Amplification and sequencing of Trichuris trichiura ancient DNA extracted from archaeological sediments

Despite high prevalence of Trichuris trichiura infection, PCR-based analysis on T. trichiura from archaeological samples has not been established so far. In the present study, we sought to perform PCR-based amplification of T. trichiura aDNA using the sediments from medieval tomb of Korea. The presence of Trichuris eggs were first detected by microscopic observation; then confirmed by PCR-based aDNA analysis. Obtained sequence showed 100% homology to that of the small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSUrRNA) gene of T. trichiura but distinct from that of other Trichuris species. PCR-based aDNA analysis in this study can serve as effective method to confirm the presence of T. trichiura eggs in the soils or coprolites collected from archaeological sites.     

唐代“六胡州”州城的建置及其运用——“降户”的安置和役使的一个类型

唐朝在突厥降户中贾胡的处理上采取把他们安置在适合生活的地方,并对之进行驱使的办法。这典型的表现在"六胡州"州城的建置及其运用之上。六胡州设于"河曲"之地的中西部一带,介于六州中的灵州、夏州之间,是指鲁、丽、塞、含、依、契等六小州。在突厥降户中,主要是贾胡降户被集体安置在这些州城之内。这些州城位于今内蒙古自治区河套地区的最南段一带,以及长城以北较为狭窄的地区,属于北方著名的湖泽地区,利于养马。六胡州民之所以主要由贾胡降户来组成,是因为他们具有养马等技术特长。他们在六胡州的州城内受到统治,并受驱使从事养马的工作。六胡州在高宗调露元年建置,这时唐朝正好遭遇养马大量丧失的危机,这是建置六胡州的重要原因。此外,六胡州因"以唐人为刺史",而不称羁縻州。六胡州民居于州城内的"坊"里。他们不一定都一直活动在州城之内,但应"编籍"在州城中一定区域的名称之下。     

Germs, hosts, and the origin of Frank Macfarlane Burnet's concept of "self " and "tolerance," 1936-1949

In the early twentieth century, the living organism's ability to distinguish its "self" from foreign entities such as bacteria, viruses, transplanted tissue, or transfused blood was a major problem in medical science. This article discusses how the Australian immunologist Frank Macfarlane Burnet arrived at a satisfactory explanation of this problem through his 1949 theory of "self" and "tolerance." Burnet's theoretical work began from his study of diverse factors affecting the conditions of the host and the germ for the occurrence of infectious diseases. Among them, the host's age came to receive his attention as a crucial factor. This understanding was facilitated by his acceptance of cytoplasm inheritance theories, which emphasized the importance of the embryonic host's changing conditions according to its age. Based on this idea, he claimed in 1949 that the "self" of the organism was defined during its embryogenesis. Peter B. Medawar and his colleagues' demonstration of Burnet's claim became the basis for awarding Burnet and Medawar the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1960. While previous histories have focused on Burnet's "inductive reasoning" or "ecological perspective" to explain his conception of the theory of "self" and "tolerance," this article finds the origin of his ideas within an important line of modern medical research engendered through the development of germ theories--the studies of the host body and its relationship with parasites.     

Publications briefly noted

China

ANGELA ZITO. Of Body and Brush: grand Sacrifice as Text/Performance in Eighteenth‐Century China. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. xix, 311 pp. US$17.95, paper.

JAMES D. SEYMOUR and RICHARD ANDERSON. New Ghosts Old Ghosts: prisons and Labor Reform Camps in China. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1998. xvii, 313 pp. Bibliography, tables, charts, maps, index. No price given, hardcover.

ANDREW NATHAN. China's Transition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. xiv, 313 pp. US$27.50, paper.

Y. M. YEUNG and DAVID K. Y. CHU (eds). Guangdong: survey of a Province Undergoing Rapid Change, 2nd ed. Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1998. xviii, 536 pp. HK$310.00, hardcover.

Japan and Korea

STEVEN D. CARTER (ed & trans). Unforgotten Dreams: poems by the Zen Monk Shotetsu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. xxx, 232 pp. US$19.00, paper.

LAURA HEIN and MARK SELDEN (eds). Living with the Bomb: American and Japanese Cultural Conflicts in the Nuclear Age. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1997. 300 pp. US$19.95, paper.

ROY STARRS. An Artless Art: the Zen Aesthetic of Shiga Naoya. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1998. 261 pp. US$47.00, hardcover.

VICTOR ARGY and LESLIE STEIN. The Japanese Economy. London: Macmillan, 1997. 379 pp. £47.50, hardcover; £17.50, paper.

MARISAKO and HIROKI SATO (eds). Japanese Labour and Management in Transition: diversity, Flexibility and Participation. London: Routledge, 1997. 344 pp. £50.00, hardcover; £14.99, paper.

KEVIN WATKINS. Economic Growth with Equity: lessons from East Asia. Oxford: Oxfam, 1998. 160 pp. £6.95, paper.

South Asia

S. W. R. DE A. SAMARASINGHE and VIDYAMALI SAMARASINGHE. Historical Dictionary of Sri Lanka (Asian/Oceanian Historical Dictionaries, no. 26) Lanham, Md. and London: Scarecrow Press, 1998. xliii, 214 pp. Chronology, appendices, bibliography. US$38.50, hardcover.

Southeast Asia

HERMAN C. KEMP. Bibliographies on Southeast Asia. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1998. Bibliographical Series no 22. xix, 1128 pp. NLG 175, paper.

DAVID LEE (ed). Documents on Australian Foreign Policy 1937–49, volume XV: Indonesia 1949. Canberra: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, 1998. xxv, 675 pp. A$57.50, hardcover; $37.50, paper.

J. TH. LINDBLAD (ed). Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s‐1990s. Amsterdam: Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, 1996 (Verhandelingen, Afd. Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, deel 167). viii, 427 pp. NLG 95, paper.

MANUEL F. MONTES. The Currency Crisis in Southeast Asia. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, third reprint (updated), 1998. xxxvii, 88 pp. US$24.00, hardcover; US$17.90, paper.

DANG PHONG and MELANIE BERESFORD. Authority Relations and Economic Decision‐making in Vietnam: an Historical Perspective. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 1998. 117 pp. £30.00.

BOB REECE. Masa Jepun: Sarawak under the Japanese 1941–1945. N.p.: Sarawak Literary Society, n.d. xix, 254 pp. No price given, hardcover.

D. S. RANJIT SINGH and JATSWAN S. SIDHU. Historical Dictionary of Brunei Darussalam. Lanham, MD and London: Scarecrow Press, 1997. xliv, 179 pp. Asian/ Oceanian Historical Dictionaries no. 25. 9 maps. US$64.00, hardcover.

C. VAN DIJK and J. LEEMBURG‐DEN HOLLANDER. European Directory of South‐East Asian Studies, x, 618 pp. NLG 40.

JORGE MANUEL DOS SANTOS ALVES. O Dominio do Norte de Sumatra. A historia dos sultanatos de Samudera‐Pacem e de Achem e das suas relacoes com os Portugueses (1500–1580) . Lisbon: Sociedade Historica da Independencia de Portugal, 1999.

General Asia

TON OTTO and AD BORSBOOM (eds). Cultural Dynamics of Religious Change in Oceania. Verhandelingen 176. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1997. viii, 144 pp. NLG 40, paper.

RONG‐I WU and YUN‐PENG CHU (eds). Business, Markets and Government in the Asia Pacific: competition Policy, Convergence and Pluralism. London: Routledge, 1998. x, 348 pp. Bibliography, figures, tables, index. £19.99, paper.

DARRELL Y. HAMAMOTO and RODOLFO D. TORRES (ed). New American Destinies: a Reader in Contemporary Asian and Latino Immigration. London: Routledge, 1997. 350 pp. £16.99, paper.

RUTH HAYHOE and JULIA PAN (eds). East‐West Dialogue in Knowledge and Higher Education. Armonk: M. E. Sharpe, 1996. xvii, 316 pp. US$72.95, hardcover.

EVA‐MARIE KROLLER, ALLAN SMITH, JOSUA MOSTOW, ROBERT KRAMER (eds). Pacific Encounters: the Production of Self and Others. Vancouver: Institute of Asian Research, 1997. 217 pp. CAN$19.95, paper.

INSTITUTE OF ASIAN RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. The Empowerment of Asia: reshaping Global Society. Vancouver: The Institute, University of British Columbia, c. 1998. 137 pp. CAN$10.00, paper.

ROBERT ALDRICH and JOHN CONNELL. The Last Colonies. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998. xiv, 335 pp. A$59.95, hardcover.

R. F. WAITERS and T. G. McGEE, with GINNY SULLIVAN (eds). Asia‐Pacific: new Geographies of the Pacific Rim. Bathurst, NSW: Crawford House Publishing, 1997. xxi, 362 pp. No price given, paper.

HAIDER A. KHAN. Technology, Development and Democracy: limits of National Innovation Systems in the Age of Postmodernism. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 1998. x, 198 pp. £49.95, hardcover.     

中国科技园区位布局探析--以西安科技园区为例

科技园区是20世纪高技术产业化方面最重要的创举,创建科技园区以发展高技术产业已成为国际趋势。国内外研究表明,科技园区成功的关键的因素之一是区位布局,一般只有大城市的区位条件,才能为高技术企业的技术创新提供各种聚集经济条件。因而科技园区必然在城市化地区首先出现。但国内外科技园区的实践证明,这一结论没有普遍性。本分析了科技园区布局的一般规律,并以西安科技园区位布局为例作分析验证,以期为科技园区的布局提供科学依据。     

Book reviews—Comptes Rendus

Themes in medieval history—Aspects de l'histoire du moyen âge

Dianne WATT ed., Medieval Women in their Communities University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1997 ISBN 0–7083–1369–8(Hardback) £30.00 ISBN 0–7083–1361–2(paperback) £14.95.

Chris GIVEN‐WILSON ed., An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England, Manchester University Press, Manchester 1996 xi + 292 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4152‐X £35.00

Themes in Eighteenth‐Century History—Aspects de l'histoire du dix‐huitième siècle

Jeremy BLACK ed., An Illustrated History of Eighteenth‐Century Britain 1688–1793 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1996, xv + 244 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4267–4. £25.00.

Jeremy BLACK ed., Culture and Society in Britain 1660–1800 Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1997, viii + 199 pp. ISBN 0–7190–4947–4. £35.00.

Themes in Russian History—Aspects de l'histoire Russe

Lionel KOCHAN and John KEEP, The Making of Modern Russia: From Kiev Rus’ to the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Third Edn., Penguin, London, 1997, xii + 603 p., ISBN 0–14–015715–8. £9.99.

Wendy R. SALMOND, Arts and Crafts in Imperial Russia: Reviving the Kustar Art Industries, 1870–1917, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, xv + 270p., ill., ISBN 0–521–41576–4 £50.00.

Morgan Philips PRICE, Dispatches from the Revolution: Russia 1916–1918, Pluto Press, London, 1997, xii + 181 p., ISBN 0–7453–1210–1 £30.00.

John Lewis GADDIS, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1997, x + 425p., ISBN 0–19–878070–2 £25.00.     

A Stake in Place? The Geography of Employee Ownership and its Implications for a Stakeholding Society

In recent years employee ownership has become a means by which some workers facing privatization, closure or takeover have attempted to defend their jobs and communities. Proponents of a 'stakeholding' society have advocated the widening of share ownership as a means of democratizing the economy, building partnerships and achieving consensus at work. But is employee ownership able to sustain local investment and industrial partnership? Through a detailed case study of a management and employee buyout in the railway industry, I suggest that the ability of employee ownership to fix investment in place may be enhanced by relations of 'stakeholding', increasing employee commitment to the firm and its future. In the case studied here, however, lack of employee power and finance effectively excluded most workers from the processes and philosophy of the buyout. The new ownership structure did little to reshape local relations between workers and those in control. While ownership cannot eradicate economic threats to community, it might, if used as a mechanism to promote new styles of management and employee commitment, foster long-term success. It is argued that government and trade unions can do more to promote wider employee ownership and participation at work in the future.