On the adaptive significance of energetic efficiency

Models of energetic efficiency have been widely used by ecological anthropologists to study human subsistence patterns. This paper explicitly tests an hypothesis posed by Smith (1979) about energy utilization in the highland community of Nunoa, Peru. Smith's hypothesis is largely confirmed, as greater energy availability is associated with increased caloric consumption and improved measures of health and well-being among the wealthier sectors of this population. However, an energetics model does not provide a full understanding of the behavior and biology of this population. Interacting social/economic and environmental forces impose different constraints on different sectors of this population. These differences are in turn reflected in variation in adaptive strategies and in biological well-being. Future work in human ecology will benefit from (1) attention to the interaction of ecological and socio-economic forces, (2) greater appreciation of intra-populational variation in adaptive strategies, and (3) explicit linking of variation in adaptive strategies to differences in human biological parameters.     

HUMAN NATURE AND ENHANCEMENT

Appeals to the idea of human nature are frequent in the voluminous literature on the ethics of enhancing human beings through biotechnology. Two chief concerns about the impact of enhancements on human nature have been voiced. The first is that enhancement may alter or destroy human nature. The second is that if enhancement alters or destroys human nature, this will undercut our ability to ascertain the good because, for us, the good is determined by our nature. The first concern assumes that altering or destroying human nature is in itself a bad thing. The second concern assumes that human nature provides a standard without which we cannot make coherent, defensible judgments about what is good.
I will argue (1) that there is nothing wrong, per se, with altering or destroying human nature, because, on a plausible understanding of what human nature is, it contains bad as well as good characteristics and there is no reason to believe that eliminating some of the bad would so imperil the good as to make the elimination of the bad impermissible, and (2) that altering or destroying human nature need not result in the loss of our ability to make judgments about the good, because we possess a conception of the good by which we can and do evaluate human nature. I will argue that appeals to human nature tend to obscure rather than illuminate the debate over the ethics of enhancement and can be eliminated in favor of more cogent considerations.     

New perspectives on protozoa

The interest of the British research community in protozoa has in the past emphasized the parasitic organisms-especially those causing diseases of economic importance in Africa. The last 20 years have witnessed dramatic changes in protozoology, and the purpose of this meeting was to indicate the nature and significance of these changes.
Three areas were discussed. The first was our present understanding of protozoan diversity and the evolution of protozoa (by David Patterson), the second (by Bland Finlay) presented some novel and ecological important symbiotic relationships between protozoa and other microorganisms), and finally Graham Coombs discussed the problems still being posed by parasitic protozoa and the application of new technologies to those problems.     

What's on the horizon for community-based conservation? Emerging threats and opportunities

Community-based conservation can support livelihoods and biodiversity, while reinforcing local and Indigenous values, cultures, and institutions. Its delivery can help address cross-cutting global challenges, such as climate change, conservation, poverty, and food security. Therefore, understanding trends in community-based conservation is pertinent to setting and implementing global goals. We undertook a horizon scan to prioritize 15 emerging threats and opportunities expected to impact the future effectiveness of community-based conservation. Topics relate to global biodiversity policy; human rights; shifting human geography; inclusion, diversity, equity, and access; conservation finance and income; and economic reforms. Our findings offer guidance on strengthening community-based conservation to achieve global environmental and development goals.     

Health in China. From Mao to market reform.

After the Liberation by Mao Ze Dong''s Communist army in 1949, China experienced massive social and economic change. The dramatic reductions in mortality and morbidity of the next two decades were brought about through improvements in socioeconomic conditions, an emphasis on prevention, and almost universal access to basic health care. The economic mismanagement of the Great Leap Forward brought about a temporary reversal in these positive trends. During the Cultural Revolution there was a sustained attack on the privileged position of the medical profession. Most city doctors were sent to work in the countryside, where they trained over a million barefoot doctors. Deng Xiao Ping''s radical economic reforms of the late 1970s replaced the socialist system with a market economy. Although average incomes have increased, the gap between rich and poor has widened.     

REPRODUCTIVE TOURISM AND THE QUEST FOR GLOBAL GENDER JUSTICE

Reproductive tourism is a manifestation of a larger, more inclusive trend toward globalization of capitalist cultural and material economies. This paper discusses the development of cross‐border assisted reproduction within the globalized economy, transnational and local structural processes that influence the trade, social relations intersecting it, and implications for the healthcare systems affected. I focus on prevailing gender structures embedded in the cross‐border trade and their intersection with other social and economic structures that reflect and impact globalization. I apply a social connection model of responsibility for unjust outcomes and consider strategies to counter structural injustices embedded in this industry. The concluding section discusses policy reforms and proposals for collaborative action to preclude further injustices and extend full human rights to all.     

GLOBALIZATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH

Globalization, a process characterized by the growing interdependence of the world's people, impacts health systems and the social determinants of health in ways that are detrimental to health equity. In a world in which there are few countervailing normative and policy approaches to the dominant neoliberal regime underpinning globalization, the human rights paradigm constitutes a widely shared foundation for challenging globalization's effects. The substantive rights enumerated in human rights instruments include the right to the highest attainable level of physical and mental health and others that are relevant to the determinants of health. The rights stipulated in these documents impose extensive legal obligations on states that have ratified these documents and confer health entitlements on their residents. Human rights norms have also inspired civil society efforts to improve access to essential medicines and medical services, particularly for HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, many factors reduce the potential counterweight human rights might exert, including and specifically the nature of the human rights approach, weak political commitments to promoting and protecting health rights on the part of some states and their lack of institutional and economic resources to do so. Global economic markets and the relative power of global economic institutions are also shrinking national policy space. This article reviews the potential contributions and limitations of human rights to achieving greater equity in shaping the social determinants of health.     

城市生态系统:人与自然复合

随着城市化快速发展,城市生态学进入了空前繁荣时期,一些新理念和新范式引起了广泛关注。从生态系统角度,分析了城市生态系统组分、结构、过程、功能和服务的特点,提出了城市生态系统研究的黑箱范式和结构-过程-功能-服务级联范式。重点分析了人与自然在城市生态系统的组分、结构、过程、功能和服务等方面上的不同角色,探讨了人与自然在城市生态系统组分上镶嵌、结构上融合、过程上耦合、功能上互补和服务上协同的相互作用机制,提出了城市生态系统研究的人与自然共同进化范式,即人类和自然相互作用和适应,推动了城市发展。这将为深入认识和研究城市生态系统提供重要理论支撑。     

Understanding how nature works: Five pathways towards a more ecologically literate world – A perspective

The sustainability of human life on Earth depends upon the integrity of the relationship between humanity and nature. Natural systems support humanity, and knowledge and understanding of how nature works form the foundation of ecological literacy. It is ecological literacy, and science literacy in general, that underpins our capacity as humans to make well‐informed decisions about how to live in sustainable ways. It is of concern that levels of ecological knowledge and understanding within many contemporary human communities may be too low to enable effective decision‐making in support of sustainable human settlements. Our concern led to an exploration of the concept of ecological literacy and the assessment of a sample of South Australian adults. We found that while ecological literacy can vary significantly in correlation with a range of socio‐demographic and psychographic characteristics, no one factor is necessarily more critical than another. Based on this work, we have identified five pathways for growing eco‐literate communities. While the patterns and drivers of ecological knowledge and understanding naturally vary between cultures and communities, our findings certainly invite serious consideration for a society, and indeed a world, that aspires to cultivate informed citizenry, leadership and governance with capacity for building sustainable human settlements.     

In pursuit of xenoreactive antibodies: where has it gotten us?

Numerous studies have aimed to overcome the barrier to xenotransplantation posed by xenoreactive antibodies and the antigens they recognize. Whether this work will eventually lead to the widespread clinical application of xenotransplantation remains unknown. However, the benefits of this research are already substantial, with research leading to dramatic new developments in fields other than xenotransplantation. Our understanding of natural immunity, particularly the nature and function of natural antibodies, has taken quantum leaps forward, with far-reaching implications. Our improved understanding of the immune response to xenografts has proven invaluable in the characterization of the human immune reaction to commonly used biological therapeutics of xenogeneic origin. Our understanding of cell surface carbohydrates and our ability to modify these carbohydrates in living animals has advanced substantially, with implications for diseases such as cancer and autoimmunity. With this in mind, it is argued that continued work in xenotransplantation is of great value, not only because of the great potential benefits of xenotransplantation, but also because of the more certain benefits that arise from setting our sights on a difficult challenge.     

Bottom‐up Conservation

Conservation initiatives that have worked well in temperate and developed regions have often been applied in the tropics but with only limited success. Part of this failure is due to top–down conservation planning that has been conducted without taking local socio‐economic considerations into adequate account. Here, we argue that conservation approaches would benefit from a deeper understanding of human–nature interactions.     

The Concept of Human Dignity in the Ethics of Genetic Research

Despite criticism that dignity is a vague and slippery concept, a number of international guidelines on bioethics have cautioned against research that is contrary to human dignity, with reference specifically to genetic technology. What is the connection between genetic research and human dignity? In this article, I investigate the concept of human dignity in its various historical forms, and examine its status as a moral concept. Unlike Kant's ideal concept of human dignity, the empirical or relational concept takes human dignity as something that is affected by one's circumstances and what others do. I argue that the dignity objection to some forms of genetic research rests on a view of human nature that gives humans a special status in nature – one that is threatened by the potential of genetic research to reduce individuals to their genetic endowment. I distinguish two main philosophical accounts of human nature. One of these, the Aristotelian view, is compatible with the use of genetic technology to help humans realize their inherent potential to a fuller extent.     

Evolution of virulence,environmental change,and the threat posed by emerging and chronic diseases

Assessments of future threats posed by infection have focused largely on zoonotic, acute disease, under the rubric “emerging diseases.” Evolutionary and epidemiological studies indicate, however, that particular aspects of infrastructure, such as protected water supplies, vector-proof housing, and health care facilities, protect against the emergence of zoonotic, acute infectious diseases. While attention in the global health community has focused on emerging diseases, there has been a concurrent, growing recognition that important chronic diseases, such as cancer, are often caused by infectious agents that are already widespread in human populations. For economically prosperous countries, the immediacy of this threat contrasts with their infrastructural protection from severe acute infectious disease. This reasoning leads to the conclusion that chronic infectious diseases pose a more significant threat to economically prosperous countries than zoonotic, acute infectious diseases. Research efforts directed at threats posed by infection may therefore be more effective overall if increased efforts are directed toward understanding and preventing infectious causes of chronic diseases across the spectrum of economic prosperity, as well as toward specific infrastructural improvements in less prosperous countries to protect against virulent, acute infectious diseases.     

Mitochondrial diversity in human head louse populations across the Americas

Anthropological studies suggest that the genetic makeup of human populations in the Americas is the result of diverse processes including the initial colonization of the continent by the first people plus post‐1492 European migrations. Because of the recent nature of some of these events, understanding the geographical origin of American human diversity is challenging. However, human parasites have faster evolutionary rates and larger population sizes allowing them to maintain greater levels of genetic diversity than their hosts. Thus, we can use human parasites to provide insights into some aspects of human evolution that may be unclear from direct evidence. In this study, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences from 450 head lice in the Americas. Haplotypes clustered into two well‐supported haplogroups, known as A and B. Haplogroup frequencies differ significantly among North, Central and South America. Within each haplogroup, we found evidence of demographic expansions around 16,000 and 20,000 years ago, which correspond broadly with those estimated for Native Americans. The parallel timing of demographic expansions of human lice and Native Americans plus the contrasting pattern between the distribution of haplogroups A and B through the Americas suggests that human lice can provide additional evidence about the human colonization of the New World. Am J Phys Anthropol 152:118–129, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

水资源短缺的社会适应能力理论及实证--以黑河流域为例

水资源短缺已成为制约干旱-半干旱内陆河流域可持续发展的瓶颈,社会适应能力理论为解决水资源短缺问题提供了新的思路和方法。从人类生态系统角度分解社会适应能力,辨明了社会适应能力结构性成分,并利用网络层次分析(ANP)方法,构建了缓解水资源短缺的社会适应能力定量评价模型。然后以黑河流域中游甘州区为研究区,进行了水资源短缺的社会适应能力定量评价的案例研究。结果表明研究区缓解水资源短缺的社会适应能力综合指数为2.411,处于中等水平,有待进一步提高;在灌区尺度上,缓解水资源短缺的社会适应能力水平与受灌区水资源管理背景和意识的影响。在缓解水资源短缺的社会适应能力系统中,研究区有两个关键资源有所欠缺,同时人口自然增长率和人均综合用水量较低、社会公平和节水意识水平相对较高,但人们安全感和政策稳定性不强并缺乏信任,廉政水平、政府管理能力和社会经济资源水平需要进一步提高。旨在为水资源可持续利用研究提供一种新的分析角度,为决策者采取新的社会、经济、制度等对策提供科学依据支撑。     

我国城市人与自然耦合系统的协调度

城市作为人类生存与发展的主要空间载体,是人与自然耦合系统的典型代表。城市人与自然协调度是认识人与自然耦合机制重要内容,对揭示城市人类活动对生态环境的影响,指导城市建设具有重要意义。从水资源开发强度、土地开发强度、水资源供给能力、环境污染物排放强度与碳排放强度五个方面分析城市人与自然协调度特征,评估城市建设与发展对自然环境的影响程度,并评估了我国146个城市的协调度特征,进一步分析了城市人口规模、城市经济规模、城市社会发展水平、不同生态地理区人与自然耦合协调度的关系。结果表明：2016年城市平均协调度指数为87.90,不同城市的协调度差距很大且协调度与城市人口规模、经济规模、发展水平呈显著负相关,而六大生态地理区中,西南地区协调度最高,协调度指数为92.81,西北地区协调度最低,协调度指数为82.25。研究发现我国城市建设与发展对自然环境影响仍然较大,并表现为（1）我国城市发展总体仍处于高需求高排放的发展阶段;（2）生态环境承载力是影响城市人与自然耦合协调度的重要因素;（3）提高能源利用效率,降低碳排放强度在改善城市人与自然协调度中发挥作用。最后,从优化城市布局、提高水、能源利用效率、控制环境污染等方面提出政策建议,为评估城市生态文明建设与可持续发展提供参考与依据。     

Human rights and the environment

This issue of Human Ecologyfocuses on the interrelated nature of crisis in human and environmental systems and argues that the right to a healthy environment is a fundamental human right. In this article I present a conceptual framework for the human rights and environment special issue, followed by a brief review of significant insights offered by each contributor. Collectively the cases presented in this issue explore connections between international and national policy, government action or sanctioned action, and human environmental crises. Cultural notions are seen to play a key role in influencing social relations, legitimizing power relations, and justifying the production and reproduction of human environmental crises. And finally, these cases explore the ways in which political, economic, and cultural forces influence and at times inhibit efforts to respond to human environmental crises.     

Combinatorial engineering of a gene therapy vector: directed evolution of adeno-associated virus

BACKGROUND: Viruses are being exploited as vectors to deliver therapeutic genetic information into target cells. The success of this approach will depend on the ability to overcome current limitations, especially in terms of safety and efficiency, through molecular engineering of the viral particles. METHODS: Here we show that in vitro directed evolution can be successfully performed to randomize the viral capsid by error prone PCR and to obtain mutants with improved phenotype. RESULTS: To demonstrate the potential of this technology we selected several adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsid variants that are less efficiently neutralized by human antibodies. These mutations can be used to generate novel vectors for the treatment of patients with pre-existing immunity to AAV. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that combinatorial engineering overcomes the limitations of rational design approaches posed by incomplete understanding of the infectious process and at the same time offers a powerful tool to dissect basic viral biology by reverse genetics.     

Comparison of Concentrations of Selected Metals and Organics in Fish Tissue and Sediment in the Grand River,Ohio, and the Southern Lake Erie Drainage Basin

The purpose of this paper is to develop a database of fish tissue and sediment concentrations of selected chemicals in the southern Lake Erie drainage basin, to compare contaminant concentrations in fish tissue and sediment collected from the Grand River, Ohio, in the vicinity of a former soda ash and chromate plant with that for other waterbodies in the drainage basin, and to evaluate the potential human health risks posed by these chemicals, with special focus on chromium. The results of this study indicate that chemical concentrations in fish tissue and sediment from the Grand River are generally lower than that of other waterbodies in the southern Lake Erie drainage basin. Although arsenic and beryllium concentrations in Grand River sediment are above their respective human health-based concentrations, these concentrations are comparable with local and regional background and are not expected to pose a significant incremental risk to human health. In addition, sediment concentrations do not exceed ecological screening criteria. Although PCB and several pesticides were found to have concentrations in fish tissue from the Grand River in excess of human health based concentrations, these concentrations are among the lowest found in waterbodies in the southern Lake Erie drainage basin.