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Immunology Jun 2011The genes coding for the main molecules involved in the human immune system--immunoglobulins, human leucocyte antigen (HLA) molecules and killer-cell immunoglobulin-like... (Review)
Review
The genes coding for the main molecules involved in the human immune system--immunoglobulins, human leucocyte antigen (HLA) molecules and killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR)--exhibit a very high level of polymorphism that reveals remarkable frequency variation in human populations. 'Genetic marker' (GM) allotypes located in the constant domains of IgG antibodies have been studied for over 40 years through serological typing, leading to the identification of a variety of GM haplotypes whose frequencies vary sharply from one geographic region to another. An impressive diversity of HLA alleles, which results in amino acid substitutions located in the antigen-binding region of HLA molecules, also varies greatly among populations. The KIR differ between individuals according to both gene content and allelic variation, and also display considerable population diversity. Whereas the molecular evolution of these polymorphisms has most likely been subject to natural selection, principally driven by host-pathogen interactions, their patterns of genetic variation worldwide show significant signals of human geographic expansion, demographic history and cultural diversification. As current developments in population genetic analysis and computer simulation improve our ability to discriminate among different--either stochastic or deterministic--forces acting on the genetic evolution of human populations, the study of these systems shows great promise for investigating both the peopling history of modern humans in the time since their common origin and human adaptation to past environmental (e.g. pathogenic) changes. Therefore, in addition to mitochondrial DNA, Y-chromosome, microsatellites, single nucleotide polymorphisms and other markers, immunogenetic polymorphisms represent essential and complementary tools for anthropological studies.
Topics: Anthropology; Genetic Variation; HLA Antigens; Humans; Immunogenetics; Polymorphism, Genetic
PubMed: 21480890
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2567.2011.03438.x -
Social Science & Medicine (1982) Apr 2024Primary care is at the forefront of healthcare delivery. It is the site of disease prevention and health management and serves as the bridge between communities and the... (Review)
Review
Primary care is at the forefront of healthcare delivery. It is the site of disease prevention and health management and serves as the bridge between communities and the health care system As ethnographers of primary care, in this article we discuss what is gained by situating anthropological inquiry within primary care. We articulate how anthropologists can contribute to a better understanding of the issues that emerge in primary care. We provide a review of anthropological work in primary care and offer empirical data from two ethnographic case studies based in the United States, one focused on social risk screening in primary care and the other examining the diagnosis and care of people with dementia in primary care. Through these cases, we demonstrate how research of and within primary care can open important avenues for the study of the multidimensionality of primary care. This multidimensionality is apparent in the ways the medical field addresses the social and structural experiences of patients, scope of practice and disciplinary boundaries, and the intersection of ordinary and extraordinary medicine that emerge in the care of patients in primary care.
Topics: Humans; United States; Anthropology; Anthropology, Cultural; Delivery of Health Care; Medicine; Primary Health Care
PubMed: 38430873
DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116707 -
Tropical Medicine & International... Dec 1998This paper focuses on two roles of anthropology in the control of infectious disease. The first is in identifying and describing concerns and understandings of disease,... (Review)
Review
This paper focuses on two roles of anthropology in the control of infectious disease. The first is in identifying and describing concerns and understandings of disease, including local knowledge of cause and treatment relevant to disease control. The second is in translating these local concerns into appropriate health interventions, for example, by providing information to be incorporated in education and communication strategies for disease control. Problems arise in control programmes with competing knowledge and value systems. Anthropology's role conventionally has been in the translation of local concepts of illness and treatment, and the adaptation of biomedical knowledge to fit local aetiologies. Medical anthropology plays an important role in examining the local context of disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention, and the structural as well as conceptual barriers to improved health status. National (and international) public health goals which respect local priorities are uncommon, and generic health goals rarely coincide with specific country and community needs. The success of interventions and control programmes is moderated by local priorities and conditions, and sustainable interventions need to acknowledge and address country-specific social, economic and political circumstances.
Topics: Anthropology; Communicable Disease Control; Communicable Diseases; Humans; Public Health
PubMed: 9892288
DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-3156.1998.00334.x -
Topics in Cognitive Science Jul 2012Beller, Bender, and Medin argue that a reconciliation between anthropology and cognitive science seems unlikely. We disagree. In our view, Beller et al.'s view of the... (Review)
Review
Beller, Bender, and Medin argue that a reconciliation between anthropology and cognitive science seems unlikely. We disagree. In our view, Beller et al.'s view of the scope of what anthropology can offer cognitive science is too narrow. In focusing on anthropology's role in elucidating cultural particulars, they downplay the fact that anthropology can reveal both variation and universals in human cognition, and is in a unique position to do so relative to the other subfields of cognitive science. Indeed, without cross-cultural research, the universality of any aspect of human cognition cannot truly be established. Therefore, if the goal of cognitive science is to understand the cognitive capacities of our species as a whole, then it cannot do without anthropology. We briefly review a growing body of anthropological work aimed at answering questions about human cognition and offer suggestions for future work.
Topics: Anthropology; Cognition; Cognitive Science; Humans; Research Design
PubMed: 22585760
DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-8765.2012.01194.x -
Trends in Ecology & Evolution Aug 2022Hunter-gatherers past and present live in complex societies, and the structure of these can be assessed using social networks. We outline how the integration of new...
Hunter-gatherers past and present live in complex societies, and the structure of these can be assessed using social networks. We outline how the integration of new evidence from cultural evolution experiments, computer simulations, ethnography, and archaeology open new research horizons to understand the role of social networks in cultural evolution.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Archaeology; Cultural Evolution
PubMed: 35659425
DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.04.007 -
Journal of the History of Biology Aug 2023The Vrolik ethnographical collection consisted of roughly 300 skulls, mummified heads, skeletons, pelvises, wet-preserved preparations, and plaster models, collected by...
The Vrolik ethnographical collection consisted of roughly 300 skulls, mummified heads, skeletons, pelvises, wet-preserved preparations, and plaster models, collected by Gerard Vrolik (1775-1859) and his son Willem (1801-1863). Most prominent in this collection were the skulls, of which 177 remain in the collection of present-day Museum Vrolik. These skulls-a troubling heritage of colonialism and scientific racism-are the central subjects of this paper, which considers the changing meanings and values of these skulls for racial science over approximately 160 years, between ± 1800 and 1960. These shifting meanings are analysed using the skulls themselves as primary sources, including the labels, numbers and handwriting present on them or their stands. Central topics addressed will be matters of classification, hierarchy, scientific bias, and disciplinary development of racial anthropology from the study and collection of idealized national types to a quantitative craniometry of populations. This paper demonstrates that during 160 years of study of this same set of crania, the skulls of white European origin gradually lost racial relevance and were increasingly normalized, whereas the skulls of dark-skinned people of African descent continued to be categorized in a typological racial scheme and as such were increasingly othered.
Topics: Humans; Craniology; Anthropology; Skull; Cephalometry; Museums
PubMed: 37351690
DOI: 10.1007/s10739-023-09716-w -
PloS One 2023Burial rites of archaeological populations are frequently interpreted based on cremated remains of the human body and the urn they were deposited in. In comparison to...
Burial rites of archaeological populations are frequently interpreted based on cremated remains of the human body and the urn they were deposited in. In comparison to inhumations, information about the deceased is much more limited and dependent on fragmentation, selection of body regions, taphonomic processes, and excavation techniques. So far, little attention has been paid to the context in which urns are buried. In this study, we combined archaeological techniques with anthropology, computed tomography, archaeobotany, zooarchaeology, geochemistry and isotopic approaches and conducted a detailed analysis on a case study of two Late Bronze Age urns from St. Pölten, Austria (c. 1430 and 1260 cal. BCE). The urns were recovered en-bloc and CT-scanned before the micro-excavation. Osteological and strontium isotope analysis revealed that the cremated remains comprised a young adult female and a child that died at the age of 10-12 years. Both individuals had been subject to physiological stress and were likely local. Animal bones burnt at different temperatures suggested different depositional pathways into the urn and pit as part of the pyre, food offerings, and unintentional settlement debris. Eight wild plant and five crop plant species appeared as part of the local landscape, as food offerings and fire accelerants. Sediment chemistry suggests that pyre remains were deposited around the urns during burial. Multi-element geochemistry, archaeobotany, and zooarchaeology provide insights into the Late Bronze Age environment, the process of cremation, the gathering of bones and final funerary deposition.
Topics: Animals; Child; Young Adult; Humans; Cremation; Anthropology; Archaeology; Austria; Burial
PubMed: 37647251
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0289140 -
Studies in History and Philosophy of... Oct 2020This article places the current high-profile and controversial scientific project that I call 'genetic ethnology' within the same two-century tradition of biologically...
This article places the current high-profile and controversial scientific project that I call 'genetic ethnology' within the same two-century tradition of biologically classifying modern peoples as pre-1945 race anthropology. Similarities in how these two biological projects have combined political and scientific agendas raise questions about the liberalism of genetics and stimulate concerns that genetic constructions of human difference might revive a politics of hate, division and hierarchy. The present article however goes beyond existing work that links modern genetics with race anthropology. It systematically compares their many similar practices and organisational features, showing that both projects were political-scientific syntheses. Studying how the origins, geography, filiations, 'travels and encounters of our ancestors' affect 'current genetic variation', both seem to have responded to a continuous public demand for biologists to explain the histories of politically significant peoples and give them a scientific basis. I challenge habitual contrasts between apolitical scientific genetics and racist pseudoscience and use race anthropology as a parable for how, in the era of Brexit and Trump, right-wing identity politics might infect genetic ethnology. I argue however that although biology-based identities carry risks of essentialism and determinism, the practices and organisation of classification pose greater political dangers.
Topics: Anthropology; Ethnology; History, 20th Century; Humans; Politics; Racial Groups
PubMed: 32950126
DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2019.101242 -
Ui Sahak Dec 2020This study explores the history of research in Medical Anthropology by examining key concepts in the field with a focus on their relevance with findings from the field...
This study explores the history of research in Medical Anthropology by examining key concepts in the field with a focus on their relevance with findings from the field of History of Medicine. The concepts discussed in this paper are Medical Pluralism, Social Suffering, Biopolitics, and Care. Since concepts internalize the ethnographic gaze, what this paper aims is to trace the development of the gaze on a historical axis. Although concepts come from a specific historical period, they are by no means exclusive to it, as they are revisited again and again through various discourses. In other words, the insight that the previous meaning of a concept has grasped is instilled into the revisited concept. In this way, concepts engage in historical communication, create intersections with the interests of History of Medicine. By discussing these intersections with each concept, this paper suggests the complementary roles of the two fields and their approach to historical events and phenomena.
Topics: Anthropology, Cultural; Anthropology, Medical; Communication; Cultural Diversity; History of Medicine; Medicine
PubMed: 33503645
DOI: 10.13081/kjmh.2020.29.903 -
European Annals of Otorhinolaryngology,... Jun 2016
Topics: Anthropology; Germany; History, 19th Century; Pathology
PubMed: 25600104
DOI: 10.1016/j.anorl.2014.11.003