To investigate the association between apolipo-protein E (APOE) polymorphisms and insulin resistance and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) with macroangiopathy, 60 patients with T2DM macroangiopathy were enrolled and divided into three groups: dryness-heat due to deficiency of yin, Qi-Yin deficiency, and Yin-Yang deficiency, according to the TCM syn...

“Unhealthy” body constitution (BC) occurs in persons with an imbalance of Yin and Yang [1]. From a perspective of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), Yin and Yang are two opposite poles or forces in the universe [2]. In order to make the meaning of Yin and Yang clearly, Chinese people signify Yin and Yang with “water” and “fire” respectively [3]. Water is cold, dim, passive and sinking; while f...

What drives seemingly sellsh individuals in multi-agent systems to cooperate with each other? Our answer to the question is \kin preference." Kin preference helps to establish \habitats" that are composed of kin in population of rational agents. These habitats are resistant to invasion of enemies { that is, of non-kin. Results show the importance of kin preference in promoting cooperation and s...

This study describes development and validation of a questionnaire as an adjunct to Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis of Yin-Deficiency Syndrome (Yin-DS). The Yin-Deficiency Questionnaire 1 (Yin-DQ1) consists of 10 items. Seventy-nine healthy volunteers and 44 patients diagnosed with Yin-DS were enrolled for the evaluation of discriminant validity and factorial validity. Another group of 8...

Kin recognition is a useful ability for animals, facilitating cooperation among relatives and avoidance of excessive kin competition or inbreeding. In meerkats, Suricata suricatta, encounters between unfamiliar kin are relatively frequent, and kin recognition by phenotype matching is expected to avoid inbreeding with close relatives. Here, we investigate whether female meerkats are able to disc...

The proposition is advanced that many current measures of kinship strength may paradoxically indicate inadequate or weakened kinship structures. That is so because they rely on measures that emphasize continuous proximity. This curious paradox is a consequence of inattention to the relationship between technology, services, and proximity. This article presents nonproximity indicators of kinship...

In this truly one-of-a-kind book, Ascher introduces the mathematical ideas of people in traditional, or small-scale, cultures often omitted from discussion of mathematics. Topics such as Numbers: Words and Symbols, Tracing Graphs in the Sand, The Logic of Kin Relations, Chance and Strategy in Games and Puzzles, and The Organization and Modeling of Space are traced in various cultures including ...

Kin selection is a powerful concept in evolutionary biology that can explain both cooperative and competitive behavior. Most social behavior associated with kin selection depends on prior dispersal decisions by juveniles, which can choose to either disperse away from kin or remain at the natal site. A useful way to investigate the role of kin in social behavior is to experimentally manipulate k...

We demonstrate the existence of altruism via kin selection in artificial life and explore its nuances. We do so in the Avida system through a setup that is based on the behavior of colicinogenic bacteria: Organisms can kill unrelated organisms in a given radius but must kill themselves to do so. Initially, we confirm results found in the bacterial world: Digital organisms do sacrifice themselve...