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It has been suggested that cooperative outcomes may be more ubiquitous in traditional hunter–gatherer societies, which are characterized by economic systems that more closely resemble those in which most human psychological mechanisms behind economic choice, fairness, and cooperation probably evolved. This idea is examined by playing the Ultimatum Game and the Public Goods Game with the Ache Indians, a tribal group of recently contacted hunter–gatherers in Paraguay, who are well known in the anthropological literature for their extensive food sharing, although they now spend most of their time in permanent reservation settlements: two settlements were involved in the study – the large Chupa Pou settlement and the smaller Arroyo Bandera settlement. The chapter examines how individual choices in the two games are affected by methodological permutations of the game and how the choices on one game are associated with choices in the other. Consideration is also given to how choices in the games are associated with other relevant individual characteristics – age, sex (whether male), whether from a large settlement, game played in public (rather than anonymously), times game played, amount of food production, and food sharing pattern (how much kept by family). The results provide various insights into concepts of fairness in human societies and into the social forces behind the observed sharing patterns.

Ballet is highly cultured and sophisticated in its technical demands. For accuracy of execution, each step in its vocabulary requires that the legs and feet be turned out, and that there be excellent flexibility in the hips and torso. Therefore, ballet requires a body that is strong and supple, and one which has the ability to shape itself and move in accordance with classic line and technique. Students develop increased flexibility in the legs, feet, and torso by gradually coaxing their bodies to flex, extend, and rotate. However, not all students are successful in accomplishing this goal because, even at a young age, their bodies are not naturally and easily responsive to the demands of ballet. Some students find that they need to use excessive, perpetually held force to hold and control positions, and this can result in various types of injuries. This chapter discusses aches and pains, treating injuries, and nutrition and eating disorders.

While this book has followed Richerson and Boyd in positing an evolved tribal social instinct, it is argued that societies require further symbolic means to instillprosociality in the course of development. The muting of sexual reproduction and the creation of symbolic kinship through shared culture helps achieve this. The origin of prosociality in individuals is traced to attachments formed during the lengthy mother-infant bond, leading to affect hunger that persists through life. This is redirected to wider social groups in the course of development; illustrative cases offered are the Kaingang and the Ache. The prevalence of childbirth symbolism in initiation rituals, and the role of genital surgery is discussed. The symbolism of Nuer ox sacrifice is discussed and analyzed in some detail.

Several lines of evidence suggest that acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmission is important to the normal functioning of memory, and loss of ACh-producing cells in the basal forebrain (nucleus basalis) is a consistent finding in patients with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. The most successful approach to increasing ACh in vivo has been to develop drugs that reduce its degradation by the synaptic enzyme acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Four cholinesterase inhibitors are available to treat memory and other cognitive symptoms in dementia patients. They may also stabilize or prevent the onset of milder non-cognitive neuropsychiatric or behavioral symptoms, although their use as exclusive agents for the more severe forms of the latter is not recommended. A recent Consensus Panel has articulated sound clinical principles regarding the use of these drugs in the context of the broader treatment of Alzheimer’s dementia (Lyketsos et al., 2006). Tacrine, donepezil, rivastigmine, and galantamine have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Tacrine should not ordinarily be used in light of the associated high risk of hepatotoxicity, its complex titration, and the availability of bettertolerated alternatives. The other three cholinesterase inhibitors seem similar in efficacy. All appear to modestly improve cognitive symptoms in 15% to 20% of patients, sometimes quite notably. In addition, they may either improve patient function and delay the emergence of behavioral symptoms or reduce the severity of the latter. The evidence does not support their use as single agents to treat more severe neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression or delusions, although patients with apathy and visual hallucinations may respond. Any benefit of cholinesterase inhibitors to the long-term progression of dementia has not been shown conclusively. Some studies suggest that they may attenuate the long-term slope of cognitive or functional decline, but those studies have been flawed due to high levels of dropout and the use of historical untreated comparison groups. One brain imaging study, part of a clinical trial, has suggested that they may affect the size of the hippocampus or the integrity of hippocampal neurons. In the absence of replication or a better understanding of the imaging measures involved, these data are not conclusive.