After more than three decades of extremely rapid industrial growth, China
faces an environmental public health crisis. In this article, I examine pollution
in the rural industrial sector and its implications for community
health. Drawing on recent ethnographic research in an industrial township
in rural Sichuan, including interviews with government...
The objective of this study was to investigate the multiple uses and cognitive importance of edible weeds in Northeast Thailand. Research methods included focus group discussions and freelistings. A total of 43 weeds consumed as vegetable were reported, including economic, naturalized, agricultural and environmental weeds. The weedy vegetables varied considerably...
Background: The impact of vertical programs on health systems is a much-debated topic, and more evidence on this complex relationship is needed. This article describes a research protocol developed to assess the relationship between the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, routine immunization, and primary health care in multiple settings. Methods/Design: This...
Background: Humanitarian relief agencies use scales to assess levels of critical food shortage to efficiently target and allocate food to the neediest. These scales are often labor-intensive. A lesser used approach is assessing gathering and consumption of wild food plants. This gathering per se is not a reliable signal of...
The design of a projectile delivery system often plays a critical role in the durability and breakage patterns associated with spent projectile points. This paper presents the results of an experimental project designed to examine projectile point durability and breakage patterns between three different hafting methods. Specifically, we compare two...
All existing sea otter, Enhydra lutris, populations have suffered at least one historic population bottleneck stemming from the fur trade extirpations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. We examined genetic variation, gene flow, and population structure at five microsatellite loci in samples from five pre-fur trade populations throughout the sea...
The Paisley Caves in Oregon record the oldest directly dated human remains (DNA) in the Western Hemisphere. More than 100 high-precision radiocarbon dates show that deposits containing artifacts and coprolites ranging in age from 12,450 to 2295 ¹⁴C years ago are well stratified. Western Stemmed projectile points were recovered in...
In this article, I examine the clinical practices engaged in by U.S. homebirth midwives and their clients from the beginning of pregnancy through to the immediate postpartum period, deconstructing them for their symbolic and ritual content. Using data collected from open-ended, semistructured interviews and intensive participant-observation, I describe the roles...
Background: Wild food plants are a critical component in the subsistence system of rice farmers in Northeast Thailand. One of the important characteristics of wild plant foods among farming households is that the main collection locations are increasingly from anthropogenic ecosystems such as agricultural areas rather than pristine ecosystems. This...