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This paper describes naturopathic practitioners with two different world views--holistic and scientific, and explores the relationship of practitioners' socialization experiences and practice patterns with these two world views. Data were gathered by a variety of methods including: (1) a 14-page questionnaire mailed to all 296 naturopathic practitioners licensed in Canada; (2) a participant observation study at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM); and (3) open-ended interviews with 16 students attending CCNM and 41 naturopathic practitioners which were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Individuals with both holistic and scientific world views entered naturopathic training and none of the practitioners who were interviewed reported a change in world view while at naturopathic college. However, practitioners reported a new-found appreciation of the "other" world view on completion of their training, indicating the occurrence of a socialization effect. Many decisions involved in setting up a practice and seeing patients were affected by the practitioners' world views. For example, there were distinct differences in the way the practitioners with different world views who were interviewed chose treatment modalities. Practitioners with scientific world views reported choosing treatments based on the available "scientific evidence", while practitioners with holistic world views included a careful exploration of the patient's spirituality and their own intuition in their treatment decisions. In addition, practitioners with holistic world views reported significantly longer patient visits than practitioners with scientific world views. The data presented here suggest that one's world view influences one's perceptions of socialization experiences and social situations, and modulates the effects of both on practice patterns.
In a previous paper, the author has argued that what actually changes in the person whom the Capgras patient has chosen as his/her target of delusion is non-attribute such as having only "haecceity." At the same time, the author has pointed out that such ever-identical is also the target of the indication for the rigid designator as proposed by S. Kripke. Such problems with indication and identity, however, are closely associated with ontology presented by possible worlds semantics, an analytic philosophy that was much debated during the latter half of the 20th century. The purpose of this paper is to try to define the essence of Capgras syndrome from the viewpoint of possible worlds semantics. If Capgras syndrome is taken as suggested by the patient's statement that "a real person has been replaced by an imposter," it is though that this statement refers to metaphysics with regard to the number of individuals who exist in the world. This is because the appearance of the imposter means the generation of a new individual who had not been in existence until that time. The creation of the new individual not only demands the existence of plural worlds as addressed by possible worlds semantics, but also provides a clue to solving problems with places where the real person and its imposter exist. If the number of individuals existing in the world is taken into account, it is difficult to spatio-temporally comprehend the places in which the real person and its imposter exist. Inevitably, the real person and its imposter have to be in mutually different possible worlds as defined by possible worlds semantics. This leads into the conclusion that after the onset of Capgras syndrome, the patient and the imposter are in a possible world that is different from the possible world to which the real person belongs. In the case presented herein, the patient repeatedly talked about how difficult it was to get access to the real person. If the patient was separated by space and time from the real person, his difficulty in getting access should have been only a matter of relativity. On the contrary, it is quite likely that what the patient really wanted to express is the fundamental impossibility of access that exists between two individuals who belong to mutually different possible worlds.
In Third World countries, cancer is mainly a risk for the future generations. Without achieving adequate cancer control in developing countries, much of the progress in the fight against infections will be lost. While the industrialized countries are more and more concerned to avoid cancer risk factors and, thus, decrease the frequency of cancer, only few such steps can be seen in developing countries. Based on the actual cancer mortality and demographic projections in the year 2000, cancer mortality in the whole world will be 8 to 10 millions (2 to 3 millions in industrialized countries, 6 to 7 millions in developing countries). But while 60% of the world's new cancer patients are in the Third World, the developing countries dispose only 5% of the world's total anticancer resources. The cancer situation in the Third World indicates that in spite of many humanitarian efforts and many previous statements the fight against suffering in the world often stagnates. Therefore, it seems to be justified to call the world "sick". However the suffering of the Third World is curable. However we have to accept that the present world is not functioning very well, we have to explore the reasons for that and to solve existing problems.
Scorpion toxins that affect sodium channel (NaCh) gating in excitable cells are divided into alpha- and beta-classes. Whereas alpha-toxins have been found in scorpions throughout the world, anti-mammalian beta-toxins have been assigned, thus far, to 'New World' scorpions while anti-insect selective beta-toxins (depressant and excitatory) have been described only in the 'Old World'. This distribution suggested that diversification of beta-toxins into distinct pharmacological groups occurred after the separation of the continents, 150 million years ago. We have characterized a unique toxin, Lqhbeta1, from the 'Old World' scorpion, Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus, that resembles in sequence and activity both 'New World'beta-toxins as well as 'Old World' depressant toxins. Lqhbeta1 competes, with apparent high affinity, with anti-insect and anti-mammalian beta-toxins for binding to cockroach and rat brain synaptosomes, respectively. Surprisingly, Lqhbeta1 also competes with an anti-mammalian alpha-toxin on binding to rat brain NaChs. Analysis of Lqhbeta1 effects on rat brain and Drosophila Para NaChs expressed in Xenopus oocytes revealed a shift in the voltage-dependence of activation to more negative membrane potentials and a reduction in sodium peak currents in a manner typifying beta-toxin activity. Moreover, Lqhbeta1 resembles beta-toxins by having a weak effect on cardiac NaChs and a marked effect on rat brain and skeletal muscle NaChs. These multifaceted features suggest that Lqhbeta1 may represent an ancestral beta-toxin group in 'Old World' scorpions that gave rise, after the separation of the continents, to depressant toxins in 'Old World' scorpions and to various beta-toxin subgroups in 'New World' scorpions.
The basic realities of the distribution of the world's population, wealth, and agricultural production base are not conducive to an automatic stabilizing process for the world's hungry. Increasing volatility in the world grain production in the 1980's could create a problem of major proportions. By 1990, the developed world will account for 24 percent of the world's population, 85 percent of the world's economic activity, and around 50 percent of the world's grain production and consumption. On a per capita basis, the developed world will consume nearly three times as much grain as the developing countries which account for three-fourths of the world's population. Increased food aid, which is essential, is not the solution to the basic problem. The low-income countries need a massive infusion of capital investment, research support, and education if they are to build infrastructures that have the capacity to produce, distribute, and market food supplies. Other options serve only to prolong and aggravate the current disparities.
PURPOSE: Previous researchers have adopted linear models to predict athletic running world records, based on records recorded throughout the 20th century. These linear models imply that there is no limit to human performance and that, based on projected estimates, women will eventually run faster than men. The purpose of this article is to assess whether a more biologically sound, flattened "S-shaped" curve could provide a better and more interpretable fit to the data, suggesting that running world records could reach their asymptotic limits some time in the future. METHODS: Middle- and long-distance running world record speeds recorded during the 20th century were modeled using a flattened S-shaped logistic curve. RESULTS: The logistic curves produce significantly better fits to these world records than linear models (assessed by separating/partitioning the explained variance from the logistic and linear models using ANOVA). The models identify a slow rise in world-record speeds during the early year of the century, followed by a period of "acceleration" in the middle of the century (due to the professionalization of sport and advances in technology and science), and a subsequent reduction in the prevalence of record-breaking performances towards the end of the century. The model predicts that men's world records are nearing their asymptotic limits (within 1-3%). Indeed, the current women's 1500-m world record speed of 6.51 m x s(-1) may well have reached its limit (time 3:50.46). CONCLUSIONS: Many of the established men's and women's endurance running world records are nearing their limits and, consequently, women's world records are unlikely to ever reach those achieved by men.
In the primate retina there are distinct ganglion cell classes, exhibiting particular morphologies and central projections, each responsible for conveying particular types of visual information to the brain. The chief retinal inputs to the cortex arise from specific ganglion cell classes, M-ganglion cells, responsible for carrying the luminance signal, and P-ganglion cells, that convey the red-green color opponent signal, as well as high contrast luminance signal. There are other ganglion cell classes, such as small-field bistratified cells, exhibiting dendrites that stratify at two different levels in the inner plexiform layer, which convey the blue-yellow color opponent signal. Most published data concerning primate retinal ganglion cell anatomy and physiology have been obtained from Old World species. Studies on New World monkeys have recently become of interest since they differ from the Old World monkeys with respect to the color vision inheritance pattern. On reviewing retinal ganglion cell layer organization in New World monkeys, it seems that there are more similarities than differences in relation to the Old World monkeys. Diurnal genera of New World monkeys exhibit a well-developed fovea centralis and ganglion cell density peak, as well as peripheral density values which are in the range reported for Old World monkeys and human. Moreover, all the major ganglion cell classes identified in Old World monkeys are also present in New World primates. Up to now, no obvious anatomical differences between dichromats and trichromats have been reported. The only genus that is significantly different from the others is the Aotus. It exhibits lower ganglion cell density in the central retina, and apparently lacks the small-field bistratified cells.
It has been proposed that all native American mitochondrial DNA variation in the New World can be attributed to divergence from four "founding lineages" which entered the New World in three waves of migration from across the Bering Strait (T.G. Schurr et al., 1990, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 46: 613-623; A. Torroni and D. C. Wallace, 1995, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 56: 1234-1236; A. Torroni et al., 1994, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 54: 303-318; A. Torroni et al., 1994, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 91: 1158-1162; A. Torroni et al., 1994, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 93: 189-199; A. Torroni et al., 1993a, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 53: 563-590; A. Torroni et al., 1993b, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 53: 591-608; Wallace and A. Torroni, 1992, Hum. Biol. 64(3): 403-416). Torroni et al. (1993a) believe that only one haplotype from each of these four founding lineages arrived in the New World via migration, and all the additional variation arose in the New World. Any other types were attributed to Caucasian admixture. G. Bailliet et al. (1994, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 55: 27-33), N. O. Bianchi and F. Rothhammer (1995, Am. J. Hum. Genet. 56: 1236-1238), and D. A. Merriwether (1994, Experientia 50: 592-601; 1995, Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 98(4): 411-430) suggest that multiple variants of each lineage entered the New World, and that additional unrelated lineages also entered. We present the distribution of multiple variants of the four founding lineages, plus two additional lineages which we call X6 and X7, throughout the New World, Siberia, and Asia. These distributions are strong evidence that at least nine different founding lineage haplotypes entered the New World. Further, we find these distributions among Native Americans best fit a single wave of migration into the New World.
Many New World primate species have greatly increased plasma cortisol concentrations, decreased plasma cortisol binding globulin capacity and affinity, marked resistance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to suppression by dexamethasone, and no biological evidence of glucocorticoid excess. These primates also have high levels of circulating progesterone, estrogen, mineralocorticoid, androgen and vitamin D. The glucocorticoid target tissues that have been examined (circulating mononuclear lymphocytes and cultured skin fibroblasts) have normal concentrations of glucocorticoid receptors with decreased affinity for dexamethasone. Transformation of B-lymphocytes with the Epstein-Barr virus leads to glucocorticoid receptor induction that is less than that observed with cells from Old World primates. The receptor in these cells has a low affinity for dexamethasone. The low affinity leads to an increased loss of specific bound ligand during thermal activation. Meroreceptor generation is normal. The molecular weight of the receptor, determined by SDS-PAGE, is similar to that of Old World primates (approximately 92,000) and the activation pattern per se, examined in vitro by heating cytosol and performing phosphocellulose chromatography, appears similar to that of human controls. The ratios of nuclear to cytosolic hormone-receptor-complexes and of cytosolic activated to unactivated receptor complexes in intact cells are similar to Old World primates. Results from mixing studies do not support the hypothesis that a binding inhibitor(s) or a deficient cytosolic positive modifier(s) of binding underlies the findings in these primates. The New World primates, unlike men with the syndrome of primary cortisol resistance, have compensated for their condition with intra-adrenal and mineralocorticoid receptor adaptations. Thus, unlike Old World primates, cortisol in New World primates has only weak sodium-retaining potency because the aldosterone receptor has a low affinity for cortisol. The common element that would explain the apparent resistance to six steroid hormones in New World primates remains unknown.
The scientific community invests significant resources on HIV/AIDS research to confront the current epidemic. We reviewed the medical literature in order to evaluate the contribution of different world regions on HIV/AIDS research during the past 18 years. We retrieved articles, using an elaborate methodology, from three journals focusing on HIV/AIDS between 1986 and 2003, indexed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR) and the Web of Science databases of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI). Comparisons were made by dividing the world into nine geographic regions, and by using the human development index (HDI) categorization. A total of 9502 articles on HIV/AIDS were retrieved from three AIDS journals over an 18-year study period. The United States and Western Europe together and five developed out of nine world regions made up a striking 83% and 92% of the world's research production on HIV/AIDS, respectively. Scientists from the developing world participated in 10.4% of the articles published during 1986-1991, 14.7% during 1992-1997, and 21.3% during 1998-2003. Researchers from countries included in the high, medium, and low HDI category produced 2240, 9, and 15 articles per billion population, respectively. About half of articles originating in Latin America and the Caribbean and half in Asia were produced in collaboration with the United States. However, 40% of articles from Africa and 58% from Eastern Europe were produced in cooperation with Western Europe. Collaboration between researchers within developing regions was negligible. The vast majority of the world's research on AIDS is produced in the developed world. Although research production was minimal in the developing world, we found that regions included in the low and medium HDI categories showed a higher proportion of increase in research productivity than the developed countries. International collaborations should significantly increase and expand beyond the traditional cultural and political lines of international relationships.
This study was conducted to explore the lifestyles of online game players who have adopted the virtual world as part of their life. An online survey was conducted on players of an Internet-based game, Lineage. Lineage is the largest online game where people assume new identities and play various roles in a virtual environment, accommodating over 6 million users worldwide. A total of 4,786 game players participated in this survey, and their lifestyles were compared with their values and attitudes in the virtual world. Upon classification of their real-world lifestyles, their tendencies and desires were compared to lifestyles in the virtual world. This study showed that game players have developed their own distinctive lifestyles, and their lifestyles were a strong criterion for explaining behavior patterns and desires in the virtual world. Lifestyles were classified into three general categories: (1) single-oriented player, (2) community-oriented player, and (3) off-Real world player. Each group displayed distinct differences in their values and game activities, as well as in their anti-social behavior tendencies. The differences reflected not only their personality but also their socio-economic status within the virtual world, which is constructed through game activities. This study serves as a model to understand how players from different real-life backgrounds will behave in various game features and how they adopt the virtual world for their new social identities.
Many studies of phylogeography, speciation, and species limits restrict their focus to a narrow issue: gene tree monophyly. However, reciprocal monophyly does not provide an ideal touchstone criterion of any aspect of evolutionary divergence. There is a continuum of divergence stages as isolated populations go from initial allele frequency differences to well-differentiated species. Studying intermediate stages of divergence will increase our understanding of geographical speciation, species limits, and conservation priorities. We develop a conceptual framework and terminology for thinking about the stages of 'intermediate polyphyly'. The Holarctic clade of common ravens (Corvus corax), found throughout much of Eurasia and North America, provides a case study of these stages of intermediate divergence. We used coalescent, phylogenetic, and population genetic methods to investigate the history and current status of this Old World-New World distribution using 107 mitochondrial control region sequences. Phylogenetically, New World and Old World samples are intermixed. However, most samples are grouped into small subclades that are restricted to either the New World or the Old World, and only one haplotype is shared between the hemispheres. Analysis of moleculalr variance (amova) results reflect this low haplotype sharing between hemispheres (Phi(ST) = 0.13, P < 0.01). Isolation with Migration (im) coalescent results suggest a sustained period of divergence between the hemispheres and low levels of maternal gene flow. Although there has not been sufficient time to evolve reciprocal monophyly and some gene flow may occur, New World and Old World ravens are genetically quite distinct. We use this example to demonstrate these early stages of divergence as populations go from sharing only internal haplotypes, to sharing no haplotypes, to having population specific subclades. Studies of phylogeography, speciation and systematics will benefit from increased attention to these stages of intermediate polyphyly.
1. The genetic basis of colour vision in New-World primates differs from that in humans and other Old-World primates. Most New-World primate species show a polymorphism; all males are dichromats and most females trichromats. 2. In the retina of Old-World primates such as the macaque, the physiological correlates of trichromacy are well established. Comparison of the retinae in New- and Old-World species may help constrain hypotheses as to the evolution of colour vision and the pathways associated with it. 3. Ganglion cell behaviour was recorded from trichromatic and dichromatic members of a New-World species (the capuchin monkey, Cebus apella) and compared with macaque data. Despite some differences in quantitative detail (such as a temporal response extended to higher frequencies), results from trichromatic animals strongly resembled those from the macaque. 4. In particular, cells of the parvocellular (PC) pathway showed characteristic frequency-dependent changes in responsivity to luminance and chromatic modulation, cells of the magnocellular (MC) pathway showed frequency-doubled responses to chromatic modulation, and the surround of MC cells received a chromatic input revealed on changing the phase of heterochromatically modulated lights. 5. Ganglion cells of dichromats were colour-blind versions of those of trichromats. 6. This strong physiological homology is consistent with a common origin of trichromacy in New- and Old-World monkeys; in the New-World primate the presence of two pigments in the middle-to-long wavelength range permits full expression of the retinal mechanisms of trichromatic vision.
This article explores the pattern of relationships between family World View and adult Health in a community-based sample of 225 families. Family World View refers to the beliefs, appraisals, and values that define a family's orientation to the world. The interrelationships among eight self-reported family World View variables are described, using principal components analyses (PCA) and multidimensional scaling analyses (MDS). Derived, joint-spouse World Views also are examined using inter-battery factor analysis. The World View variables then are analyzed as a set with 14 self-reported health variables for husbands and wives separately, using canonical correlation. The PCAs for family World View yielded poor solutions for both husbands and wives. The MDS displayed the eight variables in a circular pattern for husbands and for wives, indicating the absence of a single broad dimension, or subgroupings of separate dimensions, that could be used to "describe" the domain. In the canonical analyses, family World View was a strong correlate of Health, with approximately 50% of the variance accounted for by the respective canonical variates. For husbands, what we called Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, Family Life Engagement, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. For wives, Family Coherence, Family Religiousness, and Family Optimism, were correlated with Health. Different patterns of health scores emerged by gender, with behavioral indicators, such as Smoking and Drinking, more salient for husbands, and mood indicators, such as Anxiety and Depression, more salient for wives.