Negotiating “The Social” and Managing Tuberculosis in Georgia

In this paper I utilize anthropological insights to illuminate how health professionals and patients navigate and negotiate what for them is social about tuberculosis in order to improve treatment outcomes and support patients as human beings. I draw on ethnographic research about the implementation of the DOTS (Directly Observed Therapy, Short Course) approach in Georgia’s National Tuberculosis Program in the wake of the Soviet healthcare system. Georgia is a particularly unique context for exploring these issues given the country’s rich history of medical professionalism and the insistence that the practice of medicine is a moral commitment to society. I argue for critical attention to the ways in which treatment recipients and providers navigate what, for them, is “social” about therapeutic practices and their significance for avoiding biological and social reductionism.     

Navigating a river by its bends: a study on transnational social networks as resources for the transformation of Cambodia

This article explores in what ways first-generation Cambodian French and Cambodian American returnees create and employ the social capital available in their transnational social networks upon their return to Cambodia. The triangular interdependence between the returnees, their overseas immigrant communities and homeland society is taken as a starting point. The central argument is that Cambodian French and Cambodian American returnees build different relationships to Cambodia due to: (1) the influence of their immigrant communities in the countries of resettlement; and (2) the contexts of their exit from Cambodia. Findings in this multi-sited case study bring forward that ideas of return held by the three parties involved, may force re-migrants into transnationalism in both host and home countries. Findings also demonstrate that social capital may be seen as a resource or a restraint in the lives of returnees.     

Development of visual preference for closely related species by infant and juvenile macaques with restricted social experience

Japanese and rhesus monkeys aged between 9 months old and 5 yrs old pressed a lever to see a variety of pictures of seven macaque species. These monkeys had various restricted social experience: namely, either reared by humans with conspecific or heterospecific peers, or cross-fostered between these two species. Rhesus monkeys tended to prefer seeing rhesus monkeys best among the pictures of the seven species without regard to their age or social experience. Japanese monkeys having restricted experience also liked to see rhesus monkeys better than Japanese monkeys, but not the best among the seven species. In a previous study, mother-reared infants of Japanese monkeys preferred seeing pictures of their own species over those of rhesus monkeys. These results suggest a dissociation of the determinants of this basic social preference: rhesus monkeys prefer to see their own species by nature while Japanese monkeys may learn to prefer their own species.     

Genome‐wide variation in DNA methylation is associated with stress resilience and plumage brightness in a wild bird

Individuals often differ in their ability to cope with challenging environmental and social conditions. Evidence from model systems suggests that patterns of DNA methylation are associated with variation in coping ability. These associations could arise directly if methylation plays a role in controlling the physiological response to stressors by, among other things, regulating the release of glucocorticoids in response to challenges. Alternatively, the association could arise indirectly if methylation and resilience have a common cause, such as early‐life conditions. In either case, methylation might act as a biomarker for coping ability. At present, however, relatively little is known about whether variation in methylation is associated with organismal performance and resilience under natural conditions. We studied genome‐wide patterns of DNA methylation in free‐living female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) using methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and a tree swallow genome that was assembled for this study. We identified areas of the genome that were differentially methylated with respect to social signal expression (breast brightness) and physiological traits (ability to terminate the glucocorticoid stress response through negative feedback). We also asked whether methylation predicted resilience to a subsequent experimentally imposed challenge. Individuals with brighter breast plumage and higher stress resilience had lower methylation at differentially methylated regions across the genome. Thus, widespread differences in methylation predicted both social signal expression and the response to future challenges under natural conditions. These results have implications for predicting individual differences in resilience, and for understanding the mechanistic basis of resilience and its environmental and social mediators.     

Reconstructing the history of residence strategies in Indo-European-speaking societies: neo-, uxori-, and virilocality

Linguists and archaeologists have used reconstructions of early Indo-European residence strategies to constrain hypotheses about the homeland and trajectory of dispersal of Indo-European languages; however, these reconstructions are largely based on unsystematic and a historical use of the linguistic and ethnographic evidence, coupled with substantial bias in interpretation. Here I use cross-cultural data in a phylogenetic comparative framework to reconstruct the pattern of change in residence strategies in the history of societies speaking Indo-European languages. The analysis provides evidence in support of prevailing virilocality with alternative neolocality for Proto-Indo-European, and that this pattern may have extended back to Proto-Indo-Hittite. These findings bolster interpretations of the archaeological evidence that emphasize the "non-matricentric" structure of early Indo-European society; however, they also counter the notion that early Indo-European society was strongly "patricentric." I discuss implications of these findings in the context of the archaeological and genetic evidence on prehistoric social organization.     

A report from Japan: choices of Japanese patients in the face of disagreement

Background: Patients in different countries have different attitudes toward self-determination and medical information. Little is known how much respect Japanese patients feel should be given for their wishes about medical care and for medical information, and what choices they would make in the face of disagreement.
Methods: Ambulatory patients in six clinics of internal medicine at a university hospital were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire.
Results: A total of 307 patients participated in our survey. Of the respondents, 47% would accept recommendations made by physicians, even if such recommendations were against their wishes; 25% would try to persuade their physician to change their recommendations; and 14% would leave their physician to find a new one.
Seventy-six percent of the respondents thought that physicians should routinely ask patients if they would want to know about a diagnosis of cancer, while 5% disagreed; 59% responded that physicians should inform them of the actual diagnosis, even against the request of their family not to do so, while 24% would want their physician to abide by their family's request and 14% could not decide. One-third of the respondents who initially said they would want to know the truth would yield to the desires of the family in a case of disagreement.
Interpretations: In the face of disagreement regarding medical care and disclosure, Japanese patients tend to respond in a diverse and unpredictable manner. Medical professionals should thus be prudent and ask their patients explicitly what they want regarding medical care and information.     

Cultural significance and physiological manifestations of menopause a biocultural analysis

The perception and experiences of menopause vary cross-culturally. However, the lack of physiological symptoms such as hot flashes, in some cultures, calls for more explanations beyond social and cultural factors alone. Like other developmental events, menopause is a biocultural experience. Therefore, research on menopause should consider biocultural factors such as environment, diet, fertility patterns and genetic differences that may be involved in the variations of menopausal experience.     

Patterns of Social Attention in Mandrills, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mandrillus sphinx</Emphasis>

Primates possess impressive cognitive abilities, especially in the social domain, and accumulate knowledge about their social environment. Studying how primates distribute their attention among group mates may help us understand how they obtain their social knowledge and what they consider as the most relevant social stimuli. We conducted 11 month of observations on glance rates in a captive group of 15 mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx). We investigated the factors affecting inter- and intraindividual variation in the attention paid to group mates. The total amount of attention given to group mates was related to the age, but not to the sex or the dominance rank of the subject. Mandrills looked more at high-ranking than at low-ranking group mates and more at their own kin than at nonkin. Furthermore, the attention directed to both the aggressor and its victim increased markedly after an aggressive episode. These results show mandrills actively monitor their group mates, thus presumably gaining valuable social information, and suggest that studying patterns of social attention may help to understand primate social knowledge and decision making.     

Vocal behaviour in cattle: the animal's commentary on its biological processes and welfare

The vocalizations of cattle provide conspecifics with meaningful information about the caller. If we can learn how to interpret this information correctly, it could be used to improve management and welfare assessment. Vocalization may be viewed as a subjective commentary, by an individual, on its own internal state. The vocal behaviour of cattle is potentially a useful indicator of their physiological and psychological functioning.In the first part of this article we ask what information is exchanged using auditory cues. Vocalizations provide information on the age, sex, dominance status and reproductive status of the caller. Calves can recognize their mothers using vocal cues but it is not clear whether cows recognize their offspring in this way. Vocal behaviour may play a role in estrus advertisement and competitive display by bulls. Under experimental conditions involving pain or social isolation, vocal response is useful as an indicator of welfare, if properly used. Unlike commonly used physiological measures, it can be recorded non-invasively and varies on a number of quantitative and qualitative dimensions.In the second part we review methodological approaches to the study of vocal behaviour and their application in cattle welfare research. Methods may focus on the actions of the vocalizing animal and the conditions which elicit vocal behaviour, the response of an animal to hearing another's vocalizations, or interactions between sender and receiver.We argue that vocal behaviour in cattle may be valuable in welfare studies if the endogenous, exogenous and developmental factors influencing its expression can be more thoroughly investigated and understood.     

The Reversible World of Japanese Coalmining Women

This paper illuminates the social world of Japanese coalminers, with special attention given to women miners as told through their oral accounts and work songs, which historians have not used before. These coalmining women constituted the second largest single occupational category in the early part of the 20th century, yet they still continue to receive little scholarly attention. This investigation has led to a new concept of the world of women coalminers, the so‐called ‘reversible world’, which operated in a specific social and economic context—the dark underground world of the mine and the light world above of conventional society. Uncovering this underground world has enormous significance in fleshing out the identity and spirit of the miners. It challenges historians' stereotypes of the miners as apolitical, apathetic and unaware of the inequities in their work situation. Mining women created their own world under the ground where normal gender roles were partially reversed.     

Hominid cultural transmission and the evolution of language

This paper presents the hypothesis that linguistic capacity evolved through the action of natural selection as an instrument which increased the efficiency of the cultural transmission system of early hominids. We suggest that during the early stages of hominization, hominid social learning, based on indirect social learning mechanisms and true imitation, came to constitute cumulative cultural transmission based on true imitation and the approval or disapproval of the learned behaviour of offspring. A key factor for this transformation was the development of a conceptual capacity for categorizing learned behaviour in value terms - positive or negative, good or bad. We believe that some hominids developed this capacity for categorizing behaviour, and such an ability allowed them to approve or disapprove of their offsprings- learned behaviour. With such an ability, hominids were favoured, as they could transmit to their offspring all their behavioural experience about what can and cannot be done. This capacity triggered a cultural transmission system similar to the human one, though pre-linguistic. We suggest that the adaptive advantage provided by this new system of social learning generated a selection pressure in favour of the development of a linguistic capacity allowing children to better understand the new kind of evaluative information received from parents.     

What do patients with medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) think? A qualitative study

Context Medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUPS) are frequently encountered in family medicine, and lead to disability, discomfort, medicalisation, iatrogenesis and economic costs. They cause professionals to feel insecure and frustrated and patients to feel dissatisfied and misunderstood. Doctors seek answers for rather than with the patient.Objectives This study aimed to explore patients'' explanations of the medically unexplained physical symptoms that they were experiencing by eliciting their own explanations for their complaints, their associated fears, their expectations of the consultation, changes in their ideas of causality, and the therapeutic approach that they considered would be useful.Methodology A qualitative analysis was under-taken of interviews with 15 patients with MUPS in a family medicine unit, 6 months after diagnosis.Results Experience is crucial in construction of the meaning of symptoms and illness behaviour. Many patients identify psychosocial causes under-lying their suffering. These patients received more medication and fewer requests for diagnostic examinations than they had expected. Normalisation is a common behaviour in the clinical approach. Normalisation without explanation can be effective if an effective therapeutic relationship exists that may dispense with the need for words. Listening is the procedure most valued by patients. Diagnostic tests may denote interest in patients'' problems. The clinician''s flexibility should allow adaptation to the patient''s phases of acceptance of the significance of their physical, emotional and social problems.Conclusion Patients with MUPS have explanations and fears associated with their complaints. The patient comes to the consultation not because of the symptom, but because of what he or she thinks about the symptom. The therapeutic relationship, therapeutic listening, and flexibility should be the basis for approaching patients with MUPS. Patients do not always expect medication, although it is what they most often receive. Diagnostic tests, although used sparingly, can be a way to maintain and build a relationship. Drugs and tests can be a ritual statement of clinical interest in the patient and their symptoms.     

Ceremonial Dialogues in South America

In native South America, ceremonial dialogue is a widespread and prominent, yet simultaneously enigmatic, form of ritualized language use. This paper examines the ceremonial dialogic complex through the interpretive lens of a semiotic hypothesis, namely, that ritualized dialogic form is a sign vehicle, a "model of and for" linguistic and more generally social solidarity. A comparative correlational study confirms this semiotic interpretation, showing that the ceremonial dialogue is used in situations of potential conflict—the maximally distant social relations within a given society. This paper also raises a broader theoretical issue concerning the role of metacommunicative devices in social action, suggesting that it is the "meta-signal" itself that enables actors to formulate an image of action—thereby regulating it—simultaneously as it occurs.     

Functional genomics of neural and behavioral plasticity

How does the environment, particularly the social environment, influence brain and behavior and what are the underlying physiologic, molecular, and genetic mechanisms? Adaptations of brain and behavior to changes in the social or physical environment are common in the animal world, either as short-term (i.e., modulatory) or as long-term modifications (e.g., via gene expression changes) in behavioral or physiologic properties. The study of the mechanisms and constraints underlying these dynamic changes requires model systems that offer plastic phenotypes as well as a sufficient level of quantifiable behavioral complexity while being accessible at the physiological and molecular level. In this article, I explore how the new field of functional genomics can contribute to an understanding of the complex relationship between genome and environment that results in highly plastic phenotypes. This approach will lead to the discovery of genes under environmental control and provide the basis for the study of the interrelationship between an individual's gene expression profile and its social phenotype in a given environmental context.     

Caida de Mollera among Children of Mexican Migrant Workers: Implications for the Study of Folk Illnesses

Information about the folk illness caida de mollera was collected from Mexican and Mexican American migrant mothers who had treated their children for the illness, and from physicians in a clinic that served this population. These physicians believed that the vast majority of the sets of symptoms were worthy of medical attention and could be life threatening if not treated. This research report concurs with other studies that suggest that although Mexican folk illnesses are conceptualized to have folk-social and psychological causes, they are also seen to have biological causes and physiological symptoms that can be treated by biomedical methods. This report outlines a model for understanding aspects of folk illnesses that includes folk vs. biomedical ideas about disease, causes vs. symptoms, and psychological vs. physiological aspects of sickness. It also suggests that the kinds of questions anthropologists ask about these illnesses may need to be modified—shifting away from questions about treatments of causes and refocusing on those about the treatment of physiological symptoms—if we are to more fully understand home approaches to the management of these illnesses, [folk illnesses, Mexican, Mexican American, farmworkers]     

Beneficial effect of hot spring bathing on stress levels in Japanese macaques

The ability of animals to survive dramatic climates depends on their physiology, morphology and behaviour, but is often influenced by the configuration of their habitat. Along with autonomic responses, thermoregulatory behaviours, including postural adjustments, social aggregation, and use of trees for shelter, help individuals maintain homeostasis across climate variations. Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) are the world’s most northerly species of nonhuman primates and have adapted to extremely cold environments. Given that thermoregulatory stress can increase glucocorticoid concentrations in primates, we hypothesized that by using an available hot spring, Japanese macaques could gain protection against weather-induced cold stress during winter. We studied 12 adult female Japanese macaques living in Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan, during the spring birth season (April to June) and winter mating season (October to December). We collected faecal samples for determination of faecal glucocorticoid (fGC) metabolite concentrations by enzyme immunoassay, as well as behavioural data to determine time spent in the hot springs, dominance rank, aggression rates, and affiliative behaviours. We used nonparametric statistics to examine seasonal changes in hot spring bathing, and the relationship between rank and air temperature on hot spring bathing. We used general linear mixed-effect models to examine factors impacting hormone concentrations. We found that Japanese macaques use hot spring bathing for thermoregulation during the winter. In the studied troop, the single hot spring is a restricted resource favoured by dominant females. High social rank had both costs and benefits: dominant females sustained high fGC levels, which were associated with high aggression rates in winter, but benefited by priority of access to the hot spring, which was associated with low fGC concentrations and therefore might help reduce energy expenditure and subsequent body heat loss. This unique habit of hot spring bathing by Japanese macaques illustrates how behavioural flexibility can help counter cold climate stress, with likely implications for reproduction and survival.     

A Research Note on the Male/Female Percentage in the Dreams of Japanese Women; A Failed Attempt at Replication.

Three different samples of dream reports from Japanese women were analyzed to determine their male/female percentage. A study in the early 1980s found far fewer males in the dreams of Japanese women than is the case for women in other societies. The previous finding was not replicated, and both studies are discussed in terms of the role of women in Japanese society then and now. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)