Indifference to dissonance in native Amazonians reveals cultural variation in music perception.

by biology remains debated. One widely discussed phenomenon is that some combinations of notes are perceived by Westerners as pleasant, or consonant, whereas others are perceived as unpleasant,or dissonant. The contrast between consonance and dissonance is central to Western music and its origins have fascinated scholars since the ancient Greeks. Aesthetic responses to consonance are commonly assumed by scientists to have biological roots, and thus to be universally present in humans. Ethnomusicologists and composers, in contrast, have argued that consonance is a creation of Western musical culture. The issue has remained unresolved, partly because little is known about the extent of cross-cultural variation in consonance preferences. Here we report experiments with the Tsimane'--a native Amazonian society with minimal exposure to Western culture--and comparison populations in Bolivia and the United States that varied in exposure to Western music. Participants rated the pleasantness of sounds. Despite exhibiting Western-like discrimination abilities and Western-like aesthetic responses to familiar sounds and acoustic roughness, the Tsimane' rated consonant and dissonant chords and vocal harmonies as equally pleasant. By contrast, Bolivian city- and town-dwellers exhibited significant preferences for consonance,albeit to a lesser degree than US residents. The results indicate that consonance preferences can be absent in cultures sufficiently isolated from Western music, and are thus unlikely to reflect innate biases or exposure to harmonic natural sounds. The observed variation in preferences is presumably determined by exposure to musical harmony, suggesting that culture has a dominant role in shaping aesthetic responses to music.

Food store owners' and managers' perspectives on the food environment: an exploratory mixed-methods study.

BACKGROUND: Neighborhood characteristics such as poverty and racial composition are associated with inequalities in access to food stores and in the risk of obesity, but the pathways between food environments and health are not well understood. This article extends research on consumer food environments by examining the perspectives of food-store owners and managers. METHODS: We conducted semistructured, open-ended interviews with managers and owners of 20 food stores in low-income, predominantly African American neighborhoods in Tallahassee, Florida (USA). The interviews were designed to elicit store managers' and owners' views about healthy foods, the local food environment, and the challenges and opportunities they face in creating access to healthy foods. We elicited perceptions of what constitutes "healthy foods" using two free-list questions. The study was designed and implemented in accord with principles of community-based participatory research. RESULTS: Store owners' and managers' conceptions of "healthy foods" overlapped with public health messages, but (a) agreement about which foods are healthy was not widespread and (b) some retailers perceived processed foods such as snack bars and sugar-sweetened juice drinks as healthy. In semistructured interviews, store owners and managers linked the consumer food environment to factors across multiple levels of analysis, including: business practices such as the priority of making sales and the delocalization of decision-making, macroeconomic factors such as poverty and the cost of healthier foods, individual and family-level factors related to parenting and time constraints, and community-level factors such as crime and decline of social cohesion. CONCLUSIONS: Our results link food stores to multilevel, ecological models of the food environment. Efforts to reshape the consumer food environment require attention to factors across multiple levels of analysis, including local conceptions of "healthy foods", the business priority of making sales, and policies and practices that favor the delocalization of decision making and constrain access to healthful foods.

Math skills and market and non-market outcomes: Evidence from an Amazonian society of forager-farmers.

Research in industrial nations suggests that formal math skills are associated with improvements in market and non-market outcomes. But do these associations also hold in a highly autarkic setting with a limited formal labor market? We examined this question using observational annual panel data (2008 and 2009) from 1,121 adults in a native Amazonian society of forager-farmers in Bolivia (Tsimane'). Formal math skills were associated with an increase in wealth in durable market goods and in total wealth between data collection rounds, and with improved indicators of own reported perceived stress and child health. These associations did not vary significantly by people's Spanish skills or proximity to town. We conclude that the positive association between math skills and market and non-market outcomes extends beyond industrial nations to even highly autarkic settings.

Enhanced control of pathogenic Simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 replication in macaques immunized with an interleukin-12 plasmid and a DNA prime-viral vector boost vaccine regimen.

DNA priming has previously been shown to elicit augmented immune responses when administered by electroporation (EP) or codelivered with a plasmid encoding interleukin-12 (pIL-12). We hypothesized that the efficacy of a DNA prime and recombinant adenovirus 5 boost vaccination regimen (DNA/rAd5) would be improved when incorporating these vaccination strategies into the DNA priming phase, as determined by pathogenic simian immunodeficiency virus SIVmac239 challenge outcome. The whole SIVmac239 proteome was delivered in 5 separate DNA plasmids (pDNA-SIV) by EP with or without pIL-12, followed by boosting 4 months later with corresponding rAd5-SIV vaccine vectors. Remarkably, after repeated low-dose SIVmac239 mucosal challenge, we demonstrate 2.6 and 4.4 log reductions of the median SIV peak and set point viral loads in rhesus macaques (RMs) that received pDNA-SIV by EP with pIL-12 compared to the median peak and set point viral loads in mock-immunized controls (P < 0.01). In 5 out of 6 infected RMs, strong suppression of viremia was observed, with intermittent "blips" in virus replication. In 2 RMs, we could not detect the presence of SIV RNA in tissue and lymph nodes, even after 13 viral challenges. RMs immunized without pIL-12 demonstrated a typical maximum of 1.5 log reduction in virus load. There was no significant difference in the overall magnitude of SIV-specific antibodies or CD8 T-cell responses between groups; however, pDNA delivery by EP with pIL-12 induced a greater magnitude of SIV-specific CD4 T cells that produced multiple cytokines. This vaccine strategy is relevant for existing vaccine candidates entering clinical evaluation, and this model may provide insights into control of retrovirus replication.

The embodiment of water insecurity: Injuries and chronic stress in lowland Bolivia.

Water is critical to health and wellbeing. Studies have theorized that problems with water can become embodied, yet few studies have quantified this. Therefore, we first sought to understand the lowland Bolivian water environment of Tsimane' forager-horticulturalists. We assessed the water environment holistically, using objective measures of water quality and water services (Joint Monitoring Programme's drinking water services ladder) and subjective measures, including perceived water safety and water insecurity experiences [Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scale (HWISE)]. We tested how water service levels, perceived water safety, and water fetching frequency were associated with HWISE scores using Tobit regression models among 270 households. We then tested if and how water becomes embodied via self-reported water-related injury and a chronic stress biomarker, hair cortisol concentration (HCC). Results demonstrated that, compared with households using surface water, households with basic water services had HWISE scores 1.59-pts lower (SE = 0.29; P < 0.001). Ingestion of water perceived to be "bad" and more daily water-fetching trips were associated with higher HWISE scores. Twenty percent of households reported prior water-related injuries, with women most commonly injured. In logistic regressions, each point higher HWISE score was associated with 28% (95%CI:1.16-1.41; P < 0.001) higher odds of injury. Basic water services compared to surface water was associated with 48% lower odds (OR = 0.52; 95%CI:0.33-0.82; P = 0.005) of injury. Finally, using linear regressions among 332 adults, HWISE scores were not associated with HCC. Past water-related injury was associated with higher HCC (Beta = 0.31; SE = 0.09; P = 0.029) among women, but not men. Relying on unimproved water services compared to surface was associated with 46.2% higher HCC for women (Beta=0.38; SE=0.14; P=0.048) and 55.3% higher HCC for men (Beta=0.44; SE=0.15; P=0.044), respectively. Overall, our findings demonstrate that water insecurity can become embodied through water-related injuries and elevated HCC. Improving water service levels through an equity lens may help ameliorate water insecurity and its accompanying negative health effects.

Use of Diabetes Technology in Children: Role of Structured Education for Young People with Diabetes and Families.

The current era has witnessed an explosion of advanced diabetes technologies. Young people with diabetes and their families require detailed, structured diabetes education in order to optimize use of such devices. There is need for youth and their families to participate in the selection of particular devices for personal use and comprehensive education regarding the safe and effective use of such technologies. The education process should ensure that youth and their families receive realistic expectations of what the advanced technologies can and cannot do to avoid disappointment and the premature discontinuation of such systems.

Status determinants, social incongruity and economic transition: Gender, relative material wealth and heterogeneity in the cultural lifestyle of forager-horticulturalists.

For small-scale societies, transitions from self-sufficiency to cash-based labor in market economies have been associated with the exacerbation of existing, and the emergence of new, social incongruities. Social incongruity occurs when two or more of a person's status determinants (e.g. age, gender, wealth) conflict, resulting in reduced social status. A central focus of theory and research on social incongruity is the relationship between the cultural prototype of what is needed to live a good life-or lifestyle-and status determinants. Assessment of status determinants is challenging because of their relative nature at multiple levels of analysis. This study uses theory and methods from cognitive anthropology to investigate whether and how individual knowledge of a cultural lifestyle prototype conflicts with status determinants at two levels of economic transition among 101 adults from a small-scale society of forager-horticulturalists in Bolivian Amazonia, the Tsimane'. Results support cultural consensus in a 38-item model labeled market lifestyle (explaining 72.7% of sample variance). While the model includes both overlapping traditional (e.g. weaving) and market-related (e.g. education) items and behaviors, most market alternatives were rated higher. When market lifestyle was tested for social incongruity against other status determinants, only gender predicted variation. Thematically, when lifestyle was stratified by gender, men rated several items of relational wealth higher than women did. Analysis of model residual agreement revealed heterogeneity in the form of a syncretic lifestyle model (explaining 18.2% of additional variance). Participants whose knowledge better matched syncretic lifestyle rated traditional items and market alternatives closer to parity. Agreement with the syncretic model correlated with lower material wealth and less market integration. In sum, the findings document a modern, market-oriented form of Tsimane' lifestyle that varies ontologically from past modelling and ethnographic accounts in preferred forms of livelihood and wealth.

Longitudinal Changes in Measures of Body Fat and Diet Among Adult Tsimane' Forager-Horticulturalists of Bolivia, 2002-2010.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined changes in body fat and diet among Tsimane' forager-horticulturalists and assessed how dietary shifts relate to increases in adiposity between 2002 and 2010. METHODS: Longitudinal anthropometric and household-level dietary recall data from 365 men and 339 women aged ≥20 years in the Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study were used. Multilevel mixed-effects models estimated how BMI, body fat percentage, waist circumference, skinfolds, and fat-free mass relate to household consumption of crops, hunted or fished foods, domesticated animal products, cooking oil, and refined grains and sugar. RESULTS: Women's prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 22.6% and 2.4% in 2002 to 28.8% and 8.9% in 2010, respectively, and BMI increased by 0.60% ± 0.12% per year (P < 0.001). Increases in fat-free mass accounted for some of this observed weight gain among women. Men's prevalence of overweight and obesity increased from 16.2% and 0.7% to 25.0% and 2.2%, respectively, and BMI increased by 0.22% ± 0.09% per year (P = 0.009). Household use of cooking oil increased and was positively associated with female BMI. Consumption of domesticated animal products did not change significantly but was positively associated with female BMI and male waist circumference. CONCLUSIONS: Even small increases in energy-dense market-based foods can contribute to adiposity gains among a moderately active, subsistence-based population.

Components of Interventions That Improve Transitions to Adult Care for Adolescents With Type 1 Diabetes.

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes struggle with glycemic control with decline further exacerbated by transfer from pediatric to adult care. The purpose of this systematic review/meta-analysis was to examine which components of transition programs are effective in improving outcomes following transfer. We searched six databases for studies that assessed the efficacy of a transition program on diabetes outcomes. Studies reporting hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) or its change for the intervention versus control group pretransition and posttransition were pooled using a random effects meta-analysis model. Of 4,689 studies identified, 18 (1 randomized control trial, 6 quasi-experimental, 1 prospective, and 10 retrospective cohort) met inclusion criteria. Findings represent data from 3,382 youth with type 1 diabetes (52% male, age 16-23 years) undergoing transition. Programs varied and included transition coordinators (n = 7), transition clinics (n = 10), and group education meetings (n = 5). Average age of transfer was 17.7 years. All but one study reported improvement/maintenance of HbA1c posttransition. However, pooling data from four studies with a control group (418 youth), there were no differences in HbA1c at 12 months (-.11 [95% confidence interval: -.31, .08]). Of other outcomes studied (clinic attendance [n = 12], severe hypoglycemia [n = 8], and diabetic ketoacidosis [n = 7]), transition programs showed greatest consistency in reducing diabetic ketoacidosis episodes. Findings suggest that transition interventions may be effective in maintaining glycemic control and reducing diabetic ketoacidosis episodes posttransition. Further research is needed to determine which program types are most effective.

The Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS): Nine years (2002-2010) of annual data available to the public.

This brief communication contains a description of the 2002-2010 annual panel collected by the Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study team. The study took place among the Tsimane', a native Amazonian society of forager-horticulturalists. The team tracked a wide range of socio-economic and anthropometric variables from all residents (633 adults ≥16 years; 820 children) in 13 villages along the Maniqui River, Department of Beni. The panel is ideally suited to examine how market exposure and modernization affect the well-being of a highly autarkic population and to examine human growth in a non-Western rural setting.

Text messaging intervention for teens and young adults with diabetes.

Adolescents and young adults use text messaging as their primary mode of communication, thus providing an opportunity to use this mode of communication for mobile health (mHealth) interventions. Youth with diabetes are an important group for these mHealth initiatives, as diabetes management requires an enormous amount of daily effort and this population has difficulty achieving optimal diabetes management. Goal setting and self-efficacy are 2 factors in the management of diabetes. We examined the feasibility of a healthy lifestyle text messaging program targeting self-efficacy and goal setting among adolescents and young adults with diabetes. Participants, ages 16-21, were assigned to either a text messaging group, which received daily motivational messages about nutrition and physical activity, or a control group, which received paper-based information about healthy lifestyle. Both groups set goals for nutrition and physical activity and completed a measure of self-efficacy. Participants' mean age was 18.7 ± 1.6 years old, with diabetes duration of 10.0 ± 4.6 years, and A1c of 8.7 ± 1.7%. The text messaging intervention was rated highly and proved to be acceptable to participants. Self-efficacy, glycemic control, and body mass index did not change over the course of the short, 1-month pilot study. Positive, daily, motivational text messages may be effective in increasing motivation for small goal changes in the areas of nutrition and physical activity. These interventions may be used in the future in youth with diabetes to improve diabetes care. Utilizing more targeted text messages is an area for future research.

Working group consultation: alloimmunity as a vaccine approach against HIV/AIDS: National Institutes of Health Meeting Report, May 24, 2012.

Alloimmunization vaccine strategies propose to avoid the problem of the extreme antigenic variability of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by instead focusing on the cellular antigens incorporated into HIV virions as they bud from infected cells. This report summarizes a Consultation meeting convened by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health on May 24, 2012. The objectives of the meeting were to (1) reach a consensus on the essential questions surrounding alloimmunization as a strategy for vaccine design against HIV, and (2) determine the experimental elements that might be needed for addressing these questions in an optimized pilot framework nonhuman primate (NHP) protocol for allogeneic immunization. The Consultation revisited the rationale and concerns of vaccination to induce allogeneic immunity, one of the most potent natural immune responses. The panelists' consensus was that a carefully designed skin graft transplant pilot experiment, in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) disparate male Mauritian cynomolgus macaques (MCM; Macaca fascicularis), would be useful for initially evaluating if alloimmunization results in an effective or even a partially effective safe AIDS vaccine. A successful NHP study for allogeneic immunization would provide further opportunities to explore vaccine-elicited immune and genetic correlates of protection against the acquisition of viral infection.

Matching AIDS and tuberculosis registry data to identify AIDS/tuberculosis comorbidity cases in California.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of a registry data linkage procedure used in the California AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) Registry Data Linkage Study to identify AIDS/TB comorbidity cases in California. The California AIDS registry data from 1981 to 2006 were linked to the California TB registry data from 1996 to 2006 using LinkPlus, a probabilistic record linkage program developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and matched results were manually reviewed to determine true or false matches. We estimated the sensitivity of this procedure to range from 98.0 per cent (95% confidence interval, CI: 97.3%, 98.7%) to 98.8 per cent (95% CI: 98.1%, 99.2%), and the PPV to be 100 per cent (95% CI: 96.8%, 100.0%). Our study demonstrated the feasibility of using this linkage procedure to match AIDS and TB registry data with a very high degree of accuracy.

HIV vaccine design: insights from live attenuated SIV vaccines.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative has established a consortium to elucidate mechanisms of protection conferred by live attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus vaccines in monkeys. Here, the strategies defining key components of the protective immune response elicited by these vaccines are discussed.