Self‐reflection or self‐presentation a study of the advocacy effect

Two films about the same ethnic minority, the Arhuaco‐Indians in Colombia, have been made; one was made with the method of self‐presentation and the other was based on the self‐reflective method. The purpose of this article is to describe the audience experience of these films, which were shown both to a Western audience and to the Arhuacos themselves. The analysis of the effect upon the audience touches a discussion of the status of subjectivity in anthropology and the anthropologist's advocacy.     

Conservation planning for the extraordinary and Endangered Spesbona damselfly

The damselfly Spesbona angusta is one of the world’s rarest insects, is Red Listed as Endangered, and occurs today at only one known locality in the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), South Africa. It has some unusual characteristics, including rapid and reversible colour change in both sexes, and a larva with frilled lamellae that lives in a micro-habitat free of competitors and large anisopteran enemies. We define here the characteristics of its habitat and record some other unusual behavioural traits, including the adult male’s ability to sail on the water surface, very strong site selection for oviposition, and female approach to males, all in the context of its conservation. We used satellite imagery to determine the location of habitats within its locality. We further used infrared imagery to identify warmer and cooler habitats within the area. Details of its occurence were mapped, based on observational data acquired throughout the flight season. From this, we were able to establish that its population moves around its locality, and we also establish its environmental requirements for conservation. We also indicate its umbrella value for representing two other threatened odonate species, Endangered Proischnura polychromatica and Vulnerable Syncordulia legator, as well as some other CFR endemic odonates. Conservation of this species requires continual monitoring and removal of invasive alien trees as a priority. Translocation should also be considered as various risks to this one locality are high. A potential site is identified.     

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies; Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing; Was ist ein Schamane?/What is a Shaman? Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men from a Western Point of View

Healing Powers and Modernity: Traditional Medicine, Shamanism, and Science in Asian Societies. Linda H. Connor and Geoffrey Samuel. eds. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 2001. xiii. 283 pp.
Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing. Michael Winkelman. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey, 2000. 336 pp.
Was ist ein Schamane?/What is. Shaman? Shamans, Healers, and Medicine Men from. Western Point of View. Amélie Schenk and Christian Rätsch. eds. Berlin: Society for Ethnomedicine, Curare/ Sonderband, 1999. 260 pp.     

Healing Animals,Feeding Souls: Ethnobotanical Values at Sacred Sites in Central Italy

Healing Animals, Feeding Souls: Ethnobotanical Values at Sacred Sites in Central Italy. Ethnobotanical knowledge is a fundamental repository of the values and applications of different plants. This knowledge is often related to spiritual beliefs and religious sites, where plants have been nurtured and conserved for their use in rituals and traditional practices. While this link is well known for different areas of the global south, it has hardly been investigated in relatively more secular and modernized Western contexts. Here, we use first–hand vegetation surveys and published records to examine the occurrence of ethnobotanical values at 30 Catholic shrines in Central Italy, and compare them with an equal number of non–sacred control sites. We ask this: to what extent is there an association of useful plants with sacred places in Italy, as found in other cultural contexts? We show that a greater number of useful plants are found at sacred sites. While this is mainly a consequence of the higher species richness of sacred sites, an association with plants used in animal husbandry is particularly evident, and likely related to the deep historical connection between sacred places and pastoralist traditions in Central Italy. Also, we show that there are significant variations in the distribution of old trees; the largest specimens are found at the center of sacred sites, while tree size visibly decreases away from the shrines. This indicates also that individual trees have been actively managed and conserved at sacred sites, probably driven by the symbolic values that old trees frequently embody.     

The turbulence of images: On imagery,media and ethnographic discourse

As the anthropological theory of politeness has put it, people have universally two kinds of social want. They wish to be close to others, liked and accepted, but they also want some distance, freedom from imposition and respect of mutual difference. These wants, which one may also call basic human rights, are however often violated, and images play an important role in this.

Images are ultimately generated in the human mind and may find verbal as well as written and pictorial representation. Tyler [1978] has proposed a typology of mental images based on criteria of conscious control, completeness, abstraction, media and autonomy. These criteria also prove useful when probing into prototypical usages of intrusive imagery such as cursing, blessing, magic, witchcraft and the evil eye. Also the criteria help one understand the subtle process by which imagery can lead to the articulation and even discovery of peoples’ selves.

Ethnographic discourse has always been to a large extent about images, but until recently the ethnographer stood between his or her audience and the people of whom he or she was speaking or writing. Now, as sound recordings, film and video have arrived, this allows for richer varieties of cooperation where the non‐literate counterparts of the ethnographer can make more expressive and coherent contributions than before.

Also it seems that in the face of suppression people welcome the new media as a support in their ongoing battle for a recognition of their cultural and social worthiness.     

Other‐than‐humans and the remaking of the social

This article takes its starting‐point from an elderly Bardi woman's observation that elders ‘used to frighten’ younger generations with stories about various spirit beings. The beings she referred to are a group of malevolent beings inhabiting particular locations in her country, located in the northwest Kimberley region of Western Australia. Beginning with her observation that this is something that ‘used’ to happen, I consider the relationship between persons and different kinds of spirit beings amidst historical impetus for change. Political, economic, ecological, technological, and other impacts have occurred within the shifting context of progressive engagements with Western colonialism, capitalism, and the market economy, with implications for local ontologies. I suggest that these spirit beings are becoming less differentiated and consider the implications of this in terms of personhood and the constitution of the social, arguing that the disappearance of some of these beings is suggestive of a contraction of temporal and spatial extensions of personhood, with implications for relations with country.     

A Clinical Study of Visualization on Depressed White Blood Cell Count in Medical Patients

This psychoneuroimmunological study examined the effects of visualization, or mental imagery, on immune system response, specifically, on depressed white blood cell (WBC) count in 20 medical patients. Subjects were 10 females and 10 males and included medical patients diagnosed with cancer, AIDS, viral infections, and other medical problems associated with depressed WBC count. Results indicated significant increases in WBC count for all patients over a 90-day period, after a predicted initial decrease in WBC count. No significant age or sex differences were found.     

Effect of a Dummy Audience on Male–Male Interactions in Siamese Fighting Fish, Betta splendens

Recent research on Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, and other taxa has demonstrated that an audience can cause males to alter their behavior in aggressive interactions. One factor not taken into account in these studies is how exactly the audience influences these interactions. It is possible that a live audience may interact with the subjects, creating an active communication network rather than a signaler–receiver dyad with a passive audience. Here, we used a dummy audience to control for information exchange between the audience and the interactants that might cause them to modify their behavior. Audience treatments included dummies of male and female B. splendens, a dummy cichlid, and a control condition with no audience present. The presence of a dummy audience did not influence male–male interactions. However, males spent the most time near the audience tank when the audience was a dummy of a B. splendens. This suggests that some factor other than the physical presence of the audience is responsible for the modification of behavior found in previous audience effect studies in Siamese fighting fish. However, we cannot rule out definitively that our dummy audience is viewed as unimportant by the opponents and, thus, ignored. Further research is necessary to determine which component of the audience is important for producing audience effects.     

The response of some prosimian primate mothers to their own anesthetized infants

Six lemur mothers of three different species and oneGalago crassicaudatus mother were observed in the presence of their own anesthetized infants. Two of the lemur mothers spent only very brief periods sitting near their infants and seldom groomed them; the other four spent over half of the infant immobility period in close proximity to their infants and groomed them frequently. Four lemur mothers groomed the ano-genital region of their infant at least once. None of the lemur mothers picked up or carried her immobilized infant, as has been reported for some higher primate mothers, although one lemur mother used her hands to pull the infant toward her ventrum while sitting on the floor. Five lemur mothers rejected their infants when the infants displayed disoriented behavior while emerging from anesthesia. The galago mother retrieved her anesthetized infant in her jaws but dropped the infant several times while attempting to groom it. These results suggest very tentatively that prosimian mothers lack the ability shown by mothers of some higher primate species to improvise protective ways of behaving toward helpless infants.     

南京市城市景观的特征尺度

在RS技术支持下,采用分辨率为10m的SPOT-5遥感影像为数据源,分别应用Haar、Morlet、Mexican Hat 3种基小波,对南京市江北城郊、主城区和东南城郊3种不同景观类型进行了特征尺度研究。结果表明,Modet基小波最适于进行城市景观的特征尺度检测,Mexican Hat基小波对粒级嵌套结构检测效果稍差,而Haar基小波不适于对连续型数据源的景观进行特征尺度检测。Morlet基小波的一维小波分析结果表明,南京市江北城郊和东南城郊都存在1个对应于各自农田斑块平均粒径的特征尺度,分别为362m和446m,而主城区则检测出存在3个特征尺度,即：292、835m和2200m,分别对应于建筑小区、小型街区和大型街区的平均粒径,显示主城区存在具有等级结构特征的“建筑小区-小型街区-大型街区”的粒级嵌套结构,揭示了城区具有比城郊复杂得多的粒级结构特征。     

Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing

Narrative and the Cultural Construction of Illness and Healing. Cheryl Mattingly and Linda C. Garro. eds. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. ix. 270pp.     

Samuel Beckett's "Rockaby": dramatizing the plight of the solitary elderly at life's end

Irish playwright Samuel Beckett's spare, compact, and provocative play Rockaby (1981) is a study in old age, isolation, and disengagement from life. In it, an elderly woman rocks in a chair while the audience hears a distant voice remembering her lifelong search for human contact or communion. The play dramatizes the woman's intense physical and psychological isolation and the last sputterings of her impulse to narrate. Such radical isolation may be a necessary precondition for a person relinquishing the narrating that Beckett equates with being, and surrendering unto death. Despite its apparent simplicity, the play powerfully explores the nature of aging in contemporary society, quality-of-life issues for the frail, solitary elderly in our communities and health-care institutions, and how the elderly prepare for life's end in a death-denying culture. Rockaby is thus a text that can help clinicians and other caregivers appreciate the predicament of solitary elderly persons nearing life's end and better understand how we all must manage one day the lonely, self-abnegating yet also paradoxically self-assertive act of dying.     

Healing Ways: Navajo Health Care in the Twentieth Century

Healing Ways: Navajo Health Care in the Twentieth Century. Wade Davies. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2001. xv. 248 pp.     

Circle of healing: traditional storytelling, part one

The session began with three presenters - LouAnn Benson, Walter Porter, and Lisa Dolchok - all of whom are or have been affiliated with the Circle of Healing Program at Southcentral Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska. The Southcentral Foundation is a Native Health Corporation that administers what used to be the Indian Health Service Hospital and Medical Center. In the Circle of Healing Program, the Southcentral Foundation has designed and implemented an approach to health care that allows its patients simultaneously to access Western medicine, traditional Native healing, and other alternative approaches to health care, such as acupuncture. An important figure in this effort is Dr. Robert Morgan, a psychologist who has worked with the program for several years, and who helped suggest presenters for this part of the program. Originally, Bob planned to be present in Quebec City, but family priorities meant a change in plans. Bob's absence had a silver lining, however, because in his stead he sent LouAnn Benson, one of his able colleagues, who talked about the program from the perspective of an insider.     

Effects of Silver Nanoparticles on Burn Wound Healing in a Mouse Model

Biological Trace Element Research - Healing of injuries caused by exposure to heat has been discussed in many studies, although a few drugs have been shown to produce satisfactory results. In this...     

CD151 对甲状腺癌细胞迁移及侵袭能力的影响

目的:构建CGTHW-1/pGenesil-1-CD151shRNA稳转细胞系和空载体细胞系CGTHW-1/pGenesil-1,探讨CD151对人甲状腺癌CGTHW-1细胞迁移及侵袭的影响及其作用机制。方法:应用Lipofectamine2000将真核干扰载体pGenesil-1-CD 151 shRNA和空载体pGenesil-1导入甲状腺滤泡癌细胞CGTHW-1,经卡那霉素抗性筛选得到稳定的克隆并扩大培养成细胞系,Western blot检测CD151在CGTHW-1细胞中的表达;划痕实验和Transwell实验分别观察CD151对细胞迁移和侵袭能力的影响。结果:成功建立了CGTHW-1/pGenesil-1-CD151shRNA稳转细胞系和空载体细胞系CGTHW-1/pGenesil-1,Western blot结果显示CD151在CGTHW-1细胞中表达,干扰CD151基因后,CGTHW-1细胞的迁移和侵袭能力明显降低。结论:将CD151基因干扰后可明显抑制甲状腺癌细胞的迁移和侵袭能力。CD151可能是影响甲状腺癌侵袭转移的重要因子之一。     

CD151对甲状腺癌细胞迁移及侵袭能力的影响

目的：构建CGTHW-1／pGenesil．1-CDl51shRNA稳转细胞系和空载体细胞系CGTHW-1／pGenesil-1,探讨CD151对人甲状腺癌CGTHW—1细胞迁移及侵袭的影响及其作用机制。方法：应用Lipofectamine2000将真核干扰载体pGenesil-1-CD151shRNA和空载体pGenesil－1导入甲状腺滤泡癌细胞CGTHW-1,经卡那霉素抗性筛选得到稳定的克隆并扩大培养成细胞系,Westernblot检测CDl51在CGTHW-1细胞中的表达;划痕实验和Transwell实验分别观察CD151对细胞迁移和侵袭能力的影响。结果：成功建立了CGTHw-1／pGenesil-1-CDl51shRNA稳转细胞系和空载体细胞系CGTHW-1／pGenesil—1,Westernblot结果显示CD151在CGTHW-1细胞中表达,干扰CD151基因后,CGTHW-1细胞的迁移和侵袭能力明显降低。结论：将CDl51基因干扰后可明显抑制甲状腺癌细胞的迁移和侵袭能力。CD151可能是影响甲状腺癌侵袭转移的重要因子之-。     

The Effectiveness of Shamans in an Indonesian Ritual

Healing is the ostensible purpose of the mabolong, a shamanic ceremony of the Wana of Sulawesi , Indonesia. But the ritual serves political ends as well by providing an arena for performers to establish and maintain their reputations as shamans. Shamans' attempts to attract and to hold an audience can eclipse their efforts to heal. In light of this dynamic, the ritual's therapeutic potential for patients can be considered only when its symbolic and dramatic appeal for an entire community is understood. The interplay of symbolism, drama, and therapy is examined with special reference to theories of ritual and catharsis proposed by Lévi-Strauss and T. J. Scheff.     

Shamanism: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to the Mastery of Spirits and Healing

Shamanism: Traditional and Contemporary Approaches to the Mastery of Spirits and Healing. Merete Demant Jakobsen. New York: Berghahn Books, 1999. 274 pp.     

The Clinical Utility of fMRI for Identifying Covert Awareness in the Vegetative State: A Comparison of Sensitivity between 3T and 1.5T

In the last few years, mental imagery fMRI paradigms have been used successfully to identify covert command-following and awareness in some patients who are thought to be entirely vegetative. However, to date there is only evidence supporting their use at magnetic fields of 3T, which limits their applicability in clinical settings where lower field strengths are typically used. Here, we test the ‘gold standard’ fMRI paradigm for detecting residual awareness in non-responsive patients by comparing its sensitivity at 1.5T and 3T in the same group of healthy volunteers. We were able to successfully detect brain activity showing command-following in most participants at both 3T and 1.5T, with similar reliability. These results demonstrate that fMRI assessment of covert awareness is clinically viable and therefore justify a broader use of these methods in standard assessments in severely brain injured patients.