Calcium paradox from cyclostome to man: a comparative study

In seven poikilotherm species, i.e. cyclostome, Myxine glutinosa; teleosts, Gadus morrhua; Platichtys flesus; amphibia, R. pipiens; R. temporaria; Xenopus laevis; reptiles, Vipera berus. Ca paradox could not be obtained in ventricular strips at 8-12 degrees C. In similar preparations from human atria at 30 degrees C and 37 degrees, Ca paradox was obtained similarly as in other homoiotherms. In homoiotherms, lowered temperature (below 30 degrees C) has a protective effect. Viper myocardium did not display Ca paradox at 12, 22 or 32 degrees C, whereas human myocardium displayed Ca paradox even at 30 C. It is postulated that the absence of Ca paradox in poikilotherms is not due to the low temperature. In hagfish (Myxine glutinosa) the absence of Ca paradox seems to be due to the specific conditions concerning Ca exchange in the myocardial cell (large glycocalyx).     

Book reviews

Book reviewed in this article: C. W. Stortenbeker. Observations on Population Dynamics of the Red Locust Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville) in its Outbreak areas. Anonymus. Radioisotopes and Ionizing Radiations in Entomology, 3, 1967. (454 pp. 4 Tabls). J. W. Wright & R. Pal (Eds): Genetics of insect vectors of disease.     

Disrupting ‘a man's world’: gender,technology, and class in Vietnam's global heavy industry

Only rarely is Vietnam's global heavy industry studied from an anthropological perspective in either its gender or its class dimensions. This article contributes new insights into the ways in which the interagential dynamics of gender and technology from shopfloor to engineer offices coproduce social orders in contesting and perpetuating essentializing notions of femininity and masculinity. Blue-collar and white-collar women working in heavy industrial workplaces represent a minority in ‘a man's world’, ambiguously both disidentifying and identifying with notions of a typical ‘female character’ vis-à-vis ‘male character’. Women working in heavy industry, the article shows, generate ‘disruption’ by reconfiguring conventions regarding gendered occupation, redefining gendered engagement with technology, and recalibrating images of femininity and masculinity. Doing so means carving out new opportunities and/or provoking crisis in a patrilineal universe. The article analyses the intricate ways in which women's engagement with technology is empowering while simultaneously reinforcing gender- and class-specific inequalities in socialist Vietnam's global market economy.