Making Early Modern Medicine: Reproducing Swedish Bitters.

PubMed

Ahnfelt, Nils-Otto; Fors, Hjalmar

2016-05-01

Historians of science and medicine have rarely applied themselves to reproducing the experiments and practices of medicine and pharmacy. This paper delineates our efforts to reproduce "Swedish Bitters," an early modern composite medicine in wide European use from the 1730s to the present. In its original formulation, it was made from seven medicinal simples: aloe, rhubarb, saffron, myrrh, gentian, zedoary and agarikon. These were mixed in alcohol together with some theriac, a composite medicine of classical origin. The paper delineates the compositional history of Swedish Bitters and the medical rationale underlying its composition. It also describes how we go about to reproduce the medicine in a laboratory using early modern pharmaceutical methods, and analyse it using contemporary methods of pharmaceutical chemistry. Our aim is twofold: first, to show how reproducing medicines may provide a path towards a deeper understanding of the role of sensual and practical knowledge in the wider context of early modern medical culture; and second, how it may yield interesting results from the point of view of contemporary pharmaceutical science.

Developmental Changes in the Early Child Lexicon in Mandarin Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hao, Meiling; Liu, Youyi; Shu, Hua; Xing, Ailing; Jiang, Ying; Li, Ping

2015-01-01

In this paper we report a large-scale developmental study of early productive vocabulary acquisition by 928 Chinese-speaking children aged between 1;0 and 2;6, using the Early Vocabulary Inventory for Mandarin Chinese (Hao, Shu, Xing & Li, 2008). The results show that: (i) social words, especially words for people, are the predominant type of…

[Some engineering problems on developing production industry of modern traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Qu, Hai-bin; Cheng, Yi-yu; Wang, Yue-sheng

2003-10-01

Based on the review of some engineering problems on developing modern production industry of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the differences of TCM production industry between China and abroad were pointed out. Accelerating the application and extension of high-tech and computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS) were suggested to promote the technology advancement of TCM industry.

Do metrical incongruities disrupt semantic processing in modern Chinese? An event-related potential study.

PubMed

Lee, Yujun; Liu, Xin; Wang, Xiaoming

2015-09-30

The present study examined the relationship between prosody and semantic processing in the written form of modern Chinese by analysing behavioural data and event-related potential data. By manipulating the number of noun syllables in verb-objection, we compare the dynamic neural mechanisms of the structure bisyllabic verb (V2)+monosyllabic noun (N1) (i.e. V2+N1) with V2+N1 (N2, bisyllabic noun). In Chinese, the rhythmic pattern V2+N1 is considered to be a metrical incongruity, whereas V2+N2 is considered to be a metrical congruity. For example, the verb yunshu (to transport) can be followed by liangshi (cereals). However, if yunshu is followed by liang (cereals), yunshu liang is usually considered to be metrically incongruous. This paper shows that (i) V2+N1 elicited more negative amplitudes than V2+N2 in the 90-170 ms and 450-500 ms windows, which indicates that metrical incongruities affect semantic processing in Chinese, and (ii) the acceptance rate for V2+N1 is significantly lower than that of V2+N2, which implies that metrical incongruities disrupt semantic processing in modern Chinese. These results are in agreement with previous studies. This is the first study to find that metrical incongruities disrupt semantic processing in Chinese. This study provides convergent evidence that metrical congruities facilitate semantic processing, whereas metrical incongruities disrupt semantic processing. Video abstract available (Supplemental digital content 1, http://links.lww.com/WNR/A340).

Archives and the Boundaries of Early Modern Science.

PubMed

Popper, Nicholas

2016-03-01

This contribution argues that the study of early modern archives suggests a new agenda for historians of early modern science. While in recent years historians of science have begun to direct increased attention toward the collections amassed by figures and institutions traditionally portrayed as proto-scientific, archives proliferated across early modern Europe, emerging as powerful tools for creating knowledge in politics, history, and law as well as natural philosophy, botany, and more. The essay investigates the methods of production, collection, organization, and manipulation used by English statesmen and Crown officers such as Keeper of the State Papers Thomas Wilson and Secretary of State Joseph Williamson to govern their disorderly collections. Their methods, it is shown, were shared with contemporaries seeking to generate and manage other troves of evidence and in fact reflect a complex ecosystem of imitation and exchange across fields of inquiry. These commonalities suggest that historians of science should look beyond the ancestors of modern scientific disciplines to examine how practices of producing knowledge emerged and migrated throughout cultures of learning in Europe and beyond. Creating such a map of knowledge production and exchange, the essay concludes, would provide a renewed and expansive ambition for the field.

Expert Practitioner's Views about the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Bi Ying; Vong, Keang-ieng; Chen, Yuewen; Li, Kejian

2015-01-01

This study aims to examine the views of 176 expert practitioners on the relevance and feasibility of applying the Chinese Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (CECERS), which is developed based on the Chinese version of Harms, Clifford, and Cryer's (2005) world renowned Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-revised (ECERS-R). The CECERS…

The Chinese Family in Transition: Implications for Education and Society in Modern Taiwan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Douglas C.

This paper investigates the challenges facing the modern Chinese family in Taiwan. An understanding of how culture and family life interact in other cultures may be useful in helping to understand such interactions in one's own society. Confucianism and family stability have been two enduring features of the protracted civilizations of China. In…

Problem-based learning: ancient Chinese educational philosophy reflected in a modern educational methodology.

PubMed

Lee, Wai Man; Wong, Frances Kam Yuet; Mok, Esther S B

2004-02-01

Problem-based learning (PBL) has been widely adopted as a strategy by nurse educators all over the world. Many studies have been carried out to examine its process and outcomes. There are few studies discussing the relevance of PBL to students with different cultural background. This study reports the experiences of Chinese students in Hong Kong using PBL and explores if their experiences were compatible with the educational philosophy documented in traditional Chinese literature. The phenomenological approach was used in the treatment of data. The informants were students enrolled in the post-registration nursing degree programme at a university in Hong Kong during 1997-1998. A total of 94 journals were included in the analysis. Seven main themes emerged from the phenomenological analysis. They were the integration of knowing and doing, critical reflection and debate, individuality of learning, self-motivated learning, critical inquiry and independent thinking, timeliness of instruction and cooperative learning. This study provides evidence to show that PBL is an approach that is compatible with the Chinese way of learning. The result of this study shows that aspects of the modern PBL process harken back to an ancient Chinese learning philosophy that underpins Chinese learning today.

Therapeutic history of Parkinson's disease in Chinese medical treatises.

PubMed

Zheng, Guo-Qing

2009-11-01

Chronological research on the therapeutic history of Parkinson's disease (PD) has been conducted by Chinese medical treatises from ancient to modern times. It outlines the division by the early, middle, and modern periods. The precise records for the clinical symptoms of PD and its preliminary treatment prescriptions could date back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Thereafter (220 AD-1911), due to an increase in the understanding of PD in Chinese medical science, prescriptions for treatment also sprang up. Frequency statistics and cluster analysis have been carried out to elucidate the medication rules and commonly used Chinese medicinal materials (CMM) for prevention and treatment of PD during the middle period. In modern times, the dozens of prescriptions or bioactive ingredients of CMM used for the symptomatic treatment of PD have been shown to be effective in clinical trials. However, an analysis of contemporary Chinese clinical literature on PD has suggested the need for more rigorous research methodology before CMM could be adopted by evidence-based medicine.

Hybridizing scholastic psychology with Chinese medicine: a seventeenth-century Chinese Catholic's conceptions of xin (mind and heart).

PubMed

Zhang, Qiong

2008-01-01

This paper explores the dynamics of cultural interactions between early modern China and Europe initiated by the Jesuits and other Catholic missionaries through a case study of Wang Honghan, a seventeenth-century Chinese Catholic who systematically sought to integrate European learning introduced by the missionaries with pre-modern Chinese medicine. Focusing on the ways in which Wang combined his Western and Chinese sources to develop and articulate his views on xin (mind and heart), this paper argues that Wang arrived at a peculiar hybrid between scholastic psychology and Chinese medicine, not so much through a course of haphazard misunderstanding as through his conscious and patterned use and abuse of his Western sources, which was motivated most possibly by a wish to define a theoretical position that most suited his social roles as a Catholic convert and a Chinese medical doctor. Thus, rather than seeing Wang as an epitome of"transmission failure," this paper offers it as a showcase for the tremendous dynamism and creativity occurring at this East-West "contact zone as representatives of both cultures sought to appropriate and transform the symbolic and textual resources of the other side.

Phonological Representations and Early Literacy in Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kidd, Joanna C.; Shum, Kathy Kar-Man; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Au, Terry Kit-fong

2015-01-01

Phonological processing skills predict early reading development, but what underlies developing phonological processing skills? Phonological representations of 140 native Cantonese-speaking Chinese children (age 4-10) were assessed with speech gating, mispronunciation detection, and nonword repetition tasks; their nonverbal IQ, reading, and…

[Briefs of Japanese acupuncture-moxibustion works of Chinese translation version in modern times].

PubMed

Liu, Kechen; Zhang, Shujian

2017-05-12

The authors collected 25 Japanese acupuncture-moxibustion works of Chinese translation version in modern times (1912-1960) and investigated them from 3 aspects, named the study on the mechanisms of acupuncture and moxibustion, the explanation of basic theory and clinical treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion. Generally speaking, Japanese acupuncture-moxibustion works of Chinese translation version explained the mechanisms of acupuncture and moxibustion in terms of the theory of western medicine rather than traditional one. It proposed the study on the phenomenon of meridian and collateral, which absorbed the anatomic knowledge of western medicine in the discussion on meridians, collaterals and acupoints; introduced diagnostic methods and techniques of acupuncture and moxibustion and adopted the classification of western medicine system and the diseases in western medicine to discuss the treatment with acupuncture and moxibustion. All of these reflect the academic characteristics of acupuncture and moxibustion in Japan at those times and the position of Chinese scholars, by which the Japanese medical works were introduced for the academic innovation.

Eastward Expansion of Western Learning: A Study of Westernisation of China's Modern Education by Chinese Government Overseas-Study Scholarships

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Ren-Jie Vincent

2016-01-01

This article aims to trace back the history of how Chinese Government attempted to strengthen its national power by learning from the USA, Western Europe and Japan since the mid-nineteenth century, as well as to analyse the influences Westernisation had on the development of China's modern education. In this process, the Chinese Government…

Preterit Loss in Early Modern Nuremberg

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bagwell, Angela Catania

2013-01-01

This study investigates "Prateritumschwund," one of the most salient developments in the Upper German dialect area during the Early Modern period. Drawing on a wide range of text types originating in Nuremberg and its surrounding areas from the 13th to the 17th centuries, this study tests various hypotheses put forward as alleged causes…

Early modern mathematical instruments.

PubMed

Bennett, Jim

2011-12-01

In considering the appropriate use of the terms "science" and "scientific instrument," tracing the history of "mathematical instruments" in the early modern period is offered as an illuminating alternative to the historian's natural instinct to follow the guiding lights of originality and innovation, even if the trail transgresses contemporary boundaries. The mathematical instrument was a well-defined category, shared across the academic, artisanal, and commercial aspects of instrumentation, and its narrative from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was largely independent from other classes of device, in a period when a "scientific" instrument was unheard of.

Ancient Chinese Observations and Modern Cometary Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yeomans, D. K.

1995-12-01

Ancient astronomical observations by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean observers represent the only data source for discerning the long-term behavior of comets. The primary source material is derived from Chinese astrologers who kept a vigilant celestial watch in an effort to issue up-to-date astrological forecasts for the reigning emperors. Surprisingly accurate records were kept on cometary apparitions with careful notes being made of an object's position, motion, size, color, and tail length. For comets Halley, Swift-Tuttle, and Tempel-Tuttle, Chinese observations have been used to model their motions over two millennia and to infer their photometric histories. One general result is that active comets must achieve an apparent magnitude of 3.5 or brighter before they become obvious naked-eye objects. For both comets Halley and Swift-Tuttle, their absolute magnitudes and hence their outgassing rates, have remained relatively constant for two millennia. Comet Halley's rocket-like outgassing has consistently delayed the comet's return to perihelion by 4 days so that the comet's spin axis must have remained stable for at least two millennia. Although its outgassing is at nearly the same rate as Halley's, comet Swift-Tuttle's motion has been unaffected by outgassing forces; this comet is likely to be ten times more massive than Halley and hence far more difficult for rocket-like forces to push it around. Although the earliest definite observations of comet Tempel-Tuttle were in 1366, the associated Leonid meteor showers have been identified as early as A.D. 902. The circumstance for each historical meteor shower and storm have been used to guide predictions for the upcoming 1998-1999 Leonid meteor displays.

American Influence on Chinese Physics Study in the Early Twentieth Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Danian

2016-01-01

To save China from the perils she faced in the early twentieth century, the majority of the Chinese seemed to agree that it was necessary to strengthen the country by developing shiye or industry and commerce. For this purpose, they overhauled China's education system and sent a large number of students to study overseas. Many of them enrolled in American colleges, sponsored either by governmental grants or by private funds. As American physics advanced rapidly during the early twentieth century, Chinese physicists studying in top US institutions received first-class professional training. They later went on to become a main driving force in Chinese physics development. The study-in-America programs were apparently more successful than other study-overseas programs. Among other factors, the historical lessons learned from the aborted Chinese Educational Mission in the 1870s, the prevalent and long-time presence of American mission schools in China, and stable public and private funding contributed to their success. American-trained Chinese physicists not only advanced physics study in China but also played leading roles in the development of Chinese science and technology during the twentieth century. This fertile and far-reaching American influence has been embedded in all their accomplishments.

Exploring Parental Involvement in Early Years Education in China: Development and Validation of the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Eva Yi Hung; Li, Hui; Rao, Nirmala

2012-01-01

This study developed and validated an instrument, the Chinese Early Parental Involvement Scale (CEPIS), that can be widely used in both local and international contexts to assess Chinese parental involvement in early childhood education. The study was carried out in two stages: (1) focus group interviews were conducted with 41 teachers and 35…

Early Period of Modern Architecture in Turkey - A Case Study of Eskisehir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karasozen, Rana

2017-10-01

Modern architecture in the Western World bore fruit at the beginning of the 20th Century in consequence of the process of modernity and seeking of the proper architecture for it. It was formed firstly towards the end of the 1920s. The main reason of this nonsynchronous development was the inadequacy of enlightenment and industrial revolution during the Ottoman Empire and the lack of formation of an intellectual infrastructure which provides the basis of modernity. However, the Ottoman Westernization occurring in the 19th century constituted the foundations of the Republic modernity founded in 1923. The earliest modern architectural designs in Turkey were first practised by European architects after the foundation of the Republic and internalised and practised extensively by the native architects afterwards. The early modern architecture of Turkey, named as “1930s Modernism”, continued until the beginning of the World War II. This period was formed in between the periods of first and second nationalist architecture movements. The early modern architecture period of Turkey was a period which high-quality designs were made. It was practised and internalised not only in big cities such as Ankara and in Istanbul, but also in the medium and small cities of the country. This situation was not just about a formal exception but about the internalisation of modernity by the society. Eskisehir is one of the most important pioneering cities of the Republic period in terms of industrial and educational developments. The earliest modern buildings were built as the public buildings by the state and non-citizen architects in the inadequate conditions of the country in terms of economy and professional people. The earliest modern houses of the city designed by these architects were the prototypes for the later practices which offered the citizens a new lifestyle. The modern houses were the symbols of prestige and status for the owners and the dwellers. The features of early

Ancient gene flow from early modern humans into Eastern Neanderthals.

PubMed

Kuhlwilm, Martin; Gronau, Ilan; Hubisz, Melissa J; de Filippo, Cesare; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Kircher, Martin; Fu, Qiaomei; Burbano, Hernán A; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; de la Rasilla, Marco; Rosas, Antonio; Rudan, Pavao; Brajkovic, Dejana; Kucan, Željko; Gušic, Ivan; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Andrés, Aida M; Viola, Bence; Pääbo, Svante; Meyer, Matthias; Siepel, Adam; Castellano, Sergi

2016-02-25

It has been shown that Neanderthals contributed genetically to modern humans outside Africa 47,000-65,000 years ago. Here we analyse the genomes of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan from the Altai Mountains in Siberia together with the sequences of chromosome 21 of two Neanderthals from Spain and Croatia. We find that a population that diverged early from other modern humans in Africa contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains roughly 100,000 years ago. By contrast, we do not detect such a genetic contribution in the Denisovan or the two European Neanderthals. We conclude that in addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and early modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

Measurement Quality of the Chinese Early Childhood Program Rating Scale: An Investigation Using Multivariate Generalizability Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Dezhi; Hu, Bi Ying; Fan, Xitao; Li, Kejian

2014-01-01

Adapted from the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised, the Chinese Early Childhood Program Rating Scale (CECPRS) is a culturally comparable measure for assessing the quality of early childhood education and care programs in the Chinese cultural/social contexts. In this study, 176 kindergarten classrooms were rated with CECPRS on eight…

Erotic Love and the Development of Proto-Capitalist Ideology in Early Modern Comedy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damsen, Silver

2009-01-01

My dissertation, "Erotic Love and the Development of Proto-Capitalist Ideology in Early Modern Comedy" demonstrates how increased crown authority, and an expanded market combine with the mixed agency of the romantic comedy daughter to further encourage early modern economic growth. The triumph of rebelling daughter over blocking father has…

Trading secrets: Jews and the early modern quest for clandestine knowledge.

PubMed

Jütte, Daniel

2012-12-01

This essay explores the significance and function of secrecy and secret sciences in Jewish-Christian relations and in Jewish culture in the early modern period. It shows how the trade in clandestine knowledge and the practice of secret sciences became a complex, sometimes hazardous space for contact between Jews and Christians. By examining this trade, the essay clarifies the role of secrecy in the early modern marketplace of knowledge. The attribution of secretiveness to Jews was a widespread topos in early modern European thought. However, relatively little is known about the implications of such beliefs in science or in daily life. The essay pays special attention to the fact that trade in secret knowledge frequently offered Jews a path to the center of power, especially at court. Furthermore, it becomes clear that the practice of secret sciences, the trade in clandestine knowledge, and a mercantile agenda were often inextricably interwoven. Special attention is paid to the Italian-Jewish alchemist, engineer, and entrepreneur Abramo Colorni (ca. 1544-1599), whose career illustrates the opportunities provided by the marketplace of secrets at that time. Much scholarly (and less scholarly) attention has been devoted to whether and what Jews "contributed" to what is commonly called the "Scientific Revolution." This essay argues that the question is misdirected and that, instead, we should pay more attention to the distinctive opportunities offered by the early modern economy of secrecy.

Early modern human diversity suggests subdivided population structure and a complex out-of-Africa scenario

PubMed Central

Gunz, Philipp; Bookstein, Fred L.; Mitteroecker, Philipp; Stadlmayr, Andrea; Seidler, Horst; Weber, Gerhard W.

2009-01-01

The interpretation of genetic evidence regarding modern human origins depends, among other things, on assessments of the structure and the variation of ancient populations. Because we lack genetic data from the time when the first anatomically modern humans appeared, between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago, instead we exploit the phenotype of neurocranial geometry to compare the variation in early modern human fossils with that in other groups of fossil Homo and recent modern humans. Variation is assessed as the mean-squared Procrustes distance from the group average shape in a representation based on several hundred neurocranial landmarks and semilandmarks. We find that the early modern group has more shape variation than any other group in our sample, which covers 1.8 million years, and that they are morphologically similar to recent modern humans of diverse geographically dispersed populations but not to archaic groups. Of the currently competing models of modern human origins, some are inconsistent with these findings. Rather than a single out-of-Africa dispersal scenario, we suggest that early modern humans were already divided into different populations in Pleistocene Africa, after which there followed a complex migration pattern. Our conclusions bear implications for the inference of ancient human demography from genetic models and emphasize the importance of focusing research on those early modern humans, in particular, in Africa. PMID:19307568

Growing Up the Chinese Way: Chinese Child and Adolescent Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lau, Sing, Ed.

This volume is a collection of current research by noted scholars on Chinese child development. The volume re-examines long-held beliefs and preconceptions about Chinese culture, draws forth incompatible pictures and contradictory facts about Chinese children, and draws attention to new problems of the modern Chinese family. The chapters of the…

[Discussion on strengthening yin of chinese herbs with bitter-flavor clinical traditional Chinese pharmacology noun terminology standardization research].

PubMed

Liu, Xiao-Mei; Bao; Zhaorigetu; Zhuang, Xin-Ying; Que, Ling; Tian, Chang-Jiang

2013-10-01

Clinical traditional Chinese pharmacology is the subject that study of basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, property of Chinese materia medica and clinical application. The study on the standardization research of the terminology of clinical traditional Chinese pharmacology is an important premise and foundation to standardization, modernization and internationalization, informationization construction of clinical traditional Chinese pharmacology and is also the important content of the subject construction. To provide some exploring ideas for clinical traditional Chinese pharmacology noun terminology standardization, this article elaborates the concept of strengthening Yin with bitter-flavor herbs in several aspects, such as connotation and the historical origin, the clinical application in the traditional, modern clinic application, and the modern basic research and so on.

Chinese primiparous women's experiences of early motherhood: factors affecting maternal role competence.

PubMed

Ngai, Fei-Wan; Chan, Sally W C; Holroyd, Eleanor

2011-05-01

The aim of this study was to explore Chinese women's perceptions of maternal role competence and factors contributing to maternal role competence during early motherhood. Developing a sense of competence and satisfaction in the maternal role are considered critical components in maternal adaptation, which have a significant impact on parenting behaviours and the psychosocial development of the child. However, qualitative studies that address maternal role competence are limited in the Chinese population. This was an exploratory descriptive study. A purposive sample of 26 Chinese primiparous mothers participated in a childbirth psychoeducation programme and was interviewed at six weeks postpartum. Data were analysed using content analysis. Women perceived a competent mother as being able to make a commitment to caring for the physical and emotional well-being of child, while cultivating appropriate values for childhood. Personal knowledge and experience of infant care, success in breastfeeding, infant's well-being, availability of social support and contradictory information from various sources were major factors affecting maternal role competency. The findings highlight the importance of understanding Chinese cultural attitudes to childrearing and maternal role competence. New Chinese mothers need information on child care, positive experiences of infant care, social support and consistent information to enhance their maternal role competency. Recommendations are made for Chinese culturally specific guidelines and healthcare delivery interventions to enhance maternal role competence in early motherhood. Nursing and midwifery care should always take into account the cultural beliefs and enable adaptation of traditional postpartum practices. Providing consistent information and positive experience on parenting skills and infant behaviour as well as enhancing effective coping strategies could strengthen Chinese women's maternal role competency. © 2011 Blackwell

Early Reading Development in Chinese-Speaking Children with Hearing Loss

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chan, Yi-Chih; Yang, You-Jhen

2018-01-01

This study aims to explore early reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking children with hearing loss (HL) by examining character recognition and linguistic comprehension. Twenty-five children with HL received three measures relevant to character reading: phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), and character recognition; two…

Earliest evidence of modern human life history in North African early Homo sapiens.

PubMed

Smith, Tanya M; Tafforeau, Paul; Reid, Donald J; Grün, Rainer; Eggins, Stephen; Boutakiout, Mohamed; Hublin, Jean-Jacques

2007-04-10

Recent developmental studies demonstrate that early fossil hominins possessed shorter growth periods than living humans, implying disparate life histories. Analyses of incremental features in teeth provide an accurate means of assessing the age at death of developing dentitions, facilitating direct comparisons with fossil and modern humans. It is currently unknown when and where the prolonged modern human developmental condition originated. Here, an application of x-ray synchrotron microtomography reveals that an early Homo sapiens juvenile from Morocco dated at 160,000 years before present displays an equivalent degree of tooth development to modern European children at the same age. Crown formation times in the juvenile's macrodont dentition are higher than modern human mean values, whereas root development is accelerated relative to modern humans but is less than living apes and some fossil hominins. The juvenile from Jebel Irhoud is currently the oldest-known member of Homo with a developmental pattern (degree of eruption, developmental stage, and crown formation time) that is more similar to modern H. sapiens than to earlier members of Homo. This study also underscores the continuing importance of North Africa for understanding the origins of human anatomical and behavioral modernity. Corresponding biological and cultural changes may have appeared relatively late in the course of human evolution.

Malocclusion in Early Anatomically Modern Human: A Reflection on the Etiology of Modern Dental Misalignment

PubMed Central

Sarig, Rachel; Slon, Viviane; Abbas, Janan; May, Hila; Shpack, Nir; Vardimon, Alexander Dan; Hershkovitz, Israel

2013-01-01

Malocclusions are common in modern populations. Yet, as the study of occlusion requires an almost intact dentition in both the maxilla and mandible, searching for the ultimate cause of malocclusion is a challenge: relatively little ancient material is available for research on occlusal states. The Qafzeh 9 skull is unique, as its preserved dentition allowed us to investigate the presence and manifestations of malocclusion. The aim of this study was thus to examine the occlusal condition in the Qafzeh 9 specimen in light of modern knowledge regarding the etiology of malocclusion. We revealed a pathologic occlusion in the Qafzeh 9 skull that probably originated in the early developmental stage of the dentition, and was aggravated by forces applied by mastication. When arch continuity is interrupted due to misalignment of teeth as in this case, force transmission is not equal on both sides, causing intra-arch outcomes such as mesialization of the teeth, midline deviation, rotations and the aggravation of crowding. All are evident in the Qafzeh 9 skull: the midline deviates to the left; the incisors rotate mesio-buccally; the left segment is constricted; the left first molar is buccally positioned and the left premolars palatally tilted. The inter-arch evaluation revealed anterior cross bite with functional shift that might affect force transmission and bite force. In conclusion, the findings of the current study suggest that malocclusion of developmental origin was already present in early anatomically modern humans (AMH) (the present case being the oldest known case, dated to ca. 100,000 years); that there is no basis to the notion that early AMH had a better adjustment between teeth and jaw size; and that jaw-teeth size discrepancy could be found in prehistoric populations and is not a recent phenomenon. PMID:24278319

Zilsel's Thesis, Maritime Culture, and Iberian Science in Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Leitão, Henrique; Sánchez, Antonio

2017-01-01

Zilsel's thesis on the artisanal origins of modern science remains one of the most original proposals about the emergence of scientific modernity. We propose to inspect the scientific developments in Iberia in the early modern period using Zilsel's ideas as a guideline. Our purpose is to show that his ideas illuminate the situation in Iberia but also that the Iberian case is a remarkable illustration of Zilsel's thesis. Furthermore, we argue that Zilsel's thesis is essentially a sociological explanation that cannot be applied to isolated cases; its use implies global events that involve extended societies over large periods of time.

Children's Early Literacy Environment in Chinese and American Indian Families.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Xiao-lei; Bernas, Ronan; Eberhard, Philippe

This study examined how Chinese and American Indian mothers support their young children's early literacy development in everyday interactions. Twenty mother-child dyads in each cultural community participated in the study. Analysis of videotaped interactions indicated that the mothers in the two communities differed greatly in the ways they…

Ancient genomes link early farmers from Atapuerca in Spain to modern-day Basques.

PubMed

Günther, Torsten; Valdiosera, Cristina; Malmström, Helena; Ureña, Irene; Rodriguez-Varela, Ricardo; Sverrisdóttir, Óddny Osk; Daskalaki, Evangelia A; Skoglund, Pontus; Naidoo, Thijessen; Svensson, Emma M; Bermúdez de Castro, José María; Carbonell, Eudald; Dunn, Michael; Storå, Jan; Iriarte, Eneko; Arsuaga, Juan Luis; Carretero, José-Miguel; Götherström, Anders; Jakobsson, Mattias

2015-09-22

The consequences of the Neolithic transition in Europe--one of the most important cultural changes in human prehistory--is a subject of great interest. However, its effect on prehistoric and modern-day people in Iberia, the westernmost frontier of the European continent, remains unresolved. We present, to our knowledge, the first genome-wide sequence data from eight human remains, dated to between 5,500 and 3,500 years before present, excavated in the El Portalón cave at Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. We show that these individuals emerged from the same ancestral gene pool as early farmers in other parts of Europe, suggesting that migration was the dominant mode of transferring farming practices throughout western Eurasia. In contrast to central and northern early European farmers, the Chalcolithic El Portalón individuals additionally mixed with local southwestern hunter-gatherers. The proportion of hunter-gatherer-related admixture into early farmers also increased over the course of two millennia. The Chalcolithic El Portalón individuals showed greatest genetic affinity to modern-day Basques, who have long been considered linguistic and genetic isolates linked to the Mesolithic whereas all other European early farmers show greater genetic similarity to modern-day Sardinians. These genetic links suggest that Basques and their language may be linked with the spread of agriculture during the Neolithic. Furthermore, all modern-day Iberian groups except the Basques display distinct admixture with Caucasus/Central Asian and North African groups, possibly related to historical migration events. The El Portalón genomes uncover important pieces of the demographic history of Iberia and Europe and reveal how prehistoric groups relate to modern-day people.

European early modern humans and the fate of the Neandertals

PubMed Central

Trinkaus, Erik

2007-01-01

A consideration of the morphological aspects of the earliest modern humans in Europe (more than ≈33,000 B.P.) and the subsequent Gravettian human remains indicates that they possess an anatomical pattern congruent with the autapomorphic (derived) morphology of the earliest (Middle Paleolithic) African modern humans. However, they exhibit a variable suite of features that are either distinctive Neandertal traits and/or plesiomorphic (ancestral) aspects that had been lost among the African Middle Paleolithic modern humans. These features include aspects of neurocranial shape, basicranial external morphology, mandibular ramal and symphyseal form, dental morphology and size, and anteroposterior dental proportions, as well as aspects of the clavicles, scapulae, metacarpals, and appendicular proportions. The ubiquitous and variable presence of these morphological features in the European earlier modern human samples can only be parsimoniously explained as a product of modest levels of assimilation of Neandertals into early modern human populations as the latter dispersed across Europe. This interpretation is in agreement with current analyses of recent and past human molecular data. PMID:17452632

Early Modern Humans and Morphological Variation in Southeast Asia: Fossil Evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos

PubMed Central

Demeter, Fabrice; Shackelford, Laura; Westaway, Kira; Duringer, Philippe; Bacon, Anne-Marie; Ponche, Jean-Luc; Wu, Xiujie; Sayavongkhamdy, Thongsa; Zhao, Jian-Xin; Barnes, Lani; Boyon, Marc; Sichanthongtip, Phonephanh; Sénégas, Frank; Karpoff, Anne-Marie; Patole-Edoumba, Elise; Coppens, Yves; Braga, José

2015-01-01

Little is known about the timing of modern human emergence and occupation in Eastern Eurasia. However a rapid migration out of Africa into Southeast Asia by at least 60 ka is supported by archaeological, paleogenetic and paleoanthropological data. Recent discoveries in Laos, a modern human cranium (TPL1) from Tam Pa Ling‘s cave, provided the first evidence for the presence of early modern humans in mainland Southeast Asia by 63-46 ka. In the current study, a complete human mandible representing a second individual, TPL 2, is described using discrete traits and geometric morphometrics with an emphasis on determining its population affinity. The TPL2 mandible has a chin and other discrete traits consistent with early modern humans, but it retains a robust lateral corpus and internal corporal morphology typical of archaic humans across the Old World. The mosaic morphology of TPL2 and the fully modern human morphology of TPL1 suggest that a large range of morphological variation was present in early modern human populations residing in the eastern Eurasia by MIS 3. PMID:25849125

The non-destructive identification of early Chinese porcelain by PIXE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cheng, H. S.; Zhang, Z. Q.; Zhang, B.; Yang, F. J.

2004-06-01

PIXE is used for the non-destructive differentiation of early precious Chinese blue and white porcelain made in Yuan (AD 1206-1368), Ming (AD 1368-1644) Dynasty in Jingdezhen from imitations. Also, ancient celadon made in Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) is identified by measuring the trace elements contained in the glazes.

Assembling the dodo in early modern natural history.

PubMed

Lawrence, Natalie

2015-09-01

This paper explores the assimilation of the flightless dodo into early modern natural history. The dodo was first described by Dutch sailors landing on Mauritius in 1598, and became extinct in the 1680s or 1690s. Despite this brief period of encounter, the bird was a popular subject in natural-history works and a range of other genres. The dodo will be used here as a counterexample to the historical narratives of taxonomic crisis and abrupt shifts in natural history caused by exotic creatures coming to Europe. Though this bird had a bizarre form, early modern naturalists integrated the dodo and other flightless birds through several levels of conceptual categorization, including the geographical, morphological and symbolic. Naturalists such as Charles L'Ecluse produced a set of typical descriptive tropes that helped make up the European dodo. These long-lived images were used for a variety of symbolic purposes, demonstrated by the depiction of the Dutch East India enterprise in Willem Piso's 1658 publication. The case of the dodo shows that, far from there being a dramatic shift away from emblematics in the seventeenth century, the implicit symbolic roles attributed to exotic beasts by naturalists constructing them from scant information and specimens remained integral to natural history.

The Impact of Morphological Awareness on Word Reading and Dictation in Chinese Early Adolescent Readers With and Without Dyslexia.

PubMed

Kalindi, Sylvia Chanda; Chung, Kevin Kien Hoa

2018-01-01

This study investigated the role of morphological awareness in understanding Chinese word reading and dictation among Chinese-speaking adolescent readers in Hong Kong as well as the cognitive-linguistic profile of early adolescent readers with dyslexia. Fifty-four readers with dyslexia in Grades 5 and 6 were compared with 54 chronological age-matched (CA) typical readers on the following measures of cognitive-linguistic and literacy skills: morphological awareness, phonological awareness, visual-orthographic knowledge, rapid naming, vocabulary knowledge, verbal short-term memory (STM), Chinese word reading, and dictation (or spelling). The results indicated that early adolescent readers with dyslexia performed less well than the typical readers on all cognitive-linguistic and literacy measures except the phonological measures. Both groups' scores showed substantial correlations between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading and dictation. Visual-orthographic knowledge and rapid naming were also associated with dictation in early adolescent readers with and without dyslexia, respectively. Moderated multiple regression analyses further revealed that morphological awareness and rapid naming explained unique variance in word reading and dictation for the readers with dyslexia and typical readers separately after controlling readers' age and group effect. These results highlight the potential importance of morphological awareness and rapid naming in Chinese word reading and writing in Chinese early adolescents' literacy development and impairment.

What are the early indicators of persistent word reading difficulties among Chinese readers in elementary grades?

PubMed

Yeung, Pui-Sze; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Chan, David Wai-Ock; Chung, Kevin Kien-Hoa

2014-05-01

To identify the indicators of persistent reading difficulties among Chinese readers in early elementary grades, the performance of three groups of Chinese children with different reading trajectories ('persistent poor word readers', 'improved poor word readers' and 'skilled word readers') in reading-related measures was analysed in a 3-year longitudinal study. The three groups were classified according to their performance in a standardized Chinese word reading test in Grade 1 and Grade 4. Results of analysis of variance and logistic regression on the reading-related measures revealed that rapid naming and syntactic skills were important indicators of early word reading difficulty. Syntactic skills and morphological awareness were possible markers of persistent reading problems. Chinese persistent poor readers did not differ significantly from skilled readers on the measures of phonological skills. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The common single-nucleotide polymorphism rs2681472 is associated with early-onset preeclampsia in Northern Han Chinese women.

PubMed

Wan, Ji-Peng; Wang, Hong; Li, Chang-Zhong; Zhao, Han; You, Li; Shi, Dong-Hong; Sun, Xiu-Hua; Lv, Hong; Wang, Fei; Wen, Ze-Qing; Wang, Xie-Tong; Chen, Zi-Jiang

2014-11-01

Preeclampsia, characterized by hypertension and proteinuria, remains a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. Recently, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified the single-nucleotide polymorphism, rs2681472, as a new hypertension susceptibility genetic variant. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between preeclampsia and rs268172 in a Northern Han Chinese population. We genotyped 1218 unrelated Northern Han Chinese women, including 515 patients with preeclampsia and 703 healthy controls. No significant differences were detected in the allele frequencies between patients and controls (P = .23). When patients were divided into early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia according to gestational age of disease onset, the allele frequencies significantly differed between controls and patients with early-onset preeclampsia (P = .02). Genotype frequencies also were significantly different between controls and patients early-onset preeclampsia when data were analyzed under additive (P = .03) and dominant (P = .009) models. We replicated this association in an independent Northern Han Chinese population and observed a significant difference in the allele frequencies between patients with early-onset preeclampsia and controls (P = .011). We report that rs2681472 is associated with early-onset preeclampsia in Northern Han Chinese women. © The Author(s) 2014.

Sex differences of dental pathology in early modern samurai and commoners at Kokura in Japan.

PubMed

Oyamada, Joichi; Kitagawa, Yoshikazu; Hara, Masahito; Sakamoto, Junya; Matsushita, Takayuki; Tsurumoto, Toshiyuki; Manabe, Yoshitaka

2017-07-01

So-called "Ohaguro", teeth blackening, in the married females was a general custom regardless of class in the early modern period. As a result, Ohaguro was thought to have enhanced the acid resistance of tooth substance and tightened gingiva and prevented tooth morbidity due to periodontal disease. For investigation into the influence of Ohaguro, the skeletal remains of early modern samurai and commoners at Kokura were examined for differences in the dental pathology based on sex. Though females from archeological sites have significantly more carious teeth and antemortem tooth loss (AMTL) than males in the previous studies, the prevalence of caries and AMTL in males was higher than in females among the early modern samurai and commoners in Kokura. The efficacies of Ohaguro may influence the good dental health of females. On the other hand, as females were considered inferior to males under the feudal system in Japan, males, including children, might tend to consume more nutritious foods compared to females. However, those foods are certainly not better with regard to dental health, since those foods are more highly cariogenic. These factors may have caused higher caries and AMTL prevalence among males compared to females in early modern Kokura.

Variations in Chinese Parental Perceptions of Early Childhood Education Quality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Bi Ying; Zhou, Yisu; Li, Kejian

2017-01-01

As consumers of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), Chinese parents play a crucial role in the ongoing process of monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of ECEC in China. This study used questionnaires to solicit parental feedback on the importance of, and their quality ratings for, aspects of ECEC. The researchers used a random…

The early Upper Paleolithic human skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho (Portugal) and modern human emergence in Iberia

PubMed Central

Duarte, Cidália; Maurício, João; Pettitt, Paul B.; Souto, Pedro; Trinkaus, Erik; van der Plicht, Hans; Zilhão, João

1999-01-01

The discovery of an early Upper Paleolithic human burial at the Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal, has provided evidence of early modern humans from southern Iberia. The remains, the largely complete skeleton of a ≈4-year-old child buried with pierced shell and red ochre, is dated to ca. 24,500 years B.P. The cranium, mandible, dentition, and postcrania present a mosaic of European early modern human and Neandertal features. The temporal bone has an intermediate-sized juxtamastoid eminence. The mandibular mentum osseum and the dental size and proportions, supported by mandibular ramal features, radial tuberosity orientation, and diaphyseal curvature, as well as the pubic proportions align the skeleton with early modern humans. Body proportions, reflected in femorotibial lengths and diaphyseal robusticity plus tibial condylar displacement, as well as mandibular symphyseal retreat and thoracohumeral muscle insertions, align the skeleton with the Neandertals. This morphological mosaic indicates admixture between regional Neandertals and early modern humans dispersing into southern Iberia. It establishes the complexities of the Late Pleistocene emergence of modern humans and refutes strict replacement models of modern human origins. PMID:10377462

Modern Education in China. Bulletin, 1919, No. 44

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edmunds, Charles K.

1919-01-01

The Chinese conception of life's values is so different from that of western peoples that they have failed to develop modern technique and scientific knowledge. Now that they have come to see the value of these, rapid and fundamental changes are taking place. When modern scientific knowledge is added to the skill which the Chinese already have in…

The golden ratio and Loshu-Fibonacci Diagram: novel research view on relationship of Chinese medicine and modern biology.

PubMed

Chen, Zhao-xue; Huang, Yun-kun; Sun, Ying

2014-02-01

Associating geometric arrangements of 9 Loshu numbers modulo 5, investigating property of golden rectangles and characteristics of Fibonacci sequence modulo 10 as well as the two subsequences of its modular sequence by modulo 5, the Loshu-Fibonacci Diagram is created based on strict logical deduction in this paper, which can disclose inherent relationship among Taiji sign, Loshu and Fibonacci sequence modulo 10 perfectly and unite such key ideas of holism, symmetry, holographic thought and yin-yang balance pursuit from Chinese medicine as a whole. Based on further analysis and reasoning, the authors discover that taking the golden ratio and Loshu-Fibonacci Diagram as a link, there is profound and universal association existing between researches of Chinese medicine and modern biology.

Ancient gene flow from early modern humans into Eastern Neanderthals

PubMed Central

Kuhlwilm, Martin; Gronau, Ilan; Hubisz, Melissa J.; de Filippo, Cesare; Prado-Martinez, Javier; Kircher, Martin; Fu, Qiaomei; Burbano, Hernán A.; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; de la Rasilla, Marco; Rosas, Antonio; Rudan, Pavao; Brajkovic, Dejana; Kucan, Željko; Gušic, Ivan; Marques-Bonet, Tomas; Andrés, Aida M.; Viola, Bence; Pääbo, Svante; Meyer, Matthias; Siepel, Adam; Castellano, Sergi

2016-01-01

It has been shown that Neanderthals contributed genetically to modern humans outside Africa 47,000–65,000 years ago. Here, we analyze the genomes of a Neanderthal and a Denisovan from the Altai Mountains in Siberia together with the sequences of chromosome 21 of two Neanderthals from Spain and Croatia. We find that a population that diverged early from other modern humans in Africa contributed genetically to the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains roughly 100,000 years ago. By contrast, we do not detect such a genetic contribution in the Denisovan or the two European Neanderthals. We conclude that in addition to later interbreeding events, the ancestors of Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains and of modern humans met and interbred, possibly in the Near East, many thousands of years earlier than previously reported. PMID:26886800

Early modern human lithic technology from Jerimalai, East Timor.

PubMed

Marwick, Ben; Clarkson, Chris; O'Connor, Sue; Collins, Sophie

2016-12-01

Jerimalai is a rock shelter in East Timor with cultural remains dated to 42,000 years ago, making it one of the oldest known sites of modern human activity in island Southeast Asia. It has special global significance for its record of early pelagic fishing and ancient shell fish hooks. It is also of regional significance for its early occupation and comparatively large assemblage of Pleistocene stone artefacts. Three major findings arise from our study of the stone artefacts. First, there is little change in lithic technology over the 42,000 year sequence, with the most noticeable change being the addition of new artefact types and raw materials in the mid-Holocene. Second, the assemblage is dominated by small chert cores and implements rather than pebble tools and choppers, a pattern we argue pattern, we argue, that is common in island SE Asian sites as opposed to mainland SE Asian sites. Third, the Jerimalai assemblage bears a striking resemblance to the assemblage from Liang Bua, argued by the Liang Bua excavation team to be associated with Homo floresiensis. We argue that the near proximity of these two islands along the Indonesian island chain (c.100 km apart), the long antiquity of modern human occupation in the region (as documented at Jerimalai), and the strong resemblance of distinctive flake stone technologies seen at both sites, raises the intriguing possibility that both the Liang Bua and Jerimalai assemblages were created by modern humans. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

"Old Poems Have Heart": Teenage Students Reading Early Modern Poetry

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naylor, Amanda

2013-01-01

The proposals for the revised National Curriculum in English suggest limiting the pre-twentieth century poetry that GCSE pupils read to "representative Romantic poetry" (Department for Education [DFE], 2013, p. 4). This paper argues that poetry of the early modern period is challenging and enriching study for adolescent pupils and that…

Reconsidering Parenting in Chinese Culture: Subtypes, Stability, and Change of Maternal Parenting Style During Early Adolescence.

PubMed

Zhang, Wenxin; Wei, Xing; Ji, Linqin; Chen, Liang; Deater-Deckard, Kirby

2017-05-01

Parenting in Chinese culture has been a central topic and there have been debate on whether western-derived parenting style is applicable to Chinese cultures in terms of both behavioral profiles and their relationships with child and adolescent adjustment. This study identified the subtypes of Chinese maternal parenting style and examined their stability and changes over the transition to early adolescence. In an urban Chinese sample (N = 2173, 48% girls), four waves of longitudinal data were collected when the adolescents were in the fifth (M = 11.27 years), sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Latent profile analysis identified four subtypes of parenting style: authoritative, authoritarian, average-level undifferentiated, and strict-affectionate. Adolescents of authoritative mothers exhibited the best overall adjustment, while adolescents of authoritarian mothers showed the worst adjustment. Adolescents of strict-affectionate mothers generally adjusted as well as those of authoritative mothers, except they showed lower academic achievement. The strict-affectionate parenting represented a culture-specific subtype of parenting style in Chinese culture. Latent transition analysis revealed high stability of parenting styles during early adolescence, but transitions between subtypes were also evident. These findings highlight the importance of revisiting Chinese parenting and examining the developmental course of parenting style.

The Child as an Active Learner: Views, Practices, and Barriers in Chinese Early Childhood Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Fengling

2006-01-01

The Chinese view of the child is in the process of changing from the dependent child of traditional Chinese society to the child as an active learner in contemporary China. The view of the child as an active learner forces early childhood practitioners to rethink the features of the child's learning and development, individuality, and needs and…

All that glitters: fool's gold in the early-modern era.

PubMed

Roos, Anna Marie

2008-12-01

Natural philosophers of the early-modern period perceived fool's gold or iron pyrites as a substance required for the formation of metals, and chemists such as Johann Glauber speculated the vitriol produced from pyrites was the source of the legendary philosopher's stone. The sulphurous exhalations of fool's gold were also thought by members of the early Royal Society to be the basis of a variety of meteorological, geological and medical effects, including the production of thunder, lightning, earthquakes and volcanoes, fossilisation and petrifaction, as well as the principal cause of bladder and gallstones.

Early impaired β-cell function in chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome.

PubMed

Tao, Tao; Li, Shengxian; Zhao, Aimin; Mao, Xiuyin; Liu, Wei

2012-01-01

The pathogenic factors that account for the development of diabetes condition in Chinese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) remain elusive. To clarify the pathogenic features by evaluating the levels of insulin sensitivity and β cell function in these women with PCOS, either separately or by using of a disposition indexes (DIs). Cross-sectional study involving 137 Chinese women with PCOS and 123 normal women were examined by anthropometry, lipid profile, sex hormone, high-sensitivity C reactive protein, oral glucose tolerance tests and insulin tolerance tests. After controlling for BMI status, the Matsuda Index was significantly lower in women with PCOS in comparison to those of normal women (p<0.000). The early phase of insulin secretion (insulinogenic index) remained significantly lower in lean women with PCOS(LP) than those of both lean and obese women of control group (p=0.007, and p = 0.01, respectively). The mean HOMA-F values were significantly lower (p =0.045) in obese women with PCOS (OP) than those of BMI-matched women. Further, all DIs derived from non-fasting state indexes in women with PCOS were significantly lower than those of BMI-matched control women (p<0.001 for all). Lastly, DIs derived from fasting states indexes in OP were significantly lower than those of LP. Early impaired β cell function was detected in both LP and OP. However, more serious primary defect in insulin action was detected in LP compared to OP. These findings imply that early screening and intervention for PCOS would be therapeutic for Chinese women.

Filling the gap between traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine, are we heading to the right direction?

PubMed

Chen, Xiuping; Pei, Lixia; Lu, Jinjian

2013-06-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the ancient medicine popular in China and surrounding areas, has been recognized as a typical representative of complementary and alternative medicine. Over long period in clinical practice, especially the progress in basic research, data on the effectiveness and beneficial contribution of TCM herbs to public health and disease control have been accumulated while the quality of the evidence is generally poor. The most common clinical practice of TCM herbs is herb combination called formula which consists of several types of medicinal herbs or minerals, which is quite different from modern medicine. Definitely, tens of hundreds of compounds could be identified in even a small formula. With the regained enthusiasm on natural products based new drug R&D, the proposed multi-target drug discovery strategy, the booming of -omics technologies, and the implementation of ambitious plan of TCM modernization in China, attempts have been made to fill the gap between TCM herbs and modern drugs. However, are we heading to the right direction? Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An Early Reading Intervention for an At-Risk Chinese First Grader

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qiuying; Anderson, Richard C.

2010-01-01

This article describes a customized early reading intervention for a Chinese first grader at risk for failing to learn to read. Building upon observational notes, artifacts, diagnostic teaching, information about classroom performance, and a battery of tests, our goal is to provide insights into ways to develop and implement a one-on-one tutoring…

The Commerce of Utility: Teaching Mathematical Geography in Early Modern England

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cormack, Lesley B.

2006-01-01

The teaching and learning of geographical and mathematical knowledge in early modern England was a complex interaction among scholars, practitioners, merchants, and gentry. Each group had different values and goals associated with geographical knowledge and therefore different educational venues and different topics to be investigated. This paper…

The thermal evolution of Chinese central Tianshan and its implications: Insights from multi-method chronometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Jiyuan; Chen, Wen; Hodges, Kip V.; Xiao, Wenjiao; Cai, Keda; Yuan, Chao; Sun, Min; Liu, Li-Ping; van Soest, Matthijs C.

2018-01-01

The Chinese Tianshan is located in the south of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt and formed during final consumption of the Paleo-Asian Ocean in the late Palaeozoic. In order to further elucidate the tectonic evolution of the Chinese Tianshan, we have established the temperature-time history of granitic rocks from the Chinese Tianshan through a multi-chronological approach that includes U/Pb (zircon), 40Ar/39Ar (biotite and K-feldspar), and (U-Th)/He (zircon and apatite) dating. Our data show that the central Tianshan experienced accelerated cooling during the late Carboniferous- to early Permian. Multiple sequences of complex multiple accretionary, subduction and collisional events could have induced the cooling in the Tianshan Orogenic Belt. The new 40Ar/39Ar and (U-Th)/He data, in combination with thermal history modeling results, reveal that several tectonic reactivation and exhumation episodes affected the Chinese central Tianshan during middle Triassic (245-210 Ma), early Cretaceous (140-100 Ma), late Oligocene-early Miocene (35-20 Ma) and late Miocene (12-9 Ma). The middle Triassic cooling dates was only found in the central Tianshan. Strong uplift and deformation in the Chinese Tianshan has been limited and localized. It have been concentrated in around major fault zone and the foreland thrust belt since the early Cretaceous. The middle Triassic and early Cretaceous exhumation is interpreted as distal effects of the Cimmerian collisions (i.e. the Qiangtang and Kunlun-Qaidam collision and Lhasa-Qiangtang collision) at the southern Eurasian margin. The Cenozoic reactivation and exhumation is interpreted as a far field response to the India-Eurasia collision and represents the beginning of modern mountain building and denudation in the Chinese Tianshan.

An early history of human breast cancer: West meets East.

PubMed

Yan, Shou-He

2013-09-01

Cancer has been increasingly recognized as a global issue. This is especially true in countries like China, where cancer incidence has increased likely because of changes in environment and lifestyle. However, cancer is not a modern disease; early cases have been recorded in ancient medical books in the West and in China. Here, we provide a brief history of cancer, focusing on cancer of the breast, and review the etymology of ai, the Chinese character for cancer. Notable findings from both Western and Chinese traditional medicine are presented to give an overview of the most important, early contributors to our evolving understanding of human breast cancer. We also discuss the earliest historical documents to record patients with breast cancer.

A Comparison of Premenarcheal Expectations and Postmenarcheal Experiences in Chinese Early Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tang, Catherine So-Kum; Yeung, Dannii Y. L.; Lee, Antoinette Marie

2004-01-01

The present study examined Chinese early adolescents' expectations and experiences of their first menstruation. It included 952 participants, 476 premenarcheal and 476 postmenarcheal girls matched by age and by grade level. Results showed that compared to experiences of postmenarcheal girls, premenarcheal girls anticipated more negative emotional…

Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension in traditional Chinese medicine: perspective of modern science

PubMed Central

Xiong, Xingjiang; Yang, Xiaochen; Liu, Yongmei; Zhang, Yun; Wang, Pengqian; Wang, Jie

2013-01-01

Hypertension, which directly threatens quality of life, is a major contributor to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Over the past two decades, domestic and foreign scholars have agreed upon various standards in the treatment of hypertension, and considerable progress has been made in the field of antihypertensive drugs. Oral antihypertensive drugs represent a milestone in hypertension therapy. However, the blood pressure standard for patients with hypertension is far from satisfactory. The study of Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension has received much research attention. These studies seek to integrate traditional and Western medicine in China. Currently, Chinese herbal formulas are known to have an outstanding advantage with regard to bodily regulation. Research shows that Chinese medicine has many protective mechanisms. This paper addresses the process of the antihypertensive mechanisms in Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension. These mechanisms are to be discussed in future research. PMID:23552514

Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension in traditional Chinese medicine: perspective of modern science.

PubMed

Xiong, Xingjiang; Yang, Xiaochen; Liu, Yongmei; Zhang, Yun; Wang, Pengqian; Wang, Jie

2013-07-01

Hypertension, which directly threatens quality of life, is a major contributor to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Over the past two decades, domestic and foreign scholars have agreed upon various standards in the treatment of hypertension, and considerable progress has been made in the field of antihypertensive drugs. Oral antihypertensive drugs represent a milestone in hypertension therapy. However, the blood pressure standard for patients with hypertension is far from satisfactory. The study of Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension has received much research attention. These studies seek to integrate traditional and Western medicine in China. Currently, Chinese herbal formulas are known to have an outstanding advantage with regard to bodily regulation. Research shows that Chinese medicine has many protective mechanisms. This paper addresses the process of the antihypertensive mechanisms in Chinese herbal formulas for treating hypertension. These mechanisms are to be discussed in future research.

A Fruitful Exchange/Conflict: Engineers and Mathematicians in Early Modern Italy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maffioli, Cesare S.

2013-01-01

Exchanges of learning and controversies between engineers and mathematicians were important factors in the development of early modern science. This theme is discussed by focusing, first, on architectural and mathematical dynamism in mid 16th-century Milan. While some engineers-architects referred to Euclid and Vitruvius for improving their…

Rebuilding the Chinese Soul: Some Considerations for Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhao, Guoping

2013-01-01

This paper tackles the issue of education as the process of person-making and attempts to redefine the ideal and unique Chinese person--the Chinese soul--based on a civilizational dialogue and synthesis that would transform modern education and enable education to play a central role in "redeeming modernity" and revitalizing Chinese…

Trading Zones in Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Long, Pamela O

2015-12-01

This essay adopts the concept of trading zones first developed for the history of science by Peter Galison and redefines it for the early modern period. The term "trading zones" is used to mean arenas in which substantive and reciprocal communication occurred between individuals who were artisanally trained and learned (university-trained) individuals. Such trading zones proliferated in the sixteenth century. They tended to arise in certain kinds of places and not in others, but their existence must be determined empirically. The author's work on trading zones differs from the ideas of Edgar Zilsel, who emphasized the influence of artisans on the scientific revolution. In contrast, in this essay, the mutual influence of artisans and the learned on each other is stressed, and translation is used as a modality that was important to communication within trading zones.

Religion in the National Historical Narrative of the Early Modern Times in Contemporary Ukrainian Schooling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shevchenko, Tetiana

2015-01-01

This article deals with religious discourse in modern history school textbooks in Ukraine that cover early modern times in Ukrainian history. It analyzes the place of religious discourse within national discourse, the correlation between local Ukrainian religious and more general discourse, and the representation of the relationships between…

‘Herbals she peruseth’: reading medicine in early modern England

PubMed Central

Leong, Elaine

2014-01-01

In 1631, Richard Brathwaite penned a conduct manual for ‘English Gentlewomen’. In Brathwaite's mind, the ideal English gentlewoman was not only chaste, modest and honourable but also an avid reader. In fact, Brathwaite specifically recommends English gentlewomen to first peruse herbals and then to deepen their medical knowledge via conference. Centred on the manuscript notebooks of two late seventeenth-century women, Margaret Boscawen (d. 1688) and Elizabeth Freke (1642–1714), this article explores women and ‘medical reading’ in early modern England. It first demonstrates that whilst both women consulted herbals by contemporary authors such as John Gerard and Nicholas Culpeper, their modes of reading could not be more different. Where Freke ruminated, digested and abstracted from Gerard's large tome, Boscawen made practical lists from Culpeper's The English Physitian. Secondly, the article shows that both supplemented their herbal reading with a range of other vernacular medical texts including printed medical recipe books, contemporary pharmacopoeia and surgical handbooks. Early modern English women's medical reading, I argue, was nuanced, sophisticated and diverse. Furthermore, I contend that well-informed readers like Boscawen and Freke made smart medical consumers and formidable negotiators in their medical encounters. PMID:25821333

An early-stage epidemic: a systematic review of correlates of smoking among Chinese women.

PubMed

Ding, Ding; Gebel, Klaus; Oldenburg, Brian F; Wan, Xia; Zhong, Xuefeng; Novotny, Thomas E

2014-08-01

Despite the historically low smoking prevalence among Chinese women, there is a trend of future increase. We systematically reviewed the correlates of smoking among Chinese girls and women. We conducted a systematic review of literature on correlates of smoking among Chinese women using Medline and China Academic Journals databases. Following the PRISMA statement, two investigators independently searched for literature, identified and reviewed papers, assessed the quality of the papers, and extracted information. The characteristics of studies and correlates of smoking were synthesized separately for youth and adults. A total of 15 articles (11 on adults, 4 on youth) met the inclusion criteria. Based on these studies, peer smoking was the most consistent correlate of smoking among Chinese girls. Among Chinese women, partner smoking, job-related stress, and exposure to cigarettes made for women were consistent correlates of smoking. Knowledge of harms and negative attitudes towards smoking were found to be negatively associated with smoking. Overall, the evidence base for smoking among Chinese women is limited. Although smoking among Chinese women is still at an early stage, it is becoming more prevalent among specific population subgroups, such as rural-to-urban migrant workers. Although further research is needed, findings from the current study provide a roadmap for research and policy on prevention of smoking among Chinese girls and women.

Casebooks in Early Modern England:

PubMed Central

Kassell, Lauren

2014-01-01

summary Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hippocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identifies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserving medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves. PMID:25557513

Alchemical poetry in medieval and early modern Europe: a preliminary survey and synthesis. Part II - Synthesis.

PubMed

Kahn, Didier

2011-03-01

This article provides a preliminary description of medieval and early modern alchemical poetry composed in Latin and in the principal vernacular languages of western Europe. It aims to distinguish the various genres in which this poetry flourished, and to identify the most representative aspects of each cultural epoch by considering the medieval and early modern periods in turn. Such a distinction (always somewhat artificial) between two broad historical periods may be justified by the appearance of new cultural phenomena that profoundly modified the character of early modern alchemical poetry: the ever-increasing importance of the prisca theologia, the alchemical interpretation of ancient mythology, and the rise of neo-Latin humanist poetry. Although early modern alchemy was marked by the appearance of new doctrines (notably the alchemical spiritus mundi and Paracelsianism), alchemical poetry was only superficially modified by criteria of a scientific nature, which therefore appear to be of lesser importance. This study falls into two parts. Part I provides a descriptive survey of extant poetry, and in Part II the results of the survey are analysed in order to highlight such distinctive features as the function of alchemical poetry, the influence of the book market on its evolution, its doctrinal content, and the question of whether any theory of alchemical poetry ever emerged. Part II is accompanied by an index of the authors and works cited in both parts.

[Discussion on knowledge structural system of modern acupuncture professionals].

PubMed

Wang, Qin-Yu; Li, Su-He

2012-02-01

To explore the knowledge structural system that the modern acupuncture professionals should have. The current situation of personnel training for modern acupuncture professionals was multi-dimensionally and comprehensively analyzed from course offering of higher education, laws of famous physicians growth, and discipline development features of the acupuncture and moxibustion subject, and suggestions were made to the shortages. The reasonable knowledge structural system that the modern acupuncture professionals should have included establishment of good Chinese medicine thoughts, mastery of complete Chinese medicine therapy, and ability of followup of dynamic development of subject. The reformation of course design is imperative in order to promote the reasonable knowledge structural system formation of modern acupuncture professionals.

Approaches to the History of Patients: From the Ancient World to Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Stolberg, Michael

2016-01-01

This chapter looks from an early modernist's perspective at some of the major questions and methodological issues that writing the history of patients in the ancient world shares with similar work on Patientengeschichte in medieval and early modern Europe. It addresses, in particular, the problem of finding adequate sources that give access to the patients' experience of illness and medicine and highlights the potential as well as the limitations of using physicians' case histories for that purpose. It discusses the doctor-patient relationship as it emerges from these sources, and the impact of the patient's point of view on learned medical theory and practice. In conclusion, it pleads for a cautious and nuanced approach to the controversial issue of retrospective diagnosis, recommending that historians consistently ask in which contexts and in what way the application of modern diagnostic labels to pre-modern accounts of illness can truly contribute to a better historical understanding rather than distort it.

Modern mammal origins: evolutionary grades in the Early Cretaceous of North America.

PubMed

Jacobs, L L; Winkler, D A; Murry, P A

1989-07-01

Major groups of modern mammals have their origins in the Mesozoic Era, yet the mammalian fossil record is generally poor for that time interval. Fundamental morphological changes that led to modern mammals are often represented by small samples of isolated teeth. Fortunately, functional wear facets on teeth allow prediction of the morphology of occluding teeth that may be unrepresented by fossils. A major step in mammalian evolution occurred in the Early Cretaceous with the evolution of tribosphenic molars, which characterize marsupials and placentals, the two most abundant and diverse extant groups of mammals. A tooth from the Early Cretaceous (110 million years before present) of Texas tests previous predictions (based on lower molars) of the morphology of upper molars in early tribosphenic dentitions. The lingual cusp (protocone) is primitively without shear facets, as expected, but the cheek side of the tooth is derived (advanced) in having distinctive cusps along the margin. The tooth, although distressingly inadequate to define many features of the organism, demonstrates unexpected morphological diversity at a strategic stage of mammalian evolution and falsifies previous claims of the earliest occurrence of true marsupials.

Modern mammal origins: evolutionary grades in the Early Cretaceous of North America.

PubMed Central

Jacobs, L L; Winkler, D A; Murry, P A

1989-01-01

Major groups of modern mammals have their origins in the Mesozoic Era, yet the mammalian fossil record is generally poor for that time interval. Fundamental morphological changes that led to modern mammals are often represented by small samples of isolated teeth. Fortunately, functional wear facets on teeth allow prediction of the morphology of occluding teeth that may be unrepresented by fossils. A major step in mammalian evolution occurred in the Early Cretaceous with the evolution of tribosphenic molars, which characterize marsupials and placentals, the two most abundant and diverse extant groups of mammals. A tooth from the Early Cretaceous (110 million years before present) of Texas tests previous predictions (based on lower molars) of the morphology of upper molars in early tribosphenic dentitions. The lingual cusp (protocone) is primitively without shear facets, as expected, but the cheek side of the tooth is derived (advanced) in having distinctive cusps along the margin. The tooth, although distressingly inadequate to define many features of the organism, demonstrates unexpected morphological diversity at a strategic stage of mammalian evolution and falsifies previous claims of the earliest occurrence of true marsupials. Images PMID:2740336

Formalization and Interaction: Toward a Comprehensive History of Technology-Related Knowledge in Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Popplow, Marcus

2015-12-01

Recent critical approaches to what has conventionally been described as "scientific" and "technical" knowledge in early modern Europe have provided a wealth of new insights. So far, the various analytical concepts suggested by these studies have not yet been comprehensively discussed. The present essay argues that such comprehensive approaches might prove of special value for long-term and cross-cultural reflections on technology-related knowledge. As heuristic tools, the notions of "formalization" and "interaction" are proposed as part of alternative narratives to those highlighting the emergence of "science" as the most relevant development for technology-related knowledge in early modern Europe.

Risk factors of early proximal gastric carcinoma in Chinese diagnosed using WHO criteria.

PubMed

Fang, Cheng; Huang, Qin; Lu, Lin; Shi, Jiong; Sun, Qi; Xu, Gui Fang; Gold, Jason; Mashimo, Hiroshi; Zou, Xiao Ping

2015-06-01

The incidence of proximal gastric carcinoma (PGC) is rising worldwide for unknown reasons. Herein we compare the risk factors of early PGC with distal gastric carcinoma (DGC) in patients treated at a single tertiary hospital in China. Risk factors of 379 consecutive surgically resected early gastric carcinoma (EGC) diagnosed according to the 2010 World Health Organization criteria were studied by reviewing their medical records and esophagogastroduodenoscopy/biopsy findings and interviewing patients and family members for the patients' history of environmental toxin exposure (ETE), dietary habits, family (FCH) and personal cancer history (PCH) and survival. Differences between PGC (n = 115), DGC (n = 264) and age-matched and gender-matched controls (n = 225) were compared. Proportion of early PGC in all EGC patients was increased significantly (P < 0.05). The independent risk factors for both PGC and DGC identified by multivariate analysis were intake of preserved food and little fruit, and gastric mucosal intestinal metaplasia and atrophy (all P < 0.05). Advanced age (odds ratio [OR] 9.83, P < 0.01), PCH (OR 5.09, P < 0.05), a high body mass index (>24 kg/m(2) ) (OR 2.79, P < 0.01) and ETE (OR 2.31, P < 0.05) were independent risk factors for PGC, but not male gender, tobacco or alcohol abuse, hiatus hernia, gastroesophageal reflux disease or columnar-lined esophagus. In contrast, FCH (OR 2.34, P < 0.01) and Helicobacter pylori infection (OR 2.81, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for DGC. Independent risk factors for PGC in Chinese patients differ from those of DGC or esophageal adenocarcinoma, supporting the classification of PGC as a separate gastric carcinoma entity in the Chinese populations. © 2015 Chinese Medical Association Shanghai Branch, Chinese Society of Gastroenterology, Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Teaching Petrarchan and Anti-Petrarchan Discourses in Early Modern English Lyrics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ribes, Purificación

2012-01-01

The aim of the present article is to help students realize that Petrarchism has been an influential source of inspiration for Early Modern English lyrics. Its topics and conventions have lent themselves to a wide variety of appropriations which the present selection of texts for analysis tries to illustrate. A few telling examples from Spenser,…

Internationalization of Chinese Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Linhan; Huang, Danyan

2013-01-01

This paper probes into the development of internationalization of higher education in China from ancient times to modern times, including the emergence of international connections in Chinese higher education and the subsequent development of such connections, the further development of internationalization of Chinese higher education, and the…

An Advanced Reader in Chinese Literature. International Studies, East Asian Language Texts, No. 1.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Wallace, Ed.

This modern Chinese textbook offers three main features. It contains a graded selection of writings in Chinese by some of the most important modern Chinese writers, representing a wide range of viewpoints. Secondly, all new words and phrases encountered in the lessons are defined in Chinese, so that the reader becomes accustomed to the use of…

[The first official organization of traditional Chinese medicine in modern China-TCM Improvement Research Association].

PubMed

Liu, Y; Zhang, P F

2016-07-28

In modern China, most of the mass organizations of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) were civilian and established by the individuals with self support financially.The TCM Improvement Research Association of Shanxi Province was the first official TCM organization in modern China. For the purpose of ruling and recognition of TCM, Yan Xishan, the chief executive of Shanxi province, gave a full support to its creation, development, and operation of the Association with the military and political officials in the government served as part-time staff members of a few of important position in the Association. The Association was given funding and policy support by official ways. The local administrative departments cooperated with the Association affairs actively. Because of the stable organization and the abundant fund, the TCM Improvement Research Association developed quickly and steadily. As a result, the Association had been playing an important and increasing role in academic research, TCM education, medical and epidemic prevention and so on. It had become one of the great national TCM academic societies with prolonged existence. As an official Association, it was characterized with a dual property: a better foundation for development and little independency.

Mirror rubbing: a critical genealogy of pre-modern Chinese female same-sex eroticism.

PubMed

Shi, Liang

2013-01-01

This article offers a critical genealogy of pre-modern Chinese female same-sex relationships. Through the analysis of the primary source materials in history, fiction, and drama, the author shows that female homosexuality is silenced and suppressed. To Confucianism, female same-sex relationships threaten to exclude men from accessing female sex and keep women away from participating in extending the family line. Even the Daoist theory of sex can be used to discriminate against female homosexuality by denying women the ability to initiate and maintain the cycle of yin-yang interaction in sexual intercourse. There are 2 recurring themes in the male writers' imaginings of female same-sex eroticism. First, heterosexuality is the preferred sexual order, and female same-sex desire arises due to the lack of sexual access to men. Second, heterosexual relationships and intercourse are the norm that female homosexuality aspires to imitate.

An Advanced Reader in Chinese International Relations. International Studies, East Asian Language Text, No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Wallace, Ed.

This modern Chinese textbook offers three main features. It contains a graded selection of Chinese writings on international relations by some of the most important modern Chinese writers, representing a wide range of viewpoints. Secondly, all new words and phrases encountered in the lessons are defined in Chinese, so that the reader becomes…

Between Charity and Education: Orphans and Orphanages in Early Modern Times

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobi, Juliane

2009-01-01

In early modern times orphans have been children who could not expect sufficient support from their family because of lack of at least one parent, in most cases the father. This article will clarify of whom we are talking if we talk about orphans and what have been the conditions of living in a society which was organised by a high variety of…

Conjugal intimacy, gender and modernity in contemporary China.

PubMed

Liu, Jieyu; Bell, Eona; Zhang, Jiayu

2017-12-15

The new generation of modernity theorists have forecast the democratization of gender relations within intimate relationships in late-modern times. Chinese society has undergone rapid and dramatic changes in its unique trajectory of political, social and economic reform. Using China as an example of a region which has been largely ignored in contemporary social theory, this article enters the debate to contest the extent to which conjugal relationships are democratized in line with modernity. We further test the assertion that modern marriages are characterized by increased self-disclosure and communication between partners. Data from a national survey on Chinese families is analysed in relation to the level of self-disclosure between husbands and wives; gender division of housework; household decision-making; and home ownership. We highlight the impact of gender, cohort and location (urban, rural or migrant) on experiences of modernity and draw attention to the material, social and cultural factors which continue to shape conjugal relations in contemporary Chinese society. Based on our findings, we contest the argument that disclosing intimacy between intimate partners is a defining characteristic of modern relationships, and suggest that other social factors may condition degrees of self-disclosure in marriage. Similarly, we question the extent to which heterosexual conjugal equality is attained: the cultural practices and values of patrilineal family organization, together with material circumstances, continue to influence marital relations in China. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

Alchemical poetry in medieval and early modern Europe: a preliminary survey and synthesis. Part I--Preliminary survey.

PubMed

Kahn, Didier

2010-11-01

This article provides a preliminary description of medieval and early modern alchemical poetry composed in Latin and in the principal vernacular languages of western Europe. It aims to distinguish the various genres in which this poetry flourished, and to identify the most representative aspects of each cultural epoch by considering the medieval and early modern periods in turn. Such a distinction (always somewhat artificial) between two broad historical periods may be justified by the appearance of new cultural phenomena that profoundly modified the character of early modern alchemical poetry: the ever-increasing importance of the prisca theologia, the alchemical interpretation of ancient mythology, and the rise of neo-Latin humanist poetry. Although early modern alchemy was marked by the appearance of new doctrines (notably the alchemical spiritus mundi and Paracelsianism), alchemical poetry was only superficially modified by criteria of a scientific nature, which therefore appear to be of lesser importance. This study falls into two parts. Part I provides a descriptive survey of extant poetry, and in Part II the results of the survey are analysed in order to highlight such distinctive features as the function of alchemical poetry, the influence of the book market on its evolution, its doctrinal content, and the question of whether any theory of alchemical poetry ever emerged. Part II is accompanied by an index of the authors and works cited in both parts.

Sparking Thinking: Studying Modern Precision Medicine Will Accelerate the Progression of Traditional Chinese Medicine Patterns.

PubMed

Liu, Bao-Cheng; Ji, Guang

2017-07-01

Incorporating "-omics" studies with environmental interactions could help elucidate the biological mechanisms responsible for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) patterns. Based on the authors' own experiences, this review outlines a model of an ideal combination of "-omics" biomarkers, environmental factors, and TCM pattern classifications; provides a narrative review of the relevant genetic and TCM studies; and lists several successful integrative examples. Two integration tools are briefly introduced. The first is the integration of modern devices into objective diagnostic methods of TCM patterning, which would improve current clinical decision-making and practice. The second is the use of biobanks and data platforms, which could broadly support biological and medical research. Such efforts will transform current medical management and accelerate the progression of precision medicine.

A never-ending succession of epidemics? Mortality in early-modern York.

PubMed

Galley, C

1994-04-01

Early-modern cities are often perceived to be centres of high mortality and under constant siege from a barrage of epidemics. However, few urban mortality rates have been calculated and by employing parish register evidence from the regional capital of York, the thesis that the city was subjected to continual sudden increases in mortality can be firmly rejected. Infant mortality was high but remained virtually constant between 1561 and 1700. About a quarter of all infants did not survive to reach their first birthday and neonatal mortality was especially severe. From the mid-seventeenth century a series of epidemics increased child mortality although overall levels of mortality were not significantly affected. Relatively little can be said about adult mortality and apart from two periods of 'crisis' mortality there is little to suggest that adults were greatly affected by epidemics. Indeed, for many adults the urban environment appears to have posed no great threat to health and most could look forward to a relatively long life in the city. York's mortality regime was very similar to that of the smaller market town of Gainsborough where high levels of mortality remained stable throughout much of the early-modern period.

Breast-conserving therapy for early-stage breast cancer in Chinese women: a meta-analysis of case-control studies.

PubMed

Cai, Xiaopeng; Liu, Xu; Yu, Haitao; Li, Jiguang; Zheng, Xinyu

2012-01-01

Breast cancer has a high incidence worldwide, while Chinese patients have some special characteristics compared to Western patients. A meta-analysis was carried out to determine the effectiveness of breast-conserving therapy (BCT) or mastectomy therapy (MT) for early-stage breast cancers in Chinese women. A fully recursive literature search was conducted in the Chinese Biomedical Literature Database. Case-control trials were considered for inclusion. Analyses were carried out using the Review Manager software (RevMan, version 5.0). The meta-analysis showed that the 3-year or 5-year overall survival, the locoregional recurrence rate, and the metastasis rate were not statistically different between the BCT group and the MT group, but the complication recurrence rate increased in the MT group. Subgroup analysis indicated that no significant differences were observed in the affected limb swelling recurrence rate between the BCT group and the MT group. BCT was the better choice than MT for Chinese women with early-stage breast cancer. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The Chinese path to individualization.

PubMed

Yan, Yunxiang

2010-09-01

This article explores the rise of the individual and the consequential individualization of society which should be viewed as a reflexive part of China's state-sponsored quest for modernity. It traces the origin of the individualization process to the Maoist era, arguing that some collectivist programmes of social engineering and the socialist path of modernization under Maoism ironically resulted in a partial individualization of Chinese society. Examining profound social changes during the three decades of the post-Mao reforms, the article reveals a number of similarities with the individualization process in Western Europe but also demonstrates some important differences. In the last section, the theoretical implications of the Chinese case in light of Ulrich Beck's theory of individualization and second modernity are discussed. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2010.

Historical development of Chinese dietary patterns and nutrition from the ancient to the modern society.

PubMed

Chen, J D; Xu, H

1996-01-01

Actually, food, diet and diet therapy germinated together with the change of meal patterns and traditional Chinese medicine from very ancient China; they appeared in an embryonic form till the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and received great importance from the governors who arranged officials to manage their diets and banquets. Moreover, food, diet and meal patterns were replenished through the Zhou, Qin, Han and Jin Dynasties and epitomized and reached thriving and prosperous standards till the Tang Dynasty. They then became perfected, developed, and formed a complete theory in the dynasties of Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing. The basis of modern nutrition was made up until the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century, which was the time when natural science, including microbiology, chemistry, food industry, etc. were extended into China, yet it was not fully formed until the established of the People's Republic of China. Practicing, teaching, training and research activities started regularly in 1950. With a big population and poor economy basis, the first problem that the Chinese people has now been basically solved. Chinese nutritional scientists worked hard to find out the nutritional problems and status of the people. Through the broad-scale 'Nationwide Nutrition Survey', we now understand our main problems. On this basis, RDA, dietary goal and dietary guidance have been put forward. Although the problem of adequate food and clothing has been basically solved, the Chinese are still facing both the problem of nutrition insufficiency and nutrition excess. However, although nutrition insufficiency and deficiency still extensively exist, nutrition excess and imbalance are emerging in other sections of the population. There is still a shortage of qualified nutritional scientists and technicians, and the training of nutritionists is urgent. Food supplies, including milk, beef, green vegetables and fruit should be increased, especially for some rural and

Marginalia, commonplaces, and correspondence: scribal exchange in early modern science.

PubMed

Yale, Elizabeth

2011-06-01

In recent years, historians of science have increasingly turned their attention to the "print culture" of early modern science. These studies have revealed that printing, as both a technology and a social and economic system, structured the forms and meanings of natural knowledge. Yet in early modern Europe, naturalists, including John Aubrey, John Evelyn, and John Ray, whose work is discussed in this paper, often shared and read scientific texts in manuscript either before or in lieu of printing. Scribal exchange, exemplified in the circulation of writings like commonplace books, marginalia, manuscript treatises, and correspondence, was the primary means by which communities of naturalists constructed scientific knowledge. Print and manuscript were necessary partners. Manuscript fostered close collaboration, and could be circulated relatively cheaply; but, unlike print, it could not reliably secure priority or survival for posterity. Naturalists approached scribal and print communication strategically, choosing the medium that best suited their goals at any given moment. As a result, print and scribal modes of disseminating information, constructing natural knowledge, and organizing communities developed in tandem. Practices typically associated with print culture manifested themselves in scribal texts and exchanges, and vice versa. "Print culture" cannot be hived off from "scribal culture." Rather, in their daily jottings and exchanges, naturalists inhabited, and produced, one common culture of communication. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Kant's disputation of 1770: the dissertation and the communication of knowledge in early modern Europe.

PubMed

Chang, Kevin

2007-06-01

Kant's disputation of 1770 at his inauguration as the metaphysics professor at Königsberg is a good example of the nature of the early modern dissertation and its use as a means of communicating knowledge. The public disputation played an important part in the teaching, examination, publication and ceremonial life of the medieval university. Originally prepared as a text for the public disputation, the dissertation communicated the teachings of individual scholars and institutions and was used by eminent early modern scholars to introduce their ideas and findings. Kant's use of his 1770 disputation also reveals the different channels of communication, both private and public, that paid close attention to knowledge published in dissertations.

Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neanderthals and early modern humans.

PubMed

Henry, Amanda G; Brooks, Alison S; Piperno, Dolores R

2014-04-01

One of the most important challenges in anthropology is understanding the disappearance of Neanderthals. Previous research suggests that Neanderthals had a narrower diet than early modern humans, in part because they lacked various social and technological advances that lead to greater dietary variety, such as a sexual division of labor and the use of complex projectile weapons. The wider diet of early modern humans would have provided more calories and nutrients, increasing fertility, decreasing mortality and supporting large population sizes, allowing them to out-compete Neanderthals. However, this model for Neanderthal dietary behavior is based on analysis of animal remains, stable isotopes, and other methods that provide evidence only of animal food in the diet. This model does not take into account the potential role of plant food. Here we present results from the first broad comparison of plant foods in the diets of Neanderthals and early modern humans from several populations in Europe, the Near East, and Africa. Our data comes from the analysis of plant microremains (starch grains and phytoliths) in dental calculus and on stone tools. Our results suggest that both species consumed a similarly wide array of plant foods, including foods that are often considered low-ranked, like underground storage organs and grass seeds. Plants were consumed across the entire range of individuals and sites we examined, and none of the expected predictors of variation (species, geographic region, or associated stone tool technology) had a strong influence on the number of plant species consumed. Our data suggest that Neanderthal dietary ecology was more complex than previously thought. This implies that the relationship between Neanderthal technology, social behavior, and food acquisition strategies must be better explored. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Survey scheme of the main Chinese medicines resources].

PubMed

Chen, Shi-lin; Zhang, Ben-gang; Yang, Zhi; Su, Gang-qiang; Zhao, Run-huai; Huang, Lin-fang; Ma, Xiao-jun; Zhang, Jin-sheng; Xiao, Pei-gen

2005-08-01

The survey of Chinese medicines resources concerns the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. It also directly influences the modernization process of traditional Chinese medicines. Owing to lacking of the scientific data on the Chinese medicines resources, it is a extremely urgent work to carry out survey of main Chinese medicine resources in nationwide. This paper explains the meaning and necessity. And it also investigated the survey object, contents, new technologies and methods.

Early life influences on cognitive impairment among oldest old Chinese.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhenmei; Gu, Danan; Hayward, Mark D

2008-01-01

This article examines the effects of early life socioeconomic conditions on the risk of cognitive impairment among oldest old persons in China. We also examine whether adult socioeconomic status mediates the association between early life socioeconomic status and cognitive impairment in old age. Data derived from two waves (1998-2000) of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey. We estimated logistic and multinomial regression models of cognitive impairment for a nationwide sample of people aged 80 to 105 (N = 8,444). Among both men and women, urban residence in early life as well as education was associated with lower odds of cognitive impairment at baseline. We found modest support for a protective effect of advantaged childhood background on the odds of cognitive impairment onset during the 2-year follow-up, especially among women. Our findings suggest that socioeconomic environment throughout the life course, early life in particular, can influence the risk of cognitive impairment in old age. Not only can public policy that targets illiteracy, hunger, and poverty improve the lives of tens of thousands of children, but ultimately such investments will pay significant dividends many decades later in enhancing the cognitive well-being of older persons.

"The Root is Hidden and the Material Uncertain": the challenges of prosecuting witchcraft in early modern Venice.

PubMed

Seitz, Jonathan

2009-01-01

The rich archival records of the Holy Office of the Inquisition in Venice have yielded much information about early modern society and culture. The transcripts of witchcraft trials held before the Inquisition reveal the complexities of early modern conceptions of natural and supernatural. The tribunal found itself entirely unable to convict individuals charged with performing harmful magic, or maleficio, as different worldviews clashed in the courtroom. Physicians, exorcists, and inquisitors all had different approaches to distinguishing natural phenomena from supernatural, and without a consensus guilty verdicts could not be obtained.

Smallpox vaccination: an early start of modern medicine in America.

PubMed

Liebowitz, Dan

2017-01-01

Smallpox was eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. Before its eradication thedisease had a mortality rate upwards of 50% and had a significant impact on society. During theAmerican Revolutionary war, smallpox outbreaks were impeding the American war effort until1777 when George Washington carried out a mass inoculation campaign in the ContinentalArmy that reduced the mortality from smallpox to less than 2%. Inoculation was an early formof vaccination that used live virus from active pustules to induce a milder, but still sometimesdeadly, case of disease. Washington has been credited with helping to ease the burden ofsmallpox on the Army which improved the odds of success against the British. When EdwardJenner's vaccine reached America it was more readily accepted by political and medical leadersdue the success of Washington's inoculation campaign. The Founding Fathers argued thatsmallpox vaccination was the greatest discovery in modern medicine and they were likely correctthat it helped to usher in the modern era of vaccinology.

Testing Drugs and Trying Cures: Experiment and Medicine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Leong, Elaine; Rankin, Alisha

2017-01-01

This article examines traditions of testing drugs (as substances) and trying cures (on patients) in medieval and early modern Europe. It argues that the history of drug testing needs to be a more central story to overall histories of scientific experiment. The practice of conducting thoughtful-and sometimes contrived-tests on drugs has a rich and varied tradition dating back to antiquity, which expanded in the Middle Ages and early modern period. Learned physicians paired text-based knowledge (reason) with hands-on testing (experience or experiment) in order to make claims about drugs' properties or effects on humans. Lay practitioners similarly used hands-on testing to gain knowledge of pharmaceutical effects. Although drug testing practices expanded in scale, actors, and sites, therpublished a work extolling the virtues of drugs froe was significant continuity from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century.

[Exploration of microcosmic Chinese medicine used by western medicine].

PubMed

Zheng, Zhi-jing

2015-02-01

"Microcosmic syndrome", "treatment based on syndrome differentiation", and "combination of disease identification and syndrome differentiation" generally refer to a mode: following the syndrome if with no disease identified, following the disease if with no syndrome type differentiated. For example, Chinese medical treatment of hypertension, high blood lipids, increased transaminase, and so on candirectly use Chinese recipes, but no longer with syndrome differentiation. Clinical application of Chinese patent medicine can also obtain favorable clinical. Western doctors need not follow syndrome differentiation. The invention of artemisinin was screened from more than 40 000 kinds of compounds and herbs, but with no reference of any traditional Chinese medical theory. A lot of folk remedy and empirical recipes have obtained effective efficacy but unnecessarily with profound Chinese medical theories. Various evidences showed that disease can also be cured without syndrome differentiation. I held that it might be associated with the same mechanism of Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Any disease can be cured or alleviated by Chinese medicine is a result from its modern pharmacological effect, which is achieved by improving etiologies, and pathogeneses. I was inspired by whether we can directly use traditional Chinese medicine with modern pharmacological effects to treat symptomatic disease. So I raised an idea of microcosmic Chinese medicine used by Western medicine, i.e., we find and use Chinese herbs with relatively effective modern pharmacological effect to treat diseases targeting at patients' clinical symptoms and signs, as well as various positive laboratory results (collectively called as microscopic dialectical indicators). More Western doctors would use it to treat disease due to omission of complicated and mysterious syndrome differentiation. This will promote extensive application and expansion of Chi- nese medicine and pharmacy, enlarge the team of

Resistant tissues of modern marchantioid liverworts resemble enigmatic Early Paleozoic microfossils

PubMed Central

Graham, Linda E.; Wilcox, Lee W.; Cook, Martha E.; Gensel, Patricia G.

2004-01-01

Absence of a substantial pretracheophyte fossil record for bryophytes (otherwise predicted by molecular systematics) poses a major problem in our understanding of earliest land-plant structure. In contrast, there exist enigmatic Cambrian–Devonian microfossils (aggregations of tubes or sheets of cells or possibly a combination of both) controversially interpreted as an extinct group of early land plants known as nematophytes. We used an innovative approach to explore these issues: comparison of tube and cell-sheet microfossils with experimentally degraded modern liverworts as analogues of ancient early land plants. Lower epidermal surface tissues, including rhizoids, of Marchantia polymorpha and Conocephalum conicum were resistant to breakdown after rotting for extended periods or high-temperature acid treatment (acetolysis), suggesting fossilization potential. Cell-sheet and rhizoid remains occurred separately or together depending on the degree of body degradation. Rhizoid break-off at the lower epidermal surface left rimmed pores at the centers of cell rosettes; these were similar in structure, diameter, and distribution to pores characterizing nematophyte cell-sheet microfossils known as Cosmochlaina. The range of Marchantia rhizoid diameters overlapped that of Cosmochlaina pores. Approximately 14% of dry biomass of Marchantia vegetative thalli and 40% of gametangiophores was resistant to acetolysis. Pre- and posttreatment cell-wall autofluorescence suggested the presence of phenolic compounds that likely protect lower epidermal tissues from soil microbe attack and provide dimensional stability to gametangiophores. Our results suggest that at least some microfossils identified as nematophytes may be the remains of early marchantioid liverworts similar in some ways to modern Marchantia and Conocephalum. PMID:15263095

Traditional Chinese Biotechnology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Yan; Wang, Dong; Fan, Wen Lai; Mu, Xiao Qing; Chen, Jian

The earliest industrial biotechnology originated in ancient China and developed into a vibrant industry in traditional Chinese liquor, rice wine, soy sauce, and vinegar. It is now a significant component of the Chinese economy valued annually at about 150 billion RMB. Although the production methods had existed and remained basically unchanged for centuries, modern developments in biotechnology and related fields in the last decades have greatly impacted on these industries and led to numerous technological innovations. In this chapter, the main biochemical processes and related technological innovations in traditional Chinese biotechnology are illustrated with recent advances in functional microbiology, microbial ecology, solid-state fermentation, enzymology, chemistry of impact flavor compounds, and improvements made to relevant traditional industrial facilities. Recent biotechnological advances in making Chinese liquor, rice wine, soy sauce, and vinegar are reviewed.

Cognition research and constitutional classification in Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Wang, Ji; Li, Yingshuai; Ni, Cheng; Zhang, Huimin; Li, Lingru; Wang, Qi

2011-01-01

In the Western medicine system, scholars have explained individual differences in terms of behaviour and thinking, leading to the emergence of various classification theories on individual differences. Traditional Chinese medicine has long observed human constitutions. Modern Chinese medicine studies have also involved study of human constitutions; however, differences exist in the ways traditional and modern Chinese medicine explore individual constitutions. In the late 1970s, the constitutional theory of Chinese medicine was proposed. This theory takes a global and dynamic view of human differences (e.g., the shape of the human body, function, psychology, and other characteristics) based on arguments from traditional Chinese medicine. The establishment of a standard for classifying constitutions into nine modules was critical for clinical application of this theory. In this review, we describe the history and recent research progress of this theory, and compare it with related studies in the western medicine system. Several research methods, including philology, informatics, epidemiology, and molecular biology, in classifying constitutions used in the constitutional theory of Chinese medicine were discussed. In summary, this constitutional theory of Chinese medicine can be used in clinical practice and would contribute to health control of patients.

Early modern human settlement of Europe north of the Alps occurred 43,500 years ago in a cold steppe-type environment

PubMed Central

Nigst, Philip R.; Haesaerts, Paul; Damblon, Freddy; Frank-Fellner, Christa; Mallol, Carolina; Viola, Bence; Götzinger, Michael; Niven, Laura; Trnka, Gerhard; Hublin, Jean-Jacques

2014-01-01

The first settlement of Europe by modern humans is thought to have occurred between 50,000 and 40,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). In Europe, modern human remains of this time period are scarce and often are not associated with archaeology or originate from old excavations with no contextual information. Hence, the behavior of the first modern humans in Europe is still unknown. Aurignacian assemblages—demonstrably made by modern humans—are commonly used as proxies for the presence of fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans. The site of Willendorf II (Austria) is well known for its Early Upper Paleolithic horizons, which are among the oldest in Europe. However, their age and attribution to the Aurignacian remain an issue of debate. Here, we show that archaeological horizon 3 (AH 3) consists of faunal remains and Early Aurignacian lithic artifacts. By using stratigraphic, paleoenvironmental, and chronological data, AH 3 is ascribed to the onset of Greenland Interstadial 11, around 43,500 cal B.P., and thus is older than any other Aurignacian assemblage. Furthermore, the AH 3 assemblage overlaps with the latest directly radiocarbon-dated Neanderthal remains, suggesting that Neanderthal and modern human presence overlapped in Europe for some millennia, possibly at rather close geographical range. Most importantly, for the first time to our knowledge, we have a high-resolution environmental context for an Early Aurignacian site in Central Europe, demonstrating an early appearance of behaviorally modern humans in a medium-cold steppe-type environment with some boreal trees along valleys around 43,500 cal B.P. PMID:25246543

Ancient Chinese Observations and Modern Cometary Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yeomans, D. K.

1995-01-01

Ancient astronomical observations, primarily by Chinese, represent the only data source for discerning the long-term behavior of comets. These sky watchers produced astrological forecasts for their emperors. The comets Halley, Swift-Tuttle, and Tempel-Tuttle have been observed for 2000 years. Records of the Leonid meteor showers, starting from A.D.902, are used to guide predictions for the 1998-1999 reoccurrence.

[The apprentice education system of Chinese medicinal industry in modern Kunming].

PubMed

Yang, Zhuqing

2015-07-01

In the late Qing Dynasty, following the appearance of the Chinese medicinal materials industry trade association of Kunming, the "master agreement" as a professional regulation, also implemented, marking the beginning of the contractualization and institutionalization of apprentice education in Yunnan. The contents and implementation of the "master agreement" was organized by the Chinese medicinal materials industry trade association of Kunming and its craft union. The apprentice education in Kunming traditional Chinese medicinal industry has the following characteristics: expanding the source of talent; adepting at agricultural production of the accorded apprentice; conforming to the conditions of human manipulation of Chinese traditional medicine; being in line with the characteristics and rules of Chinese medicine skills taught by oral narration and tacit understanding; unity of the medical and pharmaceutical professionals; and non-governmental organization. Apprentice training had trained a number of medical talents, and promoted the transformation of manual workshop to industrialization in Kunming. Apprentice education had catalyzed the establishment of specialized shops selling patent medicines exclusively to separated from those running both crude drugs and patent medicines, to form a set of effective teaching system, thus exerting profound influence on later generations.

Collecting Knowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern English Household

PubMed Central

Leong, Elaine

2013-01-01

When Mary Cholmeley married Henry Fairfax in 1627, she carried to her new home in Yorkshire a leather-bound notebook filled with medical recipes. Over the next few decades, Mary and Henry, their children and various members of the Fairfax and Cholmeley families continually entered new medical and culinary information into this ‘treasury for health.’ Consequently, as it stands now, the manuscript can be read both as a repository of household medical knowledge and as a family archive. Focusing on two Fairfax ‘family books,’ this essay traces on the process through which early modern recipe books were created. In particular, it explores the role of the family collective in compiling books of knowledge. In contrast to past studies where household recipe books have largely been described as the products of exclusively female endeavors, I argue that the majority of early modern recipe collections were created by family collectives and that the members of these collectives worked in collaboration across spatial, geographical and temporal boundaries. This new reading of recipe books as testaments of the interests and needs of particular families encourages renewed examination of the role played by gender in the transmission and production of knowledge in early modern households. PMID:23926360

Collecting Knowledge for the Family: Recipes, Gender and Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern English Household.

PubMed

Leong, Elaine

2013-05-01

When Mary Cholmeley married Henry Fairfax in 1627, she carried to her new home in Yorkshire a leather-bound notebook filled with medical recipes. Over the next few decades, Mary and Henry, their children and various members of the Fairfax and Cholmeley families continually entered new medical and culinary information into this 'treasury for health.' Consequently, as it stands now, the manuscript can be read both as a repository of household medical knowledge and as a family archive. Focusing on two Fairfax 'family books,' this essay traces on the process through which early modern recipe books were created. In particular, it explores the role of the family collective in compiling books of knowledge. In contrast to past studies where household recipe books have largely been described as the products of exclusively female endeavors, I argue that the majority of early modern recipe collections were created by family collectives and that the members of these collectives worked in collaboration across spatial, geographical and temporal boundaries. This new reading of recipe books as testaments of the interests and needs of particular families encourages renewed examination of the role played by gender in the transmission and production of knowledge in early modern households.

Tadpoles of Early Breeding Amphibians are Negatively Affected by Leaf Litter From Invasive Chinese Tallow Trees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonard, N. E.

2005-05-01

As wetlands are invaded by Chinese tallow trees (Triadica sebifera), native trees are displaced and detrital inputs to amphibian breeding ponds are altered. I used a mesocosm experiment to examine the effect of Chinese tallow leaf litter on the survival to, size at, and time to metamorphosis of amphibian larvae. Fifty 1000-L cattle watering tanks were treated with 1500 g dry weight of one of five leaf litter treatments: Chinese tallow, laurel oak (Quercus laurifolia), water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), slash pine (Pinus elliottii), or a 3:1:1:1 mixture. Each tank received 45 tadpoles of Pseudacris feriarum, Bufo terrestris, and Hyla cinerea in sequence according to their natural breeding phonologies. Every Pseudacris feriarum and Bufo terrestris tadpole exposed to Chinese tallow died prior to metamorphosis. Hyla cinerea survival in tanks with tallow-only was significantly lower than that observed for all other leaf treatments. Hyla cinerea tadpoles from tallow-only and mixed-leaf treatments were larger at metamorphosis and transformed faster than those in tanks with native leaves only. These results suggest that Chinese tallow leaf litter may negatively affect tadpoles of early breeding frogs and that Chinese tallow invasion may change the structure of amphibian communities in temporary ponds.

What can comparative effectiveness research, propensity score and registry study bring to Chinese medicine?

PubMed

Liao, Xing; Xie, Yan-ming

2014-10-01

The impact of evidence-based medicine and clinical epidemiology on clinical research has contributed to the development of Chinese medicine in modern times over the past two decades. Many concepts and methods of modern science and technology are emerging in Chinese medicine research, resulting in constant progress. Systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials and other advanced mathematic approaches and statistical analysis methods have brought reform to Chinese medicine. In this new era, Chinese medicine researchers have many opportunities and challenges. On the one hand, Chinese medicine researchers need to dedicate themselves to providing enough evidence to the world through rigorous studies, whilst on the other hand, they also need to keep up with the speed of modern medicine research. For example, recently, real world study, comparative effectiveness research, propensity score techniques and registry study have emerged. This article aims to inspire Chinese medicine researchers to explore new areas by introducing these new ideas and new techniques.

Psychometric Validation of the Traditional Chinese Version of the Early Onset Scoliosis-24 Item Questionnaire (EOSQ-24).

PubMed

Cheung, Jason Pui Yin; Cheung, Prudence Wing Hang; Wong, Carlos King Ho; Samartzis, Dino; Luk, Keith Dip-Kei; Lam, Cindy Lo Kuen; Cheung, Kenneth Man Chee

2016-12-15

Questionnaire translation and validation. The aim of this study was to translate and cross-culturally adapt the Early Onset Scoliosis-24 item Questionnaire (EOSQ-24) into traditional Chinese, and to assess its validity, reliability, and sensitivity in Southern-Chinese patients diagnosed with early onset scoliosis (EOS). Relying on radiographs alone for assessing treatment outcomes in EOS patients is inadequate. To properly gauge health-related quality of life, a disease-specific instrument that assesses patient quality of life and the burden of primary caregivers is necessary. The EOSQ-24 was created for this purpose, but it has not been adapted to the Chinese language. The translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the original English EOSQ-24 were performed using the method of double forward and single backward translations, followed by a panel review. EOS patients of Southern-Chinese descent were recruited, via convenience sampling from a scoliosis specialty clinic. These patients' parents/caretakers were then administered the traditional Chinese EOSQ-24, Likert Scale regarding the understanding of completed EOSQ-24, and the Child Health Questionnaire Parent Form 50 (CHQ-PF50) (Traditional Chinese). Reliability was analyzed using Cronbach alpha. Construct validity of domains and subdomains was assessed using Spearman correlation test against CHQ-PF50 domains with similar constructs. Sensitivity of the EOSQ-24 scores was determined by performing known group comparisons. A total of 100 EOS patients were recruited. A very good reliability was demonstrated (Cronbach α: 0.896) and internal consistency of all domains was excellent (Cronbach α: 0.829-0.919). Subdomain scores of EOSQ-24 and CHQ-PF50 had significant correlations (P < 0.001), indicating a good construct validity. This is the first psychometric study to translate and adapt the EOSQ-24 questionnaire for Chinese EOS patients and it has been found to have satisfactory validity, reliability, and

Malaysian Chinese and Their Mass Media: History and Survey.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lent, John A.

The traditions of the Chinese press in Malaysia go back 160 years to Malaysia's first Chinese-language newspaper, considered by scholars as the first modern periodical anywhere. Since then, this press has aided Christian missionary efforts in China and Southeast Asia, helped develop permanent Chinese communities in the Malay peninsula, called for…

Chinese children's early knowledge about writing.

PubMed

Zhang, Lan; Yin, Li; Treiman, Rebecca

2017-09-01

Much research on literacy development has focused on learners of alphabetic writing systems. Researchers have hypothesized that children learn about the formal characteristics of writing before they learn about the relations between units of writing and units of speech. We tested this hypothesis by examining young Chinese children's understanding of writing. Mandarin-speaking 2- to 5-year-olds completed a graphic task, which tapped their knowledge about the formal characteristics of writing, and a phonological task, which tapped their knowledge about the correspondence between Chinese characters and syllables. The 3- to 5-year-olds performed better on the graphic task than the phonological task, indicating that learning how writing appears visually begins earlier than learning that writing corresponds to linguistic units, even in a writing system in which written units correspond to syllables. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Learning about writing's visual form, how it looks, is an important part of emergent literacy. Knowledge of how writing symbolizes linguistic units may emerge later. What does this study add? We test the hypothesis that Chinese children learn about writing's visual form earlier than its symbolic nature. Chinese 3- to 5- year-olds know more about visual features than character-syllable links. Results show learning of the visual appearance of a notation system is developmentally precocious. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

The Chinese Experience of Rapid Modernization: Sociocultural Changes, Psychological Consequences?

PubMed Central

Sun, Jiahong; Ryder, Andrew G.

2016-01-01

Mainland China has undergone profound changes dating back to the nineteenth century, including a contemporary period of rapid modernization that began in the 1980s. The result has been dramatic social, cultural, and economic shifts impacting the daily lives of Chinese people. In this paper, we explore the psychological implications of sociocultural transformation in China, emphasizing two central themes. First, rising individualism: findings from social and developmental psychology suggest that China’s rapid development has been accompanied by ever-increasing adherence to individualistic values. Second, rising rates of depression: findings from psychiatric epidemiology point to increasing prevalence of depression over this same time period, particularly in rural settings. We argue that links between sociocultural and psychological shifts in China can be usefully studied through a cultural psychology lens, emphasizing the mutual constitution of culture, mind, and brain. In particular, we note that the link between social change, individualism, and rising mental illness deserves careful attention. Our review suggests that shifting values and socialization practices shape emotion norms of concealment and display, with implications for depressive symptom presentation. The challenge comes with interpretation. Increasing prevalence rates of depression may indeed be a general response to the rapidity of sociocultural change, or a specific consequence of rising individualism—but may also result from increasingly ‘Western’ patterns of symptom presentation, or improvements in diagnostic practice. We conclude by considering the challenges posed to standard universal models of psychological phenomena. PMID:27092093

Ethnic Differences in Early Math Learning: A Comparison of Chinese-American and Caucasian-American Families.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huntsinger, Carol S.; And Others

This study compared Chinese-American and Caucasian-American children and families in order to better understand which cultural and family characteristics, parent beliefs, and parent practices operate at the early childhood level to produce the more uniform high level of math achievement among Asian-American children. Forty second-generation…

[Establishment and practice of traditional Chinese medicine property cognitive model based on three elements].

PubMed

Zhang, Bing; Jin, Rui; Huang, Jianmei; Liu, Xiaoqing; Xue, Chunmiao; Lin, Zhijian

2012-08-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) property theory is believed to be a key and difficult point of basic theory studies of TCM. Complex concepts, components and characteristics of TCM property have long puzzled researchers and urged them to develop new angles and approaches. In the view of cognitive science, TCM property theory is a cognitive process of storing, extracting, rebuilding and summarizing the sensory information about TCMs and their effects during the medical practice struggling against diseases under the guidance of traditional Chinese philosophical thinking. The cognitive process of TCM property has particular cognitive elements and strategies. Taking into account clinical application characteristics of TCMs, this study defines the particular cognitive elements. In the combination of research methods of modern chemistry, biology and mathematics, and on the basis early-stage work for five years, we have built a TCM property cognition model based on three elements and practiced with drugs with pungent and hot properties as example, in the hope of interpreting TCM properties with modern science and providing thoughts for the nature of medical properties and instruction for rational clinical prescription.

Hippocrates' complaint and the scientific ethos in early modern England.

PubMed

Yeo, Richard

2018-04-01

Among the elements of the modern scientific ethos, as identified by R.K. Merton and others, is the commitment of individual effort to a long-term inquiry that may not bring substantial results in a lifetime. The challenge this presents was encapsulated in the aphorism of the ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates of Kos: vita brevis, ars longa (life is short, art is long). This article explores how this complaint was answered in the early modern period by Francis Bacon's call for the inauguration of the sciences over several generations, thereby imagining a succession of lives added together over time. However, Bacon also explored another response to Hippocrates: the devotion of a 'whole life', whether brief or long, to science. The endorsement of long-term inquiry in combination with intensive lifetime involvement was embraced by some leading Fellows of the Royal Society, such as Robert Boyle and Robert Hooke. The problem for individuals, however, was to find satisfaction in science despite concerns, in some fields, that current observations and experiments would not yield material able to be extended by future investigations.

A Step towards Clerical Preferment: Secondary School Teachers' Careers in Early Modern Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindmark, Daniel

2004-01-01

This article investigates the function served by embarking on a teaching career in the Latin school system for recruitment to the clergy in early modern Sweden. The study is restricted to the eighty-nine teachers serving at Pitea Grammar School in Northern Sweden in the period from 1650 to 1849. The investigation pays considerable attention to the…

Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans.

PubMed

Anikovich, M V; Sinitsyn, A A; Hoffecker, John F; Holliday, Vance T; Popov, V V; Lisitsyn, S N; Forman, Steven L; Levkovskaya, G M; Pospelova, G A; Kuz'mina, I E; Burova, N D; Goldberg, Paul; Macphail, Richard I; Giaccio, Biagio; Praslov, N D

2007-01-12

Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating and magnetic stratigraphy indicate Upper Paleolithic occupation-probably representing modern humans-at archaeological sites on the Don River in Russia 45,000 to 42,000 years ago. The oldest levels at Kostenki underlie a volcanic ash horizon identified as the Campanian Ignimbrite Y5 tephra that is dated elsewhere to about 40,000 years ago. The occupation layers contain bone and ivory artifacts, including possible figurative art, and fossil shells imported more than 500 kilometers. Thus, modern humans appeared on the central plain of Eastern Europe as early as anywhere else in northern Eurasia.

Voluntarist theology and early-modern science: The matter of the divine power, absolute and ordained.

PubMed

Oakley, Francis

2018-03-01

This paper is an intervention in the debate inaugurated by Peter Harrison in 2002 when he called into question the validity of what has come to be called 'the voluntarism and early-modern science thesis'. Though it subsequently drew support from such historians of science as J. E. McGuire, Margaret Osler, and Betty-Joe Teeter Dobbs, the origins of the thesis are usually traced back to articles published in 1934 and 1961 respectively by the philosopher Michael Foster and the historian of ideas Francis Oakley. Central to Harrison's critique of the thesis are claims he made about the meaning of the scholastic distinction between the potentia dei absoluta et ordinata and the role it played in the thinking of early-modern theologians and natural philosophers. This paper calls directly into question the accuracy of Harrison's claims on that very matter.

[Mental interiority in the early-modern age. The "Cartesian theater"].

PubMed

Gillot, Pascale

2010-01-01

This paper looks into the notion of mental interiority in the early-modern age and, more specifically, into the Cartesian conception of the mind as an "inner theater". The main claim emphasizes a close connexion at work between the representative theory of the mind, associated with internalism, on the one hand, and a "neuropsychological" view on the other hand. Cartesian mentalism, in so far as it is based upon a disjunction between representation and resemblance, can therefore not be separated from the general project, already at work in the Dioptrique, of an intra-cerebral localization of the mental.

[Primary safety analysis of trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in 30 Chinese Her2-positive early breast cancer patients].

PubMed

Zhou, Ning-Ning; Teng, Xiao-Yu; Liu, Dong-Geng; Xu, Ran; Guan, Zhong-Zhen

2008-12-01

It has been proved that trastuzumab has clinical activity in early and advanced breast cancer with Her2-overexpression. This study was to analyze the safety of trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in 30 Chinese Her2-positive early breast cancer patients. Trastuzumab was administrated after adjuvant chemotherapy every 21 days. The initial dose was 8 mg/kg, and the subsequent dose was 6 mg/kg, for four to 35 cycles (medium 18 cycles). The side effects of these patients, especially cardiotoxicity, were analyzed. Thirty patients with Her2-positive early breast cancer were entered into the study. The average treatment period was one year (range nine weeks to two years). Two patients had shivering and fever during the first infusion with trastuzumab. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) level dropped in 18 cases after treatment with trastuzumab, half of which decreased more then 10%û however, no cardiac failure was observed. The post-surgical treatment of trastuzumab in Chinese patients with Her2-positive early breast cancer shows a satisfactory safety profile. However, the potential cardiotoxicity of trastuzumab should be carefully monitored during therapy.

Two thousand years of medical advice on breastfeeding: comparison of Chinese and western texts.

PubMed

Gartner, L M; Stone, C

1994-12-01

This discussion introduces only a few aspects of the historical writings on breastfeeding in the two cultures. Chinese writings seem to be closer in orientation to modern worldwide medical advice, approaching breastfeeding from a more natural and supportive perspective. Ancient and not-so-ancient western medical advice on breastfeeding often implies the inadequacy of the mother to breastfeed her own infant, especially in the early weeks of life. One can only speculate as to what the historical basis for this may be. European medicine emphasizes the testing of milk for its adequacy. Again, the scientific basis for this is not evident. Modern clinical science finds that the milk of virtually all mothers, even those suffering from significant malnutrition, is adequate for the growth and development of the infant. This focus on the "testing" of milk may represent an early example of the reliance on laboratory diagnosis that has so heavily dominated western medicine in recent years. Finally, western medicine seems more managerial with regard to breastfeeding than Chinese medicine, and has perhaps "medicalized" breastfeeding, a compliant often voiced even now in late 20th century America. Nonetheless, both literatures demonstrate that throughout the history of recorded medicine, physicians have been concerned with promoting optimal breastfeeding and have understood the importance of human milk for the survival, growth, and development of the infant.

A Cross-Cultural Study of American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Early Childhood In-Service and Pre-Service Teachers' Perspectives of Fathering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ito, Yoko; Izumi-Taylor, Satomi

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in perspectives of fathering among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish in-service and pre-service early childhood teachers. The participants in the quantitative survey consisted of 67 American in-service and 277 pre-service teachers, 118 Chinese in-service and 163…

Understanding Early Childhood Socialisation in Immigrant Families: Malaysian-Chinese Parents' Perceptions on the Importance of Ethnic Identity and Cultural Maintenance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Voon, Shi Jing; Pearson, Emma

2011-01-01

This pilot study was designed to shed light on Malaysian-Chinese parents' beliefs about ethnic identity and cultural maintenance in children's socialisation following migration. Three Malaysian-Chinese families residing in Sydney, Australia, with at least one child within the early childhood age range of 4-8 years, participated in the study.…

[Development and application of component-based Chinese medicine theory].

PubMed

Zhang, Jun-Hua; Fan, Guan-Wei; Zhang, Han; Fan, Xiao-Hui; Wang, Yi; Liu, Li-Mei; Li, Chuan; Gao, Yue; Gao, Xiu-Mei; Zhang, Bo-Li

2017-11-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription is the main therapies for disease prevention and treatment in Chinese medicine. Following the guidance of the theory of TCM and developing drug by composing prescriptions of TCM materials and pieces, it is a traditional application mode of TCM, and still widely used in clinic. TCM prescription has theoretical advantages and rich clinical application experience in dealing with multi-factor complex diseases, but scientific research is relatively weak. The lack of scientific cognition of the effective substances and mechanism of Chinese medicine leads to insufficient understanding of the efficacy regularity, which affects the stability of effect and hinders the improvement of quality of Chinese medicinal products. Component-based Chinese medicine (CCM) is an innovation based on inheritance, which breaks through the tradition of experience-based prescription and realize the transformation of compatibility from herbal pieces to components. CCM is an important achievement during the research process of modernization of Chinese medicine. Under the support of three national "973" projects, in order to reveal the scientific connotation of the prescription compatibility theory and develop innovative Chinese drugs, we have launched theoretical innovation and technological innovation around the "two relatively clear", and opened up the research field of CCM. CCM is an innovation based on inheritance, breaking through the tradition of experience based prescription, and realizing the transformation from compatibility of herbal pieces to component compatibility, which is an important achievement of the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. In the past more than 10 years, with the deepening of research and the expansion of application, the theory and methods of CCM and efficacy-oriented compatibility have been continuously improved. The value of CCM is not only in developing new drug, more important is to build a

The Modern Value of Early Writings in Medicine and Dentistry.

PubMed

Peck, Sheldon

2016-01-01

This article illustrates three examples supporting the modern value of early writings in dentistry and medicine. First, by studying cases described in works published long before the era of genetic science, we are able to develop new hypotheses about familial conditions and their genetic roots. Tooth transposition is presented as an example. Second, old writings may lead us to valuable historical insights and perspectives in medicine that can be revealed only in retrospective analysis. An example of this kind of historical analysis uncovers why dentistry became unnaturally separated from mainstream medicine in the 19th century. Third, early writings become keys to unlocking forgotten knowledge that enriches our understanding of historically significant people and events. The discovery of Norman Kingsley's long forgotten pyrographic paintings after Rembrandt portraits is used as an example. Libraries, the traditional custodians of these valued old texts, must continue to be supported, and not undermined by the paperless digital revolution. Copyright American Academy of the History of Dentistry.

"None Must Meddle Betueene Man and Wife": assessing family and the fluidity of public and private in early modern Scotland.

PubMed

Nugent, Janay

2010-01-01

The physical and ideological boundaries between public and private in early modern Scotland were constantly contested, resulting in a shifting reality of what was public and private. This fluidity has been recognized by historians, but how, when, and why the shifting took place is not as clear. The moral church courts (Kirk Sessions) of Reformation Scotland allow a unique opportunity to begin to understand the largely elusive boundaries between public and private in the early modern era.

Neck circumference and early stage atherosclerosis: the cardiometabolic risk in Chinese (CRC) study.

PubMed

Liang, Jun; Wang, Yu; Li, Hongyan; Liu, Xuekui; Qiu, Qinqin; Qi, Lu

2014-07-08

Neck circumference (NC) has been previously related to cardiometabolic risk factors. In this study we examined the association between NC and early stage atherosclerosis in Chinese adults. The study samples were from a community-based health examination survey in central China. In total 2,318 men and women (18-64 y) were included in the final analyses. Carotid radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV), carotid femoral PWV (cfPWV), carotid artery dorsalis pedis PWV (cdPWV) and NC were measured. After adjustment for age, sex, lipids, glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, body mass index (BMI), high NC was significantly associated with an increasing trend of cfPWV, cdPWV and crPWV (P = 0.001, 0.049, and 0.038; respectively). In addition, we found significant interaction between hypertension status and NC level in relation to cfPWV, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, fasting glucose, lipids and heart rate(P for interaction = 0.034). The associations between NC and cfPWV were significant (P = 0.02) among those with hypertension, but not significant among those without hypertension. Our data showed that high NC was associated with an increased risk of early stage atherosclerosis in Chinese adults, independent of other metabolic risk factors. Hypertension might modify the association between NC and cfPWV.

Long-term health and socioeconomic consequences of early-life exposure to the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine.

PubMed

Fan, Wen; Qian, Yue

2015-01-01

This research investigates long-term consequences of early-life malnutrition by examining effects of the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine. Taking into account temporal and geographic variations in famine severity, we construct a difference-in-differences estimator to identify effects of early-life exposure to famine on perceived health and socioeconomic outcomes in midlife. Using a sample of 1716 adults born in 1955-1966 in rural China from a nationally representative survey-the 2005 Chinese General Social Survey-we find that the famine had adverse effects on mid-life health for males born into families where at least one parent was a Communist Party member and females regardless of parental party membership. Being born during the famine had no effects on years of education or income for either gender. Quantile regressions suggest intense mortality selection among males who had no party-affiliated parents. Our study highlights the importance of timing and contexts of life experiences in shaping health. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Chinese physicists educated in Germany and America: Their scientific contributions and their impact on China's higher education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Jing Cheng

1998-11-01

This dissertation records the historical paths of Chinese physicists educated in Germany and America, explores their representative achievements in modern physics that have not been recognized by Chinese scholars, and provides sociological analyses of their contributions to China's higher education. We have found that Chinese students of physics in Germany and America were not passive recipients of Western science, but active contributors. They were also crucial contributors to science education and important scientific projects upon their return to China. Chapter One briefly describes physics knowledge in ancient China and introduces the transplantation of modern science and technology to China. Three distinct historical periods have been identified. In Chapter Two and Chapter Three, 30 Chinese physicists educated in Germany and 89 in America have been investigated. This research analyzes the significant achievements of these physicists. It also examines the political changes, the social background, and other factors impacting on their studies in the two countries. The selected cases in the two chapters are Li Fo-ki, Chinese physics students in Berlin, Werner Heisenberg and his Chinese students, Max Born and his Chinese students, Robert Millikan and Chinese physicists, the first two Chinese physicists from Harvard, and the Science Society of China. Chapter Four explores the geographical distribution, education and careers, return and expatriation, and the social influence exerted by these Chinese physicists. Statistical compilation and quantitative analyses comprise the basic methodology. In terms of two periods and two generations, this dissertation explores the physicists' contributions to the development of modern science in China and to education in China. Significant cases from Beijing University, Qinghua University, and Yanjing University are analyzed. The last chapter, Chapter Five, concludes that some of the achievements of these Chinese physicists were

Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa

PubMed Central

Toups, Melissa A.; Kitchen, Andrew; Light, Jessica E.; Reed, David L.

2011-01-01

Clothing use is an important modern behavior that contributed to the successful expansion of humans into higher latitudes and cold climates. Previous research suggests that clothing use originated anywhere between 40,000 and 3 Ma, though there is little direct archaeological, fossil, or genetic evidence to support more specific estimates. Since clothing lice evolved from head louse ancestors once humans adopted clothing, dating the emergence of clothing lice may provide more specific estimates of the origin of clothing use. Here, we use a Bayesian coalescent modeling approach to estimate that clothing lice diverged from head louse ancestors at least by 83,000 and possibly as early as 170,000 years ago. Our analysis suggests that the use of clothing likely originated with anatomically modern humans in Africa and reinforces a broad trend of modern human developments in Africa during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. PMID:20823373

Scent evolution in Chinese roses

PubMed Central

Scalliet, Gabriel; Piola, Florence; Douady, Christophe J.; Réty, Stéphane; Raymond, Olivier; Baudino, Sylvie; Bordji, Karim; Bendahmane, Mohammed; Dumas, Christian; Cock, J. Mark; Hugueney, Philippe

2008-01-01

The phenolic methyl ether 3,5-dimethoxytoluene (DMT) is a major scent compound of many modern rose varieties, and its fragrance participates in the characteristic “tea scent” that gave their name to Tea and Hybrid Tea roses. Among wild roses, phenolic methyl ether (PME) biosynthesis is restricted to Chinese rose species, but the progenitors of modern roses included both European and Chinese species (e.g., Rosa chinensis cv Old Blush), so this trait was transmitted to their hybrid progeny. The last steps of the biosynthetic pathways leading to DMT involve two methylation reactions catalyzed by the highly similar orcinol O-methyltransferases (OOMT) 1 and 2. OOMT1 and OOMT2 enzymes exhibit different substrate specificities that are consistent with their operating sequentially in DMT biosynthesis. Here, we show that these different substrate specificities are mostly due to a single amino acid polymorphism in the phenolic substrate binding site of OOMTs. An analysis of the OOMT gene family in 18 species representing the diversity of the genus Rosa indicated that only Chinese roses possess both the OOMT2 and the OOMT1 genes. In addition, we provide evidence that the Chinese-rose-specific OOMT1 genes most probably evolved from an OOMT2-like gene that has homologues in the genomes of all extant roses. We propose that the emergence of the OOMT1 gene may have been a critical step in the evolution of scent production in Chinese roses. PMID:18413608

[Advancements of computer chemistry in separation of Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Li, Lingjuan; Hong, Hong; Xu, Xuesong; Guo, Liwei

2011-12-01

Separating technique of Chinese medicine is not only a key technique in the field of Chinese medicine' s research and development, but also a significant step in the modernization of Chinese medicinal preparation. Computer chemistry can build model and look for the regulations from Chinese medicine system which is full of complicated data. This paper analyzed the applicability, key technology, basic mode and common algorithm of computer chemistry applied in the separation of Chinese medicine, introduced the mathematic mode and the setting methods of Extraction kinetics, investigated several problems which based on traditional Chinese medicine membrane procession, and forecasted the application prospect.

Juan Ruiz De Alarcón: Impairment as Empowerment in Early Modern Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Gloria Bodtorf

2016-01-01

Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, a seventeenth-century writer and native of New Spain, so excelled at the craft of writing "comedias" that he is recognized as one of the great writers of early modern Spain. In his personal life Ruiz de Alarcón struggled with a significant bodily impairment, a large hump on both his back and front, which made him…

Glass and Alchemy in Early Modern Europe: An Analytical Study of Glassware from the Oberstockstall Laboratory in Austria.

PubMed

Veronesi, Umberto; Martinón-Torres, Marcos

2018-06-18

Glass distillation equipment from an early modern alchemical laboratory was analyzed for its technology of manufacture and potential origin. Chemical data show that the assemblage can be divided into sodium-rich, colorless distillation vessels made with glass from Venice or its European imitation, and potassium-rich dark-brown non-specialized forms produced within the technological tradition of forest glass typical for central and north-western Europe. These results complete our understanding of the supply of technical apparatus at one of the best-preserved alchemical laboratories and highlight an early awareness of the need for high-quality instruments to guarantee the successful outcome of specialized chemical operations. This study demonstrates the potential of archaeological science to inform historical research around the practice of early chemistry and the development of modern science. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

School Jailhouse: Discipline, Space and the Materiality of School Morale in Early-Modern Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Norlin, Björn

2016-01-01

This paper uses a specific phenomenon of early-modern education in Sweden, the school jail, as a point of departure for a broader analysis of educational policy in the areas of discipline and moral instruction. The paper demonstrates how the jail evolved as a part of a wider network of objects, pedagogical technologies and social routines in this…

"El destierro de los Chinos": Popular Perspectives on Chinese-Mexican Intermarriage in the Early Twentieth Century

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Romero, Robert Chao

2007-01-01

This essay examines Chinese-Mexican interracial marriage during the early twentieth century through the lens of Mexican popular culture. Comedy, poetry, cartoons, and musical recordings of the time portrayed these marriages as relationships of abuse, slavery, and neglect, and rejected the offspring of such unions as subhuman and unworthy of full…

Mass Media Decision in China's Post-Mao Zedong Modernization Program: Some Unanticipated Consequences.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koo, Charles M.

In 1978, China launched its "Four Modernizations" program, which included modernization in agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. To promote this program and to mobilize the Chinese masses to take a more positive and active attitude toward modernization, the government called upon the forces of the mass…

An introduction to Chinese psychology--its historical roots until the present day.

PubMed

Higgins, Louise T; Zheng, Mo

2002-03-01

In this article the authors review the historical development of Chinese psychology. China's long history as a country immersed in the study of psychological issues is well known and has had an influence on developments in the field of psychology around the world. Modern Chinese psychology, however, was imported from the West and the Soviet Union and has been closely linked with China's social environment and changes of national policy. Today Chinese psychology is still in a preliminary stage. Despite difficulties that may impede its future development, the importance of psychology in the modernization of China has been widely recognized.

Traditional Chinese Celebrations: Continuity and Change in Taiwan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wong, Wendy L.

This teaching unit is designed to introduce elementary school students to traditional Chinese celebrations in Taiwan. An introductory activity asks students to distinguish between various kinds of celebrations (traditional or modern; religious or secular), and to identify U.S. and Chinese examples of each kind. The body of the unit concerns four…

Exposure to the Chinese famine in early life and the risk of anaemia in adulthood.

PubMed

Shi, Zumin; Zhang, Cuilin; Zhou, Minghao; Zhen, Shiqi; Taylor, Anne W

2013-10-01

Famine exposure during the early stage of life is related to a number of adulthood diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the association of early life exposure to the famine in China (1959-1961) with the risk of anaemia in adulthood. We used the data of 2007 adults born between 1954 and 1964 in Jiangsu province from the 2002 Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey. Anaemia was defined as haemoglobin concentration <12 g/dl in women and <13 g/dl in men. Prevalence of anaemia in adulthood in nonexposed, fetal-exposed, early-childhood, mid-childhood, and late-childhood exposed to famine groups were 26.0%, 33.8%, 28.1%, 28.2% and 29.7%, respectively. Overall, fetal-exposed to famine was associated with 37% increased risk of anaemia as compared with those non-exposed after adjusting for income, education, place of residence, smoking, alcohol drinking, job, hypertension and BMI; relative risk (95% confidence interval) (RR (95% CI)) was 1.37 (1.09, 1.71). In general, this association appeared to be stronger among men, those who were currently overweight or obese, or those of lower educational levels. Corresponding RR (95% CI) was 1.87 (1.21-2.87), 1.75 (1.20-2.56), and 2.07 (1.37-3.12), respectively. Fetal exposure to the Chinese famine was associated with an increased risk of anaemia in adulthood.

Patterns of East Asian pig domestication, migration, and turnover revealed by modern and ancient DNA

PubMed Central

Larson, Greger; Liu, Ranran; Zhao, Xingbo; Yuan, Jing; Fuller, Dorian; Barton, Loukas; Dobney, Keith; Fan, Qipeng; Gu, Zhiliang; Liu, Xiao-Hui; Luo, Yunbing; Lv, Peng; Andersson, Leif; Li, Ning

2010-01-01

The establishment of agricultural economies based upon domestic animals began independently in many parts of the world and led to both increases in human population size and the migration of people carrying domestic plants and animals. The precise circumstances of the earliest phases of these events remain mysterious given their antiquity and the fact that subsequent waves of migrants have often replaced the first. Through the use of more than 1,500 modern (including 151 previously uncharacterized specimens) and 18 ancient (representing six East Asian archeological sites) pig (Sus scrofa) DNA sequences sampled across East Asia, we provide evidence for the long-term genetic continuity between modern and ancient Chinese domestic pigs. Although the Chinese case for independent pig domestication is supported by both genetic and archaeological evidence, we discuss five additional (and possibly) independent domestications of indigenous wild boar populations: one in India, three in peninsular Southeast Asia, and one off the coast of Taiwan. Collectively, we refer to these instances as “cryptic domestication,” given the current lack of corroborating archaeological evidence. In addition, we demonstrate the existence of numerous populations of genetically distinct and widespread wild boar populations that have not contributed maternal genetic material to modern domestic stocks. The overall findings provide the most complete picture yet of pig evolution and domestication in East Asia, and generate testable hypotheses regarding the development and spread of early farmers in the Far East. PMID:20404179

The Home Network: Identity and Materiality in Early Modern and Modern Ulster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Whalen, Kathryn M.

This dissertation looks at three categories of ceramics and the creation of a hybrid culture during the Early Modern and Modern period in Ireland. During these time periods Ireland was a part of the English global colonial enterprises, and was the site of many legal and cultural changes due to its subordinate position in the hierarchy of socio-political and economic phenomenon that characterize the pinnacle of British global power. This study looks to understand how these powers articulated with England's one European colony, Ireland, and if that articulation has similarities to other colonial cultures across time and space. To study the possibility of hybridity between the Irish and English inhabitants of Ireland during the Post-Medieval Period, three categories of ceramics have been analyzed. Fine earthenwares in the form of tablewares and tea sets were macroscopically analyzed for patterns, age, and place of origin. Coarse earthenwares were subjected to X-ray florescence to look for patterns in the spectral data to see if a point of origin could be ascribed to them. And lastly, white ball clay pipe fragments were both macroscopically analyzed for makers' marks and subjected to X-ray florescence to verify their point of origin. The relationship between where these artifacts come from- if they are local productions or imports- and where they were disposed of- either across the landscaper or only associated with households of particular ethnicities- says something about how people negotiate their ethnic identities in colonial settings. As people in Ireland adopt the English style of tea drinking and start to use English mass-produced fine earthenwares, it disrupts the local cottage industry of coarse earthenware manufacturing. What this study seeks to know is if there is a difference in the adoption of English tea drinking, and if the purchasing of certain types of ceramic vessels contributes to the performance of ethnic identity in a colonial setting.

The different climatic response of pedogenic hematite and ferrimagnetic minerals: Evidence from particle-sized modern soils over the Chinese Loess Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Xinbo; Hao, Qingzhen; Wang, Luo; Oldfield, Frank; Bloemendal, Jan; Deng, Chenglong; Song, Yang; Ge, Junyi; Wu, Haibin; Xu, Bing; Li, Fengjiang; Han, Long; Fu, Yu; Guo, Zhengtang

2018-01-01

In recent years, increasing interest in loess studies has focused on qualitative and quantitative paleoclimatic reconstruction using the imperfect antiferromagnetic mineral hematite. However, the linkage between the hematite formation and climatic variables remains controversial. Here we present the results of a comprehensive investigation of the magnetic properties and statistical analysis of a suite of clay and silt fractions of modern soil samples from 179 sites across the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and adjacent regions. Our objective was to clarify the relationships between modern climatic variables and pedogenic hematite, as well as pedogenic ferrimagnetic minerals. First-order reversal curve measurements were also conducted on representative particle-sized subsamples from a N-S transect to understand the differences in magnetic mineralogy between the two fractions. Our results show that pipette extraction separates the fine-grained superparamagnetic (SP) and most of the single-domain (SD) magnetic grains into the clay fraction, and that the remaining silt fraction displays the magnetic properties of coarse pseudo-single domain (PSD) or a mixture of multidomain (MD)/PSD and a few SD particles. Only the pedogenic clay fraction shows a strong correlation with climatic variables. The application of redundancy analysis helps to distinguish the climate variables controlling the formation of ferrimagnetic minerals and hematite during pedogenesis. On the CLP, pedogenic ferrimagnetic minerals are sensitive to mean annual precipitation, while pedogenic hematite formation is preferentially dependent on mean annual temperature. The confirmation of the temperature-dependent nature of hematite on the CLP provides a new possibility for quantitatively reconstructing the paleotemperature history of Chinese loess/paleosol sequences.

The Different Climatic Response of Pedogenic Hematite and Ferrimagnetic Minerals: Evidence from Particle-Sized Modern Soils over the Chinese Loess Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, X.; Hao, Q.; Luo, W.; Oldfield, F.; Bloemendal, J.; Deng, C.; Song, Y.; Ge, J.; Wu, H.; Xu, B.; Li, F.; Han, L.; Fu, Y.; Guo, Z.

2017-12-01

In recent years, increasing interest in loess studies has focused on qualitative and quantitative paleoclimatic reconstruction using the imperfect antiferromagnetic mineral hematite. However, the linkage between the hematite formation and climatic variables remains controversial. Here we present the results of a comprehensive investigation of the magnetic properties and statistical analysis of a suite of clay and silt fractions of modern soil samples from 179 sites across the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and adjacent regions. Our objective was to clarify the relationships between modern climatic variables and pedogenic hematite, as well as pedogenic ferrimagnetic minerals. First-order reversal curve measurements were also conducted on representative particle-sized subsamples from a N-S transect to understand the differences in magnetic mineralogy between the two fractions. Our results show that pipette extraction separates the fine-grained superparamagnetic (SP) and most of the single-domain (SD) magnetic grains into the clay fraction, and that the remaining silt fraction displays the magnetic properties of coarse pseudo-single domain (PSD) or a mixture of multidomain (MD)/PSD and a few SD particles. Only the pedogenic clay fraction shows a strong correlation with climatic variables. The application of redundancy analysis helps to distinguish the climate variables controlling the formation of ferrimagnetic minerals and hematite during pedogenesis. On the CLP, pedogenic ferrimagnetic minerals are sensitive to mean annual precipitation, while pedogenic hematite formation is preferentially dependent on mean annual temperature. The confirmation of the temperature-dependent nature of hematite on the CLP provides a new possibility for quantitatively reconstructing the paleotemperature history of Chinese loess/paleosol sequences.

Assessing an early modern Fenland population: Whittlesey (Cambridgeshire).

PubMed

Falvey, Heather

2014-01-01

Improvement writers argued that drainage would bring prosperity and population growth to fenland communities; locals counter-argued that their communities were already thriving. The detailed surviving records from early modern Whittlesey, in the Isle of Ely, are analysed here to test the accuracy of these opposing claims. Using the returns of the 1523 Lay Subsidy, the 1563 ecclesiastical census, the Lady Day 1674 Hearth Tax records and the 1676 Compton Census, together with bishops' transcripts and probate inventories, this article finds that although the population did indeed increase after drainage, the pre-drainage population was also increasing. The Michaelmas 1664 Hearth Tax records are analysed to uncover something of the character of the inhabitants and the 1674 Lady Day returns are then used to test the relative wealth of the community compared with that of sub-regions throughout England identified by Tom Arkell. Finally, there is a discussion of Whittlesey's housing stock.

Artemisinin, a miracle of traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Kong, Ling Yi; Tan, Ren Xiang

2015-12-19

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, shared by Professor Youyou Tu, focused worldwide attention on artemisinin, a natural product antimalarial drug inspired by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). This is the first Nobel Prize in natural sciences presented to a Chinese scientist for her impactful research work in China in collaboration with other Chinese scientists. We are delighted to provide the background and implications of the discovery of artemisinin, along with our personal viewpoints toward the affordability of modern medicines from natural products.

From Apprentice to Master: Social Disciplining and Surgical Education in Early Modern London, 1570-1640

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chamberland, Celeste

2013-01-01

Due to its ascendancy as the administrative and commercial center of early modern England, London experienced sustained growth in the latter half of the sixteenth century, as waves of rural immigrants sought to enhance their material conditions by tapping into the city's bustling occupational and civic networks. The resultant crowded urban…

The Rhetoric of Bonds, Alliances, and Identities: Interrogating Social Networks in Early Modern English Drama

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cady, Christina J.

2010-01-01

The household and family have received considerable interest in studies of early modern English drama, but less attention has been paid to how writers represent intimate affective bonds on the stage. Emotion is intangible; yet many writers convincingly convey the intensity of emotional bonds through rhetoric. Rhetoric is a mainstay in…

Risk factors for early miscarriage among Chinese: a hospital-based case-control study.

PubMed

Xu, Guangli; Wu, Yiming; Yang, Liming; Yuan, Lu; Guo, Huafeng; Zhang, Fuqing; Guan, Yichun; Yao, Wu

2014-06-01

To investigate the risk factors for early miscarriage among Chinese women. Hospital-based matched case-control study. Academic medical center and maternal health hospital. 620 women with early miscarriage (less than 13 weeks of gestation) and 1,240 normal pregnant women. Face-to-face questionnaire. Multivariable conditional odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to measure risk factors. After adjustment for confounding factors, the following were independently associated with increased risk: history of miscarriage, repeated induced abortion, working night shifts, and frequent staying up late. Vitamin supplementation and regular physical activity reduced the risk of miscarriage. We did not find paternal age, alcohol consumption, or smoking status to be linked with early miscarriage. Our findings suggest that a healthy diet, regular physical activity, and planned pregnancy may be advantageous for women in pre-pregnancy or early pregnancy. Induced abortion, working night shifts, and frequent staying up late were associated with an increased risk of miscarriage. Further work in larger populations is warranted. Copyright © 2014 American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Study on the interaction between active components from traditional Chinese medicine and plasma proteins.

PubMed

Jiao, Qishu; Wang, Rufeng; Jiang, Yanyan; Liu, Bin

2018-05-04

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a unique form of natural medicine, has been used in Chinese traditional therapeutic systems over two thousand years. Active components in Chinese herbal medicine are the material basis for the prevention and treatment of diseases. Research on drug-protein binding is one of the important contents in the study of early stage clinical pharmacokinetics of drugs. Plasma protein binding study has far-reaching influence on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs and helps to understand the basic rule of drug effects. It is important to study the binding characteristics of the active components in Chinese herbal medicine with plasma proteins for the medical science and modernization of TCM. This review summarizes the common analytical methods which are used to study the active herbal components-protein binding and gives the examples to illustrate their application. Rules and influence factors of the binding between different types of active herbal components and plasma proteins are summarized in the end. Finally, a suggestion on choosing the suitable technique for different types of active herbal components is provided, and the prospect of the drug-protein binding used in the area of TCM research is also discussed.

Early Pleistocene third metacarpal from Kenya and the evolution of modern human-like hand morphology

PubMed Central

Ward, Carol V.; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Plavcan, J. Michael; Brown, Francis H.; Manthi, Fredrick Kyalo

2014-01-01

Despite discoveries of relatively complete hands from two early hominin species (Ardipithecus ramidus and Australopithecus sediba) and partial hands from another (Australopithecus afarensis), fundamental questions remain about the evolution of human-like hand anatomy and function. These questions are driven by the paucity of hand fossils in the hominin fossil record between 800,000 and 1.8 My old, a time interval well documented for the emergence and subsequent proliferation of Acheulian technology (shaped bifacial stone tools). Modern and Middle to Late Pleistocene humans share a suite of derived features in the thumb, wrist, and radial carpometacarpal joints that is noticeably absent in early hominins. Here we show that one of the most distinctive features of this suite in the Middle Pleistocene to recent human hand, the third metacarpal styloid process, was present ∼1.42 Mya in an East African hominin from Kaitio, West Turkana, Kenya. This fossil thus provides the earliest unambiguous evidence for the evolution of a key shared derived characteristic of modern human and Neandertal hand morphology and suggests that the distinctive complex of radial carpometacarpal joint features in the human hand arose early in the evolution of the genus Homo and probably in Homo erectus sensu lato. PMID:24344276

[Comments on "A practical dictionary of Chinese medicine" by Wiseman].

PubMed

Lan, Feng-li

2006-02-01

At least 24 Chinese-English dictionaries of Chinese Medicine have been published in China during the recent 24 years (1984-2003). This thesis comments on "A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine" by Wiseman, agreeing on its establishing principles, sources and formation methods of the English system of Chinese medical terminology, and pointing out the defect. The author holds that study on the origin and development of TCM terms, standardization of Chinese medical terms in different layers, i.e. Chinese medical in classic, in commonly used modern TCM terms, and integrative medical texts, are prerequisites to the standardization of English translation of Chinese medical terms.

Children's Physic: Medical Perceptions and Treatment of Sick Children in Early Modern England, c. 1580-1720.

PubMed

Newton, Hannah

2010-12-01

Historians of medicine, childhood and paediatrics have often assumed that early modern doctors neither treated children, nor adapted their medicines to suit the peculiar temperaments of the young. Through an examination of medical textbooks and doctors' casebooks, this article refutes these assumptions. It argues that medical authors and practising doctors regularly treated children, and were careful to tailor their remedies to complement the distinctive constitutions of children. Thus, this article proposes that a concept of 'children's physic' existed in early modern England. This term refers to the notion that children were physiologically distinct, requiring special medical care. Children's physic was rooted in the ancient traditions of Hippocratic and Galenic medicine: it was the child's humoral make-up that underpinned all medical ideas about children's bodies, minds, diseases and treatments. Children abounded in the humour blood, which made them humid and weak, and in need of medicines of a particularly gentle nature.

Tactility and the body in early Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Hsu, Elisabeth

2005-03-01

If visual inspection of corpses was central to the development of anatomy in modern Europe, one may ask which of the senses was important for the emergence of the predominant currents of scholarly medical knowledge and practice in third- and second-century B.C.E. China? This article argues that it was tactile perception prompted by a tactile exploration of living bodies. The evidence, derived from a close reading of the Mawangdui medical manuscripts, the 105th chapter of the Records of the Historian, and selected passages from the Huang Di's Inner Canon, points to three important trends: first, the tactile exploration of the extremities led to a rich vocabulary of compound words for pain as localized in specific body parts; second, the tactile exploration of the mai gave rise to an even richer vocabulary on qualities of touch in pulse diagnostics; and third, the tactile exploration of the abdomen led to the assessment of the quality of the internal viscera with words that generally were used for describing the tactile quality of skin and flesh. This finding may appear surprising in the light of later developments during the dynastic history of Chinese medicine where tactile exploration of abdomen and extremities would appear unseemly. The author suggests that extensive tactile explorations of the body were possible before Confucius' teachings became a predominant aspect of state ideology.

A prospective cohort study among new Chinese coal miners: the early pattern of lung function change.

PubMed

Wang, M-L; Wu, Z-E; Du, Q-G; Petsonk, E L; Peng, K-L; Li, Y-D; Li, S-K; Han, G-H; Atffield, M D

2005-11-01

To investigate the early pattern of longitudinal change in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) among new Chinese coal miners, and the relation between coal mine dust exposure and the decline of lung function. The early pattern of lung function changes in 317 newly hired Chinese underground coal miners was compared to 132 referents. This three year prospective cohort study involved a pre-employment and 15 follow up health surveys, including a questionnaire and spirometry tests. Twice a month, total and respirable dust area sampling was done. The authors used a two stage analysis and a linear mixed effects model approach to analyse the longitudinal spirometry data, and to investigate the changes in FEV1 over time, controlling for age, height, pack years of smoking, mean respirable dust concentration, the room temperature during testing, and the groupxtime interaction terms. FEV1 change over time in new miners is non-linear. New miners experience initial rapid FEV1 declines, primarily during the first year of mining, little change during the second year, and partial recovery during the third year. Both linear and quadratic time trends in FEV1 change are highly significant. Smoking miners lost more FEV1 than non-smokers. Referents, all age less than 20 years, showed continued lung growth, whereas the miners who were under age 20 exhibited a decline in FEV1. Dust and smoking affect lung function in young, newly hired Chinese coal miners. FEV1 change over the first three years of employment is non-linear. The findings have implications for both methods and interpretation of medical screening in coal mining and other dusty work: during the first several years of employment more frequent testing may be desirable, and caution is required in interpreting early FEV1 declines.

[Briefly analysis on academic origins of traditional Chinese medicine dispensing].

PubMed

Zhao, Xue-Min; Zhang, Xiao-Juan; Zhai, Hua-Qiang; Jin, Shi-Yuan

2014-04-01

Through collecting and collating the development process of traditional Chinese medicine dispensing, the development of modern Chinese medicine dispensing on the basis of experience could be promoted. "Heyaofenji", "Hehe", " Heji" in ancient Chinese medicine, herbal medicine literature and law were collected, and then things were sorted out according to traditional Chinese medicine dispensing theory, skills and legal norms. Firstly, "Tang Ye Jing Fa" is the earliest book which marks the rudiment of traditional Chinese medicine dispensing. Secondly, traditional Chinese medicine dispensing theory formed in "Shen Nong's herbal classic". Thirdly, Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile Diseases" marked the formation of Chinese medicine dispensing skills. Lastly, Provisions in Tang Dynasty law marks the development of traditional Chinese medicine dispensing.

Elementary Education and the Practices of Literacy in Catholic Girls' Schools in Early Modern Germany

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutz, Andreas

2012-01-01

Girls' schools in the early modern era were largely run by nuns and can therefore be distinguished as Catholic institutions of learning. These schools flourished in the Catholic parts of Europe since the turn of the seventeenth century. Despite their focus on religious education, elementary skills such as reading, writing and sometimes arithmetic…

[Commentary on self-compiled teaching materialsby Singapore Chinese Physician Training College].

PubMed

Chen, S H; Cai, H X

2017-05-28

The Singapore Chinese Physician Training College has been playing a role in the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the training of TCM talents in modern and contemporary Singapore not to be ignored. Due to the limitations of the objective condition, the College had to creatively compile by themselves 115 volumes of teaching materials with rather complete subjects, which did pay attention to applying theory to practice, ran through the thought of Chinese integrating with western medicine, and is of literature and cultural significance.As a carrier of educational contents and methods, these teaching materials not only embodied the educational idea of the editor, but also reflected the status of TCM development in modern Singapore.

Pulling the River: The Interactions of Local and Global Influences in Chinese Early Childhood Music Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen-Hafteck, Lily; Zhuoya, X. U.

2008-01-01

Educators in China are facing challenges as a tug-of-war between local culture and global influences in Chinese early childhood music educations plays out. By exploring the situations of Hong Kong and Nanjing, the authors demonstrate a wide gap between policy and practice. The top-down policy from government officials is based on global views of…

Traditional Chinese food technology and cuisine.

PubMed

Li, Jian-rong; Hsieh, Yun-Hwa P

2004-01-01

From ancient wisdom to modern science and technology, Chinese cuisine has been established from a long history of the country and gained a global reputation of its sophistication. Traditional Chinese foods and cuisine that exhibit Chinese culture, art and reality play an essential role in Chinese people's everyday lives. Recently, traditional Chinese foods have drawn a great degree of attention from food scientists and technologists, the food industry, and health promotion institutions worldwide due to the extensive values they offer beyond being merely another ethnic food. These traditional foods comprise a wide variety of products, such as pickled vegetables, salted fish and jellyfish, tofu and tofu derived products, rice and rice snack foods, fermented sauces, fish balls and thousand-year-old eggs. An overview of selected popular traditional Chinese foods and their processing techniques are included in this paper. Further development of the traditional techniques for formulation and production of these foods is expected to produce economic, social and health benefits.

Hands-On Mathematics: Two Cases from Ancient Chinese Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Youjun

2009-01-01

In modern mathematical teaching, it has become increasingly emphasized that mathematical knowledge should be taught by problem-solving, hands-on activities, and interactive learning experiences. Comparing the ideas of modern mathematical education with the development of ancient Chinese mathematics, we find that the history of mathematics in…

Regulatory effects on particulate pollution in the early hours of Chinese New Year, 2015.

PubMed

Lai, Yonghang; Brimblecombe, Peter

2017-08-23

Human activities are a key driver of air pollution, so it is hardly surprising that celebrations affect air quality. The use of fireworks contributes to high particulate concentrations in many parts of the world, with the Chinese Lunar New Year (spring festival) particularly noticeable, as firecrackers are traditionally used to drive off evil spirits. Fireworks lead to short-term peaks in the concentration of PM10, PM2.5 and SO 2 . Regulatory actions that restrict the use of fireworks have been evident in China since the 1990s. This paper investigates the particulate concentrations in nine Chinese cities (Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Tianjin, Xi'an, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, along with Hong Kong (a Special Administrative Region) and Taipei and Kaohsiung (Taiwan) with a particular focus on the celebrations of 2015. Extremely high concentrations of particulate matter were observed, with some sites revealing peak PM10 concentrations in excess of 1000 μg m -3 in the early hours of the New Year. In Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing, the activities caused high particulate matter concentrations at most sites throughout the city. These peaks in particulate load in the early hours of Chinese New Year do not appear to be closely related to meteorological parameters. However, in cities where fireworks appear to be better regulated, there are fewer sharp pollution peaks just after midnight, although lowered air quality can still be found in the outer parts of some cities, remote from regulatory pressures. A few cities seem to have been effective at reducing the impact of the celebrations on air quality, with Nanjing a recent example. An increasing focus on light displays and electric lanterns also seems to offer a sense of celebration with much reduced impacts on air quality.

Exposure to the Chinese famine in early life and the risk of anaemia in adulthood

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Famine exposure during the early stage of life is related to a number of adulthood diseases. The objective of this study was to examine the association of early life exposure to the famine in China (1959–1961) with the risk of anaemia in adulthood. Methods We used the data of 2007 adults born between 1954 and 1964 in Jiangsu province from the 2002 Chinese National Nutrition and Health Survey. Anaemia was defined as haemoglobin concentration <12 g/dl in women and <13 g/dl in men. Results Prevalence of anaemia in adulthood in nonexposed, fetal-exposed, early-childhood, mid-childhood, and late-childhood exposed to famine groups were 26.0%, 33.8%, 28.1%, 28.2% and 29.7%, respectively. Overall, fetal-exposed to famine was associated with 37% increased risk of anaemia as compared with those non-exposed after adjusting for income, education, place of residence, smoking, alcohol drinking, job, hypertension and BMI; relative risk (95% confidence interval) (RR (95% CI)) was 1.37 (1.09, 1.71). In general, this association appeared to be stronger among men, those who were currently overweight or obese, or those of lower educational levels. Corresponding RR (95% CI) was 1.87 (1.21-2.87), 1.75 (1.20-2.56), and 2.07 (1.37-3.12), respectively. Conclusions Fetal exposure to the Chinese famine was associated with an increased risk of anaemia in adulthood. PMID:24079608

Ancient Records and Modern Research on the Mechanisms of Chinese Herbal Medicines in the Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus

PubMed Central

Zhang, Hai-ming; Liang, Feng-xia

2015-01-01

Over the past decades, Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) have been extensively and intensively studied through from both clinical and experimental perspectives and CHM have been proved to be effective in the treatment of diabetes mellitus (DM). This study, by searching ancient records and modern research papers, reviewed CHM in terms of their clinical application and principal mechanism in the treatment of DM. We summarized the use of CHM mentioned in 54 famous ancient materia medica monographs and searched papers on the hypoglycemic effect of several representative CHM. Main mechanisms and limitations of CHM and further research direction for DM were discussed. On the basis of the study, we were led to conclude that TCM, as a main form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), was well recorded in ancient literatures and has less adverse effects as shown by modern studies. The mechanisms of CHM treatment of DM are complex, multilink, and multitarget, so we should find main hypoglycemic mechanism through doing research on CHM monomer active constituents. Many CHM monomer constituents possess noteworthy hypoglycemic effects. Therefore, developing a novel natural product for DM and its complications is of much significance. It is strongly significant to pay close attention to CHM for treatment of DM and its complications. PMID:25815039

Neural Strategies for Reading Japanese and Chinese Sentences: A Cross-Linguistic fMRI Study of Character-Decoding and Morphosyntax

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Koongliang; Itoh, Kosuke; Kwee, Ingrid L.; Nakada, Tsutomu

2012-01-01

Japanese and Chinese share virtually identical morphographic characters invented in ancient China. Whereas modern Chinese retained the original morphographic functionality of these characters (hanzi), modern Japanese utilizes these characters (kanji) as complex syllabograms. This divergence provides a unique opportunity to systematically…

The Rise of Disyllables in Old Chinese: The Role of Lianmian Words

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Jian

2013-01-01

The history of Chinese language is characterized by a clear shift from monosyllabic to disyllabic words (Wang, 1980). This dissertation aims to provide a new diachronic explanation for the rise of disyllables in the history of Chinese and to demonstrate its significance for Modern Chinese prosody and lexicalization. A corpus of 300 Lianmian words…

The ABC's of Chinese: Maternal Mediation of Pinyin for Chinese Children's Early Literacy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McBride-Chang, Catherine; Lin, Dan; Liu, Phil D.; Aram, Dorit; Levin, Iris; Cho, Jeung-Ryeul; Shu, Hua; Zhang, Yuping

2012-01-01

In the present study, maternal Pinyin mediation and its relations with young Chinese children's word reading and word writing development were explored. At time 1, 43 Mainland Chinese children and their mothers were videotaped on a task in which children were asked to write 12 words in Pinyin (a phonological coding system used in Mainland China as…

Syllabus for Use in Modern Chinese History.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Husum, Carol

This syllabus, for use in a one semester course on the history of modern China, covers the period from the Manchu domination in 1644 to the present. The course is designed to create an interest in China, emphasizing the social and cultural aspects of history, as well as the political and economic dimensions. A narrative summary of course content…

Early Cambrian origin of modern food webs: evidence from predator arrow worms.

PubMed

Vannier, J; Steiner, M; Renvoisé, E; Hu, S-X; Casanova, J-P

2007-03-07

Although palaeontological evidence from exceptional biota demonstrates the existence of diverse marine communities in the Early Cambrian (approx. 540-520 Myr ago), little is known concerning the functioning of the marine ecosystem, especially its trophic structure and the full range of ecological niches colonized by the fauna. The presence of a diverse zooplankton in Early Cambrian oceans is still an open issue. Here we provide compelling evidence that chaetognaths, an important element of modern zooplankton, were present in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota with morphologies almost identical to Recent forms. New information obtained from the lowermost Cambrian of China added to previous studies provide convincing evidence that protoconodont-bearing animals also belonged to chaetognaths. Chaetognaths were probably widespread and diverse in the earliest Cambrian. The obvious raptorial function of their circumoral apparatuses (grasping spines) places them among the earliest active predator metazoans. Morphology, body ratios and distribution suggest that the ancestral chaetognaths were planktonic with possible ecological preferences for hyperbenthic niches close to the sea bottom. Our results point to the early introduction of prey-predator relationships into the pelagic realm, and to the increase of trophic complexity (three-level structure) during the Precambrian-Cambrian transition, thus laying the foundations of present-day marine food chains.

Early Cambrian origin of modern food webs: evidence from predator arrow worms

PubMed Central

Vannier, J; Steiner, M; Renvoisé, E; Hu, S.-X; Casanova, J.-P

2006-01-01

Although palaeontological evidence from exceptional biota demonstrates the existence of diverse marine communities in the Early Cambrian (approx. 540–520 Myr ago), little is known concerning the functioning of the marine ecosystem, especially its trophic structure and the full range of ecological niches colonized by the fauna. The presence of a diverse zooplankton in Early Cambrian oceans is still an open issue. Here we provide compelling evidence that chaetognaths, an important element of modern zooplankton, were present in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota with morphologies almost identical to Recent forms. New information obtained from the lowermost Cambrian of China added to previous studies provide convincing evidence that protoconodont-bearing animals also belonged to chaetognaths. Chaetognaths were probably widespread and diverse in the earliest Cambrian. The obvious raptorial function of their circumoral apparatuses (grasping spines) places them among the earliest active predator metazoans. Morphology, body ratios and distribution suggest that the ancestral chaetognaths were planktonic with possible ecological preferences for hyperbenthic niches close to the sea bottom. Our results point to the early introduction of prey–predator relationships into the pelagic realm, and to the increase of trophic complexity (three-level structure) during the Precambrian–Cambrian transition, thus laying the foundations of present-day marine food chains. PMID:17254986

Volcanic ash layers illuminate the resilience of Neanderthals and early modern humans to natural hazards

PubMed Central

Lowe, John; Barton, Nick; Blockley, Simon; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Cullen, Victoria L.; Davies, William; Gamble, Clive; Grant, Katharine; Hardiman, Mark; Housley, Rupert; Lane, Christine S.; Lee, Sharen; Lewis, Mark; MacLeod, Alison; Menzies, Martin; Müller, Wolfgang; Pollard, Mark; Price, Catherine; Roberts, Andrew P.; Rohling, Eelco J.; Satow, Chris; Smith, Victoria C.; Stringer, Chris B.; Tomlinson, Emma L.; White, Dustin; Albert, Paul; Arienzo, Ilenia; Barker, Graeme; Borić, Dušan; Carandente, Antonio; Civetta, Lucia; Ferrier, Catherine; Guadelli, Jean-Luc; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Koumouzelis, Margarita; Müller, Ulrich C.; Orsi, Giovanni; Pross, Jörg; Rosi, Mauro; Shalamanov-Korobar, Ljiljiana; Sirakov, Nikolay; Tzedakis, Polychronis C.

2012-01-01

Marked changes in human dispersal and development during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition have been attributed to massive volcanic eruption and/or severe climatic deterioration. We test this concept using records of volcanic ash layers of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption dated to ca. 40,000 y ago (40 ka B.P.). The distribution of the Campanian Ignimbrite has been enhanced by the discovery of cryptotephra deposits (volcanic ash layers that are not visible to the naked eye) in archaeological cave sequences. They enable us to synchronize archaeological and paleoclimatic records through the period of transition from Neanderthal to the earliest anatomically modern human populations in Europe. Our results confirm that the combined effects of a major volcanic eruption and severe climatic cooling failed to have lasting impacts on Neanderthals or early modern humans in Europe. We infer that modern humans proved a greater competitive threat to indigenous populations than natural disasters. PMID:22826222

Volcanic ash layers illuminate the resilience of Neanderthals and early modern humans to natural hazards.

PubMed

Lowe, John; Barton, Nick; Blockley, Simon; Ramsey, Christopher Bronk; Cullen, Victoria L; Davies, William; Gamble, Clive; Grant, Katharine; Hardiman, Mark; Housley, Rupert; Lane, Christine S; Lee, Sharen; Lewis, Mark; MacLeod, Alison; Menzies, Martin; Müller, Wolfgang; Pollard, Mark; Price, Catherine; Roberts, Andrew P; Rohling, Eelco J; Satow, Chris; Smith, Victoria C; Stringer, Chris B; Tomlinson, Emma L; White, Dustin; Albert, Paul; Arienzo, Ilenia; Barker, Graeme; Boric, Dusan; Carandente, Antonio; Civetta, Lucia; Ferrier, Catherine; Guadelli, Jean-Luc; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Koumouzelis, Margarita; Müller, Ulrich C; Orsi, Giovanni; Pross, Jörg; Rosi, Mauro; Shalamanov-Korobar, Ljiljiana; Sirakov, Nikolay; Tzedakis, Polychronis C

2012-08-21

Marked changes in human dispersal and development during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition have been attributed to massive volcanic eruption and/or severe climatic deterioration. We test this concept using records of volcanic ash layers of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption dated to ca. 40,000 y ago (40 ka B.P.). The distribution of the Campanian Ignimbrite has been enhanced by the discovery of cryptotephra deposits (volcanic ash layers that are not visible to the naked eye) in archaeological cave sequences. They enable us to synchronize archaeological and paleoclimatic records through the period of transition from Neanderthal to the earliest anatomically modern human populations in Europe. Our results confirm that the combined effects of a major volcanic eruption and severe climatic cooling failed to have lasting impacts on Neanderthals or early modern humans in Europe. We infer that modern humans proved a greater competitive threat to indigenous populations than natural disasters.

Bridging the Gap: A Longitudinal Study of the Relationship between Pedagogical Continuity and Early Chinese Literacy Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Hui; Rao, Nirmala; Tse, Shek Kam

2011-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between pedagogical continuity in literacy education and early literacy development by comparing Chinese children in Hong Kong and Shenzhen. Stratified random sampling was used to select 24 preschool and Primary 1 classes in four communities catering to middle-class families in each city. The 24…

Beyond Belief: Zhou Zuoren's Rationalist Writings and the Chinese Enlightenment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Tonglu

2009-01-01

This dissertation is situated in the current scholarly reflection on the problems of Chinese modernity, especially its "initial phase," the Chinese Enlightenment (1910s-1920s). It examines the thought of the highly controversial thinker and writer Zhou Zuoren (1885-1967), whose work had been profoundly influential during the…

Metaphors and images of cancer in early modern Europe.

PubMed

Stolberg, Michael

2014-01-01

Drawing on learned medical writing about cancer and on nonmedical texts that used cancer as a metaphor for hateful cultural, social, religious, or political phenomena that warranted drastic measures, this article traces the metaphors and images that framed the perception and experience of cancer in the early modern period. It finds that cancer was closely associated with notions of impurity and a visible destruction of the body's surface and was diagnosed primarily in women, as breast and uterine cancer. Putrid, corrosive cancerous humor was thought not only to accumulate and eat its way into the surrounding flesh but also to spread, like the seeds of a plant, "infecting" the whole body. This infectious quality, the putrid secretions, and the often horrendous smell emanating from cancer victims raised fears, in turn, of contagion and were taken to justify a separation of cancer patients from the rest of society.

[Origin and thought on the philosophical ideas of acupuncture in Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Ren, Xiumei

2017-12-12

Acupuncture in Chinese medicine has been a treasure in Chinese traditional medicine for thousands of years. It is opposite to many basic theories in modern medicine in dynasties. Different from the cross compatibility and interactions among medical medicines, acupuncture in Chinese medicine has its own consolidation and inherent philosophical ideas. In view of this, how to discuss the philosophical ideas and its development of acupuncture in Chinese medicine becomes of great importance. It is crucial to clearly answer the three theoretical propositions in the development of acupuncture in Chinese medicine. Firstly, the differences in acupuncture should be identified between the ancient time and the modern time. The issues focus on the origin of Huangdi Neijing ( Yellow Emperor's Internal Medicine ) and its philosophical divergence. Secondly, the origin of acupuncture should be identified, whether it is from China or India. Thirdly, the differences in acupuncture should be identified between China and the west, focusing on the explanation and rectification of the interrelationship between the acupuncture in Chinese medicine and the western acupuncture. Hence, the basic features are discussed on the reality of acupuncture in Chinese medicine as well as its diversity. Finally, the proposition is extended on how to holistically grasp the philosophical foundation of acupuncture in Chinese medicine and its future trend.

The Imperative in Chinese.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hashimoto, Anne Yue

A preliminary study of the syntactic characteristics of the imperative construction in modern Chinese is presented. The term "imperative" is used to refer to the type of syntactic construction which is marked by an implicit or explicit second person subject, and which expresses a direct command. Indirect or implied commands expressed by a…

Tracing sexual identities in "old age": gender and seniority in advice literature of the early-modern and modern periods.

PubMed

van Tilburg, Marja

2009-10-01

Thus far, historians have interpreted representations of elderly women with reference to women's roles or to women's positions in society. This article proposes a different approach toward gender: to relate representations of the aged to the sexual identities of both men and women. This article analyzes representations of old age in conduct books of the early-modern period and the nineteenth century. By drawing a comparison, the eighteenth-century change of "identity regime" in European culture is brought to the fore. The article points to the influence of sexual identities on the representations of senior persons in advice literature both in Dutch and translated into Dutch.

Educational Discourse in Film: The History of Chinese Educational Documentaries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mao, Yijing

2011-01-01

As presented in documentary form, the discourse of the last one hundred years of modern Chinese education is very different from its written counterpart. Documentary discourse provides a perspective on education as realized and understood through the lens. On screen, evolving thoughts on Chinese education have been reconstructed. This article…

Wombs, Worms and Wolves: Constructing Cancer in Early Modern England.

PubMed

Skuse, Alanna

2014-11-01

This essay examines medical and popular attitudes to cancer in the early modern period, c .1580-1720. Cancer, it is argued, was understood as a cruel and usually incurable disease, diagnosable by a well-defined set of symptoms understood to correspond to its etymological root, karkinos (the crab). It was primarily understood as produced by an imbalance of the humours, with women being particularly vulnerable. However, such explanations proved inadequate to make sense of the condition's malignancy, and medical writers frequently constructed cancer as quasi-sentient, zoomorphising the disease as an eating worm or wolf. In turn, these constructions materially influenced medical practice, in which practitioners swung between anxiety over 'aggravating' the disease and an adversarial approach which fostered the use of radical and dangerous 'cures' including caustics and surgery.

Wombs, Worms and Wolves: Constructing Cancer in Early Modern England

PubMed Central

Skuse, Alanna

2014-01-01

This essay examines medical and popular attitudes to cancer in the early modern period, c.1580–1720. Cancer, it is argued, was understood as a cruel and usually incurable disease, diagnosable by a well-defined set of symptoms understood to correspond to its etymological root, karkinos (the crab). It was primarily understood as produced by an imbalance of the humours, with women being particularly vulnerable. However, such explanations proved inadequate to make sense of the condition's malignancy, and medical writers frequently constructed cancer as quasi-sentient, zoomorphising the disease as an eating worm or wolf. In turn, these constructions materially influenced medical practice, in which practitioners swung between anxiety over ‘aggravating’ the disease and an adversarial approach which fostered the use of radical and dangerous ‘cures’ including caustics and surgery. PMID:25352720

THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE THEORY OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

PubMed Central

Wei-Bo, Lu

1983-01-01

Traditional Chinese Medicine, unlike in many countries, with its well defined concepts and content, is developed due to the progressive policies of the government. The past 30 years work on scientific lines complemented by the successful and significant efforts to integrate Traditional Chinese Medicine with Western medicine has proved the scientific essence of the theory of this system. Added to this are the social acceptebility, relevance, and effectiveness. This brief review of some of the major work done indicates the bright future it has in contributing to the improvement of the health of the world. PMID:22556966

A nearly modern amphibious bird from the Early Cretaceous of northwestern China.

PubMed

You, Hai-Lu; Lamanna, Matthew C; Harris, Jerald D; Chiappe, Luis M; O'connor, Jingmai; Ji, Shu-An; Lü, Jun-Chang; Yuan, Chong-Xi; Li, Da-Qing; Zhang, Xing; Lacovara, Kenneth J; Dodson, Peter; Ji, Qiang

2006-06-16

Three-dimensional specimens of the volant fossil bird Gansus yumenensis from the Early Cretaceous Xiagou Formation of northwestern China demonstrate that this taxon possesses advanced anatomical features previously known only in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic ornithuran birds. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Gansus within the Ornithurae, making it the oldest known member of the clade. The Xiagou Formation preserves the oldest known ornithuromorph-dominated avian assemblage. The anatomy of Gansus, like that of other non-neornithean (nonmodern) ornithuran birds, indicates specialization for an amphibious life-style, supporting the hypothesis that modern birds originated in aquatic or littoral niches.

[Research and development on efficacy of Chinese herbal compound].

PubMed

Liu, Jian-Xun; Ren, Jian-Xun; Lin, Cheng-Ren

2016-03-01

The efficacy not only is summarized by clinical effect of Chinese herbal compound on theory of traditional Chinese medicine, but also is manifested to clinical effect by interaction of many intricate chemical substances. The efficacy of Chinese herbal compound is current research focus in field of traditional Chinese medicine. By currently knowing in different aspects which included the progression in efficacy of Chinese herbal compound, symptomatic efficacy of Chinese herbal compound, the relationship between the efficacy and pharmacologic effect of Chinese herbal compound, the efficacy related pharmacodynamic substance and the evaluation of efficacy, it had been summarized mainly problems and methods in research and development process of the efficacy of Chinese herbal compound in this paper. Paper also elucidated problems that need to pay attention in research of efficacy in order to provide references for clinical and experimental studies of efficacy in Chinese herbal compound, boost research and development level of new traditional Chinese drug and facilitate modernization of traditional Chinese medicines. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

[Chinese books on human anatomy published in the late Qing dynasty].

PubMed

Matsumoto, Hideshi

2007-12-01

Quanti-chanwei (1881) is the first technical book on human anatomy written in Chinese and brought to Modern China. It was compiled and translated on the basis of Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical (first edition in 1858) by Henry Gray. Quanti-chanwei was published with intent to establish Chinese translations for terms referring to anatomy, and it gained broad support from medical missionaries who mainly served in Guangdong, Shanghai, and Fuzhou at that time. Quanti-tongkao (1886) was also complied and translated on the basis of Gray' Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical. It was published from Jingshi Tongwen Guan, The Academy of Foreign Languages in the Qing dynasty, and they selected different words for the translation into Chinese from Quanti-chanwei. Thus, although Gray' Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical played a great role in the introduction of Western Medicine into Modern China, there was no accordance between the national government and the provinces regarding Chinese translations for terms referring to anatomy.

Early Pliocene onset of modern Nordic Seas circulation related to ocean gateway changes.

PubMed

De Schepper, Stijn; Schreck, Michael; Beck, Kristina Marie; Matthiessen, Jens; Fahl, Kirsten; Mangerud, Gunn

2015-10-28

The globally warm climate of the early Pliocene gradually cooled from 4 million years ago, synchronous with decreasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In contrast, palaeoceanographic records indicate that the Nordic Seas cooled during the earliest Pliocene, before global cooling. However, a lack of knowledge regarding the precise timing of Nordic Seas cooling has limited our understanding of the governing mechanisms. Here, using marine palynology, we show that cooling in the Nordic Seas was coincident with the first trans-Arctic migration of cool-water Pacific mollusks around 4.5 million years ago, and followed by the development of a modern-like Nordic Seas surface circulation. Nordic Seas cooling precedes global cooling by 500,000 years; as such, we propose that reconfiguration of the Bering Strait and Central American Seaway triggered the development of a modern circulation in the Nordic Seas, which is essential for North Atlantic Deep Water formation and a precursor for more widespread Greenland glaciation in the late Pliocene.

[Therapeutic effect of early applying hydrotherapy with Chinese drugs on children hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy].

PubMed

Ma, Yun-Zhi; Zhai, Hong-Yin; Su, Chun-Ya

2009-02-01

To observe the therapeutic effect of hydrotherapy with Chinese drugs (HT-C) in early intervention on children hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). HIE children were assigned to the treatment group and the control group, 50 in each, at random depending on the willingness of patients' parents. Both groups received the conventional functional training, according to the "0 -3-year-old early intervention outline", but for the treatment group, HT-C was applied additionally. Indexes for quality of sleep, gross motor function, severity of spasm and intellectual development were observed and compared before and after treatment to assess the therapeutic effects. Therapeutic effect in the treatment group was better than that in the control group in all the indexes observed, showing statistical significance (all P <0.05). Early intervention of HT-C could improve clinical symptom, promote the functional recovery and intellectual development in children HIE, and also could reduce or prevent the sequelae occurrence of the nervous system in them.

[Theory of toxic classification of traditional Chinese medicine and recommendations for revision of China pharmacopeia (volume 1)].

PubMed

Zhao, Junning; Ye, Zuguang

2012-08-01

Toxic classification of traditional Chinese medicine, as a contribution of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to the recognition of medicinal toxicity and rational use of medicinal materials by Chinese people, is now a great issue related to safe medication, sustainable development and internationalization of Chinese medicine. In this article, the origination and development of toxic classification theory was summarized and analyzed. Because toxic classification is an urgent issue related to TCM industrialization, modernization and internationalization, this article made a systematic analysis on the nature and connotation of toxic classification as well as risk control for TCM industry due to the medicinal toxicity. Based on the toxic studies, this article made some recommendations on toxic classification of Chinese medicinal materials for the revision of China Pharmacopeia (volume 1). From the aspect of scientific research, a new technical guideline for research on toxic classification of Chinese medicine should be formulated based on new biological toxicity test technology such as Microtox and ADME/Tox, because the present classification of acute toxicity of mice/rats can not met the modern development of Chinese medicine any more. The evaluation system and technical SOP of TCM toxic classification should also be established, and they should well balance TCM features, superiority and international requirements. From the aspect of medicine management, list of toxic medicines and their risk classification should be further improved by competent government according to scientific research. In China Pharmacopeia (volume I), such descriptions of strong toxicity, toxicity or mild toxicity should be abandoned when describing medicine nature and flavor. This revision might help promote TCM sustainable development and internationalization, and enhance the competitive capacity of Chinese medicine in both domestic and international market. However, description of strong

Understanding Informal and Formal Mathematical Abilities in Mainland Chinese and Chinese-American Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Zheng; Cheng, Christine; Mottram, Lisa; Rosenblum, Stacey

Informal and formal mathematical abilities were studied in the preschool, kindergarten, and first grade children in Beijing, China and Chinese-American children in New York City. Test of Early Mathematical Abilities-2nd Edition (TEMA-2) was administered to the three groups of children (children from Beijing, Chinese-American from lower-class, and…

Negotiating biomedical and traditional Chinese medicine treatments among elderly Chinese Singaporean women.

PubMed

Chang, Leanne; Basnyat, Iccha

2015-02-01

In this article we examine how elderly Chinese Singaporean women navigated between biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine in their practices of maintaining well-being. We interviewed 36 elderly women to understand their negotiation of medical choices in the interplay of structure, culture, and personal agency. Our findings show that participants made situational decisions under structural and cultural influences, such as family members' changing expectations and interpretations of medical practices, institutional preferences for biomedicine, and the patients' negotiating position between biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine. Participants demonstrated their capacity to enact agency through their examination of the effects and side effects of each medical system and through their integrative use of different medical treatments, depending on the purpose. Through our findings, we unveil contextual meanings of health among elderly women and the unique coexistence of traditional and modern medical practices within the context of Singapore. © The Author(s) 2014.

A martyr for modernity: Qiu Jin -- feminist warrior, and revolutionary.

PubMed

Fan, H; Mangan, J A

2001-01-01

Qui Jin, at one level, was an oriental twentieth-century Judith, the mythical Jewish widow from Bethulia who cut off the head of Holofernes, the Assyrian general besieging the city, thus saving the Israelites from destruction. Qui Jin was, as Judith was, a self-reliant heroine who when others seemed 'helpless and demoralized undertook to save them single-handedly', or in her case virtually single-handedly. This, of course, was both her making and her unmaking. In Chinese terms the story of Qui Jin, like the story of Judith if less famous, less publicised, more recent, is the story of an icon at once central and at the same time marginal to tradition. She contradicted the most cherished customs on Confucian Chinese culture. She was a radical force who thrust her way to the centre of the concentric circles of customs surrounding this culture and was pushed back to the margins by conservatism. Nevertheless Qui Jin was not without success. She challenged a long-established mythology of exclusively masterful patriarchy - and created a counter myth of purposeful patriotic feminism. She was a counter-cultural icon who changed perceptions of Chinese femininity. She gave courage, confidence and purpose to those women who came after her and absorbed her ambitions for modern Chinese womanhood. For them she was a modern national heroine and a personification of a modern nation of equal men and women. For Qui Jin the body was an instrument of female revolution to be trained, strengthened and prepared for confrontation. As a revolutionary militant she was a failure; as a revolutionary talisman she was a success. For the Chinese women of the 1911 Revolution hers was an exemplary emancipatory story: subscribe, struggle, sacrifice. Patriotism through feminism is the purpose. Her heroism was firmly outside the historic patriarchal order. Her adulation is thus all the more remarkable because of the profound traditions she rejected, the controversial mannerisms she adopted, the

[Comprehensive analysis on "toxicity and effect" of Chinese pharmaceutical preparations].

PubMed

Hu, Hui-Ling; Fu, Chao-Mei; Zhao, Xuan; Zhang, Jin-Ming; Gao, Fei; He, Yao; Fu, Shu; Li, Ling

2016-09-01

The manufacturing process of Chinese medicines is the significant link to achieve "effect-enhancing and toxicity-reducing", including an interaction between "toxicity and effect". This paper would elucidate the effects of Chinese herbal compound decoction, preparation, dosage forms, route of administration and quality of pharmaceutical excipients on "toxicity-effect" theory from the formulation approaches. The article pointed out that the comprehensive analysis on "toxicity-effect" theory should be strengthened from the aspects of overall manufacturing, fundamental research and modern Chinese preparation, to explore the mechanism of "effect-enhancing and toxicity-reducing" in the manufacturing process, clarify the core status of Chinese preparation in "toxicity-effect" theory, and ensure the security and effectiveness in traditional Chinese medicine clinical application. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Quantifying traditional Chinese medicine patterns using modern test theory: an example of functional constipation.

PubMed

Shen, Minxue; Cui, Yuanwu; Hu, Ming; Xu, Linyong

2017-01-13

The study aimed to validate a scale to assess the severity of "Yin deficiency, intestine heat" pattern of functional constipation based on the modern test theory. Pooled longitudinal data of 237 patients with "Yin deficiency, intestine heat" pattern of constipation from a prospective cohort study were used to validate the scale. Exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the common factors of items. A multidimensional item response model was used to assess the scale with the presence of multidimensionality. The Cronbach's alpha ranged from 0.79 to 0.89, and the split-half reliability ranged from 0.67 to 0.79 at different measurements. Exploratory factor analysis identified two common factors, and all items had cross factor loadings. Bidimensional model had better goodness of fit than the unidimensional model. Multidimensional item response model showed that the all items had moderate to high discrimination parameters. Parameters indicated that the first latent trait signified intestine heat, while the second trait characterized Yin deficiency. Information function showed that items demonstrated highest discrimination power among patients with moderate to high level of disease severity. Multidimensional item response theory provides a useful and rational approach in validating scales for assessing the severity of patterns in traditional Chinese medicine.

Modern European monographs for quality control of Chinese herbs.

PubMed

Bauer, Rudolf; Franz, Gerhard

2010-12-01

The actual concern about the safety and efficacy of herbal drugs originating from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is based on observations that these medicinal plants may have a high risk potential due to insufficient definitions, problems with identity, purity and falsifications. No uniform legal status for these groups of herbal drugs currently exists in the European Union. For quality control, monographs for TCM herbs can mainly be found in the Pharmacopoeia of the Peoples Republic of China. Based on these facts the Commission of the European Pharmacopoeia decided in 2005 to establish TCM-herbal drug monographs for the most important medicinal plants imported from Far East. These new monographs had to be established and evaluated on the basis of existing monographs in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (ChP), English edition 2005. Due to important differences in the overall features of EP and ChP, a simple adapt/adopt procedure was not feasible. Therefore, specialist groups were mandated with a corresponding working programme. Some results and actual problems related to this working programme will be presented and discussed. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

New directions in the history of modern science in China: global science and comparative history.

PubMed

Elman, Benjamin A

2007-09-01

These essays collectively present new perspectives on the history of modem science in China since 1900. Fa-ti Fan describes how science under the Republic of China after 1911 exhibited a complex local and international character that straddled both imperialism and colonialism. Danian Hu focuses on the fate of relativity in the physics community in China after 1917. Zuoyue Wang hopes that a less nationalist political atmosphere in China will stimulate more transnational studies of modern science, which will in turn reveal the underlying commonalities in different national contexts. Sigrid Schmalzer compares the socialist and the capitalist contexts for science in China and reopens the sensitive question of the "mass line" during the Cultural Revolution. Grace Shen describes the tensions early Chinese scientists felt when choosing between foreign models for modem geology and their own professional identities in China. Taken together, these accounts present us with a comparative history of modern science in China that is both globally and locally informed.

Homocysteine and the C677T Gene Polymorphism of Its Key Metabolic Enzyme MTHFR Are Risk Factors of Early Renal Damage in Hypertension in a Chinese Han Population

PubMed Central

Yun, Lin; Xu, Rui; Li, Guohua; Yao, Yucai; Li, Jiamin; Cong, Dehong; Xu, Xingshun; Zhang, Lihua

2015-01-01

Abstract The combined hyperhomocysteinemia condition is a feature of the Chinese hypertensive population. This study used the case-control method to investigate the association between plasma homocysteine and the C677T gene polymorphism of its key metabolic enzyme, 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and early renal damage in a hypertensive Chinese Han population. A total of 379 adult essential hypertensive patients were selected as the study subjects. The personal information, clinical indicators, and the C677T gene polymorphism of MTHFR were texted. This study used the urine microalbumin/urine creatinine ratio (UACR) as a grouping basis: the hypertension without renal damage group (NRD group) and the hypertension combined with early renal damage group (ERD group). Early renal damage in the Chinese hypertensive population was associated with body weight, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, cystatin C, uric acid, aldosterone, and glomerular filtration rate. The homocysteine level and the UACR in the TT genotype group were higher than those in the CC genotype group. The binary logistic regression analysis results showed that after sex and age were adjusted, the MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism was correlated with early renal damage in hypertension in both the recessive model and in the additive model. Plasma homocysteine and the C677T gene polymorphism of its key metabolic enzyme MTHFR might be independent risk factors of early renal damage in the hypertensive Chinese Han population. PMID:26717388

Homocysteine and the C677T Gene Polymorphism of Its Key Metabolic Enzyme MTHFR Are Risk Factors of Early Renal Damage in Hypertension in a Chinese Han Population.

PubMed

Yun, Lin; Xu, Rui; Li, Guohua; Yao, Yucai; Li, Jiamin; Cong, Dehong; Xu, Xingshun; Zhang, Lihua

2015-12-01

The combined hyperhomocysteinemia condition is a feature of the Chinese hypertensive population. This study used the case-control method to investigate the association between plasma homocysteine and the C677T gene polymorphism of its key metabolic enzyme, 5, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR), and early renal damage in a hypertensive Chinese Han population.A total of 379 adult essential hypertensive patients were selected as the study subjects. The personal information, clinical indicators, and the C677T gene polymorphism of MTHFR were texted. This study used the urine microalbumin/urine creatinine ratio (UACR) as a grouping basis: the hypertension without renal damage group (NRD group) and the hypertension combined with early renal damage group (ERD group).Early renal damage in the Chinese hypertensive population was associated with body weight, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure, urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, cystatin C, uric acid, aldosterone, and glomerular filtration rate. The homocysteine level and the UACR in the TT genotype group were higher than those in the CC genotype group. The binary logistic regression analysis results showed that after sex and age were adjusted, the MTHFR C677T gene polymorphism was correlated with early renal damage in hypertension in both the recessive model and in the additive model.Plasma homocysteine and the C677T gene polymorphism of its key metabolic enzyme MTHFR might be independent risk factors of early renal damage in the hypertensive Chinese Han population.

Book review: Mapping gendered routes and spaces in the early modern world

USGS Publications Warehouse

Varanka, Dalia E.

2016-01-01

This book encapsulates and extends many seminal ideas presented at the eighth “Attending to Early Modern Women” conference held at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in June 2012. Merry Wiesner-Hanks has done a masterful job editing these papers within a central theme of the interaction of spatial domains with gender-based phenomena. The fifteen chapters of this book are organized into four sections: “Framework,” discussing theoretical concepts; “Embodied Environments,” focusing on physicality; “Communities and Networks” of social patterns; and “Exchanges” across geographic space. Together, a global society shaped by gender and sexuality and intersected by race and class emerges.

[Brief discourse on development of psychology of modern traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Zhang, Jinxia; Li, Peng; Wang, Zhen'e

2014-05-01

In 1980, Wang Miqu proposed the concept of "The Psychology of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM Psychology)". In 1985, "The First National Symposium on Psychology of Traditional Chinese Medicine" was held, and the concept of TCM Psychology was put forward in the symposium, thus declaring the establishment of TCM Psychology, a new disciplinary branch. Since then, 12 national or international academic symposia of TCM Psychology were convened nationwide. Based on inheriting the original TCM, by means of exploring, sorting out and improving, and by combining and integrating with psychology and medical psychology, the theory of TCM Psychology was thus gradually innovated, and a systematic knowledge of TCM Psychology was set up and utilized in the clinical practice extensively.

[A complexity analysis of Chinese herbal property theory: the multiple formations of herbal property].

PubMed

Jin, Rui; Zhang, Bing

2012-11-01

Chinese herbal property theory (CHPT) is the fundamental characteristic of Chinese materia medica different from modern medicines. It reflects the herbal properties associated with efficacy and formed the early framework of four properties and five flavors in Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica. After the supplement and improvement of CHPT in the past thousands of years, it has developed a theory system including four properties, five flavors, meridian entry, direction of medicinal actions (ascending, descending, floating and sinking) and toxicity. However, because of the influence of philosophy about yin-yang theory and five-phase theory and the difference of cognitive approach and historical background at different times, CHPT became complex. One of the complexity features was the multiple methods for determining herbal property, which might include the inference from herbal efficacy, the thought of Chinese Taoist School and witchcraft, the classification thinking according to manifestations, etc. Another complexity feature was the multiselection associations between herbal property and efficacy, which indicated that the same property could be inferred from different kinds of efficacy. This paper analyzed these complexity features and provided the importance of cognitive approaches and efficacy attributes corresponding to certain herbal property in the study of CHPT.

The architectural form of Qikou Cave dwellings in Chinese "Earth" culture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xuanchen; Feng, Xinqun

2018-03-01

Cave building is not only a kind of architecture with unique style, but also a manifestation of Chinese traditional culture. Cave culture is an important part of Chinese traditional culture. The main purpose of this thesis which studies the architectural form of Qikou Cave, is to analyze how the cave building plays a positive role in promoting the development and application of modern resources and in cultural transmission. Based on a large amount of literature material, and taking Qikou Cave as an example, by studying the morphological characteristics of cave building, the paper takes an optimistic outlook on its future development and the sustainable development of the resources. It is expected that the cave culture can be further explored to promote the traditional Chinese culture and to drive the development of modern construction industry and resource conservation.

Chinese Educational Development in Comparative Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Edmund

1984-01-01

Chinese history is outlined, modern developments briefly described and compared to events in Japan, and the development of the formal education system covered. Universalized educational opportunity and hierarchies in the school system are discussed as well as the school system in general and teacher education programs. (MH)

Floods of the Maros river in the early modern and modern period (16th-20th centuries)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiss, Andrea

2016-04-01

In the poster presentation a series of historical and recent floods of the Maros river, with special emphasis on the flood events occurred on the lower sections, are presented. Similar to the Hungarian flood databases of the Middle-Danube and Lower-Tisza, the main sources of investigations are the institutional (legal-administrative) documentary evidence (e.g. Szeged and Makó town council protocols and related administrative documentation, Csanád County meeting protocols) mainly from the late 17th-early 18th century onwards. However, in case of the Maros river there is an increased importance of narrative sources, with special emphasis on the early modern period (16th-17th century): in this case the (mainly Transylvanian) narratives (chronicles, diaries, memoires etc.) written by aristocrats, other noblemen and town citizens have particular importance. In the presentation the frequency of detected flood events, from the mid-16th century onwards (with an outlook on sporadic medieval evidence), is provided; moreover, a 3-scaled magnitude classification and a seasonality analysis are also presented. Floods of the Maros river, especially those of the lower river sections, often cannot be understood and discussed without the floods of the (Lower-)Tisza; thus, a comparison of the two flood series are also a subject of discussion. Unlike the Lower-Tisza, the Maros is prone to winter and early spring ice jam floods: since the floods that belonged to this type (similar to those of the Middle-Danube at Budapest) were the most destructive among the flood events of the river, this flood type, and the greatest flood events (e.g. 1751-1752, 1784) are also presented in more detail.

Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna

PubMed Central

Brayard, Arnaud; Krumenacker, L. J.; Botting, Joseph P.; Jenks, James F.; Bylund, Kevin G.; Fara, Emmanuel; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Olivier, Nicolas; Goudemand, Nicolas; Saucède, Thomas; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Romano, Carlo; Doguzhaeva, Larisa; Thuy, Ben; Hautmann, Michael; Stephen, Daniel A.; Thomazo, Christophe; Escarguel, Gilles

2017-01-01

In the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction, the Early Triassic (~251.9 to 247 million years ago) is portrayed as an environmentally unstable interval characterized by several biotic crises and heavily depauperate marine benthic ecosystems. We describe a new fossil assemblage—the Paris Biota—from the earliest Spathian (middle Olenekian, ~250.6 million years ago) of the Bear Lake area, southeastern Idaho, USA. This highly diversified assemblage documents a remarkably complex marine ecosystem including at least seven phyla and 20 distinct metazoan orders, along with algae. Most unexpectedly, it combines early Paleozoic and middle Mesozoic taxa previously unknown from the Triassic strata, among which are primitive Cambrian-Ordovician leptomitid sponges (a 200–million year Lazarus taxon) and gladius-bearing coleoid cephalopods, a poorly documented group before the Jurassic (~50 million years after the Early Triassic). Additionally, the crinoid and ophiuroid specimens show derived anatomical characters that were thought to have evolved much later. Unlike previous works that suggested a sluggish postcrisis recovery and a low diversity for the Early Triassic benthic organisms, the unexpected composition of this exceptional assemblage points toward an early and rapid post-Permian diversification for these clades. Overall, it illustrates a phylogenetically diverse, functionally complex, and trophically multileveled marine ecosystem, from primary producers up to top predators and potential scavengers. Hence, the Paris Biota highlights the key evolutionary position of Early Triassic fossil ecosystems in the transition from the Paleozoic to the Modern marine evolutionary fauna at the dawn of the Mesozoic era. PMID:28246643

Unexpected Early Triassic marine ecosystem and the rise of the Modern evolutionary fauna.

PubMed

Brayard, Arnaud; Krumenacker, L J; Botting, Joseph P; Jenks, James F; Bylund, Kevin G; Fara, Emmanuel; Vennin, Emmanuelle; Olivier, Nicolas; Goudemand, Nicolas; Saucède, Thomas; Charbonnier, Sylvain; Romano, Carlo; Doguzhaeva, Larisa; Thuy, Ben; Hautmann, Michael; Stephen, Daniel A; Thomazo, Christophe; Escarguel, Gilles

2017-02-01

In the wake of the end-Permian mass extinction, the Early Triassic (~251.9 to 247 million years ago) is portrayed as an environmentally unstable interval characterized by several biotic crises and heavily depauperate marine benthic ecosystems. We describe a new fossil assemblage-the Paris Biota-from the earliest Spathian (middle Olenekian, ~250.6 million years ago) of the Bear Lake area, southeastern Idaho, USA. This highly diversified assemblage documents a remarkably complex marine ecosystem including at least seven phyla and 20 distinct metazoan orders, along with algae. Most unexpectedly, it combines early Paleozoic and middle Mesozoic taxa previously unknown from the Triassic strata, among which are primitive Cambrian-Ordovician leptomitid sponges (a 200-million year Lazarus taxon) and gladius-bearing coleoid cephalopods, a poorly documented group before the Jurassic (~50 million years after the Early Triassic). Additionally, the crinoid and ophiuroid specimens show derived anatomical characters that were thought to have evolved much later. Unlike previous works that suggested a sluggish postcrisis recovery and a low diversity for the Early Triassic benthic organisms, the unexpected composition of this exceptional assemblage points toward an early and rapid post-Permian diversification for these clades. Overall, it illustrates a phylogenetically diverse, functionally complex, and trophically multileveled marine ecosystem, from primary producers up to top predators and potential scavengers. Hence, the Paris Biota highlights the key evolutionary position of Early Triassic fossil ecosystems in the transition from the Paleozoic to the Modern marine evolutionary fauna at the dawn of the Mesozoic era.

Children’s Physic: Medical Perceptions and Treatment of Sick Children in Early Modern England, c. 1580–1720

PubMed Central

Newton, Hannah

2015-01-01

Summary Historians of medicine, childhood and paediatrics have often assumed that early modern doctors neither treated children, nor adapted their medicines to suit the peculiar temperaments of the young. Through an examination of medical textbooks and doctors’ casebooks, this article refutes these assumptions. It argues that medical authors and practising doctors regularly treated children, and were careful to tailor their remedies to complement the distinctive constitutions of children. Thus, this article proposes that a concept of ‘children’s physic’ existed in early modern England. This term refers to the notion that children were physiologically distinct, requiring special medical care. Children’s physic was rooted in the ancient traditions of Hippocratic and Galenic medicine: it was the child’s humoral make-up that underpinned all medical ideas about children’s bodies, minds, diseases and treatments. Children abounded in the humour blood, which made them humid and weak, and in need of medicines of a particularly gentle nature. PMID:26306061

Historical DNA reveals the demographic history of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in medieval and early modern Iceland

PubMed Central

Ólafsdóttir, Guðbjörg Ásta; Westfall, Kristen M.; Edvardsson, Ragnar; Pálsson, Snæbjörn

2014-01-01

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) vertebrae from archaeological sites were used to study the history of the Icelandic Atlantic cod population in the time period of 1500–1990. Specifically, we used coalescence modelling to estimate population size and fluctuations from the sequence diversity at the cytochrome b (cytb) and Pantophysin I (PanI) loci. The models are consistent with an expanding population during the warm medieval period, large historical effective population size (NE), a marked bottleneck event at 1400–1500 and a decrease in NE in early modern times. The model results are corroborated by the reduction of haplotype and nucleotide variation over time and pairwise population distance as a significant portion of nucleotide variation partitioned across the 1550 time mark. The mean age of the historical fished stock is high in medieval times with a truncation in age in early modern times. The population size crash coincides with a period of known cooling in the North Atlantic, and we conclude that the collapse may be related to climate or climate-induced ecosystem change. PMID:24403343

Historical DNA reveals the demographic history of Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in medieval and early modern Iceland.

PubMed

Ólafsdóttir, Guðbjörg Ásta; Westfall, Kristen M; Edvardsson, Ragnar; Pálsson, Snæbjörn

2014-02-22

Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) vertebrae from archaeological sites were used to study the history of the Icelandic Atlantic cod population in the time period of 1500-1990. Specifically, we used coalescence modelling to estimate population size and fluctuations from the sequence diversity at the cytochrome b (cytb) and Pantophysin I (PanI) loci. The models are consistent with an expanding population during the warm medieval period, large historical effective population size (NE), a marked bottleneck event at 1400-1500 and a decrease in NE in early modern times. The model results are corroborated by the reduction of haplotype and nucleotide variation over time and pairwise population distance as a significant portion of nucleotide variation partitioned across the 1550 time mark. The mean age of the historical fished stock is high in medieval times with a truncation in age in early modern times. The population size crash coincides with a period of known cooling in the North Atlantic, and we conclude that the collapse may be related to climate or climate-induced ecosystem change.

Phasehood of Wh-Questions in Modern Standard Arabic

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alsager, Haroon Nasser

2017-01-01

Wh-questions have been widely discussed in different languages such as English, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, and Russian, but little attention has been paid to the structure of wh-questions in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Thus, this dissertation attempts to analyze the structure of wh-questions using the current frameworks: "Minimalism and…

Tonal Flip-Flop in Chinese Dialects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yue-Hashimoto, Anne O.

1986-01-01

Tonal "flip-flop" (reversal of pitch value in which a direct exchange of value between two items is necessarily involved) can be found in a significant number of modern Chinese dialects, where an opposite pitch pattern is observed for the traditional Yin/Yang dichotomy of tones. (Author/CB)

[New method for analyzing pharmacodynamic material basis of traditional Chinese medicines by using specific knockout technology with monoclonal antibodies].

PubMed

Zhao, Yan; Qu, Hui-Hua; Wang, Qing-Guo

2013-09-01

Study on pharmacodynamic material basis of traditional Chinese medicines is one of the key issues for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Having introduced the monoclonal antibody technology into the study on pharmacodynamic material basis of traditional Chinese medicines, the author prepared the immunoaffinity chromatography column by using monoclonal antibodies in active components of traditional Chinese medicines, so as to selectively knock out the component from herbs or traditional Chinese medicine compounds, while preserving all of the other components and keeping their amount and ratio unchanged. A comparative study on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics was made to explicitly reveal the correlation between the component and the main purpose of traditional Chinese medicines and compounds. The analysis on pharmacodynamic material basis of traditional Chinese medicines by using specific knockout technology with monoclonal antibodies is a new method for study pharmacodynamic material basis in line with the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicines. Its results can not only help study material basis from a new perspective, but also help find the modern scientific significance in single herb or among compounds of traditional Chinese medicines.

Using Multimedia Technology to Teach Modern Greek Language Online in China: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Xiaoyin; Dedegikas, Costa; Walls, Jan

2011-01-01

This article reviews the process of design, development, and implementation of the Modern Greek online courses (Chinese version) in Hellenic Studies at Simon Fraser University (SFU), in collaboration with Chinese university partners. The purpose of this study is (a) to explore the effectiveness of the course design, and (b) to reveal the…

[Application progress of proteomic in pharmacological study of Chinese medicinal formulae].

PubMed

Liu, Yu-Qian; Zhan, Shu-Yu; Ruan, Yu-Er; Zuo, Zhi-Yan; Ji, Xiao-Ming; Wang, Shuai-Jie; Ding, Bao-Yue

2017-10-01

Chinese medicinal formulae are the important means of clinical treatment in traditional Chinese medicine. It is urgent to use modern advanced scientific and technological means to reveal the complicated mechanism of Chinese medicinal formulae because they have the function characteristics of multiple components, multiple targets and integrated regulation. The systematic and comprehensive research model of proteomic is in line with the function characteristics of Chinese medicinal formulae, and proteomic has been widely used in the study of pharmacological mechanism of Chinese medicinal formulae. The recent applications of proteomic in pharmacological study of Chinese medicinal formulae in anti-cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, anti-liver disease, antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases were reviewed in this paper, and then the future development direction of proteomic in pharmacological study of Chinese medicinal formulae was put forward. This review is to provide the ideas and method for proteomic research on function mechanism of Chinese medicinal formulae. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

The fourfold Democritus on the stage of early modern science.

PubMed

Lüthy, C

2000-09-01

The renewed success of ancient atomism in the seventeenth century has baffled historians not only because of the lack of empirical evidence in its favor but also because of the exotic heterogeneity of the models that were proposed under its name. This essay argues that one of the more intriguing reasons for the motley appearance of early modern atomism is that Democritus, with whose name this doctrine was most commonly associated, was a figure of similar incoherence. There existed in fact no fewer than four quite different Democriti of Abdera and as many literary traditions: the atomist, the "laughing philosopher," the moralizing anatomist, and the alchemist. Around the year 1600 the doctrines of these literary figures, three of whom had no tangible connection with atomism, began to merge into further hybrid personae, some of whom possessed notable scientific potential. This essay offers the story of how these Democriti contributed to the rise of incompatible "atomisms."

Influence of Chinese cultural health beliefs among Malaysian Chinese in a suburban population: a survey.

PubMed

Chew, K S; Tan, T W; Ooi, Y T

2011-04-01

In a multiethnic nation, it is not uncommon for doctors to encounter patients of different cultural backgrounds. Often, patients' cultural beliefs influence their perception of health and illnesses, and their treatment option. Many Chinese cultural beliefs are influenced by the Taoist concept of yin-yang balance. We interviewed 50 Malaysian Chinese from the general public of a suburban population in order to unravel the impact of Chinese cultural health beliefs on their decision-making, and this was compared with the opinions of 50 Chinese medical students from second to final year. Convenience sampling was then applied. From the survey, 78 percent of the general public believed that 'too much heat' or 'too much coldness' in the body could cause diseases. Compared to the medical students, a significantly higher number of the respondents held such beliefs, including the beliefs that abdominal colic is due to excessive 'wind' in the abdomen, consuming certain food can dispel wind from the body, and the importance of observing taboos during the confinement period after delivery. The majority of respondents from both groups believed that it is acceptable to combine both traditional Chinese medicine and modern medicine. There is a discrepancy in the extent to which these beliefs influence the perception of health and illnesses among the general public and among medical students. Healthcare providers need to be aware of such beliefs and practices regarding traditional Chinese medicine among their Chinese patients.

Nano-structured calcite produced by micro-organisms in ancient and modern loess in Chinese Loess Plateau

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, H.; Chen, T.; Lu, H.; Wang, X.

2005-12-01

The results from transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission gun scanning microscopy (FEG-SEM) investigation show that there are calcite nano-fibers (CNFs) formed during pedogenic process. The CNFs are widely distributed in the loess and red clay samples of Caoxian, Luochuan, Lingtai, Lantian, and Xifeng profiles as well as the samples of modern surface loess soils in Chinese Loess Plateau. Diameters of all the NFCs are about 40 nm, the length of the CNFs ranges from tens nanometer to several micrometers. Elongation direction of NFCs is unusual near parallel (105)* or (115)*. Crystals of NFCs arrange as bird net like and lattice-like frameworks. X-ray EDS spectra show the weak peaks of magnesium, phosphorous, and sulfur. Our investigation indicates that CNFs are in pore space of loess and paleosol and made up most of carbonate except for caliche nodular layers. Concentration of NFCs in the loess layers are significantly higher than those of paleosol layers because of leaching of carbonate in the paleosol forming environment (warn and wet paleoclimate). The "nanobacteria-like CNFs are well crystalline calcite single crystals with smoothes surfaces. The morphologies of CNFs are very unusual and different from the calcite single crystals observed in most geological environments. The CNFs are directly related to microbial activities in both ancient and modern loess. It is proposed that the intervention of organic compounds derived from microbial activities control the formation of the calcite nano-fibers. Both morphology and bulk composition of CNFs indicate that the formation of the CNFs involves bio-organics derived from microorganisms in loess deposit environment. Formation conditions of the calcite nano-fibers may information about paleoclimate, paleo-environment and paleoecology. So, the discovery of CNFs in loess-paloesol sequences can provide a new route for reconstruct paleoclimate by oxygen and carbon isotope from the CNFs.

[Standardization of the terms for Chinese herbal functions based on functional targeting].

PubMed

Xiao, Bin; Tao, Ou; Gu, Hao; Wang, Yun; Qiao, Yan-Jiang

2011-03-01

Functional analysis concisely summarizes and concentrates on the therapeutic characteristics and features of Chinese herbal medicine. Standardization of the terms for Chinese herbal functions not only plays a key role in modern research and development of Chinese herbal medicine, but also has far-reaching clinical applications. In this paper, a new method for standardizing the terms for Chinese herbal function was proposed. Firstly, functional targets were collected. Secondly, the pathological conditions and the mode of action of every functional target were determined by analyzing the references. Thirdly, the relationships between the pathological condition and the mode of action were determined based on Chinese medicine theory and data. This three-step approach allows for standardization of the terms for Chinese herbal functions. Promoting the standardization of Chinese medicine terms will benefit the overall clinical application of Chinese herbal medicine.

Modern turtle origins: the oldest known cryptodire.

PubMed

Gaffney, E S; Hutchison, J H; Jenkins, F A; Meeker, L J

1987-07-17

The discovery of a turtle in the Early Jurassic(185 million years before present) Kayenta Formation of northeastern Arizona provides significant evidence about the origin of modern turtles. This new taxon possesses many of the primitive features expected in the hypothetical common ancestor of pleurodires and cryptodires, the two groups of modern turtles. It is identified as the oldest known cryptodire because of the presence of a distinctive cryptodiran jaw mechanism consisting of a trochlea over the otic chamber that redirects the line of action of the adductor muscle. Aquatic habits appear to have developed very early in turtle evolution. Kayentachelys extends the known record of cryptodires back at least 45 million years and documents a very early stage in the evolution of modern turtles.

Study on the Application of Chinese Patent Drug and Chinese Formula of Rabdosia Rubescens

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Mengfan; Liu, Baosong; Mao, Mingsan

2018-01-01

Rabdosia rubescens contais many active ingredients such as terpenoids, flavonoids, polysaccharides and organic acids. Modern research has proved that Rabdosia rubescens has the effect of heat-clearing and detoxicating, antibacterial and anticancer, promoting blood circulation to arrest pain and anti-tumor. It is used in the treatment of sore throat, rheumatoid arthritis and various kinds of cancer. The clinical application of Rabdosia rubescens is restricted in the fat-soluble components, and the solubility of water solubility is ignored. The application of prescriptions, Chinese patent drug and food therapy of Rabdosia rubescens are less and fragmented. This paper inquires relevant literature, the application of Rabdosia rubescens in prescription, Chinese patent medicine and food therapy was reviewed, in order to make Rabdosiae rubescens play a greater role in the relevant area. On the basis of make the best use of everything, to promote the innovation and development of Chinese medicine and services to the people in our country.

Investigating early modern Ottoman consumer culture in the light of Bursa probate inventories.

PubMed

Karababa, Eminegül

2012-01-01

This study investigates the development of early modern Ottoman consumer culture. In particular, the democratization of consumption, which is a significant indicator of the development of western consumer cultures, is examined in relation to Ottoman society. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century probate inventories of the town of Bursa combined with literary and official sources are used in order to identify democratization of consumption and the macro conditions shaping this development. Findings demonstrate that commercialization, international trade, urbanization which created a fluid social structure, and the ability of the state to negotiate with guilds were possible contextual specificities which encouraged the democratization of consumption in the Bursa context.

Insecticide ADME for support of early-phase discovery: combining classical and modern techniques.

PubMed

David, Michael D

2017-04-01

The two factors that determine an insecticide's potency are its binding to a target site (intrinsic activity) and the ability of its active form to reach the target site (bioavailability). Bioavailability is dictated by the compound's stability and transport kinetics, which are determined by both physical and biochemical characteristics. At BASF Global Insecticide Research, we characterize bioavailability in early research with an ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion) approach, combining classical and modern techniques. For biochemical assessment of metabolism, we purify native insect enzymes using classical techniques, and recombinantly express individual insect enzymes that are known to be relevant in insecticide metabolism and resistance. For analytical characterization of an experimental insecticide and its metabolites, we conduct classical radiotracer translocation studies when a radiolabel is available. In discovery, where typically no radiolabel has been synthesized, we utilize modern high-resolution mass spectrometry to probe complex systems for the test compounds and its metabolites. By using these combined approaches, we can rapidly compare the ADME properties of sets of new experimental insecticides and aid in the design of structures with an improved potential to advance in the research pipeline. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

Physical Activity in Early and Modern Populations. Papers from the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Physical Education (59th, Las Vegas, Nevada, April 11-13, 1987). No. 21.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malina, Robert M., Ed.; Eckert, Helen M., Ed.

Eleven conference papers explore physical activity in ancient societies as well as human adaptation of physical activities in modern society. The following papers are included: (1) "Physical Activity in Early and Modern Populations: An Evolutionary View" (Robert M. Malina); (2) "How Active Were Early Populations? or Squeezing the Fossil Record"…

Chinese nurse stress in Taiwan, Republic of China.

PubMed

Tsai, S L

1993-01-01

An exploratory study was conducted to understand the Chinese nurses' perceptions of their work stress in Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). Data were based on the written answers to two open-ended questions from the randomly selected Chinese nurses working at 3 of the 10 first-ranked teaching hospitals that had 900-2,000 hospital beds. The findings showed that stressors in work situations for Chinese nurses were similar to those of their Western colleagues in four categories: nursing care related to patient condition, interpersonal relationships, workload, and opportunity for promotion. In addition, the Chinese respondents especially identified pressure in the role of a unit educator as stressful. Any troubled interpersonal relationship of the Chinese nurse may have been experienced as a greater source of pressure than nurses in other cultures. It is suggested that there might be some similar stressors in the nurse work situation when comparing the Chinese nurse working in the modern hospital in Taiwan to the nurses in large hospitals in the Western culture. Yet the difference between these nurses was the greater emphasis the Chinese nurses placed on the value of advanced study and interpersonal harmony.

Perceptions, Expectations, and Attitudes about Communication with Physicians among Chinese American and non-Hispanic White Women with Early-Stage Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Wang, Judy Huei-yu; Adams, Inez F.; Pasick, Rena J.; Gomez, Scarlett L.; Allen, Laura; Ma, Grace X.; Lee, Michael X.; Huang, Ellen

2013-01-01

Purpose Asian Americans have consistently reported poorer communication with physicians compared with non-Hispanic Whites (NHW). This qualitative study sought to elucidate the similarities and differences in communication with physicians between Chinese and NHW breast cancer survivors. Methods Forty-four Chinese and 28 NHW women with early-stage breast cancer (stage 0-IIa) from the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry participated in focus group discussions or individual interviews. We oversampled Chinese women because little is known about their cancer care experiences. In both interview formats, questions explored patients’ experiences and feelings when communicating with physicians about their diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up care. Results Physician empathy at the time of diagnosis was important to both ethnic groups; however, during treatment and follow-up care, physicians’ ability to treat cancer and alleviate physical symptoms was a higher priority. NHW and US-born Chinese survivors were more likely to assert their needs, whereas Chinese immigrants accepted physician advice even when it did not alleviate physical problems (e.g., pain). Patients viewed all physicians as the primary source for information about cancer care. Many Chinese immigrants sought additional information from primary care physicians and stressed optimal communication over language concordance. Conclusions Physician empathy and precise information were important for cancer patients. Cultural differences such as the Western emphasis on individual autonomy vs. Chinese emphasis on respect and hierarchy can be the basis for the varied approaches to physician communication we observed. Interventions based on cultural understanding can foster more effective communication between immigrant patients and physicians ultimately improving patient outcomes. PMID:23903797

Family Factors and Primary Students' Reading Attainment: A Chinese Community Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ko, Hwa Wei; Chan, Yi Ling

2009-01-01

This study examined the relationship between students' reading attainment scores and key family environmental factors in Chinese and non-Chinese communities. Six family environmental factors were considered: parents' evaluation of their offspring's early literacy skills, early home literacy activities (EHLA), reading activities involving parents…

Effect of the regional environment on the skin properties and the early wrinkles in young Chinese women.

PubMed

Kim, E J; Han, J Y; Lee, H K; He, Q Q; Cho, J C; Wei, L; Wang, X; Li, L; Wei, L; Liang, H; Gao, X; Kim, B J; Nam, G W

2014-11-01

There are ethnic differences in the skin characteristics, also the skin is susceptible to be influenced by the external environment such as UV radiation and the climates. It can be shown that the skin in same race or twins varies by the environment. This study was designed to investigate the skin characteristics and the early wrinkles of young Chinese women from four different regions, and to identify the correlation among the wrinkles, the other skin characteristics, and environmental conditions. A total of 441 healthy Chinese women aged between 20 and 35 years participated in the study: 110 from Beijing, 110 from Shanghai, 111 from Wuhan, and 110 from Guangzhou. The skin hydration, sebum contents, TEWL, pH, elasticity, and wrinkles were measured on the crow's feet area. There were regional differences in the skin characteristics and the wrinkles. Beijing women had dry skin and more wrinkles, but Guangzhou women had high sebum contents, low pH, and less wrinkles (P < 0.01). Shanghai women's TEWL and Wuhan's women's skin elasticity were higher compared with that of women from other regions. The wrinkles' form (area, depth, and length) was different from region to region. Beijing women's wrinkles were deep and large, but Guangzhou women's wrinkles were shallow and small. The skin physical parameters that influenced the wrinkles were low sebum content and hydration, high TEWL, and pH (P < 0.05). In the Chinese women aged 20-35 years, the skin was influenced by the climates, so they had regionally a different skin. The skin hydration, sebum contents, TEWL, and pH can affect the early wrinkle formation than skin elasticity. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Appendicular robusticity and the paleobiology of modern human emergence.

PubMed

Trinkaus, E

1997-11-25

The emergence of modern humans in the Late Pleistocene, whatever its phylogenetic history, was characterized by a series of behaviorally important shifts reflected in aspects of human hard tissue biology and the archeological record. To elucidate these shifts further, diaphyseal cross-sectional morphology was analyzed by using cross-sectional areas and second moments of area of the mid-distal humerus and midshaft femur. The humeral diaphysis indicates a gradual reduction in habitual load levels from Eurasian late archaic, to Early Upper Paleolithic early modern, to Middle Upper Paleolithic early modern hominids, with the Levantine Middle Paleolithic early modern humans being a gracile anomalous outlier. The femoral diaphysis, once variation in ecogeographically patterned body proportions is taken into account, indicates no changes across the pre-30,000 years B.P. samples in habitual locomotor load levels, followed by a modest decrease through the Middle Upper Paleolithic.

Model Organisms and Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndrome Models

PubMed Central

Xu, Jin-Wen

2013-01-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an ancient medical system with a unique cultural background. Nowadays, more and more Western countries due to its therapeutic efficacy are accepting it. However, safety and clear pharmacological action mechanisms of TCM are still uncertain. Due to the potential application of TCM in healthcare, it is necessary to construct a scientific evaluation system with TCM characteristics and benchmark the difference from the standard of Western medicine. Model organisms have played an important role in the understanding of basic biological processes. It is easier to be studied in certain research aspects and to obtain the information of other species. Despite the controversy over suitable syndrome animal model under TCM theoretical guide, it is unquestionable that many model organisms should be used in the studies of TCM modernization, which will bring modern scientific standards into mysterious ancient Chinese medicine. In this review, we aim to summarize the utilization of model organisms in the construction of TCM syndrome model and highlight the relevance of modern medicine with TCM syndrome animal model. It will serve as the foundation for further research of model organisms and for its application in TCM syndrome model. PMID:24381636

"This base stallion trade": he-whores and male sexuality on the early modern stage.

PubMed

Panek, Jennifer

2010-01-01

Recent scholarship on early modern male sexuality has stressed the threat that sexual relations with women were believed to pose to manhood. Focusing on such plays as Middleton's Your Five Gallants (c. 1608), Fletcher and Massinger's The Custom of The Country (c.1620), and Davenant's The Just Italian (1630), this paper analyzes representations of male prostitutes for women to argue that cultural attitudes toward male sexual performance were more complex and self-contradictory than generally acknowledged. The patriarchal codes that warned against effeminating sexual desire and advocated parsimonious seminal “spending” are undermined by their own inherent corollary: the most masculine man is one who can demonstrate unlimited seminal capacity. Furthermore, it has been posited that the early modern period marked the beginning of a shift from “reproductive” to “performative” constructions of manhood, in which the manhood-affirming aspects of male sexuality gradually became unmoored from their traditional association with bloodlines and attached instead to penetrative sexual conquest. The class implications of this shift inform patriarchal anxieties about the superior sexual stamina of servant-class men and their bodily “service” to elite women. Representing a fantasy of empowering male sexuality that relies on detaching virile performance from effeminating desire—a physiologically absurd notion—and on providing sexual “service” while leaving intact both class and gender hierarchies, a successful he-whore like Middleton's Tailby or Davenant's Sciolto playfully challenges the dictates of patriarchal masculinity by fulfilling them in absurd and unorthodox ways. Ultimately, he illuminates just how untenable those dictates might be.

OH 83: A new early modern human fossil cranium from the Ndutu beds of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.

PubMed

Reiner, Whitney B; Masao, Fidelis; Sholts, Sabrina B; Songita, Agustino Venance; Stanistreet, Ian; Stollhofen, Harald; Taylor, R E; Hlusko, Leslea J

2017-11-01

Herein we introduce a newly recovered partial calvaria, OH 83, from the upper Ndutu Beds of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. We present the geological context of its discovery and a comparative analysis of its morphology, placing OH 83 within the context of our current understanding of the origins and evolution of Homo sapiens. We comparatively assessed the morphology of OH 83 using quantitative and qualitative data from penecontemporaneous fossils and the W.W. Howells modern human craniometric dataset. OH 83 is geologically dated to ca. 60-32 ka. Its morphology is indicative of an early modern human, falling at the low end of the range of variation for post-orbital cranial breadth, the high end of the range for bifrontal breadth, and near average in frontal length. There have been numerous attempts to use cranial anatomy to define the species Homo sapiens and identify it in the fossil record. These efforts have not met wide agreement by the scientific community due, in part, to the mosaic patterns of cranial variation represented by the fossils. The variable, mosaic pattern of trait expression in the crania of Middle and Late Pleistocene fossils implies that morphological modernity did not occur at once. However, OH 83 demonstrates that by ca. 60-32 ka modern humans in Africa included individuals that are at the fairly small and gracile range of modern human cranial variation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Association between hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome with early carotid artery atherosclerosis: A cross-sectional study in middle-aged Chinese population.

PubMed

Liu, Chengguo; Sun, Xiaohui; Lin, Hanli; Zheng, Ruizhi; Ruan, Liansheng; Sun, Zhanhang; Zhu, Yimin

2018-03-21

Homocysteine is a modifiable, independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The association between hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome with the presence of early carotid artery atherosclerosis remains unknown in middle-aged Chinese adults. Chinese adults (n = 1607) of Han ethnicity, age 35 to 65 y, and living in their communities >2 y were surveyed. Hyperhomocysteinemia was defined as homocysteine concentrations >15 µmol/L. Carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaque were examined by ultrasonography. All participants were classified into four groups by hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome status. Participants with both hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome had the highest levels of waist circumference and systolic blood pressure compared with the three other groups. The highest proportion of increased carotid intima-media thickness (61.3%) was in the subgroup of both hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome. After adjustments for the covariates, the risk of increased carotid intima-media thickness was only significantly higher in the group with metabolic syndrome but without hyperhomocysteinemia (odds ratio: 1.47; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.93) compared with people without hyperhomocysteinemia and metabolic syndrome. Furthermore, statistically significant variances of prevalence of plaque among the four subgroups were not discovered. Our study demonstrated that metabolic syndrome had a strong effect on carotid intima-media thickness However, the increased homocysteine levels were not significantly associated with early carotid artery atherosclerosis in middle-aged Chinese people. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The historical development of Chinese group callisthenics.

PubMed

Kuanrou, Huang; Xuexin, Mao; Xin, Wu

2011-01-01

The history of Chinese group callisthenics can be traced back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. Modern callisthenics was brought to China in the Republic of China Era (1912-49) and developed rapidly in the People's Republic of China Era (1949 to the present). Since the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, group callisthenics has developed in five stages: the formation of systemisation, the breakthrough, the multiple development and the comprehensive development. Today, Chinese group callisthenics has become world-famous and has continued its development from its own system and style.

Socio-cultural factors in dental diseases in the Medieval and early Modern Age of northern Spain.

PubMed

Lopez, Belen; Pardiñas, Antonio F; Garcia-Vazquez, Eva; Dopico, Eduardo

2012-02-01

The aim of this study is to present, discuss and compare the results of pathological conditions in teeth from skeletal remains found in the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in four Medieval cemeteries (late 15th century) and three cemeteries from the Modern Age (late 18th century). The final objective was to evaluate the impact of socioeconomic and cultural changes that took place during the early Modern Age in Spain, on oral health. Dental caries and antemortem tooth loss were considered as indicators of dental disease. A significant increase of both dental caries and antemortem tooth loss occurred in Modern Age individuals when compared to Medieval values, as reported for other regions. Increased trade with other continents may explain this deterioration of dental health, as food exchanges (mainly with America) contributed to diet changes for the overall population, including higher carbohydrate consumption (introduction of potatoes) at the expense of other vegetables. A sex-specific increase of dental disease with age, and a significantly higher prevalence of carious lesions in Modern Age females than in males, were also found. These changes can be explained by women having had limited access to dental care after the Middle-Modern Age transition, as a consequence of socio-cultural and political changes. In these changes, an increasing influence of the Catholic Church in Spanish society has to be noted, as it can contribute to the explanation of the unequal dental health of men and women. Women were socially excluded from dental care by regulations inspired by religious precepts. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Dental enamel defects in German medieval and early-modern-age populations.

PubMed

Lang, J; Birkenbeil, S; Bock, S; Heinrich-Weltzien, R; Kromeyer-Hauschild, K

2016-11-01

Aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and type of developmental defects of enamel (DDE) in a medieval and an early-modern-age population from Thuringia, Germany. Sixty-six skeletons subdivided into 31 single burials (12 th /13 th c.) and 35 individuals buried in groups (15 th /16 th c.) were examined. DDE were classified on 1,246 teeth according to the DDE index. Molar-incisor-hypomineralisation (MIH), a special type of DDE, was recorded according to the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) criteria. DDE was found in 89.4% of the individuals (single burials 90.3% and group burials 88.6%). Hypoplastic pits were the most frequent defect in primary teeth and linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) in permanent teeth. 13 individuals (24.1%) showed at least one hypomineralised permanent tooth, 12.2% had MIH on at least one first permanent molar and 10.0% in permanent incisors. Second primary molars were affected in 8.0% of the children and juveniles. No individual suffered from affected molars and incisors in combination. Endogenous factors like nutritional deficiencies and health problems in early childhood could have been aetiological reasons of DDE and MIH. The frequency of DDE and MIH might have been masked by extended carious lesions, dental wear and ante-mortem tooth loss.

Early postdisaster health outreach to modern families: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Haga, Jon Magnus; Stene, Lise Eilin; Wentzel-Larsen, Tore; Thoresen, Siri; Dyb, Grete

2015-12-17

This study investigated whether the early outreach programme following the Utøya massacre reached out to the parents of the young survivors. Additionally, we explored whether specialised mental healthcare services were provided to parents presenting elevated levels of PTSD and depression reactions. Cross-sectional survey, face-to-face interviews and questionnaires. Norway, aftermath of the Utøya massacre, 4-7 months postdisaster. Following the Utøya massacre, proactive early outreach programmes were launched in all municipalities that were affected, facilitating access to appropriate healthcare services. A total of 453 parents of the Utøya survivors aged 13-33 years took part. Overall, 59.8% of the survivors were represented by one or more parent in our study. Engagement with the proactive early outreach programme (psychosocial crisis teams and contact persons in the municipalities), utilisation of healthcare services (general practitioner and specialised mental healthcare services) and mental distress (UCLA PTSD-RI and HSCL-8). A majority of the participants reported contact with the proactive early outreach programme (crisis team, 73.9%; and contact person, 73.0%). Failure of outreach to parents was significantly associated with non-intact family structure (crisis team: OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.05 to 2.72, p=0.032) and non-Norwegian origin (crisis team: OR 2.39, 95% CI 1.14 to 4.98, p=0.021). Gender of the parent was not significantly associated with failure of the outreach programme (p ≥ 0.075). Provision of specialised mental healthcare services was significantly associated with higher levels of PTSD (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.55 to 2.79, p<0.001) and depression (OR 2.42, 95% CI 1.71 to 3.43, p<0.001) and not with the sociodemography (p ≥ 0.122). Proactive early outreach strategies may be helpful in identifying healthcare needs and facilitating access to the required services in a population struck by disaster. Our findings prompt increased attention to the complexity

Genealogical relationships between early medieval and modern inhabitants of Piedmont.

PubMed

Vai, Stefania; Ghirotto, Silvia; Pilli, Elena; Tassi, Francesca; Lari, Martina; Rizzi, Ermanno; Matas-Lalueza, Laura; Ramirez, Oscar; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Achilli, Alessandro; Olivieri, Anna; Torroni, Antonio; Lancioni, Hovirag; Giostra, Caterina; Bedini, Elena; Pejrani Baricco, Luisella; Matullo, Giuseppe; Di Gaetano, Cornelia; Piazza, Alberto; Veeramah, Krishna; Geary, Patrick; Caramelli, David; Barbujani, Guido

2015-01-01

In the period between 400 to 800 AD, also known as the period of the Barbarian invasions, intense migration is documented in the historical record of Europe. However, little is known about the demographic impact of these historical movements, potentially ranging from negligible to substantial. As a pilot study in a broader project on Medieval Europe, we sampled 102 specimens from 5 burial sites in Northwestern Italy, archaeologically classified as belonging to Lombards or Longobards, a Germanic people ruling over a vast section of the Italian peninsula from 568 to 774. We successfully amplified and typed the mitochondrial hypervariable region I (HVR-I) of 28 individuals. Comparisons of genetic diversity with other ancient populations and haplotype networks did not suggest that these samples are heterogeneous, and hence allowed us to jointly compare them with three isolated contemporary populations, and with a modern sample of a large city, representing a control for the effects of recent immigration. We then generated by serial coalescent simulations 16 millions of genealogies, contrasting a model of genealogical continuity with one in which the contemporary samples are genealogically independent from the medieval sample. Analyses by Approximate Bayesian Computation showed that the latter model fits the data in most cases, with one exception, Trino Vercellese, in which the evidence was compatible with persistence up to the present time of genetic features observed among this early medieval population. We conclude that it is possible, in general, to detect evidence of genealogical ties between medieval and specific modern populations. However, only seldom did mitochondrial DNA data allow us to reject with confidence either model tested, which indicates that broader analyses, based on larger assemblages of samples and genetic markers, are needed to understand in detail the effects of medieval migration.

Genealogical Relationships between Early Medieval and Modern Inhabitants of Piedmont

PubMed Central

Vai, Stefania; Ghirotto, Silvia; Pilli, Elena; Tassi, Francesca; Lari, Martina; Rizzi, Ermanno; Matas-Lalueza, Laura; Ramirez, Oscar; Lalueza-Fox, Carles; Achilli, Alessandro; Olivieri, Anna; Torroni, Antonio; Lancioni, Hovirag; Giostra, Caterina; Bedini, Elena; Baricco, Luisella Pejrani; Matullo, Giuseppe; Di Gaetano, Cornelia; Piazza, Alberto; Veeramah, Krishna; Geary, Patrick; Caramelli, David; Barbujani, Guido

2015-01-01

In the period between 400 to 800 AD, also known as the period of the Barbarian invasions, intense migration is documented in the historical record of Europe. However, little is known about the demographic impact of these historical movements, potentially ranging from negligible to substantial. As a pilot study in a broader project on Medieval Europe, we sampled 102 specimens from 5 burial sites in Northwestern Italy, archaeologically classified as belonging to Lombards or Longobards, a Germanic people ruling over a vast section of the Italian peninsula from 568 to 774. We successfully amplified and typed the mitochondrial hypervariable region I (HVR-I) of 28 individuals. Comparisons of genetic diversity with other ancient populations and haplotype networks did not suggest that these samples are heterogeneous, and hence allowed us to jointly compare them with three isolated contemporary populations, and with a modern sample of a large city, representing a control for the effects of recent immigration. We then generated by serial coalescent simulations 16 millions of genealogies, contrasting a model of genealogical continuity with one in which the contemporary samples are genealogically independent from the medieval sample. Analyses by Approximate Bayesian Computation showed that the latter model fits the data in most cases, with one exception, Trino Vercellese, in which the evidence was compatible with persistence up to the present time of genetic features observed among this early medieval population. We conclude that it is possible, in general, to detect evidence of genealogical ties between medieval and specific modern populations. However, only seldom did mitochondrial DNA data allow us to reject with confidence either model tested, which indicates that broader analyses, based on larger assemblages of samples and genetic markers, are needed to understand in detail the effects of medieval migration. PMID:25635682

Casebooks in early modern England: medicine, astrology, and written records.

PubMed

Kassell, Lauren

2014-01-01

Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hippocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identifies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserving medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves.

Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program Operator Performance Metrics for Control Room Modernization: A Practical Guide for Early Design Evaluation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ronald Boring; Roger Lew; Thomas Ulrich

2014-03-01

As control rooms are modernized with new digital systems at nuclear power plants, it is necessary to evaluate the operator performance using these systems as part of a verification and validation process. There are no standard, predefined metrics available for assessing what is satisfactory operator interaction with new systems, especially during the early design stages of a new system. This report identifies the process and metrics for evaluating human system interfaces as part of control room modernization. The report includes background information on design and evaluation, a thorough discussion of human performance measures, and a practical example of how themore » process and metrics have been used as part of a turbine control system upgrade during the formative stages of design. The process and metrics are geared toward generalizability to other applications and serve as a template for utilities undertaking their own control room modernization activities.« less

‘Very Sore Nights and Days’: The Child’s Experience of Illness in Early Modern England, c.1580–1720

PubMed Central

NEWTON, HANNAH

2011-01-01

Sick children were ubiquitous in early modern England, and yet they have received very little attention from historians. Taking the elusive perspective of the child, this article explores the physical, emotional, and spiritual experience of illness in England between approximately 1580 and 1720. What was it like being ill and suffering pain? How did the young respond emotionally to the anticipation of death? It is argued that children’s experiences were characterised by profound ambivalence: illness could be terrifying and distressing, but also a source of emotional and spiritual fulfilment and joy. This interpretation challenges the common assumption amongst medical historians that the experiences of early modern patients were utterly miserable. It also sheds light on children’s emotional feelings for their parents, a subject often overlooked in the historiography of childhood. The primary sources used in this article include diaries, autobiographies, letters, the biographies of pious children, printed possession cases, doctors’ casebooks, and theological treatises concerning the afterlife. PMID:21461308

Filial Piety and Psychosocial Adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese Early Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leung, Angel Nga-man; Wong, Stephanie Siu-fong; Wong, Iris Wai-yin; McBride-Chang, Catherine

2010-01-01

Is the Confucian concept of filial piety relevant for understanding contemporary Chinese children's psychological well-being? This study of 231 Hong Kong Chinese fifth and sixth graders demonstrated that parental warmth and two facets of children's filial piety belief were uniquely associated with life satisfaction, self-esteem, and social…

[Application of network biology on study of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Tian, Sai-Sai; Yang, Jian; Zhao, Jing; Zhang, Wei-Dong

2018-01-01

With the completion of the human genome project, people have gradually recognized that the functions of the biological system are fulfilled through network-type interaction between genes, proteins and small molecules, while complex diseases are caused by the imbalance of biological processes due to a number of gene expression disorders. These have contributed to the rise of the concept of the "multi-target" drug discovery. Treatment and diagnosis of traditional Chinese medicine are based on holism and syndrome differentiation. At the molecular level, traditional Chinese medicine is characterized by multi-component and multi-target prescriptions, which is expected to provide a reference for the development of multi-target drugs. This paper reviews the application of network biology in traditional Chinese medicine in six aspects, in expectation to provide a reference to the modernized study of traditional Chinese medicine. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

'A WONDERFULL MONSTER BORNE IN GERMANY': HAIRY GIRLS IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN GERMAN BOOK, COURT AND PERFORMANCE CULTURE.

PubMed

Katritzky, M A

2014-09-24

Human hirsuteness, or pathological hair growth, can be symptomatic of various conditions, including genetic mutation or inheritance, and some cancers and hormonal disturbances. Modern investigations into hirsuteness were initiated by nineteenth-century German physicians. Most early modern European cases of hypertrichosis (genetically determined all-over body and facial hair) involve German-speaking parentage or patronage, and are documented in German print culture. Through the Wild Man tradition, modern historians routinely link early modern reception of historical hypertrichosis cases to issues of ethnicity without, however, recognising early modern awareness of links between temporary hirsuteness and the pathological nexus of starvation and anorexia. Here, four cases of hirsute females are reconsidered with reference to this medical perspective, and to texts and images uncovered by my current research at the Herzog August Library and German archives. One concerns an Italian girl taken to Prague in 1355 by the Holy Roman Empress, Anna von Schweidnitz. Another focuses on Madeleine and Antonietta Gonzalez, daughters of the 'Wild Man' of Tenerife, documented at German courts in the 1580s. The third and fourth cases consider the medieval bearded Sankt Kümmernis (also known as St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber), and the seventeenth-century Bavarian fairground performer Barbara Urslerin. Krankhafter menschlicher Hirsutismus kann aufgrund unterschiedlicher Ursachen auftreten, zu denen u.a. genetische Veländerungen und Vererbung, verschiedene Krebserkrankungen und hormonelle Störungen gehören. Die moderne Hirsutismus-Forschung ist im 19. Jh. von deutschen Forschern initiiert worden. Die meisten europäischen frühneuzeitlichen Erscheinungen von Hypertrichose (dem genetisch bedingten Haarwuchs am gesamten Körper und im Gesicht) gehen auf deutschsprachige Eltern oder Förderer zurück und sind in Deutschland in den Druck gelangt. Bei Untersuchungen des Motivs des Wilden

Training the intelligent eye: understanding illustrations in early modern astronomy texts.

PubMed

Crowther, Kathleen M; Barker, Peter

2013-09-01

Throughout the early modern period, the most widely read astronomical textbooks were Johannes de Sacrobosco's De sphaera and the Theorica planetarum, ultimately in the new form introduced by Georg Peurbach. This essay argues that the images in these texts were intended to develop an "intelligent eye." Students were trained to transform representations of specific heavenly phenomena into moving mental images of the structure of the cosmos. Only by learning the techniques of mental visualization and manipulation could the student "see" in the mind's eye the structure and motions of the cosmos. While anyone could look up at the heavens, only those who had acquired the intelligent eye could comprehend the divinely created order of the universe. Further, the essay demonstrates that the visual program of the Sphaera and Theorica texts played a significant and hitherto unrecognized role in later scientific work. Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler all utilized the same types of images in their own texts to explicate their ideas about the cosmos.

Philosophy of experiment in early modern England: the case of Bacon, Boyle and Hooke.

PubMed

Anstey, Peter R

2014-01-01

Serious philosophical reflection on the nature of experiment began in earnest in the seventeenth century. This paper expounds the most influential philosophy of experiment in seventeenth-century England, the Bacon-Boyle-Hooke view of experiment. It is argued that this can only be understood in the context of the new experimental philosophy practised according to the Baconian theory of natural history. The distinctive typology of experiments of this view is discussed, as well as its account of the relation between experiment and theory. This leads into an assessment of other recent discussions of early modern experiment, namely, those of David Gooding, Thomas Kuhn, J.E. Tiles and Peter Dear.

Origin and geodynamic significance of the early Mesozoic Weiya LP and HT granulites from the Chinese Eastern Tianshan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mao, Ling-Juan; He, Zhen-Yu; Zhang, Ze-Ming; Klemd, Reiner; Xiang, Hua; Tian, Zuo-Lin; Zong, Ke-Qing

2015-12-01

The Chinese Tianshan in the southwestern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) is characterized by a variety of high-grade metamorphic rocks, which provide critical constraints for understanding the geodynamic evolution of the CAOB. In this paper, we present detailed petrological and zircon U-Pb geochronological studies of the Weiya low-pressure and high-temperature (LP-HT) granulites of the Chinese Eastern Tianshan. These granulites were previously considered to be a product of a regional metamorphic orogenic event. Due to different bulk-rock chemistries the Weiya granulites, which occur as lenses within the contact metamorphic aureole of the Weiya granitic ring complex, have a variety of felsic-pelitic and mafic granulites with different textural equilibrium mineral assemblages including garnet-cordierite-sillimanite-bearing granulites, cordierite-sillimanite-bearing granulites, cordierite-orthopyroxene-bearing granulites, and orthopyroxene-clinopyroxene-bearing granulites. Average P-T thermobarometric calculations and conventional geothermobarometry indicates that the Weiya granulites underwent early prograde metamorphism under conditions of 600-650 °C at 3.2-4.2 kbar and peak metamorphism of 750-840 °C at 2.9-6.3 kbar, indicating a rather high geothermal gradient of ca. 60 °C/km. Zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS dating revealed metamorphic ages between 244 ± 1 to 237 ± 3 Ma, which are in accordance with the crystallization age of the Weiya granitic ring complex. We suggest that the formation of the Weiya granulites was related to contemporaneous granitic magmatism instead of a regional metamorphic orogenic event. In addition, a Late Devonian metamorphic age of ca. 380 Ma was recorded in zircon mantle domains from two pelitic samples which is consistent with the metamorphic age of the Xingxingxia metamorphic complex in the Chinese Eastern Tianshan. This suggests that the mantle domains of the zircon grains of the Weiya granulites probably formed during the

The evolution of modern human brain shape

PubMed Central

Neubauer, Simon; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Gunz, Philipp

2018-01-01

Modern humans have large and globular brains that distinguish them from their extinct Homo relatives. The characteristic globularity develops during a prenatal and early postnatal period of rapid brain growth critical for neural wiring and cognitive development. However, it remains unknown when and how brain globularity evolved and how it relates to evolutionary brain size increase. On the basis of computed tomographic scans and geometric morphometric analyses, we analyzed endocranial casts of Homo sapiens fossils (N = 20) from different time periods. Our data show that, 300,000 years ago, brain size in early H. sapiens already fell within the range of present-day humans. Brain shape, however, evolved gradually within the H. sapiens lineage, reaching present-day human variation between about 100,000 and 35,000 years ago. This process started only after other key features of craniofacial morphology appeared modern and paralleled the emergence of behavioral modernity as seen from the archeological record. Our findings are consistent with important genetic changes affecting early brain development within the H. sapiens lineage since the origin of the species and before the transition to the Later Stone Age and the Upper Paleolithic that mark full behavioral modernity. PMID:29376123

The evolution of modern human brain shape.

PubMed

Neubauer, Simon; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Gunz, Philipp

2018-01-01

Modern humans have large and globular brains that distinguish them from their extinct Homo relatives. The characteristic globularity develops during a prenatal and early postnatal period of rapid brain growth critical for neural wiring and cognitive development. However, it remains unknown when and how brain globularity evolved and how it relates to evolutionary brain size increase. On the basis of computed tomographic scans and geometric morphometric analyses, we analyzed endocranial casts of Homo sapiens fossils ( N = 20) from different time periods. Our data show that, 300,000 years ago, brain size in early H. sapiens already fell within the range of present-day humans. Brain shape, however, evolved gradually within the H. sapiens lineage, reaching present-day human variation between about 100,000 and 35,000 years ago. This process started only after other key features of craniofacial morphology appeared modern and paralleled the emergence of behavioral modernity as seen from the archeological record. Our findings are consistent with important genetic changes affecting early brain development within the H. sapiens lineage since the origin of the species and before the transition to the Later Stone Age and the Upper Paleolithic that mark full behavioral modernity.

The Modern Religious Language of Education: Rousseau's "Emile"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osterwalder, Fritz

2012-01-01

The Republican education, its concepts, theories, and form of discourse belong to the shared European heritage of the pre-modern Age. The pedagogy of humanism and its effects on the early Modern Age are represented by Republicanism. Even if Republicanism found a political continuation in liberalism and democratism of the Modern Age, the same…

[Construction of multiple drug release system based on components of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Liu, Dan; Jia, Xiaobin; Yu, Danhong; Zhang, Zhenhai; Sun, E

2012-08-01

With the development of the modernization drive of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) preparations, new-type TCM dosage forms research have become a hot spot in the field. Because of complexity of TCM components as well as uncertainty of material base, there is still not a scientific system for modern TCM dosage forms so far. Modern TCM preparations inevitably take the nature of the multi-component and the general function characteristics of multi-link and multi-target into account. The author suggests building a multiple drug release system for TCM using diverse preparation techniques and drug release methods at levels on the basis the nature and function characteristics of TCM components. This essay expounds elaborates the ideas to build the multiple traditional Chinese medicine release system, theoretical basis, preparation techniques and assessment system, current problems and solutions, in order to build a multiple TCM release system with a view of enhancing the bioavailability of TCM components and provide a new form for TCM preparations.

The Live Chicken Treatment for Buboes: Trying a Plague Cure in Medieval and Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Heinrichs, Erik A

2017-01-01

This article traces a seven-hundred-year history of one puzzling treatment for plague buboes that used the rumps of chickens to draw out the bubo's poisons. It traces the origin of the recipe to Avicenna's Canon and explores how medieval and early modern physicians altered the treatment and explained its workings up to the early eighteenth century. Much of the analysis focuses on the variants of the recipe that German physicians created as they adapted or elaborated on older recipes. This article argues that most variations of the treatment likely resulted from physicians trying ideas on paper, rather than in practice, as they attempted to unlock the mysteries of the plague's underlying poisons. Starting in the sixteenth century, however, evidence suggests that practice began to play an important role in the adaptation and interpretation of the "live chicken" recipes.

(See symbol in text) in early modern discussions of the passions: Stoicism, Christianity and natural history.

PubMed

Kraye, Jill

2012-01-01

This paper examines the reception of the Stoic theory of the passions in the early modern period, highlighting various differences between the way notions such as (see symbol in text) (complete freedom from passions) and(see symbol in text) (pre-passions) were handled and interpreted by Continental and English authors. Both groups were concerned about the compatibility of Stoicism with Christianity, but came to opposing conclusions; and while the Continental scholars drew primarily on ancient philosophical texts, the English ones relied, in addition, on experience and observation, developing a natural history of the passions.

‘A Wonderfull Monster Borne in Germany’: Hairy Girls in Medieval and Early Modern German Book, Court and Performance Culture*

PubMed Central

Katritzky, MA

2014-01-01

Human hirsuteness, or pathological hair growth, can be symptomatic of various conditions, including genetic mutation or inheritance, and some cancers and hormonal disturbances. Modern investigations into hirsuteness were initiated by nineteenth-century German physicians. Most early modern European cases of hypertrichosis (genetically determined all-over body and facial hair) involve German-speaking parentage or patronage, and are documented in German print culture. Through the Wild Man tradition, modern historians routinely link early modern reception of historical hypertrichosis cases to issues of ethnicity without, however, recognising early modern awareness of links between temporary hirsuteness and the pathological nexus of starvation and anorexia. Here, four cases of hirsute females are reconsidered with reference to this medical perspective, and to texts and images uncovered by my current research at the Herzog August Library and German archives. One concerns an Italian girl taken to Prague in 1355 by the Holy Roman Empress, Anna von Schweidnitz. Another focuses on Madeleine and Antonietta Gonzalez, daughters of the ‘Wild Man’ of Tenerife, documented at German courts in the 1580s. The third and fourth cases consider the medieval bearded Sankt Kümmernis (also known as St Wilgefortis or St Uncumber), and the seventeenth-century Bavarian fairground performer Barbara Urslerin. Krankhafter menschlicher Hirsutismus kann aufgrund unterschiedlicher Ursachen auftreten, zu denen u.a. genetische Veränderungen und Vererbung, verschiedene Krebserkrankungen und hormonelle Störungen gehören. Die moderne Hirsutismus-Forschung ist im 19. Jh. von deutschen Forschern initiiert worden. Die meisten europäischen frühneuzeitlichen Erscheinungen von Hypertrichose (dem genetisch bedingten Haarwuchs am gesamten Körper und im Gesicht) gehen auf deutschsprachige Eltern oder Förderer zurück und sind in Deutschland in den Druck gelangt. Bei Untersuchungen des Motivs des

Victims of Chinese famine in early life have increased risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood.

PubMed

Yu, Caizheng; Wang, Jing; Wang, Fei; Han, Xu; Hu, Hua; Yuan, Jing; Miao, Xiaoping; Yao, Ping; Wei, Sheng; Wang, Youjie; Liang, Yuan; Zhang, Xiaomin; Guo, Huan; Pan, An; Zheng, Dan; Tang, Yuhan; Yang, Handong; Wu, Tangchun; He, Meian

2018-02-05

To investigate the association of exposure to the Chinese famine during early life with metabolic syndrome risk in adults. There were 7,915 participants from Dongfeng-Tongji cohort were included in the present study. Participants were classified as non-exposed group, fetal exposed group, early childhood-, mid childhood-, and late childhood-exposed groups, respectively. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to International Diabetes Foundation criteria (2005). Logistic regression model was used to explore the association between famine exposure in early life and metabolic syndrome risk in adults. The metabolic syndrome prevalence in non-, fetal-, early childhood-, mid childhood-, and late childhood- exposed groups were 25.2%, 26.9%, 30.3%, 32.7%, and 32.7%, respectively. Compared with non-exposed group, participants exposed to famine in the fetal (0.96, 95% CI: 0.77-1.20), early childhood (1.24, 95% CI: 1.01-1.52), mid childhood (1.39, 95% CI: 1.13-1.72), and late childhood (1.33, 95% CI: 1.08-1.63) had higher metabolic syndrome prevalence risk in adults after adjustment for potential confounders (P for trend < 0.0001). In gender-specific analyses, women exposed to famine in early childhood (1.26, 95% CI: 1.02-1.56), mid childhood (1.43, 95% CI: 1.14-1.78), and late childhood (1.47, 95% CI: 1.18-1.84) had higher metabolic syndrome prevalence risk than non-exposed women (P for trend < 0.0001). There was a famine-gender interaction on metabolic syndrome prevalence risk (P for interaction = 0.0001). Results in the present study indicated that exposure to famine in early life increases the risk of metabolic syndrome in adulthood, particularly in women. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Enlightenment from ancient Chinese urban and rural stormwater management practices.

PubMed

Wu, Che; Qiao, Mengxi; Wang, Sisi

2013-01-01

Hundreds of years ago, the ancient Chinese implemented several outstanding projects to cope with the changing climate and violent floods. Some of these projects are still in use today. These projects evolved from the experience and knowledge accumulated through the long coexistence of people with nature. The concepts behind these ancient stormwater management practices, such as low-impact development and sustainable drainage systems, are similar to the technology applied in modern stormwater management. This paper presents the cases of the Hani Terrace in Yunnan and the Fushou drainage system of Ganzhou in Jiangxi. The ancient Chinese knowledge behind these cases is seen in the design concepts and the features of these projects. These features help us to understand better their applications in the contemporary environment. In today's more complex environment, integrating traditional and advanced philosophy with modern technologies is extremely useful in building urban and rural stormwater management systems in China.

The role of early language abilities on math skills among Chinese children.

PubMed

Zhang, Juan; Fan, Xitao; Cheung, Sum Kwing; Meng, Yaxuan; Cai, Zhihui; Hu, Bi Ying

2017-01-01

The present study investigated the role of early language abilities in the development of math skills among Chinese K-3 students. About 2000 children in China, who were on average aged 6 years, were assessed for both informal math (e.g., basic number concepts such as counting objects) and formal math (calculations including addition and subtraction) skills, language abilities and nonverbal intelligence. Correlation analysis showed that language abilities were more strongly associated with informal than formal math skills, and regression analyses revealed that children's language abilities could uniquely predict both informal and formal math skills with age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence controlled. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between children's language abilities and formal math skills was partially mediated by informal math skills. The current findings indicate 1) Children's language abilities are of strong predictive values for both informal and formal math skills; 2) Language abilities impacts formal math skills partially through the mediation of informal math skills.

The role of early language abilities on math skills among Chinese children

PubMed Central

Fan, Xitao; Cheung, Sum Kwing; Cai, Zhihui; Hu, Bi Ying

2017-01-01

Background The present study investigated the role of early language abilities in the development of math skills among Chinese K-3 students. About 2000 children in China, who were on average aged 6 years, were assessed for both informal math (e.g., basic number concepts such as counting objects) and formal math (calculations including addition and subtraction) skills, language abilities and nonverbal intelligence. Methodology Correlation analysis showed that language abilities were more strongly associated with informal than formal math skills, and regression analyses revealed that children’s language abilities could uniquely predict both informal and formal math skills with age, gender, and nonverbal intelligence controlled. Mediation analyses demonstrated that the relationship between children’s language abilities and formal math skills was partially mediated by informal math skills. Results The current findings indicate 1) Children’s language abilities are of strong predictive values for both informal and formal math skills; 2) Language abilities impacts formal math skills partially through the mediation of informal math skills. PMID:28749950

Small wins big: analytic pinyin skills promote Chinese word reading.

PubMed

Lin, Dan; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Shu, Hua; Zhang, Yuping; Li, Hong; Zhang, Juan; Aram, Dorit; Levin, Iris

2010-08-01

The present study examined invented spelling of pinyin (a phonological coding system for teaching and learning Chinese words) in relation to subsequent Chinese reading development. Among 296 Chinese kindergartners in Beijing, independent invented pinyin spelling was found to be uniquely predictive of Chinese word reading 12 months later, even with Time 1 syllable deletion, phoneme deletion, and letter knowledge, in addition to the autoregressive effects of Time 1 Chinese word reading, statistically controlled. These results underscore the importance of children's early pinyin representations for Chinese reading acquisition, both theoretically and practically. The findings further support the idea of a universal phonological principle and indicate that pinyin is potentially an ideal measure of phonological awareness in Chinese.

Circles of Confidence in Correspondence: Modeling Confidentiality and Secrecy in Knowledge Exchange Networks of Letters and Drawings in the Early Modern Period.

PubMed

van den Heuvel, Charles; Weingart, Scott B; Spelt, Nils; Nellen, Henk

2016-01-01

Science in the early modern world depended on openness in scholarly communication. On the other hand, a web of commercial, political, and religious conflicts required broad measures of secrecy and confidentiality; similar measures were integral to scholarly rivalries and plagiarism. This paper analyzes confidentiality and secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchange via letters and drawings. We argue that existing approaches to understanding knowledge exchange in early modern Europe--which focus on the Republic of Letters as a unified entity of corresponding scholars--can be improved upon by analyzing multilayered networks of communication. We describe a data model to analyze circles of confidence and cultures of secrecy in intellectual and technological knowledge exchanges. Finally, we discuss the outcomes of a first experiment focusing on the question of how personal and professional/official relationships interact with confidentiality and secrecy, based on a case study of the correspondence of Hugo Grotius.

Acoustics of Chinese traditional theatres

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, J. Q.

2002-11-01

Chinese traditional theatre is unique in the world as an architectural form. The Chinese opera evolved into maturity as early as the Song and Yuan Dynasties, 11th-14th centuries, and Chinese theatrical buildings developed accordingly. As the Chinese opera plays on the principle of imaginary actions, no realistic stage settings are required. But Chinese audiences have placed great demands on vocal performance since ancient times. Pavilion stages that are small in area, open on three sides, and thrusting into the audience area are commonly found in traditional theatres, both the courtyard type and auditorium type. The pavilion stage is backed with a wall and a low ceiling (flat or domed). The stage functions as a reflecting shell, which enhances the sound to the audience and provides self-support to the singer. Numerous theatres of this kind exist and function in good condition to the present time. Acoustical measurements show that the sound strength and clarity in audience areas is satisfactory in moderate size courtyard traditional theatres. [Work supported by NSF.

Reimer through Confucian Lenses: Resonances with Classical Chinese Aesthetics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tan, Leonard

2015-01-01

In this paper, I compare all three editions of Bennett Reimer's "A Philosophy of Music Education" with early Chinese philosophy, in particular, classical Chinese aesthetics. I structure my analysis around a quartet of interrelated themes: aesthetic education, education of feeling, aesthetic experience, and ethics and aesthetics. This…

Early Development of Demonstratives in Pre-Qin Chinese

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deng, Lin

2011-01-01

This dissertation offers a new dynamic account of the evolution of the demonstrative system in pre-Qin Chinese based on a comprehensive linguistic analysis of the phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of demonstratives attested in two corpora of excavated texts, i.e. the oracle-bone inscriptions dated to the late…

Preliminary Study of Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene Plant Food Strategies in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hayashi Tang, M.; Liu, X.; Fritz, G.; Zhao, Z.

2017-12-01

In recent decades, studies on the domestication and early cultivation of seed crops have contributed significantly to how we understand human-plant interactions, and their impact on human social organisation and the environment. It is becoming clear, however, that plants have been critical to the human diet for much longer and in more diverse ways than previously assumed. This paper is a preliminary attempt at identifying and addressing early prehistoric plant food strategies in China. In particular, very little is known about the use of vegetatively propagated plants, despite their significant representation in modern crops. Many ingredients of Chinese medicine are also roots and tubers (or vegetative storage organs, VSOs). Unlike seed crops, however, we lack a systematic criterion for examining diagnostic characters of different VSO taxa in the archaeological record. To address this issue, we characterized commonly consumed and historically significant VSOs in China, by studying experimentally charred modern samples under the optical microscope and scanning electron microscope. We then compared the characteristics of these modern VSO samples against plant remains from Late Pleistocene to early Holocene archaeological sites in China, such as Zengpiyan (Guangxi), Zhaoguodong (Guizhou), and Jiahu (Henan) sites. We found that different taxa of VSOs can be differentiated by using multiple lines of evidence, including: shape and size of various cells, texture and arrangement of cell walls, as well as anatomical arrangements of organs, especially the vascular bundles. Though identification can be difficult when fragile cell structures have collapsed or deteriorated, more robust features are often preserved for diagnosis. Our results suggest that the potential for studying the role of vegetatively propagated plants in early human-environmental interactions is overlooked, and can be expanded significantly with further investment in their systematic identification.

The United States and biological warfare: secrets from the early cold war and Korea.

PubMed

Bruwer, A

2001-01-01

The United States and Biological Warfare is about accusations that the United States resorted to bacteriological warfare at a time of great military stress during the Korean War. In December 1951, the then US Secretary of Defense ordered early readiness for offensive use of biological weapons. Soon afterwards, the North Korean and Chinese armies accused the United States of starting a large-scale biological warfare experiment in Korea. The US State Department denied the accusation. Both parties to the dispute maintain their positions today. The authors spent 20 years researching the accusations in North America, Europe and Japan. They were the first foreigners to be given access to Chinese classified documents. The reader is also introduced to the concept of 'plausible denial', an official US policy which allowed responsible governmental representatives to deny knowledge of certain events. The authors hope that their work will contribute to the understanding of a time when modern war expanded into a new type of violence.

The Current State and Prospects of Chinese Teaching in the United States

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Ling

2016-01-01

Chinese teaching arose in the United States in the 1870s, which was relatively early compared to other regions, but due to issues of politics and funding it was perennially marginalized. Chinese teaching in the United States did not see development until the early 1960s, when it began receiving funding from the U.S. government. Owing to the global…

Generating sustainable towns from Chinese villages: a system modeling approach.

PubMed

Levine, Richard S; Hughes, Michael T; Ryan Mather, Casey; Yanarella, Ernest J

2008-04-01

The great majority of China's developing towns will be extensions of already existing villages. With the prospect of hundreds of millions of Chinese farmers projected to leave their villages to become industrial workers in new and expanded towns within the next few years, new challenges will be faced. As expansion and modernization progress, this development moves from the traditional village model that operates not far from resource sustainability to increasingly unsustainable patterns of commerce, urban development, and modern life. With such an unprecedented mass migration and transformation, how can Chinese culture survive? What is to become of the existing million plus agricultural villages? How can these massively unsustainable new industrial towns survive? In the European Commission sponsored research program SUCCESS, researchers worked from the scale of the Chinese village to find viable answers to these questions. To address these issues, the Center for Sustainable Cities, one of the SUCCESS teams, studied the metabolism of several small villages. In these studies, system dynamics models of a village's metabolism were created and then modified so that inherently unsustainable means were eliminated from the model (fossil fuels, harmful agricultural chemicals, etc.) and replaced by sustainability-oriented means. Small Chinese farming villages are unlikely to survive in anything like their present form or scale, not least because they are too small to provide the range of life opportunities to which the young generation of educated Chinese aspires. As a response to this realization as well as to the many other threats to the Chinese village and its rural way of life, it was proposed that one viable path into the future would be to enlarge the villages to become full service towns with sufficient diversity of opportunity to be able to attract and keep many of the best and brightest young people who are now migrating to the larger cities. Starting with the

Estimation of loss of genetic diversity in modern Japanese cultivars by comparison of diverse genetic resources in Asian pear (Pyrus spp.).

PubMed

Nishio, Sogo; Takada, Norio; Saito, Toshihiro; Yamamoto, Toshiya; Iketani, Hiroyuki

2016-06-14

Pears (Pyrus spp.) are one of the most important fruit crops in temperate regions. Japanese pear breeding has been carried out for over 100 years, working to release new cultivars that have good fruit quality and other desirable traits. Local cultivar 'Nijisseiki' and its relatives, which have excellent fruit texture, have been repeatedly used as parents in the breeding program. This strategy has led to inbreeding within recent cultivars and selections. To avoid inbreeding depression, we need to clarify the degree of inbreeding among crossbred cultivars and to introgress genetic resources that are genetically different from modern cultivars and selections. The objective of the present study was to clarify the genetic relatedness between modern Japanese pear cultivars and diverse Asian pear genetic resources. We genotyped 207 diverse accessions by using 19 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The heterozygosity and allelic richness of modern cultivars was obviously decreased compared with that of wild individuals, Chinese pear cultivars, and local cultivars. In analyses using Structure software, the 207 accessions were classified into four clusters (K = 4): one consisting primarily of wild individuals, one of Chinese pear cultivars, one of local cultivars from outside the Kanto region, and one containing both local cultivars from the Kanto region and crossbred cultivars. The results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) were similar to those from the Structure analysis. Wild individuals and Chinese pears appeared to be distinct from other groups, and crossbred cultivars became closer to 'Nijisseiki' as the year of release became more recent. Both Structure and PCoA results suggest that the modern Japanese pear cultivars are genetically close to local cultivars that originated in the Kanto region, and that the genotypes of the modern cultivars were markedly biased toward 'Nijisseiki'. Introgression of germplasm from Chinese pear and wild individuals that are

Games and Sport of Southern California's Chinese-Americans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emery, Lynne

Despite exclusion from the mainstream of society in the late 1800s and the early part of this century, Chinese American youth in the Los Angeles (California) area adopted the sports of this country. Chinese American baseball and basketball teams competed with each other and with teams from the Japanese American community. Football was also played…

Character order processing in Chinese reading.

PubMed

Gu, Junjuan; Li, Xingshan; Liversedge, Simon P

2015-02-01

We explored how character order information is encoded in isolated word processing or Chinese sentence reading in 2 experiments using a masked priming paradigm and a gaze-contingent display-change paradigm. The results showed that response latencies in the lexical decision task and reading times on the target word region were longer in the unrelated condition (the prime or the preview was unrelated with the target word) than the transposed-character condition (the prime or the preview was a transposition of the 2 characters of the target word), which were respectively longer than in the identity condition (the prime or preview was identical to the target word). These results show that character order is encoded at an early stage of processing in Chinese reading, but character position encoding was not strict. We also found that character order encoding was similar for single-morpheme and multiple-morpheme words, suggesting that morphemic status does not affect character order encoding. The current results represent an early contribution to our understanding of character order encoding during Chinese reading.

Collectivistic Conflict of Chinese in Counseling: Conceptualization and Therapeutic Directions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kwan, Kwong-Liem Karl

2009-01-01

Rapid Westernization and modernization in most Chinese societies has triggered a process of acculturation to Western value orientations, which induced conflicts between Confucian-based collectivism and Western individualism at both the societal and individual levels. A review of research instruments indicated that a cultural conflict approach is…

[Exploration and analysis of the thought of medical education in the Shanghai New Chinese Medical College].

PubMed

Li, Ming; Shang, Li; Bing, Shoulan

2014-11-01

Shanghai New Chinese Medical College set up by Zhu Nanshan and his sons, Zhu Xiaonan and Zhu Hegao, was a medical college of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with the most innovative spirit in modern time. Its affiliated research institute held the principle of "realizing the scientific truth of TCM, training TCM advanced talents", marking the beginning of the pioneering of "scientific TCM". The educational plan, clinical research and academic organization based on "carrying forward the quintessence of Chinese culture, absorbing and digesting the new knowledge" showed a certain influence at home and abroad. The College advocated the combination of communicating with famous physicians and the study of theory, cultivation of students' organization and academic society, launching of journals, and organizing students' research associations was aiming at the satisfaction of the social needs and teaching orientation. Its running experience provided useful reference for modern TCM medical education.

Sex-related risks of trauma in medieval to early modern Denmark, and its relationship to change in interpersonal violence over time.

PubMed

Milner, G R; Boldsen, J L; Weise, S; Lauritsen, J M; Freund, U H

2015-06-01

Skeletons from three Danish cemeteries, Sortebrødre, Tirup, and St. Mikkel, that collectively held 822 adults (>15 years) and spanned the medieval to early modern periods (ca. AD 1100-1610) show that men, in general, experienced more bone fractures than women. Men were three times more likely to have healed cranial vault and ulnar shaft fractures than women, with many of these bones presumably broken in interpersonal violence. More women, however, broke distal radii, presumably often the result of falls. Both sexes suffered more cranial fractures than modern Danes, with the proportional difference for men and women being about the same. The difference in cranial trauma frequencies between historic-period and modern Danes has implications for a decline over the past several centuries in interpersonal violence that scholars in other disciplines have inferred from historical sources. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

‘To[o] much eating stifles the child’: fat bodies and reproduction in early modern England†

PubMed Central

Toulalan, Sarah

2013-01-01

Abstract This article examines associations between fat bodies and reproductive dysfunction that were prevalent in medical, midwifery and other literature in early modern England. In a period when fertility and successful reproduction were regarded as hugely important for social, economic and political stability such associations further contributed to negative attitudes towards fat bodies that were fuelled by connection with the vices of sloth and gluttony. Fat bodies were categorized as inherently, constitutionally, less sexual and reproductively successful. Consequently they were perceived as unhealthy and unfit for their primary purpose once they had reached sexual maturity: marriage and the production of children. PMID:25960608

[Applications of mathematical statistics methods on compatibility researches of traditional Chinese medicines formulae].

PubMed

Mai, Lan-Yin; Li, Yi-Xuan; Chen, Yong; Xie, Zhen; Li, Jie; Zhong, Ming-Yu

2014-05-01

The compatibility of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) formulae containing enormous information, is a complex component system. Applications of mathematical statistics methods on the compatibility researches of traditional Chinese medicines formulae have great significance for promoting the modernization of traditional Chinese medicines and improving clinical efficacies and optimizations of formulae. As a tool for quantitative analysis, data inference and exploring inherent rules of substances, the mathematical statistics method can be used to reveal the working mechanisms of the compatibility of traditional Chinese medicines formulae in qualitatively and quantitatively. By reviewing studies based on the applications of mathematical statistics methods, this paper were summarized from perspective of dosages optimization, efficacies and changes of chemical components as well as the rules of incompatibility and contraindication of formulae, will provide the references for further studying and revealing the working mechanisms and the connotations of traditional Chinese medicines.

Red Genesis: The Hunan First Normal School and the Creation of Chinese Communism, 1903-1921. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu, Liyan

2012-01-01

How did an obscure provincial teachers college produce graduates who would go on to become founders and ideologues of the Chinese Communist Party? Mao Zedong, Cai Hesen, Xiao Zisheng, and others attended the Hunan First Normal School. Focusing on their alma mater, this work explores the critical but overlooked role modern schools played in sowing…

[Principles of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Meng, A

2000-01-01

The beginnings of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) can be related to the three most important philosophic and religious personalities. Modern Western medicine (MM), which was already sensationally successful at that time, was brought to China by business men, missionaries and soldiers. Compared to MM, the theories of TCM seem abstract, its concept unusual. Historical hallmarks of TCM influenced by culture are the following: the medical system is philosophical, oriented towards humanism. TCM is a medical system without strict structural relationships (without anatomy).

Neural strategies for reading Japanese and Chinese sentences: a cross-linguistic fMRI study of character-decoding and morphosyntax.

PubMed

Huang, Koongliang; Itoh, Kosuke; Kwee, Ingrid L; Nakada, Tsutomu

2012-09-01

Japanese and Chinese share virtually identical morphographic characters invented in ancient China. Whereas modern Chinese retained the original morphographic functionality of these characters (hanzi), modern Japanese utilizes these characters (kanji) as complex syllabograms. This divergence provides a unique opportunity to systematically investigate brain strategies for sentence reading in Japanese-Chinese bi-literates. Accordingly, we investigated brain activation associated with Japanese and Chinese reading in 14 native Japanese speakers literate in Mandarin and 14 native Mandarin speakers literate in Japanese using functional magnetic resonance imaging performed on a 3T system. The activation pattern exhibited clearly distinct features specific for each language. Regardless of the subject's native language literacy, Chinese reading activated an area significantly larger than Japanese reading, suggesting that brain processes involved in Chinese reading were much more complex than Japanese reading. Significant recruitment of corresponding cortical areas in the right hemisphere with Chinese reading was also apparent. The activation patterns associated with Japanese reading by native Japanese literates was highly consistent with previous reports, and included the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left posterior temporal lobe (PTL), and left ventral premotor cortex (PMv). The activation pattern associated with Chinese reading by native Chinese literates was also highly consistent with previous reports, namely the left IFG, left PTL, left PMv, left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), and bilateral parieto occipital lobes (LPOL). The activation pattern associated with Chinese reading by native Japanese literates was virtually identical to that by native Chinese literates, whereas the activation pattern associated with Japanese reading by native Chinese literates was signified by additional activation of LPOL compared to that by native Japanese literate. The study indicated

E-"jing": Using Information Technology to Teach about Chinese Religions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Deitrick, Jim

2008-01-01

This article discusses ways in which modern online information technologies may be used to enhance students' understanding of Chinese religions and religious texts. This discussion is predicated upon a model of linguistic communication that places significant weight on the structures and "sedimented presuppositions" of language in determining the…

[Late Ming treatises on Chinese and Islamic calendrical systems as seen in the Seki Teisyo].

PubMed

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki

2014-01-01

The Seki Teisyo (see text for symbol), a manuscript compiled by Seki Takakazu (see text for symbol)) in 1686, is known to consist of 15 treatises which Seki extracted from an early Qing astronomical and astrological corpus, the Tianwen Dacheng Guankui Jiyao (see text for symbol). Containing a detailed account of the Shoushi Li (see text for symbol) as well as a comparative study of Chinese and Islamic calendrical systems, these treatises have drawn the attention not only of Seki but of modern historians. In this paper, I show that 14 of the 15 treatises Seki selected had been composed by a late Ming scholar, Zhou Shuxue (see text for symbol), who discussed issues with Tang Shunzhi (see text for symbol). Their time predates the era in which the mathematical basis of the Shoushi Li was scrutinized and a new Chinese calendrical system was invented incorporating Western astronomical knowledge. I also mention some earlier works that Tang and Zhou could have consulted. Although Seki never knew the author of the treatises nor their background, his concern centered on themes that seem to have derived from one of those earlier works: the Liyuan(see text for symbol).

On the impacts of traditional Chinese culture on organ donation.

PubMed

Cai, Yu

2013-04-01

This article examines the impact of traditional Chinese culture on organ donation from the perspective of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. In each of these cultural systems, it appears that there are some particular sayings or remarks that are often taken in modern Chinese society to be contrary to organ donation, especially cadaveric organ donation. However, this article argues that the central concerns of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism are "great love," "ren," and "dao," which can be reasonably interpreted to support organ donation. The author understands that each cultural system, in order to play its cultural function, must have its central concerns as well as relevant ritual practices (li) that incarnate its religious and ethical commitments. That is, each plays a general cultural role, which influences organ donation in particular not merely through abstract or general ethical principles and teachings, but through a combination of ethical teachings and the forming of particular ritual practices. This article contends that the primary reason Chinese individuals fail to donate sufficient cadaveric organs for transplantation is not because particular remarks or sayings from each of these systems appear to conflict with donation. Neither is it that the central concerns of these systems cannot support cadaveric donation. Rather, it is that modern Chinese individuals have failed to develop and secure relevant ritual practices that support the central concerns of organ transplantation. The article concludes that in order to promote more donations, there is a need to form relevant ritual practices supporting organ donation in conformity with the central concerns of these cultural systems.

Expanding women's rural medical work in early modern Brittany: the Daughters of the Holy Spirit.

PubMed

McHugh, Tim

2012-07-01

During the eighteenth century, orders of nursing sisters took on an expanded role in the rural areas of Brittany. This article explores the impact of religious change on the medical activities of these women. While limits were placed on the medical practice of unlicensed individuals, areas of new opportunity for nuns as charitable practitioners were created by devout nobles throughout the eighteenth century. These nuns provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons' estates, acting not only as nurses, but also in lieu of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. This article argues that the medical knowledge and expertise of these sisters from the nursing orders were highly valued by the elites of early modern Brittany.

Expanding Women's Rural Medical Work in Early Modern Brittany: The Daughters of the Holy Spirit

PubMed Central

McHugh, Tim

2012-01-01

During the eighteenth century, orders of nursing sisters took on an expanded role in the rural areas of Brittany. This article explores the impact of religious change on the medical activities of these women. While limits were placed on the medical practice of unlicensed individuals, areas of new opportunity for nuns as charitable practitioners were created by devout nobles throughout the eighteenth century. These nuns provided comprehensive care for the sick poor on their patrons' estates, acting not only as nurses, but also in lieu of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries. This article argues that the medical knowledge and expertise of these sisters from the nursing orders were highly valued by the elites of early modern Brittany. PMID:21724643

Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans

PubMed Central

Chirchir, Habiba; Kivell, Tracy L.; Ruff, Christopher B.; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Carlson, Kristian J.; Zipfel, Bernhard; Richmond, Brian G.

2015-01-01

Humans are unique, compared with our closest living relatives (chimpanzees) and early fossil hominins, in having an enlarged body size and lower limb joint surfaces in combination with a relatively gracile skeleton (i.e., lower bone mass for our body size). Some analyses have observed that in at least a few anatomical regions modern humans today appear to have relatively low trabecular density, but little is known about how that density varies throughout the human skeleton and across species or how and when the present trabecular patterns emerged over the course of human evolution. Here, we test the hypotheses that (i) recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the upper and lower limbs compared with other primate taxa and (ii) the reduction in trabecular density first occurred in early Homo erectus, consistent with the shift toward a modern human locomotor anatomy, or more recently in concert with diaphyseal gracilization in Holocene humans. We used peripheral quantitative CT and microtomography to measure trabecular bone of limb epiphyses (long bone articular ends) in modern humans and chimpanzees and in fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus/early Homo from Swartkrans, Homo neanderthalensis, and early Homo sapiens. Results show that only recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the limb joints. Extinct hominins, including pre-Holocene Homo sapiens, retain the high levels seen in nonhuman primates. Thus, the low trabecular density of the recent modern human skeleton evolved late in our evolutionary history, potentially resulting from increased sedentism and reliance on technological and cultural innovations. PMID:25535354

Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans.

PubMed

Chirchir, Habiba; Kivell, Tracy L; Ruff, Christopher B; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Carlson, Kristian J; Zipfel, Bernhard; Richmond, Brian G

2015-01-13

Humans are unique, compared with our closest living relatives (chimpanzees) and early fossil hominins, in having an enlarged body size and lower limb joint surfaces in combination with a relatively gracile skeleton (i.e., lower bone mass for our body size). Some analyses have observed that in at least a few anatomical regions modern humans today appear to have relatively low trabecular density, but little is known about how that density varies throughout the human skeleton and across species or how and when the present trabecular patterns emerged over the course of human evolution. Here, we test the hypotheses that (i) recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the upper and lower limbs compared with other primate taxa and (ii) the reduction in trabecular density first occurred in early Homo erectus, consistent with the shift toward a modern human locomotor anatomy, or more recently in concert with diaphyseal gracilization in Holocene humans. We used peripheral quantitative CT and microtomography to measure trabecular bone of limb epiphyses (long bone articular ends) in modern humans and chimpanzees and in fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus/early Homo from Swartkrans, Homo neanderthalensis, and early Homo sapiens. Results show that only recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the limb joints. Extinct hominins, including pre-Holocene Homo sapiens, retain the high levels seen in nonhuman primates. Thus, the low trabecular density of the recent modern human skeleton evolved late in our evolutionary history, potentially resulting from increased sedentism and reliance on technological and cultural innovations.

BioTCM-SE: a semantic search engine for the information retrieval of modern biology and traditional Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Chen, Huajun; Bi, Xuan; Gu, Peiqin; Chen, Jiaoyan; Wu, Zhaohui

2014-01-01

Understanding the functional mechanisms of the complex biological system as a whole is drawing more and more attention in global health care management. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), essentially different from Western Medicine (WM), is gaining increasing attention due to its emphasis on individual wellness and natural herbal medicine, which satisfies the goal of integrative medicine. However, with the explosive growth of biomedical data on the Web, biomedical researchers are now confronted with the problem of large-scale data analysis and data query. Besides that, biomedical data also has a wide coverage which usually comes from multiple heterogeneous data sources and has different taxonomies, making it hard to integrate and query the big biomedical data. Embedded with domain knowledge from different disciplines all regarding human biological systems, the heterogeneous data repositories are implicitly connected by human expert knowledge. Traditional search engines cannot provide accurate and comprehensive search results for the semantically associated knowledge since they only support keywords-based searches. In this paper, we present BioTCM-SE, a semantic search engine for the information retrieval of modern biology and TCM, which provides biologists with a comprehensive and accurate associated knowledge query platform to greatly facilitate the implicit knowledge discovery between WM and TCM.

BioTCM-SE: A Semantic Search Engine for the Information Retrieval of Modern Biology and Traditional Chinese Medicine

PubMed Central

Chen, Xi; Chen, Huajun; Bi, Xuan; Gu, Peiqin; Chen, Jiaoyan; Wu, Zhaohui

2014-01-01

Understanding the functional mechanisms of the complex biological system as a whole is drawing more and more attention in global health care management. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), essentially different from Western Medicine (WM), is gaining increasing attention due to its emphasis on individual wellness and natural herbal medicine, which satisfies the goal of integrative medicine. However, with the explosive growth of biomedical data on the Web, biomedical researchers are now confronted with the problem of large-scale data analysis and data query. Besides that, biomedical data also has a wide coverage which usually comes from multiple heterogeneous data sources and has different taxonomies, making it hard to integrate and query the big biomedical data. Embedded with domain knowledge from different disciplines all regarding human biological systems, the heterogeneous data repositories are implicitly connected by human expert knowledge. Traditional search engines cannot provide accurate and comprehensive search results for the semantically associated knowledge since they only support keywords-based searches. In this paper, we present BioTCM-SE, a semantic search engine for the information retrieval of modern biology and TCM, which provides biologists with a comprehensive and accurate associated knowledge query platform to greatly facilitate the implicit knowledge discovery between WM and TCM. PMID:24772189

Efficacy-oriented compatibility for component-based Chinese medicine

PubMed Central

Zhang, Jun-hua; Zhu, Yan; Fan, Xiao-hui; Zhang, Bo-li

2015-01-01

Single-target drugs have not achieved satisfactory therapeutic effects for complex diseases involving multiple factors. Instead, innovations in recent drug research and development have revealed the emergence of compound drugs, such as cocktail therapies and “polypills”, as the frontier in new drug development. A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) prescription that is usually composed of several medicinal herbs can serve a typical representative of compound medicines. Although the traditional compatibility theory of TCM cannot be well expressed using modern scientific language nowadays, the fundamental purpose of TCM compatibility can be understood as promoting efficacy and reducing toxicity. This paper introduces the theory and methods of efficacy-oriented compatibility for developing component-based Chinese medicines. PMID:25864650

History and Experience: A Survey of Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment for Alzheimer's Disease

PubMed Central

Liu, Ping; Kong, Mingwang; Yuan, Shihe; Liu, Junfeng; Wang, Ping

2014-01-01

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is practiced in the Chinese health care system for more than 2,000 years. In recent years, herbal medicines, which are used to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD) in China based on TCM or modern pharmacological theories have attracted considerable attention. In this paper, we discuss etiology and pathogenesis of AD, TCM therapy, and herbal extracts for the treatment of AD. There is evidence to suggest that TCM therapy may offer certain complementary cognitive benefits for the treatment of AD. Chinese herb may have advantages with multiple target regulation compared with the single-target antagonist in view of TCM. PMID:24624220

Chinese Evaluations of the U.S. Navy Submarine Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-01-01

concerned with naval warfare: 当代海军 (Modern Navy), 人民海军 (People’s Navy), 舰船 知 识 (Naval and Merchant Ships), 舰载 武器 (Shipborne Weapons), and 现代舰船 (Modern...舰船 知 识 (Naval and Merchant Ships), a semitechnical monthly publication of the Chinese Society of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, has...我刊召开作者, 读者, 编者座谈会” [Our Journal Convenes a Discussion among Writ­ ers, Readers and Editors], 舰船 知 识 [Naval and Merchant Ships] (August 2006), p. 8

[Theory and practice of bionic cultivation of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Liu, Dahui; Huang, Luqi; Guo, Lanping; Shao, Aijuan; Chen, Meilan

2009-03-01

The bionic cultivation of medicinal plant is an ecological cultivation pattern, which is adopting ecological engineering and modern agricultural techniques to simulate the natural ecosystem of wild medicinal plant community, and has been given greater attention on the agriculture of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is also the cross subject that combines Chinese traditional medicine, agronomy, horticulture, ecology, agricultural engineering and management. Moreover, it has significant technology advantages of promoting the sustainable utilization of medicinal plant resources, improving the ecological environment and harmonizing man and nature. So it's important to develop the bionic cultivation of TCM.

Economic botany collections: A source of material evidence for exploring historical changes in Chinese medicinal materials.

PubMed

Brand, Eric; Leon, Christine; Nesbitt, Mark; Guo, Ping; Huang, Ran; Chen, Hubiao; Liang, Li; Zhao, Zhongzhen

2017-03-22

Many Chinese medicinal materials (CMMs) have changed over centuries of use, particularly in terms of their botanical identity and processing methods. In some cases, these changes have important implications for safety and efficacy in modern clinical practice. As most previous research has focused on clarifying the evolution of CMMs by analyzing traditional Chinese materia medica ("bencao") literature, assessments of historical collections are needed to validate these conclusions with material evidence. Historical collections of Chinese medicines reveal the market materials in circulation at a given moment in time, and represent an underexploited resource for analyzing the evolution of Chinese herbal medicines. This study compares specimens from a rare collection of CMMs from the 1920s with contemporary market materials; by highlighting examples of changes in botanical identity and processing that remain relevant for safe clinical practice in the modern era, this work aims to stimulate further research into previously unexplored historical collections of Chinese medicines. 620 specimens of CMMs that were collected from Chinese pharmacies in the Malay peninsula in the 1920s were examined macroscopically and compared with current pharmacopoeia specifications and authentic contemporary samples. These historical specimens, which are stored in the UK in the Economic Botany Collections (EBC) of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, were morphologically examined, photographed, and compared to authentic CMMs stored at the Bank of China (Hong Kong) Chinese Medicines Center at Hong Kong Baptist University, as well as authentic herbarium-vouchered specimens from the Leon Collection (LC) at the Kew EBC. Case studies were selected to illustrate examples of historical changes in botanical identity, used plant parts, and processing methods. This investigation confirmed that confusion due to shared common names and regional variations in the botanical identity of certain CMMs has been a

Rewriting the history of Chinese families in nineteenth-century Australia.

PubMed

Bagnall, Kate

2011-01-01

The nineteenth-century Chinese population in Australia was made up mostly of men, drawing many commentators to the conclusion these men faced an absence of family life, resulting in prostitution, gambling, opium use and other so-called vices. Recent research has, however, expanded and complicated our knowledge of Chinese families in New South Wales and Victoria, particularly concerning the extent to which Chinese men and white Australian women formed intimate relationships. This article traces the origins of the misconceptions about Chinese families in nineteenth-century Australia, and considers how new directions in scholarship over the past decade are providing methods for enlarging our knowledge. It argues that instead of being oddities or exceptions, Chinese-European families were integral to the story of Australia's early Chinese communities.

Chinese and Korean immigrants’ early life deprivation: An important factor for child feeding practices and children’s body weight in the United States

PubMed Central

Cheah, Charissa S.L.; Van Hook, Jennifer

2012-01-01

This paper examines the associations between Chinese and Korean immigrant parents’ early life material and food deprivation and their concern about their child’s diet or weight, preferences for heavier children, and weight-promoting diet and child weight, alongside the moderating role of parents’ acculturation toward American culture. In 2010, Chinese and Korean immigrant parents of children ages 3–8 years in the United States (N = 130) completed interviews which asked about their perceived early life material deprivation and food insecurity, acculturation, child feeding practices, and evaluations of whether their child weighed more or less than the ideal, and child consumption of soda and candy. Independent measures of child and parent BMI were also obtained. Regression analyses revealed that parents’ early life food insecurity was associated with the evaluation that their child should weigh more than they do and greater consumption of soda and sweets by their child, among the least acculturated parents. Parental material deprivation was associated with more laissez-faire child feeding practices: less monitoring, less concern about the child’s weight or diet, and less perceived responsibility for the child’s diet, but only among less acculturated parents. Overall, the results suggest that immigrant parents’ child feeding practices and body size evaluations are shaped by material hardship in childhood, but these influences may fade as acculturation occurs. PMID:22265872

Auditory Perception, Suprasegmental Speech Processing, and Vocabulary Development in Chinese Preschoolers.

PubMed

Wang, Hsiao-Lan S; Chen, I-Chen; Chiang, Chun-Han; Lai, Ying-Hui; Tsao, Yu

2016-10-01

The current study examined the associations between basic auditory perception, speech prosodic processing, and vocabulary development in Chinese kindergartners, specifically, whether early basic auditory perception may be related to linguistic prosodic processing in Chinese Mandarin vocabulary acquisition. A series of language, auditory, and linguistic prosodic tests were given to 100 preschool children who had not yet learned how to read Chinese characters. The results suggested that lexical tone sensitivity and intonation production were significantly correlated with children's general vocabulary abilities. In particular, tone awareness was associated with comprehensive language development, whereas intonation production was associated with both comprehensive and expressive language development. Regression analyses revealed that tone sensitivity accounted for 36% of the unique variance in vocabulary development, whereas intonation production accounted for 6% of the variance in vocabulary development. Moreover, auditory frequency discrimination was significantly correlated with lexical tone sensitivity, syllable duration discrimination, and intonation production in Mandarin Chinese. Also it provided significant contributions to tone sensitivity and intonation production. Auditory frequency discrimination may indirectly affect early vocabulary development through Chinese speech prosody. © The Author(s) 2016.

Cultural values and immigrant entrepreneurship: the Chinese in Singapore.

PubMed

Chan, K B; Chiang, S N

1994-01-01

"It is the intent of this paper to examine the interrelationships between early socialisation into core Chinese cultural values, international migration and Chinese immigrant entrepreneurship.... It is through a developmental socialisation process by which [cultural] values are articulated in family and kin network dynamics that social organisations begin to develop and define what is popularly understood as the 'Chinese way of doing business'. We argue that among the overseas Chinese, this way of doing business must be viewed historically and developmentally, as it is intimately intertwined with transmigration experiences and their consequences in shaping values necessary for the emergence and development of entrepreneurship." (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) excerpt

Early differentiation between drawing and writing in Chinese children.

PubMed

Treiman, Rebecca; Yin, Li

2011-04-01

Children under 3½ years of age or so are often thought to produce the same types of scribbles for writing and drawing. We tested this idea by asking Chinese 2- to 6-year-olds to write and draw four targets. In Study 1, Chinese adults judged the status of the productions as writings or drawings. The adults performed significantly above the level expected by chance even with the productions of 2- to 2½-year-olds. In Study 2, we examined specific characteristics of the children's writings and drawings. Although the younger children's scribbles bore little resemblance to the correct characters, they tended to be smaller, sparser, and more angular than their artwork, with less filling in. Differences were also found in paper use and implement use. Children did not appear to distinguish writing from drawing for their own names before they did so for other targets. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effects of early age at natural menopause on coronary heart disease and stroke in Chinese women.

PubMed

Shen, Lijun; Song, Lulu; Liu, Bingqing; Li, Hui; Zheng, Xiaoxuan; Zhang, Lina; Yuan, Jing; Liang, Yuan; Wang, Youjie

2017-08-15

Menopause is identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease because of the change of estrogen. The objective of the study was to explore the associations between early age at natural menopause (menopause at an age≤45years) and the presence of CHD and stroke. The study subjects were from the first follow-up survey of the Dongfeng-Tongji cohort study. A total of 16,515 postmenopausal women were included for the analysis. Logistic regression models were used to examine the associations between age at natural menopause (≤45, 45-52, >52years) and the presence of CHD and stroke adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, reproductive history and metabolic factors. In the fully adjusted model, for each 1-year delay in menopausal age, the prevalence of CHD and stroke was reduced by 3% (OR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.98) and 5% (OR, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.92-0.98), respectively. Women with early menopause (≤45years) had a higher prevalence of CHD (OR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.13-1.57) compared with those with menopause at ages 45-52years. Similarly, women with early menopause (≤45years) was associated with higher prevalence of stroke (OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.25-2.30) compared with those with menopause at ages 45-52years. Early age at natural menopause is significantly associated with the presence of CHD and stroke among Chinese women. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Genetic Structure of the Han Chinese Population Revealed by Genome-wide SNP Variation

PubMed Central

Chen, Jieming; Zheng, Houfeng; Bei, Jin-Xin; Sun, Liangdan; Jia, Wei-hua; Li, Tao; Zhang, Furen; Seielstad, Mark; Zeng, Yi-Xin; Zhang, Xuejun; Liu, Jianjun

2009-01-01

Population stratification is a potential problem for genome-wide association studies (GWAS), confounding results and causing spurious associations. Hence, understanding how allele frequencies vary across geographic regions or among subpopulations is an important prelude to analyzing GWAS data. Using over 350,000 genome-wide autosomal SNPs in over 6000 Han Chinese samples from ten provinces of China, our study revealed a one-dimensional “north-south” population structure and a close correlation between geography and the genetic structure of the Han Chinese. The north-south population structure is consistent with the historical migration pattern of the Han Chinese population. Metropolitan cities in China were, however, more diffused “outliers,” probably because of the impact of modern migration of peoples. At a very local scale within the Guangdong province, we observed evidence of population structure among dialect groups, probably on account of endogamy within these dialects. Via simulation, we show that empirical levels of population structure observed across modern China can cause spurious associations in GWAS if not properly handled. In the Han Chinese, geographic matching is a good proxy for genetic matching, particularly in validation and candidate-gene studies in which population stratification cannot be directly accessed and accounted for because of the lack of genome-wide data, with the exception of the metropolitan cities, where geographical location is no longer a good indicator of ancestral origin. Our findings are important for designing GWAS in the Chinese population, an activity that is expected to intensify greatly in the near future. PMID:19944401

Artemisinin and Chinese Medicine as Tu Science.

PubMed

Fu, Jia-Chen

2017-09-01

The story of discovery of artemisinin highlights the diversity of scientific values across time and space. Resituating artemisinin research within a broader temporal framework allows us to understand how Chinese drugs like qinghao came to articulate a space for scientific experimentation and innovation through its embodiment of alternating clusters of meanings associated with tu and yang within scientific discourse. Tu science, which was associated with terms like native, Chinese, local, rustic, mass, and crude, articulated a radical vision of science in the service of socialist revolutionary ideals. Yang science, which signified foreign, Western, elite, and professional, tended to bear the hallmarks of professionalism, transnational networks in education and training, and an emphasis on basic or foundational research. With respect to medical research, the case of artemisinin highlights how the constitution of socialist science as an interplay of tu and yang engendered different scientific values and parameters for scientific endeavor. Modern medical research in Maoist China could harness the productive energies of mass participation to technical expertise in its investigations of Chinese drugs, and under the banner of tu science, it became possible and scientifically legitimate to research Chinese drugs in ways that had previously provoked resistance and controversy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mineralogical evidence of reduced East Asian summer monsoon rainfall on the Chinese loess plateau during the early Pleistocene interglacials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, Xianqiang; Liu, Lianwen; Wang, Xingchen T.; Balsam, William; Chen, Jun; Ji, Junfeng

2018-03-01

The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) is an important component of the global climate system. A better understanding of EASM rainfall variability in the past can help constrain climate models and better predict the response of EASM to ongoing global warming. The warm early Pleistocene, a potential analog of future climate, is an important period to study EASM dynamics. However, existing monsoon proxies for reconstruction of EASM rainfall during the early Pleistocene fail to disentangle monsoon rainfall changes from temperature variations, complicating the comparison of these monsoon records with climate models. Here, we present three 2.6 million-year-long EASM rainfall records from the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) based on carbonate dissolution, a novel proxy for rainfall intensity. These records show that the interglacial rainfall on the CLP was lower during the early Pleistocene and then gradually increased with global cooling during the middle and late Pleistocene. These results are contrary to previous suggestions that a warmer climate leads to higher monsoon rainfall on tectonic timescales. We propose that the lower interglacial EASM rainfall during the early Pleistocene was caused by reduced sea surface temperature gradients across the equatorial Pacific, providing a testable hypothesis for climate models.

Dang An: A Brief History of the Chinese Imperial Archives and Its Administration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Wenxian

2004-01-01

Archives are preserved records of human activities. An account of Chinese archival development is as long as the written records of the Chinese history. Oracle bones, bronze ware, and wood and bamboo strips are the three most important recording forms of the early Chinese civilization, as they represented three major stages of archival development…

Macroscopic Biological Characteristics of Individualized Therapy in Chinese Mongolian Osteopathy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Namula, Zhao; Mei, Wang; Li, Xue-en

Objective: Chinese Mongolian osteopathy has been passed down from ancient times and includes unique practices and favorable efficacy. In this study, we investigate the macroscopic biological characteristics of individualized Chinese Mongolian osteopathy, in order to provide new principle and methods for the treatment of bone fracture. Method: With a view to provide a vital link between nature and humans, the four stages of Chinese Mongolian osteopathy focus on the unity of the mind and body, the limbs and body organs, the body and its functions, and humans and nature. Results: We discuss the merits of individualized osteopathy in terms of the underlying concepts, and evaluate the approaches and principles of traditional medicine, as well as biomechanics. Conclusions: Individualized Mongolian osteopathy targets macroscopic biological components including dynamic reduction, natural fixation, and functional healing. Chinese Mongolian osteopathy is a natural, ecological and non-invasive osteopathy that values the link between nature and humans, including the unity of mind and body. The biological components not only serve as a foundation for Chinese Mongolian osteopathy but are also important for the future development of modern osteopathy, focusing on individualization, actualization and integration.

Chinese ethnic meat products: Continuity and development.

PubMed

Zeng, Weicai; Wen, Wenting; Deng, Yue; Tian, Yuanyuan; Sun, Honghu; Sun, Qun

2016-10-01

With their distinctive sensory characterizations and unique processing technologies, Chinese ethnic meat products possess great potential for development and continuity in modern China's meat industry. Due to the greater demand for meat products and higher quality and safety concerns in economically fast growing China, the development and continuity of ethnic meat products face its own unique challenges. In this review, the classification of typical ethnic products and their characteristics, and the research progress on their quality and processing technologies are discussed. The application of innovative and green technologies to improve the safety and quality of ethnic meat products for greater industrialization and sustainable development is highlighted. Furthermore, the strategy for promoting the production of Chinese ethnic meat products during the next five years is presented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Variations of Maternal Support to Children's Early Literacy Development in Chinese and American Indian Families: Implications for Early Childhood Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Xiao-lei; Bernas, Ronan; Eberhard, Philippe

2002-01-01

Examined how Chinese and American Indian mothers (20 mother-child dyads from each culture) supported their young children's emergent literacy development during everyday interactions. Found that Chinese mothers tended to privilege print-based literacy interactions more than American Indian mothers. American Indian mothers tended to privilege…

[Study thought of material basis of secondary development of major traditional Chinese medicine varieties on basis of combination of in vivo and in vitro experiments].

PubMed

Cheng, Xu-Dong; Jia, Xiao-Bin; Feng, Liang; Jiang, Jun

2013-12-01

The secondary development of major traditional Chinese medicine varieties is one of important links during the modernization, scientification and standardization of traditional Chinese medicines. How to accurately and effectively identify the pharmacodynamic material basis of original formulae becomes the primary problem in the secondary development, as well as the bottleneck in the modernization development of traditional Chinese medicines. On the basis of the existing experimental methods, and according to the study thought that the multi-component and complex effects of traditional Chinese medicine components need to combine multi-disciplinary methods and technologies, we propose the study thought of the material basis of secondary development of major traditional Chinese medicine varieties based on the combination of in vivo and in vitro experiments. It is believed that studies on material basis needs three links, namely identification, screening and verification, and in vivo and in vitro study method corresponding to each link is mutually complemented and verified. Finally, the accurate and reliable material basis is selected. This thought provides reference for the secondary development of major traditional Chinese medicine varieties and studies on compound material basis.

Traditional Chinese medicine--sea urchin.

PubMed

Shang, Xiao-Hui; Liu, Xiao-Yu; Zhang, Jian-Peng; Gao, Yun; Jiao, Bing-Hua; Zheng, Heng; Lu, Xiao-Ling

2014-01-01

The sea urchin is an ancient, common, seafloor-dwelling marine invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Echinodermata. There are multiple species of sea urchin with resources that are widely distributed in China, where they were used in ancient times as Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating a variety of diseases. At present, it is known that the shell, spine and gonad of the sea urchin have many medicinal values determined through modern research. In this paper, we summarized the major chemical constituents and medicinal value of the sea urchin.

The Chinese Nail Murders: forensic medicine in Imperial China.

PubMed Central

Summers, W. C.

1999-01-01

Robert van Gulik was a respected Dutch sinologist and author who first translated a collection of traditional Chinese detective stories into English and then created additional fictional stories based on the same characters and setting in the Tang dynasty. One of these stories, The Chinese Nail Murders, draws on van Gulik's professional interest in law and his knowledge of early Chinese works on forensic medicine. This novel develops a common theme in Chinese detective fiction, murder by a nail wound to the head. The difficulty in detection of this mode of violence posed a particular problem for the examining magistrate because postmortem examination was mostly limited to external observations. This essay compares the development of Chinese and Western forensic medicine in the context of the nail murder motif. PMID:11138936

Shen-Jing as a Chinese medicine concept might be a counterpart of stem cells in regenerative medicine.

PubMed

Ren, Yan-Bo; Huang, Jian-Hua; Cai, Wai-Jiao; Shen, Zi-Yin

2015-07-04

As the epitome of the modern regenerative medicine, stem cells were proposed in the basic sense no more than 200 years ago. However, the concept of "stem cells" existed long before the modern medical description. The hypothesis that all things, including our sentient body, were generated from a small origin was shared between Western and Chinese people. The ancient Chinese philosophers considered Jing (also known as essence) as the origin of life. In Chinese medicine (CM), Jing is mainly stored in Kidney (Shen) and the so-called Shen-Jing (Kidney essence). Here, we propose that Shen-Jing is the CM term used to express the meaning of "origin and regeneration". This theoretical discovery has at least two applications. First, the actions underlying causing Shen-Jing deficiency, such as excess sexual intercourse, chronic diseases, and aging, might damage the function of stem cells. Second, a large number of Chinese herbs with Shen-Jing-nourishing efficacy had been proven to affect stem cell proliferation and differentiation. Therefore, if Shen-Jing in CM is equivalent with stem cells in regenerative medicine, higher effective modulators for regulating stem-cell behaviors from Kidney-tonifying herbs would be expected.

The teacher-disciple tradition and secret teaching in Chinese medicine.

PubMed

Solos, Ioannis; Liang, Yuan; Yue, Guang-xin

2014-01-01

The ancient teacher-disciple tradition is regarded as one of the most celebrated practices within the Chinese medicine world. Such traditions of secrecy, private wisdom and honor are deeply rooted in the theories of Confucianism. This paper only explores the surface of this ancient culture, by investigating relevant popular ancient texts and common Chinese proverbs, as well as utilizing personal experiences, in order to reflect on how the ancient Chinese perceived such practices within their own society and how secret teaching was passed on from teacher to student, including the revelation of secret formulas and their importance and how that tradition differs from our modern-day perspectives. Various rare manuscripts from the author's personal library are employed in order to provide relative examples of the importance of secret knowledge, and how these secrets applied in the traditional healing.

The classification and application of toxic Chinese materia medica.

PubMed

Liu, Xinmin; Wang, Qiong; Song, Guangqing; Zhang, Guangping; Ye, Zuguang; Williamson, Elizabeth M

2014-03-01

Many important drugs in the Chinese materia medica (CMM) are known to be toxic, and it has long been recognized in classical Chinese medical theory that toxicity can arise directly from the components of a single CMM or may be induced by an interaction between combined CMM. Traditional Chinese Medicine presents a unique set of pharmaceutical theories that include particular methods for processing, combining and decocting, and these techniques contribute to reducing toxicity as well as enhancing efficacy. The current classification of toxic CMM drugs, traditional methods for processing toxic CMM and the prohibited use of certain combinations, is based on traditional experience and ancient texts and monographs, but accumulating evidence increasingly supports their use to eliminate or reduce toxicity. Modern methods are now being used to evaluate the safety of CMM; however, a new system for describing the toxicity of Chinese herbal medicines may need to be established to take into account those herbs whose toxicity is delayed or otherwise hidden, and which have not been incorporated into the traditional classification. This review explains the existing classification and justifies it where appropriate, using experimental results often originally published in Chinese and previously not available outside China. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Morphological comparison of archaic Homo sapiens crania from China and Africa.

PubMed

Wu, X; Bräuer, G

1993-12-01

Regional features play a great role in the analysis of the differentiations of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. However, this poses the question how widespread and variable these features are. In order to examine this with regard to the features commonly seen in China their occurrence and variability were determined in Chinese as well as in African crania of archaic and late Pleistocene/Holocene modern Homo sapiens. Furthermore, some features known from Africa were examined with regard to their occurrence and variability in China. Although the variability might change due to new finds, the present results for some features point to larger morphological spectra in the African than in the Chinese archaic Homo sapiens. It is furthermore remarkable that the early modern Chinese in many features show deviations from the pattern of archaic Homo sapiens of this region and exhibit broader spectra similar to those seen in African archaic and early modern Homo sapiens.

Reader-Response Theory: An Analysis of a Work of Chinese Post Modern Art.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ma, Yan

1995-01-01

Illustrates reader-response theory by discussing a piece of Chinese art, "A Book from the Sky." Examines the relationship between and among viewer, text or artwork, and artist; and attempts to determine the meanings viewers of different ages, genders, ethnicity, and professions construct in reaction to the work of art and to postmodern…

Analysis of scientific collaboration in Chinese psychiatry research.

PubMed

Wu, Ying; Jin, Xing

2016-05-26

In recent decades, China has changed profoundly, becoming the country with the world's second-largest economy. The proportion of the Chinese population suffering from mental disorder has grown in parallel with the rapid economic development, as social stresses have increased. The aim of this study is to shed light on the status of collaborations in the Chinese psychiatry field, of which there is currently limited research. We sampled 16,224 publications (2003-2012) from 10 core psychiatry journals from Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and WanFang Database. We used various social network analysis (SNA) methods such as centrality analysis, and Core-Periphery analysis to study collaboration. We also used hierarchical clustering analysis in this study. From 2003-2012, there were increasing collaborations at the level of authors, institutions and regions in the Chinese psychiatry field. Geographically, these collaborations were distributed unevenly. The 100 most prolific authors and institutions and 32 regions were used to construct the collaboration map, from which we detected the core author, institution and region. Collaborative behavior was affected by economic development. We should encourage collaborative behavior in the Chinese psychiatry field, as this facilitates knowledge distribution, resource sharing and information acquisition. Collaboration has also helped the field narrow its current research focus, providing further evidence to inform policymakers to fund research in order to tackle the increase in mental disorder facing modern China.

A Web 2.0 Personal Learning Environment for Classical Chinese Poetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Yiwei; Klamma, Ralf; Gao, Yan; Lau, Rynson W. H.; Jarke, Matthias

Classical Chinese Poetry (CCP) is a valuable but almost locked treasure chest of human wisdom and civilization since 2000 years. With the advent of the Web 2.0 a renaissance of CCP is possible even outside Chinese-speaking communities world-wide. With mobile technologies and educational games we can address new learning communities for CCP and open the chest again. In this paper, we introduce a Web 2.0 personal learning environment for CCP. We have developed a generic and interoperable data model for CCP we utilize not only for mobile learning scenarios but also for educational gaming with different levels of difficulty. Learners are empowered to learn Chinese poetry, language, history, and culture. This research work shows how modern information technologies assist users to diffuse knowledge across the borderlines of communities and societies.

Rotigotine transdermal patch in Chinese patients with early Parkinson's disease: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pivotal study.

PubMed

Zhang, Zhen-Xin; Shang, Hui-Fang; Hu, Xingyue; Chen, Shengdi; Zhao, Zhongxin; Du, Xinlu; Surmann, Erwin; Bauer, Lars; Asgharnejad, Mahnaz

2016-07-01

Two phase3 studies (SP512; SP513) involving mostly Caucasian patients showed that rotigotine (≤8 mg/24 h) was efficacious and welltolerated in early-stage Parkinson's disease (PD). We report results from a phase 3 study (SP0914/NCT01646268) investigating rotigotine in Chinese patients with early-stage PD. Patients were randomized 1:1 to rotigotine or placebo, titrated over 1-4 weeks, maintained at optimal/maximum dose (≤8 mg/24 h) for 24 weeks. Primary efficacy variable: change in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) II + III total score from Baseline to End-of-Maintenance. Secondary variables: UPDRS II + III responders (≥20% decrease in UPDRS II + III) and changes in UPDRS II (activities of daily living [ADL]) and III (motor examination) subscores. Of 247 patients randomized, 113/124 (91.1%) rotigotine- and 107/123 (87.0%) placebo-treated patients completed the study. mean (SD) age: 59.4 (10.2) years; time since PD diagnosis: 1.01 (1.22) years, 60.7% male. Rotigotine significantly improved UPDRS II + III total score (change from Baseline LSmean [95%CI] treatment difference, -4.82 [-7.18 to -2.45]; P < 0.0001). UPDRS II + III responder rates were higher with rotigotine (42.3% vs 22.3%; P = 0.0006). UPDRS II and III subscores improved with rotigotine (both subscores: P < 0.0005 vs. placebo). Most frequent adverse events (AEs): nausea (8.9% rotigotine, 3.3% placebo), dizziness (8.1%, 5.7%), pruritus (8.1%, 4.1%), somnolence (8.1%, 3.3%), erythema (6.5%, 1.6%), and vomiting (5.6%, 1.6%). Thirteen (5.3%) patients discontinued due to AEs (6 rotigotine, 7 placebo). Rotigotine was efficacious in Chinese patients with early-stage PD, providing benefits to control of ADL and motor function. Rotigotine was generally welltolerated, with similar AEs to those observed in Caucasian patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chinese Deaf Readers Have Early Access to Parafoveal Semantics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Ming; Pan, Jinger; Bélanger, Nathalie N.; Shu, Hua

2015-01-01

In the present study, we manipulated different types of information available in the parafovea during the reading of Chinese sentences and examined how deaf readers make use of the parafoveal information. Results clearly indicate that although the reading-level matched hearing readers make greater use of orthographic information in the parafovea,…

Estimate of the Chinese astronomy development through the descriptions of nova observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nickiforov, Mihael G.

More than a hundred descriptions of guest stars observations made by Chinese, Korean and Japanese astronomers from 6th till 17th centuries are examined in this work. The comparison of the distribution of star outbursts on galactic latitudes from the Chinese sources with the modern data casts doubt on the reliability of the ancient observations. The text analysis shows that the technique of the descriptions of the places of outbursts of new stars does not change from the first ancient observations till the 16th century. This is a sign of a lack of precise instrumental measurements until the arrival of the Jesuits, in 16th century, and of a lack of Chinese star catalog in the medieval China.

The modern spectrum of biopsy-proven renal disease in Chinese diabetic patients-a retrospective descriptive study.

PubMed

Liu, Diankun; Huang, Ting; Chen, Nan; Xu, Gang; Zhang, Ping; Luo, Yang; Wang, Yongping; Lu, Tao; Wang, Long; Xiong, Mengqi; Geng, Jian; Nie, Sheng

2018-01-01

Renal biopsies performed in diabetic patients are increasing and becoming more complex. Comprehensive data on modern spectrum of biopsy-proven renal disease in Chinese diabetic patients are lacking. In a nationwide renal biopsy survey including 71,151 native biopsies from 2004 to 2014, diabetic patients were identified according to the clinical diagnosis from referral records. The clinical data were extracted from referral records and pathological reports. A total of 1,604 diabetic patients, including 61 patients with T1DM, were analyzed in this study. The median age is 51.39 ± 11.37 years. Male patients accounted for 58% of the population. We found that only 44.7% of diabetic patients had the isolated pathological diagnosis of diabetic nephropathy (DN), while 49.1% had non-diabetic renal disease (NDRD) alone, and 6.2% had NDRD superimposed on DN. Nephrotic syndrome ( n  = 824, 51.4%) was the most common clinical indication for renal biopsy. Among 887 patients with NDRD, membranous nephropathy ( n  = 357) was the leading diagnosis, followed by IgA nephropathy ( n  = 179). Hypertensive renal disease ( n  = 32), tubulointerstitial nephropathy ( n  = 27) and acute tubular necrosis ( n  = 16) accounted for 3.5%, 2.9%, 1.7% of the NDRD cases respectively. Nearly a half (49.2%) of patients with T1DM had NDRD. Over 55% diabetic patients with kidney disease were diagnosed as non-diabetic renal disease, among which MN and IgAN were the most common two pathological types.

The Evolution of Modern Dance Therapy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Levy, Fran

1988-01-01

The article traces the impact of the modern dance movement from the early 1900s and its emphasis on creativity and self-expression on the professional and institutional development of dance therapy. (CB)

[The significance of drawing on experience of experimental study on Chinese materia medica during the Republican period].

PubMed

Li, Nan; Wan, Fang

2015-05-01

During the period of the Republic of China, researches of experiments on Chinese materia medica developed extensively with the scientific process of Chinese medicine. Although the technology standard was relatively low and the reference value, limited. The experiences, positive or negative, obtained at that time still has reference significance to today's Chinese medicine scientific research. The notion that traditional Chinese medical and scientific research be conducted under the guidance of TCM theory; valuable experience contained in the ancient literature of traditional Chinese medicine be collected; and the transformation capacity of scientific research be elevated, has been accepted by modern TCM professionals. If you go back to the history, it can be seen that this notion was summarized through repeated practice during the critical moment of traditional Chinese medicine, which should be emphasized and its understanding deepened at any time.

Did the Chinese Have a Change of Heart?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Esther; Klein, Colin

2012-01-01

In their "The Prevalence of Mind-Body Dualism in Early China," Slingerland and Chudek use a statistical analysis of the early Chinese corpus to argue for Weak Folk Dualism (WFD). We raise three methodological objections to their analysis. First, the change over time that they find is largely driven by genre. Second, the…

Immune Homeostasis: Effects of Chinese Herbal Formulae and Herb-Derived Compounds on Allergic Asthma in Different Experimental Models.

PubMed

Liu, Lu; Wang, Lin-Peng; He, Shan; Ma, Yan

2018-05-01

Allergic asthma is thought to arise from an imbalance of immune regulation, which is characterized by the production of large quantities of IgE antibodies by B cells and a decrease of the interferon-γ/interleukin-4 (Th1/Th2) ratio. Certain immunomodulatory components and Chinese herbal formulae have been used in traditional herbal medicine for thousands of years. However, there are few studies performing evidence-based Chinese medicine (CM) research on the mechanisms and effificacy of these drugs in allergic asthma. This review aims to explore the roles of Chinese herbal formulae and herb-derived compounds in experimental research models of allergic asthma. We screened published modern CM research results on the experimental effects of Chinese herbal formulae and herb-derived bioactive compounds for allergic asthma and their possible underlying mechanisms in English language articles from the PubMed and the Google Scholar databases with the keywords allergic asthma, experimental model and Chinese herbal medicine. We found 22 Chinese herb species and 31 herb-derived anti-asthmatic compounds as well as 12 Chinese herbal formulae which showed a reduction of airway hyperresponsiveness, allergen-specifific immunoglobulin E, inflflammatory cell infifiltration and a regulation of Th1 and Th2 cytokines in vivo, in vitro and ex vivo, respectively. Chinese herbal formulae and herbderived bioactive compounds exhibit immunomodulatory, anti-inflflammatory and anti-asthma activities in different experimental models and their various mechanisms of action are being investigated in modern CM research with genomics, proteomics and metabolomics technologies, which will lead to a new era in the development of new drug discovery for allergic asthma in CM.

[Modern research progress of traditional Chinese medicine based on integrative pharmacology].

PubMed

Wang, Ping; Tang, Shi-Huan; Su, Jin; Zhang, Jia-Qi; Cui, Ru-Yi; Xu, Hai-Yu; Yang, Hong-Jun

2018-04-01

Integrative pharmacology (IP) is a discipline that studies the interaction, integration and principle of action of multiple components with the body, emphasizing the integrations of multi-level and multi-link, such as "whole and part", " in vivo and in vitro ", " in vivo process and activity evaluation". After four years of development and practice, the theory and method of IP has received extensive attention and application.In order to better promote the development of IP, this paper systematically reviews the concepts, research contents, research methods and application fields about IP. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Social anxiety and perception of early parenting among American, Chinese American, and social phobic samples.

PubMed

Leung, A W; Heimberg, R G; Holt, C S; Bruch, M A

1994-01-01

Emotionally distant and controlling child-rearing attitudes have been reported to characterize the parents of American or western European social phobics in previous research. However, the notion that these parental attitudes may be associated with social anxiety only in some cultures has not been investigated. The present study examined social anxiety among American social phobics and American and Chinese/Chinese American volunteer samples and how it may relate to their parents' child-rearing attitudes. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed overall group differences. Both volunteer samples reported lower levels of anxiety than social phobics. Parents of Chinese/Chinese Americans and social phobics were reported to be similar in their (1) isolation of children from social activities; (2) over-emphasis of others' opinions; and (3) use of shame tactics for discipline (more so than American volunteers' parents). However, parents of nonsocial phobics were more likely to attend family social activities than social phobics' parents. Overall, the association between a reported parenting style emphasizing others' opinions and shame tactics and social anxiety in their adult children was more evident in both American samples than among Chinese/Chinese Americans.

Non-scientific classification of Chinese herbal medicine as dietary supplement.

PubMed

Bao, Kexin

2017-03-01

This article focuses the category status of Chinese herbal medicine in the United States where it has been mistakenly classifified as a dietary supplement. According to Yellow Emperor Canon of Internal Medicine (Huang Di Nei Jing), clinical treatment in broad sense is to apply certain poisonous medicines to fight against pathogeneses, by which all medicines have certain toxicity and side effect. From ancient times to modern society, all, or at least most, practitioners have used herbal medicine to treat patients' medical conditions. The educational curriculums in Chinese medicine (CM) comprise the courses of herbal medicine (herbology) and herbal formulae. The objective of these courses is to teach students to use herbal medicine or formulae to treat disease as materia medica. In contrast, dietary supplements are preparations intended to provide nutrients that are missing or are not consumed in suffificient quantity in a person's diet. In contrast, Chinese herbs can be toxic, which have been proven through laboratory research. Both clinical practice and research have demonstrated that Chinese herbal medicine is a special type of natural materia medica, not a dietary supplement.

Policies, economic incentives and the adoption of modern irrigation technology in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremades, R.; Wang, J.; Morris, J.

2015-07-01

The challenges China faces in terms of water availability in the agricultural sector are exacerbated by the sector's low irrigation efficiency. To increase irrigation efficiency, promoting modern irrigation technology has been emphasized by policy makers in the country. The overall goal of this paper is to understand the effect of governmental support and economic incentives on the adoption of modern irrigation technology in China, with a focus on household-based irrigation technology and community-based irrigation technology. Based on a unique data set collected at household and village levels from seven provinces, the results indicated that household-based irrigation technology has become noticeable in almost every Chinese village. In contrast, only about half of Chinese villages have adopted community-based irrigation technology. Despite the relatively high adoption level of household-based irrigation technology at the village level, its actual adoption in crop sown areas was not high, even lower for community-based irrigation technology. The econometric analysis results revealed that governmental support instruments like subsidies and extension services policies have played an important role in promoting the adoption of modern irrigation technology. Strikingly, the present irrigation pricing policy has played a significant but contradictory role in promoting the adoption of different types of modern irrigation technology. Irrigation pricing showed a positive impact on household-based irrigation technology, and a negative impact on community-based irrigation technology, possibly related to the substitution effect that is, the higher rate of adoption of household-based irrigation technology leads to lower incentives for investment in community-based irrigation technology. The paper finally concludes and discusses some policy implications.

The women of the family? Speculations around early modern British physicians.

PubMed

Pelling, M

1995-12-01

In the extensively explored areas of professionalization, domestic ideology, and the relationships between women and medicine, the debate on the British case has given little consideration to issues of identity arising for the male medical practitioner as a result of family life. For the early modern period, these issues can be seen as among a broad-ranging set of problems posed by the female gender connotations of the medical role. Such problems were most pronounced for the élite physicians who sought membership of the London College of Physicians. Their attitudes and dilemmas are important because of their influence, over the long term, on the criteria for professionalization. Using biographical data, a contrast can be shown between the dynastic ideals of physicians, which stressed the male line, and the high incidence among such physicians of celibacy, childlessness, and small families. Families of origin of physicians, on the other hand, tended to be large. Assumptions about the role of women in medical care, especially in clerical and gentry families, entail a recognition of the possible influence of female relatives on the vocations of male physicians. Given the low status of women's work, physicians developed ambivalences which affected the construction of their identities, their families, and the passing on of their skills.

Transmitting Chinese Medicine

PubMed Central

Scheid, Volker

2015-01-01

Historians of Chinese medicine acknowledge the plurality of Chinese medicine along both synchronic and diachronic dimensions. Yet, there remains a tendency to think of tradition as being defined by some unchanging features. The Chinese medical body is a case in point. This is assumed to have been formalised by the late Han dynasty around a system of internal organs, conduits, collaterals, and associated body structures. Although criticism was voiced from time to time, this body and the micro/macrocosmic cosmological resonances that underpin it are seen to persist until the present day. I challenge this view by attending to attempts by physicians in China and Japan in the period from the mid 16th to the late 18th century to reimagine this body. Working within the domain of cold damage therapeutics and combining philological scholarship, empirical observations, and new hermeneutic strategies these physicians worked their way towards a new territorial understanding of the body and of medicine as warfare that required an intimate familiarity with the body’s topography. In late imperial China this new view of the body and medicine was gradually re-absorbed into the mainstream. In Japan, however, it led to a break with this orthodoxy that in the Republican era became influential in China once more. I argue that attending further to the innovations of this period from a transnational perspective - commonly portrayed as one of decline - may help to go beyond the modern insistence to frame East Asian medicines as traditional. PMID:26869864

Attitudes Toward Homosexuality in China: Exploring the Effects of Religion, Modernizing Factors, and Traditional Culture.

PubMed

Xie, Ying; Peng, Minggang

2017-09-28

Using the zero-inflated model and nationally representative sample data from the Chinese General Social Surveys 2013, this study systematically explored the effects of religion, modernizing factors, and traditional culture on attitudes toward homosexuality in China. The findings indicate that most Chinese people generally hold conservative attitudes toward homosexuality, as approximately 78.53% of the respondents believed that "same-sex sexual behavior is always wrong." Modernizing factors (i.e., education, exposure to Internet information, and liberal inclinations) predicted greater tolerance for homosexuality, whereas Islamic beliefs negatively influenced respondents' attitudes toward homosexuality. In contrast to the findings of the existing literature, Christian beliefs and traditional culture did not have significant effects on attitudes toward homosexuality. These findings may contribute to the literature by not only quantitatively testing the applicability of several factors identified in most Western studies of this topic but also providing new knowledge of attitudes toward homosexuality in the social context of China.

Traditional Chinese medicine: potential approaches from modern dynamical complexity theories.

PubMed

Ma, Yan; Zhou, Kehua; Fan, Jing; Sun, Shuchen

2016-03-01

Despite the widespread use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in clinical settings, proving its effectiveness via scientific trials is still a challenge. TCM views the human body as a complex dynamical system, and focuses on the balance of the human body, both internally and with its external environment. Such fundamental concepts require investigations using system-level quantification approaches, which are beyond conventional reductionism. Only methods that quantify dynamical complexity can bring new insights into the evaluation of TCM. In a previous article, we briefly introduced the potential value of Multiscale Entropy (MSE) analysis in TCM. This article aims to explain the existing challenges in TCM quantification, to introduce the consistency of dynamical complexity theories and TCM theories, and to inspire future system-level research on health and disease.

[The evil wind of early marriage on Mainland (China)].

PubMed

Dai, W

1971-04-01

China has been an agricultural society for over 2,000 years. Due to its traditionally rich natural resources, large size, and sparse population density, manpower has become a main source of wealth. Consequently, down through the ages, births have been encouraged and early marriages have become a tradition. After the Chinese communists' takeover of the Mainland, planned birth and population control measures were implemented. And in 1962, regulations were set for men to marry only after age 28 and for women after age 25. Furthermore, in rural areas, young men and women were impeded from early marriage through the marriage registration system. However, during the Cultural Revolution, youths of the Mainland were strongly against the excessive restrictions on early marriage. They pointed out that advocating late marriage was a counter-revolutionary move by the bourgeoisie. Under conditions of despair and uncertain future, many youths married early as an escape from reality, establishing small families. Thus, a trend of early marriages was set. This was called "evil wind of early marriage" and was vigorously attacked by Chinese authorities in official publications. To control this "evil wind," the Chinese communists also utilized Mao's thoughts in re-educating the educated youths. They pointed out that youths who married early and concentrated on building a family were selfish because by concentrating on personal matters they could not attend to state matters nor participate in class struggles. It is clear that in attacking early marriage and advocating late marriage, the Chinese communists had both planned birth and politics in mind.

Demons, nature, or God? Witchcraft accusations and the French disease in early modern Venice.

PubMed

McGough, Laura J

2006-01-01

In early modern Venice, establishing the cause of a disease was critical to determining the appropriate cure: natural remedies for natural illnesses, spiritual solutions for supernatural or demonic ones. One common ailment was the French disease (syphilis), widely distributed throughout Venice's neighborhoods and social hierarchy, and evenly distributed between men and women. The disease was widely regarded as curable by the mid-sixteenth century, and cases that did not respond to natural remedies presented problems of interpretation to physicians and laypeople. Witchcraft was one possible explanation; using expert testimony from physicians, however, the Holy Office ruled out witchcraft as a cause of incurable cases and reinforced perceptions that the disease was of natural origin. Incurable cases were explained as the result of immoral behavior, thereby reinforcing the associated stigma. This article uses archival material from Venice's Inquisition records from 1580 to 1650, as well as mortality data.

Prophecy, patriarchy, and violence in the early modern household: the revelations of Anne Wentworth.

PubMed

Johnston, Warren

2009-10-01

In 1676 the apostate Baptist prophet Anne Wentworth (1629/30-1693?) published "A True Account of Anne Wentworths Being Cruelly, Unjustly, and Unchristianly Dealt with by Some of Those People called Anabaptists," the first in a series of pamphlets that would continue to the end of the decade. Orignially a member of a London Baptist church, Wentworth left the congregation and eventually her own home after her husband used physical force to stop her writing and prophesying. Yet Wentworth persisted in her "revelations." These prophecies increasingly focused on her response to those who were trying to stop her efforts, especially within her own household. This article examines Wentworth's writings as an effort by an early modern woman, using arguments of spiritual agency, to assert ideas about proper gender roles and household responsibilities to denounce her husband and rebut those who criticized and attempted to suppress her.

The First Modern Human Dispersals across Africa

PubMed Central

Rito, Teresa; Richards, Martin B.; Fernandes, Verónica; Alshamali, Farida; Cerny, Viktor

2013-01-01

The emergence of more refined chronologies for climate change and archaeology in prehistoric Africa, and for the evolution of human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), now make it feasible to test more sophisticated models of early modern human dispersals suggested by mtDNA distributions. Here we have generated 42 novel whole-mtDNA genomes belonging to haplogroup L0, the most divergent clade in the maternal line of descent, and analysed them alongside the growing database of African lineages belonging to L0’s sister clade, L1’6. We propose that the last common ancestor of modern human mtDNAs (carried by “mitochondrial Eve”) possibly arose in central Africa ~180 ka, at a time of low population size. By ~130 ka two distinct groups of anatomically modern humans co-existed in Africa: broadly, the ancestors of many modern-day Khoe and San populations in the south and a second central/eastern African group that includes the ancestors of most extant worldwide populations. Early modern human dispersals correlate with climate changes, particularly the tropical African “megadroughts” of MIS 5 (marine isotope stage 5, 135–75 ka) which paradoxically may have facilitated expansions in central and eastern Africa, ultimately triggering the dispersal out of Africa of people carrying haplogroup L3 ~60 ka. Two south to east migrations are discernible within haplogroup LO. One, between 120 and 75 ka, represents the first unambiguous long-range modern human dispersal detected by mtDNA and might have allowed the dispersal of several markers of modernity. A second one, within the last 20 ka signalled by L0d, may have been responsible for the spread of southern click-consonant languages to eastern Africa, contrary to the view that these eastern examples constitute relicts of an ancient, much wider distribution. PMID:24236171

The Traditional Medicine and Modern Medicine from Natural Products.

PubMed

Yuan, Haidan; Ma, Qianqian; Ye, Li; Piao, Guangchun

2016-04-29

Natural products and traditional medicines are of great importance. Such forms of medicine as traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Kampo, traditional Korean medicine, and Unani have been practiced in some areas of the world and have blossomed into orderly-regulated systems of medicine. This study aims to review the literature on the relationship among natural products, traditional medicines, and modern medicine, and to explore the possible concepts and methodologies from natural products and traditional medicines to further develop drug discovery. The unique characteristics of theory, application, current role or status, and modern research of eight kinds of traditional medicine systems are summarized in this study. Although only a tiny fraction of the existing plant species have been scientifically researched for bioactivities since 1805, when the first pharmacologically-active compound morphine was isolated from opium, natural products and traditional medicines have already made fruitful contributions for modern medicine. When used to develop new drugs, natural products and traditional medicines have their incomparable advantages, such as abundant clinical experiences, and their unique diversity of chemical structures and biological activities.

[Location information acquisition and sharing application design in national census of Chinese medicine resources].

PubMed

Zhang, Xiao-Bo; Li, Meng; Wang, Hui; Guo, Lan-Ping; Huang, Lu-Qi

2017-11-01

In literature, there are many information on the distribution of Chinese herbal medicine. Limited by the technical methods, the origin of Chinese herbal medicine or distribution of information in ancient literature were described roughly. It is one of the main objectives of the national census of Chinese medicine resources, which is the background information of the types and distribution of Chinese medicine resources in the region. According to the national Chinese medicine resource census technical specifications and pilot work experience, census team with "3S" technology, computer network technology, digital camera technology and other modern technology methods, can effectively collect the location information of traditional Chinese medicine resources. Detailed and specific location information, such as regional differences in resource endowment and similarity, biological characteristics and spatial distribution, the Chinese medicine resource census data access to the accuracy and objectivity evaluation work, provide technical support and data support. With the support of spatial information technology, based on location information, statistical summary and sharing of multi-source census data can be realized. The integration of traditional Chinese medicine resources and related basic data can be a spatial integration, aggregation and management of massive data, which can help for the scientific rules data mining of traditional Chinese medicine resources from the overall level and fully reveal its scientific connotation. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Acculturation and Adjustment among Immigrant Chinese Parents: Mediating Role of Parenting Efficacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costigan, Catherine L.; Koryzma, Celine M.

2011-01-01

This study examined parenting efficacy beliefs as a mediator of the association between acculturation and adjustment. The sample consisted of 177 immigrant Chinese mothers and fathers with early adolescent children in Canada. Acculturation was assessed bidimensionally as Canadian and Chinese orientations. A latent psychological adjustment variable…

Mandarin Chinese Dictionary: English-Chinese.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Fred Fangyu

This dictionary is a companion volume to the "Mandarin Chinese Dictionary (Chinese-English)" published in 1967 by Seton Hall University. The purpose of the dictionary is to help English-speaking students produce Chinese sentences in certain cultural situations by looking up the English expressions. Natural, spoken Chinese expressions within the…

How to Use TCM Informatics to Study Traditional Chinese Medicine in Big Data Age.

PubMed

Shi, Cheng; Gong, Qing-Yue; Zhou, Jinhai

2017-01-01

This paper introduces the characteristics and complexity of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) data, considers that modern big data processing technology has brought new opportunities for the research of TCM, and gives some ideas and methods to apply big data technology in TCM.

Non-small cell lung cancer with EML4-ALK translocation in Chinese male never-smokers is characterized with early-onset.

PubMed

Guo, Yongjun; Ma, Jie; Lyu, Xiaodong; Liu, Hai; Wei, Bing; Zhao, Jiuzhou; Fu, Shuang; Ding, Lu; Zhang, Jihong

2014-11-18

younger patients and associated with less-differentiated carcinomas. The frequency of EML4-ALK translocation is strongly associated with smoking habits in Chinese male patients with higher frequency in male never-smokers. EML4-ALK translocation is associated with early-onset and less-differentiated carcinomas.

The psychometric properties of the 5-item gratitude questionnaire in Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Zeng, Y; Ling, Y; Huebner, E S; He, Y; Lei, X

2017-05-01

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: The GQ-6 is one of the most widely used self-report questionnaires to evaluate the level of gratitude among adults. The GQ-5 appears suitable for adolescents. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: We developed a Chinese version of the GQ-5 and examined evidence for its reliability and validity. Results demonstrated adequate reliability and validity, indicating that it is appropriate for the assessment of gratitude in Chinese adolescents. In addition, Chinese early adolescent females reported higher gratitude than adolescent males. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Screening adolescents who have lower levels of gratitude through the GQ-5 could help identify students who may benefit from empirically validated interventions to promote higher levels of gratitude in an effort to promote positive psychosocial and academic outcomes. Background This study was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the 5-item Gratitude Questionnaire (GQ-5). Method The sample consisted of 2093 middle school students (46.8% males) in mainland China. Confirmatory factor analysis and multigroup confirmatory factor analysis were performed to examine the factor structure and the measurement equivalence across gender. The convergent validity, Cronbach's α and mean interitem correlations of the GQ-5 were also evaluated. Results The results provided evidence of internal consistency reliability through a Cronbach's α of 0.812 and a mean interitem correlation of 0.463 for the total sample. The results also supported a one-dimensional factor structure. In addition, convergent validity was assessed by statistically significant positive correlations between the GQ-5 and the two subscales of the Children's Hope Scale (CHS) and the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS) total score. Finally, multigroup confirmatory factor analysis also demonstrated measurement equivalence across gender. Subsequent

Earth's early biosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Des Marais, D. J.

1998-01-01

Understanding our own early biosphere is essential to our search for life elsewhere, because life arose on Earth very early and rocky planets shared similar early histories. The biosphere arose before 3.8 Ga ago, was exclusively unicellular and was dominated by hyperthermophiles that utilized chemical sources of energy and employed a range of metabolic pathways for CO2 assimilation. Photosynthesis also arose very early. Oxygenic photosynthesis arose later but still prior to 2.7 Ga. The transition toward the modern global environment was paced by a decline in volcanic and hydrothermal activity. These developments allowed atmospheric O2 levels to increase. The O2 increase created new niches for aerobic life, most notably the more advanced Eukarya that eventually spawned the megascopic fauna and flora of our modern biosphere.

Curiosity, forbidden knowledge, and the reformation of natural philosophy in early modern England.

PubMed

Harrison, P

2001-06-01

From the patristic period to the beginning of the seventeenth century curiosity was regarded as an intellectual vice. Curious individuals were considered to be proud and "puffed up," and the objects of their investigations were deemed illicit, dispute engendering, unknowable, or useless. Seventeenth-century projects for the advancement of learning had to distance themselves from curiosity and its dubious fruits or, alternatively, enhance the moral status of the curious sensibility. Francis Bacon's proposals for the instauration of knowledge were an integral part of a process by which curiosity underwent a remarkable transformation from vice to virtue over the course of the seventeenth century. The changing fortunes of this human propensity highlight the morally charged nature of early modern debates over the status of natural philosophy and the particular virtues required of its practitioners. The rehabilitation of curiosity was a crucial element in the objectification of scientific knowledge and led to a gradual shift of focus away from the moral qualities of investigators and the propriety of particular objects of knowledge to specific procedures and methods.

The joint effects of risk status, gender, early literacy and cognitive skills on the presence of dyslexia among a group of high-risk Chinese children.

PubMed

Wong, Simpson W L; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Lam, Catherine; Chan, Becky; Lam, Fanny W F; Doo, Sylvia

2012-02-01

This study sought to examine factors that are predictive of future developmental dyslexia among a group of 5-year-old Chinese children at risk for dyslexia, including 62 children with a sibling who had been previously diagnosed with dyslexia and 52 children who manifested clinical at-risk factors in aspects of language according to testing by paediatricians. The age-5 performances on various literacy and cognitive tasks, gender and group status (familial risk or language delayed) were used to predict developmental dyslexia 2 years later using logistic regression analysis. Results showed that greater risk of dyslexia was related to slower rapid automatized naming, lower scores on morphological awareness, Chinese character recognition and English letter naming, and gender (boys had more risk). Three logistic equations were generated for estimating individual risk of dyslexia. The strongest models were those that included all print-related variables (including speeded number naming, character recognition and letter identification) and gender, with about 70% accuracy or above. Early identification of those Chinese children at risk for dyslexia can facilitate better dyslexia risk management. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The E23K and A190A variations of the KCNJ11 gene are associated with early-onset type 2 diabetes and blood pressure in the Chinese population.

PubMed

Zhuang, Langen; Zhao, Yu; Zhao, Weijing; Li, Ming; Yu, Ming; Lu, Ming; Zhang, Rong; Ge, Xiaoxu; Zheng, Taishan; Li, Can; Yin, Jun; Yin, Jingyuan; Bao, Yuqian; Liu, Limei; Jia, Weiping; Liu, Yanjun

2015-06-01

Conflicting associations between define (KCNJ11) variations and susceptibility to late-onset (>40 years old) type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have been reported in different ethnic groups. We investigated whether the E23K (G→A, rs5219) or A190A (C→T, rs5218) variations in KCNJ11 are associated with early-onset T2DM and blood pressure in the Chinese population. Case-control study of 175 unrelated Chinese patients with early-onset T2DM (age of onset <40 years old) who receive (ins+, n = 57) or do not receive insulin (ins-, n = 118), and 182 non-diabetic control subjects. PCR-direct sequencing was performed to genotype E23K and A190A; the genotypic frequencies and associations with clinical characteristics were analyzed. The genotypic frequencies of E23K-GA+AA were higher and A190A-TT was lower in the early-onset T2DM group, especially the T2D-ins+ group, compared to the non-diabetic control group (p < 0.01 or 0.05, respectively). In non-diabetic subjects, E23K-AA carriers had significantly higher 2 h plasma glucose and lower 2 h insulin than E23K-GG carriers (both p < 0.05). A190A-TT or E23K-GG carriers had higher systolic blood pressure (SBP) than CC or AA carriers in the non-diabetic control and T2DM groups (both p < 0.05). In the T2DM ins+ group, E23K-AA carriers had lower onset age and duration of diabetes and higher BMI than GG carriers, and A190A-TT carriers had higher SBP than CC carriers (all p < 0.05). The E23K-GA or AA genotypes may increase the susceptibility to early-onset T2DM, while A190A-TT may protect against early-onset T2DM. On the other hand the A190A-TT or E23K-GG genotypes may increase the risk of hypertension in the Chinese population.

Early history of scapular fractures.

PubMed

Bartoníček, Jan; Kozánek, Michal; Jupiter, Jesse B

2016-01-01

The first to use the term Scapula was Vesalius (1514-1564) and thus it has remained ever since. Probably the oldest injured scapula, from 250 million years ago, was described by Chinese authors of a skeletal examination of a fossilised remains of a dinosaur Yangchuanosaurus hepingensis. In humans, the oldest known scapular fractures date back to the prehistoric and early historic times. In ancient times, a fracture of acromion was described in the treatises of Hippocrates. Early modern history of the treatment of scapular fractures is closely interlinked with the history of the French surgery. The first to point out the existence of these fractures were Petit, Du Verney and Desault in the 18th century. The first study devoted solely to scapular fractures was published by Traugott Karl August Vogt in 1799. Thomas Callaway published in 1849 an extensive dissertation on injuries to the shoulder girdle, in which he discussed a number of cases known at that time. The first radiograph of a scapular fracture was published by Petty in 1907. Mayo Robson (1884), Lambotte (1913) and Lane (1914) were pioneers in the surgical treatment of these fractures, followed in 1923 by the French surgeons Lenormat, Dujarrier and Basset. The first internal fixation of the glenoid fossa, including a radiograph, was published by Fischer in 1939.

Chinese Parents' Beliefs about the Importance and Feasibility of Quality Early Childhood Inclusion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hu, Bi Ying; Mak, Miranda Chi Kuan; Zhang, Chun; Fan, Xitao; Zhu, Jieling

2018-01-01

This study aims to explore Chinese parents' understanding about the importance and feasibility of quality pre-school inclusion and how these beliefs are affected by their levels of education and the types of disabilities in the Chinese socio-cultural and policy contexts. Findings support parents are highly supportive of the philosophy of…

"To Feel at Home in the Wonderful World of Modern Science": New Chinese Historiography and Qing Intellectual History.

PubMed

Sela, Ori

2017-09-01

Argument In recent decades a large body of scholarship on the first half of twentieth-century China has successfully shown the ways in which history and historiography had been constructed at the time, as well as the links between history, national identity, education, and politics that was forged during this period. In this paper, I examine Qing intellectual history, in particular that of the mid or "High Qing." I discuss the development of the historiography of this field in the early twentieth century by drawing on the larger developments in historiography; by demonstrating how these developments had shaped Qing intellectual history for later times; by focusing on the historical actors' sense of the importance of "science," being "scientific," and "modernization"; and, by unraveling the intimate connections to older historiographical narratives going back all the way to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

‘They are called Imperfect men’: Male Infertility and Sexual Health in Early Modern England

PubMed Central

Evans, Jennifer

2016-01-01

Abstract Scholars of early modern gender and medicine have tended to focus on female infertility. Discussions that have included male reproductive failure have considered sexual ability and impotence, rather than infertility. Nonetheless, fathering children was important to male social standing and the fulfilment of their patriarchal roles. This article will demonstrate that male infertility was not absent from medical literature, but appeared in a variety of settings including tests for infertility, seventeenth-century handbills for treatments, and surgical treatises. It will show that medical and surgical writers accepted that men could be rendered infertile, but still sexually capable, in a variety of ways. Moreover, the article will show that seventeenth-century surgeons expected male readers to be concerned about their reproductive potential and constructed a framework of efficacy based upon their ability to secure on-going fertility. PMID:29731544

Adapting a measure of acculturation for Chinese-American children aged 9-13 years

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Acculturation among those of Chinese descent may be related to changes in health behaviors and disease risks. Research with Chinese children to understand their acculturative processes early in life is important; however, there is no known instrument to measure acculturation for this population. Thi...

Two medieval plague treatises and their afterlife in early modern England.

PubMed

Keiser, George R

2003-07-01

This study of an adaptation of the popular John of Burgundy plague treatise by Thomas Moulton, a Dominican friar, ca. 1475, and a translation of the so-called Canutus plague treatise by Thomas Paynell, printed 1534, shows how the medieval traditions they represent were carried forward, well into the sixteenth century, and also subjected to change in light of religious, moral, and medical concerns of early modern England. The former had a long life in print, ca. 1530-1580, whereas Paynell's translation exists in one printed version. Moulton's adaptation differs from its original and from the Canutus treatise in putting great emphasis on the idea that onsets of plague were acts of divine retribution for human sinfulness. In this respect, Moulton reshaped the tradition of the medieval plague treatise and anticipated the religious and social construction of plague that would take shape in the first half of the sixteenth century. Its long history in print indicates that Moulton's treatise expressed the spirit of that construction and probably influenced the construction as well. The contrasting histories of the two treatises attest not only to the dramatic change brought about by religious and social forces in the sixteenth century, but to a growing recognition of the value of the printing press for disseminating medical information-in forms that served social and ideological ends.

Effects of Parent-Implemented Early Start Denver Model Intervention on Chinese Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Non-Randomized Controlled Trial.

PubMed

Zhou, Bingrui; Xu, Qiong; Li, Huiping; Zhang, Ying; Wang, Yi; Rogers, Sally J; Xu, Xiu

2018-04-01

To evaluate the effects of a 26-week, high-intensity, parent-implemented Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) intervention on developmental outcomes, severity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and parental stress of ASD toddlers in China. Subjects in P-ESDM group (n = 23) were recruited from 1.5- to 2.5-year-old toddlers who were screened positive in Xuhui and Minhang Districts and were diagnosed with ASD. A community (comparison) group of age-matched toddlers with ASD (n = 20) was recruited from other areas. Subjects of the P-ESDM group attended 1.5-hr parent coaching per week for 26 weeks, and those in the community group received interventions available from communities. Assessments were conducted at baseline (T1) and 26 weeks later (T2). After adjusting for baseline differences between the two groups, P-ESDM group demonstrated greater improvement than the community group in general development, especially in Language domain. Neither group demonstrated significant change in ASD severity, but the P-ESDM group showed greater improvement in social affect, parent-reported social communication and symbolic play than community group did. Finally, parents in P-ESDM group experienced decreased parenting stress while those in community group showed an opposite trend, though the differences did not reach significant association with the P-ESDM intervention. Chinese toddlers with ASD receiving 26 weeks of P-ESDM via regular coaching sessions showed significant greater improvement than those receiving community interventions in multiple aspects of development including social communications. These findings add support to the importance of providing early screening, diagnosis, and immediate referral for evidence-based interventions to improve outcome of young children with ASD. Autism Res 2018, 11: 654-666. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The development of early screening and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in

Comparison of Ethnic-specific Databases in Heidelberg Retina Tomography-3 to Discriminate Between Early Glaucoma and Normal Chinese Eyes.

PubMed

Tan, Xiu Ling; Yap, Sae Cheong; Li, Xiang; Yip, Leonard W

2017-01-01

To compare the diagnostic accuracy of the 3 race-specific normative databases in Heidelberg Retina Tomography (HRT)-3, in differentiating between early glaucomatous and healthy normal Chinese eyes. 52 healthy volunteers and 25 glaucoma patients were recruited for this prospective cross-sectional study. All underwent standardized interviews, ophthalmic examination, perimetry and HRT optic disc imaging. Area under the curve (AUC) receiver operating characteristics, sensitivity and specificity were derived to assess the discriminating abilities of the 3 normative databases, for both Moorfields Regression Analysis (MRA) and Glaucoma Probability Score (GPS). A significantly higher percentage (65%) of patients were classified as "within normal limits" using the MRA-Indian database, as compared to the MRA-Caucasian and MRA-African-American databases. However, for GPS, this was observed using the African-American database. For MRA, the highest sensitivity was obtained with both Caucasian and African-American databases (68%), while the highest specificity was from the Indian database (94%). The AUC for discrimination between glaucomatous and normal eyes by MRA-Caucasian, MRA-African-American and MRA-Indian databases were 0.77 (95% CI, 0.67-0.88), 0.79 (0.69-0.89) and 0.73 (0.63-0.84) respectively. For GPS, the highest sensitivity was obtained using either Caucasian or Indian databases (68%). The highest specificity was seen with the African-American database (98%). The AUC for GPS-Caucasian, GPS-African-American and GPS-Indian databases were 0.76 (95% CI, 0.66-0.87), 0.77 (0.67-0.87) and 0.76 (0.66-0.87) respectively. Comparison of the 3 ethnic databases did not reveal significant differences to differentiate early glaucomatous from normal Chinese eyes.

Towards a Theory of Vernacularisation: Insights from Written Chinese Vernaculars

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Snow, Don

2013-01-01

This paper examines the history of four Chinese vernaculars which have developed written forms, and argues that five of the patterns Hanan identifies in the early development of Bai Hua can also be found in the early development of written Wu, Cantonese, and Minnan. In each of the cases studied, there is a clear pattern of early use of the…

[New idea of traditional Chinese medicine quality control based on "composition structure" theory].

PubMed

Liu, Dan; Jia, Xiaobin; Yu, Danhong

2012-03-01

On the road of the modern Chinese medicine developing internationally, there is a key issues that setting up a reasonable, accurate and be quantified quality evaluation system which is comply with the basic theory of Chinese medicine. Based on the overall understanding of the role of traditional Chinese medicine components, author suggested that the idea of "structural components" theory should be embedded into the system and thought the Chinese medicine play a multi-target, multi-channel pharmacodynamic effects founded on the specific microcosmic structural relationship between the components and the components within the group. At present, the way of Chinese pharmacopoeia checking the quality of Chinese medicine is mainly depends on controlling the single or multiple targets of ingredients. In fact, this way is out of the overall effectiveness of the Chinese medicine, so we can not thoroughly controlling the quality of Chinese medicine from the essence of the Chinese medicine. Secondly, it's only macro-structural quantity that the Chinese pharmacopoeia just controlling the less effective ingredients, this is not enough to reflect the internal microstructure of the integrity and systematic. In other words, this cannot reflect the structural components of the Chinese medicine (the essence of traditional Chinese medicine). In view of above mentioned reasons, the author propose the new idea on the quality control in the medicine that quantify the ratio structural relationship in component and the ingredients of the components, set the optimal controlling proportion between the components and ingredients. At the same time, author thought we should conduct the depth study in the micro-quantified the multi-component and multi-ingredient, in the process of studying the material basis of Chinese medicine. Therefore, it could establish a more rational basis for the Chinese medicine quality controlling system.

A School-Based Fusion of East and West: A Case Study of Modern Curriculum Innovations in A Chinese Kindergarten

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Weipeng; Li, Hui

2018-01-01

School-based curriculum innovations have been widely implemented in Chinese kindergartens since the turn of the new millennium. However, in the absence of professional guidance, Chinese kindergartens have been forced to "ride a blind horse" when developing curriculum. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of and mechanisms…

Insights into Modern Human Prehistory Using Ancient Genomes.

PubMed

Yang, Melinda A; Fu, Qiaomei

2018-03-01

The genetic relationship of past modern humans to today's populations and each other was largely unknown until recently, when advances in ancient DNA sequencing allowed for unprecedented analysis of the genomes of these early people. These ancient genomes reveal new insights into human prehistory not always observed studying present-day populations, including greater details on the genetic diversity, population structure, and gene flow that characterized past human populations, particularly in early Eurasia, as well as increased insight on the relationship between archaic and modern humans. Here, we review genetic studies on ∼45000- to 7500-year-old individuals associated with mainly preagricultural cultures found in Eurasia, the Americas, and Africa. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Early Childhood Education in Taiwan.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barclay, Lisa K.

1989-01-01

Describes early childhood education in Taiwan, focusing on living patterns and child care arrangements, the position of the individual within the family and community, and the application of cultural norms to early childhood education. Compares the behavior of Chinese preschool children to that of American preschool children. (RJC)

[Geraldo Horácio de Paula Souza, China and Chinese medicine, 1928-1943].

PubMed

Roland, Maria Inês de França; Gianini, Reinaldo José

2013-01-01

This essay is on the writings of sanitary doctor Geraldo Horácio de Paula Souza in Eugenia e Imigração (1928) and, after an official trip to the Orient, in Digressões sobre a medicina chinesa clássica (1942) and A sabedoria chinesa diante da ciência ocidental e a Escola Médica de Pequim (1943). The documents, analyzed according to the conceptual approach of Carlo Ginzburg, indicate a change in his view of the Chinese. Trained according to the Rockefeller Foundation's model of experimental medicine, Geraldo de Paula Souza was guided in his work by scientific rigor and record imagery. In his youth he was of the opinion that the Chinese civilization was stagnated, but this view changed after his visit, when he perceived the Chinese republic's capacity to modernize.

The origin and dispersal of the domesticated Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, in China: a reconstruction based on ancient texts.

PubMed

Liu, Yanqun; Li, Yuping; Li, Xisheng; Qin, Li

2010-01-01

Sericulture is one of the great inventions of the ancient Chinese. Besides the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori), Chinese farmers developed rearing of the Chinese oak silkworm (Antheraea pernyi) about 400 years ago. In this paper, the historic records of the origins and dispersal of the domesticated Chinese oak silkworm in China are summarized. The first document with clearly recorded oak silkworm artificial rearing appeared in 1651, although Chinese oak silkworm was documented in about 270 AD. All of the evidence in the available historic records suggests that the domesticated Chinese oak silkworm originated in central and southern areas of Shandong Province in China around the 16th century, and then was introduced directly and indirectly by human commerce into the present habitations in China after the late 17th century. The results strongly support the hypothesis that only one geographically distinct event occurred in domestication of the modern Chinese oak silkworm.

Cultural Predictors of the Parenting Cognitions of Immigrant Chinese Mothers and Fathers in Canada

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costigan, Catherine; Su, Tina F.

2008-01-01

This study explored the predictors of parenting cognitions among 94 married immigrant Chinese couples with early-adolescent children in Canada. Mothers and fathers separately completed questionnaires assessing their culturally based parenting cognitions (interdependent childrearing goals, family obligation expectations and Chinese parent role…

Application of Toxic Chinese Medicine in Chinese Pharmacopoeia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Hui; Feng, Yu; Mao, Mingsan

2018-01-01

Objective: Explore the application characteristics of proprietary Chinese medicine prescriptions containing toxic herbs in pharmacopoeia. Methods: In this paper, according to the clinical application of pharmacopoeia proprietary Chinese medicine is divided into table agent, Qushu agent, diarrhea agent, heat agent, Wen Li agent, cough and asthma agents, resuscitation agent, Gutian agent, Fuzheng agent, Anshen agent, hemostatic agent, The traditional Chinese medicine prescription and the clinical application of the Chinese herbal medicine containing the toxic Chinese medicine were analyzed and sorted out., Summed up the compatibility of toxic herbs and application characteristics. Results: Toxic Chinese herbal medicine in the cure of traditional Chinese medicine to play a long-standing role, through the overall thinking, dialectical thinking, and thinking of toxic Chinese medicine in the analysis of Chinese medicine that [2], toxic Chinese medicine in the application of proprietary Chinese medicine can not lack. Conclusion: Pharmacopoeia included proprietary Chinese medicine not only in the clinical treatment of good, but also the application of its toxic traditional Chinese medicine and its understanding of the enrichment of the toxic characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine and treatment-related disease pathology between the points of contact for patients with clinical applications Based on and theoretical guidance of Chinese medicine [3].

China under the Four Modernizations: Part 1. Selected Papers Submitted to the Joint Economic Committee. Congress of the United States, Ninety-Seventh Congress, Second Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joint Economic Committee, Washington, DC.

The policies and performance of the post-Mao Chinese government (1976 to the present) in the four modernization areas of industry, agriculture, science and technology, and the military are examined. Realizing that the program to modernize the economy of the People's Republic of China, which was initiated by Mao's successors in 1977, was much too…

Redefining Democracy for the Modern State.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rahe, Paul A.

1992-01-01

Draws distinctions between classical and modern concepts of democracy. Contrasts Pythagoras' dislike of factions with Madison's support for economic differentiation and religious toleration. Discusses Aristotle's and Noah Webster's ideas on addressing class tensions. Examines early U.S. theorists' suspicions of direct democracy and support for…

Thinking in early modernity and the separation process between philosophy and psychology.

PubMed

Klempe, Sven Hroar

2015-03-01

One of the big questions in psychology is when and how psychology disentangled from philosophy. Usually it is referred to the laboratory Wundt established in Leipzig in 1879 as the birth for psychology as an independent science. However this separation process can also be traced in other ways, like by focusing on how the two sciences approach and understand thinking. Although thinking and language were not included in the research in this laboratory, Wundt (1897) regarded thinking as the core of psychology. As a commentary to Papanicolaou (Integr Psychol Behav Sci doi:10.1007/s12124-014-9273-3, 2014), this paper investigates the differences in how psychology and philosophy conceptualized thinking in early Western modernity. Thus one of the findings is that the separation process between the two was more or less initiated by Immanuel Kant. By defining thinking in terms of the pure reason he excluded the psychological understanding of thinking because psychology basically defined thinking in terms of ideas derived from qualia and sensation. Another finding is that psychology itself has not completely realized the differences between the philosophical and the psychological understanding of thinking by having been influenced by Kant's ideal of the pure reason. This may also explain some of the crises psychology went through during the twentieth century.

[Opportunity and challenge of post-marketing evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Du, Xiao-Xi; Song, Hai-Bo; Ren, Jing-Tian; Yang, Le; Guo, Xiao-Xin; Pang, Yu

2014-09-01

Post-marketing evaluation is a process which evaluate the risks and benefits of drug clinical application comprehensively and systematically, scientific and systematic results of post-marketing evaluation not only can provide data support for clinical application of traditional Chinese medicine, but also can be a reliable basis for the supervision department to develop risk control measures. With the increasing demands for treatment and prevention of disease, traditional Chinese medicine has been widely used, and security issues are also exposed. How to find risk signal of traditional Chinese medicine in the early stages, carry out targeted evaluation work and control risk timely have become challenges in the development of traditional Chinese medicine industry.

The influence of pubertal timing and stressful life events on depression and delinquency among Chinese adolescents.

PubMed

Chen, Jie; Yu, Jing; Wu, Yun; Zhang, Jianxin

2015-06-01

This study aimed to investigate the influences of pubertal timing and stressful life events on Chinese adolescents' depression and delinquency. Sex differences in these influences were also examined. A large sample with 4,228 participants aged 12-15 years (53% girls) was recruited in Beijing, China. Participants' pubertal development, stressful life events, depressive symptoms, and delinquency were measured using self-reported questionnaires. Both early maturing girls and boys displayed more delinquency than their same-sex on-time and late maturing peers. Early maturing girls displayed more depressive symptoms than on-time and late maturing girls, but boys in the three maturation groups showed similar levels of depressive symptoms. The interactive effects between early pubertal timing and stressful life events were significant in predicting depression and delinquency, particularly for girls. Early pubertal maturation is an important risk factor for Chinese adolescents' depression and delinquency. Stressful life events intensified the detrimental effects of early pubertal maturation on adolescents' depression and delinquency, particularly for girls. © 2015 The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Investigating acculturation, diet, and physical activity among Chinese-American children aged 9-13 years

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Acculturation among those of Chinese descent may be related to changes in diet and physical activity. Research to understand the acculturative process early in life is important; however, there is no qualitative research directly with Chinese-American children. This study, currently in progress, a...

Ancient Chinese Bronzes: Teacher's Packet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

The focus of this teacher's packet is the bronze vessels made for the kings and great families of the early Chinese dynasties between 1700 B.C. and 200 A.D. The materials in the guide are intended for use by teachers and students visiting the exhibition, "The Arts of China," at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution…

The gendered nature of filial piety--a study among Chinese Canadians.

PubMed

Chappell, Neena L; Kusch, Karen

2007-03-01

This paper examines the modern face of filial piety enactment among Chinese families living away from their homeland. It empirically assesses filial piety practices among a random sample of diasporic Chinese Canadians, by studying the role of sons, daughters and spouses in providing assistance with basic activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living and perceptions of support; the relative contribution of the traditional Chinese caring unit (son plus daughter-in-law) with assistance provided; whether source of assistance changes when amount of care is taken into account, when the gendered nature of tasks is taken into account and when controlling for other factors in multivariate analyses. N = 2,272 Chinese seniors (age 55+) living in seven cities across Canada. The findings reveal that, among these diasporic Chinese, patterns found in other Chinese societies are evident in their tendency to live with children, even when the spouse is still living, and the involvement of sons and the son/daughter-in-law unit in providing care. However, similar to recent findings for China, daughters and spouses are involved in all 3 areas of support examined and importantly, their involvement increases as more assistance is provided while that from sons decreases, notably in terms of IADL. The participation of daughters-in-law tends to be lower than that of either sons or daughters. The involvement of spouses increases for perceived or emotional support. The findings suggest a blending of Chinese and Canadian patterns of care and are discussed in terms of the changing but still gendered nature of care.

Education and Modernization in Greece.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kazamias, Andreas M.

This history of Greek education traces the path of modernization from the emergence of Greece as an independent state in the early 1800's up to the present date. Educational philosophy and content are seen as pawns in the social and political struggles of those years. Detailed coverage of the historical events describes the structure of education…

The Chinese-born immigrant infant feeding and growth hypothesis.

PubMed

Bolton, Kristy A; Kremer, Peter; Hesketh, Kylie D; Laws, Rachel; Campbell, Karen J

2016-10-11

Rapid growth in the first six months of life is a well-established risk factor for childhood obesity, and child feeding practices (supplementation or substitution of breast milk with formula and early introduction of solids) have been reported to predict this. The third largest immigrant group in Australia originate from China. Case-studies reported from Victorian Maternal and Child Health nurses suggest that rapid growth trajectories in the infants of Chinese parents is common place. Furthermore, these nurses report that high value is placed by this client group on rapid growth and a fatter child; that rates of breastfeeding are low and overfeeding of infant formula is high. There are currently no studies which describe infant growth or its correlates among this immigrant group. We postulate that in Australia, Chinese-born immigrant mothers will have different infant feeding practices compared to non-immigrant mothers and this will result in different growth trajectories and risk of overweight. We present the Chinese-born immigrant infant feeding and growth hypothesis - that less breastfeeding, high formula feeding and early introduction of solids in infants of Chinese-born immigrant mothers living in Australia will result in a high protein intake and subsequent rapid growth trajectory and increased risk of overweight and obesity. Three related studies will be conducted to investigate the hypothesis. These will include two quantitative studies (one cross-sectional, one longitudinal) and a qualitative study. The quantitative studies will investigate differences in feeding practices in Chinese-born immigrant compared to non-immigrant mothers and infants; and the growth trajectories over the first 3.5 years of life. The qualitative study will provide more in-depth understanding of the influencing factors on feeding practices in Chinese-born immigrant mothers. This study will provide evidence of the potential modifiable feeding practices and risk of overweight faced

Facial ontogeny in Neanderthals and modern humans

PubMed Central

Bastir, Markus; O'Higgins, Paul; Rosas, Antonio

2007-01-01

One hundred and fifty years after the discovery of Neanderthals, it is held that this morphologically and genetically distinct human species does not differ from modern Homo sapiens in its craniofacial ontogenetic trajectory after the early post-natal period. This is striking given the evident morphological differences between these species, since it implies that all of the major differences are established by the early post-natal period and carried into adulthood through identical trajectories, despite the extent to which mechanical and spatial factors are thought to influence craniofacial ontogeny. Here, we present statistical and morphological analyses demonstrating that the spatio-temporal processes responsible for craniofacial ontogenetic transformations differ. The findings emphasize that pre-natal as well as post-natal ontogeny are both important in establishing the cranial morphological differences between adult Neanderthals and modern humans. PMID:17311777

[Summary of development in scientific researches of traditional Chinese medicine in twenty years（1996-2015）].

PubMed

2016-11-01

The modernization strategy of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been implemented for 20 years. A great deal of basic and innovative researches have been done on basic theory of TCM, effective substance, efficacy evaluation, action mechanism, intracorporal metabolic process, safety evaluation, clinical evaluation and quality standards. As a result, a series of remarkable achievements in scientific research have been generated and promoted the interpretation of the connotation of TCM, supported the industry development of TCM and accelerated internationalization of TCM. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Abuse and neglect experienced by aging chinese in Canada.

PubMed

Lai, Daniel W L

2011-10-01

The traditional values of Chinese culture promote care and respect toward older adults. While it appears to be ironic to discuss issues of abuse and neglect in the Chinese culture, research findings in Chinese societies do indicate the occurrences of such problems. However, little research on the abuse and neglect of older Chinese in Western societies has been available. This study aims to examine the incidence of abuse and neglect and the associated correlates based on data collected from a random sample of 2,272 aging Chinese 55 years and older in seven Canadian cities. The findings show that 4.5% of the participants reported experiencing at least one incident of maltreatment or neglect within the past year. The most common forms of neglect and abuse experienced by the aging Chinese include being scolded, yelled at, treated impolitely all the time, and ridiculed. Close family members such as spouses and sons are those that most commonly maltreat older Chinese. Those who were more likely to report at least one incident of maltreatment or neglect were older adults living with others; they tended to have no education, more access barriers, more chronic illnesses, less favorable mental health, and a higher level of identification with Chinese cultural values. The findings implied that the face value of respect and care received by older people in Chinese culture should not be taken for granted. Culturally appropriate precautionary steps are needed for prevention and early problem identification.

Modern Microbial Ecosystems are a Key to Understanding Our Biosphere's Early Evolution and its Contributions To The Atmosphere and Rock Record

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DesMarais, David J.; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The survival of our early biosphere depended upon efficient coordination anion- diverse microbial populations. Microbial mats exhibit a 3.46-billion-year fossil record, thus they are the oldest known ecosystems. Photosynthetic microbial mats were key because, today, sunlight powers more than 99 percent of global primary productivity. Thus photosynthetic ecosystems have affected the atmosphere profoundly and have created the most pervasive, easily-detected fossils. Photosynthetic biospheres elsewhere will be most detectible via telescopes or spacecraft. As a part of the Astrobiology Institute, our Ames Microbial Ecosystems group examines the roles played by ecological processes in the early evolution of our biosphere, as recorded in geologic fossils and in the macromolecules of living cells: (1) We are defining the microbial mat microenvironment, which was an important milieu for early evolution. (2) We are comparing mats in contrasting environments to discern strategies of adaptation and diversification, traits that were key for long-term survival. (3) We have selected sites that mimic key environmental attributes of early Earth and thereby focus upon evolutionary adaptations to long-term changes in the global environment. (4) Our studies of gas exchange contribute to better estimates of biogenic gases in Earth's early atmosphere. This group therefore directly addresses the question: How have the Earth and its biosphere influenced each other over time Our studies strengthen the systematics for interpreting the microbial fossil record and thereby enhance astrobiological studies of martian samples. Our models of biogenic gas emissions will enhance models of atmospheres that might be detected on inhabited extrasolar planets. This work therefore also addresses the question: How can other biospheres be recogniZed" Our choice of field sites helps us explore Earth's evolving early environment. For example, modern mats that occupy thermal springs and certain freshwater

Genetic aspects of the transition from traditional to modern fish farming.

PubMed

Moav, R; Soller, M; Hulata, G

1976-11-01

A theoretical model describing the genetic aspect of the transition from traditional to modern animal husbandry is presented. Traditional races are characterized by high tolerance to harsh environments but a low rate of response to increased management inputs. Modern, artificially-selected breeds are efficient convertors of management inputs to higher production but have a low resistance to harsh environments. Thus, under lowinput traditional husbandry, the traditional races are best adapted, while under modern, high-input husbandry, modern breeds are most productive, and in the intermediate zone, hybrids between the two races are capable of closing the 'profit gap' in the shift from traditional to modern husbandry. The domesticated European, and the Chinese Big-belly races of the common carp were tested under many environmental 'treatments' involving variation in density, polyculture, aeration, feeding and fertilization. The Big-belly showed, as expected, high resistance to the poor 'treatments' but low response to environmental improvement. The European breeds performed best in the higher half of the environmental range and their response rates were highest. The F1 hybrids between the two races excelled in the lower third of the range, exhibiting, there, a high heterosis but only an intermediate rate of response. It was concluded that successful changes from one aquaculture system to another, and particularly the change from traditional to modern husbandry, require a simultaneous search for the most efficient genotype × environment combination and, for each level of modernization of traditional fish farming, the most effective genotype must be identified and utilized. The transition from traditional to modern animal husbandry, including fish farming, is best quantified by the levels of invested inputs, other than labour, that induce higher production of the individual animals. The major management inputs of modern fresh water fish farming are expensive feeding

How to Be Modern? The Social Negotiation of 'Good Food' in Contemporary China.

PubMed

Zhang, Joy Y

2018-02-01

Developing safe and sustainable food production for its population has been central to China's 'Modernisation Project'. Yet recent fieldwork in three Chinese cities suggests that there are two conflicting views on what a 'modern' agriculture should look like. For the government, modernisation implies a rational calculation of scale and a mirroring of global trends. But an alternative interpretation of modernity, promoted by civil society, has been gaining ground. For this camp, good food production is then established through a 'rhizomic' spread of new practices, which are inspired by world possibilities but are deeply rooted in the local context. Based on 14 interviews and five focus groups, this article investigates the ongoing social negotiation of 'good food' in China. It demonstrates how a non-western society responds to the twin processes of modernisation and globalisation and provides insights on the varieties of modernity in the making.

[Preliminary study of history of senna be used in China--On phenomenon about "reign medicine localized"].

PubMed

Jin, Yu-Zhi; Yu, Yue; Fu, Lu; Ma, Yan-Dong

2016-06-01

Senna is one of the commonly used traditional Chinese medicine at present. After the preliminary research that the drug medication history in China is not long, in our country ancient times, only "Hui prescription" in the records, other all kinds of traditional Chinese medicine literature rarely mentioned. Since modern times, the Chinese medicine in the medicine in the literature of the time and the modern western medicine books in the Chinese version of the time generally close, may be related to the introduction of Western medicine. At the end of Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, Chinese literature about the drug property theory of herbal medicine is seldom discussed, and had been seen as "western medicine" (foreign medicine), with the medication experience continue to accumulate, widespread popularity and other factors, the drug gradually Chinese scholars have constructed a relatively complete theory of the resistance, so as to realize the "localization". Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

Cultural Differences in Chinese American and European American Children's Drawing Skills over Time

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huntsinger, Carol S.; Jose, Paul E.; Krieg, Dana Balsink; Luo, Zupei

2011-01-01

Parents and early childhood teachers in Chinese societies and the United States have had dissimilar views about appropriate art instruction for young children. The Chinese view is that creativity will emerge after children have been taught essential drawing skills. The American view has been that children's drawing skills emerge naturally and that…

[Establishment of prescription research technology system in Chinese medicine secondary exploitation based on "component structure" theory].

PubMed

Cheng, Xu-Dong; Feng, Liang; Gu, Jun-Fei; Zhang, Ming-Hua; Jia, Xiao-Bin

2014-11-01

Chinese medicine prescriptions are the wisdom outcomes of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinical treatment determinations which based on differentiation of symptoms and signs. Chinese medicine prescriptions are also the basis of secondary exploitation of TCM. The study on prescription helps to understand the material basis of its efficacy, pharmacological mechanism, which is an important guarantee for the modernization of traditional Chinese medicine. Currently, there is not yet dissertation n the method and technology system of basic research on the prescription of Chinese medicine. This paper focuses on how to build an effective system of prescription research technology. Based on "component structure" theory, a technology system contained four-step method that "prescription analysis, the material basis screening, the material basis of analysis and optimization and verify" was proposed. The technology system analyzes the material basis of the three levels such as Chinese medicine pieces, constituents and the compounds which could respect the overall efficacy of Chinese medicine. Ideas of prescription optimization, remodeling are introduced into the system. The technology system is the combination of the existing research and associates with new techniques and methods, which used for explore the research thought suitable for material basis research and prescription remodeling. The system provides a reference for the secondary development of traditional Chinese medicine, and industrial upgrading.

Origin and concept of medicine food homology and its application in modern functional foods.

PubMed

Hou, Yan; Jiang, Jian-Guo

2013-12-01

The viewpoints of "medicine food homology" (MFH) conform to today's food requirements of returning to a natural and green healthy life. This paper aims to introduce the concept of MFH and its origin and evolution, and analyze the relationship between food and Chinese medicine. In this review, more than 80 MFH materials approved by China's Ministry of Health are listed and their effective ingredients are summarized in detail. Their treatment mechanism in TCM and western medicine are summarized too. Moreover, some new MFH resources that have been gradually developed are also introduced. MFH materials are a treasure house of functional factors for current functional foods. Innovative ideas for the development of MFH resources in current functional foods are prospected and discussed, such as taking advantage of Chinese diet theory, building a database for MFH varieties and developing new methods and technologies. At present, modern research for the development of MFH functional foods is still in its primary stage, there is still much work required in the popularization of the MFH concept and the development of new products. Knowledge and technological innovations in this area should be accelerated in the future to promote the modernization of MFH.

The Enlightenment of the Development of New Oriental School on Chinese Educational System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liu Yan; Wang, Jun

2010-01-01

In modern society, the essence of social competition is the competition of talents who are in need of education, and the education's quality can decide a nation's future and destiny. With the continuous development of China, Chinese educational system is also facing a new stage of development. Starting with analyzing the case of New Oriental…

Learning from the Barbarians? Reflections on Chinese Identity and "Race" in the Educational Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yan, Hektor K. T.

2016-01-01

This paper takes a reflective look at the notions of identity, "race" and ethnicity using a few ancient and modern Chinese "texts". It begins with an examination of the reforms known as "adopting the costume of barbarian/foreign people and practicing mounted archery [hufuqishe]' carried out by King Wuling [Chinese…

High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry technology in the analysis of Chinese Medicine Formulas: A bibliometric analysis (1997-2015).

PubMed

He, Xi-Ran; Li, Chun-Guang; Zhu, Xiao-Shu; Li, Yuan-Qing; Jarouche, Mariam; Bensoussan, Alan; Li, Ping-Ping

2017-01-01

There is a recognized challenge in analyzing traditional Chinese medicine formulas because of their complex chemical compositions. The application of modern analytical techniques such as high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a tandem mass spectrometry has improved the characterization of various compounds from traditional Chinese medicine formulas significantly. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis to recognize the overall trend of high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry approaches in the analysis of traditional Chinese medicine formulas, its significance and possible underlying interactions between individual herbs in these formulas. Electronic databases were searched systematically, and the identified studies were collected and analyzed using Microsoft Access 2010, Graph Pad 5.0 software and Ucinet software package. 338 publications between 1997 and 2015 were identified, and analyzed in terms of annual growth and accumulated publications, top journals, forms of traditional Chinese medicine preparations and highly studied formulas and single herbs, as well as social network analysis of single herbs. There is a significant increase trend in using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry related techniques in analysis of commonly used forms of traditional Chinese medicine formulas in the last 3 years. Stringent quality control is of great significance for the modernization and globalization of traditional Chinese medicine, and this bibliometric analysis provided the first and comprehensive summary within this field. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Genetic Diversity and Molecular Evolution of Chinese Waxy Maize Germplasm

PubMed Central

Zheng, Hongjian; Wang, Hui; Yang, Hua; Wu, Jinhong; Shi, Biao; Cai, Run; Xu, Yunbi; Wu, Aizhong; Luo, Lijun

2013-01-01

Waxy maize (Zea mays L. var. certaina Kulesh), with many excellent characters in terms of starch composition and economic value, has grown in China for a long history and its production has increased dramatically in recent decades. However, the evolution and origin of waxy maize still remains unclear. We studied the genetic diversity of Chinese waxy maize including typical landraces and inbred lines by SSR analysis and the results showed a wide genetic diversity in the Chinese waxy maize germplasm. We analyzed the origin and evolution of waxy maize by sequencing 108 samples, and downloading 52 sequences from GenBank for the waxy locus in a number of accessions from genus Zea. A sharp reduction of nucleotide diversity and significant neutrality tests (Tajima’s D and Fu and Li’s F*) were observed at the waxy locus in Chinese waxy maize but not in nonglutinous maize. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Chinese waxy maize originated from the cultivated flint maize and most of the modern waxy maize inbred lines showed a distinct independent origin and evolution process compared with the germplasm from Southwest China. The results indicated that an agronomic trait can be quickly improved to meet production demand by selection. PMID:23818949

Does "a picture is worth 1000 words" apply to iconic Chinese words? Relationship of Chinese words and pictures.

PubMed

Lo, Shih-Yu; Yeh, Su-Ling

2018-05-29

The meaning of a picture can be extracted rapidly, but the form-to-meaning relationship is less obvious for printed words. In contrast to English words that follow grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence rule, the iconic nature of Chinese words might predispose them to activate their semantic representations more directly from their orthographies. By using the paradigm of repetition blindness (RB) that taps into the early level of word processing, we examined whether Chinese words activate their semantic representations as directly as pictures do. RB refers to the failure to detect the second occurrence of an item when it is presented twice in temporal proximity. Previous studies showed RB for semantically related pictures, suggesting that pictures activate their semantic representations directly from their shapes and thus two semantically related pictures are represented as repeated. However, this does not apply to English words since no RB was found for English synonyms. In this study, we replicated the semantic RB effect for pictures, and further showed the absence of semantic RB for Chinese synonyms. Based on our findings, it is suggested that Chinese words are processed like English words, which do not activate their semantic representations as directly as pictures do.

Maintaining the Dialogue: Joint Involvement in a Stand-Alone CD-Rom Chinese Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Orton, Jane

2003-01-01

Presents a stand-alone CD-Rom version of a Web-based course in Modern Standard Chinese and addresses the problem of losing opportunities for negotiation in joint involvement episodes with teachers and peers in the CD-ROM course. Demonstrates trials of a mode of self-assessment in tasks using annotated sample texts generated by other students. (VWL)

[Proteomics and its application to determine mechanism of action of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Xin, Ping; Kuang, Hai-Xue; Li, Xiao-Liang; Wang, Yu; Zhang, Ben-Mei; Bu, He; Wang, Zhi-Bin; Meng, Yong-Hai; Wang, Yan-Hong; Wang, Qiu-Hong

2018-03-01

There is no doubt that the traditional Chinese medicine(TCM) is effective, practical and scientific after it was used for thousands of years. However, the mechanisms of action of many TCM are still unclear because of their multi-component, multi-target and multi-level features, which hinder the modernization and internationalization of the TCM. Proteomics is to analyze the composition and activity of intracellular proteins which are changing dynamically from a holistic perspective. It is consistent with the holistic and dynamic views of the TCM and brings about the hope of clarifying the mechanism of action of the TCM. In recent years, great progress has been made in the application of proteomics to determine the mechanism of the TCM. This article introduced the core technologies of proteomics and systematically summarized the applications of proteomics in the study of the mechanism of the Chinese medicinal formulae, single Chinese medicine and monomeric compounds from the TCM to provide innovative ideas and methods for reference. Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.

The Interfaces Between Historical, Paleo-, and Modern Climatology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mock, C. J.

2011-12-01

Historical climatology, commonly defined as the study of reconstructing past climates from documentary and early instrumental data, has routinely utilized data within the last several hundred years down to sub-daily temporal resolution prior to the advent of "modern" instrumental records beginning in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Historical climate reconstruction methods generally share similar aspects conducted in both paleoclimate reconstruction and modern climatology, given the need to quantify, calibrate, and conduct careful data quality assessments. Although some studies have integrated historical climatic studies with other high resolution paleoclimatic proxies, very few efforts have integrated historical data with modern "systematic" climate networks to further examine spatial and temporal patterns of climate variability. This presentation describes historical climate examples of how such data can be integrated within modern climate timescales, including examples of documentary data on tropical cyclones from the Western Pacific and Atlantic Basins, colonial records from Belize and Constantinople, ship logbooks in the Western Arctic, plantation diaries from the American Southeast, and newspaper data from the Fiji Islands and Bermuda. Some results include a unique wet period in Belize and active tropical cyclone periods in the Western and South Pacific in the early 20th century - both are not reflected in conventional modern climate datasets. Documentary data examples demonstrate high feasibility in further understanding extreme weather events at daily timeframes such as false spring/killing frost episodes and hydrological extremes in southeastern North America. Recent unique efforts also involve community participation, secondary education, and web- based volunteer efforts to digitize and archive historical weather and climate information.

Chinese Marine Materia Medica Resources: Status and Potential

PubMed Central

Fu, Xiu-Mei; Zhang, Meng-Qi; Shao, Chang-Lun; Li, Guo-Qiang; Bai, Hong; Dai, Gui-Lin; Chen, Qian-Wen; Kong, Wei; Fu, Xian-Jun; Wang, Chang-Yun

2016-01-01

Chinese marine materia medica (CMMM) is a vital part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Compared with terrestrial TCM, CMMM, derived from specific marine habitats, possesses peculiar chemical components with unique structures reflecting as potent pharmacological activities, distinct drug properties and functions. Nowadays, CMMM appears to be especially effective in treating such difficult diseases as cancers, diabetes, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, immunodeficiency diseases and senile dementia, and therefore has become an important medicinal resource for the research and development of new drugs. In recent years, such development has attracted wide attention in the field of medicine. In this study, the CMMM resources in China were systematically investigated and evaluated. It was found that the historic experiences of Chinese people using CMMM have continuously accumulated over a period of more than 3600 years, and that the achievements of the research on modern CMMM are especially outstanding. By June 2015, 725 kinds of CMMMs from Chinese coastal sea areas have been identified and recorded, covering 1552 organisms and minerals. More than 3100 traditional prescriptions containing CMMMs have been imparted and inherited. However, the number of CMMMs is less than the 8188 terrestrial TCMs, from more than 12,100 medicinal terrestrial plants, animals and minerals. In the future, the research and development of CMMM should focus on the channel entries (TCM drug properties), compatibility, effective ingredients, acting mechanisms, drug metabolism and quality standard. This study reveals the high potential of CMMM development. PMID:26950133

Chinese Marine Materia Medica Resources: Status and Potential.

PubMed

Fu, Xiu-Mei; Zhang, Meng-Qi; Shao, Chang-Lun; Li, Guo-Qiang; Bai, Hong; Dai, Gui-Lin; Chen, Qian-Wen; Kong, Wei; Fu, Xian-Jun; Wang, Chang-Yun

2016-03-03

Chinese marine materia medica (CMMM) is a vital part of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Compared with terrestrial TCM, CMMM, derived from specific marine habitats, possesses peculiar chemical components with unique structures reflecting as potent pharmacological activities, distinct drug properties and functions. Nowadays, CMMM appears to be especially effective in treating such difficult diseases as cancers, diabetes, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, immunodeficiency diseases and senile dementia, and therefore has become an important medicinal resource for the research and development of new drugs. In recent years, such development has attracted wide attention in the field of medicine. In this study, the CMMM resources in China were systematically investigated and evaluated. It was found that the historic experiences of Chinese people using CMMM have continuously accumulated over a period of more than 3600 years, and that the achievements of the research on modern CMMM are especially outstanding. By June 2015, 725 kinds of CMMMs from Chinese coastal sea areas have been identified and recorded, covering 1552 organisms and minerals. More than 3100 traditional prescriptions containing CMMMs have been imparted and inherited. However, the number of CMMMs is less than the 8188 terrestrial TCMs, from more than 12,100 medicinal terrestrial plants, animals and minerals. In the future, the research and development of CMMM should focus on the channel entries (TCM drug properties), compatibility, effective ingredients, acting mechanisms, drug metabolism and quality standard. This study reveals the high potential of CMMM development.

Refractive Status and Amblyopia Risk Factors in Chinese Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Jiaxing; Ding, Gang; Li, Ying; Hua, Ning; Wei, Nan; Qi, Xiaoli; Ning, Yuxian; Zhang, Ying; Li, Xue; Li, Jing; Song, Linlin; Qian, Xuehan

2018-01-01

Amblyopia risk factors in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are usually hard to detect in early childhood due to poor cooperation and has not been reported in the Chinese population. We screened 168 Chinese children with ASD, aged between 3 and 8 years, and 264 age-matched neurotypical children with Spot photoscreener and basic…

Earth Observation Satellites and Chinese Applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, D.

In this talk existing and future Earth observation satellites are briefly described These satellites include meteorological satellites ocean satellites land resources satellites cartographic satellites and gravimetric satellites The Chinese government has paid and will pay more attention to and put more effort into enhancing Chinese earth observation satellite programs in the next fifteen years The utilization of these satellites will effectively help human beings to solve problems it faces in areas such as population natural resources and environment and natural hazards The author will emphasize the originality of the scientific and application aspects of the Chinese program in the field of Earth observations The main applications include early warning and prevention of forest fires flooding and drought disaster water and ocean ice disasters monitoring of landslides and urban subsidence investigation of land cover change and urban expansion as well as urban and rural planning The author introduces the most up-to-date technology used by Chinese scientists including fusion and integration of multi-sensor multi-platform optical and SAR data of remote sensing Most applications in China have obtained much support from related international organizations and universities around the world These applications in China are helpful for economic construction and the efficient improvement of living quality

Distinct breast cancer subtypes in women with early-onset disease across races

PubMed Central

Singh, Mandeep; Ding, Yi; Zhang, Li-Ying; Song, Dong; Gong, Yun; Adams, Sylvia; Ross, Dara S; Wang, Jin-Hua; Grover, Shruti; Doval, Dinesh Chandra; Shao, Charles; He, Zi-Li; Chang, Victor; Chin, Warren W; Deng, Fang-Ming; Singh, Baljit; Zhang, David; Xu, Ru-Liang; Lee, Peng

2014-01-01

Background: Racial disparities among breast cancer (BCa) patients are known but not well studied in early-onset BCa. We analyzed molecular subtypes in early-onset BCa across five major races. Methods: A total of 2120 cases were included from non-Hispanic White (NHW), African American (AA) and Hispanic, Chinese and Indian. Based on ER, PR and HER-2 status, BCa was classified into 4 intrinsic subtypes as Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2/neu overexpression and Triple negative BCa (TNBC) subtypes. Data was stratified according to race and age as younger/early-onset group (40-years and younger) and older group (50-years and older). Results: In early-onset BCa, incidence of TNBC was significantly higher (p = 0.0369) in Indian women followed by AA, Hispanic, NHW and Chinese women. Incidence of Her2 over-expression subtype also was highest in Indian women, followed by Hispanic, Chinese, AA and NHW women. In contrast, Luminal B subtype was most significantly higher in AA women (p = 0.0000) followed by NHW (p = 0.0002), Chinese (p = 0.0003), Hispanic (0.0128) and Indian (p = 0.0468) women. Luminal A subtype was most significantly reduced in Indian women (p = 0.0113) followed by Hispanic, AA, NHW and Chinese women. These results were based on statistical analysis with the mean of older group populations. Conclusions: These results show significant disparities in receptor subtypes across races. This study will contribute in developing optimal clinical trial protocols and personalized management strategies for early-onset BCa patients. PMID:25057437

Chinese vegetative materia medica in a venereological treatise by Jean Astruc from 1740.

PubMed

Drobnik, Jacek

2016-07-01

Historical medical sources can be still queried for forgotten cures and remedies. Traditional Chinese medicine has dealt with lues venerea (syphilis) since the Five Dynasties period (10th century). Chinese indigenous materia medica and remedies recorded, studied or imported by the Europeans can reveal known or quite unknown medicinal plants. The studied Jean Astruc's work is a published ethnopharmacological survey carried out in Beijing in the 1730s and it deserves a modern interpretation. This is the first proposal to identify historical Chinese medicinal plants listed in a scarcely known medical treatise De Morbis venereis… ('On venereal diseases…') by Jean Astruc from 1740. I searched for the current uses and position of the taxonomically identified herbal stock in both traditional Chinese and official medical knowledge, with special attention to syphilis. Chinese names of drugs and their botanical identities (originally expressed by means of pre-Linnaean polynomials, and now interpreted as accepted binomials) were independently cross-checked with younger till most recent taxonomical and ethnopharmacological sources. Plants and drugs identified this way were queried for their modern applications in traditional Chinese and official medicine with special attention to sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and other uses which are similar to the 18th-century understanding of venereology. For 24 items of medicinal stock, 34 medicinal plants have been identified or suspected: Acacia catechu, Achyranthes bidentata, Akebia quinata, Angelica dahurica, A. sinensis, Aquilaria sinensis, Aralia cordata, Aristolochia fangchi, Chaenomeles sinensis, Ch. speciosa, Clematis vitalba, Coix lacryma-jobi, Commiphora myrrha, Cydonia oblonga, Daemonorops draco, D. jenkinsiana, Dictamnus dasycarpus, Dryobalanops sumatrensis, Forsythia suspensa, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Lonicera confusa, L. hypoglauca, L. japonica, Ligusticum striatum (=L. chuanxiong), Piper kadsura, Pterocarpus

Early Effects of Radical Position Legality in Chinese: An ERP Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yum, Yen Na; Su, I-Fan; Law, Sam-Po

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the timecourse and neural underpinnings of the coding of radical positions in Chinese character reading. To isolate effects of radical positions, four types of pseudocharacters were created in which the constituent radicals appeared in positions varying in probability of occurrence, that is, Unique, Dominant,…

The influence of the Chinese zodiac on fertility in Hong Kong SAR.

PubMed

Yip, Paul S F; Lee, Joseph; Cheung, Y B

2002-11-01

The annual total of births in Hong Kong SAR fell substantially in the past 20 years; hence the total fertility rate (TFR) followed the downward trend and dropped to a low of 0.9 below replacement level in 2000. Despite the long-term downward trend, short-run increases in the annual total of births and the TFR were exhibited. Such temporary fertility increases are identified in the Dragon Years of 1988 and 2000. The phenomenon of fertility changes associated with zodiacal animal years is examined in this paper with a view to gaining some insight into whether Chinese cultural preferences and folklore beliefs might have influenced prospective parents' reproductive behaviour. The paper explains the underlying philosophy of the Chinese astrological tradition and discusses how zodiacal preferences affect fertility between 1976 and 2000. The paper also explores why zodiacal influences on Chinese fertility before 1976 did not exist. It is unquestionable that the Dragon Year preference exerts an influence on fertility of modern Chinese populations through zodiacal birth-timing motivations. Birth rate rise in the Dragon Year is due to changes in timing of births that will have little effect on cumulative fertility.

Child Negative Emotionality and Parental Harsh Discipline in Chinese Preschoolers: The Different Mediating Roles of Maternal and Paternal Anxiety

PubMed Central

Xing, Xiaopei; Zhang, Hongli; Shao, Shuhui; Wang, Meifang

2017-01-01

Previous research has suggested that harsh discipline is still prevalent in modern Chinese families and it is necessary to explore the cause and the potential mechanisms of Chinese parental use of harsh discipline. This study examined the mediating effects of parental anxiety in the relations between child negative emotionality and parental harsh discipline in China. Using a sample of 328 Chinese father-mother dyads with their young children, findings revealed that maternal anxiety mediated the relations between child negative emotionality and maternal psychological aggression and corporal punishment, but the mediating effects of paternal anxiety on the relations between child negative emotionality and paternal harsh discipline was not significant. The findings provide an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with Chinese parental use of harsh discipline and its mechanisms. PMID:28326056

Child Negative Emotionality and Parental Harsh Discipline in Chinese Preschoolers: The Different Mediating Roles of Maternal and Paternal Anxiety.

PubMed

Xing, Xiaopei; Zhang, Hongli; Shao, Shuhui; Wang, Meifang

2017-01-01

Previous research has suggested that harsh discipline is still prevalent in modern Chinese families and it is necessary to explore the cause and the potential mechanisms of Chinese parental use of harsh discipline. This study examined the mediating effects of parental anxiety in the relations between child negative emotionality and parental harsh discipline in China. Using a sample of 328 Chinese father-mother dyads with their young children, findings revealed that maternal anxiety mediated the relations between child negative emotionality and maternal psychological aggression and corporal punishment, but the mediating effects of paternal anxiety on the relations between child negative emotionality and paternal harsh discipline was not significant. The findings provide an important supplement and extension to previous examinations of the factors associated with Chinese parental use of harsh discipline and its mechanisms.

Early Childhood Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elkind, David

In five sections, this paper explores dimensions of early childhood education: schooling generally construed as nonparental instruction in knowledge, values, and skills. Section 1 looks at some of the factors which have contributed to the rapid growth of early childhood education in modern times. Section 2 briefly highlights the contributions of…

How Are Notions of Childcare Similar or Different among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish Teachers?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Izumi-Taylor, Satomi; Lee, Yu-Yuan; Franceschini, Louis

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in the perceptions of childcare among American, Chinese, Japanese and Swedish early childhood teachers. Participants consisted of 78 American teachers, 156 Chinese teachers, 158 Japanese teachers, and 157 Swedish teachers. The results of quantitative analysis revealed that these…

Active euthanasia in pre-modern society, 1500-1800: learned debates and popular practices.

PubMed

Stolberg, Michael

2007-08-01

Historians of medical ethics have found that active euthanasia, in the sense of intentionally hastening the death of terminally-ill patients, was considered unacceptable in the Christian West before the 1870s. This paper presents a range of early modern texts on the issue which reflect a learned awareness of practices designed to shorten the lives of dying patients which were widely accepted among the lay public. Depriving the dying abruptly of their head-rest or placing them flat on the cold floor may strike us as merely symbolic today, but early moderns associated such measures with very concrete and immediate effects. In this sense, the intentional hastening of death in agonising patients had an accepted place in pre-modern popular culture. These practices must, however, be put into their proper context. Death was perceived more as a transition to the after-life and contemporary notions of dying could make even outright suffocation appear as an act of compassion which merely helped the soul depart from the body at the divinely ordained hour of death. The paper concludes with a brief comparison of early modern arguments with those of today.

Escherichia Coli--Key to Modern Genetics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bregegere, Francois

1982-01-01

Mid-nineteenth century work by Mendel on plant hybrids and by Pasteur on fermentation gave birth by way of bacterial genetics to modern-day molecular biology. The bacterium Escherichia Coli has occupied a key position in genetic studies leading from early gene identification with DNA to current genetic engineering using recombinant DNA technology.…

Chinese health beliefs of older Chinese in Canada.

PubMed

Lai, Daniel W L; Surood, Shireen

2009-02-01

Objectives. This study examines the cultural health beliefs held by older Chinese in Canada. Methods. Chinese surnames are randomly selected from the local Chinese telephone directories. Telephone screening is then conducted to identify eligible Chinese people 55 years of age or older to take part in a face-to-face interview to complete a structured survey questionnaire. Results. The results of exploratory factor analysis indicate that the health beliefs of the older Chinese are loaded onto three factors related to beliefs about traditional health practices, beliefs about traditional Chinese medicine, and beliefs about preventive diet. Education, religion, country of origin, length of residency in Canada, and city of residency are the major correlates of the various Chinese health beliefs scales. Discussion. The findings support the previous prescriptive knowledge about Chinese health beliefs and illustrate the intragroup sociocultural diversity that health practitioners should acknowledge in their practice.

Genetic Diversity and Linkage Disequilibrium in Chinese Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Revealed by SSR Markers

PubMed Central

Hao, Chenyang; Wang, Lanfen; Ge, Hongmei; Dong, Yuchen; Zhang, Xueyong

2011-01-01

Two hundred and fifty bread wheat lines, mainly Chinese mini core accessions, were assayed for polymorphism and linkage disequilibrium (LD) based on 512 whole-genome microsatellite loci representing a mean marker density of 5.1 cM. A total of 6,724 alleles ranging from 1 to 49 per locus were identified in all collections. The mean PIC value was 0.650, ranging from 0 to 0.965. Population structure and principal coordinate analysis revealed that landraces and modern varieties were two relatively independent genetic sub-groups. Landraces had a higher allelic diversity than modern varieties with respect to both genomes and chromosomes in terms of total number of alleles and allelic richness. 3,833 (57.0%) and 2,788 (41.5%) rare alleles with frequencies of <5% were found in the landrace and modern variety gene pools, respectively, indicating greater numbers of rare variants, or likely new alleles, in landraces. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed that A genome had the largest genetic differentiation and D genome the lowest. In contrast to genetic diversity, modern varieties displayed a wider average LD decay across the whole genome for locus pairs with r2>0.05 (P<0.001) than the landraces. Mean LD decay distance for the landraces at the whole genome level was <5 cM, while a higher LD decay distance of 5–10 cM in modern varieties. LD decay distances were also somewhat different for each of the 21 chromosomes, being higher for most of the chromosomes in modern varieties (<5∼25 cM) compared to landraces (<5∼15 cM), presumably indicating the influences of domestication and breeding. This study facilitates predicting the marker density required to effectively associate genotypes with traits in Chinese wheat genetic resources. PMID:21365016

What has been overlooked on study of Chinese materia medica in the West?

PubMed

Liu, Willow J H

2015-07-01

Chinese materia medica (CMM), including Chinese herbal, animal, and mineral medicine, has been widely researched in the past century for their biological and pharmacological activities. However, their mechanism and clinical efficacy studies did not always give expected results. For example, the most commonly used Chinese herb for menstrual disorders, Radix Angelicae sinensis, showed neither estrogenic nor progesteronic activity in laboratory and clinical studies. Its efficacy should not be denied simply based on such results, because it is mostly used together with other herbs in formulae. Moreover, its regulation on menstruation may take effect through other mechanisms, such as regulation of blood circulation. The key difference of Chinese medicine (CM) from conventional medicine is its unique holistic view on human body and diseases. CMM is mostly applied in clinic in the form of formulae. Study on individual CMM, simply using methods for development of conventional drugs, is unable to thoroughly reveal the power of CMM formulae. The reason may partly result from improper design due to the lack understanding about application principle of CMMs in CM, and/or to current lack of knowledge about the causes of some symptoms and diseases. This paper will introduce the importance of qi and blood in CM etiology and pathology, Zheng differentiation, formulation of CMMs, and explain why one formula can treat different diseases and one disease can be treated with different formulae. Examples in the paper will demonstrate that proper studies on Zheng and its corresponding clinically proven formulae could help scientists find new direction to explain and treat symptoms and diseases that so far modern medicine has been unable to, provided that the designer properly understands CM theories, etiology and pathology of CM, as well as modern medicine. Strategy suggestions about research methods for CMM and its formulae will be given at the end.

Why Does Rapid Naming Predict Chinese Word Reading?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shum, Kathy Kar-man; Au, Terry Kit-fong

2017-01-01

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) robustly predicts early reading abilities across languages, but its underlying mechanism remains unclear. This study found that RAN associated significantly with processing speed but not with phonological awareness or orthographic knowledge in 89 Hong Kong Chinese second-graders. RAN overlaps more with processing…

Auricular anthropometry of Hong Kong Chinese babies.

PubMed

Fok, T F; Hon, K L; So, H K; Ng, P C; Wong, E; Lee, A K Y; Chang, A

2004-02-01

To provide a database of the auricular measurements of Chinese infants born in Hong Kong. Prospective cross-sectional study. A total of 2384 healthy singleton, born consecutively at the Prince of Wales Hospital and the Union Hospital from October 1998 to September 2000, were included in the study. The range of gestation was 33-42 weeks. Measurements included ear width (EW), ear length (EL) and ear position (EP). The data show generally higher values for males in the parameters measured. When compared with previously published data for Caucasian and Jordanian term babies, Chinese babies have shorter EL. The ears were within normal position in nearly all our infants. The human ear appears to grow in a remarkably constant fashion. This study establishes the first set of gestational age-specific standard of the ear parameters for Chinese new-borns, potentially enabling early syndromal diagnosis. There are significant inter-racial differences in these ear parameters.

New Tools for an Ancient Craft: The Use of eCases in Chinese Medicine Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Zhi-Xiu; Lam, Paul; Wong, Alex; Cen, Ze-bo; Sun, Wai-zhu; Miao, Jiang-xia; McNaught, Carmel

2009-01-01

Conventional teaching of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is highly teacher-centered, in line with traditional views of the teacher as "master". This article focuses on how modern teaching concepts and technologies can enhance the teaching of TCM in Hong Kong, a city noted for a culture where "East meets West." The project…

Get Ready for the Second Phase of Chinese Military Reform

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-01-01

PLA ) in order to comport with changes in modern warfare, adjustments to China’s security situation, and the expanding missions of the Chinese armed...the PLA , rebalancing the numbers among the services, and reorganizing some units in some services.  In 2017 we should expect the commencement of...is a rebalancing of numbers between the services—that is, between the PLA Army, PLA Navy, PLA Air Force, and PLA Rocket Force.  The PLA Army will

Hong Kong Chinese daughters' intergenerational caregiving obligations: a cultural model approach.

PubMed

Holroyd, E

2001-11-01

This paper, based on a study carried out in Hong Kong, outlines the caregiving obligations of Hong Kong Chinese daughters towards their frail elderly parents. A cultural model approach drawn from cognitive anthropology is taken to focus on how Chinese caregiving daughters develop a sense of what is right and emotionally fulfilling and acquire the motivation to care for their parents. An ethnographic approach was used in the study and techniques included guided and open-ended interviews and non-participatory observations. A total of 20 co-residential caregiving daughters were interviewed in their homes on average twice over the course of one year. All interviews were conducted in Cantonese. Although the sample was small, daughters' accounts are structured by reference to cultural models and this structure provides the common basis for generalisability of results. Concepts of Confucian antecedents, reciprocity and personhood and other modern ideas of filial duty are explored. Conclusions are drawn about the shifting rights and obligations of Chinese caregiving daughters within the contemporary urban realities of Hong Kong. The findings of this study have relevance for the development of welfare policy for older Chinese persons and the chronically ill, and to all services involving women. The findings will also serve to inform family caregiver education programs.

Thinking with the saint: the miracle of Saint Januarius of Naples and science in early modern Europe.

PubMed

de Ceglia, Francesco Paolo

2014-01-01

The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the way in which early modem science questioned and indirectly influenced (while being in its turn influenced by) the conceptualization of the liquefaction of the blood of Saint Januarius, a phenomenon that has been taking place at regular intervals in Naples since the late Middle Ages. In the seventeenth century, a debate arose that divided Europe between supporters of a theory of divine intervention and believers in the occult properties of the blood. These two theoretical options reflected two different perspectives on the relationship between the natural and the supernatural. While in the seventeenth century, the emphasis was placed on the predictable periodicity of the miraculous event of liquefaction as a manifestation of God in his role as a divine regulator, in the eighteenth century the event came to be described as capricious and unpredictable, in an attempt to differentiate miracles from the workings of nature, which were deemed to be normative. The miracle of the blood of Saint Januarius thus provides a window through which we can catch a glimpse of how the natural order was perceived in early modern Europe at a time when the Continent was culturally fragmented into north and south, Protestantism and Catholicism, learned and ignorant.

Balancing Between Aging and Cancer: Molecular Genetics Meets Traditional Chinese Medicine.

PubMed

Liu, Jing; Peng, Lei; Huang, Wenhui; Li, Zhiming; Pan, Jun; Sang, Lei; Lu, Siqian; Zhang, Jihong; Li, Wanyi; Luo, Ying

2017-09-01

The biological consequences of cellular senescence and immortalization in aging and cancer are in conflict. Organisms have developed common cellular signaling pathways and surveillance mechanisms to control the processing of aging against tumorigenesis. The imbalance of any signals involved in this process may result in either premature aging or tumorigenesis and reduce the life span of the organism. In contrast, the balance between aging and tumorigenesis at a higher level (homeostatic-balance) may benefit the organism with tumor-free longevity. The focus of this perspective is to review the literature on the balance between "Yin" and "Yang" in traditional Chinese medicine. Modern cellular and molecular techniques now permit a more robust system to screen herbs in traditional Chinese medicine for their activity in balancing aging and tumorigenesis. The understanding of the crosstalk between aging and tumorigenesis and new perspectives on the application of Chinese medicine might shed light on anti-aging and tumor-free strategies. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 2581-2586, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[From influence to confluence : positioning the history of pre-modern Korean medicine in East Asia].

PubMed

Suh, Soyoung

2010-12-31

This article surveys studies focusing on pre-modern Korean medicine, which are both written in English and analyzed primary sources up to 1876. Overall, the history of pre-modern Korean medicine is an unknown filed in Anglophone academia. Yung Sik Kim's, James Palais's, and Carter Ecart's problematization of the nationalist framework of Korean scholarship partially explains the marginality of the field. Addressing these criticisms, this review argues that pre-modern Korean medicine's uneasy task lies in both elaborating Korea's own experience of medicine, while simultaneously avoiding making the "Korean" category itself essential. Korean narratives of premodern medicine need to go beyond the mere territorilalization of Korean medicine against its Chinese, Japanese, or Western counterparts, thereby to tackle the field's own boundary of research objects. The existing scholarship in English responds to this challenge by primarily examining the way in which Korea has shared textual tradition with China. Sirhak scholars' innovation in medicine, visual representation of Tongŭi bogam, Korean management of epidemics in the eleventh century, and Korean indexing of local botanicals, engages not only native achievements, but also the process of modifying medicine across geographical and political boundaries. More to the point, the emerging native narratives, although written in Korean, are implicitly resonant with those currently present in Anglophone academia. Taking "tension," "intertextuality," and "local traits" as a lens, this article assesses a series of current research in Korea. Aiming to go beyond appeals for a "distinctively" Korean experience of medicine, the future study of Korean pre-modern medicine will further elucidate confluences of different flows, such as "Chinese and Korean," "universal and local," "center and periphery," and "native and foreign," which will eventually articulate a range of Korean techniques of creating a bricolage in medicine.

Learning Social Behaviors in Families during Childhood: A Comparative Study of Chinese Children in Taiwan and in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chiang, Linda H.

This study examined how Chinese children learn social behaviors in families during early childhood, and examined whether there are differences in social behaviors between Chinese children from Taiwan and Chinese children from the United States. The study also sought to glean strategies for parents, caretakers, and teachers to help cultivate…

The individual-oriented and social-oriented Chinese bicultural self: testing the theory.

PubMed

Lu, Luo

2008-06-01

The author proposes a bicultural self theory for contemporary Chinese individuals, encompassing 2 main components: the individual-oriented self and the social-oriented self. The social orientation is rooted in traditional Chinese conceptualization of the self, whereas the individual orientation has evolved and developed under Western influences along with recent societal modernization. The author conducted a series of 5 studies to test the theory and relate the model to important issues in current personality and social psychological research, such as cultural individualism-collectivism, self-construals, motivation, cognition, emotion, and well-being. A total of 977 university students in Taiwan participated. The author found that contrasting self-aspects were differentially associated with the aforementioned constructs, as theoretically predicted. This evidence thus generally supported the bicultural self model.

Engaging "Nuquanzhuyi": The Making of a Chinese Feminist Rhetoric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Bo

2010-01-01

Examining two particular texts and applying modifications of Western feminist concepts, the author argues that early twentieth-century Chinese women's writing contains feminist thoughts and textual strategies far more complex and nuanced than conventional wisdom has led one to expect. (Contains 6 notes.)

Prevalence, racial variations, and risk factors of age-related macular degeneration in Singaporean Chinese, Indians, and Malays.

PubMed

Cheung, Chui Ming Gemmy; Li, Xiang; Cheng, Ching-Yu; Zheng, Yingfeng; Mitchell, Paul; Wang, Jie Jin; Wong, Tien Yin

2014-08-01

To describe the prevalence and risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a multiethnic Asian cohort of Chinese, Malay, and Indian persons. Population-based cross-sectional study. A total of 10 033 persons (3280 Malay, 3400 Indian, and 3353 Chinese; response rate, 75%) 40 years of age or older residing in Singapore. We performed comprehensive systemic and ocular examinations, retinal photography, and laboratory investigations for all participants. We graded early and late AMD signs from retinal photographs using the modified Wisconsin AMD grading scale. We calculated the age-standardized prevalence of AMD using the 2010 Singapore adult population and analyzed risk factors for AMD using logistic regression models. Early and late AMD. Of the 9799 participants with gradable photographs, 588 had early AMD and 60 had late AMD. The age-standardized prevalence was 5.1% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.6-5.5) for early AMD and 0.5% (95% CI, 0.4-0.6) for late AMD. The prevalence of early AMD was similar between Chinese (5.7%) and Indian (4.5%; P = 0.27) persons and lower in Malays (3.5%; P = 0.002 compared with Chinese; P = 0.09 compared with Indians); in contrast, the prevalence for late AMD was similar across ethnic groups (Chinese, 0.6%; Indian, 0.3%; and Malay, 0.3%; P = 0.20). Risk factors for early AMD were older age (odds ratio [OR], 1.40 per 5-year increase in age; 95% CI, 1.33-1.47), male gender (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.43-2.29), hypertension (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.02-1.61), and hyperopic refraction (OR, 1.17 per 1-diopter increase in spherical equivalent; 95% CI, 1.11-1.24). Risk factors for late AMD include older age (OR, 1.87 per 5-year increase in age; 95% CI, 1.54-2.19), smoking more than 5 packs per week (OR, 3.63; 95% CI, 1.34-9.80), and presence of chronic kidney disease (OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.22-3.88). Early AMD is more common in Chinese and Indians than in Malays, but there were no racial variations in the prevalence of late AMD. Copyright © 2014

Traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of alcoholism: from ancient to modern.

PubMed

Liu, Qing; Lawrence, Andrew J; Liang, Jian-Hui

2011-01-01

Alcohol has long been used as a daily beverage in China and around the world. It is a medicinal substance with various biological activities. In fact, alcohol has played an important role in the development of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), within which it is considered as the earliest exhilarant and anaesthetic. Yet, as a substance with great potency of misuse and addiction, the consumption of alcohol can lead to serious damage to individual health and the society. Over the past 20 years, alcohol abuse or alcoholism has become an increasing social problem in China along with the rapid economic development. China, the country of origin for TCM, has accumulated abundant clinical experience in the treatment of alcoholism with its ancient medicine. In the present research, we have summarized clinical and primary studies concerning various remedies of TCM for alcohol abuse, including herbal components (such as Kudzu/Pueraria Lobata, Pediculus melo, Hypericumpperforatum L.), decoctions and acupuncture.

Being Chinese or Being Different: Chinese Undergraduates' Use of Discourses of Chineseness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skyrme, Gillian

2014-01-01

Myths about "the Chinese learner" developed from an outsider perspective abound in the Western world. The focus of this article, however, is how discourses of Chineseness were used by the Chinese international students themselves who, as undergraduate students in a New Zealand university, were the subjects of my doctoral research. It…

[Strategies of medical self-authorization in early modern medicine: the example of Volcher Coiter (1534-1576)].

PubMed

Gross, Dominik; Steinmetzer, Jan

2005-01-01

Based on the example of Volcher Coiter--a town physician at Nuremberg and one of the leading anatomists in early modern medicine--, this essay points out that the authoritative status of contemporary physicians mainly was predicated on an interplay of self-fashioning and outside perception. It provides ample evidence that Coiter made use of several characteristic rhetorical and discourse-related strategies of self-authorisation such as the participation in social networks, a highly convincing technique of self-fashioning by emphasizing particular erudition, the presentation of academic medicine as a science authorised by god and the concurrent devaluation of non-academic healers. Furthermore, graphic and visual strategies of self-authorisation could be ascertained: Coiter took care for a premium typography of his books. He also used his talent as a graphic artist in his books to visualise his medical concepts. Moreover, the so-called 'Nuremberg Portrait' of Coiter served to illustrate his outstanding authority.

‘Nature Concocts & Expels’: The Agents and Processes of Recovery from Disease in Early Modern England

PubMed Central

Newton, Hannah

2015-01-01

The ‘golden saying’ in early modern medicine was ‘Nature is the healer of disease’. This article uncovers the meaning and significance of this forgotten axiom by investigating perceptions of the agents and physiological processes of recovery from illness in England, c.1580–1720. Drawing on sources such as medical texts and diaries, it shows that doctors and laypeople attributed recovery to three agents—God, Nature and the practitioner. While scholars are familiar with the roles of providence and medicine, the vital agency of Nature has been overlooked. In theory, the agents operated in a hierarchy: Nature was ‘God's instrument’, and the physician, ‘Nature's servant’; but in practice the power balance was more ambivalent. Nature was depicted both as a housewife who cooked and cleaned the humours, and as a warrior who defeated the disease. Through exploring these complex dynamics, the article sheds fresh light on concepts of gender, disease and bodies. PMID:26217069

"Secrets of the female sex": Jane Sharp, the reproductive female body, and early modern midwifery manuals.

PubMed

Hobby, E

2001-01-01

Early modern midwifery manuals in Britain were usually the work of men. These books were a significant source of information about the body to the wider reading public: many sold well, and their prefatory materials include injunctions to readers not to make improper use of them. What is particularly interesting about Jane Sharp's Midwives Book (1671) is that it both provides a compendium of current beliefs concerning reproduction, and indicates the author's ironic perception of the misogyny that underpinned accepted ideas about the female reproductive body. This article gives key examples of Sharp's interventions, and also refers to Thomas Bartholin, Bartholinus Anatomy (1688); Richard Bunworth, The Doctresse (1656); Hugh Chamberlen, The Accomplisht Midwife (1673); The Compleat Midwifes Practice (1656); Helkiah Crooke, Microcosmographia (1615); Nicholas Culpeper, A Directory for Midwives (1651); Jacques Guillemeau, Childbirth (1612); Jean Riolan, A Sure Guide (1657); Daniel Sennert, Practical Physick (1664); William Sermon, The Ladies Companion (1671); and Percival Willughby, Observations in Midwifery (c. 1675).

Relationship between the Infant Feeding Preferences of Chinese Mothers' Immediate Social Network and Early Breastfeeding Cessation.

PubMed

Bai, Dorothy Li; Fong, Daniel Yee Tak; Lok, Kris Yuet Wan; Tarrant, Marie

2016-05-01

The relationship between support from members of a mother's social network and breastfeeding continuation is receiving increased attention. The objectives of this study were to describe the infant feeding preferences of Chinese mothers' immediate social network and to examine the association between these preferences and early breastfeeding cessation. In total, 1172 mother-infant pairs were recruited from 4 public hospitals in Hong Kong and followed prospectively for 12 months or until breastfeeding stopped. Over 40% of participants' partners preferred breastfeeding and half had no infant feeding preference. Only about 20% of participants' mothers or mothers-in-law preferred breastfeeding, and less than 10% reported that all of the 3 significant family members (partner, mother, and mother-in-law) preferred breastfeeding. The partner's preference for infant formula or mixed feeding (odds ratio [OR], 2.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43-4.71) or having no preference (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.16-2.30) was strongly associated with higher odds of stopping breastfeeding before 1 month. For every additional family member who preferred breastfeeding, the odds of stopping breastfeeding was reduced by almost 20% (OR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.68-0.97). However, living with a parent-in-law (OR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.02-2.07) was also a predictor of early breastfeeding cessation. Knowing someone who had breastfed for ≥ 1 month (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.42-0.97) or having been breastfed as a child (OR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.45-0.98) significantly lowered the odds of early breastfeeding cessation. The infant feeding preferences of mothers' immediate social network are significantly associated with breastfeeding continuation. Prenatal breastfeeding education programs should involve significant family members to promote breastfeeding. © The Author(s) 2016.

Rapid Extraction of Lexical Tone Phonology in Chinese Characters: A Visual Mismatch Negativity Study

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiao-Dong; Liu, A-Ping; Wu, Yin-Yuan; Wang, Peng

2013-01-01

Background In alphabetic languages, emerging evidence from behavioral and neuroimaging studies shows the rapid and automatic activation of phonological information in visual word recognition. In the mapping from orthography to phonology, unlike most alphabetic languages in which there is a natural correspondence between the visual and phonological forms, in logographic Chinese, the mapping between visual and phonological forms is rather arbitrary and depends on learning and experience. The issue of whether the phonological information is rapidly and automatically extracted in Chinese characters by the brain has not yet been thoroughly addressed. Methodology/Principal Findings We continuously presented Chinese characters differing in orthography and meaning to adult native Mandarin Chinese speakers to construct a constant varying visual stream. In the stream, most stimuli were homophones of Chinese characters: The phonological features embedded in these visual characters were the same, including consonants, vowels and the lexical tone. Occasionally, the rule of phonology was randomly violated by characters whose phonological features differed in the lexical tone. Conclusions/Significance We showed that the violation of the lexical tone phonology evoked an early, robust visual response, as revealed by whole-head electrical recordings of the visual mismatch negativity (vMMN), indicating the rapid extraction of phonological information embedded in Chinese characters. Source analysis revealed that the vMMN was involved in neural activations of the visual cortex, suggesting that the visual sensory memory is sensitive to phonological information embedded in visual words at an early processing stage. PMID:23437235

Early food allergy and respiratory allergy symptoms and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Chinese children: A cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Jiang, Xiaodong; Shen, Chun; Dai, Yuan; Jiang, Fan; Li, Shenghui; Shen, Xiaoming; Hu, Yan; Li, Fei

2018-06-01

The relationship between food allergy and respiratory allergy and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children is rarely investigated. The objective of this study was to determine whether early food allergy and respiratory allergy symptoms are associated with the prevalence of ADHD in Chinese school-age children. This cross-sectional study was conducted in school-age children using cluster-stratified methods from 9 cities across China between November and December 2005. A family and social environmental questionnaire including the diagnosis history of ADHD and allergic diseases (food allergy, allergic rhinitis, and bronchial asthma), as well as general information, was completed by parents. The prevalence of both allergic rhinitis (20.4%) and asthma (11.6%) in the food allergy group was significantly higher than in the non-food allergy group (9.0% and 2.8%, respectively; both P < .001). The multivariable analysis showed that single food allergy (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.13-2.05, P = .005), food allergy complicated with allergic rhinitis or asthma (OR = 3.36, 95% CI: 2.19-5.14, P < .001), and food allergy complicated with allergic rhinitis and asthma simultaneously (OR = 4.08, 95% CI: 2.05-8.11, P < .001) were independently associated with the increased risk of ADHD. Early food allergy is associated with ADHD in school-age children. Early food allergy and respiratory allergy symptoms independently and synergistically contributed to higher risk of ADHD. Monitoring food allergy in early life could help in the early prediction and intervention for the consequent allergy march and ADHD in children. © 2018 EAACI and John Wiley and Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Representing Divorce, Reforming Interiority: Narratives of Gender, Class and Family in Post-Reform Chinese Literature and Culture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xiao, Hui

2009-01-01

This project stands at the juncture of modern Chinese literature, post-socialist studies, cultural history of divorce, and critical studies about global middle-class cultures. Employing analytical tools mainly from literary studies, cultural studies and feminist theories, I examine stories, novels, films and TV dramas about divorce produced…

Interactions of neanderthals and modern humans: what can be inferred from mitochondrial DNA?

PubMed

Cyran, Krzysztof A; Kimmel, Marek

2005-07-01

This paper reviews the state-of-the-art knowledge concerning the relationship between Neanderthals and Upper Paleolithic modern humans. The branching-process method is applied to infer the upper limit of hypothetical Neanderthal admixture, consistent with the evidence based on mitochon- drial DNA sequences of contemporary modern humans, as well as Neanderthal and early modern European H. sapiens fossils. As a result, a maximum value of 15% admixture is obtained. This estimate is discussed in the context of its consequences for the two competing theories of modern human origin.

Morphological changes and allometric growth in hatchery-reared Chinese loach Paramisgurnus dabryanus (Dabry de Thiersant, 1872)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yunlong; Wu, Qiaowan; Hu, Weihua; Wang, Fan; Shao, Weihan; Zhang, Chengming; Zhao, Zhongbo; He, Hui; Fan, Qixue; Gu, Zemao

2016-07-01

The length-weight relationship and allometric growth patterns of hatchery-reared Chinese loach, Paramisgurnus dabryanus (Dabry de Thiersant, 1872), were determined from hatching to 60 days after hatching. A best power model was estimated for the length-weight relationship during the early life stages. Positive allometric growth for the head segment, trunk length, tail length and eye diameter was also found in the early life stages, while body depth, tail depth, tail fin length, pectoral fin length and barbel length displayed a negative coefficient. During the subsequent early developmental stage, the growth coefficients showed a clear and common tendency towards isometry for all measured body ratios. The allometric growth changes in Chinese loach during the early stage are possibly the result of selective organogenesis directed towards survival priorities.

China: Past and Present. A Supplemental Activity Unit on Chinese Culture for Grades 7-12.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parisi, Lynn

Designed as a supplement to the classroom text, this unit contains 14 lessons on Chinese culture and society. Students are encouraged to compare the cultures of traditional and modern China as well as those of China and the United States. Materials are divided into two sections. The first section contains lesson outlines, including teaching plans,…

Genetic evidence and the modern human origins debate.

PubMed

Relethford, J H

2008-06-01

A continued debate in anthropology concerns the evolutionary origin of 'anatomically modern humans' (Homo sapiens sapiens). Different models have been proposed to examine the related questions of (1) where and when anatomically modern humans first appeared and (2) the genetic and evolutionary relationship between modern humans and earlier human populations. Genetic data have been increasingly used to address these questions. Genetic data on living human populations have been used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the human species by considering how global patterns of human variation could be produced given different evolutionary scenarios. Of particular interest are gene trees that reconstruct the time and place of the most recent common ancestor of humanity for a given haplotype and the analysis of regional differences in genetic diversity. Ancient DNA has also allowed a direct assessment of genetic variation in European Neandertals. Together with the fossil record, genetic data provide insight into the origin of modern humans. The evidence points to an African origin of modern humans dating back to 200,000 years followed by later expansions of moderns out of Africa across the Old World. What is less clear is what happened when these early modern humans met preexisting 'archaic human' populations outside of Africa. At present, it is difficult to distinguish between a model of total genetic replacement and a model that includes some degree of genetic mixture.

The progress of Chinese burn medicine from the Third Military Medical University-in memory of its pioneer, Professor Li Ao.

PubMed

Li, Haisheng; Zhou, Junyi; Peng, Yizhi; Zhang, Jiaping; Peng, Xi; Luo, Qizhi; Yuan, Zhiqiang; Yan, Hong; Peng, Daizhi; He, Weifeng; Wang, Fengjun; Liang, Guangping; Huang, Yuesheng; Wu, Jun; Luo, Gaoxing

2017-01-01

Professor Li Ao was one of the founders of Chinese burn medicine and one of the most renowned doctors and researchers of burns in China. He established one of the Chinese earliest special departments for burns at Third Military Medical University (TMMU) in 1958. To memorialize Professor Li Ao on his 100th birthday in 2017 and introduce our extensive experience, it is our honor to briefly review the development and achievement of the Chinese burn medicine from TMMU. The epidemiology and outcomes of admitted burn patients since 1958 were reviewed. Furthermore, main achievements of basic and clinical research for the past roughly 60 years were presented. These achievements mainly included the Chinese Rule of Nine, fluid resuscitation protocol, experience in inhalation injury, wound treatment strategies, prevention and treatment of burn infections, nutrition therapy, organ support therapies, and rehabilitation. The progress shaped and enriched modern Chinese burn medicine and promoted the development of world burn medicine.

The earliest unequivocally modern humans in southern China.

PubMed

Liu, Wu; Martinón-Torres, María; Cai, Yan-jun; Xing, Song; Tong, Hao-wen; Pei, Shu-wen; Sier, Mark Jan; Wu, Xiao-hong; Edwards, R Lawrence; Cheng, Hai; Li, Yi-yuan; Yang, Xiong-xin; de Castro, José María Bermúdez; Wu, Xiu-jie

2015-10-29

The hominin record from southern Asia for the early Late Pleistocene epoch is scarce. Well-dated and well-preserved fossils older than ∼45,000 years that can be unequivocally attributed to Homo sapiens are lacking. Here we present evidence from the newly excavated Fuyan Cave in Daoxian (southern China). This site has provided 47 human teeth dated to more than 80,000 years old, and with an inferred maximum age of 120,000 years. The morphological and metric assessment of this sample supports its unequivocal assignment to H. sapiens. The Daoxian sample is more derived than any other anatomically modern humans, resembling middle-to-late Late Pleistocene specimens and even contemporary humans. Our study shows that fully modern morphologies were present in southern China 30,000-70,000 years earlier than in the Levant and Europe. Our data fill a chronological and geographical gap that is relevant for understanding when H. sapiens first appeared in southern Asia. The Daoxian teeth also support the hypothesis that during the same period, southern China was inhabited by more derived populations than central and northern China. This evidence is important for the study of dispersal routes of modern humans. Finally, our results are relevant to exploring the reasons for the relatively late entry of H. sapiens into Europe. Some studies have investigated how the competition with H. sapiens may have caused Neanderthals' extinction (see ref. 8 and references therein). Notably, although fully modern humans were already present in southern China at least as early as ∼80,000 years ago, there is no evidence that they entered Europe before ∼45,000 years ago. This could indicate that H. neanderthalensis was indeed an additional ecological barrier for modern humans, who could only enter Europe when the demise of Neanderthals had already started.

[Academy idea and Curiositas as leitmotif of the early modern Leopoldina].

PubMed

Boehm, Laetitia

2008-01-01

, it deals with aspects of privilege law, regarding the development of new kinds of higher learning institutions and university politics in the imperial city in the confessional era ("Semi-Universities"/"Academies" Strassburg, Nuremberg-Altdorf). This is followed by a thematic balancing.--Chapter III. Curiositas as an Early Modern Leitmotif of Natural Science Academies refers first to the multivalent popular usage of the fashionable and borrowed German word "Kuriosität" [curiosity] during the Enlightenment, then inquires about the word's original definitions in ancient and medieval scholarly traditions. In the age of humanist source study and expeditions into "new worlds", the concept of curiositas as an (ethically ambivalent) "desire for knowledge" was revitalized; this is exemplified by two types of sources: the report of the Orient and Brazil explorer André Thevet and the literarily virulent figure (around 1600) of knowledge-thirsty Faust. A reexamination of the academy's foundational documents, in conjunction with the peregrinatio academica of Schweinfurt doctors to Italy, confirms the old question, now newly posed, about the methodological and programmatic signal of the curiositas device. The self-reflection of the naturae-curiosi and their focus on observational development and natural-historical classifications in the area of "materia medica" show--besides other advances in scholarship in the early 17th century--clear correlation with the "phenomenology of modern thought" that is so often discussed today. However, there must be an evolutionary and innovative differentiation from what would later be called "natural science" disciplines (like biology, zoology, mineralogy, chemistry), as opposed to an all-inclusively defined "scientific revolution", which pertains to astronomical and mathematical ways of thinking, as well as new insights in the physical-instrumental field.--Chapter IV. The Urban Medical Profession Between Scholarly Medicine and Practice applies

China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities - Background and Issues for Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-08-26

waters.17 Chinese officials in early 2010 began describing this claim as a “core national interest,” meaning an issue comparable in importance to...China’s Claims to an Extended Continental Shelf in the East China Sea: Meaning and Implications,” China Brief, July 9, 2009: 9-11; Peter Dutton and...apparent than in China’s attitude over the South China Sea, which recently has been defined as a ‘core interest’—the same phrase Chinese use to refer

[Application of chemometrics in composition-activity relationship research of traditional Chinese medicine].

PubMed

Han, Sheng-Nan

2014-07-01

Chemometrics is a new branch of chemistry which is widely applied to various fields of analytical chemistry. Chemometrics can use theories and methods of mathematics, statistics, computer science and other related disciplines to optimize the chemical measurement process and maximize access to acquire chemical information and other information on material systems by analyzing chemical measurement data. In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has attracted widespread attention. In the research of traditional Chinese medicine, it has been a key problem that how to interpret the relationship between various chemical components and its efficacy, which seriously restricts the modernization of Chinese medicine. As chemometrics brings the multivariate analysis methods into the chemical research, it has been applied as an effective research tool in the composition-activity relationship research of Chinese medicine. This article reviews the applications of chemometrics methods in the composition-activity relationship research in recent years. The applications of multivariate statistical analysis methods (such as regression analysis, correlation analysis, principal component analysis, etc. ) and artificial neural network (such as back propagation artificial neural network, radical basis function neural network, support vector machine, etc. ) are summarized, including the brief fundamental principles, the research contents and the advantages and disadvantages. Finally, the existing main problems and prospects of its future researches are proposed.

Prevalence and Causes of Visual Impairment and Blindness in Chinese American Adults: The Chinese American Eye Study.

PubMed

Varma, Rohit; Kim, Jeniffer S; Burkemper, Bruce S; Wen, Ge; Torres, Mina; Hsu, Chunyi; Choudhury, Farzana; Azen, Stanley P; McKean-Cowdin, Roberta

2016-07-01

Visual impairment (VI) and blindness continue to be major public health problems worldwide. Despite previously published studies on VI in Chinese and other racial/ethnic populations, there are no data specific to Chinese American adults. To determine the age- and sex-specific prevalence and causes of VI and blindness in adult Chinese Americans and to compare the prevalence to other racial/ethnic groups. In this population-based, cross-sectional study of 10 US Census tracts in the city of Monterey Park, California, 4582 Chinese American adults 50 years and older underwent complete ophthalmologic examinations, including measurement of presenting and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) for distance using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study protocol from February 1, 2010, through October 31, 2013. Age-specific prevalence and causes of VI and blindness for presenting and BCVA. Of the 5782 eligible adults, 4582 (79.2%) completed an in-clinic eye examination. Of the 4582 participants, most were born in China (3149 [68.7%]), female (2901 [63.3%]), and married (3458 [75.5%]). The mean (SD) age was 61 (9) years. The prevalence of presenting VI was 3.0% (95% CI, 2.5%-3.5%), with 60.0% of this prevalence being attributed to uncorrected refractive error. The overall age-adjusted prevalence for VI (BCVA of ≤20/40 in the better eye) was 1.2% (95% CI, 0.9%-1.5%). The overall age-adjusted prevalence of blindness (BCVA of ≤20/200 in the better-seeing eye) was 0.07% (95% CI, 0%-0.2%). The prevalence of VI and blindness was higher in older Chinese Americans compared with younger. The primary causes of VI were cataracts and myopic retinopathy; the primary cause of blindness was myopic retinopathy. The prevalence of VI in Chinese Americans is similar to that of non-Hispanic white and Latino individuals in the United States and similar to or lower than the prevalence previously reported for Chinese adults from non-US studies. The prevalence of blindness is lower than that

Genome-wide Association Studies for Female Fertility Traits in Chinese and Nordic Holsteins.

PubMed

Liu, Aoxing; Wang, Yachun; Sahana, Goutam; Zhang, Qin; Liu, Lin; Lund, Mogens Sandø; Su, Guosheng

2017-08-16

Reduced female fertility could cause considerable economic loss and has become a worldwide problem in the modern dairy industry. The objective of this study was to detect quantitative trait loci (QTL) for female fertility traits in Chinese and Nordic Holsteins using various strategies. First, single-trait association analyses were performed for female fertility traits in Chinese and Nordic Holsteins. Second, the SNPs with P-value < 0.005 discovered in Chinese Holsteins were validated in Nordic Holsteins. Third, the summary statistics from single-trait association analyses were combined into meta-analyses to: (1) identify common QTL for multiple fertility traits within each Holstein population; (2) detect SNPs which were associated with a female fertility trait across two Holstein populations. A large numbers of QTL were discovered or confirmed for female fertility traits. The QTL segregating at 31.4~34.1 Mb on BTA13, 48.3~51.9 Mb on BTA23 and 34.0~37.6 Mb on BTA28 shared between Chinese and Nordic Holsteins were further ascertained using a validation approach and meta-analyses. Furthermore, multiple novel variants identified in Chinese Holsteins were validated with Nordic data as well as meta-analyses. The genes IL6R, SLC39A12, CACNB2, ZEB1, ZMIZ1 and FAM213A were concluded to be strong candidate genes for female fertility in Holsteins.

The early modern kidney--nephrology in and about the nineteenth century. Part 1.

PubMed

Eknoyan, Garabed

2013-01-01

The 19th century was a period of momentous scientific discoveries, technological achievements, and societal changes. A beneficiary of these revolutionary upheavals was medical empiricism that supplanted the rationalism of the past giving rise to early modern scientific medicine. Continued reliance on sensory data now magnified by technical advances generated new medical information that could be quantified with increasing precision, verified by repeated experimentation, and validated by statistical analysis. The institutionalization and integration of these methodologies into medical education were a defining step that assured their progress and perpetuation. Major advances were made in the nosography of diseases of the kidney, notably that of the diagnosis of progressive kidney disease from the presence of albuminuria by Richard Bright (1789-1858); and of renal structure and function, notably the demonstration of the continuity of the glomerular capsule with the tubular basement membrane by William Bowman (1816-1892), and the arguments for hemodynamic physical forces mediated glomerular filtration by Carl Ludwig (1816-1895) and for active tubular transport by Rudolf Heidenhain (1834-1897). Improvements in microscopy and tissue processing were instrumental in describing the cellular ultrastructure of the glomerulus and tubular segments, but their integrated function remained to be elucidated. The kidney continued to be considered a tubular secretory organ and its pathology attributed to injury of the interstitium (interstitial nephritis) or tubules (parenchymatous nephritis). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

[Sexual hormone and traditional Chinese patent medicine for early postmenopausal women: effect on quality of life and cost-utility analysis].

PubMed

Zhou, Ling-Ling; Xu, Liang-Zhi; Liu, Hong-Wei; Zhang, Jing; Liu, Ying; Liu, Xiao-Fang; Tang, Liu-Lin; Zhuang, Jing; Liu, Xiao-Xian; Qiao, Lin

2009-11-01

To evaluate the effect of Premarin and Kuntai capsule (a traditional Chinese patent medicine) on the quality of life (QOL) and their cost-utility in early postmenopausal women. Fifty-seven women with menopausal syndrome in the early postmenopausal stage were randomly allocated into Premarin group (0.3 mg/day and 0.6 mg/day alternately, n=29) and Kuntai group (4 g/day, n=28). The therapies lasted for one year and the patients were followed up every 3 months. The QOL of the patients was evaluated and the utility scores were obtained from rating scale to conduct a cost-utility analysis (CUA). At each follow-up examination, no significant difference was found in the QOL between the two groups (P>0.05). The QOL obviously increased after the 1-year-long therapy in both the groups, and Kuntai required longer treatment time than Premarin to take effect. The cost-utility ratio of Premarin and Kuntai were 13581.45 yuan/QALY (quality adjusted life year) and 25105.12 yuan/QALY, respectively. Both incremental cost analysis and sensitivity analysis showed that Kuntai was more costly than Premarin. The result of per-protocol analysis was consistent with that of intention-to-treat analysis. At early stage of menopause, the QOL of women with menopausal syndrome can be significantly improved by low-dose Premarin and Kuntai capsule, but the latter is more costly.