Healing across Cultures: Learning from Traditions

The health and wellness of an individual are reliant on the integrated effects of mind, body, and spirit. This triad is intricately set within a backdrop of the environment, our earth. Western cultures often disregard this holism, especially this fourth component, in its considerations of wellness as described by modern medicine. This practice is unlike that of many of the traditional cultures in the world. These cultures focus more on balance in the context of environmental respect. Varied cultures share remarkable similarities in their healing modalities, especially considering the relative isolation from one to another—evidence that there is truth to the healing knowledge they possess. We are not disconnected from the natural world in terms of health, but dependent and interconnected within ourselves and to everything around us. Social change is required to assure that the practice of modern medicine evolves to incorporate this integral aspect of health and wellness, and this can be done through partnerships with traditional healers.There is a growing demand for wellness and earthly responsibility. It is time to appropriately learn from age-old societies and their healing traditions for they do have answers we are seeking in sustainability and harmony, environmental stewardship and planetary respect, and holistic health. For thousands of years, our ancestors have known the secrets of long life—this knowledge needs to be preserved through the apprenticeship of future generations. We propose a collaboration that develops mutually beneficial learning partnerships combining modern medical knowledge with the wisdom of traditional healers around the world.     

Epistemic Contextualism and Recognising Knowledge across Cultures

Epistemic contextualism is the view that our attributions of knowledge are sensitive to changes in conversational context. Since conversational contexts can vary radically across cultures, contextualism shows that recognising knowledge in other cultures is more complicated than we may have thought. This paper explores our practices of recognizing knowledge in light of contextualism.     

Contraception across Cultures: Technologies, Choices, Constraints

Contraception across Cultures: Technologies, Choices, Constraints. Andrew Russell. Elisa J. Sobo. and Mary S. Thompson. eds. New York: Berg, 2000. xiii. 252 pp.     

Toward a practical use of Neotropical odonates as bioindicators: Testing congruence across taxonomic resolution and life stages

Odonates are suggested as bioindicators of human impact. However, their complex life cycles add additional challenges in the practical use as bioindicators, because the level of taxonomic identification could be dependent on life-history stage and, during their ontogeny, dramatic changes occur in their niche (ontogenetic niche shifts). Considering that larvae and adults have different biological characteristics, which could interfere in their performance as bioindicators, we first sought to understand how similar or different environmental factors affect larval and adult life stages in the Odonata. Second, we assessed the level of congruence between (larvae and adult) and within (adult genera and species) life-history stages, considering the taxonomic and numerical resolution. We sampled larvae and adults in 44 streams distributed along a riverine network in southwest Brazil. Larvae samples constituted 20 sampling units of 1 m length each, using the kick sampling method; adults were collected for 1 h at each site with a hand net along a 100-m transect parallel to the stream/river banks. The influence of environmental factors on larvae and adult was assessed by redundancy analysis coupled with forward selection. The congruence level between response matrices was determined by Procrustes analysis. Our results revealed that a set of environmental variables explained a portion of larvae and adults distribution and some environmental factors affect both between (larvae and adults) and within (adult genera and species) life-history stages. Larvae and adult were about 54% congruent, regardless of taxonomic level of adults. Abundance of adult genera and species were 94% congruent, but numerical resolution (abundance vs. incidence) decreased the congruency by 10%. Environmental variables could influence larvae and adults individually or via carry-over effects, i.e., larval environmental conditions that could affect adult fitness components or vice versa. In addition, some odonate behaviors, such as female selection of more appropriate habitats for laying their eggs, could also help us to explain our results, because it could determine larvae distribution. In a biomonitoring perspective, considering the cost-benefit of taxonomic level and sampling of larvae and adults, our results suggest that abundance of adult genera could be used in biomonitoring programs since they capture, respectively, 94% and 54% of the information carried by adult species and larvae.     

Contraception across Cultures: Technologies, Choices, Constraints.

Contraception across Cultures: Technologies, Choices, Constraints. Andrew Russell. Elisa J. Sobo. and Mary S. Thompson. Oxford: Berg Publishers, 2000. 224 pp.     

Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments

Encyclopedia of Precolonial Africa: Archaeology, History, Languages, Cultures, and Environments. Joseph O. Vogel. ed. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 1997.606 pp.     

Experimentalist Meets Theoretician: A Tale of Two Scientific Cultures

This is the story of how a small team of experimentalists and theoreticians collaborated to develop a theoretical model for vesicle formation during endocytosis. In telling our story, we hope to distil some general conclusions about the purpose and value of theoretical models and how best to navigate collaborations between experimentalists and theoreticians. We encountered challenges in building and publishing our model, but through our experiences we gained insight into how such collaborations can be profitably conducted. We also developed opinions about how theoretical models should be evaluated by peer reviewers and editors. During the evolution of our theoretical model, we educated each other, organized our thoughts and our data, developed a conceptual framework for understanding the mechanochemistry of endocytosis, and generated testable hypotheses that stimulated new experiments.     

Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures

Hair: Its Power and Meaning in Asian Cultures. Alf Hiltebeitel and Barbara D. Miller. eds. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 298 pp.     

Toxin Production by Microcystis aeruginosa as a Function of Light in Continuous Cultures and Its Ecological Significance

The effects of light intensity and light quality on toxin production by Microcystis aeruginosa were examined in continuous cultures. Light intensity had a pronounced effect on toxicity and the toxin production rate. Toxicity and the toxin production rate increased with light intensity up to an intensity of about 40 microeinsteins m^-2 s^-1 and decreased at higher light intensities, while the ratio of toxin to protein was constant at intensities of more than 40 microeinsteins m^-2 s^-1. Light quality had only slight effects on toxicity. The results of our laboratory experiments were supported by the results of field work in which we examined toxin production at different depths in a lake. Our observations explain the mixed pattern of high and low toxicity found in a surface bloom of M. aeruginosa. Our findings also indicate that production of the peptide toxin can be uncoupled from general protein synthesis.     

Science, Stewardship, and Spirituality: The Human Body as a Model for Ecological Restoration

Ecological restoration is practiced by people of diverse backgrounds working at many different levels in a variety of settings. Portraying the human body as a metaphor of a natural ecosystem can be useful in identifying the breadth of strategies used to restore the natural environment. A technical approach, environmental stewardship, and more spiritual traditional attitudes to ecological restoration can be viewed as analogous to restoring health to the human body through an operation in a hospital, administering remedies to oneself from the medicine cabinet, and taking a broader holistic/preventative approach to cultivate the mind–body connection through, e.g., yoga.     

Neural Correlates of Four Broad Temperament Dimensions: Testing Predictions for a Novel Construct of Personality

Four suites of behavioral traits have been associated with four broad neural systems: the 1) dopamine and related norepinephrine system; 2) serotonin; 3) testosterone; 4) and estrogen and oxytocin system. A 56-item questionnaire, the Fisher Temperament Inventory (FTI), was developed to define four temperament dimensions associated with these behavioral traits and neural systems. The questionnaire has been used to suggest romantic partner compatibility. The dimensions were named: Curious/Energetic; Cautious/Social Norm Compliant; Analytical/Tough-minded; and Prosocial/Empathetic. For the present study, the FTI was administered to participants in two functional magnetic resonance imaging studies that elicited feelings of love and attachment, near-universal human experiences. Scores for the Curious/Energetic dimension co-varied with activation in a region of the substantia nigra, consistent with the prediction that this dimension reflects activity in the dopamine system. Scores for the Cautious/Social Norm Compliant dimension correlated with activation in the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in regions associated with social norm compliance, a trait linked with the serotonin system. Scores on the Analytical/Tough-minded scale co-varied with activity in regions of the occipital and parietal cortices associated with visual acuity and mathematical thinking, traits linked with testosterone. Also, testosterone contributes to brain architecture in these areas. Scores on the Prosocial/Empathetic scale correlated with activity in regions of the inferior frontal gyrus, anterior insula and fusiform gyrus. These are regions associated with mirror neurons or empathy, a trait linked with the estrogen/oxytocin system, and where estrogen contributes to brain architecture. These findings, replicated across two studies, suggest that the FTI measures influences of four broad neural systems, and that these temperament dimensions and neural systems could constitute foundational mechanisms in personality structure and play a role in romantic partnerships.     

Testing the transferability of a marsh-inundation model across two landscapes

The effect of water-level (WL) fluctuations on both the structure and functioning of coastal marshes is well documented, and in the past, scientists have demonstrated this by relating historical changes in the areal cover of emergent vegetation (EM) of a particular site to corresponding WL data. This approach of relating areal cover to WL cannot be applied to multiple sites from a region experiencing the same WL because in that instance, WL would be a constant and cannot be used as an explanatory variable for emergent cover. In a previous study of Cootes Paradise Marsh, we proposed the use of a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to examine the effect of WL fluctuations on emergent plant cover over a 60-year period (1934–1993), and found that the inundated area (IA) was a better predictor of emergent cover than WL. However, the transferability of the marsh-inundation model and the related uncertainty has not yet been tested in a distinct geographic region. In the present article, we test the transferability of the model and develop a regional model of vegetation response to validate the DEM-based method. We confirm the existence of a highly significant relationship between percent IA and percent emergent cover over a large spatial scale in Eastern Lake Ontario. Additionally, we showed that this general relationship might be modified by the degree of urbanization in wetland watersheds. Our results suggest that this DEM-based approach is useful for predicting the aggregate response of EM to annual WL fluctuations and is transferable from local to regional scales. Handling editor: L. M. Bini     

Human Dignity as a Component of a Long-Lasting and Widespread Conceptual Construct

For some decades, the concept of human dignity has been widely discussed in bioethical literature. Some authors think that this concept is central to questions of respect for human beings, whereas others are very critical of it. It should be noted that, in these debates, dignity is one component of a long-lasting and widespread conceptual construct used to support a stance on the ethical question of the moral status of an action or being. This construct has been used from Modernity onward to condemn slavery and torture as violations of human dignity. In spelling it out, we can come to a better understanding of what “dignity” means and become aware that there exists a quite useful place for this notion in our ethical thought, albeit a modest one.     

Phenotypic Correlation: Its Estimation and Testing Significance

Plant scientists often assess correlation coefficients to develope a selection strategy for better plant type. They generate data on the desired traits on several genotypes grown in a randomized complete block design. Using the data from such experiments, this paper presents the asymptotic standard error of an estimate of phenotypic correlations coefficient and a test of significance. The method is illustrated using data on chickpea crop.