During the past several years there has been a shortage of flight opportunities for biological and medical projects. And those that were available usually had severe restrictions on instrumentation, number of subjects, duration, time allotted for performing the experiments, a possibility for repetition of experiments. It is our hope and expectation that this will change once the international Space Station is in full operation. The advantages of a permanent space station, already demonstrated by the Russian Mir station, are continuous availability of expert crew and a wide range of equipment, possibility of long-term experiments where this is waranted, increased numbers of subjects through larger laboratory space, proper controls in the large 1-G centrifuge, easier repeatability of experiments when needed.
The limited number of flight opportunities during recent years probably explains why it has taken so long to acquire a sufficient number of high quality contributions for this seventh volume of Advances in Space Biology and Medicine. While initially the series wassailed at annually appearing volumes, we are now down to a biannual appearance. Hopefully, it will be possible to return to annual volumes in the future when results from space station experimentation at beginning to pour in.
The first three chapters of this volume deal with muscle. Fejtek and Wassersug provide a survey of all studies on muscle of rodents flown in space, and include an interesting demography of this aspect of space research. Riley reviews our current knowledge of the effects of long-term spaceflight and re-entry on skeletal muscle, and considers the questions still to be answered before we can be satisfied that long-term space missions, such as on the space station, can be safely undertaken. Stein reviews our understanding of the nutritional and hormonal aspects of muscle loss in spaceflight, and concludes that the protein loss in space could be deleterious to health during flight and after return. Strollo summarizes our understanding of the major endocrine systems on the ground, then considers what we know about their functioning in space, concluding that there is much to be learned about the changes taking place during spaceflight. The many problems of providing life support (oxygen regeneration and food supply) during extended stay on the Moon, on Mars, or in space by means of plant cultivation are discussed by Salisbury. The challenges of utilizing electrophoresis in microgravity for the separation of cells and proteins are illustrated and explained by Bauer and colleagues. Finally, the chapter on teaching of space life sciences by Schmitt shows that this field of science has come of age, but also that its multidisciplinary character poses interesting challenges to teaching it.

The field of medical anthropology is a discipline that incorporates the perspective of a wide range of approaches--from anthropologists, sociologists, epidemiologists, physicians, nurses, public health administrators, biologists, and many others, including the general public--to health care. This approach places culture and cultural relativism at the forefront and center of every model, and examines the ethics and fairness of health care issues associated with the African American population.

The author examines data on mortality, census, preventive health, alternative medical practices, clinical research, and intervention from a comprehensive perspective. Finally, fieldwork in a public health department setting provides the medical anthropologist with a unique opportunity to investigate cultural and health issues of a particular population in a public health setting. The author explains the steps and procedures for conducting an applied medical anthropological study, based on his experience doing fieldwork projects over the past 15 years.

In this broad condemnation of multiculturalism, the author works to uncover pernicious errors in the arguments of diversity's proponents and to sound a warning against the dire consequences for American culture if the tenets of political correctness are incorporated into our social structure. Schmidt begins by exposing multiculturalism, not as a movement aimed at expanding democratic ideals, but rather as a crypto-Marxist political ideology that seeks to import Marxist concepts into social and cultural institutions. Subsequent chapters then illuminate a number of dismaying trends: a tendency toward historical revisionism in multiculturalist arguments, the sly linguistic maneuvering and limits on speech that characterize political correctness, and the dismantling of the traditional image of the family unit-the primary building block of American society. Schmidt concludes with a rousing admonition to expel from our midst the latter-day Trojan horse that is multiculturalism. Casting a troubled glance over the list of social ills plaguing America today-besieged inner cities, divisive racial politics, diminishing educational standards, and rampant divorce and illegitimacy-we have cause to wonder whether the advocates of multiculturalism represent the solution or the source of the problem. In this rousing condemnation of the multiculturalist agenda, the author fixes an unflinching critical gaze on the subtle deceptions and wrongheaded conclusions at work in the arguments for cultural pluralism, moral relativism, and political correctness. An exhaustive and damning account of multiculturalism's wages and a compelling argument for the importance of traditional American values make this book essential reading for anyone concerned about our country's present plight and future prospects.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book examines the concept of care and care practices in healthcare from the interdisciplinary perspectives of continental philosophy, care ethics, the social sciences, and anthropology. Areas addressed include dementia care, midwifery, diabetes care, psychiatry, and reproductive medicine. Special attention is paid to ambivalences and tensions within both the concept of care and care practices. Contributions in the first section of the book explore phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches to care and reveal historical precursors to care ethics. Empirical case studies and reflections on care in institutionalised and standardised settings form the second section of the book. The concluding chapter, jointly written by many of the contributors, points at recurring challenges of understanding and practicing care that open up the field for further research and discussion. This collection will be of great value to scholars and practitioners of medicine, ethics, philosophy, social science and history.

The leading scholars in the rapidly-growing field of language evolution give readable accounts of their theories on the origins of language and reflect on the most important current issues and debates. As well as providing a guide to their own published research in this area they highlight what they see as the most relevant research of others. The authors come from a wide range of disciplines involved in language evolution including linguistics, cognitive science, computational science, primatology, and archaeology.

In the wake of structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and health reforms in the 1990s, the majority of sub-Saharan African governments spend less than ten dollars per capita on health annually, and many Africans have limited access to basic medical care. Using a community-level approach, anthropologist Ellen E. Foley analyzes the implementation of global health policies and how they become intertwined with existing social and political inequalities in Senegal. ""Your Pocket Is What Cures You"" examines qualitative shifts in health and healing spurred by these reforms, and analyzes the dilemmas they create for health professionals and patients alike. It also explores how cultural frameworks, particularly those stemming from Islam and Wolof ethnomedicine, are central to understanding how people manage vulnerability to ill health. While offering a critique of neoliberal health policies, ""Your Pocket Is What Cures You"" remains grounded in ethnography to highlight the struggles of men and women who are precariously balanced on twin precipices of crumbling health systems and economic decline. Their stories demonstrate what happens when market-based health reforms collide with material, political, and social realities in African societies.

Living organisms exhibit specific responses when confronted with sudden changes in their environmental conditions. The ability of the cells to acclimate to their new environment is the integral driving force for adaptive modification of the cells. Such adaptation involves a number of cellular and biochemical alteration including metabolic homeostasis and reprogramming of gene expression. Changes in metabolic pathways are generally short-lived and reversible, while the consequences of gene expression are a long-term process and may lead to permanent alternation in the pattern of adaptive responses.
The heart possesses remarkable ability to adapt itself against any stressful situation by increasing resistance to the adverse consequences. Stress composes the foundation of many degenerative heart diseases including atherosclerosis, spasm, thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and congestive heart failure. Based on the concept that excessive stress may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease, attempts were made to design methods for preventing of myocardial injury. Creation of stress reactions by repeated ischemia and reperfusion or subjecting the hearts to heat or oxidative stress enables them to meet the future stress challenge. Repeated stress exposures adapt the heart to withstand more severe stress reactions probably by upregulating the cellular defense and direct accumulation of intracellular mediators, which presumably constitute the material basis of increased adaptation to stress. Thus, the powerful cardioprotective effect of adaptation is likely to originate at the cellular and molecular levels that compose fundamental processes in the prophylaxis of such diseases.
Volume six of the Advances in Organ Biology series contains state-of-the-art reviews on myocardial preservation and cellular adaptation from the leading authorities in this subject.

La comunidad Latina, the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, has long been told that assimilation is the only way to succeed in American society. This book challenges that generally accepted view and concludes instead that transformation as a way of life is the only viable option for the Latino community as a whole, regardless of racial, class, regional, or religious differences. It highlights how in the everyday life of la comunidad Latina the members of the community can recognize the underlying ways of life, the stories, and the patterns of relationships that cripple them, and how to break with these ways of life, stories, and relationships to create fundamentally more loving and compassionate alternatives.

Along with all men and women, Latinos and Latinas face four choices: retaining a blind loyalty to a romanticized past, assimilating, violating each other, or transforming their ethnic and racial group for the better. This examination of the underlying sacred meaning of the stories of the Latino culture attempts to determine whether these stories are destructive or creative. Now coming of age, la comunidad Latina, previously wounded by assimilation, continues to tell its story in art, literature, history, and religion so that the world may, perhaps for the first time, see its personal, political, historical, and sacred faces. The most important story now being lived is that of Latina women and Latino men who are making choices that will determine the ultimate meaning of a new Latino culture in this nation.

A breakthrough theory that tools and technology are the real drivers of human evolution. Although humans are one of the great apes, along with chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans, we are remarkably different from them. Unlike our cousins who subsist on raw food, spend their days and nights outdoors, and wear a thick coat of hair, humans are entirely dependent on artificial things, such as clothing, shelter, and the use of tools, and would die in nature without them. Yet, despite our status as the weakest ape, we are the masters of this planet. Given these inherent deficits, how did humans come out on top? In this fascinating new account of our origins, leading archaeologist Timothy Taylor proposes a new way of thinking about human evolution through our relationship with objects. Drawing on the latest fossil evidence, Taylor argues that at each step of our species' development, humans made choices that caused us to assume greater control of our evolution. Our appropriation of objects allowed us to walk upright, lose our body hair, and grow significantly larger brains. As we push the frontiers of scientific technology, creating prosthetics, intelligent implants, and artificially modified genes, we continue a process that started in the prehistoric past, when we first began to extend our powers through objects. Weaving together lively discussions of major discoveries of human skeletons and artifacts with a reexamination of Darwin's theory of evolution, Taylor takes us on an exciting and challenging journey that begins to answer the fundamental question about our existence: what makes humans unique, and what does that mean for our future?

In the late 1800s W.E.B. Dubois asked what it really means to be black in America. He raised the spectre of divided loyalties and the blurring of individuality that he called "Double Consciousness". This volume offers an insight into this "dilemma of identity" by asking the seemingly rhetorical question, what does O.J. Simpson have in common with the participants in the Million Man March, the jury that set him free, the people who inexplicably cheered his acquittal, the prosecuting attorney, the black Muslim Louis Farrakhan, or with his own children? Each case involves cross-cutting currents of age, sex, religion, race, ethnicity, class and ideology. But what they share among themselves, and with the rest of the nation, is the firm conviction that they are black. The author aims to reveal the importance of this imaginary bond, this ethnic ethic, this myth of black ethnicity. He explores its creation, its evolution and its role in linking together the many generations of blacks in America. Dr Davis also seeks to show: how this myth connects the slave huts of Alabama to O.J.'s Brentwood estate; how it connects him to his jury emancipators; how it connects Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to discussions of affirmative action; and how it connects an ancient Juffure villager named Kunta Kinte to contemporary slum dwellers in Harlem. The book argues that it is not race that ties these diverse millions together, but a co-operatively developed paradigm shared by blacks and non-blacks alike as to what constitutes an authentic black existence. By de-bunking the myth, the author seeks to point the way to a fuller recognition of the individual differences that blacks have always had but that are becoming more apparent as the opportunity to express them becomes more prevalent.

In 1991, the centrifugal forces of ethnic nationalism destroyed the Soviet Union. Religious and ethnic issues will be the defining principles of political life in East Europe, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia for the next decade. Yet when most Americans and Europeans read, for instance, of the Ossetians and Ingush, they have no idea who these peoples are or why they are fighting. This volume will provide a ready reference for students, researchers, and librarians who are trying to sort out the political and social struggles in that part of the world. Focusing on ethnolinguistic groups rather than peoples with purely religious orientations, Olson provides entries on over 450 ethnic groups, with appropriate cross-references. Each entry concludes with references, and the volume includes a selected bibliography of English-language titles. The volume also includes a chronology, several appendixes providing statistical information, and an appendix essay on Islam in Russia and the Soviet Union.

This ethnography, based on a five-year field study, presents a holistic view of a nearly invisible ethnic minority in the urban Midwest, Cambodian refugees. Hopkins begins with a brief look at Cambodian history and the reign which led these farmers to flee their homeland, and then presents an intimate portrait of ordinary family life and also of Buddhist ceremonial life. The book details their struggles to adjust in the face of the many barriers presented by American urban life, such as poverty, dangerous neighborhoods, and unemployment, and also by the conflict between their particular needs and American institutions such as schools, health care, law, and even the agencies intended to help them.

Breast cancer research has never been in such an exciting and hopeful phase as today. From a clinical perspective, the discovery of genetic markers of risk in a proportion of familial breast cancer cases has opened up new vistas for understanding and ultimately preventing this disease. On the other hand, aggressive - even daring - therapies are being proven to be effective against advanced breast cancer. For the breast cancer experimentalist, this is also a time of great advance. Although animal and cell culture breast cancer models have proven to be of great use, there are now increasing opportunities to test the concepts developed in these models in actual clinical samples and cases. It is gratifying to see how well these concepts "translate" into the clinical setting. A very active area of research that is linking the laboratory to the clinic is the dissection of the biology and elucidation of the significance of proliferate breast disease and the identification of true, "high risk" or "preneoplastic" legions within the previously ill-defined spectrum of fibrocystic or benign breast disease. One anticipates that discoveries made here will also lead to earlier detection, intervention and prevention of life-threatening cancer.
Even, however, as we look with optimism to the eventual eradication of breast cancer, we are once again forced to face the reality that we have not yet achieved our goal. Thus, we are saddened by the much too premature death of Dr. Helene Smith from breast cancer. Helena's work was at the forefront of efforts to understand the biology of human breast cancer at the molecular level. Her insight, open-mindedness, and refusal to sacrifice relevance for convenience will continue to set the standard for all breast cancer researchers. This volume is dedicated to her memory.

This book traces the history of formative, enduring concepts, foundational in the development of the health disciplines. It explores existing literature, and subsequent contested applications. Feminist legacies are discussed with a clear message that early sociological and anthropological theories and debates remain valuable to scholars today. Chapters cover historical events and cultural practices from the standpoint of 'difference'; formulate theories about the emergence of social issues and problems and discuss health and illness in light of cultural values and practices, social conditions, embodiment and emotions. This collection will be of great value to scholars of biomedicine, health and gender.

Diasporas large-scale ethnic migrations have been a source of growing concern as we try to understand the nature of community, identity and nationalism. Traditionally, diaspora communities have been understood to be pariah communities, and most work on diasporas has focused on specific groups such as the Jewish or African Diaspora. This book is unique in arguing against traditional interpretations and in taking a comparative look at a range of diasporas, including the Jewish, Arab, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Maltese, Greek and Armenian diasporas.Taking the past four centuries into consideration, the authors examine diaspora trading networks across the globe on both a regional and international level. They investigate the common patterns and practices in the enterprises of diaspora peoples and entrepreneurs. The regions covered include Western Europe, the Mediterranean, South West Asia and the Indian Ocean, and South East Asia. Global networks of diaspora trading groups were crucial to international trade well before the twentieth century, yet because they were not part of established institutions they have remained elusive to economists, sociologists and historians.Through an understanding of diaspora trading networks, we learn not only about diaspora communities but also about the roots of the modern global economy.

The technological capacity to transform biology - repairing, reshaping and replacing body parts, chemicals and functions - is now part of our lives. Humanity is confronted with a variety of affordable and non-invasive 'enhancement technologies': anti-ageing medicine, aesthetic surgery, cognitive and sexual enhancers, lifestyle drugs, prosthetics and hormone supplements. This collection focuses on why people find these practices so seductive and provides ethnographic insights into people's motives and aspirations as they embrace or reject enhancement technologies, which are closely entangled with negotiations over gender, class, age, nationality and ethnicity.

A clear introduction to the complex and fast moving field of "Human Molecular Genetics"; recommended for""students studying the subject as part of a general biology, genetics or medical degree.

New to the third edition:

• Concise up-to-day introduction to human molecular genetics
• Fully revised chapter on complex diseases including the use of population based genome-wide association studies to identify risk alleles.
• New chapter on small RNAs and their role in gene regulation and disease
• Fully revised chapter on genome sequencing and associated technologies, including how the draft human genome sequence was finished and the advent of next-generation sequencing technologies.
• Updated chapter on single gene disorders reviewing advances in our understanding of their underlying molecular pathologies.

The following online resources support the text:

• For Instructors: powerpoint slides

Research has consistently documented the failure of schools to reach students from linguistically and culturally diverse backgrounds. One reason suggested for this failure is teachers' lack of understanding and appreciation for students' home backgrounds, while most teachers are eager to becvome informed and supportive of their diverse students many have lacked the opportunity to develop the knowedge and skills appropriate to working with such students. Ethnic Diversity examines how migration and settlement patterns have varied for these populations throughout U.S. history, documenting what researchers have learned about Latino, Native American, African American, urban Appalachian, and Asian American families, neighborhoods, and communities as these relate to children's learning through case studies (in the form of vignettes) and suggests how schools, communites, and universities can address the needs of culturally diverse students and their families.

Whiteness is often looked upon and equated with being American, but this book seeks to discover how other American voices and experiences have been and are excluded from the American legacy. It directly addresses the notion of self and human division in a cultural climate that has historically fostered the marginalization of multiple racial identities. This is an interdisciplinary work on understanding and promoting intercultural communication and will be of interest to students and scholars in the fields of communication, multicultural studies, social psychology, and sociology.

The universality of health concerns and the complexity of dealing with them makes it increasingly important for professionals in sociology, health care, and policy making to become acquainted with the wide variety of strategies used in different social contexts. Although Israel is in some ways unique in its social problems and its approach to health care, many of its problems resemble those of other societies, and many of its solutions can be applied in other countries. Social Dimensions of Health looks at distinctive aspects of the Israeli health care system, while at the same time drawing comparisons with other societies.

Judith Shuval discusses the health and health behavior of a variety of groups in Israeli society that have not been systematically considered in other analyses: women, the elderly, alternative health care providers, immigrants, and Israeli Arabs. Shuval analyzes the critical influence of ultraorthodox parties on health policy in the context of a tenuously balanced coalition government, and shows how the pervasive conflict between Israel and the Arab world penetrates all aspects of social life, including health. Inequality in health is discussed with special reference to Israeli Arabs. The study concludes with a discussion of what can be learned from the Israeli experience, and how it can best be applied in other social contexts. Social Dimensions of Health will prove useful to scholars, health practitioners, and lay people seeking a broad understanding of the social factors underlying health and health care.

The essays in this volume offer the reader a broad, interdisciplinary perspective on the ways in which theories of alienation are influencing current debates in psychology, psychiatry, sociology, and social philosophy. In his introductory essay, Felix Geyer discusses how classical notions of alienation have been put to use to describe the dysfunctions within societies that are becoming sharply divided along racial lines and according to the disparities in power described by postmodernism. The essays that follow Geyer's introduction then take up the problems of alienation, ethnicity, and postmodernism in the contexts of increasing economic globalization and renewed racial hostility in communities both in the United States and abroad.

The Los Angeles riot of 1992 marked America's first high-profile multiethnic civil unrest. Latinos, Asian Americans, whites, and African Americans were involved as both victims and assailants. Nearly half of the businesses destroyed were Korean American owned, and nearly half of the people arrested were Latino.

In the aftermath of the unrest, Los Angeles, with its extremely diverse population, emerged as a particularly useful site in which to examine race relations. Ethnic Peace in the American City documents the nature of contemporary inter-ethnic relations in the United States by describing the economic, political, and psychological dynamics of race relations in inner-city Los Angeles. Drawing from local as well as international examples, the authors present strategies such as coalition building, dispute resolution, and community organizing.

Moving beyond the stereotyped focus on negative interactions between minority groups such as Korean-owned businesses and the African American community, and countering the white-black or bi-racial paradigms of American race relations, the authors explore practical means by which ethnically fragmented neighborhoods nationwide can work together to begin to address their common concerns before tensions become explosive.