scholarly journals Links between environment, diet, and the hunter-gatherer microbiome

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela K. Fragiadakis ◽  
Samuel A. Smits ◽  
Erica D. Sonnenburg ◽  
William Van Treuren ◽  
Gregor Reid ◽  
...  

AbstractThe study of traditional populations provides a view of human-associated microbes unperturbed by industrialization, as well as a window into the microbiota that co-evolved with humans. Here we discuss our recent work characterizing the microbiota from the Hadza hunter-gatherers of Tanzania. We found seasonal shifts in bacterial taxa, diversity, and carbohydrate utilization by the microbiota. When compared to the microbiota composition from other populations around the world, the Hadza microbiota shares bacterial families with other traditional societies that are rare or absent from microbiotas of industrialized nations. We present additional observations from the Hadza microbiota and their lifestyle and environment, including microbes detected on hands, water, and animal sources, how the microbiota varies with sex and age, and the shortterm effects of introducing agricultural products into the diet. In the context of our previously published findings and of these additional observations, we discuss a path forward for future work.

Author(s):  
Gianfranco Pacchioni

About 10,000 years ago, at the beginning of the agriculturalrevolution, on the whole earth lived between 5 and 8 million hunter-gatherers, all belonging to the Homo sapiens species. Five thousand years later, freed from the primary needs for survival, some belonging to that species enjoyed the privilege of devoting themselves to philosophical speculation and the search for transcendental truths. It was only in the past two hundred years, however, with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, that reaping nature’s secrets and answering fundamental questions posed by the Universe have become for many full-time activities, on the way to becoming a real profession. Today the number of scientists across the globe has reached and exceeded 10 million, that is, more than the whole human race 10,000 years ago. If growth continues at the current rate, in 2050 we will have 35 million people committed full-time to scientific research. With what consequences, it remains to be understood. For almost forty years I myself have been concerned with science in a continuing, direct, and passionate way. Today I perceive, along with many colleagues, especially of my generation, that things are evolving and have changed deeply, in ways unimaginable until a few years ago and, in some respects, not without danger. What has happened in the world of science in recent decades is more than likely a mirror of a similar and equally radical transformation taking place in modern society, particularly with the advent ...


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 365-372
Author(s):  
Tunahan Erdem

The study aimed to reveal the competitiveness of the world dried sector for some selected products such as dried apples, prunes, apricots, figs, and grapes. In the study, the data was subjected to the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Relative Export Advantage (RXA), Relative Import Advantage (RMA), Relative Trade Advantage (RTA) and Relative Competitiveness (RC) indices. RCA is an index developed by Balassa to determine the competitiveness of a specific country for selected products or goods. To demonstrate the economic outlook for the world dried sector, the 2007 to 2017 data of China, USA, Chile, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, South Africa, France, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Spain, Turkey, and India were compared, these countries dominating the sector of selected dried agricultural products. The results demonstrated that the world dried sector is very responsive to economic crises and to local currency rate. The RCA index was found to be 4.66 in 2007 for Turkey and it decreased to 4.45 by 2009 during the world economic crisis. The other breaking point was 2013 when Turkey experienced both economic and political crises.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Carolyn E. Boyd ◽  
Ashley Busby

Archaic period hunter-gatherers of the Lower Pecos Canyonlands of southwest Texas and Coahuila, Mexico, created complex rock art murals containing elaborately painted anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. These figures are frequently portrayed with dots or lines emanating out of or into their open mouths. In this article, we discuss patterns in shape, color, and arrangement of this pictographic element and propose that artists used this graphic device to denote speech, breath, and the soul. They communicated meaning through the image-making process, alternating brushstroke direction to indicate inhalation versus exhalation or using different paint application techniques to reflect measured versus forceful speech. The choices made by artists in the production of the imagery reflect their cosmology and the framework of ideas and beliefs through which they interpreted and interacted with the world. Bridging the iconographic data with ethnohistoric and ethnographic texts from Mesoamerica, we suggest that speech and breath expressed in the rock art of the Lower Pecos was tied to concepts of the soul, creation, and human origins.


2021 ◽  
pp. 103530462110147
Author(s):  
Mark Dean ◽  
Al Rainnie ◽  
Jim Stanford ◽  
Dan Nahum

This article critically analyses the opportunities for Australia to revitalise its strategically important manufacturing sector in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It considers Australia’s industry policy options on the basis of both advances in the theory of industrial policy and recent policy proposals in the Australian context. It draws on recent work from The Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work examining the prospects for Australian manufacturing renewal in a post-COVID-19 economy, together with other recent work in political economy, economic geography and labour process theory critically evaluating the Fourth Industrial Revolution (i4.0) and its implications for the Australian economy. The aim of the article is to contribute to and further develop the debate about the future of government intervention in manufacturing and industry policy in Australia. Crucially, the argument links the future development of Australian manufacturing with a focus on renewable energy. JEL Codes: L50; L52; L78; O10; O13: O25; O44; P18; Q42


2016 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Behrooz Hashemi-Domeneh ◽  
Nasim Zamani ◽  
Hossein Hassanian-Moghaddam ◽  
Mitra Rahimi ◽  
Shahin Shadnia ◽  
...  

Abstract The use of pesticides such as aluminium phosphide (AlP) has increased in the recent years and improved the quantity and quality of agricultural products in a number of developing countries. The downside is that AlP causes severe chronic and acute health effects that have reached major proportions in countries such as India, Iran, Bangladesh, and Jordan. Nearly 300,000 people die due to pesticide poisoning in the world every year. Poisoning with AlP accounts for many of these deaths. Unfortunately, at the same time, there is no standard treatment for it. The aim of this article is to give a brief review of AlP poisoning and propose a treatment flowchart based on the knowledge gained so far. For this purpose we reviewed all articles on the management of AlP poisoning published from 2000 till now. Using a modified Delphi design, we have designed a handy flowchart that could be used as a guide for AlP poisoning management of patients in emergency centres.


Author(s):  
Magdalena Golonko ◽  
Marcin Wysokiński ◽  
Arkadiusz Gromada

The main purpose of the article was to assess the regionalization of agricultural production in the world and the changes occurring in this aspect. The article presents the concentration level of agricultural production in the world by continent. The source of materials was data from FAOSTAT. The research period covered the years 2004 - 2016. In the analyzed period, the value of gross agricultural production doubled. Various trends were observed within the period studied. In the years 2004-2010, in all regions of the world, there was an increase in gross production of agriculture, while in the period 2010-2016 only in two – North America and Asia. It was noted that there was a high concentration of agricultural production, mainly concentrated in Asia and Europe. In the analyzed period, there was a relative increase in the share of agricultural production in Asia and South America as compared to other regions. Individual groups of agricultural products, such as cereals and animal production, were also analyzed. In both cases, concentration was different. The pace of concentration in animal production was higher than in plant production.


Leonardo ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Crandall ◽  
Noah Snavely

Social photo-sharing sites like Flickr contain vast amounts of latent information about the world and human behavior. The authors describe their recent work in building automatic algorithms that analyze large collections of imagery in order to extract some of this information. At a global scale, geo-tagged photographs can be used to identify the most photographed places on Earth, as well as to infer the names and visual representations of these places. At a local scale, the authors build detailed 3D models of a scene by combining information from thousands of 2D photographs taken by different people and from different vantage points.


Author(s):  
Evangeline Bonisiwe Zungu

The recent COVID-19 pandemic took the world by storm. The rate of infection and prevalence of death struck fear in the hearts of many across the globe. The high likelihood of infection required continual testing whilst the trauma of bereavement left many distraught. For traditionalists, a principal concern was whether they would be permitted to exhaustively practise their burial rites in the course of mourning their loved ones. The importance of the custom, as it is believed, is to prevent unsettled feelings in family members. This article is aimed at stimulating consideration, reflection and understanding of the concerns experienced by traditional societies surrounding COVID-19 regulations and the non-performance of important burial rites. Surviving family members experience troubled thoughts as a result of the fear of repercussions, which may include the living-dead withholding their protection of the family which consequently will cause ailments and accidents. This article will utilise inductive thematic analysis to interpret the data collected .


1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-304
Author(s):  
Jane Williams-Hogan

In this paper, the author examines the issue of charisma and prophecy in secularized societies. In traditional society the charismatic personality or the prophet brought a universalizing and rationalizing message which simultaneously expanded and penetrated the sphere of external order in the world, giving people the ability to manipulate and control the natural world. The disenchanted world is the end product of this process, when no more mysterious forces come into play, and when one can in principle master all things through rational calculation. The gift of rationality almost randomly bestowed in the ancient world becomes, for Weber, the rightful inheritance of the modern individual. Clarity brought by charisma in a dark and foreboding world loses its brilliance and its ability to beckon when the world is filled with light. In investigating charisma in only traditional societies, Weber saw charisma as one dimensional, solely as the force of rationality. So envisioned, charisma dissipates in the very act of realizing itself through the transformation of the world. Given Weber's analysis, therefore, one would not expect to find genuinely new religions emerging within our transformed and rational modern society. In the examination of the founding something that is best identified by the sociological term charisma, though obviously in modern guise, is clearly evident. This points to the possibility that charisma is not static but has the dynamic capacity to be responsive to the structural characteristics of the society in which it operates.


Author(s):  
A.V. Brizitskaya

The article analyzes the trade relations between Russia and China in the modern period characterized by changes in the situation on the world stage and in the domestic political life of countries. The dynamics and commodity structure of bilateral trade of Russia and China have been studied, the Index of trade com-plementarity has been calculated, which showed that Chinese exports are more complementary to the structure of Russian imports than vice versa. Emphasis is placed on traditional trade in goods, excluding services and cross-border e-Commerce. The paper identifies two main directions which the development of Russian exports to China can take in the conditions of the "trade war" of China and the United States. The short-sighted policy of increasing only fuel and energy exports is justified. The reasons hindering the development of non-resource exports of Russia, primarily agricultural products and food, to China have been identified.


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