JOURNAL OF DIALECTICS OF NATURE
A Comprehensive, Academic Journal of the Philosophy, History, Sociology and Cultural Studies of Science and Technology
Author Information
WANG Chengwei
Information
Research Articles
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A Helping Hand: History and Revelation of the “Arm-to-Arm Method” in the 19th Century Abstract: In the 19th century, when vaccine production and storage technologies were not yet developed, the “arm-to-arm method” made cowpox vaccination possible. That constitutes the important foundation for the elimination of smallpox in developed worlds. However, this is often overlooked by medical historians. By reviewing the characteristics of the smallpox virus and the process by which Edward Jenner “invented” cowpox, this study clarifies the motivation for his work and the historical context in which the “arm-to-arm method” was introduced in England. In contrast, the United States, also utilizing the “arm-to-arm method”, relied on its established postal infrastructure to mail cowpox vaccines and instructions, and to collect pox scabs, effectively solving the problem of vaccine production and distribution. Learning from history, the study also calls for a re-examination of the indispensable role that medical infrastructure plays in the application of vaccine science. Key Words: Smallpox; Cowpox; Arm-to-arm method; Infrastructure; VaccineIssue:Volume 45, lssue 1, January 2023Page: 66-74
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Negotiating Mindless Bodies: Life Experience of Parkinson’s Disease Patient Before and After the DBS Treatment Abstract: Contemporary studies of the body are controversial on the issue of whether the body is one or multiple. Parkinson’s disease (PD), a chronic neurodegenerative disease, however, provides a window of opportunity to investigate the “mindless bodies” by avoiding mind-body “speaking simultaneously”. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this essay reveals that the expectations of social roles such as family and work play a critical role in preoperative decision-making, as well as in postoperative adjustment in the deep brain stimulation (DBS) treatment. In contrast, human events literally seething with emotion remain only to the extent of boosting their confidence for this treatment. Patients can only choose “which life to live, and which body?” where doctors reassemble a more patient-friendly social context for their agency. Key Words: Deep Brain Stimulation; Negotiating; Mindless Bodies; Social Roles; Human Events Literally Seething with EmotionIssue:Volume 47, lssue 4, April 2025Page: 57-65
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Good Bacteria Moving East: The Scientific Transformation of China’s Yogurt Industry Abstract: The history of food industrialization in developing countries has long been unexamined by existing research. Based on historical materials such as annals, memoirs, archives, and oral histories, this article traces the introduction into China of the “good” bacteria known today as lactic acid bacteria (LAB), as well as the corresponding scientific transformation of the yogurt industry. The article finds that, rather than the Republican-era intellectuals’ translation and introduction of Élie Metchnikoff’s theory of the life-extending benefits of fermented milk, it was the practice of “mass science” during the state-farm period and Danish development aid after Reform and Opening-up that together shaped China’s yogurt industry. The underdeveloped level of logistics (including the cold chain) and the lagging development of nutritional science in China were also crucial in this process. Key Words: Yogurt; Lactic acid bacteria (LAB); State farm; Denmark; Development aidIssue:Volume 48, lssue 9, September 2026Page: 41-48
JOURNAL OF DIALECTICS OF NATURE
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