bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The End
Authors: Kermode Frank
Published: November 2023

It is not expected of critics as it is of poets that they should help us to make sense of our lives; they are bound only to attempt the lesser feat of making sense of the ways we try to make sense of our lives. This series of talks is devoted to such an attempt, and I am well aware that neither good books nor good counsel have purged it of ignorance and dull vision; but I take comfort from the conviction that the topic is infallibly interesting, and especially at a moment in history when it may be harder than ever tq accept the precedents of sense-making―to believe that any earlier way of satisfying one’s need to know the shape of life in relation to the perspectives of time will suffice.
Holy Brotherhood
Authors: Lange Barbara Rose
Published: November 2023

Holy Brotherhood: Romani Music in a Hungarian Pentecostal Church is a musical ethnography of a religious community. After the end of socialism, different ethnic groups in Hungary harbored antagonism toward one another. In one Pentecostal church in Pecs, Hungary, however, both Hungarians and Roma (Gypsies) worshipped and made music together. Three musical repertoires coexisted, each with a separate historical background and complex social meanings: Romani religious song; nineteenth-century gospel hymns originally from the United States; and contemporary Christian pop from the United States. Church members accommodated cultural and musical differences by developing several distinct performance styles.
Ethics and Governance
Authors: Fort Timothy L
Published: November 2023

This book argues that ethical business behavior can be enhanced by taking fuller account of human nature, particularly with respect to the need for creating relatively small communities within the corporation. Timothy Fort discusses this premise in relation to the three predominant theories of business ethics--stakeholder, virtue, and contract. Drawing heavily from philosophy, he analyzes traditional business ethics and legal theory. Overall, his work provides a good example of how to integrate normative and empirical studies in business ethics, a task that often receives substantial discussion in academic journals.
Perception and Perceptual Disorders
Authors: Devinsky Orrin , D’esposito Mark
Published: November 2023

Perception is our primary awareness of the world; it forms our first and strongest cognitive relation with the environment. In deciphering the cognitive mechanisms underlying normal and abnormal perception, we find that the lines between sensation, perception, memory, and thought processes blur. Sensation is the reception, filtering, and early analysis of external and internal stimuli. Perception requires additional filtering and a higher-order analysis of features in which discriminative and pattern recognition functions are engaged to categorize sensory information.
Memory and Memory Disorders
Authors: Devinsky Orrin , D’esposito Mark
Published: November 2023

Understanding of the neural basis of memory function has advanced rapidly during the past few decades. Numerous neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies of memory function reveal a system of dissociable processes, not a unitary system. Anatomical studies in humans and other primates map these dissociable processes onto distributed neural networks. Neuro pharmacological studies reveal that different neurotransmitter systems play distinct roles in the various memory processes. Memory is not localized to one brain region or restricted to one neurotransmitter system. The theoretical distinctions of memory functions developed by psychologists and neuroscientists provide a meaningful framework for understanding the symptoms of memory disorders. New therapies will likely arise from advances in understanding the neuroanatomical and neurochemical underpinnings of memory function.
Therapy for Cognitive and Neurobehavioral Disorders
Authors: Devinsky Orrin , D’esposito Mark
Published: November 2023

Therapy for cognitive and behavioral disorders remains unsatisfactory. Encompassing the fields of neurology, psychiatry, and psychology, neurobehavioral therapies usually treat symptoms, not the disease process. Un-raveling of the genetic, metabolic, and chemical mechanisms underlying neurobehavioral disorders outpaces therapeutic advances. Symptombased therapy, however, reflects a limited understanding of disease origin and progression (e.g., Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia) and of ways to translate known mechanisms into therapy (e.g., Huntington’s disease) and to reverse the physiological or structural changes that underlie all neurobehavioral disorders.
Overview and Physical Principles
Authors: Hlastala Michael P , Berger Albert J
Published: November 2023

The respiratory system is composed of the airways and lungs as well as the respiratory muscles that regulate gas movement into and out of these structures. Within the lungs, exchange of molecules of oxygen (02) and carbon dioxide (CO2) between the gas and blood occurs. The need for gas exchange is met in different ways by various organisms. In single-cell organisms, it can be met by simple molecular diffusion across the cell membrane to and from the external environment. There is no need for specialized gas exchange or a blood-pumping and distribution system. It has been estimated that this strategy may be adequate for spherical-shaped organisms no larger than 1 mm in diameter. Larger, multicellular organisms require circulatory and respiratory gas exchange systems. Such systems are found throughout the animal kingdom. For example, insects have developed in foldings of their body walls that form networks of tube-like airways called tracheae. These tracheae bring external air into close proximity with the cells that require exchange of O2 and CO2• In fish, the respiratory gas exchange system comprises gills, which are turned outward into the water environment. Gills are delicate and dry out quickly when exposed to air. Movement of water across the gills facilitates the exchange of O2• and CO2• • Another example of a specialized exchange system is the lungs. Here the respiratory exchange apparatus is turned inward, creating an in folded cavity. External air is warmed and also humidified before it arrives at the gas-exchanging regions of the lungs. Thus there is a whole host of strategies for solving the problem of efficient gas exchange with the environment.
Pulmonary Circulation
Authors: Hlastala Michael P , Berger Albert J
Published: November 2023

The lungs and cardiovascular system work in concert to transport O2 and CO2 between the outside environment and the cells of the body. Bringing blood in close proximity to the ventilated air within the lung yields a high degree of gas exchange efficiency. The pulmonary circulation system has special properties that help deliver blood to the alveoli for gas exchange with a very small energy utilization. In mammals there are two separate circulations in the lung. Pulmonary circulation carries deoxygenated blood to the alveoli for the uptake of 02 and release of CO2• This pulmonary circulation carries the entire output of the right heart. In addition, there is a small bronchial circulation (see Chapter 2) that carries systemic arterial blood to the large airways and maintains tissue nutrition if some portion of the pulmonary circulation fails. The bronchial circulation represents only a small fraction (usually about 1% to 2%) of the left ventricular cardiac output. A very important feature of the bronchial circulation is its ability to respond to the need for a long-term increase in regional flow by enlarging vessels or forming new vessels in order to supply areas of the lung that have been damaged by chronic inflammation such as lung abscesses, thrombosis, embolism, stenosis, or arterial ligation.
Pulmonary Gas Exchange
Authors: Hlastala Michael P , Berger Albert J
Published: November 2023

Ventilation delivers O2 to and removes CO2 from the lung. The circulation transports O2 and CO2 between the lung and the peripheral tissue. The mechanisms for the exchange of O2 and CO2 between the alveolar gas and pulmonary capillary blood are the subject of this chapter. These passive mechanisms can be influenced by outside factors, such as gravity and barometric pressure, and they are altered by most respiratory diseases. The factors determining efficiency of the exchange process can be separated into two major components: diffusion and matching of ventilation to perfusion (V)QJ. Furthermore, diffusion can be divided into three components: the gas phase, the alveolocapillary membrane, and the blood. The VA/Q ratio spans a broad range from zero (shunt, no ventilation) to infinity (dead space, no perfusion). Shunt is discussed as a special entity, although it represents only the extreme lower limit of the VA/Q range.
Respiratory Physiology During Special States
Authors: Hlastala Michael P , Berger Albert J
Published: November 2023

In this chapter we examine three states that require the respiratory system to function differently than it does during normal quiet breathing: muscular exercise, with its increased metabolic demands that cause increased breathing; sleep; and the fetal and neonatal states, including the traumatic transition that occurs when in utero life becomes life outside the uterus.

The response to exercise requires coordination of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Exercise increases the demand for O2 (expressed as increased VO2, and the production of CO2 (increased Vco,) by increasing the activity and demands of skeletal muscle. To supply increased 02 and remove excess CO2, three primary physiological changestake place: (1) increased alveolar ventilation, (2) increased cardiac.
The Role of Chromosomal Change in Plant Evolution
Authors: Levin Donald A
Published: November 2023

The application of new molecular technology has greatly increased our understanding of the role of chromosomal change in plant evolution. There is now a broad database on genome size variation within and among species and a wide array of nuclear and cytoplasmic genetic markers. There is a variety of literatures addressing this subject but much of it is scattered. This book created a contemporary synthesis of work in this area and addresses issues such as herogeneity, polyploidy, chromosomal rearrangements within species and phenotypic consequences of chromosome doubling.
Facing the Future
Authors: Belnap Nuel , Perloff Michael , Xu Ming
Published: November 2023

In this elucidating work, the authors attempt to construct a logical analysis of human actions, focusing on those actions based on choice. Using their examination of "seeing to it that," they investigate a large number of topics, including imperatives, deontic logic, strategies, determinism, and promising assertion. One of the work's provocative conclusions is that one, actual future does not exist; instead, all possible futures are on par with one another.
The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

This classic text gives a uniquely lucid and lively view of neurotransmitters, their role in nervous system function, and their involvement in the mechanisms of psychiatric drug action. For three decades it has served as an essential guide for students of neuroscience and psychopharmacology, psychiatrists, and neurologists. Both authoritative and very readable, it has been thoroughly updated for each edition. In the eigth edition more space is devoted to clinical examples, subclasses of receptors that provide targets for new drugs, molecular genetics, the major problem of drug delivery to the brain and the growing recognition of nicotinic receptors in the brain and their possible involvement in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. From reviews of the previous edition: "Recommended without reservation to students, physicians and scientists who seek a lucid survey of the biochemical basis of neuronal regulatory systems." New England Journal of Medicine "The best introductory text available for those who want to learn about the application of biochemical approaches to the study of neurotransmitter and drug actions in the nervous system." Brain "This now classic monograph remains a clear and concise guide... (It) should be mandatory reading for all medical students, psychiatry residents, graduate students in neuroscience and pharmacology, and is even useful for undergraduate students." Contemporary Psychiatry
Modulation of Synaptic Transmission
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

Contrary to what one might assume, the more we learn about intercellular communication in the nervous system, the more complicated the situation appears. Up to about the mid-1970s, synaptologists smugly focused on a straight point-to-point transmission, where a presynaptically released transmitter impinged on a postsynaptic cell. Gradually, situations emerged where previously identified neurotransmitters were observed to not act in this fashion but, rather, to modulate transmission.
Amino Acid Transmitters
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

On the basis of their functional actions, amino acid transmitters have been divided into two general categories: excitatory amino acid transmitters (glutamate [Glu], aspartate [Asp], cysteate, and homocysteate), which depolarize neurons in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS), and inhibitory amino acid transmitters (y-aminobutyric acid [GABA], glycine [Gly], taurine, and /3-alanine), which hyperpolarize mammalian neurons. A few amino acids have been demonstrated to fulfill most of the criteria for neurotransmitter candidates in the mammalian CNS.
Acetylcholine
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

The neurophysiological activity of acetylcholine (ACh) has been known since the turn of the century and its neurotransmitter role since the mid-1920s. With this long history, it is not surprising when students assume that everything is known about the subject. Unfortunately, the delay in developing so-phisticated methods for determining the presence of ACh in cholinergic tracts and terminals, which only recently has been overcome, has left this field far behind the biogenic amines.
Norepinephrine and Epinephrine
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

Norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) are chemically catecholamines. The term catecholamine refers generically to all organic compounds that contain a catechol nucleus (a benzene ring with two adjacent hydroxyl substituents) and an amine group (Fig. 8–1). In practice, the term usually means dihydroxyphenylethylamine (dopamine, DA) and its metabolic products NE and E. Major advances in the understanding of the biochemistry, physiology, and pharmacology of these compounds have come mainly through the development of sensitive assay techniques and methods for visualizing catecholamine neurons, their connections and their metabolic enzymes and receptors in vivo and in vitro.
Neuroactive Peptides
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

After more than 30 years of ever incisive examination, neuropeptides remain dear to the hearts of neuropharmacol ogists. For those hoping eventually to understand the role of neuropeptides, the quest to devise new medications to enhance or antagonize their actions remains intense. Rapid advances in molecular biology and the regulation of gene expression have accelerated the determination of peptide amino acid sequences.
Treating Neurological and Psychiatric Diseases
Authors: Cooper Jack R , Bloom Floyd E , Roth Robert H
Published: November 2023

By this stage, the reader will almost certainly have detected a not-so-subtle underlying theme, namely, that a full understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which healthy neurons communicate and are sustained constitutes the starting point for developing drugs to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. Except for a few passing references, however, we have not said very much about the nature of the brain’s diseases or indicated those for which treatments are now effective and why.
Merit, Aesthetic and Ethical
Authors: Eaton Marcia Muelder
Published: November 2023

To "look good" and to "be good" have traditionally been considered two very different notions. Indeed, philosophers have seen aesthetic and ethical values as fundamentally separate. Now, at the crossroads of a new wave of aesthetic theory, Marcia Muelder Eaton introduces this groundbreaking work, in which a bold new concept of merit where being good and looking good are integrated into one.
Dilutions of Grandeur: Homeopathy
Authors: Whorton James C
Published: November 2023

Silly as they considered Thomson’s steaming-and-puking regimen to be, nineteenth-century physicians thought of another irregular system as still more unlikely. Indeed, homeopathy’s practices were so remarkably at odds with all accepted notions of how nature worked, of how nature conceivably could work, that they were only to be regarded as utterly impossible. It was “a stupendous monument of human folly”; it represented “the crowning exploit of pseudo-scientific audacity”; it constituted a fabric of “astounding absurdities” and “nonsensical trash.” “This horrid disgrace of the human mind” was such “a confused mass of rubbish” as to make sense only to “simpletons” possessed of “imbecile credulity.” All in all, “the fact that men of sense and character should become its dupes, is one of the most striking exhibitions of intellectual stupidity and moral obliquity which the history of fanaticism itself can furnish.”1 Homeopathy was also the most popular of all alternative systems of practice from the 1850s to the beginning of the twentieth century.
Generalized Weakness in the Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Wijdicks Eelco F M
Published: November 2023

Generalized weakness, an inherently ambiguous designation, has long been seen as an obstacle to recovery in patients whose critical illness has begun to subside. Disuse atrophy develops quickly, even more so if the patient is in a catabolic state. In one study of normal persons, muscle strength decreased 5% a day and 7% to 26% after 5 weeks of bed rest. Whether a debilitated patient in fact has a neuromuscular disorder can be difficult to assess.
Neurologic Complications of Aortic Surgery
Authors: Wijdicks Eelco F M
Published: November 2023

Centers of excellence have specific intensive care provisions to systematically accommodate patients operated on for thoracoabdominal aneurysm. After aortic surgery, triage out of the intensive care unit (ICU) may be accomplished rather quickly, but ischemic colitis and renal failure may intervene and extend the stay in the surgical intensive care unit.
Consider the Source: The Evolution of Adaptations for Decoupling and Metarepresentation
Authors: Cosmides Leda , Tooby John
Published: November 2023

Humans are often considered to be so distinct a species that they are placed outside of the natural order entirely, to be approached and analyzed independently of the rest of the living world. However, all species have unusual or differentiating characteristics and it is the task of an evolutionarily informed natural science to provide a causal account of the nature, organization, origin, and function, if any, of such characteristics without exaggerating, mystifying, or minimizing them.
Chimpanzee Cognition and the Question of Mental Re-representation
Authors: Whiten Andrew
Published: November 2023

Metarepresentation is a mental capacity of enormous significance for our species. Children’s grasp of other peoples’ mental life is remarkable even within their first few years, and many writers have argued that - like the equally remarkable ease of first-language acquisition — a high degree of inherited preparedness must exist. This developmental priority itself suggests that metarepresentational capacities are of great functional significance for humans, a conclusion additionally underlined by the often crippling social difficulties experienced by autistic individuals who manifest delays in specific kinds of metarepresentational activity (Baron-Cohen, 1995; Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985; Leslie, 1987; 1991). Although there are many controversies within the burgeoning literature on the development of children’s metarepresentational abilities (e.g., Bogdan, 1997; Carruthers & Smith, 1996a; chapters in Carruthers & Smith, 1996b; chapters in Lewis & Mitchell, 1994; Mitchell & Lewis, 1994; Perner, 1991), there is a consensus that these abilities have multiple ramifications in cognition, communication and social competence (Baron-Cohen, Tager-Flusberg, & Cohen, 1993; Lewis & Mitchell, 1994). A natural question thus arises as to how such abilities evolved, and from what they evolved.This is the subject of the present chapter.
Terrestrial Vertebrates Other Than Birds
Authors: Mayr Ernst , Diamond Jared
Published: November 2023

Northern Melanesia’s nonavian, terrestrial vertebrates exhibit striking parallels as well as contrasts with its avifauna. In this chapter we briefly summarize these other classes for two reasons: to permit comparisons with conclusions drawn from the avifauna; and because diversity of native predators is one of the important factors determining the susceptibility of native bird species to extinction upon arrival of humans (chapter 7). Bear in mind throughout this chapter that knowledge of these other vertebrate faunas is less complete than knowledge of the corresponding avifaunas; new species are still being discovered, older specimens are being re-identified, the systematics of many groups are still poorly understood, and the superspecies concept has been little used. New Guinea today has about 189 native mammal species (table 4.1), of which two are monotremes (echidnas) and the rest are nearly equally divided among marsupials, bats, and murid rodents. At this level, New Guinea’s mammal fauna is similar to that of Australia, with which New Guinea was joined as a single continent during Pleistocene times of low sea level. New Guinea’s largest extant species is a kangaroo (Macropus agilis) weighing up to 26 kg. In the Pliocene and Pleistocene New Guinea supported larger species of now-extinct.marsupials: the Tasmanian wolf, Thylacinus cf. cynocephalus, which survived in New Guinea until a few thousand years ago; at least five species of diprotodonts (rhinoceros-like herbivores) up to the size of a cow (ca. 400 kg); about six species of kangaroos (Dendrolagus, Protemnodon, Thylo- gale, Watutia) weighing up to about 60 kg (Flannery et al. 1983, 1989, Flannery amp; Plane 1986, Flannery 1990,1992,1994). New Guinea’s extinct megafauna is thus much less diverse than the rich extinct megafauna of Australia and may have coexisted with humans for longer (Flannery 1990,1994)
Endemic Species and Genera
Authors: Mayr Ernst , Diamond Jared
Published: November 2023

The final stage in speciation is the development of an endemic full species-a species that does not belong to a superspecies ranging extralimitally. Of Northern Melanesia’s 191 analyzed zoogeographic species, 35 fall into this category (table 24.1). They include four superspecies endemic to Northern Melanesia. These four superspecies are as distinct from extralimital populations as are the 31 endemic monotypic species; they differ only in that they vary geographically within Northern Melanesia, whereas endemic monotypic species do not vary geographically. Naturally, it is in some cases uncertain whether to consider a Northern Melanesian endemic as an isolated full species, or else as a distinct allospecies belonging to a superspecies with extralimital representatives. Among the uncertain cases are Pareu- diastes sylvestris (plate 8), Gallicolumba salamonis, Chalcopsitta cardinalis (plate 8), and Ortygocichla rubiginosa (plate 9), which we consider as isolated species whose nearest congeneric relatives are identifiable (see their species accounts in appendix 1) but in our view not sufficiently similar to place in the same superspecies. Lumpers might nevertheless rate these four taxa as allospecies and assign them to superspecies. Conversely, we consider Cacatua ducorpsi (plate 8), Pitta anerythra (plate 9), and P. superba (plate 9) as allospecies within superspecies ranging extralimitally, but splitters might consider each of these three taxa too distinct to include within a superspecies.
A Few Plant Clocks
Authors: Palmer John D
Published: November 2023

Probably the first written record of a biological rhythm comes to us from the pages of a diary kept in 350 B.C. by a centurion in the corps of Alexander the Great. A man of many talents, the officer also amused himself by studying plants. It was he who first noticed that some plants performed what are today called—just as erroneously as in the past—sleep movements. At night the blades of the leaves are dropped to the sides of the stem (as if asleep), but at the next dawn they are lifted high again, as if in a pagan gesture to the rising sun. They remain in this worship position all day and then doze off again at sunset.
100 Decisive Battles
Authors: Davis Paul K
Published: November 2023

From the ancient Egyptian battle at Megiddo in 1469 BC to the recent military actions in Iraq, great battles have had an enormous impact on the shaping of history. Now, in this fully illustrated book, one hundred of the world’s most important military confrontations are described in detail. 100 Decisive Battles gives us the facts about the battle and also explains where it fits in to the scope of world history. In each entry we are given the name and date of the battle, the commanders, the size of the opposing forces, and casualties. An account of the battle plan and the military action are strategically discussed, and each description closes with a valuable consideration of how history was affected by the outcome of the conflict. Among the battles presented are the Battle of Thymbra (546 BC), the Battle of Chalons (451 AD), the Battle of Cajamarca (1532), the Battle of Dien Bien Phu (1954), and the Tet Offensive (1968). Accompanying maps and sidebars help further orient us with each military action. Global in scope, with excellent coverage of American, Central American, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern battles, and with its stirring accounts of familiar battles and many lesser known military conflicts, 100 Decisive Battles is essential reading for military buffs and anyone interested in how the modern world came to be.
The Quest for and Discovery of Identity in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon
Authors: Smith Valer IE
Published: November 2023

In Her First Three Novels, The Bluest Eye (1970), Sula (1973), and SonB of Solomon (1977), Toni Morrison explores the interplay between self-knowledge and social role. Her characters, like Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, inhabit a world where inhospitable social assumptions obtain. But Morrison does not provide her people with the option of living underground, in isolation, beyond community. Those whom social relations exclude (like Pecola Breedlove of The Bluest Eye or Sula) lack self-knowledge and are destroyed by themselves or by others. My analysis here centers on Son9 of Solo11Wn, the only one of Morrison’s novels in which her protagonist completes successfully his or her search for psychological autonomy. Yet, no discussion of the search for identity in Son9 of Solomon would be complete without some mention of Morrison’s two earlier novels. The structure and thematic concerns of these two works establish a framework in terms of which we may understand the meaning and status of Milkman’s discovery.
Acute and Chronic Medical Management
Authors: Dobkin Bruce H
Published: November 2023

A handful of medical issues come up repeatedly during the chronic rehabilitation management of patients with neurologic diseases. This chapter reviews the mechanisms and treatment for complications within the first several months of onset of disability such as deep vein thrombosis, seizures, dysphagia, and the neurogenic bowel and bladder, and later complications from pain, spasticity, contractures, pressure sores, and sleep disorders.
Toward Gene Cloning
Authors: Hopwood David A
Published: November 2023

My career move in 1968 came at a good moment. Norwich turned out to be an excel- lent place to bring up a family, and, after a rocky start, I was able to build up a flourishing research group. We continued to exploit the natural mating system of S. coelicolor as a tool for studying its genetics. Sex plasmids were discovered, and genetic mapping was refined. Morphological mutants revealed genetic switches con- trolling progression through the various stages of colony development, and mutants unable to produce the antibiotic actinorhodin, which gives the organism its beautiful blue color, served to identify a cluster of genes for its biosynthesis. Streptomyces genetics gained visibility as a worldwide community of academic and company re- searchers took up the study, some driven by curiosity, as the best academic research usually is, and others to underpin the rational improvement of industrial antibiotic production.
Battling the Undead: How (and How Not) to Resist Genetic Determinism (2000)
Authors: Kitcher Philip
Published: November 2023

Nobody has clone more to combat genetic determinism than Richard Lewontin, whose writings, from the original IQ controversy to present debates about the implications of human molecular genetics, diagnose errors that have seduced influential scholars and their readers into believing vulgar slogans about genes and destiny. Lewontin’s reward for his decades of effort has often been the irritated response that what he claims is uncontroversial: once the intellectual poverty of a version of genetic determinism has been exposed, there is a rush to denial (“That is not what we meant; that is not what we meant at all”). Yet, within months or years, some new version of the view that human behavior is largely shaped by the genes returns, inspiring a new rash of popular discussions and, in some instances, framing debates about social policy. It is small wonder then, that people appalled by the sloppy thinking Lewontin has exposed yearn for the “stake-in-the-heart move.”
Vulnerable Links in the Chain of Reproductive Events
Authors: Segal Sheldon J
Published: November 2023

Think of the entire human presence on earth (about 350,000 years) as a 24-hour day. Then the last 5000 years of recorded history becomes but a few minutes, and the time during which people have been able to exert willful control over their fertility is a flashing millisecond during Homo sapiens’ day on earth.

In a world of 6 billion people, there are more than 1 billion couples of reproductive age that have coitus an estimated 110 billion times a year, resulting in the fertilization of about 300 million human eggs. Some 100 million of these fertilized eggs simply pass out unnoticed with the menstrual flow. Seventy million that do connect to the mother’s uterus and start to develop into embryo or fetus end up as miscarriages or are electively aborted. The remaining fertilized eggs, roughly 130 million, proceed through the entire 9 months of pregnancy and result in newborn babies.
Is Contraceptive Research a Male Chauvinist Plot?
Authors: Segal Sheldon J
Published: November 2023

When I lecture on advances in contraception, I’m sometimes asked by a woman in the audience, “What about contraceptives for men?” The implication of the question, sometimes not only implied but bluntly asserted, is that contraceptive research is done by male researchers, funded by agencies controlled by men, and, consciously or inadvertently, protects the male by seeking methods that place the responsibility and risk on women.

It is absolutely true that contraceptive innovations of recent decades have been methods that are used by women. This would have delighted Margaret Sanger, the early fighter for women’s reproductive rights, who inspired the search for a contraceptive pill for women. Her fight against the repressive Comstock laws that made disseminating contraception information or materials illegal was a struggle for this principle. She faced and accepted imprisonment for demanding that women be given control of their own reproduction. Yet, some modern feminists see the emphasis on contraceptive methods for women as a male chauvinist plot.
Barriers to Developing New Contraceptives
Authors: Segal Sheldon J
Published: November 2023

People who wish to limit their fertility do so primarily in pursuit of family or individual aspirations. They want to enhance their chances for personal fulfillment and to provide a good home and opportunities for their children. The availability of effective contraceptive methods gives couples the opportunity to determine, with dignity and personal freedom, how many children they will have and when they will have them. This reproductive freedom is a human right, not a privilege reserved for the well-to-do. If because of inadequate education, poverty, or lack of health services, people do not have access to effective contraception, there is a de facto denial of this right. Families that are already struggling to meet the needs of existing children should not be deprived of the contraceptive services available to those who are better off. For the poorest of the poor, this struggle is often a matter of providing their children with adequate food and shelter.
Feeding the World’s People
Authors: Segal Sheldon J
Published: November 2023

Controversy tends to keep topics and personalities in the public eye. Who would remember Thomas Robert Malthus, an eighteenth-century English cleric destined for obscurity, had he not published one of the most controversial articles of all time? In 1798 he predicted that population growth would soon outstrip food supply because, he wrote: “The power of population is infinitely greater than the power of the earth to produce subsistence for man.” Human populations, he claimed, tend to increase exponentially, while food supplies increase linearly. A Cambridge-trained economist, his ideas were somewhat more complex, but the basic Malthusian idea, exponential versus linear, has been taught to high school and college students for more than 200 years.

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries appeared to prove that Mal-thus was wrong. Population size has, indeed, increased almost exponentially from the time of his world of less than 1 billion to today’s 6 billion people, but food supply has kept up. If there is a Malthusian race between food and population, food has been winning. Food has maintained its lead in spite of the fact that there was record population growth in the last half of the twentieth century.
Reproductive Health, Education, and Gender Equality
Authors: Segal Sheldon J
Published: November 2023

International Women’s Day is set aside each year to celebrate progress toward gender equality. In 2001 the first woman director-general of the World Health Organization marked the occasion at an event in Geneva. The former Prime Minister of Norway, a physician, bluntly declared, “There is not a single country in the world where men and women enjoy equal opportunity.” Gro Harlem Brundtland’s assessment is undeniable. She also noted the appalling fact that women in developing regions, particularly in Africa, die in pregnancy or childbirth at a rate 33 times higher than women in rich countries. This caught my attention because, as I mentioned in the introduction, it is a statistic that a previous director-general, also a Scandinavian physician, had labeled the most obscene of differences in health statistics. He was right then and she is right now. Between the two speeches, there has been a gap of 20 years.
Hidden Costs
Authors: Rosenzweig Michael L
Published: November 2023

When a skillful graduate of the Wharton School tackles the job of projecting profits for her agribusiness, she ignores lots of things. No, she is not trying to dodge taxes. She is simply doing her job well. Her company’s profits depend entirely on the money actually paid out or received. In contrast, those profits have nothing to do with various hidden environmental subsidies. She may not even be aware of the subsidies, and her company may not be either. She does not worry about these subsidies only because her outfit never gets billed for them. Nevertheless, they are as real as depreciation.
Hard-Core Reconciliation
Authors: Rosenzweig Michael L
Published: November 2023

Carole and I were sitting in the shade of the second floor gallery of the Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca, Spain. Besides the geometrical elegance of the gallery itself, all we could see were the red-tiled roofs that typify so much of the country. Suddenly a small, dark, and handsome thrush hopped onto the stone railing across the courtyard. Its flashes of auburn told me it was a male black redstart. The bird quietly went about its foraging business in full view of us tourists, evidently paying no attention to anything but bugs and perches. I could not see whether any insects were there for the taking, but the bird was acting as if its belly were being loaded. Soon it flew away.
The Tyranny of Space
Authors: Rosenzweig Michael L
Published: November 2023

Many different sorts of people care about conserving the world’s species. Many of them influence conservation, too, and most are not biologists. The practice of conservation depends crucially on policy makers, politicians, economists, and engineers. Moreover, an army of concerned volunteers press on the body politic, giving of their time and their substance.
The Brain Connection
Authors: Black Ira B
Published: November 2023

Enoch Wallace, a distinguished sixty-two-year-old investment banker, awoke at 6:00 A.M, looking forward to getting to his office on Wall Street and closing the deal on a complex corporate acquisition. He quietly sat up in bed, as he had for twenty years in his Park Avenue apartment, to avoid disturbing his wife.
Brain Birthdays
Authors: Black Ira B
Published: November 2023

Dining became a new experience. Over the same period, no longer was Enoch toastmaster of the table, guiding gourmand, and enologist extraordinaire. Nowadays he often finished a meal with crumbs unaccountably on his lips and cheeks, and stains on his shirt and tie.
Green Solvents: Ecology and Economics
Authors: Nelson William M
Published: November 2023

The use of solvents in the chemical industry and chemical-related industries is ubiquitous. In 1991, the production of the 25 most commonly used solvents was more than 26 million tons per year. According to EPCRA section 313 data, of the chemicals and chemical categories tracked by the program in 1994, five of the top 10 chemicals released or disposed of were solvents, and included methanol, toluene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, and dichloromethane. The total quantity of these chemicals released or disposed of was over 687 million pounds, which accounts for 27 per cent of the total quantity of TRI-listed chemicals released and disposed of in that year (Sullivan, 1997). There is an increased awareness of the need to reduce or eliminate toxic chemical waste and/or byproducts that arise in the course of chemical synthesis and manufacture. A fundamental change in the philosophy of chemical synthesis, processing and usage is needed wherein the priority is placed upon health and environmental impact rather than just the efficiency associated with the chemical use. Certainly one aspect of synthesis in which dramatic advances in pollution prevention can be realized entails replacing many of the toxic, environmentally threatening solvents utilized in most chemical processes with nontoxic, “environmentally benign” alternatives (Tanko et al., 1994). Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2), as we have seen, represents an inexpensive, environmentally benign alternative to conventional solvents for chemical synthesis (Morgenstern et al., 1996). It has also been used in processes such as spraying paints and other coatings, which reduces atmospheric emissions of environmentally harmful volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Morgenstern et al., 1996).
Parameters to Be Measured
Authors: Ellestad Myrvin H
Published: November 2023

As we learn more about the physiology of exercise and the perturbations in the normal process brought on by disease states, it stands to reason that our ability to separate disease from normal function would improve, and indeed it has. One of the most important revelations is the acceptance that ischemia is often due to a reduction in delivery of blood flow to the myocardium rather than just an increase in the demand. Maseri must be credited for this turn-around in our thinking, which also has led to the concept of a reduced coronary vasodilator reserve.

This concept implies that the increased flow required by increasing myocardial action demands is inadequate, probably because of some problem in vasomotion of the myocardial arterioles. For instance, Marcus has shown that reactive hyperemia, caused by mechanical obstruction of a coronary artery for 20 seconds, normally results in a five- to eightfold increase in perfusion. Some patients with normal epicardial coronary arteries can only increase flow to double the resting level, however.
Stress Testing After Surgical Intervention and Coronary Angioplasty
Authors: Ellestad Myrvin H
Published: November 2023

Most patients, prior to undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery, have experienced a major decrease in function, especially during exercise, and the aim of surgery is to improve their performance. The expected improvement as measured by stress testing includes an increase in aerobic capacity and an ability to exercise without undue dyspnea and without significant chest pain or discomfort. Because it is common for most cardiac patients to be asymptomatic at rest, a test of functional capacity before and after a treatment is important in evaluating the benefit derived from the intervention.

Stress testing is one of the most useful ways to measure the response to surgery or catheter-based revascularization and to evaluate progress or the lack of it immediately after the procedure and in the ensuing years. It has been used in valvular surgery, coronary bypass surgery, and recently in angioplasty. It is often used to measure changes expected from medical therapy as well.
Chest Pain and Normal Coronary Arteries
Authors: Ellestad Myrvin H
Published: November 2023

A relieved 42-year-old woman, upon being told she had just sustained a myocardial infarction, exclaimed, “Thank God, now everyone will know the pain wasn’t all in my mind.” Between 10% and 30% of patients subjected to coronary angiograms have epicardial coronary arteries thought to be normal or have disease inadequate to explain their chest pain. In an age when many people are obtaining relief of symptoms with coronary bypass surgery or angioplasty, the failure to demonstrate anatomical stenosis is frustrating to both physician and patient. The finding is even more perplexing when exercise-induced ST depression or relief of pain by nitroglycerin is also present. This chapter reviews present concepts pertinent to the understanding of this syndrome and the place of exercise testing in diagnosis and management.

The occurrence of chest pain with normal coronary arteries in any center or hospital depends a good deal on the referral patterns. In areas where only those with late, severe, typical angina are referred for study, this is seen infrequently. Centers in which the sensitivity and specificity of stress testing are reported to be very high must not be seeing many of these types of patients because a significant number (about 20%) have ST-segment depression with exercise.
Blood Pressure Measurements During Exercise
Authors: Ellestad Myrvin H
Published: November 2023

The limitations of our ability to accurately measure BP were highlighted by the study done at The Johns Hopkins Hospital by Russell. The investigators set up a sound film of the BP being recorded on a patient. Physicians listened to the sounds while they watched a manometer on the film and then recorded their estimation of the BP. When the true readings were compared with the physicians’ ranges of responses, significant intra- and interobserver variability was present. The wide variations were more surprising because these experienced physicians knew that the accuracy of their technique was being tested and that they would be expected to take extra care in the measurements. How could the results be so inconsistent, especially when most of the common errors that lead to faulty BP readings were eliminated by the testing methodology? Eliminated were equipment and technique problems such as inaccurate aneroid manometers, inappropriate-sized air bladders and cuffs, heavy pressure on the stethoscope, too-rapid deflation rate, terminal digit bias, systolic recheck, and many others.
Metabolic Abnormalities and Drugs
Authors: Ellestad Myrvin H
Published: November 2023

Information on changes in cellular physiology, cardiopulmonary function, and exercise tolerance associated with metabolic abnormalities and various drug regimens is proliferating so fast that our knowledge today may be out of date tomorrow. Many drugs that we use can profoundly alter ischemia, afterload and preload, and the chronotropic and inotropic response. It is essential to consider these changes when undertaking exercise testing. New understanding of metabolic pathways and substances that interact with or alter the physiological processes controlling our cardiovascular system mandates constant study.

This chapter should help the physician to deal with most of the more common conditions and drugs in use. Careful study of newly introduced agents will be mandatory to determine their effects on patients during exercise testing.
Robustness in the History of Life?
Authors: Erwin Douglas H
Published: November 2023

The definitions of robustness are many and varied, but most focus on the ability of a system to retain function in the face of an external perturbation. Assessing function in the fossil record is a difficult but not intractable task and such a definition poses considerable difficulty for considering robustness in the fossil record. Paleontologists have identified patterns of stability in the fossil record of diverse marine and terrestrial plants and animals through the past 600 million years in taxonomic diversity, in the stability of major morphological architectures, or body plans, and in the structure of ecological relationships. Inferring the extent to which the documented resilience (return to a previous state after a perturbation) of these patterns implies a robustness of function must always be indirect. The ability to infer ecological or developmental function in deep time is limited by the fact that the fossil record is primarily composed of durably skeletonized marine organisms, bones of various vertebrates, insects, and the often disarticulated remains of plants, but, of course, missing the soft anatomy. In almost all cases the many soft-bodied organisms, those without durable skeletons, are missing from the record. We are left with changing patterns in the number of taxa (generally families or genera, less commonly species) within clades, patterns of dominance within assemblages of organisms at a particular locality (assemblages that have often been accumulated over a span of time that can extend to hundreds or even thousands of years), and the conservation of morphological architectures. For many of these systems we may be able to make plausible arguments that stability reflects an underlying robustness, but identifying the functional attributes of this robustness can generally only be done by comparison to living organisms and extant ecosystems. This is an increasingly difficult task the farther back in time one goes.