Medical Anthropology

The fundamental idea for this article is a review of the theoretical discussion among experts in biomedicine and the social sciences: Arthur Kleinman, Leon Eisenberg, Horacio Fabrega, Byron Good, and Andrew Twaddle, among others; on the concepts of disease, illness, and sickness. The main objective is to explore the conceptual distinction between the triad from the field of anthropology, particularly on how culturally defined concepts of ill health are created. It is generally argued that the complexity of different opinions on human ailment causes difficulty in providing a clear distinction between the triad for the use among medical practitioners, social scientists, and laymen community at large. In particular the analysis reveals that most signs or symptoms of distress are reflective of sufferers' personal and cultural experiences. They are the cultural processes of illness and sickness, rather than purely understood by medical profession as disease. Additionally, the article demonstrates that with the effort of the experts of biomedicine and social sciences, clear definitions of the different concepts of disease, illness, and sickness indicate different aspects of ill health. Finally, the author focuses the discussion on a proposal to explore how the full triad can be of use amongst laymen patients, particularly in times of physician-patient interactions over ailment diagnosis.

To examine the risk of mortality associated with interruptions to the continuity of methadone maintenance treatment (MMT), including transfers between services, in opioid-dependent individuals attending specialist addiction services. Design Retrospective cohort study using addiction services and primary care dispensing records, the National Methadone Register and National Drug-Related Death Index (NDRDI). Setting Geographically defined population in Dublin, Ireland. Participants A total of 2899 people prescribed and dispensed methadone in specialist addiction services between January 2010 and December 2015. There were five exposure groups: weeks 1-4 following transfer between treatment providers; weeks 1-4 out of treatment; weeks 5-52 out of treatment; weeks 1-4 of treatment initiation; and weeks 5+ of continuous treatment (reference category). Measurements Primary outcome: drug-related poisoning (DRP) deaths. Secondary outcome: all-cause mortality (ACM). Mortality rates calculated by dividing number of deaths (DRP; ACM) in exposure groups by person-years exposure. Unadjusted and adjusted Poisson regression (covariates age, sex, incarceration, methadone dose and comorbidities) estimated differences in mortality rates. Findings There were 154 ACM deaths, 55 (35.7%) identified as DRP deaths. No deaths were observed in the first month following transfer between treatment providers. The risk of DRP mortality was highest in weeks 1-4 out of treatment [adjusted relative risk (aRR = 4.04, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.43-11.43, P = 0.009] and weeks 1-4 of treatment initiation (ARR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.2-9.64, P = 0.02). Similarly, risk of ACM was highest in weeks 1-4 out of treatment (ARR = 11.78, 95% CI = 7.73-17.94, P < 0.001), weeks 1-4 of treatment initiation (aRR = 5.11, 95% CI = 2.95-8.83, P < 0.001) and weeks 5-52 off treatment (aRR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.2-3.47, P = 0.009). Conclusions Interruptions to the continuity of methadone maintenance treatment by treatment provider do not appear to be periods of risk for drug-related poisoning or all-cause mortality deaths. Risk of drug related poisoning and all-cause mortality deaths appears to be greatest during the first 4 weeks of treatment initiation/re-initiation and after treatment cessation.

Pain is a strange beast. The assessment and understanding of pain presents the greatest of challenges for students of pain and patient history (ancient and modern alike). The lived experience of pain evades the historian of disability, the ancient historian, and the archaeologist. It often eludes even the palaeopathologist, who might be able to recognise the physical markers of an ancient ailment on human remains but misses altogether the pervasiveness of chronic suffering in the individual’s lived experience and relationships. Even modern pain specialists, who rely exclusively on quantitative neuroscientific tools, such as fMRI results, for the exploration of pain cannot quite fully comprehend nor qualify its impact on the everyday life of the individual sufferer(s). This study targets narrative strategies and the individual experience of pain in the ancient world, with an extra focus on gout-induced pain in the first and second centuries CE. To that end, this chapter surveys key literary and epigraphic
evidence from this period. The main aim is to showcase the high impact
that gout-related pain has on the ‘lived bodies’ of sufferers.

This paper looks afresh at the socio-religious practice of gift-giving to the divine in the critical context of illness. In terms of methodology, this study draws inspiration from Rosa’s sociological theory of resonant self–world relations and its strong emphasis on bodily relationships,  as well as on recent studies on embodiment and visual culture,  lived religion,  and monumentality.  It also brings together my earlier research interest in the concept of the ‘lived body’,  as well as current research work on bodily fragmentation, fusion, and trans-formation, pursued in the context of the ‘De/Constructing the Body: Ancient and Modern Dynamics’ project.
More specifically, this paper offers a comparative study between modern Greek anatomical tamata (‘dedications’ in Modern Greek) and ancient Greek anathemata (‘dedications’ in ancient Greek) in terms of their magnitude, materiality, and the meanings ascribed to them by their dedicants. The comparison reveals a paradoxical coexistence of processes of miniaturization and magnification in both Antiquity and modernity, which is central to the meaning-making mechanisms of these objects. Despite both types of objects being effectively miniaturized versions of human bodies or body parts (internal and external alike), they exercise monumental power in the eyes of both the dedicants and the deities to whom they are offered. This last premise is fleshed out further by a close comparison between modern and ancient eye-shaped tamata dedicated to St Paraskevi and the analogously shaped ancient Greek anathemata dedicated to Demeter and Kore.

In the context of decreased demand for whole blood and increased demand for plasma‐derived products, donors in Australia are increasingly being asked to convert from whole‐blood to plasmapheresis donations. Plasmapheresis is a different type of donation to whole blood as the process takes longer and can be engaged in more frequently. What is unknown is whether whole‐blood donors view donating plasma as consistent with their donor identity and how they respond to the possibility of donating more frequently. To explore this, we undertook semistructured telephone interviews with 26 whole‐blood donors who had recently made their first plasma donation. Findings indicated that whereas donating plasma was viewed as a bigger ask than donating whole blood, the former was viewed as consistent with their identity as a donor because both behaviours were seen to benefit others and self and were located within the same institutional context. Donating plasma was an opportunity for donors to enhanc...

En las últimas décadas se aprecia un aumento de investigaciones abocadas a la participación de las mujeres en los flujos migratorios. Incluso se afirma que asistimos a un proceso de “feminización de las migraciones” que implica el aumento de la cantidad de mujeres involucradas en los movimientos poblacionales de manera autónoma y la visibilización de su participación histórica. En ese contexto, ha cobrado relevancia dentro de las ciencias sociales la relación entre migraciones protagonizadas por mujeres y la salud/enfermedad/cuidado. El artículo propone un diálogo entre dos casos de estudio etnográficos situados en Argentina: 1) mujeres migrantes que trabajan en la agricultura en Mendoza; y 2) migrantes bolivianas insertas en talleres textiles de Buenos Aires. Mediante un enfoque comparativo exploramos las condiciones en que acontecen sus trayectorias migratorias y los modos de vida/ vivienda/trabajo en la sociedad a la que migraron, sus narrativas del padecimiento y las estrategias...

Biology and economy dominate contemporary conversations about, and imaginations of, growth. Across their differences, these conversations are based on shared understandings of growth in fairly narrow framings of the biological and the economic. In particular, scholarly and activist debates about economic growth tend to fall into polarized terms—either “for” or “against” growth. This invites reflection on whether it is possible to think growth otherwise, and to consider the intellectual, political, and ethical implications of doing so.

In central Uganda, even a casual observer would notice the widespread presentation of often identical commercial services and goodsfruit vendors, street food or motorcycle taxis, for instancein a small shared area. This article brings the dynamics of this phenomenon into view under the heuristic rubric of 'bundling', reflecting both on diverse examples from present-day Kampala and on some of the phenomenon's historical and linguistic scaffolding. We take this phenomenon seriously as an alternative form of socioeconomic exchange and growth, one that is distinct from liberal and neoliberal imaginaries of an unlimited flow of goods, people, things and services. Bundling, we argue, reflects an aesthetics in which both material value and social relationships are imagined to arise through thickenings of persons and things, assembled and ordered in spatial proximity and symmetry. The article suggests that bundling offers conceptual resources to imagine growth otherwise, as a process unfolding in ways that complicate and clog conventional economic imaginaries.

After having obtained an MA in social anthropology at the E ´cole des hautes e ´tudes en sciences sociales (EHESS) in Paris, she is pursuing a PhD which deals with medically assisted procreation in the Italian context. Her current investigation focuses on Italians who experience cross-border reproductive care and concentrates particularly on treatments, including donated gametes and embryos. Her interests include assisted reproduction treatment, health care, gender, kinship, health and family policies and medical anthropology.

This paper explores the intersection of religion and health in ancient Mesopotamian
civilizations, how health was balanced with early medicine and prayers, and how gods relating to
these issues changed forms from different civilizations and times while remaining in
Mesopotamian culture. It uses a number of historical, archaeological, occult, and theological
sources to do so. Most prominently books in very specific fields, as well as a few online sources.
Some of these can be found online to read for free, and some can be found in the Santa Clara
County Library system. The goal of this paper was to chart a history of medical and religious
practices as they no longer intersect in contemporary Western medicine and are usually wholly
separated, if not often at odds.

VIII n.s.L’esegesi dell’opera Los gozos y las sombras è stata preceduta da un capitolo che ha cercato di ripercorrere l’esperienza umana, letteraria e intellettuale di Gonzalo Torrente Ballester, intitolato Torrente Ballester par lui-même. L’uomo e lo scrittore, allora, sono diventati un pretesto per allargare lo sfondo e cercare di rendere più comprensibile un paese passato attraverso le grandi speranze e le grandi tragedie della politica; in più tale capitolo ci ha dato la possibilità di guardare più da vicino le modalità narrative che Torrente ha utilizzato nell’arco della sua lunghissima attività di scrittore. Successivamente si è passati all’analisi della trilogia Los gozos y las sombras, che ha fatto leva essenzialmente sul nesso inscindibile che legava il reale con l’immaginario descritto dalla trilogia, la Pueblanueva del Conde letteraria con la Galizia reale, la storia con la geografia, nella ipotesi, anzi, che la geografia, nei suoi aspetti più significativi, potesse poten...

This study was designed to better understand the clinical presentations and challenges of managing type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in a humanitarian crisis-affected population. Findings are based on a longterm ethnographic study of humanitarian response in eastern Ethiopia by the first author from 2008 to 2018, and in addition, a mixed-method case study of T2DM in July-August 2018. For the case study, the authors collected anthropometric, demographic, and biological data from 85 persons with T2DM diagnosis and 23 of their adult siblings. The team then conducted participant-observation and 28 ethnographic interviews with a purposive sample of patients, their siblings, and local health providers, policymakers, and aid workers. T2DM was characterised in this sample by progressive weight loss, weakness, lethargy, loss of teeth, and persistently high average blood glucose levels (HbA1c), at initial clinical presentation, and then in subsequent years, even while taking prescribed medications and/or insulin. Patients struggled to access medical care, refrigerate insulin, and follow dietary recommendations due to chronic food insecurity and long-term dependence on limited food aid rations. Local health providers who are trained and supplied mostly through humanitarian relief funding lack the education and resources to effectively help patients manage non-communicable chronic conditions.

But : Analyser les aspects pedagogiques pouvant expliquer le comportement d’evitement observe aupres des etudiants de 6e annee de medecine lors de la pose de voies veineuses peripheriques. Materiels et methodes : Une etude transversale declarative a ete conduite aupres des etudiants de 6e annee de medecine de la Faculte des sciences de la sante de Brazzaville au cours de leur stage hospitalier, a partir d’une fiche-questionnaire elaboree a cet effet. Resultats : Vingt-cinq etudiants sur trente ont repondu au questionnaire, soit un taux de reponse de 83,3%. Dix etudiants (40%) ont reconnu les catheters par leur couleur. Le dos de la main et l’avant-bras constituaient les deux principaux sites de ponction. La preparation psychologique des patients etait jugee utile et tres utile pour un total de 24 etudiants (96%). Douze (48%) etudiants declaraient reussir la pose de voie veineuse peripherique des la premiere tentative. L’enseignant clinicien et le medecin clinicien etaient les princi...

The continual expansion of developmental frontiers has impacted dramatically upon Indigenous health in Brazil. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in Mato Grosso do Sul, its Indigenous populations were already living in circumstances of environmental degradation, food insecurity, racism, and structural violence. The synergistic interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 virus, other pathogens, and biosocial factors resulted in what Singer (2010) terms as ‘syndemics’. In the case of Mato Grosso do Sul, it brought about a substantial increase in the disease burden of Indigenous Peoples, where child malnutrition, obesity, hypertension, respiratory and parasitic diseases, and maternal mortality appear at higher rates than in the non-Indigenous population. This Research Article discusses the coping and participatory strategies that were employed by Indigenous Peoples early in the pandemic. Efforts by Indigenous Peoples to address the pandemic reveal ‘a clash’ between Indigenous and Colonial cosmog...

A total of 595 respondents (200 from urban Kachi-abadis and 395 from rural communities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad) were interviewed for their knowledge about the use of ORS (Nimkol) in childhood diarrhoea. Most of the respondents were mothers with low literacy rate (23%). The prevalence of current diarrhoea among children was 36.8% on the day of interview whereas 57% of the children had history of having suffered from an episode of diarrhoea during the past two weeks. About 75% respondents claimed that they had an experience of using ORS (Nimkol). Most of them (72.1%) had used ORS (Nimkol) for childhood diarrhoea and dehydration and 28% had used it for diseases other than childhood diarrhoea or on doctor&#39;s advice. Only 11% mothers of children who were currently suffering from diarrhoea were using ORS (Nimkol) and a few mothers mentioned of giving home made fluid remedies like salt-water, salt-sugar-water or lemon-sugar-salt water for childhood diarrhoea. The use of ORS (Nimkol) was...

Wstępny raport z badań antropologicznych szkieletów znalezionych w 1996 roku podczas wykopalisk archeologicznych (kierownik A. Gołembnik) na terenie przylegającym do kościoła św. Ducha w Płocku znajdującego się u zbiegu dzisiejszych ulic Bielskiej i Kwiatka (PSM 52).

U na bella storia di tenacia, di fiducia in se stessi, di passione per lo studio. Una storia divenuta "virale" oltre ogni aspettativa: l'abbiamo costruita assieme a Matteo Notarnicola, comunicando come all'Università del Salento un talentuoso studente discalculico sia riuscito a laurearsi in Matematica grazie all'aiuto di servizi dedicati e soprattutto alla propria energia e capacità di mettersi alla prova. Matteo ha 25 anni, è originario di Veglie (Lecce) e il 25 ottobre scorso è riuscito a raggiungere il suo primo traguardo accademico dopo un inizio non proprio semplice. L'immatricolazione nel 2014, e nel secondo semestre il primo stop: nonostante nel percorso delle scuole superiori Matteo non avesse incontrato particolari difficoltà, all'Università ogni prova parziale scritta sostenuta va male e non riesce a sostenere alcuna prova orale. È qui che entra in scena Eliana Francot, docente di Geometria e Delegata del Rettore alla Disabilità, con una particolare competenza in tema di Disturbi Specifici dell'Apprendimento (DSA). In aula Francot parla ai suoi allievi di questi disturbi, di cosa sono, di come si manifestano e del fatto che dal 2010 esiste una legge, ancora poco conosciuta, che tutela i diritti degli studenti che li presentano. Un campanello suona nella mente di Matteo, ed eccolo rivolgersi al "Servizio di Consulenza -Sportello BES/ DSA", attivo presso il Dipartimento di Storia Società e Studi sull'Uomo. Qui avvia l'iter diagnostico, e nel luglio 2015 il responso: "Disturbi misti delle capacità scolastiche". Secondo la diagnosi, Matteo possiede elevate abilità di ragionamento, ma "la decodifica degli stimoli verbali scritti non è automatizzata e la loro elaborazione risulta particolarmente laboriosa e lenta": in pratica Matteo legge molto più lentamente dei suoi coetanei. Riguardo la capacità di scrittura, viene evidenziato che "in condizioni di compiti simultanei,

In 1988, I started writing lyrics for popular music in Hong Kong. In 2018, Vicky Fung, a veteran music practitioner, and I set up a social enterprise, 'Every Life Is a Song', with the idea that every person deserves a song created entirely as inspired by that person's life. Our recent project-'Remember the Time We Sing'-deals with people living with dementia. Eight songs were created. In September 2023, a series of concerts were staged, and a 20-minute documentary was screened. Taking this project as an instance, this essay is a response to Ana Alacovska's (2020) appeal to conduct a caring inquiry of creative work, to examine 'the undervalued and under-researched dynamics of care, caring and compassion in creative works' (p. 727). While Alacovka's inquiry draws from artists' subjective accounts, I conduct mine more eclectically, and autoethnographically. Guided by my own involvement, I include participants' experiences, project design and implementation, as well as the local context into the inquiry. Three dimensions will be elaborated, on care, on creativity and on the city of Hong Kong, discussing, respectively, relationality and interdependence, re-evaluation of creative work, and hope for a better world. The discussion surrounding Hong Kong is also meant to deliver local, specific experience to enrich thinking on care, and to posit a post-critical approach to creative work. This is part of a Special Issue: Recreating Care as Mattering Practices.

The tribes of the Chotanagpur plateau in general and the tribes of Similipal and its peripheral hilly and forested areas of Mayurbhanj in particular, possess a rich heritage of ethnomedicine, deeply intertwined with their cultural and spiritual practices.  The Kolha- a major tribe of the region- relies extensively on herbal remedies, utilizing locally available plants for treating various ailments such as fever, digestive disorders, skin diseases, and respiratory problems. Their traditional healers, Deuans, play a pivotal role in diagnosing illnesses and preparing herbal formulations using leaves, roots, bark, and flowers. The preparation methods include decoctions, pastes, and powders, often accompanied by rituals and prayers, reflecting the spiritual dimension of their healing practices. Despite the effectiveness of these remedies, modernisation and deforestation have posed significant challenges to preserving ethnomedicinal knowledge. Younger generations often show a declining interest in traditional medicine, gradually eroding this invaluable cultural heritage. Additionally, overexploitation of medicinal plants and environmental degradation threaten the sustainability of this practice. This study emphasizes the importance of documenting and preserving the traditional healing knowledge regarding ethnomedicinal practices of the Kolha tribe of village Khajuripada, of Kusumi block, Mayurbhanj, Odisha to ensure its preservation for future generations. Collaborative efforts involving local communities, researchers, and policymakers are essential to safeguard this traditional wisdom. Sustainable harvesting practices and community-led conservation initiatives can help protect medicinal plant biodiversity. Furthermore, integrating ethnomedicine with modern healthcare systems through scientific validation can enhance its credibility and encourage its continued use. By shedding light on the ethnomedicinal practices of the Kolha tribe, this research contributes to the broader discourse on preserving indigenous knowledge systems and promoting sustainable development in tribal regions.

Com muita satisfacao iniciamos nossa primeira edicao da Revista Percursos e nela apresentamos a Secao Trajetorias e Percursos, destinada para entrevistas realizadas com Antropologos e profissionais de areas afins. E com muita alegria que nesta primeira edicao contamos com a colaboracao da professora Soraya Resende Fleischer. Professora do departamento de Antropologia da UnB nos trouxe carinhosamente nessa entrevista, um pouco de sua vida academica e sua formacao, nos dando a possibilidade de compreender sua trajetoria e os percursos de uma Antropologa. Com grande apreco agradecemos a professora Soraya Resende Fleischer por nos conceder essa entrevista, que foi realizada durante a 28a Reuniao Brasileira de Antropologia em Sao Paulo no ano de 2012 e completada via e-mail posteriormente, dividindo assim, um pouco de si e um pouco de sua trajetoria.

Globally one out of four children under 5 years is affected by linear growth delay (stunting). This syndrome has severe long-term sequelae including increased risk of illness and mortality and delayed psychomotor development. Stunting is a syndrome that is linked to poor nutrition and repeated infections. To date, the treatment of stunted children is challenging as the underlying etiology and pathophysiological mechanisms remain elusive. We hypothesize that pediatric environmental enteropathy (PEE), a chronic inflammation of the small intestine, plays a major role in the pathophysiology of stunting, failure of nutritional interventions and diminished response to oral vaccines, potentially via changes in the composition of the pro- and eukaryotic intestinal communities. The main objective of AFRIBIOTA is to describe the intestinal dysbiosis observed in the context of stunting and to link it to PEE. Secondary objectives include the identification of the broader socio-economic environm...

A DIOS para que mediante su espíritu transforme los corazones de todos nosotros y no nos haga indolentes a la realidad de niños y adultos con menos oportunidades a las nuestras. A todas las personas que desean colaborar con un granito de arena para que el mundo cambie hacia una igualdad de derechos y oportunidades, y poder de corazón colaborar con el Sumak Kawsay de quienes se encuentran olvidados. Agradezco a Dios por su guía y todas las bendiciones recibidas día a día en el caminar diario, por todas las tristezas y alegrías compartidas con quienes me rodean y me han permitido ser la persona que soy. TE AMO DIOS. A mi familia en especial a mi madre que siguiendo el ejemplo de la Virgen María nunca me han abandonado, por su apoyo, esfuerzos y dedicación para formarme como ser humano y profesional. A la mayor bendición concedida; mi hija Abigail, por su cariño, ayuda incondicional, compañía y paciencia. A los habitantes de la nacionalidad Épera por las facilidades prestadas para el desarrollo del presente trabajo, en especial al señor Silvio Chiripúa; A mis maestros por compartir sus conocimientos y parte de su tiempo para un crecimiento personal y profesional. El presente trabajo se ha realizado con la finalidad de contribuir al fortalecimiento de la identidad cultural de la nacionalidad Épera, mediante un recurso educativo desarrollado en Siapede; idioma de la nacionalidad. La nacionalidad Épera cuenta con la institución educativa fiscal intercultural bilingüe Eperara Sia Piadaarade, en donde actualmente se oferta únicamente la educación inicial y la educación general básica, factor adicional a la migración de

This paper examines the process of implementation of a global intervention to
reduce time to diagnosis of tuberculosis in the city of Patna in Eastern India.
We argue that implementation of a project constitutes more than taking policies
formed in global institutions and applying them to local contexts: rather,
we show a process of learning by which a global intervention came to absorb
dispersed forms of knowledge and variations in the milieus that, in turn, affected
the design of the intervention itself. The heterogeneity of everyday life effectively
dismantled the boundaries between major and minor actors and shifted the target
of intervention from its initial emphasis on individual providers and their clinical
protocols, to all significant nodes in a network of people and things implicated in
the relays of decision-making to make the intervention work.
Keywords: Global Intervention; Tuberculosis Diagnosis; Everyday Life; Medical Knowledge; Medical Anthropology.

Annemarie Sorescu-Marinković, Thede Kahl, Biljana Sikimić (eds.), Boyash Studies: Researching “Our People”, pp. 75-97.
ISBN: 978-3-7329-0694-9.

Abstract. The relevance of Gurban to the dream casuistics resides in the oneiric an¬amnesis underlying each healing procedure. Whether mediated by sacred technicians or self-inflicted, the dream of Gurban is the ultimate trial of a cultural illness, dictating at the same time the type of ritual compulsion (roasted or boiled lamb) and the dura¬tion (from a minimum of three successive years to the entire life of the patient). The ritual, accomplished on St. George’s Day in the Julian Calendar or on Ascension Day, respectively, minutely follows the cultural prescriptions of cleanliness and abstinence commanded in the state of dream. This chapter presents these particular features, as appearing in this Gurban variant, as well as a discussion on the profile of the Gurban ritual as incubatio aiming at healing a fully-fledged cultural illness whose character-istics, differentially diagnosed by related afflictions (like the ones cured by the Calus), are outlined here.

Este ensaio discutiu a contribuição de teorias feministas relativas à circularidade e rupturas científicas de transgressões ao feminismo tradicional e de mosaicos queer, com base em autoras feministas, decoloniais e negras. Defendemos a necessidade de politizar os contributos das teorias feministas às epistemologias das Ciências Sociais Aplicadas para a construção de uma ciência que celebra a diversidade e inclusão. A partir de revisão de literatura e abordagem qualitativa, assinalamos desafios epistemológicos, enfatizando lentes, transgressões e mosaicos dos feminismos que ajudam destacar a necessidade de
mudança do embasamento teórico que vem sendo utilizado na construção do conhecimento nas áreas das Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, especialmente da Administração. Nesse sentido, a principal conclusão deste estudo foi provocar o desconforto do modus operandi acadêmico para assumir que a transformação social depende de epistemologias pensadas a partir e com os feminismos.

As the first non-Western nation in contemporary history to become a major industrialized economic power, Japan is central to the debate on cultural relativism in psychiatric nosologies, and the study of eating disorders in Japan contributes to the complex discussion of the impact of culture and history on the experience, diagnosis and treatment of such disorders (R. Gordon 2001; Palmer 2001). Without question, the rise in eating disorders in Japan correlated with increasing industrialization, urbanization, and the fraying of traditional family forms following World War II. While the case of Japan confirms that the existence of eating disorders appears to be linked with these broader social transformations, it also points to the importance of specific cultural and historical factors in shaping the experience of eating disorders. In this article, we explore two particular dimensions of culture in contemporary Japan: (1) gender development and gender role expectations for females coming of age; and (2) beauty ideals and the role of weight and shape concerns in the etiology of eating disorders. Our analysis of these dimensions of culture, and the data accruing from empirical and qualitative research, reveal limitations to the model of "Westernization" and call for a more culturally sensitive search for meaning in both describing and explaining eating disorders in Japan today.

One of the most talked-about social issues in Japan in recent years has been the problem of the nation's purportedly one million ''hidden'' youths, known as hikikomori (literally, ''the withdrawn''). Most observers agree that the category of hikikomori encompasses a wide range of problems and provocations. The fact that these various dilemmas lead to the shared outcome of shutting oneself away at home is the point of departure here. The article explores the spheres of mental health care, education and family, focusing on the reluctance to highlight underlying psychological dimensions of hikikomori and the desire on the part of schools and families to ''mainstream'' Japanese children, accommodating as many as possible within standardized public education. Hikikomori can perhaps be seen as a manifestation of Japanese democracy, in which the good society is imagined as cohesive, protective and secure, rather than one in which the individual can freely exercise the right to be different. Schools, families and the sphere of mental health care have focused on producing social inclusion but have discouraged citizens from being labeled as ''different''-even when such a distinction might help them. The dearth of facilities and discourse for caring for the mentally ill or learning disabled is, in many respects, the darker side of Japan's successes. Those who cannot adjust are cared for through the institutions of families, companies and various other spheres that offer spaces to rest and to temporarily ''drop out''; however, the expectation is that rest will eventually lead to a re-entry into mainstream society. Often the psychological problem or disability that led to the problem goes unnamed and untreated (hikikomori, psychiatry, special education, youth, family, Japan).

A total of 183 patients out of 320 new patients investigated for tubal factor infertility were reviewed. Their ages ranged from 25 to 49 years with a mean age of 34 .1 ± 6.3 years. Forty three patients (23.5%) had primary infertility while 143(76.5%) had secondary infertility. The commonest tubal pathology was bilateral tubal blockage 71 (38.8%). Nine (4.9%) patients had right tubal occlusion, 23 (12.6%) had left tubal occlusion, 8(4.4%) had right-sided hydrosalpinx while 15 (8.2%) had left-sided hydrosalpinx.

The proportion of older persons in the population is increasing at an accelerated rate in almost every country around the globe. No wonder that in many societies, aging is a growing political and personal preoccupation. Emanating from North America, successful aging envisions postponing or even eliminating the negatives of old age by medical intervention and individual effort. Like much of American culture, successful aging discourses are taking root globally, shaped and inflected by local cultural and political contexts. Drawing on the voices and perspectives of older people across diverse contexts in India and the United States, Lamb illuminates successful aging's often unquestioned assumptions. On the face of it, successful aging is a highly appealing no tion. At the same time, the successful aging movement exports a North American cultural discomfort with oldness and human conditions of frailty and (inter)dependence in ways that both undermine other paradigms of aging and obscure social inequalities. Keywords: successful aging, self as project, health ideologies, India, North America 1. The text has been slightly modified, as many of the PowerPoint slides accompanying the lecture presenta tion are not included here.

This article explores the impact of sleep position on human anatomy, with particular attention to the compression of structures such as the penis, nose, ears, and eyes resulting from common sleeping postures. Emphasis is placed on infant sleep positioning and its potential lifelong effects on bodily morphology. The article also examines the role of gravity in circulation, advocating for head-of-bed elevation as a means to enhance blood flow to and from the brain. Various health issues associated with prone (belly), side, and back sleeping positions are compared, highlighting the compressive forces each may exert. The article concludes that back sleeping with the head of the bed elevated 10–30 degrees is optimal for head and brain circulation, and minimizes compression-related injuries to sensitive structures, promoting better lifelong health through intentional sleep positioning.

Academic medicine integrates three of the most honorable human activities: treating the ill, teaching, and research. The quality that all three share is persistent quest for truth. However, there is reluctance of academic medicine today to openly defend scientific truth by challenging the arguments and the very existence of &quot;complementary and alternative medicine&quot; (CAM). There is no sound proof of CAM effectiveness, no hypotheses on the mechanisms of their action, nor scientific reports testing them. The fact that patients are charged for these &quot;healing&quot; activities makes CAM a plain fraud. With these facts in mind, the name &quot;complementary and alternative medicine&quot; is undeserved and misleading. CAM advocates maintain that CAM should be recognized precisely because it is widely practiced and very promising, that it has a special holistic/human approach, and works at least as a placebo in situations where medicine can do nothing more. As it seems that the ...

Overview: Beginner's Guide to Magic Mirrors On 13 July 2022, the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM) announced the discovery of a Buddhist-themed magic mirror in its collection. The museum's curator of East Asian Art, Hou-mei Sung, mentioned she is aware of only two other museums in possession of such a rare mirror. Bronze magic mirrors (like the one at CAM) are indeed rare, but not that rare. To date, over twenty religious-themed magic mirrors have been identified, including four featuring a Christian motif. This guide presents twelve of them, located at museums in Japan, the UK, and the USA. There are two distinct types of magic mirror: one-plated and two-plated. One-plated magic mirrors originated in ancient times. Extant examples are abundant. Two-plated magic mirrors like CAM's are very scarce and [it seems] of relatively recent origin. This guide presents both varieties, but the main focus is on two-plated magic mirrors. Magic mirror historian, Janet Leigh Foster, has studied this topic for many years, including the unique "composite" variety (her term for two-plated mirrors). She has identified twentyfour composite Japanese mirrors worldwide, and is fairly certain they originated in the Meiji period (19th century). She plans to release a book sometime soon. OPEN LINKS IN NEW BROWSER TAB 1. on PC, hold down control key, click link 2. on MAC, hold down command key, click link 3. right-click link, select "open link in new tab"

Science was once the domain of critical thinking, direct observation, and logical reasoning. However, with the rise of increasingly complex statistical models, modern science now often demands faith rather than understanding. Today’s statistical models, too complicated for most scientists to independently verify, act like oracles: data is fed in, and a verdict emerges—one that must be accepted on faith. This is faith-based approach to research has turned science into a religion.

Even though use of antiretroviral therapy (HAART) decreases the incidence of opportunistic infections (OIs) they are continuing to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Studies concerning this problem are scarce in Eastern Africa. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and predictors of OIs after initiation of HAART in Ethiopia. A health facility based single centered cohort study using structured data extraction sheet was conducted. The study population was all HIV positive ART naive adolescents and adults who started HAART between January 2009 and May 2012. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 317 patients from the record. Multivariate binary logistic regression model was used to determine factors for the occurrence of OIs after initiation of HAART. The incidence of OIs after HAART was 7.5 cases/100person years. Tuberculosis, oral candidiasis, pneumonia and toxoplasmosis were the leading OIs after HAART. A bed ridden functional status at initiation of HAART, presence of OIs before HAART, non-adherence and low hemoglobin level were predictors for the occurrence of OIs after HAART.

Background: To analyze indications and frequency of caesarean section. Methods:In this cross sectional study pregnant females , who underwent caesarean section during study period were enrolled. Indications for caesarean sections and caesarean section rates (CSR) were studied.. Results: During study period, total number of deliveries were 3049, out of which 1709 (56%) were caesarean sections. The commonest indication for caesarean section was repeat caesarean section (40.3%), followed by failed induction (13.5%) and fetal distress (11.2%) Conclusion: The rate of C-sections is high. Regular audits of CSR and indications for caesarean sections will help to reduce CSR.

Background: To analyze indications and frequency of caesarean section. Methods:In this cross sectional study pregnant females , who underwent caesarean section during study period were enrolled. Indications for caesarean sections and caesarean section rates (CSR) were studied.. Results: During study period, total number of deliveries were 3049, out of which 1709 (56%) were caesarean sections. The commonest indication for caesarean section was repeat caesarean section (40.3%), followed by failed induction (13.5%) and fetal distress (11.2%) Conclusion: The rate of C-sections is high. Regular audits of CSR and indications for caesarean sections will help to reduce CSR.

This study aims to identify the level of obesity awareness among nurses working in Alor Gajah District Health Clinic, Melaka. Quantitative studies with cross sectional methods were carried out. Random sampling is made by distributing questionnaires to respondents and the data wasrecorded and analyzed using the Statistical Package Social Science (SPSS) software. Descriptive analysis showed that all respondents are in high stages of obesity level. For the practice of exercise, the overall respondents (50.7%) were moderate to the lower level while 49.3% were at high levels. For healthy eating habits is at low level (65.8%) and (34.2%) high level. Inferential analysis showedthat there is a significant relationship between healthy eating habits and BMI through Chi square test. However, there isno significant relationship between knowledge and exercise practices with BMI respondents in this study. With regard to research findings, some suggestions have been raised as individuals who are overweight can lose weight if they live a healthy lifestyle by controlling their diet and increase physical activity such as daily exercise in recommended rates.

In this Fresh Focus, we reassess what the mental health treatment gap may mean if we consider the role of traditional healing. Based on systematic reviews, patients can use traditional healers and qualitatively report improvement from general psychological distress and symptom reduction for common mental disorders. Given these clinical implications, some high-income countries have scaled up research into traditional healing practices, while at the same time in low-and middle-income countries, where the use of traditional healers is nearly ubiquitous, considerably less research funding has studied or capitalized on this phenomena. The World Health Organization 2003-2020 Mental Health Action Plan called for government health programs to include traditional and faith healers as treatment resources to combat the low-and middle-income country treatment gap. Reflection on the work which emerged during the course of this Mental Health Action Plan revealed areas for improvement. As we embark on the next Mental Health Action Plan, we offer lessons-learned for exploring potential relationships and collaborations between traditional healing and biomedicine.

The aim of this study is to investigate which legal and social problems occurred from the side of some specific human groups whose bodies and organs were negatively affected by reproductive biotechnology applications. For this aim, thirteen in-depth interviews were conducted with surrogate mothers, people who had their children via surrogacy, oocyte donors, people who had their children via oocyte donation and two embryologists. In this dissertation, Capabilities Approach of Nussbaum was chosen as the main theoretical guide and, qualitative interview data, which was generated from the interviews with ARTAP (Assisted Reproductive Technologically Affected People), was discussed for each human capability item. These capability items are life, bodily integrity, senses, imagination and thought, emotions, practical reason, affiliation, being in relation with other species, play and control over one’s environment. After focusing on human rights problems and constraints in having children v...

Critical discussions about medicine and medical practices are cognoscente of the evolution of such practices and the historical and cross-cultural developments of healthcare systems, or arenas. in a seminal text, Charles Leslie outlined some of the key examples in terms of comparative (Asian) healthcare systems. This sets the scene for future generations of researchers to apply a more comparative understanding, not just to Asian medical systems but to any such cross-cultural analysis of medicine and health care. The text also brings into sharp relief the relative merits and potential drawbacks of applying a unified homogenized overarching approach to medical practice. This chapter therefore concerns itself with the idea of healthcare systems rather than any notion of a single universally agreed medical practice and the meaning this has for "modern medicine" in the contemporary world in the (post) industrial West and in the so-called developing societies. Contemporary currents of Western medical thought and practice illustrate a particular cognitive trajectory and scholars have outlined linkages between medical knowledge and dominant (social) ideas in what have been described as "medical cosmologies."20 in this regard, medical endeavor may also be construed as a sociological and anthropological endeavor.37 Medical traditions are born in antiquity and are, by definition, ethnocentric. They are defined by the immediate circumstances and surroundings of individuals in context, that is, the socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural circumstances from which they emerge. We may regard these healthcare systems as profoundly personal and tied to such things as cosmological canopy, belief systems and ritual, organized religion, kinship structures, local topography, indigenous ethno pharmacological practices, food, and lifestyle behaviors. The point here is that when we come to look at such practices historically and cross-culturally, we see common themes, such as how individuals, groups, and societies respond to health chances 1 to relieve specific ailments or conditions. This is context based. We see this through, for example, organizational responses to care, within the family; or in the community; or through national, regional healthcare services; or via the use of indigenous pharmacological substances or ritualistic behavior or performance and symbolic meaning (such as prayer, penitence, or sacred offerings). However, we also see important variations. Different cultures (and healthcare systems) rely on specific knowledge. These are often dependent on local resources and local notions of health beliefs and associated practices. These are derived from, and embedded in, tradition and culture. These beliefs and practices, while they may make sense locally, may not be easily translated to circumstances beyond the immediate environment. The classic anthropological example of this is Evans-Pritchard's now-famous discussion surrounding the transmission of medical (magical) knowledge among the Azande.11, p 186) We also see trends. For example, dominant ideologies and power structures drive and legitimate practice, thereby giving license to practice and define authenticity. Nowhere is this truer than within the rise of "modern medicine," particularly in the West. This "is embodied in and comes with the day-to-day rational-scientific practices associated with the work of doctors in the hospital or clinic" (Ref. [6], p. xii). Such everyday practices contribute to the (social) construction and reproduction of a particular world view or what some have termed a "biomedical discourse" or "clinical gaze."12 in the so-called advanced industrial world of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, health care made a profound move from within the community, to the more alienating hospital-clinic-based medicine that linked the "bench, the bedside, and the production plant," and this came to characterize modern medicine (Ref. [25], p. 118). This development was tied to wider social, historical processes of the period, such as the growth of towns and cities amid rapid capitalist expansion in the West.20,32 in addition, medical knowledge and health practice also progressed rapidly in the wake of various (more notably, colonial) conflicts. The world wars were also significant here. We see, for example, the "accelerated and intensified collaboration between biologists, clinicians and industrialists, a development exemplified by the wartime production of penicillin.... and the rapid growth of the pharmaceutical