[EQ] Colloquium: In the light of evolution IV: The human condition

Colloquium:  In the light of evolution IV: The human condition

PNAS 2010 107 (Supplement 2) 8897-8901; doi:10.1073/pnas.1003214107
May 11, 2010

Supplement to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, which includes articles from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences In the Light of Evolution IV: The Human Condition.
The complete program is available on the NAS Web site at www.nasonline.org/SACKLER_Human_Condition .

PNAS Website: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/suppl.2

“….The year 2009 marked the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of his most influential publication. Darwin transformed the biological sciences in much the same way that Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton, centuries earlier, transformed the physical sciences—by demonstrating that the universe operates according to natural laws that fall within the purview of rational scientific inquiry….” Introduction

 “…..In The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871, Charles Darwin wrote: “I fully … subscribe to the judgment of those writers who maintain that of all the differences between man and the lower animals the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important.” I raise the question of whether morality is biologically or culturally determined.

The question of whether the moral sense is biologically determined may refer either to the capacity for ethics (i.e., the proclivity to judge human actions as either right or wrong), or to the moral norms accepted by human beings for guiding their actions. I propose that the capacity for ethics is a necessary attribute of human nature, whereas moral codes are products of cultural evolution.

Humans have a moral sense because their biological makeup determines the presence of three necessary conditions for ethical behavior:
(i) the ability to anticipate the consequences of one's own actions;
(ii) the ability to make value judgments; and
(iii) the ability to choose between alternative courses of action.

Ethical behavior came about in evolution not because it is adaptive in itself but as a necessary consequence of man's eminent intellectual abilities, which are an attribute directly promoted by natural selection. That is, morality evolved as an exaptation, not as an adaptation. Moral codes, however, are outcomes of cultural evolution, which accounts for the diversity of cultural norms among populations and for their evolution through time….”  From The difference of being human: Morality  - Francisco J. Ayala

Table of Contents

Introduction
Colloquium Paper: In the light of evolution IV: The human condition
PNAS 2010 107 (Supplement 2) 8897-8901; doi:10.1073/pnas.1003214107
John C. Avise and Francisco J. Ayala Extract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF)

Colloquium Papers (free online)

Colloquium Paper:
Reconstructing human evolution: Achievements, challenges, and opportunities
Bernard Wood  Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Terrestrial apes and phylogenetic trees
Juan Luis Arsuaga Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Phylogenomic evidence of adaptive evolution in the ancestry of humans
Morris Goodman and Kirstin N. Sterner Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Human adaptations to diet, subsistence, and ecoregion are due to subtle shifts in allele frequency
Angela M. Hancock,  David B. Witonsky, Edvard Ehler, Gorka Alkorta-Aranburu, Cynthia Beall,
Amha Gebremedhin, Rem Sukernik, Gerd Utermann, Jonathan Pritchard, Graham Coop, and Anna Di Rienzo
Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF)- Figures Only - Supporting Information

Colloquium Paper:
Working toward a synthesis of archaeological, linguistic, and genetic data for inferring African population history
Laura B. Scheinfeldt, Sameer Soi, and Sarah A. Tishkoff
Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF)- Figures Only - Supporting Information

Colloquium Paper:
Uniquely human evolution of sialic acid genetics and biology
Ajit Varki Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Bioenergetics, the origins of complexity, and the ascent of man
Douglas C. Wallace Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Genome-wide patterns of population structure and admixture among Hispanic/Latino populations
Katarzyna Bryc, Christopher Velez, Tatiana Karafet, Andres Moreno-Estrada,  Andy Reynolds,
Adam Auton, Michael Hammer, Carlos D. Bustamante, and Harry Ostrer
Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only- Supporting Information

Colloquium Paper:
Human skin pigmentation as an adaptation to UV radiation
Nina G. Jablonski and George Chaplin Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Footprints of nonsentient design inside the human genome
John C. Avise Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
How grandmother effects plus individual variation in frailty shape fertility and mortality:
Guidance from human–chimpanzee comparisons
Kristen Hawkes Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

Colloquium Paper:
Gene-culture coevolution in the age of genomics
Peter J. Richerson, Robert Boyd, and Joseph Henrich
Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Supporting Information

Colloquium Paper:
The cognitive niche: Coevolution of intelligence, sociality, and language
Steven Pinker Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF)

Colloquium Paper:
A role for relaxed selection in the evolution of the language capacity
Terrence W. Deacon Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF)

Colloquium Paper:
Adaptive specializations, social exchange, and the evolution of human intelligence
Leda Cosmides, H. Clark Barrett, and John Tooby Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only
- Supporting Information

Colloquium Paper:
The difference of being human: Morality
Francisco J. Ayala Abstract - Full Text - Full Text (PDF) - Figures Only

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[EQ] Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis

Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008:
a systematic analysis

Prof Robert E Black a , Prof Simon Cousens b, Hope L Johnson a, Joy E Lawn c, Prof Igor Rudan d, Diego G Bassani e,
Prof Prabhat Jha e, Prof Harry Campbell d, Christa Fischer Walker a, Richard Cibulskis f, Thomas Eisele h, Li Liu  a, Colin Mathers g

a Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

b London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

c Saving Newborn Lives/Save the Children, Cape Town, South Africa

d University of Edinburgh Medical School, Edinburgh, UK

e Centre for Global Health Research, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St Michael's Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

f Global Malaria Programme, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

g Department of Health Statistics and Informatics, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland

h Department of International Health and Development, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, LA, USA

The Lancet: Available online 11 May 2010 - doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60549-1 

Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group of WHO and UNICEF

Website: http://bit.ly/cUjwZ1

 

Background

Up-to-date information on the causes of child deaths is crucial to guide global efforts to improve child survival. We report new estimates for 2008 of the major causes of death in children younger than 5 years.

Methods

We used multicause proportionate mortality models to estimate deaths in neonates aged 0—27 days and children aged 1—59 months, and selected single-cause disease models and analysis of vital registration data when available to estimate causes of child deaths. New data from China and India permitted national data to be used for these countries instead of predictions based on global statistical models, as was done previously. We estimated proportional causes of death for 193 countries, and by application of these proportions to the country-specific mortality rates in children younger than 5 years and birth rates, the numbers of deaths by cause were calculated for countries, regions, and the world.

Findings

Of the estimated 8·795 million deaths in children younger than 5 years worldwide in 2008, infectious diseases caused 68% (5·970 million), with the largest percentages due to pneumonia (18%, 1·575 million, uncertainty range [UR] 1·046 million—1·874 million), diarrhoea (15%, 1·336 million, 0·822 million—2·004 million), and malaria (8%, 0·732 million, 0·601 million—0·851 million). 41% (3·575 million) of deaths occurred in neonates, and the most important single causes were preterm birth complications (12%, 1·033 million, UR 0·717 million—1·216 million), birth asphyxia (9%, 0·814 million, 0·563 million—0·997 million), sepsis (6%, 0·521 million, 0·356 million—0·735 million), and pneumonia (4%, 0·386 million, 0·264 million—0·545 million). 49% (4·294 million) of child deaths occurred in five countries: India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, and China.

Interpretation

These country-specific estimates of the major causes of child deaths should help to focus national programmes and donor assistance. Achievement of Millennium Development Goal 4, to reduce child mortality by two-thirds, is only possible if the high numbers of deaths are addressed by maternal, newborn, and child health interventions.

Funding: WHO, UNICEF, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Supplementary webappendix. 
Supplement to:
Black RE, Cousens S, Johnson HL, et al. Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2008: a systematic analysis.
Lancet 2010; published online May 12. DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60549-1.

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Equity List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html
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IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended
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in error, please dispose of and delete this transmission. 

Thank you.