bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Structural Violence, Political Violence, and the Health Costs of Civil Conflict: A Case Study from Peru
Authors: Leatherman Tom , Thomas R. Brooke
Published: September 2009

Over past decades, armed conflict has claimed millions of lives and left many more prone to hunger, malnutrition, disease, psychological trauma, and the chronic effects of disrupted lives, livelihoods, and environments. Thus, armed conflict is a political-economic, environmental, and major public health issue. This chapter first reviews the public health impacts of armed conflict worldwide, and then provides a case study from a recent civil conflict in Peru, 1980–2000. It argues that pre-conflict inequalities were important precursors to the civil war in Peru, and that the war impacted the lives and livelihoods, food security, social relations, and psychosocial well-being of local populations in uneven ways. These impacts will shape levels of inequality, health, and well-being for years to come.
Bridges between Mental Health Care and Religious Healing in Puerto Rico: The Outcomes of an Early Experiment
Authors: Koss-Chioino Joan D.
Published: September 2009

The incorporation of religion and spirituality into mental health care has begun to acquire credibility after more than a century of rejection by mental health professionals providing conventional interventions. This chapter describes an experiment carried out over thirty years ago aimed at integrating the public mental health system and Spiritism—a popular, religious healing system. It traces social changes in Puerto Rico in the last three decades as the context for changes in the mental health care system and the wider use, especially among professional sectors, of complementary/alternative and popular (i.e., “traditional”) medicine.
Indigenization of Illness Support Groups for Lymphatic Filariasis in Haiti
Authors: Coreil Jeannine , Mayard Gladys
Published: September 2009

This chapter describes the process of indigenization within peer support groups for Haitian women living with the physical impairment of lymphatic filariasis. The groups developed a distinctive style characterized by minimal interest in talking about the illness and a strong interest in religion and spirituality, artistic and expressive components, acquisition of practical skills, and microenterprise activities. The context of indigenous traditions of mutual aid, material needs of families, and political and economic insecurity is discussed. Results are framed within a theoretical discussion of factors that lead self-help groups into social action. The findings counterbalance traditional approaches to culturally competent health program planning by highlighting the active role of participants in tailoring an intervention to the local cultural context.
Using Formative Research to Explore and Address Elder Health and Care in Chiapas, Mexico
Authors: Glantz Namino
Published: September 2009

Demographic and epidemiological transitions in an era of social and economic uncertainty have provoked a pervasive elder health care crisis. Engaged anthropology using formative research is propitious for addressing elder health and care needs. Formative research is an iterative, multistage participatory process that draws on multiple methods and actors to develop, monitor, and assess community-congruent interventions. It entails becoming informed about and informing community dialogue; identifying needs and resources; generating intervention options via critical assessment and problem solving; and monitoring process, outcome, and responses. This chapter details how formative research was conducted in a small city in Chiapas (Mexico's southernmost state) to improve primary elder health care while engaging elders, care providers, researchers, and media.
Honorable Mutilation? Changing Responses to Female Genital Cutting in Sudan
Authors: Gruenbaum Ellen
Published: September 2009

Female Genital Cutting practices (also known as FGM) are of several types—clitoridectomy, excision, infibulation, and reinfibulation—affecting women and girls in several African countries and other parts of the world. In Sudan, the most damaging of the forms of the practice has been common and has numerous harmful effects. The main reasons it continues are based on complex ideas about religion, morality, family honor, virginity, and marriageability of daughters. Long-term ethnographic research has demonstrated that it has begun to change as midwives and parents are influenced by religious rethinking, health education, and human rights approaches that are increasingly conveyed in creative ways utilizing outreach, the arts, and media. Harm reduction is expected to lead to greater abandonment.
Anthropological and Public Health Perspectives on the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in Northern Nigeria
Authors: Renne Elisha P.
Published: September 2009

In 1988, the World Health Assembly voted to eradicate poliomyelitis by 2000. While cases of wild poliovirus worldwide have declined considerably, cases continue to be reported, mainly in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. This chapter uses anthropological research methods to examine changes in the reception and implementation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in Zaria, Kaduna State, in Northern Nigeria in order to address the question of why polio cases persist in this area. It also considers how changes the GPEI program in Nigeria, specifically broader community involvement and the introduction of health incentives teams, affected its reception and raises the larger question of how such global public health initiatives might be appropriately framed in the future.
“Sanitary Makeshifts” and the Perpetuation of Health Stratification in Indonesia
Authors: Stein Eric A.
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the economic, ethical, and cultural complexities of health policies that emphasize “cost-effectiveness” at the expense of creating stable health infrastructure. Drawing on ethnographic, archival, and oral history research in rural Central Java, Indonesia, it examines latrine and toilet construction efforts from the time of 1930s Rockefeller Foundation hookworm prevention projects to the present. Although hygiene and sanitation projects since the 1970s enabled over half of rural villagers to build indoor toilets, lack of water and drainage, patterns of drought, and the economy of fishponds has fostered continued public defecation in rivers, ponds, and drainage canals. Makeshift or partially completed sanitation programs have led to wide disparities in access to water and toilets. As a consequence, social difference has become encoded at the level of sanitary objects, as indoor toilets become temporal markers of status within village hierarchies centered on development discourses of modernization.
Global Panic, Local Repercussions: Economic and Nutritional Effects of Bird Flu in Vietnam
Authors: Lockerbie Stacy , Herring D. Ann
Published: September 2009

Efforts to eliminate avian influenza are imbued with viral panic and are anchored to the 1918 influenza pandemic, SARS, and bioterrorism. The small number of human HPAI deaths has been given enormous significance but less attention is paid to impacts of containment policies on food security, nutrition, or subsistence among small-scale farmers. In Vietnam, the livelihoods of the rural poor are supplemented by household poultry. Government policies to eliminate backyard operations remove a hedge against economic security, undermine the symbolic and cultural importance of poultry, and rupture relationships between buyers and sellers. Rural farmers face the triple burden of stigma for creating conditions that promote bird flu, destruction of their flocks, and the risk of living at an epicenter.
Biological Citizenship After Chernobyl
Authors: Petryna Adriana
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines the social and political impact of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion from the perspective of radiation monitoring, clinical practices of radiation medicine, and compensation strategies. The experiences of workers of the contaminated zone and their transit through scientific research centers, public health bureaucracies, and activist organizations are documented. Together, these institutions mediate an informal economy of illness and claims to “biological citizenship”—a massive demand for, but selective access to, a form of social welfare based on scientific and legal criteria that both acknowledges injury and compensates for it. In the effort to map environmental contamination, to measure individual and population-wide exposures, and to arbitrate claims of illness, public health policies have recast the Chernobyl aftermath as a complex political and technical experience, with its own bureaucratic and legal contours which contributes to an increase of illness claims and social suffering.
An Ethnographic Evaluation of Post-Alma Ata Health System Reforms in Mongolia: Lessons for Addressing Health Inequities in Poor Communities
Authors: Janes Craig R.
Published: September 2009

Globally, post-Alma Ata health care system reforms have included reorganization of government health agencies, establishment of rationalized, evidence-based systems of care, implementation of user charges for public services, and experiments with third party financing. Drawing on materials collected in the context of long-term ethnographic research in Mongolia, this chapter reveals that there is a mismatch between the economic rationality that underlies current health reform programs and the realities of the lived experiences of illness in poor communities. Coupled with decentralization and poor regulatory oversight, current health reform efforts can result in fragmentation of the health system, increasing opportunity costs for health care seeking by poor households, reduced access to essential drugs, and an overall increased risk for health-cost related impoverishment. The chapter concludes by arguing that ethnographic information on health care seeking in poor communities can inform health reform efforts through explaining how features of health reform produce health inequities.
Developing Countries and the GATT/WTO System
Authors: Chimni Bs
Published: September 2009

This chapter sketches the general or popular sources of free trade skepticism among ordinary citizens, civil society organizations, and policy makers in developing countries. It argues that the sentiment against free trade in developing countries is not simply a function of rent-seeking special interests. Free trade skepticism is rooted in a profound appreciation of the historical, ethical, legal, and political contexts in which the idea of free trade has been advanced and practiced.
MFN and the Third-party Economic Interests of Developing Countries in GATT/WTO Dispute Settlement
Authors: Bown Chad P
Published: September 2009

This chapter focuses on the indirect or “third-party” interest of developing countries in WTO trade disputes over market access. It then documents the various economic reasons why a country may have an economic third-party interest in a formal GATT/WTO dispute. The chapter takes a sample of data of disputes involving allegations of excessive import protection, and provides an economic assessment of the developing, third-country liberalization gains associated with bilateral, complainant liberalization gains from the respondent. Finally the chapter concludes.
Special and Differential Treatment in Agricultural Trade
Authors: Epps Tracey D , Trebilcock Michael J
Published: September 2009

Special and Differential Treatment (SDT) has emerged as a key issue in the agricultural talks of the Doha Round Negotiations. Developed and developing countries have been unable to agree on a mutually satisfactory way forward. This chapter reviews the role of SDT policies in agricultural trade and explores the possibilities for an approach that takes account both of political realities and the ultimate goal of economic improvement for developing countries. The chapter also reviews the historical development of SDT policies, and pays particular attention to agriculture in the Uruguay Round and considers whether such policies have achieved what developing countries hoped they would. The chapter then explores what is at stake for developing countries in the Doha Development Round and examines the arguments relating to SDT policies in the agricultural sector. Finally, the chapter considers possibilities for a way forward that takes account of the goal of SDT policies as they have been conceived by developing countries, as well as the interests of developed countries and the realpolitik of trade negotiations.
The GATS and Developing Countries
Authors: Hoekman Bernard
Published: September 2009

With the exception of basic telecommunications, very little progress has been made to date in using the GATS framework to lock in unilateral reforms that have already been implemented, let alone in inducing new liberalization. Developing countries have resisted expanding their specific commitments. Instead of quid pro quo bargaining, traditional S&D treatment has become more prominent. This chapter raises the question: Why such limited traction? The basic argument is that in the services context, the power of standard reciprocity is constrained and that there is a stronger case for S&D treatment of developing countries. However, the form this S&D treatment should take is not the standard GATT form that was criticized by Hudec. Instead, what is needed is to provide greater assurances that the preconditions for benefiting from services liberalization have been put in place. This is necessary for reciprocity to be able to work. These preconditions are largely regulatory in nature. This suggests, therefore, that what may be needed is to complement the WTO with mechanisms to assist governments design and implement regulation and to monitor the effects of applied policies, both liberalization and regulation.
Development by Moving People
Authors: Cho Sungjoon
Published: September 2009

This chapter explores practical strategies for promoting the international migration of workers under the WTO parameter, i.e., free movement of natural persons (Mode 4) of the GATS. It first identifies both benefits and costs of temporary migration while it highlights that those costs may be manageable. It then analyzes to what extent GATS Mode 4 could manifest development potential embedded in GATS. It observes that the “GATS visa” proposal could deliver this development potential in GATS and suggests that WTO Members should tackle three main challenges (temporariness, legal binding, and levels of commitments) to succeed in the GATS visa program. It argues that WTO Members should first gain confidence in the GATS visa system through voluntary experimentation on a limited scale before they negotiate on the expansion of the covered list or on any legally binding mechanism.
3 Opportunities and Inducements
Authors: Small Mario Luis
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines why mothers so often reported making new friends through their children’s childcare centers. It finds that centers, in order to perform the many tasks required for their operation, tended to generate both opportunities and inducements for parents to interact. These ranged from mundane fieldtrips to logistically complex fundraisers. As a result, many of the friends mothers formed were unexpected. The chapter also finds that centers differed dramatically in the extent to which they generated the opportunities and inducements important to tie formation.
5 Trust and Obligations
Authors: Small Mario Luis
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines those conditions under which mothers who were so weakly tied that no theorist would expect them to provide social support often provided such support anyway. It finds that centers both intentionally and unintentionally facilitated trust among parents and instituted obligations that the latter felt compelled to follow. These conditions at times generated a supportive network of acquaintances that mothers could call upon. This network, however, was only useful or important among mothers who were highly isolated or otherwise resource‐deprived.
6 Ties to Other Organizations
Authors: Small Mario Luis
Published: September 2009

This chapter examines not social but organizational ties: connections that, through their centers, mothers made to other organizations that possessed valuable resources. It finds that centers were connected, in varying degrees, to organizations such as hospitals, youth organizations, museums, and federal agencies. These connections differed in type and orientation, and provided mothers access to many resources that can be categorized into information, services, and material goods. These connections were brokered by the centers through four mechanisms: referrals, collaboration, validation, and storage.
3. The Volunteer Subject
Authors: Rosenthal Robert , Rosnow Ralph L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter includes a discussion of how the use of volunteer subjects in research can affect causal inferences and generalizations, with additional emphasis on several strategies for anticipating and controlling for volunteer bias.
4 Pretest Sensitization
Authors: Lana Robert E.
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses research designs in which subjects are measured on the dependent variable before and after the treatment has been implemented, and the concern is that pretest measurement may have sensitized the subjects so that they respond differently to the treatment than had they not been pretested.
8 Prospective: Artifact and Control
Authors: Campbell Donald T.
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses philosophical and methodological view of artifacts, including practical procedures for coping with artifacts.
1 The Experimenter as Observer
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses some of the disciplines that have shown a self-conscious awareness of the problem of observer effects. These include the physical sciences, biological sciences, behavioral sciences.
2 Interpretation of Data
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

Identical observations are often interpreted differently by different scientists, and that fact and its implications are the subject of this chapter. Interpretation effects are most simply defined as any difference in interpretations. The difference may be between two or more interpreters, or an interpreter and such a generalized interpreter as an established theory or an “accepted” interpretation of a cumulative series of studies. As in the observer effect, the interpreter effect, or difference, does not necessarily imply a unidirectional phenomenon. When observations are nonrandomly distributed around a true value, these are referred to as “biased observations.” Similarly, when interpretations do not vary randomly—and usually they do not—these are referred to as “biased”.
3 Intentional Error
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

This chapter focuses on intentional error. Intentional error production on the part of the experimenter is probably as relatively rare an event in the psychological experiment as it is in the sciences generally. Nevertheless, any serious attempt at understanding the social psychology of psychological research must consider the occurrence, nature, and control of this type of experimenter effect. The control of intentional error is discussed.
4 Biosocial Attributes
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses the effects of experimenters that operate by influencing the events or behaviors under study. Topics covered include the experimenter's sex, experimenter's age, experimenter's race, and experimenter's religion.
5 Psychosocial Attributes
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

The experimenter attributes discussed in Chapter 4 were all readily assessable by inspection. This chapter discusses experimenter attributes which are also readily assessable, but not simply by inspection. The anxiety or hostility of those experimenters functioning well enough to be experimenters at all must be assessed more indirectly, sometimes by simply asking the experimenter various questions, more often by the use of standard psychological instruments.
6 Situational Factors
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

More than an experimenter's score on a test of anxiety, his status and warmth are defined and determined in part by the nature of the experimental situation and the particular subject being contacted. This chapter considers experimenter “attributes” that are still more situationally determined. That is, the degree of warmth an experimenter shows one subject may be correlated with the degree of warmth he shows other subjects. But whether he “accidentally” encounters a subject with whom he has had prior social contact seems less likely to be an enduring attribute and more purely situational. The distinction is, nevertheless, arbitrary. Experimenters who are acquainted with a subject may differ in associated personality characteristics which make them more likely to be acquainted with other subjects as well. The effects of prior acquaintanceship thus may be due not simply to the prior contact as such, but to correlated variables as well.
8 Experimenter Expectancy
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses another “attribute” highly dependent on the specific experiment being conducted—the expectancy the experimenter has of how his subjects will respond. The particular expectation a scientist has of how his experiment will turn out is variable, depending on the experiment being conducted, but the presence of some expectation is virtually a constant in science. The independent and dependent variables selected for study by the scientist are not chosen by means of a table of random numbers. They are selected because the scientist expects a certain relationship to appear between them. Even in those less carefully planned examinations of relationships called “fishing expeditions” or, more formally, “exploratory analyses” the expectation of the scientist is reflected in the selection of the entire set of variables chosen for examination. Exploratory analyses of data, like real fishing ventures, do not take place in randomly selected pools.
10 Animal Subjects
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

In Chapter 9 a question was raised as to the generality of the effects of the experimenter's expectancy. This chapter describes experiments designed to extend the generality of these effects. It was felt that a major gain in the generality of the phenomenon depended on the demonstration that expectancy effects might operate with different species of subjects. Accordingly, the subjects of these experiments were rats rather than humans.
13 Excessive Rewards
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

This chapter considers the effects of the experimenter's motives on the operation of expectancy effects. It describes experiments involving individual subjects and subjects in groups to investigate the effects of varying incentives on experimenter expectancy effects. Subjects' perception of their experimenter and the prediction of computational errors are discusseed.
15 Behavioral Variables
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

In Chapter 14, a number of experimenter characteristics were shown to be related to the operation of experimenter expectancy effects. The particular characteristics discussed could all be assessed before the experimenter entered his laboratory. This chapter continues the discussion of experimenter variables, with emphasis on the experimenter's behavior in his interaction with the subject.
19 Experimenter Sampling
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

Much of this book has been devoted to showing that an experimenter's expectancy may be an unintended determinant of the results of his research. This chapter addresses the question of what can be done to control the effects of the experimenter's expectancy. A number of strategies are proposed. Some of these strategies are recognized as direct attempts to minimize expectancy effects. Somewhat paradoxically, some of these strategies are recognized as attempts to maximize these effects. The chapter discusses strategies that seek neither to minimize nor to maximize but rather to randomize and “calibrate” experimenter expectancies.
21 Personnel Considerations
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

In the last two chapters suggestions were made which were designed to help control experimenter expectancy effects in specific experiments. Drawing upon some of the suggestions made earlier, this chapter considers on a possibly more general basis the selection and training of experimenters as an aid to the control of experimenter expectancy effects. If there were certain kinds of data collectors who never influenced their subjects unintentionally, we could make a point of having only these experimenters collect our data. If the amount and type of an experimenter's training were significant predictors of his expectancy effects, we could establish training programs for data collectors such that its graduates' data would be unaffected by their expectancies or hypotheses.
24 Conclusion
Authors: Rosenthal Robert
Published: September 2009

Theoretical integration, applications in other areas (e.g., teachers’ expectations and their students’ performance), and procedures for dealing with experimenter expectancy effects within this conceptual framework, including the sampling of experimenters, blind and minimized contact between experimenters and subjects, expectancy control groups, and so on.
5 Empirical Research on Voluntarism as an Artifact-Independent Variable
Authors: Rosenthal Robert , Rosnow Ralph L.
Published: September 2009

This chapter presents some research findings pertaining to the threat to internal validity of volunteer biases in several areas.
Cosmology and the Great Declaration
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins with a discussion of cosmic aeons. The architecture of cosmic space in this pulsating universe consists of three spheres: the highest sphere is without form or sensation; the middle sphere is form only, without sensation; the lowest sphere consists of both form and sensation; it includes our world. The chapter presents declaration of Buddha Dipankara: “Do you see this ascetic lying on the path? Innumerable aeons from now he will be a Buddha in the world. His mother will be named Maya, his father Suddhodana, and he will be called Gotama.”
The Birth and Early Life of Gotama
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details the birth and early life of Gotama. At the beginning of our aeon the future Buddha continued to live in the heavenly domain known as Tushita, and because of the results of past karma he had the ability to know that his last rebirth was about to take place. He knew the time was right because the age of human life in our aeon was neither too long nor too short; in fact, it was the age in which human beings lived to about a hundred years. Observing the four great island-continents that encircled Mount Meru, he chose Jambudipa, that is, India and Kapilavatthu, for the place of his birth. He also chose the warrior caste, the caste that gave birth to the great universal ruler, as his proper rank and announced that his father would be King Suddhodana, king of the Sakyas and a descendant of the solar race; Queen Maya would become his mother.
Flight from the Palace
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details the departure of Gotama from the palace for a homeless life. Life in the palace became ugly and gloomy. One day an inhabitant of the heavens appeared before Gotama in the form of an ascetic. The recluse told him that his knowledge that life was nothing more than an endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth had led him to adopt the homeless life. Relatives and strangers had become the same for him; greed and hate had ceased to be. He told Gotama that wherever he found himself, at the root of a tree, a deserted sanctuary, a hill, or a wood, that became his home. He had no possessions, no expectations; intent on gaining freedom from rebirth, he accepted whatever was given to him. And then before Gotama's very eyes he flew off into the sky. Gotama now knew very clearly what had to be done, and he made plans to leave the palace for the homeless life.
Rules, Rules, and More Rules
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter describes Buddha's establishment of rules. The ordination of over two hundred monks into Buddha's community of ascetics had caused a great stir in Rajagaha. In fact, many of the younger men in the merchant and warrior castes enthusiastically followed the ascetics and became renouncers of the householder's life. As is usually the case in such a situation, not everyone in the town was happy with the continued growth of the ascetic community in the Bamboo Grove. Buddha rebuked those monks who behaved badly and established new rules for the proper wearing of robes, the decorum for receiving alms, and the etiquette and relations to be observed between monks, preceptors, and novices.
The Buddha Goes Home
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details Buddha's visit to his home. With the earth refreshed with monsoon rains, the Buddha decided that it was time to keep his promise to Kaludayin and visit home. When he arrived at Kapilavatthu along with a great multitude of ascetics, he was directed to Nigrodha Park for his residence. The town folk, hearing that he had arrived, started for the grove but were stopped short by a proclamation from the king stating, “No one is to go to the grove before me”.
Devadatta Attempts to Kill the Buddha
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details Devadatta's attempts to kill the Buddha. Devadatta, the Buddha's cousin and brother-in-law, seemed to envy the Buddha from the time they were children at play. When he joined the ascetic community during the Buddha's first visit home, he pledged to himself that he would acquire the special mental/magical powers the Buddha perfected during his enlightenment and that some ascetics possessed as a part of their discipline in following the Eightfold Path.
The Buddha's Last Days
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details the Buddha's Last Days. It then describes the deaths of Sariputta and Moggallana, Buddha's journey with Ananda to Vesali, his favorite city, and his visits to Bhandagama and then Pava, where they stayed at the mango grove of Cunda, the blacksmith.
The Last Watch and the Funeral
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter details how as Buddha settled down in the grove near Kusinara the sal trees burst forth in abundant untimely blossoms that fell, covering his body. Heavenly coral tree flowers also fell from the sky, together with sandalwood powder, sprinkling and covering his body in homage. It describes how Buddha rehearsed the levels of meditation, just as he performed them during the watches of the night at Bodh-Gaya. Traversing and then reversing the levels of meditation, he attained final liberation.
The Cosmological Structure
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

There are three basic differences between Buddhist and monotheistic cosmologies: (1) No beginning, no end; (2) God and thus theology are irrelevant; and (3) the doctrine of karma. This chapter describes the cosmology. It then demonstrates the explicit fit, the framework, syntax, or constraint of the cosmology as the fundamental structure of the narratives of the legends, including a map of India to illustrate the argument that geography is cosmography.
The Legends as Rites of Passage
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

This chapter continues the interpretation and analysis started in Chapter 18 of the legends as “rites of passage.” The distinguishing character of the legends as such a rite in Buddhism is asceticism. The legends of Part I, Vessantara, the Buddha, and the Universal Monarch, are the test cases for the interpretation.
The Gift, the Renouncer, and the Householder
Authors: Penner Hans H.
Published: September 2009

Weber defined the Buddhacentric view of the “received tradition” of Western studies of Buddhism when he wrote that “Buddhism is other-worldly asceticism.” This mistaken perception of the Buddhist community is corrected in this chapter. The Buddhist community consists of householders and renouncers mediated by the gift. In Part I both Sujåtå (at the beginning of the story) and Cunda (at its end) are highlighted as the defining characters of the community. Buddha tells both that for their gift they will “receive great merit.” The chapter turns to Mauss's classic text on “the gift,” the ever popular story of Vessantara's perfection of giving, and The Question of King Milinda for an analysis of the place of “giving” as the mediating element in the oppositional structure of the Buddhist community. The Buddha and Universal Monarch, the prince and the king, householder and renouncer are inseparable; the one defines the other mediated by the gift.
General introduction
Authors: Evans Stephen M. , Nyengaard Jens R.
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the use of stereology in neuroscience. It then discusses image analysis and computer-assisted devices, the advent of modern stereology, sampling strategies, sampling as applied to stereology, and isotropy.
A case study from neuroscience involving stereology and multivariate analysis
Authors: Cruz-Orive Luis M. , Insausti Ana M. , Insausti Ricardo , Crespo Dámaso
Published: September 2009

Downs syndrome is characterized by a triplication of chromosome 21 (HSA-21), and is the most frequent cause of mental retardation in the newborn. A special trisomic mouse (Ts65Dn) is a well known animal model for Downs syndrome. This chapter presents a new study that tries to detect possible differences between in Ts65Dn mice and controls in the total neuron number for each of four subpopulations, defined as expressing: calbindin, parvalbumin (Pv), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in astrocytes, NADPH-diaphorase; within each of three well defined compartments of the hippocampus, namely: dentate gyrus (DG); union of CA1 and CA2; and CA3 (pyramidal layer). The problem; the material and statistical framework; estimation of neuron number by the classical Cavalieri-disector stereological design; statistical detection of group mean differences (univariate analysis); sample size predictions for further action; statistical detection of group mean differences; and study results are disussed.
Counting in situ hybridized neurons
Authors: Finsen Bente , Gregersen Rikke , Lehrmann Elin , Lovmand Steen , West Mark J.
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses in situ hybridization. Topics covered include the principles of hybridization, visualization of single cells with AP-conjugated oligonucleotide probes, sensitivity of alkaline phosphatase (AP)-labeled, tissue processing, specificity of the hybridization reaction, screening of internal standard sections, and stereological quantification.
Section introduction
Authors: Nyengaard Jens R. , Evans Stephen M.
Published: September 2009

Information concerning the size of a brain structure and how this changes with normal development and disease provides vital information on the function of the structure. Modern stereology offers a series of methods for estimating size at both the macroscopical level and the microscopical level. This chapter discusses global number-weighted volume estimators (the principle of Cavalieri), local volume estimators of number-weighted mean volume, indirect estimate of number-weighted mean volume, local estimator of volume-weighted mean volume, local estimator of star volume, and estimation of volume and tissue deformation.
The nucleator and the planar and optical rotators applied in rat dorsal root ganglia
Authors: Tandrup Trine
Published: September 2009

The correct parameter for describing size of a neuron perikaryon is a volume or a surface estimate. To obtain unbiased estimates of these three-dimensional parameters careful considerations about sampling of information in three-dimensions are necessary. Stereological principles can obtain such three-dimensional information from two-dimensional section planes using statistical sampling theories. The nucleator, the planar rotator, and the optical rotator are different volume estimators. All three methods can be used in sections of clearly delineated objects associated with a point such as neuron perikarya containing a nucleolus. This chapter discusses stereological principles applied to the rat dorsal root ganglion.
Estimation of number and volume of immunohistochemically stained neurons in complex brain regions
Authors: Dorph-Petersen Karl-Anton , Rosenberg Raben , Nyengaard Jens R.
Published: September 2009

One of the most important methods for studying the central nervous system is by microscopy of histological slides. Advanced histological techniques have put increasing demands upon the tissue processing and, especially in post-mortem studies of the human brain where the investigator has no control of a range of parameters, care has to be taken to make sure that findings are not confounded beyond interpretation. However, no matter how sophisticated the histological techniques, the final sections are still nothing but a sample of the original organ of interest. In order to gain robust information about the brain, attention has to be given to how the sections were sampled. This is the essence of stereology: how to sample the region of interest in such a way that the final sections are directly representative of the original organ. This chapter explains how to manage a worst-case scenario: the use of immunohistochemical techniques in thick vibratome sections from post-mortem human brainstems. The sections show anisotropic shrinkage and a significant impact of lost caps. In addition, the relevant stereological techniques demand that the sections be cut with a random position and rotation without losing track of the exact position in the complex brainstem.
Sexual health interventions are unsuitable for experimental evaluation
Authors: Kippax Susan
Published: September 2009

This chapter argues that most, if not all, sexual health interventions are inherently unsuitable for experimental evaluation. While it is possible to design interventions that can be randomized, in most cases the conditions demanded by experimental evaluation render either the interventions and/or the outcomes trivial. Assessment of interventions can be achieved, but by means other than experimental evaluation.
The limits of generalizability:community-based sexual health interventions among gay men
Authors: Hart Graham , Elford Jonathan
Published: September 2009

This chapter uses two controlled trials of peer-led interventions as case studies to illustrate some of the problems of generalizing or transferring sexual health interventions from one developed country to another. It begins with the rationale for peer-led community interventions and the success of this approach with gay men in the United States. It then describes attempts to transfer such interventions to the United Kingdom, and considers the implications of this experience.
Challenges for future sexual health intervention trials
Authors: Stephenson Judith
Published: September 2009

This chapter begins with a review of discussions in the preceding chapters. It then argues that it is hard to see how policy-makers, service providers, and educators would be better served by not doing trials. However, it is clear that many health promotion trials to date, including those in HIV/STI prevention, have been of poor quality. The ultimate challenge is to ensure that systematic reviews of sexual behaviour intervention trials conducted over the next decade do not conclude that the quality of trials in this area remains poor, or that few interventions have been rigorously evaluated and shown to be effective in improving sexual health.
The endosomal–lysosomal system
Authors: Maxfield Frederick R. , Mukherjee Sushmita
Published: September 2009

This chapter discusses the endosomal-lysosomal system. Many endocytic processes in neurones and glia share similarities with analogous processes in other cells. Thus, much that has been learned from studies in cell types, such as fibroblasts or polarized epithelia, can be used as a starting point for understanding similar processes in the brain. Even endocytic processes that are highly specialized (e.g., synaptic vesicle uptake and recycling) share the use of common elements such as clathrin-coated pits and dynamin for pinching off vesicles and rab and SNARE proteins for regulating vesicle docking and fusion. The geometry and function of neurones does place special requirements on the endocytic system, such as the need to recycle and refill synaptic vesicles very rapidly. Furthermore, the length of some neurons can require vesicles to travel very long distances to reach the somatodendritic region from the axons. The long life of neurons and the special requirements for vesicle transport and recycling may make these cells especially vulnerable to defects in the endosomal/lysosomal systems.
Defects in lysosomal enzyme modification for catalytic activity
Authors: von Figura Kurt , Borissenko Ljudmila V. , Fey Jens , Peng Jianhe , Schmidt Bernhard , Dierks Thomas
Published: September 2009

Two types of modifications are known so far that are required for catalytic activity of lysosomal enzymes. The first type represents the conversion of the catalytically inactive pro-form of cysteinyl- and aspartyl-proteinases into the catalytically active mature form by limited proteolysis. This chapter focuses on the second type of modification, which is represented by the posttranslational generation of a Ca-formylglycine (FGly) residue in the catalytic centre of sulfatases. Deficiency of this modification is the molecular cause of multiple sulfatase deficiency (MSD).
Defects in lysosomal enzyme trafficking
Authors: Hasilik Andrej , Lemansky Peter
Published: September 2009

Most known lysosomal enzymes are soluble proteins that are localized in the lysosomal matrix. After biosynthesis, these proteins are targeted to lysosomes by a combination of mechanisms operating to different extents in different tissues. This allows for finely and individually tuning the proportion of lysosomal targeting and secretion. A detailed knowledge is available on the synthesis of mannose-6-phosphate (M6P)-recognition markers on soluble lysosomal enzymes and their M6P-dependent targeting as well as on sorting of M6P receptors and several proteins associated with lysosomal membranes. In humans, defects in the synthesis of M6P residues in lysosomal enzymes present as mucolipidosis (ML) II, in which the phosphorylation is missing completely, and as its milder form, ML III, in which a residual phosphorylation is present. This chapter focuses on the synthesis and sorting of the M6P-bearing soluble lysosomal enzymes.
Defects in lysosomal enzyme protection: galactosialidosis
Authors: d'Azzo Alessandra
Published: September 2009

Galactosialidosis (GS) is a neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder of glycoprotein metabolism. This disease is unique among storage diseases in that it is caused by a primary defect in a protease, the protective protein/cathepsin A (PPCA). Mutations at the PPCA locus give rise to a prototypical lysosomal disease with heterogeneous clinical manifestations affecting both systemic organs and the nervous system. It is, however, not known to what extent loss of cathepsin A activity contributes to the clinical manifestations in GS patients. The mouse model of GS mimics closely the human severe phenotype and represents a valuable tool for studying the pathogenesis of the disease and developing and implementing therapy. This chapter reviews what has been learned so far about the enzyme and how this knowledge may help to understand the disease.
Spontaneous and engineered mammalian storage disease models
Authors: Hopwood John J. , Crawley Allison C. , Taylor Rosanne M.
Published: September 2009

Lysosomal storage disorders are inherited disorders of lysosomal organelle dysfunction. The relative rarity of storage diseases, their broad heterogeneous clinical presentation, and varied genetic background, together with ethical restrictions, make studies to understand their pathophysiology or to evaluate the efficacy of therapies difficult in humans. Animals with lysosomal disorders have long been of considerable importance in the development of therapy and in understanding the pathophysiology of these disorders in patients. Authentic animal models complement patients with their availability, genetic homogeneity, and their convenience and flexibility to enable the design of relatively simple experiments.
Enzyme replacement therapy
Authors: Neufeld Elizabeth F.
Published: September 2009

This chapter traces the development of the field of enzyme replacement. It explores the major remaining problem — i.e., treatment of lysosomal storage diseases with a major neurologic component, because of insulation of the brain from the therapeutic enzyme by the blood-brain barrier.
Inhibition of substrate synthesis: a pharmacological approach for glycosphingolipid storage disease therapy
Authors: Platt Frances M. , Butters Terry D.
Published: September 2009

The neuronopathic lysosomal storage diseases are not currently amenable to therapy due to the difficulties of delivering functional enzyme/protein to the brain. Over two decades ago, an alternative strategy was suggested by Radin based on small-molecule enzyme inhibitors for treating a subset of these disorders, the glycosphingolipidoses. Recently, the efficacy of this approach has been demonstrated in animal disease models and in the clinic. This chapter discusses these studies. It begins with a brief background on glycosphingolipids (GSLs) and GSL storage diseases, as it provides insights into the potentials and the limitations of drug-based strategies for treating this family of predominantly neurodegenerative disorders.
Gene therapy
Authors: Sands Mark S.
Published: September 2009

The delivery of genetic material and subsequent expression of a therapeutic protein in a whole animal or patient has proven technically difficult. The transfer of genetic material into cultured cells has been accomplished by microinjection-, chemical- (dextran, calcium phosphate, and cationic lipids), receptor ligand-, and viral-mediated approaches. Most of these approaches are either impractical or far too inefficient for in vivo applications. Viral vectors represent one of the most promising methods of gene transfer. Most of the progress with gene therapy approaches in whole animal models of human disease has been made using viral gene transfer vectors. This chapter discusses gene therapy for CNS manifestations of lysosomal storage diseases, focusing on studies utilizing viral-mediated approaches.
Bias and confounding in spatial epidemiology
Authors: Elliott P. , Wakefield J. C.
Published: September 2009

This chapter addresses some of the issues affecting the interpretation of spatial epidemiological studies. It separates the two concepts of bias and confounding. In general, bias and confounding are major problems affecting all observational studies, and are not special to spatial studies. However, there are several forms of bias that are specific to spatial studies. These include selection effects, denominator bias, exposure inaccuracy bias and the errors-in-variables problem, spatial dependency, significance tests, and ecological bias. The chapter also discusses socio-economic confounding as this is a major potential source of bias in spatial epidemiology.
Overview of statistical methods for disease mapping and its relationship to cluster detection
Authors: Diggle P. J
Published: September 2009

This chapter describes a theoretical framework for the analysis of spatial variation in disease risk, within which different formats of epidemiological data give rise to different statistical methods. It also discusses the similarities and differences between disease mapping problems and problems concerned with disease clustering or the detection of disease clusters.