Why Sex Matters: A Darwinian Look at Human Behavior

Why Sex Matters:. Darwinian Look at Human Behavior. Bobbi S. Low. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000. 412 pp.     

A Scientific Look at Spaghetti

The United States is currently experiencing its worst man-made environmental disaster, the BP Deepwater Horizon oil leak. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is severe in its impact, but it is only one of several global oil spill disasters in history. Students can utilize the technology of Google Earth to explore the spatial and temporal distribution of oil spills. In addition to increasing content knowledge of oil spills, Google Earth assists in developing student geographic and technologic literacy. Designed for a middle school science class, this activity may also be used in English, history, math, art, and poster-making.     

Introduction: A Close Look at the Vacuolar ATPase

The vacuolar ATPases (V-type ATPases) are a family of ATP-dependent ion pumps and found in two principal locations, in endomembranes and in plasma membranes. This family of ATPases is responsible for acidification of intracellulare compartments and, in certain cases, ion transport across the plasma membrane of eucaryotic cells. V-ATPases are composed of two distinct domains: a catalytic V₁ sector, in which ATP hydrolysis takes place, and the membrane-embedded sector, V₀, which functions in ion conduction. In the past decade impressive progress has been made in elucidating the properties structure, function and moleculare biology. These knowledge sheds light also on the evolution of V-ATPases and their related families of A-(A₁A₀-ATPase) and F-type (F₁F₀-ATPases)ATPases.     

A Look at Arginine in Membranes

Here, we review the current knowledge about the energetics of arginine insertion into the bilayer hydrocarbon core, and we discuss discrepancies between experimental and computational studies of the insertion process. While simulations suggest that it should be very costly to place arginine into the hydrocarbon core, experiments show that arginine is found there. Both types of studies suggest that arginine insertion into the bilayer involves substantial bilayer deformation, with multiple hydrogen bonds between the arginine guanidinium group and lipid polar groups. It is possible that the discrepancies concerning the insertion cost of arginine arise because simulations overestimate the cost associated with bilayer deformation and underestimate the ability of the bilayer to adapt to charged and polar groups. This is an active area of research, and there is no doubt that a consensus view of arginine in membranes will soon emerge.     

Keep Your Sunny Side: A Street-Level Look at Homelessness

This opinion piece considers my personal experiences of poverty, homelessness, loss, and physical disability in relation to recent discussions of social defeat and resistance among permanent supported housing tenants with physical and mental illnesses. By drawing attention to the onslaught of deprivation and humiliation that generally comes with the territory of poverty and homelessness in the United States, I hope to influence the ways in which clinicians, social service providers, and scholars think about specific instances of social defeat and resistance. My basic point is that any specific experience of resistance or defeat cannot be adequately understood in isolation. Rather, such experiences must be understood in relation to individual life histories of defeat and resistance, and to the symbolic and material sources of success and failure available to citizens who occupy a particular section of social space in a given society.     

A Look at Academic Anthropology: Through a Graph Darkly

An "external," nomothetic perspective that has been formulated by some historians of science (e.g., Kuhn 1968) is used to examine the history of anthropology in the United States. Regularities that characterize the growth of the physical sciences and the production and use of literature associated with them are shown to be characteristic of anthropology as well. Implications for the way anthropology will be done in the future are discussed . [anthropology, future of, growth of, history of]     

A New Look at Bimedial Prefrontal Leukotomy

Forty-four selected patients with “hard core” functional psychiatric illness were treated by bimedial prefrontal leukotomy, in which only the medial half of the prefrontal white matter of both frontal lobes was divided. This operation differs from the conventional or “standard” leukotomy which divides the entire prefrontal white matter. There were six patients with personality disorders, 25 psychoneurotics, 12 schizophrenics, and one with involutional melancholia. Forty-two of the 44 patients had thorough psychiatric follow-up, ranging from one to seven years postoperatively. They were assessed clinically and also on a point-rating scale of assessment.Seventy-six per cent of these patients had excellent or satisfactory outcomes. The most striking benefit was decrease in anxiety and tension.Modified leukotomy is a safe and effective method of reducing the symptoms of excessive tension, anxiety, fear or depression in patients with a variety of illnesses, including anxiety neurosis, phobic psychoneurosis, obsessional neurosis, neurotic or psychotic depressive reactions and schizophrenia. The operation should be considered in such neurotic, personality and psychotic illnesses when medical treatment has failed.     

Impact of Father Involvement: A Closer Look at Indirect Effects Models Involving Marriage and Child Adjustment

In this article we present a framework for understanding the indirect effects of fathering on child development in the context of the marriage. We discuss three central pathways of influence: through relations between marital quality and fathering, through children's exposure to father expressions of marital discord, and through relations between marital quality and father psychological functioning. We provide corresponding hypotheses and review recent research to support or refute each. A common theme is that fathers, as well as mothers, have important influences in marital contexts, with some evidence for different or even greater impact of fathers in terms of the relations between the marital relationship and parenting, the impact of child exposure to marital conflict expressions, and as a function of parental symptomatology, although these effects are often complex. We discuss the value of including fathers in research on families and child development, and point out some promising directions for future study.