Some demographic aspects of the Canela Indians of Brazil.

PIP: Census and ethnographic information were used to explain population change between 1970 and 1988 among the Canela population of Ramkokamekra living at Escalvado in northeast Brazil. The first ethnographic evidence was collected by William Crocker in 1957. An official census was conducted in 1970 and was followed by censuses in 1975, 1979, and 1988. The Canela were exposed to white contact in 1750, but their geographic location in the hills made settler contact minimal between 1840 and 1940. In 1963, after attacks on the cattle of the backlanders, the Canela were moved to the Guajajara Indian reservation at Sardinha, and eventually were returned to their homeland. Society was matrilocal and matrilateral; during the study period, mortality declined and the population became younger. Fertility remained stable because extramarital sex declined and an increase in age at marriage offset fertility-enhancing declines in breast feeding. There were improvements in health and nutrition. The crude death rate declined from 53/1000 population for 1970-75 to 29/1000 for 1975-79, and mostly affected mortality among women and children. Age distribution of the population showed changes from a young population to a population with a high proportion of young and old. The dependency ratio between 1970 and 1988 went from .84 to 1.38. A high sex ratio was evidenced, which may have been due in 1988 to the need for old-age pensions. Marriage was matrilocal and endogamous to the tribe. Divorce and separation increased over time, but was still low, particularly for men. Multiple sex partners made certain that women did not remain childless. Adult female status was achieved when childbirth occurred. Young husbands joined their wives in the maternal household, which reduced extramarital relations. When a mother died, the child was secure in having a home with her mother's mother or her mother's sister. The arrival of health services in 1970 and an anthropologist trained nurse led to better treatment for tuberculosis and improvements in health, particularly alcohol misuse. A missionary couple in 1968 added new wells for improved sanitation. The Canela, having been influenced by the backlanders on whom they depended for economic support and by the Indian service, have gradually been moving toward a more rigid and Western definition of sex roles, greater disapproval of homosexuality, and less extramarital sex.^ieng

Reduced tolerance for heat stress environments caused by protective lotions.

There have been complaints of excessive heat after applying skin protective lotions. The purpose of this study was to determine if oil-base or alcohol-base protective lotions interfere with the body's cooling mechanisms during moderate work in heat stress conditions, and if so, then to identify the mechanisms. This was accomplished by evaluating the effect of lotions on thermoregulation as measured by rectal temperatures, local sweat rates, and total water losses during exercise at elevated temperatures. In comparison to the control, after about thirty minutes, the skin lotion tests resulted in a more hyperthermic condition, as measured by rectal temperatures.

Biosynthesis of glutamic acid in Saccharomyces: accumulation of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates in a glutamate auxotroph.

Aconitaseless glutamic acid auxotroph MO-1-9B of Saccharomyces grew in glutamic acid-supplemented minimal medium, but failed to grow when glutamic acid was substituted by proline, arginine, ornithine, or glutamine. This mutant was also unable to utilize lactate or glycerol as a carbon source. Under a glutamic acid-limiting condition, by using acetate-1-(14)C as tracer, the mutant accumulated rather large amounts of (14)C-citric acid and (14)C-succinic acid when compared with the wild-type strain. Under excess glutamic acid supplementation, accumulation of citric acid and succinic acid was considerably reduced. When (14)C-glutamic acid-(U) was used as tracer, (14)C-alpha-ketoglutaric acid, (14)C-citric acid, and (14)C-succinic acid were accumulated in the mutant. The citric acid peak was the largest, followed by alpha-ketoglutaric acid and succinic acid. In the wild-type strain under similar conditions, only small amounts of (14)C-citric acid and (14)C-succinic acid and no (14)C-alpha-ketoglutaric acid were accumulated.

Sulfadiazine-resistant group A Neisseria meningitidis.

A meningitis epidemic due to Group A meningococci was unusual in that most of the strains isolated from patients were generally resistant to sulfadiazine. This is the first report of sulfonamide resistance in an epidemic strain of Neisseria meningitidis Group A.