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Suicide and attempted suicide in Greenland. A controlled study in Nuuk (Godthaab).

Suicidal behaviour in Eskimo populations has changed in pattern and quantity over the last decades. Rates have more than quadrupled and performers now are mainly young persons with obscure motivation. In a study from Greenland's major township all cases of attempted or completed suicide among Greenlanders are analysed for social, emotional, somatic, and environmental predisposing factors in comparison with a non-psychiatric, never-suicidal, matching group. Almost two per thousand of the adult population committed suicide yearly while attempts at suicide were five times as frequent. A quarrelsome, drinking, childhood home background was often found, at least as regards the attempters, who themselves frequently suffered from emotional conflicts with close contacts, alcohol affliction, criminality, and instability at work. Neither bereavement, cross-cultural exposure, broken homes, nor meteorological factors seemed to exert a significant influence. The results are discussed in relation to the social and cultural evolution of the Greenlandic society.

Adult

[Prematurity: developments during the last decade at Erasmus Hospital. II. Long-term follow-up].

Morbidity and mortality of these preterm infants weighing < 1000 g at birth was reported in another paper. The mortality and neuro-developmental prognosis improved clearly in the last 3 years. A particular attention is given for protecting these babies against brain lesions. These ELBW have a high risk of neurodevelopmental disturbances. Therefore, a multidisciplinary team follows the neurological evolution to assess the quality of neonatal care and detect and treat developmental abnormalities as early as possible. We present the weight and height evolutions, the neurological, social and familial outcome of our 15 survivors. Economical and ethical discussions are open.

Child Development

Social structuring of mammalian populations and rate of chromosomal evolution.

To test the hypothesis that the evolution of organisms is dependent to a large degree on gene rearrangement, we devised a way of estimating rates of evolutionary change in karyotype. This non-biochemical method is based on consideration of chromosomal variability within taxonomic groups having a fossil record. The results show that chromosomal evolution has been faster in placental mammals than in other vertebrates or molluscs. This finding is consistent with published evidence that placentals have also been evolving unusually fast in anatomy and way of life. However, the structural genes of placentals seem not to have experienced accelerated evolution. Possibly, therefore, anatomical evolution may be facilitated by gene rearrangement. To explain how placentals achieved this rate of chromosomal evolution, we consider the process by which a new gene arrangement becomes fixed and spreads. The structure and dynamics of placental populations may be especially favorable for this process. The key factor involved seems to be the type of social behavior which produces small effective population sizes and inbreeding. As Bush points out elsewhere, such social structuring of populations may promote rapid fixation of gene rearrangements and rapid speciation.

Animals

Ancestral complexity and constrained diversification of the ant olfactory system.

Communication is a cornerstone of social living, allowing the exchange of information to align goals and synchronize behaviour. Ants, a group of highly successful social insects, have heightened olfactory abilities that are integral to their evolutionary success. Essential for colony cohesion and cooperation, a female-specific olfactory subsystem processes information about nestmate recognition cues (cuticular hydrocarbons), including basiconic sensilla on the antenna and a cluster of specific glomeruli in the antennal lobe. While it has often been linked to ants' social lifestyle, the evolutionary origins and phylogenetic distribution of this system remain unknown. We conducted a comparative exploration of the ant olfactory system across eight major subfamilies, integrating neuroanatomical, chemical and behavioural analyses. Our findings reveal that sophistication of the ant olfactory system has deep evolutionary roots. Moreover, antennal lobe investment is not associated with social traits such as colony size, polygyny or foraging strategies, but correlates with cuticular hydrocarbon profile complexity. Despite neuroanatomical differences, different ant species consistently excel in nestmate discrimination, indicating adaptation to chemical diversity while maintaining reliable social recognition. This suggests that cuticular hydrocarbon profile and neuronal investment in olfactory neuropil have co-evolved to sustain discrimination performance.

Animals

Individual odor differences and their social functions in insects.

The evolution of individual or subgroup differences in odors of halictine bees is suggested from possible widespread intraspecific variation in pheromones. An important result of such variation may be maintenance of genetic polymorphisms; in nesting Hymenoptera odor differences may also facilitate individual nest recognition. In Lasioglosum zephyrum males habituate to odors of different females and perhaps thus save time by not trying to copulate with nonreceptive individuals. Guards (females) at nest entrances distinguish their few nestmates (other females) from other conspecific individuals by odors, seemingly pheromones. Duration of the habituation in L. zephyrum is at least an hour (perhaps much more) for males in relation to females and 6 or 7 days for guards in relation to nestmates. Studies of pheromones should take into consideration the possibility of pheromonal polymorphism in any species and the likelihood that it may be significant from biological and practical viewpoints.

Animals

Sociocultural aspects of eating disorders.

Eating disorders, though recognized for centuries, are increasing in prevalence. The increase in rate is particularly remarkable over the last 30-40 years. The article considers how social function stems from biological function and evolution, and how biological function may hamper social development to the detriment of individuals. Social and cultural influences relevant to this change are examined, especially the changing position of women within society as a whole and the multiplication of conflicting roles which women find themselves balancing. Reference is made to the representation of women in the arts and media. Reference is also made to the role of those external agencies which have historically controlled populations (both men and women), such as religious bodies and governments, but which to some extent have been rejected. Evidence from in-depth studies of women with eating disorders and from transcultural studies are included to support the authors' ideas.

Adult

[Classification of mental phenomena as the highest integration level of man's relationship to the environment (with remarks on the phenomenon of altered states of consciousness)].

In recent years mystical ideas have been spreading concerning "altered states of consciousness" as "new dimensions of experience and transpersonal communication". An analysis is given of the class-conditioned character of these concepts deriving from the insecure social conditions existing under moribund imperialism. This is contrasted with the dialectical materialist concept of psychic phenomena as the highest integration level of man's relationship to the environment. Psychic phenomena are interpreted not as epiphenomena but as an expression of the new quality attained in the evolution of man as a social being in the central control of all functions of man's organism.

Brain

Continuity and change revisited.

This concluding article summarizes key points about continuity and change in gerontology as described in the four previous articles. Synthesis and discussion is focused on five major areas in which gerontological continuity and change are evidenced: 1) transformation of basic themes over time; 2) gerontology's identity crisis; 3) the social ideology of gerontology; 4) evolution and refinement of gerontological ideas and methods; and 5) temporal frameworks. The author raises questions about unsolved issues and suggests the eventual need to examine the roles of individuals in shaping the field of study called gerontology.

Aging

Time trends of smoking cessation: a micro-population computer simulation model.

The Micro-population model of Risk-group Dynamics (MRD) approaches smoking behavior at the level of the individual and integrates physiological and social factors to describe the evolution of behavior change in the population. MRD is innovative in several ways: (1) the model describes mathematically the interactions among these behavioral factors; (2) the model accounts for both the variability of these factors among different persons and the universality of basic rules describing these factors in all individuals; and (3) the model can be applied to various types of populations and a wide range of intervention strategies. MRD combines the physiological, psychological and social determinants into a hazard function for relapse to smoking. This hazard function is then organized into a three term expression incorporating: a baseline hazard characteristic to each individual, a decreasing term for the diminishing aspect of the initial hazard and an effect of external interventions. The model gives promising results when applied to the Multiple Risk Factors Intervention Trial (MRFIT) data using the assumptions of a Weibull distribution for the baseline hazard, a negative exponential for the decrease in the initial hazard and a constant intensity for the external intervention.

Algorithms

[Methodological problems in the search for the causes of school failure at the elementary teaching level].

In France, these failures are massively found in children from the working class. For a better understanding of the causes of failures, and their genesis, the studies of Cresas are essentially based on maternal school (2-6 years). The research is directed in three concordant directions : analysis of the institution, analysis of the various social milieu of children, psychological evolution of the children facing school. The team of the working group "cognition and school adaptation" focuses on the relationship between cognitive development, socio-cultural background and school adaptation. During five years of work, the team has recognised various methodological problems such as : questioning of comparative studies, attempt to approach children predisposed to group active learning failures, implication of researchers in a school, difficulties on the pedagogic organisational and institutional levels. The conclusions insist on questioning the concept of social handicap by considering the examination situation relating factors regarding the children's background, school action and the researchers position itself. Finally, there is an important comment to situate the problem : the notion of social handicap is related to the political and economic organisation.

Achievement

[Family psychotherapy in medical institutions of the Instituto del Servicio de Seguridad Social de los Trabajadores del Estado].

The evolution of family therapy in Mexico is briefly reviewed. It is considered that the reach of this method is limited in institutions due to the lack of qualified psychotherapists with the different orientations of this speciality. The illness, as a sign of family imbalance within the humanistic concept, acquires an even if the treatment is given to the marital couple, the adolescent or the child. Family therapy helps in marital disagreements, behavior problems, anorexia, reactive depression, drug addictions, alcoholism and many other problems. The ISSSTE population has a stable location and is more or less homogeneous; in it family therapy is stimulating and possible; even though the institution imposes certain limitations to family therapy, the enthusiasm for this therapeutic method prevails.

Academies and Institutes

Basic emotions, relations among emotions, and emotion-cognition relations.

From the cognitive theory perspective that emotions are cognition dependent and contain cognitive components, Ortony and Turner (1990) questioned the validity of the concept of basic emotions. They argued that the so-called basic emotions were neither psychologically or biologically "primitive" nor "irreducible building blocks" for generating the "great variety of emotional experiences." In the biosocial theory tradition, researchers have identified multiple noncognitive activators of emotion and demonstrated the usefulness of defining the essential components of emotion as phenomena that do not require cognitive mediators or constituents. In this framework, emotions are seen as basic because their biological and social functions are essential in evolution and adaptation. Particular emotions are called basic because they are assumed to have innate neural substrates, innate and universal expressions, and unique feeling-motivational states. The great variety of emotional experiences is explained as a function of emotion-cognition interactions that result in affective-cognitive structures.

Arousal

[Intermittent claudication. Introduction to clinical diagnosis].

The history and the physical examination are still at the basis of the approach of the patient suffering from intermittent claudication. The history makes clear the specific symptom and its localization. The evolution of the disease, the social and professional handicap are defined. Other troubles and other localizations of the vascular disease are recognized and the nature of the risk factors etablished. The physical examination indicates the pattern and the distribution of the vascular lesions and orientates the pathogenic investigations. A rough assessment of the insufficiency of the cutaneous and muscular circulation is also possible.

Humans

Evolution-oriented ethology, kin selection, and altruistic parasites.

The genetic theory of social behaviour challenges ethology to incorporate the study of invertebrates and lower animals; to search for behaviour mechanisms that contribute to the maximization of "inclusive fitness" (rather than to the maintenance of the individual and the species); and to intensify the study of social consequences and interindividual differences in species-specific behaviour.

Animals

Evolutionary Process Underlying Receptor Gene Expansion and Cellular Divergence of Olfactory Sensory Neurons in Honeybees.

Olfaction is crucial for animals' survival and adaptation. Unlike the strict singular expression of odorant receptor (OR) genes in vertebrate olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs), insects exhibit complex OR gene expression patterns. In honeybees (Apis mellifera), a significant expansion of OR genes implies a selection preference for the olfactory demands of social insects. However, the mechanisms underlying receptor expression specificity and their contribution to OSN divergence remain unclear. In this study, we used single-nucleus multiomics profiling to investigate the transcriptional regulation of OR genes and the cellular identity of OSNs in A. mellifera. We identified three distinct OR expression patterns, singular OR expression, co-expression of multiple OR genes with a single active promoter, and co-expression of multiple OR genes with multiple active promoters. Notably, &#x223c;50% of OSNs co-expressed multiple OR genes, driven by polycistronic transcription of tandemly duplicated OR genes via a single active promoter. In these OSNs, their identity was determined by the first transcribed receptor. The divergent activation of the promoter for duplicated OR genes ensures the coordinated increased divergence of OSN population. By integrating multiomics data with genomic architecture, we illustrate how fundamental genetic mechanisms drive OR gene expansion and influence flanking regulatory elements, ultimately contributing to the cellular divergence of OSNs. Our findings highlight the interplay between gene duplication and regulatory evolution in shaping OSN diversity, providing new insights into the evolution and adaptation of olfaction in social insects. This study also sheds light on how genetic innovations contribute to the evolution of complex traits.

Animals