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Containing the spread of HIV infection: a world health priority.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the world total of AIDS cases will reach 300,000 by the end of 1988 and 500,000 to 3 million over the next 5 years. AIDS is of special concern to developing countries with their limited, stressed health care systems and the other serious health problems of their populations. Also, AIDS usually strikes the young and productive adults that the economies of these countries can least afford to lose. The Surgeon General of the Public Health Service has challenged the United Nations to make the world's blood supply safe by 1991. Private and public sector leaders could come together, apply the technology and resources available in industrialized countries, and achieve a victory in this facet of the AIDS pandemic. The WHO's global strategy has led to the establishment of national AIDS committees in 151 countries and the preparation of 70 short-term (6-12 months) plans and 25 medium-term (3-5 years) plans for national AIDS control programs.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Introduction to world health statistics quarterly special issue on public health implications of aging.

The health services in most of the World Health Organization's Member States are directed at improving the wellbeing of families through improved maternal and child health, the control of poverty-related diseases and fertility regulation. Indeed, for the least developed countries, these are all-absorbing concerns. However many developing countries have shaken free from the legacy of shortened life expectancy and have begun to achieve declines in fertility. As a consequence, aging persons who previously were barely visible as a group, now feature more prominently in families, neighborhoods and communities. In effect, we are seeing the emergence of a sizeable human group-persons aged 60 and above-which, almost everywhere in the world, is the fastest growing age group of all. Increasing longevity is a subject of concern in the industrialized world also, where the attention of demographers is beginning to focus on shifts in mortality at advanced age, in view of the consequences to health and social policies of increasing survival.

Aged↗

Market commodities and poor relief: the world bank proposal for health.

Investing in Health is the World Bank's blueprint for a new health policy within the context of structural adjustment. While this document includes a broad range of arguments, its implicit premises are neoliberal as can be deduced from its "agenda for action." Health is defined as a private responsibility and health care as a private good. This leads to a health policy based on two complementary principles: the reduction of state intervention and public responsibility, and the promotion of diversity and competition (i.e., privatization). Thus, public institutions should provide only a limited number of public goods and narrowly defined, cost-efficient forms of relief for the poor. All other health-related activities are considered private duties, to be resolved by the market, NGOs, or families. The World Bank policy provides a pragmatic contribution to efforts to achieve fiscal balance. However, it also pushes to recommodify health care and to turn health into a terrain for capital accumulation through the selective privatization of health-related financial and "discretionary" services. The proposal implies large-scale experimentation and dismantling of public institutions which are the only alternative now accessible to the majority. It rejects health as a human need and a social right, and violates basic values by claiming that life and death decisions can be justly made by the market or through a cost-effectiveness formula.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗

The philosophical, cultural, and historical aspects of complementary, alternative, unconventional, and integrative medicine in the Old World.

BACKGROUND: Complementary, alternative, unconventional, and integrative medicine are types of natural medicine that have been known and practiced ever since the recording of history, and in particular in the Old World. This has been rediscovered in many countries, including the New World and especially in the United States. In this review, the philosophical, cultural, and historical aspects are discussed, and the many types of alternative medical practices are mentioned. OBSERVATIONS: The study of complementary medicine shows that evidence required the medical establishment to take unconventional therapies more seriously, and realize that their use alongside traditional medicine, is rapidly increasing. CONCLUSIONS: Complementary medicine is a formal method of health care in most countries of the Old World and is expected to become integrated in the modern medical system and to be part of the medical curriculum and the teaching programs of medical institutions as well. Issues of efficacy and safety of complementary medicine have become increasingly important and supervision of the techniques and procedures used is required. More research studies are needed to understand and use this type of medicine.

Asia↗

Impact of torture on refugees displaced within the developing world: symptomatology among Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

CONTEXT: Most of the world's refugees are displaced within the developing world. The impact of torture on such refugees is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of torture on Bhutanese refugees in Nepal. DESIGN: Case-control survey. Interviews were conducted by local physicians and included demographics, questions related to the torture experienced, a checklist of 40 medical complaints, and measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. SETTING: Bhutanese refugee community in the United Nations refugee camps in the Terai in eastern Nepal. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of 526 tortured refugees and a control group of 526 nontortured refugees matched for age and sex. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Revised Third Edition (DSM-III-R) criteria for PTSD and the Hopkins Symptom Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) for depression and anxiety. RESULTS: The 2 groups were similar on most demographic variables. The tortured refugees, as a group, suffered more on 15 of 17 DSM-III-RPTSD symptoms (P<.005) and had higher HSCL-25 anxiety and depression scores (P<.001) than nontortured refugees. Logistic regression analysis showed that history of torture predicted PTSD symptoms (odds ratio [OR], 4.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7-8.0), depression symptoms (OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4-2.6), and anxiety symptoms (OR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9). Torture survivors who were Buddhist were less likely to be depressed (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9) or anxious (OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.4-1.0). Those who were male were less likely to experience anxiety (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.44-1.00). Tortured refugees also presented more musculoskeletal system- and respiratory system-related complaints (P<.001 for both). CONCLUSION: Torture plays a significant role in the development of PTSD, depression, and anxiety symptoms among refugees from Bhutan living in the developing world.

Adult↗

Obesity in Pima Indians: large increases among post-World War II birth cohorts.

Several studies have shown secular increases in obesity during the past 35 years, and others have reported increases in dietary fat consumption during the same period. Here we report a dramatic increase in obesity among Pima Indians born after World War II that appears to be associated with increased exposure to Western customs and diet following 1945. We examined the body mass index (BMI = weight in kilograms/height2 in meters) of 1,128 male and 1,372 female Pima Indians aged 15-65 years who were born between 1901 and 1964 and were examined between 1965 and 1990. We found large increases in BMI among Pima Indian men and women in post-World War II birth cohorts (1945 and later). The parallel changes in body mass index, dietary fat, and exposure to Western culture following World War II suggest that culturally mediated changes in diet and level of physical activity associated with modern industrialized society may have led to the large increases in obesity in the Pima Indians and to smaller parallel changes observed worldwide in westernized countries.

Acculturation↗

Distribution of the four founding lineage haplotypes in Native Americans suggests a single wave of migration for the New World.

The distribution of the four founding lineage haplogroups in Native Americans from North, Central, and South America shows a north to south increase in the frequency of lineage B and a North to South decrease in the frequency of lineage A. All four founding lineage haplogroups were detected in North, Central, and South America, and in Greenberg et al.'s ([1986] Curr. Anthropol. 27:477-497) three major linguistic groups (Amerind, NaDene, and Eskaleut), with all four haplogroups often found within a single population. Lineage A was the most common lineage in North America, regardless of language group. This overall distribution is most parsimonious with a single wave of migration into the New World which included multiple variants of all four founding lineage types. Torroni et al.'s ([1993a] Am. J. Hum. Genet. 53:563-590) report that lineage B has a more recent divergence time than the other three lineages can best be explained by multiple variants of lineages A, C, and D, and fewer variants of lineage B entering the New World. Alternatively, there could have been multiple waves of migration from a single parent population in Asia/Siberia which repeatedly reintroduced the same lineages to the New World.

Americas↗

Bipolar cell diversity in the primate retina: morphologic and immunocytochemical analysis of a new world monkey, the marmoset Callithrix jacchus.

The aim of this study was to identify the bipolar cell types in the retina of a New World monkey, the common marmoset, and compare them with those found in the Old World macaque monkey. Retinal whole-mounts, sections, or both, were stained by using DiI labeling and immunohistochemical methods. Semithin sections were analyzed by using quantitative methods. We show that the same morphologic types of bipolar cell as described for the Old World macaque monkey by Boycott and Wässle (Boycott and Wässle [1991] Eur. J. Neurosci. 3:1069-1088) are present in marmoset retina: two types of midget bipolar cells, six type of diffuse bipolar cells, a blue cone bipolar cell, and one type of rod bipolar cell. The pattern of staining with different immunohistochemical markers ("fingerprint") of each bipolar cell type in marmoset was also the same as described for macaque, with one exception: the flat midget bipolar cell (FMB) class is labeled by antibodies to recoverin in macaque but is labeled by antibodies to CD15 in marmoset. The labeled FMB cells in marmoset make contact with multiple cone photoreceptors throughout most of the extrafoveal retina. The spatial density of bipolar cells in marmoset is shown to be sufficient to support one-to-one connectivity of midget bipolar and ganglion cells in the fovea and to allow for parallel pathways to ganglion cells throughout the retina. Quantitative differences in the morphology and receptor connectivity between marmoset and macaque can be related to differences in cone and rod photoreceptor density between the species. We conclude that bipolar cell diversity is a preserved feature of the primate retina.

ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters↗

Resolving the organization of the New World monkey third visual complex: the dorsal extrastriate cortex of the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).

We tested current hypotheses on the functional organization of the third visual complex, a particularly controversial region of the primate extrastriate cortex. In anatomical experiments, injections of retrograde tracers were placed in the dorsal cortex immediately rostral to the second visual area (V2) of New World monkeys (Callithrix jacchus), revealing the topography of interconnections between the "third tier" cortex and the primary visual area (V1). The data indicate the presence of a dorsomedial area (DM), which represents the entire upper and lower quadrants of the visual field, and which receives strong, topographically organized projections from the superficial layers of V1. The visuotopic organization and boundaries of DM were confirmed by electrophysiological recordings in the same animals and by architectural characteristics which were distinct from those found in ventral extrastriate cortex rostral to V2. There was no electrophysiological or histological evidence for a transitional area between V2 and DM. In particular, the central representation of the upper quadrant in DM was directly adjacent to the representation of the horizontal meridian that marks the rostral border of V2. The present results argue in favor of the hypothesis that the third visual complex in New World monkeys contains different areas in its dorsal and ventral components: area DM, near the dorsal midline, and a homolog of area 19 of other mammals, located more lateral and ventrally. The characteristics of DM suggest that it may correspond to visual area 6 (V6) of Old World monkeys.

Action Potentials↗

Ocular dominance columns and retinal projections in New World spider monkeys (Ateles ater).

Retinal projections and the degree of ocular segregation in the striate cortex were examined by transneuronal autoradiography following unilateral intraocular injections of 3H-proline in a New World primate, the spider monkey (Ateles ater). The results show that, within the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), retinal fibers terminate in six principal layers and within the interlaminar spaces adjacent to the magnocellular layers, as well as the S layers ventral to the magnocellular layers. Projections to the superior colliculus, both ipsilateral and contralateral to the injected eye, were patchy and restricted to the superficial gray layer. Our main result shows that, in the striate cortex, LGN projections terminate in well-defined ocular dominance columns in layer IV. Labelled columns were most clearly delimited in layer IVb, where they averaged 373 + 42 micron in width in both the ipsilateral and contralateral hemispheres, slightly smaller than those reported originally from electrophysiological studies of striate cortex in spider monkeys (Hubel and Wiesel, '68). Unlabelled intercolumns were significantly narrower than labelled columns, which suggests that there may be overlap between input from the two eyes between columns. Quantitative measures showed above-background label also in cortical layers IIIb, V, and VI. Our results support the idea that among primates, ocular dominance columns are not limited to Old World species. At the same time, it is apparent that spider monkeys are exceptional among New World primates in having sharply delimited columns. The functional significance of the variation in the degree of ocular segregation in the cortex and its relation to primate evolution are discussed.

Animals↗

Verification of statements about story worlds that deviate from normal conceptions of time: what is true about Einstein's Dreams?

College students read chapters from a novel written by Alan Lightman (Einstein's Dreams) and later provided verification judgments on the truth/falsity of test statements. Each chapter described a different fictional village that incorporated assumptions about time that deviate from our normal TIME schema, e.g., citizens knowing exactly when the world will end, time flowing backward instead of forward. These novel assumptions about time provided interesting insights about life and reality. In two experiments, we examined whether readers could accurately incorporate these novel assumptions about time in the fictional story worlds, as manifested in the verification judgments for statements after story comprehension. The test statements included verbatim typical, verbatim atypical, inference typical, and inference atypical information from the perspective of mundane reality that meshes with a normal TIME schema. Verification ratings were collected on a 6-point scale in Experiment 1, whereas Experiment 2 used a signal-response technique in which binary true/false decisions were extracted at-.5, 1.5, 3.5, 5.5, and 10.0 s. The college students were measured on literary expertise, reading skill, working memory span, and reading time. Readers with comparatively high literary expertise showed truth discrimination scores that were compatible with a schema copy plus tag model, which assumes that readers are good at detecting and remembering atypical verbatim information; this model predicts better (and faster) truth discrimination for verbatim atypical statements than for verbatim typical statements. In contrast, fast readers with comparatively low literary expertise were compatible with a filtering model; this model predicts that readers gloss over (or suppress) atypical verbatim information and show advantages for verbatim typical information. All groups of readers had trouble inferentially propagating the novel assumptions about time in a fictional story world, but the slower readers were more accurate in their verification of the atypical inferences. A construction-integration model could explain the interactions among literary expertise, reading time, and the typicality of test statements.

Humans↗

Sequence and evolution of the blue cone pigment gene in Old and New World primates.

The sequences of the blue cone photopigments in the talapoin monkey (Miopithecus talapoin), an Old World primate, and in the marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a New World monkey, are presented. Both genes are composed of 5 exons separated by 4 introns. In this respect, they are identical to the human blue gene, and intron sizes are also similar. Based on the level of amino acid identity, both monkey pigments are members of the S branch of pigments. Alignment of these sequences with the human gene requires the insertion/deletion of two separate codons in exon 1. The silent site divergence between these primate blue genes indicates a separation of the Old and New World primate lineages around 43 million years ago.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Is the United States country zero for the First-World AIDS epidemic?

The incidence for AIDS per hundred thousand is several times higher in the United States than in the rest of the First World. Earlier work by Thompson (1984, 1989a, b, 1990, 1998) indicated that a relatively small proportion of gay males frequenting the bathhouses in the United States, drove AIDS over the epidemiological threshold in the U.S. It is shown that the rate of growth of AIDS is essentially the same for the United States and other First-World countries. An argument is advanced, based on WHO AIDS data, to the effect that it is contact with the pool of infectives in the United States that drives the epidemic in other First-World Countries.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Aura virus is a New World representative of Sindbis-like viruses.

Aura virus is an alphavirus present in Brazil and Argentina that is serologically related to Sindbis virus (present throughout the Old World) and to Western equine encephalitis (WEE) virus (present in the Americas). We have previously shown that WEE is a recombinant virus whose glycoproteins and part of whose 3' nontranslated region (NTR) are derived from a Sindbis-like virus, but the remainder of whose genome is derived from Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus. We show here that Aura virus is a Sindbis-like virus that shares considerable organizational and sequence identity with Sindbis virus. Certain nucleotide sequence elements present in Aura RNA that are believed to function as promoters are almost identical to their Sindbis counterparts, repeated elements in the 3' nontranslated region are shared with Sindbis virus, and important antigenic epitopes are conserved between the two viruses. Despite their close relationship, the two viruses have diverged significantly, sharing 73% amino acid sequence identity in the nonstructural proteins and 62% identity in the structural proteins. This is about the same as the identities between EEE and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, whose promoter elements, 3' NTRs, and antigenic epitopes have diverged more radically, such that these two viruses are considered to belong to different subgroups. Importantly, the glycoproteins of WEE are more closely related to those of Sindbis than to those of Aura virus. From this we propose that an ancestral Sindbis-like virus present in the Americas (probably South America) diverged 1000-2000 years ago into a lineage that gave rise to Aura virus and a lineage that gave rise to Sindbis virus and to the Sindbis-like parent of WEE. At some time after this divergence, a Sindbis-like virus belonging to the latter lineage was transferred to the Old World where it gave rise to Sindbis viruses distributed throughout the Old World, and in a separate event a Sindbis-like virus belonging to the same lineage underwent recombination with EEE to give rise to WEE.

Alphavirus↗

The complete sequence of Leishmania RNA virus LRV2-1, a virus of an Old World parasite strain.

A complete cDNA sequence is reported for LRV2-1, the first Leishmania RNA virus known to infect an Old World parasite, Leishmania major. Sequence analyses show that LRV2-1 differs significantly from members of the LRV1 genus which infect New World parasites. The data support a view that transmission of LRV is strictly vertical and suggest that LRV predate the divergence of Old and New World parasites. As a consequence of this divergence, conserved features can be identified for the first time in Leishmaniavirus proteins. A finding that the virus capsid and polymerase genes do not overlap is unique among the known Totiviridae and infers that a gag-pol fusion protein cannot be produced simply via tRNA slippage in LRV2-1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

In vitro immortalization of Old World monkey T lymphocytes with Herpesvirus saimiri: its susceptibility to infection with simian immunodeficiency viruses.

Peripheral blood T lymphocytes of Old World monkeys, rhesus and cynomolgus monkey (Macaca mulatta and Macaca fascicularis, respectively), were successfully immortalized by infection with Herpesvirus saimiri subtype C. The T cell lines were stably cultured without addition of exogenous IL-2. The STP-C488 protein, the oncogene product of subtype C strain 488-77, was detected in these cells by Western blotting. They also expressed some markers of activated or matured T cell phenotypes such as CD2+, monkey Pan-T+, CD25+,CD29+ and MHC-II DR+. Interestingly, not only CD4+CD8- or CD4-CD8+ single positive subpopulations but also CD4+CD8+ double positive ones were present in all of them. Furthermore, they were productively infected with both SIVmac and SIVagm. The levels of the viral replication were comparable to those in human T cell lines. Thus, Herpes Virus Saimiri-immortalized Old World monkey T lymphocytes will be suitable for further studies of immune system in Old World monkeys and cell-virus interactions in SIV infection.

Animals↗

Genetic variation in the New World: ancient teeth, bone, and tissue as sources of DNA.

Examination of ancient and contemporary Native American mtDNA variation via diagnostic restriction sites and the 9-bp Region V deletion suggests a single wave of migration into the New World. This is in contrast to data from Torroni et al. which suggested two waves of migration into the New World (the NaDene and Amerind). All four founding lineage types are present in populations in North, Central, and South America suggesting that all four lineages came over together and spread throughout the New World. Ancient Native American DNA shows that all four lineages were present before European contact in North America, and at least two were present in South America. The presence of all four lineages in the NaDene and the Amerinds argues against separate migrations founding these two groups, although admixture between the groups is still a viable explanation for the presence of all four types in the NaDene.

Bone and Bones↗

Conservation of the deleted-in-azoospermia-like-1 (DAZL1) gene structure in old world monkeys points to a homologous function of DAZL1 in this primate class.

We isolated the complete deleted-in-azoospermia-like-1 (DAZL1) gene of the old world monkey Macaca fascicularis (tentatively designated as MafaDAZL1) and compared its sequence structure to that of the other DAZL1 genes isolated so far. In addition to the homologous RNA recognition motif (RRM domain), we only identified a high conservation of the Mafa-DAZL1 coding region to the mammalian DAZL1 genes (i.e. mouse: Dazl1; and human: DAZL1) and to that of Xenopus (xdazl). Only in the primates, Macaca fascicularis and human, sequences and lengths of the 5' and 3' untranslated DAZL1 gene structures (UTRs) displayed a similar conservation as their coding regions (i.e. 91-94%). Both belong to the primate class of old world monkeys evolutionarily separated 36-55 million years ago (1). The strong conservation of the complete DAZL1 gene structure in both primate species suggests a similar control and maturation pathway of DAZL1 transcripts in the germ line of old world monkeys and also indicates a homologous function of the DAZL1 RNA-binding protein in this primate class.

3' Untranslated Regions↗