T he dramatic increase in life expectancy and the rising numbers of old people so clearly visible in the 19th and 20th centuries are the result of medical and lifestyle changes that have important social and economic ramifications. Anthropologists have suspected for some time that these recent demographic changes build on a long-term trend that was continuous throughout human evolution. In this...

Article history: Received on: 19/11/2013 Revised on: 02/12/2013 Accepted on: 01/01/2014 Available online: 30/03/2014 Ginkgo biloba has survived for over 200 million years now. With other members of this gymnosperm extinct, it is considered as a ‘living fossil’. Yinxing, as it is called in Chinese, is very popular in East Asia as a remedy for lung congestion, ischemia and asthma. In modern day m...

To examine the types and distributions of treatment received among persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) in Thailand, we analyzed data collected during 2000 from 412 members of PLWHA support organizations in Bangkok and three upcountry northern provinces. Most (74%) of the respondents report ever receiving modern medical care for their HIV-related symptoms; 31% report ever using herbal trea...

DNA from ancient human remains provides perspectives on the origin of our species and the relationship between molecular and morphological variation. We report analysis of mtDNA from the remains of 10 ancient Australians. These include the morphologically gracile Lake Mungo 3 [ approximately 60 thousand years (ka) before present] and three other gracile individuals from Holocene deposits at Wil...