PIP: It is generally believed that extended families encourage high fertility, but a review of the theoretical discussions and empirical research examining the relationship between family type and fertility fails to show any support for the customary belief. Nuclear families consist of husband, wife, and their immediate children. The extended family is broadly defined as any group of related persons living together which includes but is larger than the nuclear family. The main theoretical discussions of extended family and fertility are by Davis (1957); Davis and Blake (1956); Lorimer (1954); and Goode (1963; 1964). In the patrilocal extended family, the wife wants to have offspring as early as possible to strengthen the family line and her own status in the household. In a truly joint household the authority of the elders continues after marriage; the reproductive behavior of a couple is subject to their influence. Less intimate or less intense interspousal communication precludes the possibility of discussion on fertility-related problems and family planning. Younger age at marriage and lack of privacy contributes to higher fertility. According to Goode extended family behavior is characterized by more rules for behavior, while nuclear families emphasize the conjugal bond. Since most affinal and consanguineal kin are excluded from day-to-day decisions in the nuclear family there are weaker reciprocal controls.
A group of Taiwan aborigines, the Toroko, was typed for 21 classical genetic loci. This is part of an ongoing program aimed at a comprehensive study of Taiwan aborigines. In this first paper a short summary of historical, archeological, and anthropological data in the literature is made, and results of the present survey are compared with older results from other aborigine tribes. An analysis of other neighboring populations from southeast Asia has also been carried out in order to give a preliminary answer to the question of origin of Taiwanese aborigines. Fifteen populations were studied for 13 loci by tree analysis, principal components, and isolation by distance. Tree analysis and principal component analysis gave results in fairly good agreement and indicate three major population clusters: a northeast cluster (Ainu, Korea, Japan, and Ryukyu); a southeast cluster (south China, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, and Toroko); and a third cluster including Malaya and Borneo. The positions of Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia are somewhat peripheral. Analysis of the tree shows some potential cases of convergence, perhaps owing to admixture, and of divergence. The analysis of isolation by distance shows that geographic propinquity is a reasonably good predictor of general similarity in this area.
Ninety-nine samples of common Chinese medicines were purchased from Chinese medical shops in Singapore and Malaysia and analyzed for mercury, lead, copper, cadmium, cobalt, iron, and nickel. The majority of these medicines were manufactured in China, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. A few of them were of Singapore and Taiwan origin. Atomic absorption method (both flame and flameless) was used for the analyses. Mercury was found to be present in high concentrations in several of the medicines that were for oral consumption.
Throughout India and China, South Korea and Taiwan, Pakistan and Malaysia, the same sentiment recurs: "The birth of girl is an occasion for gloom, not cheer, for bitterness, not pleasure." In all these countries "patriarchal traditions and social stigmas" make females the unwanted sex, reports Asiaweek. The tragic result: prenatal gender tests are flourishing. And for many women, if the test indicates a female, they abort. In India, sex tests and abortions are legal, cheap and readily available. Some 1500 sex-tested girls are aborted annually in Bombay alone. In China, abortions are legal, but gender tests strictly forbidden. Says one official: We cannot afford to let people know what sex the fetus is because all the girls would be aborted." Yet the numbers of baby girls in China have been reduced--and illicit gender tests and female infanticide are considered partly to blame. In South Korea, gender tests have been banned and most abortions are illegal, but "clandestine tests" are available, and according to the government some 30,000 pregnancies are terminated annually. The number of aborted females is not known, but birth ratios have shown "an alarming swing towards males" in recent years. Can laws and education change the social attitudes against girls in these Asian countries? Indian activist Vibhuti Patel, a lobbyist for stronger controls over sex-testing, hopes so. She urges a "continuous campaign" to fight the "centuries-old values" that encourages gender tests. Says Patel: Nothing less than the very survival of women is at stake."
"Illegal migration to Taiwan is a recent phenomenon but with a rapid rate of increase. Most illegal foreign workers enter on visitor's visas and overstay. This paper's detailed analysis of official data reveals that Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand are the major sources, providing a stock of mostly male workers numbering around 40,000. Sociodemographic and attitudinal changes among Taiwanese workers coupled with labor shortages in low-skilled jobs are pressuring the Taiwanese government to formulate plans for a systematic importation of foreign labor."
"Urban concentration (or primacy) and inequality (in size distribution of income) are expected to follow bell shaped curves through the development process. Spatial convergence (through investments in transportation etc.) is expected to precede income convergence. Using longitudinal data from six Asian countries (Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and India) this paper shows that (i) the bell shapes for urban concentration and income inequality generally hold, and (ii) the temporal relationship between the curve peaks is determined by geographical factors (for urban concentration); income inequality is seen to be more policy amenable."
Persistent organochlorines in air, river water and sediment samples were analysed from eastern and southern Asia (India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia) and Oceania (Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands) to elucidate their geographical distribution in tropical environment. The concentrations of organochlorines in these abiotic samples collected from Taiwan, Japan and Australia were also monitored for comparison. Atmospheric and hydrospheric concentrations of HCHs (hexachlorocyclohexanes) and DDTs (DDT and its metabolites) in the tropical developing countries were apparently higher than those observed in the developed nations, suggesting extensive usage of these chemicals in the lower latitudes. CHLs (chlordane compounds) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) were also occasionally observed at higher levels in the tropics, implying that their usage area is also expanding southward. Distribution patterns of organochlorines in sediments showed smaller spatial variations on global terms, indicating that the chemicals released in the tropical environment are dispersed rapidly through air and water and retained less in sediments. The ratios of organochlorine concentrations in sediment and water phases were positively correlated with the latitude of sampling, suggesting that persistent and semivolatile compounds discharged in the tropics tend to be redistributed on a global scale.
In the past year, stool specimens of 1,732 alien laborers were examined for intestinal parasites. There was no significant difference in the positive rate between males and females. All alien laborers were examined in 3 hospitals and the positive rates were 24.8% (191/769), 13.6% (109/804) and 12.6% (20/159). Broken down by nationality, the positive rates in laborers from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia were 23.9% (192/803), 20.3% (62/305), 12.1% (60/498) and 4.8% (6/126) respectively. Of all alien laborers, 17.2% (297/1,732) had single infections of parasites and 1.3% (23/1,732) had multiple infections. Opisthorchis viverrinii was the most prevalent parasite found in infected alien laborers. 91.5% of alien laborers were aged from 21 to 40-years-old and had positive rates of parasites reaching 91.0%. The time of arrival in Taiwan had an effect in all alien laborers examined for parasites. The positive rate in laborers arriving during April to June was 22.7% which was significantly higher than the 16.3% for laborers arriving in other months.
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia are initiating health care reform to meet the changing demands of populations with improved socioeconomic status and access to modern technologies and who are living longer than in previous generations. Hong Kong, in particular, is facing a unique set of circumstances as its people prepare for the transition in 1997 from a British colony to a Special Administrative Region of China. While spending only 4% of its gross domestic product on health care, it has a large and regulated public hospital system for most inpatient medical care and a separate, loosely regulated private health care system for most outpatient medical care. In 1993 the Secretary for Health and Welfare of Hong Kong initiated a year-long process to debate the pros and cons of 5 fundamental programs for health care reform. After a year of open consultation, options were chosen. We describe the Hong Kong health care system, the fundamental changes that have been adopted, and lessons for reformers in the United States.
Changes in the dietary intake patterns of countries in the Asia Pacific region are considered in relation to trends of cardiovascular disease mortality. Cardiovascular disease now constitutes the major cause of mortality in many of the countries of the region. The mortality rate for coronary heart disease (CHD) has been on the decline since the mid-1960s in countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan, while a decline in other countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, appears to be occurring about two decades later after a delayed increase. In contrast, countries like Malaysia and China have had and continue an upward trend for CHD mortality. Nonetheless, the mortality rates due to CHD in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore followed by Hong Kong rank among the highest in the region. In China, Taiwan and Japan, death due to cerebrovascular disease remains a major cause of death, although the latter two countries have undergone a significant decline in stroke death rates since 1970. The intakes of fat from land animal products, fish and vegetable oils, depending on fatty acid patterns and, possibly other constituents, are candidate contributors to the different atherogenic and thrombotic effects. Countries which have a higher mortality from CHD tend to have a higher intake of energy from fat and proportion of fat from animal products. These fat intakes may operate to increase hypercholesterolemia and overweight in various countries. Again, intakes of other food items and constituents used in the region such as soybeans, dietary antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, seeds, cereals, nuts and tea and alcohol consumption are candidate cardio-protectants. The wide dietary scope of Asia Pacific populations, from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds, and at different levels of economic and technological development poses several analytic challenges and opportunities. Future research should improve the datasets and think laterally about pathogenesis and intervention.
Portions of the hemagglutinin neuraminidase (HN) gene of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates from two recent outbreaks were sequenced to investigate epidemiology of this disease in Taiwan. These NDV isolates were all viscerotropic velogenic according to the clinical lesions produced in chickens. Sequence data were obtained from 14 NDV isolates (12 from 1995 and 2 from 1984). All isolates differed in their nucleotide sequences (from 0.3 to 15.3%), and represented potentially different strains of NDV. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these isolates are closely related to viruses isolated from Japan and Malaysia. Some viruses isolated in 1995 appeared to evolve from viruses isolated in 1984. The results suggest that the 1995 outbreak of Newcastle disease (ND) in Taiwan may have been caused by multiple strains of velogenic NDV that have cocirculated in Taiwan for some time. Moreover, NDV isolates from racing pigeons were very similar to isolates from chickens in the same period, suggesting that both domestic and free-living birds were involved in the spread of ND in Taiwan.