Radical functionalism: The life and work of Karl Polanyi

Conclusion In concluding, let us restate the main theoretical arguments concerning Austria-Hungary and Malinowski-Polanyi. There are many more aspects of this latter contrast which I have not dwelt on, including those of temper and personality. My concern was to show that it is not enough to trace ideas back to their origin in an undifferentiated Central Europe, for we need to be quite clear about the context in which those ideas were initially taken on board. Mach was an appropriate philosopher for the ordered bureaucracy of Austria, and he embodies the individual-centered and fundamentally conservative message, which I see articulated later in very different (and non-positivist) styles by Popper, Hayek, Schumpeter, etc. This was the message accepted in its fundamentals by Malinowski in Cracow. The Hungarian half of the Empire had quite different traditions, and one might even say that political dilemmas in this half of the Empire were so pressing that they had no time for philosophy. By the time Polanyi was growing up in Budapest, nationalist fervor was at its height, and a nineteenth century heritage of liberal, even radical thought, was under pressure from the extreme right. Polanyi's Jewish family background probably pushed him towards the Left in his early years, though it in no way interfered with this Hungarian patriotism. When he read Mach, he accepted the individualist and positivist aspects of the message, but he could never endorse the conservative respect for tradition that underpinned Malinowski's functionalism. This is what makes his position so interesting, and he maintained it throughout his career.In this light, Polanyi's economic anthropology is an authentic cultural product of Central Europe. Malinowski, to the extent that he took on board the basic social theory of Austrian liberal conservatism, sold out to the West, and to an ideological tradition which has an alternative home in another country on the periphery of industrial capitalism: Enlightenment Scotland. Austria-Hungary also produced intellectuals who sold out in the other direction, and abandoned all notion of intellectual autonomy for the individual by capitulating to the total discipline of the revolutionary Party. This tradition is that of Russia and Lenin, and the best known Central European intellectual recruit was Lukács, perhaps because he studied idealists in Germany rather than the positivists in Vienna. Karl Polanyi was unable to give unswerving loyalty either to the capitalist ideology of the West, or to the ideology of the new tributary mode of production in the East. The middle position, which I believe he occupied throughout his life, is one that will never satisfy ideologues, and it is hard to infuse it with the same intellectual elegance. Still, just as his historical researches showed the real possibilities for combining modes of economic integration, and his life experiences showed the folly of concentration on only one, so Hungarians have learned from history that they are best off with the sort of mixed economy they have today. His popularity in Hungary is therefore unsurprising, and one may hope that the practical message of his anthropology will not be permanently forgotten in the West.Christopher H. Hann is a Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Kent, Canterbury.     

Genetic transformation of a halophilic archaebacterium with a gas vesicle gene cluster restores its ability to float.

The halophilic archaebacterium, Halobacterium halobium, and many other aquatic bacteria synthesize gas-filled vesicles for flotation. We recently identified a cluster of 13 genes (gvpMLKJIHGFEDACN) on a 200-kb H. halobium plasmid, pNRC100, involved in gas vesicle synthesis. We have cloned and reconstructed the gvp gene cluster on an H. halobium-E. coli shuttle plasmid. Transformation of H. halobium Vac- mutants lacking the entire gas vesicle gene region with the gvp gene cluster results in restoration of their ability to float. These results open the way toward further genetic analysis of gas vesicle gene functions and directed flotation of other microorganisms with potential biotechnological applications.     

The paradox of the adventurous young and the cautious old: natural selection vs. rational calculation.

Younger people are more adventurous and less willing to reduce the risk to life. This seems to be fitness reducing since the gene cannot be passed on if one dies before leaving offsprings. However, due to the cumulative nature of knowledge and the complementarity of learning and adventurousness, it is shown in a simple model that it enhances fitness. Nevertheless, the higher willingness of the old to pay to reduce the risk to life may also be due to the rational calculation of expected utility maximization. A positive real rate of interest makes accumulation of wealth desirable and hence may make the dollar value of life increase dramatically until a fairly old age. Even if the lifetime earnings of everyone are the same and everyone can lend and borrow at the same rate of interest, the old may be willing to pay much more to reduce the risk to life.     

Age-dependent choice of sexual partners and the transmission dynamics of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A mathematical model of the transmission of HIV-1 within heterosexual populations in Sub-Saharan Africa is described and its properties analysed. The model incorporates epidemiological and demographic processes and extends previous work in this area via the inclusion of age and sex dependency in rates of sexual partner change, and sexual partner choice dependent on age. Parameter assignments are made on the basis of current data on the transmission dynamics of HIV-1 and the demography of human populations in Africa. Both age-dependent rates of sexual activity and the sexual contact of males with females younger than themselves act to enhance the predicted demographic impact. With realistic parameter values, the model suggests AIDS is able to reverse the sign of population growth rates from positive to negative values over a timescale of a few decades. The sensitivity of this prediction is examined in relation to changes in the pattern of sexual contact between different age classes of females and males, different patterns of change in the age-dependent rate of sexual partner change, different assumptions concerning the doubling time of the epidemic in its early stages, and the relative efficiencies of viral transmission between men and women, and vice versa. The impact AIDS is predicted to have on the number of young and elderly persons as a fraction of the number of productive adults (the dependancy ratio) is examined under various assumptions concerning the weighting to be applied to mirror the burden imposed by the care of those with AIDS. The paper includes an assessment of the influence of the timing of changes in sexual behaviour, or the promotion of the use of condoms, on the predicted course of the epidemic. The paper concludes with a discussion of data needs and the model refinements required to more accurately mirror current understanding of the epidemiology of HIV-1.     

Regulation of receptor-mediated calcium influx across the plasma membrane in a human leukemic T-cell line: evidence of its dependence on an initial calcium mobilization from intracellular stores

It has been repeatedly shown that stimulation of a human leukemic T-cell line, JURKAT, by lectins such as phytohaemagglutinin and anti-T3 antibody (OKT3) leads to an elevation in the concentration of cytosolic free Ca2. This Ca2+ transient results from both an intracellular mobilization and an influx of Ca2+ through specific membrane channels. The objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which receptor-mediated influx of Ca2+ is regulated in JURKAT cells, which demonstrably lack 'voltage-dependent calcium channels'. It was found that upon increased loading with quin2 or 1,2-bis(2-aminophenoxy)ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetate (BAPTA) there was a pronounced decline of both phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated and OKT3-stimulated influx of 45Ca2+. Using 15 microM quin2/AM or 30 microM BAPTA/AM, agonist-stimulated 45Ca2+ influx was almost totally abolished. At these concentrations of both quin2/AM or BAPTA/AM, phytohaemagglutinin and OKT3 could still induce a rise of cytosolic free Ca2+ above 200 nM. In the presence of La3+ (200 microM), which completely inhibited the agonist-induced 45Ca2+ influx, both phytohaemagglutinin and OKT3 were able to raise the concentrations of cytosolic free Ca2+ to well above 200 nM by merely mobilizing Ca2+ from intracellular stores alone. The data suggest that an agonist-induced increase in the concentration of cytosolic free Ca2+, due to mobilization from intracellular stores, could either directly or indirectly, initiate receptor-mediated Ca2+ influx across the plasma membrane in JURKAT cells.     

Stereospecific induction of starfish oocyte maturation by (8R)-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid

Oocyte maturation (meiosis reinitiation) in starfish is induced by the natural hormone 1-methyladenine. This induction of meiotic divisions can be triggered also by four fatty acids: 5,8,11-20:3; 5,8,11,14-20:4 (arachidonic acid); 6,9,12,15-20:4; 5,8,11,14,17-20:5, all other fatty acids being completely inactive. This maturation triggered by eicosanoids occurs in the micromolar range and is facilitated by the presence of calcium. A variety of arachidonic acid derivatives (esters, epoxides, etc.) and metabolites (cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase products) has been tested; the biological activity is restricted to 8-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (8-HETE), other mono- and poly-HETEs being completely inactive. Maturation triggered by 8-HETE occurs around 10 nM and is insensitive to the presence of calcium. 8-HETE methyl ester and 8-hydroperoxyeicosatetraenoic acid are able to induce maturation at higher concentrations. Both (8S) and (8R) stereoisomers have been tested; the biological activity is strictly restricted to the (8R) isomer. 8-HETE triggers a complete maturation, i.e. maturation-promoting factor appearance, germinal vesicle breakdown, emission of the polar bodies, and formation of a female pronucleus. (8R)-HETE, but not (8S)-HETE, triggers the typical decrease in cyclic AMP concentration induced by 1-methyladenine and the burst of protein phosphorylation associated with maturation. Starfish oocytes oxidize exogenous arachidonic acid into 8-HETE and other HETEs. 8-HETE was identified, after high pressure liquid chromatography purification, by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Furthermore, it was found that the starfish oocytes only produce the (8R)-HETE isomer. This highly stereospecific induction of oocyte maturation by (8R)-HETE suggests that this fatty acid, or a very closely related fatty acid, may play a role in the transduction of the 1-methyladenine message at the plasma membrane level.     

Production of native, correctly folded bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor by Escherichia coli

A gene for bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) was fused to the coding sequence for the Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase signal peptide and expressed in E. coli under the control of the alkaline phosphatase promoter. When induced in phosphate-depleted medium such cells produced a trypsin inhibitor that was indistinguishable from native, properly folded BPTI. In particular, the BPTI produced by E. coli had three disulfide bonds that appeared to be identical to those found in native BPTI, as assayed by sensitivity to iodoacetate, dithiothreitol, and urea. This expression/secretion system will make possible the production of variant BPTI molecules, thus allowing the perturbing effects of amino acid substitutions on BPTI folding, structure, and function to be assessed.     

Structure of an antifreeze polypeptide precursor from the sea raven, Hemitripterus americanus

The cystine-rich antifreeze polypeptides (AFP) from sea raven were fractionated by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography into several components, with SR2 (Mr 17,000) as the major AFP. Sea raven AFP cDNA clones were isolated from a liver cDNA library using a synthetic oligonucleotide, and the identity of one of the clones, C2-1, was confirmed by hybridization selection and cell-free translation. C2-1 encodes a pre-AFP of 195 amino acids with no evidence of any profragments. Comparison of the deduced amino acid sequence with partial peptide sequences from SR2 showed substitutions in at least four amino acid positions, suggesting that C2-1 cDNA codes for a minor component. Both the primary and the predicted secondary structures of sea raven AFP are completely different from those of other fish AFP. This further confirms that sea raven AFP belongs to a different class of antifreezes. The high frequency of reverse turns and the presence of paired hydrophilic amino acids in these structures are striking features of the protein and may contribute to their antifreeze action.     

Action of novel eicosanoids lipoxin A and B on human natural killer cell cytotoxicity: effects on intracellular cAMP and target cell binding

Lipoxin A (5,6,15L-trihydroxy-7,9,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid) and lipoxin B (5D,14,15-trihydroxy-6,8,10,12-eicosatetraenoic acid), two newly isolated compounds derived from the oxygenation of arachidonic acid in human leukocytes, inhibit the cytotoxic activity of human natural killer (NK) cells. Dose-response studies showed that both lipoxin A and lipoxin B inhibit, at submicromolar concentrations (ID50 10(-7) M), NK cell activity assayed against K562 target cells. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) also inhibited cytotoxicity, whereas both 15-HETE (5(S)-hydroxy-5,8,11,13-eicosatetraenoic acid) and leukotriene B4 (synthetic and biologically derived) were ineffective. PGE2 stimulated a time- and dose-dependent increase in intracellular cAMP, which was accompanied by a decrease in NK target cell binding. Lipoxin A and lipoxin B did not elevate intracellular cAMP, nor did they inhibit target cell binding. Together these findings suggest that lipoxin A and lipoxin B abrogate NK cell cytotoxicity at a step distal to target effector cell recognition. In contrast, PGE2 appears to exert its effect, at least in part, on cytotoxicity indirectly by decreasing the binding between target and effector cells (in vitro). Moreover, they suggest that novel oxygenated derivatives of arachidonic acid (i.e., lipoxin A, lipoxin B) may regulate the activities of NK cells.     

Operant behavior in transition reflects neonatal exposure to cadmium

Male Long-Evans rats were injected with 0, 1, 3, or 6 mg/kg of cadmium chloride on the first day of life. Animals free of morphological stigmata at weaning were selected for study. Tissue concentrations of cadmium and operant behavior under various fixed-ratio (FR) schedules of reinforcement were evaluated when these rats were adults. Dose-related increases in cadmium were present in the brains, livers, and kidneys. Dose-related differences in behavior were most evident during the transition from fixed ratio 25 (FR 25 or 25 responses/reinforcer) to FR 75. An inverted U describes the relationship between response output during the transition to FR 75 and cadmium chloride dose response output increased at 3 mg/kg and decreased at 6 mg/kg. The rate decreases were not correlated with weight loss that appeared after some of the animals exposed to 6 mg/kg reached 60 days of age. Challenge doses of d-amphetamine revealed no interaction between neonatal exposure to cadmium and d-amphetamine. The occurrence of alterations in operant behavior in animals that appeared normal on a number of preweaning evaluations suggests that operant behavior in transition was sensitive to subtle effects not observed with other commonly used tests. The data provide evidence for delayed effects in the adult that are due to neonatal exposure to cadmium.