New epidemiological and neurohormonal evidence provides insights into the persistent public health issue of preterm delivery and its long-term health consequences for the newborn. Mechanisms linked to preterm delivery may originate early in gestation as a result of maternal cues signaling a stressful intrauterine environment. When these signals are present, the fetus responds with a series of facultative responses, including accelerated organ maturation. If these responses are unsuccessful and the environment remains insufficient, a series of feed-forward mechanisms initiate the hormonal cascade that leads to parturition, and thus, early expulsion from a stressful environment. The internal environmental cues are delivered via glucocorticoids (stress hormones) in the circulatory system, but fetal responses and the initiation of the final terminal pathway to parturition are regulated by placentally derived corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). The potential costs of early expulsion from a stressful intrauterine environment are high and include an increased likelihood of perinatal and infant mortality. Permanent alterations in organ and metabolic functioning may occur, suggesting considerable fitness trade-offs. There is some evidence that preterm parturition is a maternal adaptation to limit the energetic costs of individual pregnancies in the face of poor condition at the time of conception. Moreover, nutritional stress is not the only indicator that signals a stressful environment: maternal psychosocial stress, and thus her response to an assessment of the social environment, also signal an insufficient internal environment to the fetus. The epidemiological and neurohormonal evidence for these relationships and mechanisms responsible for regulating such delicate negotiations are explored. In turn, the implications of such findings are examined from life history and public health perspectives.

Since the late 1970s, cattle raiding with automatic weapons has escalated among nomadic herding societies in northern East Africa. We examine the impact of AK-47 raiding on the adaptability of Karimojong agropastoralists in northern Uganda. Most notably, raiding is linked to a loss of population resilience in Karamoja, measured in increased mortality of young children and of adult males in their prime reproductive years and decreased female fertility. AK-47 raiding has acted both directly and indirectly as a Darwinian stressor in this population, compromising long-standing adaptive strategies and intensifying selection pressure. We briefly discuss similar effects of recently altered patterns of raiding among related Turkana pastoralists in Kenya. We then consider the process by which this traditional cultural institution was modified in the interests of preserving cultural identity. We conclude nonetheless that cattle raiding with automatic weapons constitutes singularly maladaptive cultural behavior in contemporary pastoralist societies. Indeed, it represents the single greatest threat to their biobehavioral resilience and ultimately may have profound evolutionary costs in terms of pastoralists' survival. I. We are indebted to the Karimojong women who spoke with eloquence and honesty of the deaths of so many of their parents, husbands, siblings, and children during the terrible closing decades of the 20th century. Their stories were united by stark themes of violence that overshadowed all other considerations, compelling us SANDRA GRAY is

This preliminary, community-based study examines major stressors identified by Iraqw and Datoga women of Mbulu District, Tanzania, and describes steps in creating a culturally specific questionnaire to assess mental health burdens. This area of Tanzania is remote, with limited access to goods and services, and is undergoing dramatic social and economic changes. Iraqw and Datoga reside in close proximity and often intermarry but have different cultural and subsistence responses to this rapid social change. Data were collected from May to October 2002, with 49 Datoga women and 64 Iraqw women interviewed. In-home interviews were conducted to have women (1) free-list their primary concerns and (2) answer questions from a translated (in Datoga and Iraqw) and modified standardized mental health questionnaire. Both groups of women identified hunger, the lack of animals, particularly cattle, and health/illnesses as the most common major stressors. Other frequently cited stressors included crop failure, general fears of violence, paying taxes, and no money for basic needs. Additional refinements are required for the mental health questionnaire, with strengths and limitations discussed. Such data, while preliminary, augment efforts to analyze the emotional burdens associated with dramatic social change.

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This paper investigates the potential benefits and limitations of including psychosocial stress data in a biocultural framework of human adaptability. Building on arguments within human biology on the importance of political economic perspectives for examining patterns of biological variation, this paper suggests that psychosocial perspectives may further refine our understanding of the mechanisms through which social distress yields differences in health and well-being. To assess a model that integrates psychosocial experiences, we conducted a preliminary study among nomadic pastoralist women from northern Kenya. We interviewed 45 women about current and past stressful experiences, and collected anthropometric data and salivary cortisol measures. Focus group and key informant interviews were conducted to refine our understanding of how the Turkana discuss and experience distress. The results suggest that the most sensitive indicators of Turkana women's psychosocial experiences were the culturally defined idioms of distress, which showed high concordance with measures of first-day salivary cortisol. Other differences in stress reactivity were associated with the frequent movement of encampments, major herd losses, and direct experiences of livestock raiding. Despite the preliminary nature of these data, we believe that the results offer important lessons and insights into the longer-term process of incorporating psychosocial models into human adaptability studies.