American Association of Tissue Banks: A Historical Reflection Upon Entering the 21st Century

The American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) is a scientific, not-for-profit, peer-group organization founded in 1976 to facilitate the provision of transplantable tissues of uniform high quality in quantities sufficient to meet national needs. The Association was created well before there was governmental oversight of tissue banking. The organization consists of individuals involved in tissue banking, medical users, and scientists in the field. Current structure consists of a 13-member Board of Governors with specific subgroups including Musculoskeletal, Reproductive, Skin, Tissue Bank Councils and Council of Accredited Tissue Banks. A historical review shows the evolution from development of guidelines to publication of standards, and from an inspection conducted by peers to one conducted by an independent, trained professional inspector. Association growth and historical accomplishments are highlighted.     

The American Anthropological Association and the Values of Science, 1935-70

American anthropologists have repeatedly addressed questions about the nature of anthropology as a science and the relationship of anthropology to society. Complex interactions between anthropology and political events in American life have challenged definitions of science, including anthropologists as citizens, scientists, and professionals and the roles they appropriately play. A series of exchanges and events between the 1930s and 1970 are examined in order to shed light on some of the recurrent dilemmas of definition and practice in anthropology as anthropologists have grappled with them in different times and in relation to different contexts. [Keywords: U.S. anthropology, U.S. history, science]     

Defective visions of the Caribbean: Culture shock in Central American

Insufficient regard has been given to the impact of culture and/or return shock on the document produced by expatriates when they are used in ethnohistorical studies. This paper seeks to rectily this lacuna with on analysis of the fate of two expatriate authors in Central American and their seach for peace and justice.     

From Types to Populations: A Century of Race, Physical Anthropology, and the American Anthropological Association

In the 1960s, U.S. physical anthropology underwent a period of introspection that marked a change from the old physical anthropology that was largely race based to the new physical anthropology, espoused by Washburn and others for over a decade, which incorporated the evolutionary biology of the modern synthesis. What actually changed? What elements of the race concept have been rejected, and what elements have persisted, influencing physical anthropology today? In this article, I examine both the scientific and social influences on physical anthropology that caused changes in the race concept, in particular the influence of the American Anthropological Association. The race concept is complicated but entails three attributes: essentialism, cladistic thinking, and biological determinism. These attributes have not all been discarded; while biological determinism and its social implications have been questioned since the inception of the field, essentialism and the concomitant rendering of populations as clades persists as a legacy of the race concept. [Keywords: race, essentialism, physical anthropology]     

The Role of Education in American Indian Self-Determination: Lessons from the Ramah Navajo Community School

Since 1975 the Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act has enabled American Indian communities to enact self-determination through community-based schooling. In this study conducted by a Navajo researcher, the Ramah Navajo community defined self-determination and how it was operationalized within the community and school. The study demonstrates how education based on Navajo epistemology has been integral to self-determination at Ramah, underscoring the importance of incorporating Native American epistemologies in schooling for Indigenous students.     

Cultural Specificity and Comparison in Psychiatric Epidemiology: Walking the Tightrope in American Indian Research

Increasingly, the mental health needs of populations are measured using large-sample surveys with standardized measures and methods. Such efforts, however, rarely include sufficient number of smaller, culturally defined populations to draw defensible conclusions about their needs. Furthermore, without some adaptation, the standardized methods and measures may yield invalid results in such populations. Using a recently completed psychiatric epidemiology and services study with American Indian populations as a case example, this paper outlines issues facing epidemiologists working in such culturally diverse contexts. The issues discussed include the following: (1) persuading the scientific community and potential sponsors that work with distinct or culturally defined populations is important; (2) framing research questions and activities to meet the needs of communities; (3) defining a population of inference; (4) balancing the needs for comparability and cultural specificity; (5) maximizing scientific validity in light of the challenges in sample acquisition; and (6) developing and implementing data collection methods that uphold scientific standards but are also realistic given the context. The authors draw on their experiences—most recently in the American Indian Service Utilization, Psychiatric Epidemiology, Risk and Protective Factors Project (AI-SUPERPFP)—to illustrate these issues and suggest ways to address each. A goal of this paper is to challenge those invested in conducting culturally valid epidemiologic work in such populations to better articulate the nature of these efforts.     

‘The vagaries of a Rafinesque’: imagining and classifying American nature

Some early nineteenth-century American naturalists condemned their contemporary, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783–1840), as ‘eccentric’, or worse. Both during his life and long after his death, his botanical work in particular was criticised, even ridiculed. However, in recent years, attempts have been made to restore his reputation and the term ‘genius’ has even been used to describe him. This paper examines this continuing fascination with this strange, disturbing figure and argues that in the competing interpretations of his life and work, Rafinesque has generally been used to typify bad classification; he is perhaps better understood in a broader, literary context as embodying a particular kind of American national identity.     

The "Other" Story of Model Minorities: Korean American High School Dropouts in an Urban Context

This article analyzes how socioeconomic backgrounds, social capital, and school resources affect Korean American youths' educational attainment and aspirations. In the context of limited social and economic support, students delineate differences within coethnic communities along class lines and adopt an oppositional cultural frame of reference to endure and resist institutional barriers. This study demonstrates the significance of distinguishing socioeconomic differences within Korean American communities and for whom the enclaves may be more beneficial.     

Pithouse Architecture and the Economics of Household Formation in the Prehistoric American Southwest

Changes in prehistoric Southwestern architecture have been interpreted as the result of increasing dependence on agriculture through time which promoted greater sedentism. Recent archaeological research has produced data that point to changes in labor organization rather than agricultural productivity as the factors that most likely favored new forms of domestic architecture. In fact, some of the most striking temporal shifts in residential architecture may have been associated with declining agricultural productivity.     

Potential effects of El Niño-South Oscillation (ENSO) on growth of the American crocodile, Crocodylus acutus (Crocodylia: Crocodilydae) in captivity

Temperature affects growth rate of crocodiles. However, no information exists about the effects of temperature by El Niño-South Oscillation (ENSO) on crocodiles. In this paper, we present information about the effect of ENSO on total length and body mass of Crocodylus acutus in captivity during 1997–2001. We did not observe differences in total length among years, but we did so in body mass. Furthermore, we observed that warm episodes of ENSO were associated with a higher average total length and cold episodes represented a higher average of body mass. Sea surface temperature (SST) was significantly related with total length; however, the relationship between SST and body mass was unclear. We suggest that ENSO effects on growth rates of crocodiles need to be considered as an important factor on the management of captive populations.     

Placental alkaline phosphatase: population studies in Sardinia and data on the anthropological value of this genetic marker.

The analysis of human placental alkaline phosphatase polymorphism in Sardinia has shown a further difference in the genetic structure of this population in comparison with the populations of Continental Italy and Western Europe. Ethnic and geographic variations in world distribution of placental alkaline phosphatase gene frequencies suggest the considerable anthropological value of this genetic marker.     

The Great American Interchange in birds: a phylogenetic perspective with the genus Trogon

The 'Great American Interchange' (GAI) is recognized as having had a dramatic effect on biodiversity throughout the Neotropics. However, investigation of patterns in Neotropical avian biodiversity has generally been focused on South American taxa in the Amazon Basin, leaving the contribution of Central American taxa under-studied. More rigorous studies of lineages distributed across the entire Neotropics are needed to uncover phylogeographical patterns throughout the area, offering insights into mechanisms that contribute to overall Neotropical biodiversity. Here we use mitochondrial DNA sequence data and intensive geographical sampling from the widespread Neotropical avian genus Trogon to investigate the role of the GAI in shaping its phylogeographical history. Our results show that genetic diversity in Trogon exceeds the perceived biodiversity, and that the GAI resulted in lineage diversification within the genus. Despite greater diversity in South America, a Central American centre of origin with multiple and independent dispersals into South America is indicated. These dispersals were followed by the evolution of divergent lineages associated with the Andes Mountains and other South American geographical features. According to our phylogenetic reconstructions, several species, which were originally defined by morphological characters, are nonmonophyletic. In sum, our results elucidate the evolutionary history of Trogon , reveal patterns obscured by extant biodiversity, and serve as a biogeographical model to consider in future studies.     

Liver protein phosphatases: studies of the presumptive native forms of phosphorylase phosphatase activity in liver extracts and their dissociation to a catalytic subunit of Mr 35,000.

Several aspects of the properties of phosphorylase phosphatase in crude rat liver extracts were investigated. Treatment of tissue extracts with either trypsin, ethanol, or urea was found to dissociate phosphorylase phosphatase activity to a form of M_r 35,000. The M_r 35,000 enzyme form was derived from three native enzyme forms. The major cytosolic form of phosphorylase phosphatase had a molecular weight of 260,000 as determined by gel filtration and was dissociated to a M_r 35,000 form by treatment with either ethanol or urea. Treatment of the M_r 260,000 form with trypsin led to its conversion to M_r 225,000 and a M_r 35,000 form. A minor cytosolic form of M_r 200,000 was also present. This minor activity was latent until activated by trypsin treatment and was converted to a M_r 35,000 form by such treatment. The third form was found to chromatograph as a form of molecular weight greater than 500,000 on gel filtration and, like the M_r 200,000 form, was only detected after activation with trypsin. Subsequent to this treatment, it too behaved as a M_r 35,000 enzyme. Although a single major enzyme form was present in the cytosol, multiple molecular weight forms could be generated in crude extracts simply by the use of vigorous mechanical homogenization procedures. This suggested that artifactual forms of enzyme may readily be produced, possibly by proteolytic cleavage of the native enzyme.     

Peptidases A,B, C,D and S in the American mink: polymorphism and chromosome localization

Summary An electrophoretic analysis of peptidases was carried out in a population of American mink. Based on substrate and tissue specificities, as well as subunit composition, homologies were established between mink peptidases A, B, C, D and S and human peptidases. Polymorphism for peptidases B and D was demonstrated for minks of three coat colour types. Breeding data indicated that the peptidase variations are under the control of allele pairs at distinct autosomal loci designated as PEPB and PEPD, respectively. Using a panel of American mink-Chinese hamster hybrid clones, the gene for PEPB was assigned to mink chromosome 9.     

美国杏李园瓢虫群落组成及生态位

对美国杏李园中瓢虫的种群动态和生态位进行研究,结果表明,异色瓢虫、龟纹瓢虫、多异瓢虫为优势种群,黑缘红瓢虫、红点唇瓢虫、七星瓢虫、马铃薯瓢虫、深点食螨瓢虫、二星瓢虫种群密度长时间处于稳定状态。马铃薯瓢虫占据生态位最宽,对美国杏李树危害时间较长。红点唇瓢虫和七星瓢虫的生态位重叠较高,出现频率高。在瓢虫类天敌中,生态位宽度越宽的种类往往数量较低,且持续时间较长,对害虫种群的控制程度较低,生态位宽度较低的种类出现时间较短,短时间内种群数量较高,可以控制害虫种群数量。     

Investigation of the inclusion of the herbicide metobromuron in native cyclodextrins by powder X-ray diffraction and isothermal titration calorimetry

We report the formation of inclusion complexes between the phenylurea herbicide metobromuron [3-(p-bromophenyl)-1-methoxy-1-methylurea] and β- and γ-cyclodextrin in the solid state. Formation of crystalline inclusion complexes by the kneading method was confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction and further structural characterization using the principles of isostructurality followed. In addition, ΔH°, ΔS°, ΔG° and the association constants (K) at 298 K were determined for complex formation in solution using isothermal titration calorimetry. The magnitudes of K for the formation of 1:1 complexes between metobromuron and α-, β- and γ-CD were estimated as 598, 310 and 114, respectively.     

The Clinical Breast Care Project: an important resource in investigating environmental and genetic contributions to breast cancer in African American women

Age at diagnosis, pathological characteristics, and tumor behavior differ between African American (AAW) and Caucasian women (CW) with breast cancer, with AAW having more aggressive tumors and higher mortality rates. Although both societal and molecular contributions to these disparities have been suggested, the African American population has traditionally been under-represented in research and clinical protocols, limiting the power of epidemiologic and molecular studies to provide better understanding of disease pathogenesis in this minority population. The Clinical Breast Care Project (CBCP) has developed a large tissue and blood repository from patients undergoing treatment for breast cancer, with previous history of breast cancer, counseled in the Risk Reduction Clinic, screened by routine mammography, or undergoing elective reductive mammoplasty. Recruitment of AAW into the CBCP was successful; 25% of the 2,454 female patients were African American, including 35% disease-free, 3% high-risk, 40% benign, 8% preinvasive and 14% with invasive breast disease. More than 500 data fields regarding lifestyle choices, socioeconomic status, health history and geography were collected from all participants, and all consenting individuals provided blood specimens for genomic and proteomic studies. Tissues were collected from all patients undergoing surgical procedures using protocols that preserve the macromolecules for downstream research applications. In addition, patients were followed after diagnosis, with >85% of patients providing ongoing and updated demographic and clinical information. Thus, recruitment efforts in the CBCP have resulted in collection of well-annotated information and research-quality specimens from a large number of AAW. This unique resource will allow for the identification of biological and environmental factors associated with the identification of genetic and non-genetic factors associated with the occurrence, detection, prognosis, or survival of breast cancer in AAW. The opinion and assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as representing the views of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense.     

The Price of Poverty: Money, Work, and Culture in the Mexican American Barrio

The Price of Poverty: Money, Work, and Culture in the Mexican American Barrio . Daniel Dohan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 314 pp.