Road-maps and revelations: on the somatic ethics of genetic susceptibility

Understanding genomic susceptibility risk has been represented as key to a new era of personalized medicine, in which “empowered” individuals shape their lives according to a “somatic ethics” of genetic risk management. Based on a comprehensive analysis of websites and other documents produced by key companies within the personal genomics industry, I argue that the rhetoric of empowerment these companies employ constructs an “ideal subject” of personal genomics while also expressing tensions implicit within the idea of a somatic ethics based on genetic susceptibility. Using Kaushik Sunder Rajan's concept of “genomic fetishism,” I show how these tensions arise from the relationship the rhetoric of personal genomics constructs between risk and uncertainty, and relate them to broader tensions within “risk thinking” as a mode of governmentality that extends beyond genomics.     

When is a cladist not a cladist?

The term “cladist” has distinct meanings in distinct contexts. Communication between philosophers, historians, and biologists has been hindered by different understandings of the term in various contexts. In this paper I trace historical and conceptual connections between several broadly distinct senses of the term “cladist”. I propose seven specific definitions that capture distinct contemporary uses. This serves to disambiguate some cases where the meaning is unclear, and will help resolve apparent disagreements that in fact result from conflicting understandings of the term.     

Cacogenic Cartographies: Space and Place in the Eugenic Family Study

Though only one component product of the larger eugenics movement, the eugenic family study proved to be, by far, its most potent ideological tool. The Kallikak Family, for instance, went through eight editions between 1913 and 1931. This essay argues that the current scholarship has missed important ways that the architects of the eugenic family studies theorized and described the subjects of their investigation. Using one sparsely interrogated work (sociologist Frank Wilson Blackmar’s “The Smoky Pilgrims”) and one previously unknown eugenic family study (biologist Frank Gary Brooks’ untitled analysis of the flood-zone Oklahomans) from the Southern Plains, this essay aims to introduce “environment” as a schema that allows for how the subjects of the eugenic family study were conceptualized with respect to their surroundings. Geospatially and environmentally relevant constructions of scientific knowledge were central to the project of eugenics during its formative years, but remain largely and conspicuously absent from the critical literature which engages this project to separate the fit from the unfit in American society. The dysgenic constituted a unique human geography, giving us significant insight into how concatenations of jurisprudence as well as cultural and social worth were tied to the land.     

Mendelism and medicine: controlling human inheritance in local contexts, 1920-1960

The rise of Mendelism has often been associated with the development of agricultural sciences and the attempts to improve varieties and select new plants. In contrast, historians have tended to stress the tensions between Mendelism and medicine originating in the influence of eugenicists. The use of Mendel's laws in the context of discussing human inheritance and the transmission of pathologies was nonetheless pervading the medical literature from the 1920s onwards. This paper investigates the dynamics of medical Mendelism by comparing developments in France and in Britain. In contrast to reluctant botanists and zoologists, the elite of the French medical profession was often 'Mendelian'. Mendel's laws have accordingly been integrated into a complex approach to the familial transmission of pathologies, into a theory of pathological inheritance, which combined genetics, germ theory and hygiene. This approach was widely accepted among the paediatricians and obstetricians active in both the eugenics movement and the natalist movement. The career of the pediatrician R. Turpin is a good example of the visibility of this form of medical Mendelism and of its long-lasting impact on genetic research in the country. In Britain, where the social basis of eugenics was not the medical profession, eugenics' claims often clashed with public health and hygiene priorities. Medical Mendelism was in the first place supported and advanced by doctors and scientists participating in the public debates about the care of 'feeble minded' and the classification of social groups. As revealed by the trajectory of L. Penrose this context favoured the linkage between statistics and pedigree analysis, thus leading to the 'Mendelization' of human pathologies. After the war, this Mendelization in turn facilitated the rise of medical genetics as a speciality focusing on genetic counselling and on the management of computable hereditary risks. This comparative analysis thus highlights: a) the influence of local medical cultures on the fate of Mendelism; b) the continuities between the pre-war studies of pathological inheritance and the post-war rise of medical genetics.     

TRANSCRIPTIONAL CONTROL OF PROTEIN SYNTHISIS IN THE DEVELOPING OVARIES OF BOMBYX MORI*

Amino acid incorporation was studied with cell-free extracts and ribosomes prepared from pupal ovaries at different ages of Bombyx mori. Poly(U)-directed ³H-phenylalanine incorporation attained a maximum rate at a certain stage of development, but soon dropped to a low level and was replaced by ³H-leucine incorporation, which was due to endogenous mRNA. The latter incorporation occurred at the stage when actual protein synthesis takes place in the ovaries. “Run-off” of the ribosomes which had a high endogenous activity resulted in an enhancement of the poly(U)-dependent activity. The results indicate that the protein synthesis in the ovary is mainly controlled at the level of mRNA. This was further supported by the fact that the relative amount of an ovarian poly(A)-containing “mRNA” fraction increased in parallel with the endogenous activity.     

Links between the discovery of primates and anatomical comparisons with humans,the chain of being,our place in nature,and racism

I focus on the crucial links between the discovery of nonhuman primates by Westerners, discussions on our place in nature, the chain of being, racism, and the history of primate comparative anatomy and of so‐called “anatomical human racial studies.” Strikingly, for more than a millennium humans knew more about the internal anatomy of a single monkey species than about that of their own bodies. This is because Galen used monkeys to infer human anatomy, in line with the human‐animal continuity implied by the Greek notion of scala naturae. With the rise of Christianity, nonhuman primates were increasingly seen in a negative way. A more positive view emerged in the 14th century when nonhuman primates were directly studied/seen by Europeans, culminating in Tyson's 1699 work showing that chimps share more gross anatomical similarities with humans than with monkeys. However, the discomfort caused by this human‐chimp similarity then led to a new idea of animal‐human discontinuity, now related not to anatomy but to “civilization”: between Europeans vs. non‐Europeans + other primates. Moreover, Linnaeus' Systema Naturae and the emergence of “anatomical racial studies” influenced by Camper's craniology then led to even more extreme ideas, such as the notion that Europeans were both mentally and morphologically “ideal.” Unfortunately the biased and often incorrect “results” of such studies, combined with ideas based on Darwin's “struggle for survival”, became crucial in propaganda that lead to the rise of eugenics in the end of the 19th/first half of 20th centuries and that culminated in Nazism. Since the 1950s there has been an emphasis on the continuity/unity between all human groups and other primates, in great part influenced by what happened during World War 2. Reviews such as this one are, therefore, particularly necessary to illuminate and guard against attitudes against “the Other” and racist ideologies that are re‐emerging in modern political discourse across the globe.     

“Plants that Remind Me of Home”: Collecting,Plant Geography,and a Forgotten Expedition in the Darwinian Revolution

In 1859, Harvard botanist Asa Gray (1810–1888) published an essay of what he called “the abstract of Japan botany.” In it, he applied Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to explain why strong similarities could be found between the flora of Japan and that of eastern North America, which provoked his famous debate with Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) and initiated Gray’s efforts to secure a place for Darwinian biology in the American sciences. Notably, although the Gray–Agassiz debate has become one of the most thoroughly studied scientific debates, historians of science remain unable to answer one critical question: How was Gray able to acquire specimens from Japan? Making use of previously unknown archival materials, this article scrutinizes the institutional, instrumental, financial, and military settings that enabled Gray’s collector, Charles Wright (1811–1885), to travel to Japan, as well as examine Wright’s collecting practices in Japan. I argue that it is necessary to examine Gray’s diagnosis of Japan’s flora and the subsequent debate about it from the viewpoint of field sciences. The field-centered approach not only unveils an array of historical significances that have been overshadowed by the analytical framework of the Darwinian revolution and the reception of Darwinism, but also places a seemingly domestic incident in a transnational context.     

香根草和水花生对垃圾污水中N、P、Cl的吸收效果

香根草和水花生对垃圾污水中不同“污物”的吸收能力差别较大。二者对N的吸收量均超过了各自净化的总N量,对P的吸收率亦较高,但植株体内的P浓度却随介质P浓度的升高而下降。和净化量相比,植物对低浓度污水中Cl的吸收率较高,但对高浓度中的吸收率较低。和原液中的“污物”量相比时,根系对元素的吸收率都明显降低。这表明,植物净化系统中的去污方式除了根系的吸收外,还有其他方式,即根系是通过根际微生态系统的综合作用来达到净化目的。总的来说,香根草对“污物”的吸收能力不比水花生强,尽管他比水花生有更强的净化能力。     

柴达木盆地晚中新世三趾马化石

Bohlin描述的柴达木动物群中的三趾马材料非常少 ,仅能证明三趾马在这个地点的存在。近年来新的野外考察在这一地区发现了更多的三趾马化石材料 ,至少包括 3个种 ,即Hipparioncf.H .chiai、H .weihoense和H .teilhardi。H .cf.H .chiai和H .weihoense在柴达木盆地的发现进一步证实了晚中新世早期 (保德早期 )动物群在这个地区的存在。柴达木盆地的H .teilhardi基本上与H .cf.H .chiai和H .weihoense产自同一层位 ,其时代也应为保德早期。H .cf.H .chiai和H .weihoense在柴达木盆地的发现为该地区在晚中新世早期为草原型环境的判断提供了更多的证据。H .teilhardi更细长的远端肢骨也是对开阔环境的一种适应性状     

Addressing the conflict between partner notification and patient confidentiality in serodiscordant relationships: How can Ubuntu help?

This study evaluates the conflict between patient confidentiality and partner notification in sero‐discordant relationships, and argues the thesis that based on a theoretical formulation of Ubuntu, a health provider is obliged to facilitate friendly relationships in which individuals are true subjects and/or objects of communal friendship. In serodiscordant relationships, the health professional can fulfil this obligation by notifying “others” (particularly a partner with whom an HIV positive patient has a “present” and “actual relationship”) of their spouse's HIV seroconversion, since without such relevant information a partner (subject) of an HIV positive patient cannot “appropriately” care for the patient's condition (object). There is a need to move away from the medical traditional emphasis that has for so long put primacy on doctor‐patient confidentiality as is the case with the Health Professions Council of South Africa Guidelines (Booklet 12) which favours patient confidentiality over partner notification. Given empirical evidence to support effectiveness of partner notification amongst sero‐discordant couples, there is thus, a need to focus emphasis on latter. This shift is necessary for achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development of Goal of ending HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. I proposed in this study that African ethics, specifically Ubuntu, will do a better job than current ethical frameworks at ensuring that partner notification receives more emphasis in the care of serodiscordant couples. If this framework is integrated into ethical guidelines and codes, it would significantly enhance the care of serodiscordant couples, as well as further boost global effort at ending HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030.     

Watching the ‘Eugenic Experiment’ Unfold: The Mixed Views of British Eugenicists Toward Nazi Germany in the Early 1930s

Historians of the eugenics movement have long been ambivalent in their examination of the links between British hereditary researchers and Nazi Germany. While there is now a clear consensus that American eugenics provided significant material and ideological support for the Germans, the evidence remains less clear in the British case where comparatively few figures openly supported the Nazi regime and the left-wing critique of eugenics remained particularly strong. After the Second World War British eugenicists had to push back against the accusation that their science was intrinsically dictatorial or totalitarian and, as a result, many of their early perceptions of the Nazis were ignored or rationalised away. Further, historians in recent years have focused more directly on the social reformist elements of eugenics, discussing the links between hereditary science and the birth control and feminist movements in addition to others. While undoubtedly making valuable contributions to the scholarly understanding of the eugenic milieu in the interwar years, these studies have neglected to recontextualize the sentiments of British eugenicists who did indeed view the Nazi government positively in the early years of the 1930s. This article argues that there was a significant, though not numerically sizable, faction in the British eugenics movement, though mostly outside the Eugenics Society itself, in the early 1930s that viewed the Nazi Germany as an admirable state for its implementation of eugenic principles. One of these figures was later interned by his own government for being too closely aligned with the German regime, though he argued that this affinity was driven by the quest for scientific truth rather than politics. Eugenics in Britain thus contained a greater diversity of views toward Germany than scholars have previously assumed, warranting more research into the individuals and organizations harbouring these views.     

The European Federation of Organisations for Medical Physics. Policy Statement No. 12: The present status of Medical Physics Education and Training in Europe. New perspectives and EFOMP recommendations

A recently published EFOMP's survey on the status of Education and Training in Europe, has showed the important role played by the NMOs in the organisation of the Medical Physics education and training in most countries and their efforts to fulfil EFOMP recommendations. However, despite of this, there is still a wide variety of approaches within Europe, not only in the education and training programmes but also in professional practice.There is right now some European issues that can affect not only education and training but also the future of Medical Physics as a profession: 1. the harmonisation of the architecture of the European Higher Education System, arising from the “Bologna Declaration”, for 2010, 2. the recently issued European directive: “Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications”.EFOMP is now challenged to make recommendations for education and training in Medical Physics, within the context of the current developments in the European Higher Education Area arising from “The Bologna Declaration”, and with a view to facilitate the free movement of professionals within Europe, according to the new Directive.     

Beyondism: Raymond B. Cattell and the new eugenics

A significant confusion has arisen out of the mass of work done on the history of eugenics in the last two decades. Early scholars of the subject treated eugenics as a marginalized or obsolete movement of the radical right. Subsequent research has shown that eugenic ideas were adopted in diverse national settings by very different groups, including – among others – liberals, communists and Catholics, as well as radical rightists. This complexity is sometimes taken to mean that eugenics has no special ideological associations, that it is historically and potentially a beast of a thousand heads. It is not. Although people of varied ideological commitments have been attracted to eugenics, ideologues of the radical right, and above all interwar fascists, have been uniquely and centrally involved in its development. Fascism and the radical right are also complex entities, but for all the heterogeneity of both eugenics and fascism, the special historical relationship between the two cannot be ignored. This relationship is exemplified in the work of the influential psychologist, Raymond B. Cattell. Cattell was an early supporter of German national socialism and his work should be understood in the context of interwar fascism. The new religious movement that he founded, ‘Beyondism’, is a neo-fascist contrivance. Cattell now promulgates ideas that he formulated within a demimonde of radical eugenists and neo-fascists that includes such associates as Revilo Oliver, Roger Pearson, Wilmot Robertson and Robert K. Graham. These ideas and Cattell's role in the history of eugenics deserve deeper analysis than they have hitherto received. Far from being of merely antiquarian interest, his work currently encourages the propagation of radical eugenist ideology. It is unconscionable for scholars to permit these ideas to go unchallenged, and indeed honored and emulated by a new generation of ideologues and academicians whose work helps to dignify the most destructive political ideas of the twentieth century. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Rise of Man's Best Friend: The Popularity of Dogs as Companion Animals in Late Eighteenth-Century London as Reflected by the Dog Tax of 1796

ABSTRACT

The history of the relationship between humans and their companion animals is long and more than a little complex. This is in large part due to the special status of these animals. Over the years these animals have evolved socially from that of an impersonal “object” to a “subject,” i.e. a sentient being with a recognized mental and emotional life. Histories of this change in relationship are rare. This is due mainly to a lack of source material; little is available and what there is is rarely reflective of a general population. Recently, records of a 1796 English dog tax have become available and they provide a fairly complete overview of the status of the dog as a companion animal in late eighteenth-century London.

The evidence indicates the dog was very popular as a companion animal in late eighteenth-century English urban society. While some of these creatures were former working-class canines others were what might be described as “professional companion animals” i.e. creatures who had no previous work history. The tax records further indicate that concern as to specific breed was still in the future. Dogs often received a generic title such as “yard dog” or “lapdog” or “housedog.” What is particularly interesting from these records is the number of mixed breed creatures—animals with the title of either “mongrel” or “curr.” (At least three Londoners kept foxes as pets.) There is also an almost total absence of kennels of hunting dogs in eighteenth-century London. Other historical records suggest this to be a recent phenomenon. Lastly, this outline appears to correlate strongly with the literary remarks, material accoutrements, and even religious practices of the late eighteenth-century urban dog population of England.     

Eugenics: past, present, and the future.

During the past 20 years there has been a resurgence of interest in the history of the eugenics movements, particularly those of the United States and Germany. Unfortunately, most of these accounts have been published in nonmedical and nongenetic journals, so they are not readily available to geneticists or physicians. The authors of this article are concerned about the lack of information that geneticists, physicians, and students have concerning the origin and progress of these movements. This article provides a short history of the American and German eugenics programs and concludes with a review of their possible relations to our current practices. It is hoped that this will encourage institutions to include, in master's Ph.D., and M.D. programs in human genetics, lectures, seminars, and journal clubs on the topic of eugenics.     

The Organization and Role Of an Amateur Archeological Society

Abstract

The roles and functions of amateur archeologists and archeological societies are critically assayed in constructive terms.

A lot of ink has been spilled recently about “amateurs”, “pothunters”, “professionals”, “nonprofessionals”, and the like, on the pages of American Antiquity, the Plains Anthropologist and other publications. There is no question whatsoever that many professional archeologists have had unpleasant experiences with nonprofessionals, but my opinion is that the current published comments are doing little to help the situation. I object, not from the standpoint of a nonprofessional archeologist, which I am--one whose feelings have been hurt--but from the standpoint of one who is seriously interested in improving the situation.     

L.S. Vygotsky and the Theater

The article presents the analysis of L.S. Vygotsky's works dedicated to the theater arts and is organized according Vygotsky's different life and work stages. Meanwhile special attention is paid to the Gomel period during which a large number of reviews were written by Vygotsky and published in “Nash ponedel'nik” and “Polesskaia pravda” newspapers. Biographical facts are widely used in this analysis and help to clarify Vygotsky's interest in art. It is shown that even at the beginning of his oeuvre, he was interested not only in a range of problems in art, but also psychological problems related to art perception and creativeness. Vygotsky's usage of structural concept ideas about the peculiar properties of literary text composition are also explored. Vygotsky analyzes the socio-psychological mechanisms of theatrical art effect. Furthermore, those areas which are widely used by Vygotsky in determining the characteristics of cast reincarnation are examined. Special emphasis is placed on the different elements of the actor techniques (speech, movement, emotional expression, acting personality and etc.). Materials are widely used in this study and help identify the socio-cultural context that defined Vygotsky's values at different stages of his work, related to his drama criticism and his formation as a professional psychologist.     

Biosociality,biocitizenship and the new regime of hope and despair: interpreting “Portraits of Hope” and the “Mehmet Case”

The concepts of biocitizenship and biosociality, in many ways developed as a reaction to the former critique of genetification and fears of a return of eugenics, have gained a stronghold in much of the current debates on the social effects of modern-day genetics. In contrast to claims of a return to eugenics, the literature on biocitizenship highlights the new choice-enhancing possibilities involved in present-day biomedicine, underlining the break with past forms of biopower. In this analysis, hope becomes a life-inducing and vitalizing force, opening new avenues of civic participation and engagement. Most critics of this analysis have attacked the claims to novelty attributed to these concepts, arguing that more traditional forms of biopower remain as important as ever. In contrast, we argue that the biocitizenship literature underestimates the radical nature of this break with the past, ending up with a too narrow and one-sided interpretation of the ramifications of the new discourse of hope. On the basis of two different case stories, the “Portraits of Hope” campaign from California, USA and the “Mehmet Case” from Norway, we indicate an alternative “darker” reading of the new discourse of hope, arguing that its driving force is not so much future possibilities as present despair.