Fetal Genotype for the Xenobiotic Metabolizing Enzyme NQO1 Influences Intrauterine Growth Among Infants Whose Mothers Smoked During Pregnancy

Maternal smoking during pregnancy retards fetal growth and depresses infant birth weight. The magnitude of these effects may be moderated by fetal genotype. The current study investigated maternal smoking, fetal genotype, and fetal growth in a large population sample of dizygotic twins. Maternal smoking retarded fetal growth in a dose-dependent fashion. In a subsample of 497 twin pairs whose mothers smoked during pregnancy, a functional polymorphism in the NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase gene ( NQO1 Pro187Ser; rs1800566) was significantly associated with fetal growth within families. The effect was strongest among moderate smokers. This is the first demonstration that fetal genotype for an enzyme involved in tobacco smoke metabolism influences intrauterine growth independent of maternal genotype. Future studies should conduct formal tests of Fetal Genotype × Maternal Smoking interactions.     

Sites of attractiveness: Japanese women and westernized representations of feminine beauty

Ever since Japan's entry into global geopolitics, scholars have identified Japanese popular cultural texts as a terrain on which this country's complex relationship to the West is negotiated. Few studies, however, have adequately addressed how such texts—and Western influence in general—might be experienced differently by different groups and/or strata of Japanese society. Inspired by the work of postcolonial feminist scholars who argue that gender, race, class, and cultural identity must be examined in relationship to each other, this study focuses on a group of 29 women with whom the author conducted interviews and extensive participant observation during eight months of fieldwork in a small Japanese community. It examines, in particular, how these women negotiated Westernized representations of feminine beauty omnipresent in the Japanese media. This article argues that even though informants assertively critiqued and actively negotiated media representations, their own conceptions of attractiveness—and their daily relationships to their physical selves—matched those of the Westernized media‐defined ideals. In view of these findings, it concludes with a call for a more systematic and critical assessment of gender in transcultural relations.     

In search of market niches

This article explores marketing issues in the development of new print media products, reviewing factors that contribute to the success and failure of new publications in Europe. The author then suggests eight principles that characterize the successful launch of a new newspaper or magazine.     

What time may tell: Towards a new conceptualization of developmental dyslexia

This paper is a written version of the Norman Geschwind Lecture delivered to the International Dyslexia Association on November 13, 1998. The first purpose is a theoretical one: to describe a new conceptualization of reading disabilities, the double-deficit hypothesis, that depicts and integrates work on two core deficits in the phonological system and in processes underlying naming speed. Implications for subtyping, diagnosis, and, in particular, intervention are described. The second purpose is to thank the women and men whose commitment to children with reading disabilities has transformed our field over the last century. Within that double set of purposes, I wish to dedicate this paper to five research teachers whose insights have been the foundation for my work and the efforts of many of us in the field of reading disabilities research: Jeanne Chall, Carol Chomsky, Martha Bridge Denckla, Helen Popp, and especially, Norman Geschwind.     

School-based interventions for obesity: Current approaches and future prospects

Obesity is a serious, prevalent, and recurring disorder that affects many school children. There are numerous physical, and perhaps psychosocial, difficulties associated with being overweight. This article examines three major types of intervention strategies that have been utilized in school-based weight-reduction programs. Behavior modification, dietary control/nutrition education, and physical activities have been successfully combined in multificeted obesity interventions to produce modest weight loss. Improved research designs, long-term follow-up, further examination of social supports, and prevention strategies are needed.     

2008年的世界

2008年,世界会怎样?经济、军事、政治、环境等,无一不关系到整个世界的生存环境与发展.著名报纸<金融时报>近期推出了特别报道--2008年的世界,我们特意选取部分具有代表性的文章,其中对中国在未来世界的地位和作用也有所涉及,在此与大家一起分享.     

Perceptions of national identity and attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in Canada and Germany

In the current research, we examined whether promoting an inclusive national ingroup that includes both immigrants and nonimmigrants would improve attitudes toward immigrants and immigration among members of receiving societies. We also determined whether one's nation of citizenship and individual differences in social dominance orientation would moderate the effects. Participants were 126 Canadian students and 282 German students, who completed a measure of social dominance orientation and were then asked to respond to a series of questions designed to heighten the salience of national identity (national identity), promote a national ingroup that includes immigrants (common national ingroup), or irrelevant questions (control). The dependent measures included attitudes toward immigrants and immigration, and subtle prejudice toward immigrants. Results revealed that the manipulation of a common national ingroup successfully promoted more positive attitudes toward immigrants and immigration among higher social dominance oriented Canadian participants, but tended to have detrimental effects on the attitudes of higher social dominance oriented German participants. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of considering the context in which groups are situated, as well as implications for developing strategies to promote harmony between immigrants and members of receiving societies.