BACKGROUND Anthropological studies based on highly polymorphic HLA genes provide useful information for bone marrow donor registry, forensic medicine, disease association studies, as well as designing peptide vaccines against tumors, and infectious or autoimmune diseases. OBJECTIVE This study was designed to investigate the genetic relationship of Iranian Arabs and Jews using HLA-class II gen...

This paper examines Tanzanian Muslims’ practical and discursive stances on AIDS in relation to the context in which they are produced. The AIDS problematic is interacting with lively debates, as for the last two decades Muslim reformists have been demanding revisions to ritual practice and a more restrictive application of Muslim social norms. The state-sponsored central organisation for Tanzan...

In the multiethnic Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croats and Muslims, attacked by the Yugoslav army and Serbs, had to employ rationally their poorly provisioned civilian health services so that they could respond to the extremely numerous and prompt needs of war conditions. The health services in the areas controlled by Croats and Muslims had to be reorganized twice because of sudden changes of wartim...

For modern Western societies with a regime of monogamy, it has recently been demonstrated that the socioeconomic status of men is positively associated with being or having been married. This study aims to compare marriage patterns (if a person has been married at least once) for cultures with a tradition of monogamy and polygyny. As no worldwide data on polygyny exist, religion was used as a p...

I will start my talk with an actual case. JW, 74, the father of a Catholic physician, who is also an ethicist in a Catholic hospital, suffered a massive stroke that left him paralyzed with receptive and expressive aphasia. His advance directive stated that he did not want mechanical ventilation, nutrition, or hydration if he were to end up in a terminal state. He is now paralyzed and has expres...