material called ‘mercury white’ is referred to in 16th‐century technical literature on painting. However, although calomel has been recognised in the past as a degradation product of cinnabar in both wall and easel paintings, its deliberate use as a pigment on cultural heritage objects has only been documented recently in white areas painted on 17th‐century South American objects. The present study describes the first ever verified use of calomel as a white pigment on European works of art, both of which predate its documented use in South America.
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Non-Invasive Technical Investigation of English Portrait Miniatures Attributed to Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac OliverThis study presents the results of the technical investigation carried out on several English portrait miniatures painted in the 16th and 17th century by Nicholas Hilliard and Isaac Oliver, two of the most famous limners working at the Tudor and Stuart courts. The 23 objects chosen for the analysis, spanning almost the entire career of the two artists, belong to the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge). A non-invasive scientific methodology, comprising of stereo and optical microscopies, Raman microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, was required for the investigation of these small-scale and fragile objects. The palettes and working techniques of the two artists were characterised, focusing in particular on the examination of flesh tones, mouths, and eyes. These findings were also compared to the information written in the treatises on miniature painting circulating during the artists’ lifetime. By identifying the materials and techniques most widely employed by the two artists, this study provides information about similarities and differences in their working methods, which can help to understand their artistic practice as well as contribute to matters of attribution.
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Use of standard analytical tools to detect small amounts of smalt in the presence of ultramarine as observed in 15th-century Venetian illuminated manuscriptsA previous preliminary study of 15th-century Venetian manuscript fragments by the Master of the Murano Gradual identified the presence of cobalt in many ultramarine blue areas, suggesting the presence of smalt. This would represent an early use of this glassy pigment in Venetian illuminated manuscripts. Whereas sampling has been used to identify smalt in 15th century paintings, only non-invasive methods can be used on manuscripts due to their small size and fragile nature. Here we investigated four non-invasive analysis techniques to identify small amounts of smalt in the presence of ultramarine, including single-point and scanning XRF spectroscopy, UV–vis-NIR-SWIR reflectance spectroscopy (FORS), Raman spectroscopy, and external reflection FT-IR spectroscopy. This was done by studying paint mock-ups of ultramarine and smalt mixtures with and without the presence of a white pigment on parchment. The results showed molecular spectroscopy techniques (reflectance, Raman, and FTIR) require at least ~ 30–40% smalt by percent mass when in the presence of ultramarine in order to detect its presence, whereas elemental XRF spectroscopy can detect cobalt (and thus infer the presence of smalt) at the ~ 1% level. To further explore the inference of smalt by XRF, additional XRF analysis was conducted to specifically look for elements associated with cobalt minerals (i.e. nickel, arsenic, bismuth, etc.). High spatial resolution XRF scanning (60–100 μm X-ray spot size) was used to look for cobalt in smalt particles which are typically larger than those of ultramarine. These two XRF analysis approaches worked well with the mock-up paint samples, and were subsequently applied to the manuscripts for which molecular spectroscopy methods yielded no unambiguous evidence for smalt. The data underscore the challenges of conclusively identifying smalt in complex paint systems when samples are not available, but do suggest that the Master of the Murano illuminated manuscript fragments contain smalt, but perhaps not in a form or amount researchers are used to seeing in paintings.
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First evidence of attached juveniles in the solutan echinoderm Pahvanticystis from the middle Cambrian Weeks Formation (Utah, USA)The fossil record of the Palaeozoic echinoderm class Soluta suggests they originated in the Miaolingian (middle Cambrian) of Laurentia as permanently attached suspension feeders, demonstrating a stepwise shift towards vagility in successive strata. Here, we report a new specimen of Pahvanticystis cf. utahensis associated with three putative juveniles interpreted as belonging to the same species. We interpret this as evidence of facultative attachment in juveniles of Pahvanticystis, which had not previously been reported in this taxon, but is known in the earlier genus Castericystis. Our findings indicate that attachment as a juvenile was more widespread in solutans than previously thought.
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Trabecular bone structure of the proximal capitate in extant hominids and fossil hominins with implications for midcarpal joint loading and the dart‐thrower's motionObjectives This research examines whether the distribution of trabecular bone in the proximal capitates of extant hominids, as well as several fossil hominin taxa, is associated with the oblique path of the midcarpal joint known as the dart‐thrower's motion (DTM). Materials and Methods We analyzed proximal capitates from extant (<jats:italic>Pongo n</jats:italic> = 12; <jats:italic>Gorilla n</jats:italic> = 11; <jats:italic>Pan n</jats:italic> = 10; fossil and recent <jats:italic>Homo sapiens n</jats:italic> = 29) and extinct (<jats:italic>Australopithecus sediba n</jats:italic> = 2; <jats:italic>Homo naledi n</jats:italic> = 1<jats:italic>; Homo floresiensis n</jats:italic> = 2; Neandertals <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 3) hominids using a new canonical holistic morphometric analysis, which quantifies and visualizes the distribution of trabecular bone using relative bone volume as a fraction of total volume (rBV/TV). Results Homo sapiens and Neandertals had a continuous band of high rBV/TV that extended across the scaphoid, lunate, and hamate subarticular regions, but other fossil hominins and extant great apes did not. <jats:italic>A. sediba</jats:italic> expressed a distinct combination of human‐like and <jats:italic>Pan</jats:italic>‐like rBV/TV distribution. Both <jats:italic>H. floresiensis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>H. naledi</jats:italic> had high rBV/TV on the ulnar‐side of the capitate but low rBV/TV on the radial‐side. Conclusion The proximal capitates of <jats:italic>H. sapiens</jats:italic> and Neandertals share a distinctive distribution of trabecular bone that suggests that these two species of <jats:italic>Homo</jats:italic> regularly load(ed) their midcarpal joints along the full extent of the oblique path of the DTM. The observed pattern in <jats:italic>A. sediba</jats:italic> suggests that human‐like stress at the capito‐scaphoid articular surface was combined with <jats:italic>Pan</jats:italic>‐like wrist postures, whereas the patterns in <jats:italic>H. floresiensis</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>H. naledi</jats:italic> suggest their midcarpal joints were loaded differently from that of <jats:italic>H. sapiens</jats:italic> and Neandertals.
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Helminth fauna of the black goby Gobius niger L. (Gobiiformes: Gobiidae) from the Finnish Archipelago, Baltic Sea: Molecular and morphological dataBlack gobies (<i>Gobius niger</i>) from the Finnish Archipelago, Baltic Sea, were screened for helminth infections in summer 2020. Helminths were identified morphologically and/or molecularly. Altogether 26 novel sequences were generated and analysed using maximum likelihood estimation. Morphological and phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial genes revealed the presence of 8 species belonging to the Digenea (<i>Diplostomum mergi</i> Lineage 3), Cestoda (<i>Bothriocephalus scorpii</i>), Nematoda (<i>Contracaecum rudolphii</i> A, <i>Cucullanus</i> sp. and <i>Hysterothylacium aduncum</i>), and Acanthocephala (a putative new species of <i>Corynosoma</i>, <i>Corynosoma semerme</i> and <i>Neoechinorhynchus</i> sp.). Phylogenetic and comparative sequence analyses revealed that the putative new acanthocephalan species is closely related to <i>C. neostrumosum</i> described from the Caspian seal, <i>Pusa caspica</i>, in the Caspian Sea. The black goby represents a new host record for four parasite species (<i>Diplostomum mergi</i> Lineage 3, <i>Contracaecum rudolphii</i> A, <i>Corynosoma semerme</i> and <i>Corynosoma</i> sp.). The Finnish Archipelago is a novel locality record for three species (<i>Corynosoma</i> sp., <i>Diplostomum mergi</i> Lineage 3 and <i>Bothriocephalus scorpii</i>).
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Ipomoea tiliacea (Convolvulaceae) seeds stranded on the south-west coast of IrelandThree 4 mm drift seeds collected from St Finan’s Bay on the south-west coast of Ireland were cultivated to produce climbing plants with cordate to trilobed leaves. The sequence of the Internal Transcribed Spacer region of ribosomal DNA of these plants provided a match for Ipomoea tiliacea (Willd.) Choisy. This plant is native from the Bahamas to southern Brazil, commonly occurring in maritime regions of the mainland and islands. This is the first record of seeds of this species likely to have been carried across the surface of the North Atlantic Ocean. Records of this plant, elsewhere in Europe, require confirmation.
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Leveraging OCR and HTR cloud services towards data mobilisation of historical plant namesAbstract - We present our solution to the problem of how to mobilise (that is, extract and enrich) digital data from the analogue, printed book version Sir Hans Sloane’s copy of John Ray’s Historia Plantarum, to create the first searchable facility of its kind to the plants contained in the Sloane Herbarium, housed in the National History Museum UK. The data mobilisation workflow presented here enables the automatic detection of printed and handwritten marginalia text and annotations in Sir Hans Sloane” personal copy of John Ray’s Historia Plantarum. The rationale of adopting AWS Amazon’s Textract service and the development of a specialised information extraction workflow for mobilising printed text and handwritten annotations is discussed. Testing of our workflow demonstrates the need for human-checking of outputs to ensure the accuracy of a large set of structured data comprising 7600 plant names and 4540 handwritten marginalia annotation. The links we have created serve as the first digital index to Sloan’s Herbarium, a unique development in the longer analogue and digital format-history of these resources.
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Bio+Mine Project: Empowering the Community to Develop a Site-Specific System for the Rehabilitation of a Legacy MineThe rehabilitation of legacy mines continues to be a big challenge because of the difficulties in returning them to safe and stable conditions and ensuring that the mined-out areas become productive to support the economic activity of the host community. Previous efforts are often focused on purely technical and environmental aspects, leading to resistance from the local community due to their exclusion from the rehabilitation process. To address the issues associated with legacy mines and lack of participation of the community, we have developed a project, Biodiversity Positive Mining For The Net Zero Challenge (Bio + Mine), focusing on the abandoned Sto. Niño copper mine (Benguet, Philippines). The mine was closed in 1982 without a plan involving local stakeholders and leaving a significant ongoing negative legacy. Using the social-ecological-technological system framework, we will explore the intersections of the structure and functions of socio-economicdemographic, ecological, and technological data useful in devising a more inclusive mitigation strategy for the reconstruction of the supporting ecosystem. We aim to develop a site-specific system, underpinned by the local community's knowledge and practices, that can be a model for wider implementation in other legacy and active mines worldwide.
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Misconceptions: A Card Deck for Fertility Conversations(Mis)Conceptions is an eighteen-month Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project exploring the cultural history of fertility health and especially pregnancy ambiguity: the common experience of not knowing whether a pregnancy is established or viable. engagement element uses history and art to open broader questions about trying for parenthood today. To accomplish this the project is creating a deck of conversation cards using the western tarot as a structuring device, whilst foregrounding questions, themes and images that explore people’s experiences of trying to become parents today, whether biologically or otherwise.
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Collecting and cataloguing the world: the botanical collections of Hans Sloane (1660–1753)Botanical collections assembled before the widespread adoption of the ‘Linnaean’ system of binomial naming often have nomenclatural significance, are increasingly utilized to investigate genetic and environmental change, and are important sources for the history of science and medicine. However, such early collections may be difficult to access and interpret, and few have machine-readable metadata or images. The natural history collections of Hans Sloane (1660–1753), assembled between the 1680s and his death in 1753, constitute the de facto foundation collections of the Natural History Museum, London. This study analyses Sloane’s Herbarium and ‘Vegetable Substances’ which make up the largest surviving components of Sloane’s natural history materials and the largest pre-Linnaean botanical collection in existence. The collections contain specimens contributed by hundreds of people from over 70 countries and territories worldwide. New data sets are presented that enable novel research and a comparison of their parts. The data provide details of the people and places mentioned in these sources, along with a complete transcription of the Vegetable Substances catalogue, and new folio-level metadata for the entire Herbarium. The results provide precise estimates of the scale of the collections (8812 surviving specimens of the Vegetable Substances, and 121 506 specimens in the herbarium) and demonstrate their heterogeneity, reflecting their complex histories. Aspects of the collections’ histories can be read from the data and reveal some of the organization and management practices that shaped the collections as we have them today. However, we show that there is frequent ambiguity and uncertainty in the provenance of specimens, while the human histories connected with their assembly are often opaque, embedded in the trading networks of colonialism and enslavement. These data permit analyses of the collections at scale for the first time, yet also suggest that multi-disciplinary approaches are required to fully unlock such historical collections.
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Creating a multi-linked dynamic dataset: a case study of plant genera named for women<jats:p>A discussion on social media led to the formation of a multidisciplinary group working on this project to highlight women’s contributions to science. The role of marginalised groups in science has been a topic of much discussion, but data on these contributions are largely lacking. Our motivation for the development of this dataset was not only to highlight names of plant genera that honour women, but to enrich this information with data that would allow the names, roles and lives of these women to be shared more widely with others, both researchers and data sources like Wikidata. Amplification of the contributions of women to botany through multiple means will enable the community to better recognise and celebrate the role of this particular marginalised group in the history and development of science.</jats:p><jats:p>The innovative approach of our study resulted in a dataset that is dynamic, expansive and widely shared. We have published a static dataset with this paper and have also created a dynamic dataset by linking flowering plant genera and the women in whose honour those genera were named in Wikidata. This concurrent addition of the data to Wikidata, a linked open data repository, enabled it to be enriched, queried and proactively shared during the whole process of dataset creation and into the future. This innovative workflow allowed wide, open participation throughout the research process. The methodology and workflows applied can be used to create future datasets celebrating and amplifying the contributions of marginalised groups in science.</jats:p>
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Phylogenomics and the rise of the angiosperms<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Angiosperms are the cornerstone of most terrestrial ecosystems and human livelihoods<jats:sup>1,2</jats:sup>. A robust understanding of angiosperm evolution is required to explain their rise to ecological dominance. So far, the angiosperm tree of life has been determined primarily by means of analyses of the plastid genome<jats:sup>3,4</jats:sup>. Many studies have drawn on this foundational work, such as classification and first insights into angiosperm diversification since their Mesozoic origins<jats:sup>5–7</jats:sup>. However, the limited and biased sampling of both taxa and genomes undermines confidence in the tree and its implications. Here, we build the tree of life for almost 8,000 (about 60%) angiosperm genera using a standardized set of 353 nuclear genes<jats:sup>8</jats:sup>. This 15-fold increase in genus-level sampling relative to comparable nuclear studies<jats:sup>9</jats:sup> provides a critical test of earlier results and brings notable change to key groups, especially in rosids, while substantiating many previously predicted relationships. Scaling this tree to time using 200 fossils, we discovered that early angiosperm evolution was characterized by high gene tree conflict and explosive diversification, giving rise to more than 80% of extant angiosperm orders. Steady diversification ensued through the remaining Mesozoic Era until rates resurged in the Cenozoic Era, concurrent with decreasing global temperatures and tightly linked with gene tree conflict. Taken together, our extensive sampling combined with advanced phylogenomic methods shows the deep history and full complexity in the evolution of a megadiverse clade.</jats:p>
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A revision of Lycianthes (Solanaceae) in tropical Asia<jats:p>The genus <jats:italic>Lycianthes</jats:italic> (Dunal) Hassl. (Solanaceae) has in the past been treated as a section of the large genus <jats:italic>Solanum</jats:italic> L. but is more closely related to <jats:italic>Capsicum</jats:italic> L. Outside of the Americas, where the highest species diversity occurs, the genus is found in tropical and subtropical habitats from India to Japan and the Philippines, including the islands of Indonesia, New Guinea and the Solomons. The 19 species from Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific were treated in ‘PhytoKeys 209’. Here I treat the remaining 10 species occurring across Asia; including two native species, <jats:italic>L. biflora</jats:italic> (Lour.) Bitter and <jats:italic>L. oliveriana</jats:italic> (Lauterb. & K.Schum) Bitter, and one cultivated species, <jats:italic>L. rantonnetii</jats:italic> (Carrière) Bitter that were also included in the earlier work. The Asian species treated here occupy a wide range of forested and disturbed habitats and are diverse in habit, ranging from epiphytic vines to small or medium sized trees, shrubs or creeping herbs. Many of the species are weedy plants of highly disturbed habitats and are best characterised as “ochlospecies”, with complex polymorphic variation. <jats:italic>Lycianthes rantonnetii</jats:italic>, a species native to southern South America, is recorded as cultivated in India and Pakistan, but may be more widespread than collections indicate. The history of taxonomic treatments of <jats:italic>Lycianthes</jats:italic> in Asia is discussed, along with details of morphology found in all species. All species are treated in full, with complete morphological descriptions, including synonymy, lecto- or neotypifications, discussions of ecology and vernacular names, distribution maps and preliminary conservation assessments (for all except the cultivated <jats:italic>L. rantonnetii</jats:italic>). Searchable lists of all specimens examined are presented as Suppl. materials 1, 2.</jats:p>
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Twenty years of big plant genera<jats:p>In 2004, David Frodin published a landmark review of the history and concepts of big plant genera. Two decades of taxonomic activity have taken place since, coinciding with a revolution in phylogenetics and taxonomic bioinformatics. Here we use data from the World Flora Online (WFO) to provide an updated list of big (more than 500 species) and megadiverse (more than 1000 species) flowering plant genera and highlight changes since 2004. The number of big genera has increased from 57 to 86; today one of every four plant species is classified as a member of a big genus, with 14% in just 28 megadiverse genera. Most (71%) of the growth in big genera since 2000 is the result of new species description, not generic re-circumscription. More than 15% of all currently accepted flowering plant species described in the last two decades are in big genera, suggesting that groups previously considered intractable are now being actively studied taxonomically. Despite this rapid growth in big genera, they remain a significant yet understudied proportion of plant diversity. They represent a significant proportion of global plant diversity and should remain a priority not only for taxonomy but for understanding global diversity patterns and plant evolution in general.</jats:p>
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Development and validation of a high-throughput qPCR platform for the detection of soil-transmitted helminth infections<jats:sec id="sec001"> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Historically, soil-transmitted helminth (STH) control and prevention strategies have relied on mass drug administration efforts targeting preschool and school-aged children. While these efforts have succeeded in reducing morbidity associated with STH infection, recent modeling efforts have suggested that expanding intervention to treatment of the entire community could achieve transmission interruption in some settings. Testing the feasibility of such an approach requires large-scale clinical trials, such as the DeWorm3 cluster randomized trial. In addition, accurate interpretation of trial outcomes requires diagnostic platforms capable of accurately determining infection prevalence (particularly as infection intensity is reduced) at large population scale and with significant throughput. Here, we describe the development and validation of such a high-throughput molecular testing platform.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="sec002"> <jats:title>Methodology/principal findings</jats:title> <jats:p>Through the development, selection, and validation of appropriate controls, we have successfully created and evaluated the performance of a testing platform capable of the semi-automated, high-throughput detection of four species of STH in human stool samples. Comparison of this platform with singleplex reference assays for the detection of these same pathogens has demonstrated comparable performance metrics, with index assay accuracy measuring at or above 99.5% and 98.1% for each target species at the level of the technical replicate and individual extraction respectively. Through the implementation of a rigorous validation program, we have developed a diagnostic platform capable of providing the necessary throughput and performance required to meet the needs of the DeWorm3 cluster randomized trial and other large-scale operational research efforts for STH.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec id="sec003"> <jats:title>Conclusions/significance</jats:title> <jats:p>Resulting from the rigorous developmental approach taken, the platform we describe here provides the needed confidence in testing outcomes when utilized in conjunction with large-scale efforts such as the DeWorm3 trial. Additionally, the successful development of an evaluation and validation strategy provides a template for the creation of similar diagnostic platforms for other neglected tropical diseases.</jats:p> </jats:sec>
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Integrated Approach Reveals Role of Mitochondrial Germ-Line Mutation F18L in Respiratory Chain, Oxidative Alterations, Drug Sensitivity, and Patient Prognosis in Glioblastoma<jats:p>Glioblastoma is the most common and malignant primary brain tumour in adults, with a dismal prognosis. This is partly due to considerable inter- and intra-tumour heterogeneity. Changes in the cellular energy-producing mitochondrial respiratory chain complex (MRC) activities are a hallmark of glioblastoma relative to the normal brain, and associate with differential survival outcomes. Targeting MRC complexes with drugs can also facilitate anti-glioblastoma activity. Whether mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that encode several components of the MRC contribute to these phenomena remains underexplored. We identified a germ-line mtDNA mutation (m. 14798T > C), enriched in glioblastoma relative to healthy controls, that causes an amino acid substitution F18L within the core mtDNA-encoded cytochrome b subunit of MRC complex III. F18L is predicted to alter corresponding complex III activity, and sensitivity to complex III-targeting drugs. This could in turn alter reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, cell behaviour and, consequently, patient outcomes. Here we show that, despite a heterogeneous mitochondrial background in adult glioblastoma patient biopsy-derived cell cultures, the F18L substitution associates with alterations in individual MRC complex activities, in particular a 75% increase in MRC complex II_III activity, and a 34% reduction in CoQ10, the natural substrate for MRC complex III, levels. Downstream characterisation of an F18L-carrier revealed an 87% increase in intra-cellular ROS, an altered cellular distribution of mitochondrial-specific ROS, and a 64% increased sensitivity to clomipramine, a repurposed MRC complex III-targeting drug. In patients, F18L-carriers that received the current standard of care treatment had a poorer prognosis than non-carriers (373 days vs. 415 days, respectively). Single germ-line mitochondrial mutations could predispose individuals to differential prognoses, and sensitivity to mitochondrial targeted drugs. Thus, F18L, which is present in blood could serve as a useful non-invasive biomarker for the stratification of patients into prognostically relevant groups, one of which requires a lower dose of clomipramine to achieve clinical effect, thus minimising side-effects.</jats:p>
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Baseline patterns of infection in regions of Benin, Malawi and India seeking to interrupt transmission of soil transmitted helminths (STH) in the DeWorm3 trial<jats:p>Global efforts to control morbidity associated with soil-transmitted helminth infections (STH) have focused largely on the targeted treatment of high-risk groups, including children and pregnant women. However, it is not clear when such programs can be discontinued and there are concerns about the sustainability of current STH control programs. The DeWorm3 project is a large multi-country community cluster randomized trial in Benin, India and Malawi designed to determine the feasibility of interrupting the transmission of STH using community-wide delivery of mass drug administration (MDA) with anthelmintics over multiple rounds. Here, we present baseline data and estimate key epidemiological parameters important in determining the likelihood of transmission interruption in the DeWorm3 trial. A baseline census was conducted in October-December 2017 in India, November-December 2017 in Malawi and in January-February 2018 in Benin. The baseline census enumerated all members of each household and collected demographic data and information on occupation, assets, and access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). Each study site was divided into 40 clusters of at least 1,650 individuals per cluster. Clusters were randomized to receive twice yearly community-wide MDA with albendazole (GSK) targeting eligible individuals of all ages (20 clusters), or to receive the standard-of-care deworming program targeting children provided in each country. In each site, a randomly selected group of 150 individuals per cluster (6,000 total per site) was selected from the baseline census using stratified random sampling, and each individual provided a single stool sample for analysis of STH infection using the Kato-Katz technique. Study site, household and individual characteristics were summarized as appropriate. We estimated key epidemiological parameters including the force of infection and the degree of parasite aggregation within the population. The DeWorm3 sites range in population from 94,969 to 140,932. The population age distribution varied significantly by site, with the highest proportion of infants and young children in Malawi and the highest proportion of adults in India. The baseline age- and cluster-weighted prevalence, as measured by Kato-Katz, varied across sites and by species, Baseline hookworm prevalence in India was 21.4% (95% CI: 20.4–22.4%), while prevalence of<jats:italic>Ascaris</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Trichuris</jats:italic>by Kato-Katz was low (0.1% and 0.3% overall). In Malawi, the overall age- and cluster-weighted STH prevalence was 7.7% (95% CI: 7.1–8.4%) predominantly driven by hookworm infections (7.4%) while<jats:italic>Ascaris</jats:italic>(0.1%) and<jats:italic>Trichuris</jats:italic>(0.3%) infections were rare. In Benin, the overall age- and cluster-weighted prevalence was significantly lower (5.6%, 95% CI: 5.1–6.2%) and<jats:italic>Ascaris</jats:italic>(2.0%, 95% CI: 1.6–2.3%) was more common than in other sites.<jats:italic>Ascaris</jats:italic>infections were more likely to be moderate- or heavy-intensity (43.7%, unweighted) compared to hookworm (5.0%). The force of infection for hookworm was highest in adults in India and Malawi but appeared relatively stable across age groups in Benin. These data demonstrate the significant variability between the sites in terms of demography, socio-economic status and environmental characteristics. In addition, the baseline prevalence and intensity data from DeWorm3 suggest that each site has unique epidemiologic characteristics that will be critical in determining correlates of achieving STH transmission interruption in the DeWorm3 trial.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>Trial registration:</jats:bold>The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (<jats:ext-link xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03014167" xlink:type="simple">NCT03014167</jats:ext-link>).</jats:p>
