Investigating self-reported food allergy prevalence in Waterloo Region,Canada

While food allergy prevalence has been studied at the national level, we know little of food allergy prevalence or perceptions of prevalence/management at the local level. This paper uses Waterloo Region as a case study to 1) document self-reported individual and household food allergy and sensitivity prevalence at the local level; 2) investigate perceptions of food allergy prevalence; and 3) explore perceived confidence in anaphylaxis management. Survey data were collected from January to March 2019. Respondents (n = 500) self-reported individual and household food allergy and sensitivity, estimated the percentage of Canadians with food allergy, and were queried about their knowledge of food allergy management. Prevalence estimates were weighted to the structure of the 2016 Canadian Census, and univariate and bivariate analysis were conducted. Prevalence of self-reported food allergy was 12.1% (95%CI, 8.8%-15.3%), and prevalence of self-reported food sensitivity was 26.3% (95%CI, 21.9%-30.7%). When asked to estimate the percentage of Canadians with food allergy, the mean perceived percentage was 35.1% (SD = 22.96). Self-reported prevalence of food allergy appears higher in Waterloo Region, and the estimated percentage of Canadians with food allergy is inflated. Understanding prevalence and perceptions at the local level is important for targeted allocation of public health resources to ensure safe spaces for individuals with food allergy.     

New ages for the post-Howiesons Poort,late and final Middle Stone Age at Sibudu,South Africa

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements are reported for single grains of quartz from deposits within Sibudu rock shelter. Such measurements enable rejection of unrepresentative grains and application of the finite mixture and central age models to obtain the most reliable age estimates. Three types of single-grain equivalent dose (D_e) distributions were observed: one sample represented a single dose population, three samples indicated mixing between Iron Age (IA) and Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits, and 10 samples (in addition to the three mixed samples) showed scattered distributions. The latter type resulted from differences in the beta dose received by individual grains. For these samples, the beta doses were modelled and adjusted accordingly. Ages for the 14 samples collected from MSA deposits post-dating the Howiesons Poort (HP) resulted in three age clusters, which are stratigraphically consistent with the three informally named cultural phases at Sibudu: namely, the post-HP, late MSA and final MSA. Weighted mean ages of 58.5 ± 1.4 ka, 47.7 ± 1.4 ka and 38.6 ± 1.9 ka were calculated for these phases, respectively. The three phases were separated by two occupational hiatuses with durations of 10.8 ± 1.3 ka and 9.1 ± 3.6 ka. We hypothesise that the punctuated presence of humans at Sibudu was determined by large-scale fluctuations in climate during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 3, which resulted in alternating wet and dry periods. Phases of occupation correspond to wet periods when fresh water was available in the Tongati River, whereas intervals of site abandonment correspond to dry periods when people were forced to migrate in search of a reliable source of fresh water. Where people migrated to, remains unresolved.     

Auguries of Hegemony: The Sex Omens of Mesopotamia

Ancient Mesopotamian scholars examined problematic aspects of male erotic desire within the discourse of divination. They documented an array of sexual acts, reading each as an omen, a sign signifying an aspect of the future. Guinan shows that the omens are informed by a coherent perspective and, in general, are concerned with the impact of erotic desire on notions of male identity and expectations of gender hierarchy. The omens oppose masculine hegemony and male/female eroticism in such a way that the denial of one is the assertion of the other. In these omens, masculine power and agency are both expressed and preserved by the disavowal of erotic interactions with women.     

Genetic characterization of an archaeological sheep assemblage from South Africa’s Western Cape

The Neolithic Revolution, constituting a shift from food acquisition to food production, came to Africa as it did to most of the rest of the world: through processes of transmission rather than through de novo innovation. In contrast with other regions the pastoral management of cattle, sheep and goats was widespread in Africa thousands of years before settled agricultural communities or the use of domesticated plants were in evidence ( 46, 35 and 10). We report here the discovery of haplogroup B in the first genetic analysis of an African archaeological sheep assemblage.     

The Laurentian world map with special reference to its portrayal of Africa

When the Jesuit missionaries began to work in China, they attracted the attention of the Chinese by introducing European knowledge. This is the context in which Jesuits such as Matteo Ricci, Giulio Aleni, Francesco Sambiasi and Ferdinand Verbiest made their Chinese‐language world maps. Sambiasi was a man of many talents. He was a tactful diplomat and a learned scientist. His world map shows him to be a skilful adapter of earlier knowledge, which he passed on to future generations. The six known copies of his map are in two versions, printed from two sets of wood blocks (c. 1639). A text at the top of one version explains why the world must be seen as a sphere, which demonstrates how these maps were meant to convince the Chinese public of European scientific findings.     

Book reviews

PARTY LEADERSHIP AND REVOLUTIONARY POWER IN CHINA. John Wilson Lewis (ed.) Cambridge University Press, 1970. viii, 422 pp. 25s.

CONFLICT ANALYSIS. Michael Nicholson. English Universities Press, 1971. viii, 168 pp. £1.45 (29s.).

PHILIPPINE NATIONALISM. EXTERNAL CHALLENGE AND FILIPINO RESPONSE, 1565–1946. Usha Mahajani. University of Queensland Press, 1970. xv, 530 pp. $12.00.

THE SIEGE OF THE PEKING LEGATIONS: A DIARY. Lancelot Giles. With introduction: CHINESE ANTI‐FOREIGNISM AND THE BOXER UPRISING. L. R. Marchant (ed.). University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands, Western Australia, 1970. xxvii, 212 pp. $9.60.

MICROSTATES AND MICRONESIA: PROBLEMS OF AMERICA'S PACIFIC ISLANDS AND OTHER MINUTE TERRITORIES. Stanley A. de Smith. New York University Press, 1970. 193 pp. $7.50.

NEW ZEALAND AND AUSTRALIA: FOREIGN POLICY IN THE 1970s. Bruce Brown (ed.). Price Milbum, Wellington, for the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1970. 91 pp. $1.50.

LANG AND SOCIALISM. Robert Cooksey. Australian National University Press, 1970. xiii, 96 pp. $2.50.

THE ARMY IN PAPUA‐NEW GUINEA. Robert J. O'Neill. Australian National University Press, 1970. 31 pp. $1.50.

A HISTORY OF MALAYA. J. Kennedy. Macmillan Student Editions, London, 1970. xi, 364 pp. $3.40.

LENIN'S CHILDHOOD. Isaac Deutscher. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1970. 67 pp. $4.25 hard cover.

SELECTED LETTERS OF HUBERT MURRAY. Francis West (ed.). Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1970. 255 pp. $6.50.     

Counselling Citizens and Producing Patronage: AIDS Treatment in South African and Ugandan Clinics

Global health interventions to provide antiretroviral (ARV) drug treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries have linked global and local actors in unprecedented ways. These uneven relationships have been described as creating new forms of citizenship that challenge the liberal understanding of rights and responsibilities bestowed by the state. A comparative case study based on fieldwork from South Africa and Uganda suggests different theoretical understandings of the link between technologies of AIDS treatment and relationships of belonging. Yet, ethnographic data from local clinics in both countries point to similarities that exist across AIDS interventions, and to the importance of counsellors in negotiating the rules of ARVs. Neither patients living with HIV nor the local providers of their AIDS treatment are ‘bare life’ subjects to be acted upon by a global development intervention. As ARV technologies are increasingly prescribed in developing country clinics, diverse social relationships are taught and negotiated as part of the pedagogy of biopolitics. The following discussion demonstrates how local counsellors and clients negotiate the rules of AIDS treatment together for mutual benefit. The article concludes that AIDS treatment creates relationships of therapeutic citizenship and clientship in ways that constrain the possibilities of citizenship and development.