At the crossroads of anthropology and epidemiology: current research in cultural psychiatry in the UK

Cultural psychiatry research in the UK comprises a broad range of diverse methodologies, academic disciplines, and subject areas. Methodologies range from epidemiological to anthropological/ethnographic to health services research; mixed methods research is becoming increasingly popular, as are public health and health promotional topics. After briefly outlining the history of cultural psychiatry in the UK we will discuss contemporary research. Prominent themes include: the epidemiology of schizophrenia among Africans/Afro-Caribbeans, migration and mental health, racism and mental health, cultural identity, pathways to care, explanatory models of mental illness, cultural competence, and the subjective experiences of healthcare provision among specific ethnic groups such as Bangladeshis and Pakistanis. Another strand of research that is attracting increasing academic attention focuses upon the relationship between religion, spirituality, and mental health, in particular, the phenomenology of religious experience and its mental health ramifications, as well as recent work examining the complex links between theology and psychiatry. The paper ends by appraising the contributions of British cultural psychiatrists to the discipline of cultural psychiatry and suggesting promising areas for future research.

Generational changes in the growth of children from Maribor and Slovenia

Among the numerous factors which influence a child's growth and development are also factors of changeable socio-economic environment and life style. Our aim was to evaluate these changes and contribute to preventive measures and evaluation of a child's growth in pediatric practice. Therefore, we decided to estimate the state of body growth in two generations of children from Maribor at five and six years of age of both gender, establish secular changes and define standards. On a representative sample (gender and age) of 1461 children from Maribor measured in 1996 and a sample of 608 children from Maribor, measured in 1966, 28 body features were studied and compared in each population unit. Variables were statistically and epidemiologically assessed and results were controlled by a test. The following anthropometric differences were significant: in 5-year old boys the measures in the 1996 generation are statistically higher than in 1966 - foot length, head length, upper arm skinfold, subscapular skinfold, arm length, arm diameter, upper thigh skinfold, stature (length), suprailiac skinfold, and body weight. Decreased measures are: abdomen circumference, knee circumference, sitting height, elbow circumference, biacromial diameter, and face heigth. In 6-year old boys additional features have increased in comparison with the year 1966: sternal height, tight circumference, hip width, chest circumference; following measures have decreased: face height, head circumference. In 5-year old girls: increased measures in comparison with the generation from 1966 are: lower leg length, head length, ankle circumference, upper arm skinfold, body weight, billiac diameter, body height, subscapular skinfold, chest circumference, hip circumference, sternal height, suprailiac skinfold, decreased measures are: head circumference, elbow circumference, face circumference, shoulder with, sitting height. In 6-year old girls additional measures are increased: wrist circumference, arm length and chest circumference. Changing trends show an increased tendency towards decrease or increase of most body measurements. In everyday practice the most commonly used measurements are: body mass, head circumference, body length in babies and body height in pre-school children. Our measurements proved, with a p-value of 0.001, that measurements of children in 1966, also shown in diagrams, are significantly different from measurements in 1996. In the second part of this paper we present a part of the anthropometric measurement study carried out for the standardization of the DENVER II developmental screening test. There were 1596 healthy Slovene children between zero and six and half years of age included into the observation. Children come from Maribor, Koper, Velenje and Ljubljana. We used the Cameron's measurement and statistical method. Diagrams were made for following body measures: body mass, body height, head circumference, upper arm circumference, thigh circumference and body mass index. A comparative analysis with the Euro-Growth study showed that our results correspond with the European standards. Therefore, our results are suggested to be applied in everyday pediatric practice.

Film and television in Croatia today: production, new technologies and the relationship with visual anthropology

This paper seeks to explain some of the most important recent production and technological changes that have affected the relationship between television and film, especially in Croatia, from the aspect of the development of visual anthropology. In the production segment, special attention was given to the role of Croatian television stations in the production of movies, "splitting" the movies into mini-series, interrupting movies with commercial breaks, and to television movies turned into feature films. This paper tries to perceive and define the structure of methodical processes of visual anthropology (reactive process). The development of photographic and film technology and the events which led to the rapid development of visual culture also point to the inseparable duality of observing visual anthropology within reactive and proactive processes, which are indirectly closely related to the technical aspects of these processes. Defining the technical aspect of visual anthropology as such "service" necessarily interferes with the author's approach in the domain of the script and direction related procedures during pre-production, on the field and during post-production of the movie. The author's approach is important because in dependence on it, the desired spectrum of information "output", susceptible to subsequent scientific analysis, is achieved. Lastly, another important segment is the "distributive-technological process" because, regardless of the approach to the anthropologically relevant phenomenon which is being dealt with in an audio-visual piece of work, it is essential that the work be presented and viewed adequately.

Island of Dugi otok through history: ethnohistorical and demographic processes on the island of Dug otok, Croatia

The present paper aims at describing the most relevant background data on geomorphological, economic, ethnohistoric and demographic features of the island of Dugi otok. As an introduction to future holistic anthropological research on the island, it seeks to identify both internal and external impulses of change and/or continuity of the island population structure within a wider socio-cultural and historical context. As migrations and its demographic fluctuations, we also investigate Dugi otok 's most important economic branch - fishery. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into these Dugi otok population's activities. For better understanding of migrations, we include amigration matrix of Dugi otok.

Predictors of collective guilt after the violent conflict

After a violent conflict many post-conflict communities remain ethnically divided and normalization of the inter-group relations is hindered not only by in-group norms and interpretation of past events, but also by collective guilt. Although collective guilt has proved to be an important indicator of post-conflict social repair, more research is needed to define its predictors. This study, conducted in an ethnically divided community, confirmed that collective guilt acceptance and collective guilt assignment in our sample are typical for the post-conflict pattern of intergroup relations--people readily assign guilt to the outgroup but are unwilling to accept the guilt of their in-group. This suggests that the process of community social reconstruction has not considerably progressed. Our findings also suggest that the two aspects of collective guilt--assignment and acceptance--are predicted by similar sets of variables. Both collective guilt assignment and collective guilt acceptance are influenced by identification with in-group which influence is fully or partially mediated with the justification of the in-group's wrongdoings. This indicates that in the post-conflict setting relationship towards the in-group may be more important for experiencing collective guilt than the relationship towards the out-group. Relationship towards out-group, although not crucial, also plays a role in experiencing collective guilt. Specifically, both affect towards and cognitions about out-group members predict collective guilt assignment (with cognition being stronger predictor than positive affect), whereas only (absence of) positive affect predicts acceptance of collective guilt and the cognitive aspect is not predictive.

Beautiful fruits taste good: the aesthetic influences of fruit preferences in humans

Although diversity of fruit/seed colouration has received a great amount of attention since Darwin, little is known about its role in eating preferences in humans. We have determined that humans prefer certain fruits/seeds over others and that their willingness to eat them has been significantly influenced by the perceived aesthetic of the presented fruits and seeds. Participants were unable to discriminate between edible and poisonous fruits/ seeds based on their colour. Females rated all the groups of fruits/seeds as more attractive than males with this supporting the role of females in picking fruit in our evolutionary past. Red fruits were rated as more attractive than green or brown fruits. The results support the idea that fruit/seed colouration plays an important role in plant--disperser coevolution and that aesthetic judgment in humans have been shaped by natural selection.

A pilot study comparing furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide in patients with hypertension and stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease

Furosemide is the diuretic of choice for the treatment of hypertension in chronic kidney disease but the adaptative changes in the distal nephron may decrease its efficacy. Hydrochlorothiazide is not believed to be efficient in this setting. In a randomized, double-blind, cross-over trial, 23 patients with hypertension and stage 4 or 5 chronic kidney disease received long-acting furosemide (60 mg) and hydrochlorothiazide (25 mg) for 3 months and then both diuretics for 3 months. Sodium and chloride fractional excretions were measured after 3 months of each diuretic and then after their association. A trend towards an increase in the fractional excretion of sodium and chloride was observed with furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide (P=not significant). The association of the two diuretics increased the fractional excretions of sodium and chloride from 3.4±1.8 to 4.9±2.8 and from 3.8±2.0 to 6.0±3.1, respectively (P<.05). Furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide decreased mean blood pressure by the same extent. The association of the two diuretics was more efficient on blood pressure. There were no differences between furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide with respect to natriuresis and blood pressure control in patients with hypertension and chronic kidney disease.

Darkness’s descent on the American Anthropological Association. A cautionary tale

In September 2000, the self-styled “anthropological journalist” Patrick Tierney began to make public his work claiming that the Yanomamö people of South America had been actively—indeed brutally—harmed by the sociobiological anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and the geneticist-physician James Neel. Following a florid summary of Tierney’s claims by the anthropologists Terence Turner and Leslie Sponsel, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) saw fit to take Tierney’s claims seriously by conducting a major investigation into the matter. This paper focuses on the AAA’s problematic actions in this case but also provides previously unpublished information on Tierney’s falsehoods. The work presented is based on a year of research by a historian of medicine and science. The author intends the work to function as a cautionary tale to scholarly associations, which have the challenging duty of protecting scholarship and scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges in the era of the Internet and twenty-four-hour news cycles.

Biochemical characterization of major bone-matrix proteins using nanoscale-size bone samples and proteomics methodology

There is growing evidence supporting the need for a broad scale investigation of the proteins and protein modifications in the organic matrix of bone and the use of these measures to predict fragility fractures. However, limitations in sample availability and high heterogeneity of bone tissue cause unique experimental and/or diagnostic problems. We addressed these by an innovative combination of laser capture microscopy with our newly developed liquid chromatography separation methods, followed by gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry analysis. Our strategy allows in-depth analysis of very limited amounts of bone material, and thus, can be important to medical sciences, biology, forensic, anthropology, and archaeology. The developed strategy permitted unprecedented biochemical analyses of bone-matrix proteins, including collagen modifications, using nearly nanoscale amounts of exceptionally homogenous bone tissue. Dissection of fully mineralized bone-tissue at such degree of homogeneity has not been achieved before. Application of our strategy established that: (1) collagen in older interstitial bone contains higher levels of an advanced glycation end product pentosidine then younger osteonal tissue, an observation contrary to the published data; (2) the levels of two enzymatic crosslinks (pyridinoline and deoxypiridinoline) were higher in osteonal than interstitial tissue and agreed with data reported by others; (3) younger osteonal bone has higher amount of osteopontin and osteocalcin then older interstitial bone and this has not been shown before. Taken together, these data show that the level of fluorescent crosslinks in collagen and the amount of two major noncollagenous bone matrix proteins differ at the level of osteonal and interstitial tissue. We propose that this may have important implications for bone remodeling processes and bone microdamage formation.

Testing for divergent transmission histories among cultural characters: a study using Bayesian phylogenetic methods and Iranian tribal textile data

BACKGROUND

Archaeologists and anthropologists have long recognized that different cultural complexes may have distinct descent histories, but they have lacked analytical techniques capable of easily identifying such incongruence. Here, we show how bayesian phylogenetic analysis can be used to identify incongruent cultural histories. We employ the approach to investigate Iranian tribal textile traditions.

METHODS

We used bayes factor comparisons in a phylogenetic framework to test two models of cultural evolution: the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis and the multiple coherent units hypothesis. In the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis, a core tradition of characters evolves through descent with modification and characters peripheral to the core are exchanged among contemporaneous populations. In the multiple coherent units hypothesis, a core tradition does not exist. Rather, there are several cultural units consisting of sets of characters that have different histories of descent.

RESULTS

For the Iranian textiles, the bayesian phylogenetic analyses supported the multiple coherent units hypothesis over the hierarchically integrated system hypothesis. Our analyses suggest that pile-weave designs represent a distinct cultural unit that has a different phylogenetic history compared to other textile characters.

CONCLUSIONS

The results from the Iranian textiles are consistent with the available ethnographic evidence, which suggests that the commercial rug market has influenced pile-rug designs but not the techniques or designs incorporated in the other textiles produced by the tribes. We anticipate that bayesian phylogenetic tests for inferring cultural units will be of great value for researchers interested in studying the evolution of cultural traits including language, behavior, and material culture.

Anthropological neurology: symptoms and their meanings according to Joseph Prick (1909-1978)

This article describes the life and work of the Dutch neurologist Joseph Prick (1909-1978) and his idea of an anthropological neurology. According to Prick, neurological symptoms should not only be explained from an underlying physico-chemical substrate but also be regarded as meaningful. We present an outline of the historical and philosophical context of his ideas with a focus on the theory of the human body by the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961) and the concept of anthropology-based medicine developed by Frederik Buytendijk (1887-1974). We give an overview of anthropological neurology as a clinical practice and finally we discuss the value of Prick's approach for clinical neurology today.

Lucy's flat feet: the relationship between the ankle and rearfoot arching in early hominins

BACKGROUND

In the Plio-Pleistocene, the hominin foot evolved from a grasping appendage to a stiff, propulsive lever. Central to this transition was the development of the longitudinal arch, a structure that helps store elastic energy and stiffen the foot during bipedal locomotion. Direct evidence for arch evolution, however, has been somewhat elusive given the failure of soft-tissue to fossilize. Paleoanthropologists have relied on footprints and bony correlates of arch development, though little consensus has emerged as to when the arch evolved.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Here, we present evidence from radiographs of modern humans (n = 261) that the set of the distal tibia in the sagittal plane, henceforth referred to as the tibial arch angle, is related to rearfoot arching. Non-human primates have a posteriorly directed tibial arch angle, while most humans have an anteriorly directed tibial arch angle. Those humans with a posteriorly directed tibial arch angle (8%) have significantly lower talocalcaneal and talar declination angles, both measures of an asymptomatic flatfoot. Application of these results to the hominin fossil record reveals that a well developed rearfoot arch had evolved in Australopithecus afarensis. However, as in humans today, Australopithecus populations exhibited individual variation in foot morphology and arch development, and "Lucy" (A.L. 288-1), a 3.18 Myr-old female Australopithecus, likely possessed asymptomatic flat feet. Additional distal tibiae from the Plio-Pleistocene show variation in tibial arch angles, including two early Homo tibiae that also have slightly posteriorly directed tibial arch angles.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE

This study finds that the rearfoot arch was present in the genus Australopithecus. However, the female Australopithecus afarensis "Lucy" has an ankle morphology consistent with non-pathological flat-footedness. This study suggests that, as in humans today, there was variation in arch development in Plio-Pleistocene hominins.

[Culture and nursing care, from a biomedical to an anthropological approach]

Nursing training and practice have for a long time taken a biomedical approach to disease and the body, which fails to guarantee treatment which takes into account the differences of each patient. With transcultural healthcare theories and practices, partly inspired by anthropology, patients are explicitly considered as subjects whose experiences are a result of cultural, ethnic and social dimensions.

Toward a theory of deaf ethnos: deafnicity -- D/deaf (Homaemon - Homoglosson - Homothreskon)

Should ethnicity be used to interpret relations between the Deaf community and the hearing people? Recent scholarship questioning the merits of Deaf ethnicity suggests a need to reexamine the use of ethnicity when describing Deaf identity and culture. This article provides an overview of key contributions to race and ethnicity discourse in the 20th century, identifies epistemological and ontological errors to avoid, suggests adherence to the classical Greek concept of ethnos as an alternative to ethnie, and argues for the continuing significance of Deaf ethnicity. Specifically, I propose that Deaf ethnicity is a triadic relational nexus that approximates communities of origin, language, and religion. This is expressed as Deafnicity approximately D/deaf (Hómaemon * Homóglosson * Homóthreskon). Deafnicity offers a promising alternative for examining relations between Deaf and hearing communities, exploring variance between nationalized Deaf communities, and expanding our understanding of audism.

Molecular anthropology in the genomic era

Molecular Anthropology is a relatively young field of research. In fact, less than 50 years have passed since the symposium "Classification and Human Evolution" (1962, Burg Wartenstein, Austria), where the term was formally introduced by Emil Zuckerkandl. In this time, Molecular Anthropology has developed both methodologically and theoretically and extended its applications, so covering key aspects of human evolution such as the reconstruction of the history of human populations and peopling processes, the characterization of DNA in extinct humans and the role of adaptive processes in shaping the genetic diversity of our species. In the current scientific panorama, molecular anthropologists have to face a double challenge. As members of the anthropological community, we are strongly committed to the integration of biological findings and other lines of evidence (e.g. linguistic and archaeological), while keeping in line with methodological innovations which are moving the approach from the genetic to the genomic level. In this framework, the meeting "DNA Polymorphisms in Human Populations: Molecular Anthropology in the Genomic Era" (Rome, December 3-5, 2009) offered an opportunity for discussion among scholars from different disciplines, while paying attention to the impact of recent methodological innovations. Here we present an overview of the meeting and discuss perspectives and prospects of Molecular Anthropology in the genomic era.

Fieldwork: man in the system of nature and priority of natural laws in human life

Fieldwork is a branch of inseparable unity of natural and humanitarian sciences; it is aimed at the cultural origin of humanity on the maximum level of its variety. Practically all natural sciences have some space determined by ethnic conscience in nature cognition: ethnodemography, ethnobotany, ethnozoology, etc. Fieldwork guides the research of human culture from the laws of nature. This kind of knowledge is useful to balance human relations with nature and avoid conflicts. Peoples should exchange their wisdom in the dialogue with nature to be more safe. Fieldwork understood as traditional culture only, explaining the variety of ethnoses on our earth, is just the narrow and diachronic level of this branch of knowledge. The cosmological knowledge, where fantasy and not exhausted in its cognition understanding the world of nature are mixed, forms the source of fieldwork and in many respects explains the direction of knowledge: the man finds himself under the open sky, he is the child of nature. Then as time went on there appeared a gradual transition--first nature was creating the man, then by and by he began turning to answer nature by his activity. Nowadays the man is actively creating nature. There are two levels of fieldwork: the ancient one which deals with the origin of ethnoses and the modern one which explores how contemporary life is determined by ethnic specific traits. Fieldwork is the core of multidisciplinary situation in man's knowledge. It is related to such humanitarian sciences: semiotics, culturology, sociology, history, philosophy, literature, linguistics. In the cycle of natural sciences fieldwork stands close to anthropology, geography, biology, demography. Fieldwork as a science has the two main levels--the "sophy" level and the logos "level". The first one discovers wisdom of human life, the second one is aimed at logical structuring of knowledge, here proceed various classifications of peoples.

How old are you now?

Cherkas et al. provide a new, biological approach to a classic problem in anthropology--the estimation of age.