bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Femur/stature ratio and estimates of stature in mid‐ and late‐pleistocene fossil hominids
Authors: Feldesman Marc R. , Kleckner J. Geoffrey , Lundy John K. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractIn previous limited investigations of the human femur/stature ratio we (Feldesman and Lundy: Journal of Human Evolution 17:583–596, 1988; Feldesman et al.: American Journal of Physical Anthropology 79:219–220, 1989) have shown it to be remarkably stable across ethnic and gender boundaries. In this study we evaluate the femur/stature ratio in 51 different “populations” of contemporary humans (n = 13,149) sampled from all over the world. We find that the mean ratio of femur length to stature in these populations is 26.74%, with a very restricted range of variation. When we compare mean femur/stature ratios of males and females, there are no statistically significant differences. ANOVA performed on a naive grouping of samples into “whites,” “blacks,” and “Asians” indicates that there are significant racial differences (P < 0.001). When we subject these groups to Tukey's HSD procedure (a post‐hoc test), we find that “blacks” are responsible for the significant ANOVA, being significantly (P < 0.005) different from the other ethnic groups. “Whites” and “Asians” are not significantly different (P = 0.067) under the conditions of this analysis, although all these racial comparisons may be suspect given the small sample sizes. We tested the efficacy of the ratio in three situations: predicting stature of repatriated white Vietnam veterans; predicting stature in a random sample of South African blacks (of known stature), and predicting the stature of a single Akka pygmy. In the first and third cases, the femur/stature ratio does better than the traditionally recommended regression equation, while in the second case the predictions from the femur/stature ratio are less accurate than from the appropriate regression equation.These results encouraged us to apply this ratio to mid‐ and late‐Pleistocene fossil hominids, where the choice of reference population for stature estimates continues to trouble workers. We estimated stature for a sizeable number of Homo erectus (HE), early Neanderthal (EN), Near Eastern Neanderthal (NEN), and early anatomically modern Homo sapiens (EAMHS) by using the simple relationship: stature (cm) = femur length (cm) * 100 / 26.74. Our results show that HE fossils are slightly taller on average than either EN or NEN samples, which do not differ significantly in stature, while EAMHS fossils are significantly taller than all three earlier groups.While these results are not surprising, our stature estimates for these fossils differ from currently published estimates based on sample‐specific regression‐based formulae. We compare the results, discuss the differences, and highlight potential sources of error in both regression and ratio‐based estimates of stature. We conclude that in estimating stature of hominid fossils the femur/stature ratio, which is gender‐ and ethnic‐group neutral and simpler to calculate, may provide more satisfactory results than the group‐specific regression formulae.
Differential diagnosis of rib lesions: A case study from middle woodland southern Ontario Circa 230 A.D.
Authors: Molto J. E. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe right ribs of an adult male (#18) from the LeVesconte Burial Mound in southern Ontario show extensive osteolytic and/or osteoblastic lesions, some with bone thickening, interpreted herein as evidence of a chronic actinomycotic infection. In the alveolus, the presence of periapical abscesses and periodonitis with secondary inflammation may be associated with the pathogenesis of this bacterial disease by providing the normally commensurate Actinomyces israelii with the necessary conditions for their reproduction. This presumptive diagnosis, if correct, appears to represent the first case of actinomycosis in human palaeopathology. Recent literature reviews suggest that actinomycosis was not uncommon in preantibiotic populations, and that it has a high predilection for bone. Though actinomycosis can be associated with any subsistence strategy, such as, in this case, hunting and gathering, hypothetically it is most likely to occur in agricultural populations where general disease stress and age‐adjusted dental pathology are highest. It is argued that in the differential diagnosis of archaeological specimens, as much attention should be given to the documentation of the natural range of variation of lesions produced by less well‐known diseases, such as actinomycosis, since the disease ecology of pre‐western populations differed significantly from our own.
Test of socioeconomic causation of secular trend: Stature changes among favored and oppressed South Africans are parallel
Authors: Henneberg M. , van den Berg E. R. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractSecular trends in body height, however common, run at different rates and even in opposite directions in various populations. The standard explanation is that direction and tempo of the trend are reflections of changes in the socioeconomic situation. The aim of this work is to test this hypothesis by examining trends in different socioeconomic groups living in the same country.Our observations on affluent South Africans of European extraction (AE) and on Polish medical students are compared with the data on statures of other affluent and poor peoples from the two countries measured at various dates during the 19th and 20th centuries. The trend among native Southern Africans is erratic (Tobias: South African Journal of Medical Science 40:145–164, 1975), but the overall direction is positive with a slow rate (0.24 cm/decade for 72 Negroid male groups and 0.48 cm/d for 28 Khoisan male samples). Magnitude of the trend among adult AE (0.41 cm/d for females, 0.59 for males) does not differ significantly from that among natives. The trend was absent in the data for 10‐year‐old AE boys and girls. The rate of trend among AE is much lower than that in their countries of origin (mainly Holland and Britain). The trend among AE medical students is markedly weaker than the trend among Polish medical students (1.21 cm/d), who in turn parallel Polish general conscripts (1.24 cm/d). It follows that the explanation of the secular trend as being an ecosensitive response of individuals to changing levels of well‐being is insufficient.
Possible congenital hemolytic anemia in prehistoric coastal inhabitants of Israel
Authors: Hershkovitz I. , Ring B. , Speirs M. , Galili E. , Kislev M. , Edelson G. , Hershkovitz A. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe spread of thalassemia among prehistoric populations of the Mediterranean Basin has been linked to the increased risk to early agriculturalists posed by the Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The diagnosis of the disease in human skeletal remains, however, has usually been based on a single pathological criterion, porotic hyperostosis. This paper reports on what we believe to be the earliest case of thalassemia yet identified in the prehistoric record. Our diagnosis of the disease in an individual from the submerged Prepottery Neolithic B village of Atlit‐Yam off the Israeli coast is based on a pathological humerus demonstrating a pattern of deformation characteristic of clinical thalassemia. The implications of these findings for our understanding of human societies undergoing the transition from foraging to agriculture in the Near East are discussed.
Root dentine transparency: Age determination of human teeth using computerized densitometric analysis
Authors: Drusini Andrea , Calliari Irene , Volpe Antonina 
Published: February 2006

AbstractRoot dentine transparency (RDT) was used to estimate the ages of human subjects from 152 intact teeth. Teeth were from 134 subjects, both historical and recent, of known age and sex. The aims of this work are 1) to compare two methods of using RDT to estimate age; 2) to test the applicability of the regression formulae for estimating age obtained from a recent sample on an historical sample; and 3) to estimate the suitability of RDT to determine age at death of 100‐year‐old skeletons. RDT was measured by two techniques: 1) computerized densitometric analysis and 2) vernier caliper. Age estimations based on computerized densitometric analysis were no more accurate than were those determined by caliper measurement; both give a predictive success of ± 5 years in about 45–48% of cases for premolars. The television‐based digitization system has some disadvantages: It is expensive, not portable, and requires some training to use. However, it furnishes a more standardized method, a rapid graphic illustration of the results, and an immediate storage of statistical information for future use.
Trivers‐Willard effect in contemporary North American society
Authors: Gaulin Steven J. C. , Robbins Carole J. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe Trivers‐Willard hypothesis joins the ideas of R.A. Fisher and A.J. Bateman to model parental investment strategies. Trivers and Willard argue that any overall investment bias favoring either daughters or sons would be maladaptive. Nevertheless, they suggest that, in effectively polygynous species, more complex, conditional sex biases could be adaptive. In particular, they predict that parents in good condition will bias their investment toward sons and that parents in poor condition will bias their investment toward daughters. Among a sample of approximately 900 U.S. mothers we examined several measures of maternal investment including birth weight, interbirth interval and lactational commitment. Maternal condition was assessed by income and by the presence or absence of a coresident adult male. Some measures of investment (five of 14 statistical tests) showed marked and significant sex‐by‐condition interactions of the type and in the direction predicted by Trivers and Willard; none showed significant effects in the opposite direction. No conscious mediation is required to produce the observed investment patterns.
Stature in an early mid‐19th century poorhouse population: Highland park, Rochester, New York
Authors: Steegmann A. Theodore 
Published: February 2006

AbstractIf the early 19th century United States was a developing country, then it may be expected that the lowest economic stratum would show some biological consequences of poverty. This report examines that question by estimating stature on 90 male and 64 female adult skeletons from an unmarked cemetery dating between 1826 and 1863. The Highland Park burial ground was adjacent to institutions which interned unfortunates of Rochester, Monroe County, in western New York.The best estimate of male stature (N = 84) is 172.6 cm. A review of other 18th and 19th century height data shows this value not to be relatively stunted, but rather exactly on the predicted mean of its time. If this was a poor population, stunting was not a consequence of poverty. Females (N = 59) showed a best height estimate of 160.0 cm. Less comparative data are available, but this too seems average for the time.A brief discussion of secular trends, changing income inequity and fluctuating stature from the 18th through 20th centuries puts this finding in context.
Dimensions of face in Asia in the perspective of geography and prehistory
Authors: Yongyi Li , Brace C. Loring , Qiang Gao , Tracer David P. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractData from 24 craniofacial dimensions were compiled for samples representing all the human populations of the world. These were converted into C scores and used to construct Euclidean Distance dendrograms. The populations of the world are best depicted as 8 major regional clusters representing: Africa, Amerind, Asia‐Mainland, Australo‐Melanesia, Eskimo‐Siberia, Europe, India, and Jömon‐Pacific. The mainland Asian cluster divided into northern and southern components. The Neolithic in both areas is less clearly associated with the northern or southern components and may represent the form of their undifferentiated precursors. This needs to be tested by the addition of further specimens and an adequate sample from South China. Mongols are peripheral members of the Asia‐Mainland cluster and should not be thought of as typifying the region as a whole. The use of the term “Mongoloid” is inappropriate in both theory and practice.
Population variation in molecular polymorphisms of the short arm of the human X chromosome
Authors: Papiha S. S. , Mastana S. S. , Roberts D. F. , Onyemelukwe G. C. , Bhattacharya S. S. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractFive DNA probes (RC8, 754, XJ 1‐1, pert 87.8, and L1.28) from the short arm of the human X chromosome were investigated in samples from five populations (English, Nigerian, Chinese, Muslim, and Hindu from India). The variation in the allele frequencies of several probes between different groups was significant. The average heterozygosity in females of the five populations ranged from 32% to 51%. The genetic distance between the five groups was compatible with that using traditional polymorphic systems. There is an interesting suggestion of longitudinal cline for allele *2 (9 kb) detected with probe L1.28. The X‐linked RFLPs are useful genetic markers for anthropological studies.
Immunoglobulin (Gm and Km) allotypes in two populations of Catalonia (Spain)
Authors: Moreno Pascual , Matsumoto Hideo 
Published: February 2006

AbstractSerum samples from two populations of Catalonia, Spain, 208 from Olot (Gerona) and 209 from Tortosa (Tarragona), were typed for G1m (1, 2, 3, 17), G3m (5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 26), and Km (1). The Gm patterns of the Catalonian populations are characterized by the presence of four haplotypes, Gm 1, 17;21, 26 Gm 1, 2, 17;21, 26 Gm 1, 3;5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 26 and Gm 3;5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 26. The homogeneity for haplotype Gm 1, 17;21, 26 among our data and other European populations suggests the existence of an isofrequency line which starts from the Mediterranean zone of Iberian Peninsula and continues through the northwestern part of Europe. From this line a decreasing cline towards the south can be observed. For the haplotype Gm 1, 2, 17;21, 26, affinities are observed between Catalonian populations and other populations from central Europe. This confirms the existence of a gradient towards low values from NW to SE. The presence of the typical Mongoloid haplotype Gm 1, 3;5, 10, 11, 13, 14, 26 is discussed in this paper. No significant differences in the frequencies of the Km1 allele were observed among the European populations.
Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis in a British skeletal population
Authors: Hodges Denise C. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe potential role of dental function in TMJ osteoarthritis is examined in an ancient British population. Human skeletal remains from five archaeological sites in England (n = 369) were studied to assess the associations between the presence of osteoarthritis and dental function variables, in particular antemortem tooth loss and dental attrition. Individuals aged over 17 years with at least a portion of either the left or right TMJ were included in the study. Each individual was scored for the occurrence of arthritic lesions on the mandibular condyle and glenoid fossa, the level of dental attrition, and antemortem tooth loss. A loglinear analysis was performed with osteoarthritis as the dependent variable and tooth loss, attrition, sex, and age as the independent variables. Tooth loss and sex are not significantly associated with TMJ osteoarthritis when attrition and age are included in the analysis. Attrition is significantly associated with osteoarthritis even when the analysis corrects for age. The significant association of attrition with osteoarthritis suggests that dental functions may have an influence, separate from ageing, on the development of TMJ osteoarthritis.
Degenerative joint disease in hunter–gatherers and agriculturalists from the Southeastern United States
Authors: Bridges Patricia S. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThis study examines degenerative joint disease of the major appendicular joints in hunter‐gatherers and agriculturalists from northwestern Alabama. Arthritis is highest at the shoulder, elbow, and knee and lower at the hip and ankle. There are virtually no sex differences in the hunter‐gatherer group, but in the agriculturalists, males have more severe osteoarthritis than females. The hunters‐gatherers have a somewhat greater prevalence of arthritis than the agriculturalists, but the differences are rarely significant. The similarity in osteoarthritis levels over time conflicts with biomechanical evidence, which indicates an increase in usual activities in the agricultural period. Several possible reasons for this are explored, including the suggestion that arthritis is a response to intensive or infrequent activities. Whatever the cause, it is clear that biomechanical data and osteoarthritis are responding to different factors and do not equally represent the level of usual activities.
Fertility‐related changes in maternal body composition among the au of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Tracer David P. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractEvolutionary theory predicts that organisms make trade‐offs between their somatic and reproductive energy budgets. Thus every round of reproduction should result in a concomitant decline in the parents' total energy reserves. Among humans this prediction was corroborated more than 25 years ago when fertility‐related nutritional depletion was reported among mothers in the Highlands of New Guinea (Jelliffe and Maddocks, 1964). More recently, however, a number of studies of fertility and maternal nutritional status in both developed and developing nations have reported fertility‐related increases in various indices of adiposity and lean body mass. Such findings have called the so‐called “maternal depletion syndrome” into question, and have raised serious doubts as to whether the phenomenon is widely generalizable to all populations. In light of this recent controversy, data are presented here on fertility‐related changes in maternal adiposity and lean body mass among the Au, a lowland forager—horticulturalist population in Papua New Guinea. While both a short‐term decline in adiposity following childbirth, and a long‐term fertility‐related decline are seen among more traditional Au, individuals with a regular source of wage‐income show only the former. There are no significant changes in lean body mass with increasing fertility in either group. The finding of significant socioeconomic variation in the capacity to withstand the stress of repeated reproduction even within this one extremely rural area of Papua New Guinea may lend insight into why previous studies have been unable to find evidence of maternal depletion. The fertility‐related decline in adiposity that is reported for the more traditional Au is consistent with the predictions of evolutionary theory.
Some comments on coordinate‐free and scale‐invariant methods in morphometrics
Authors: Lele Subhash 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe usual strategy for comparing biological shapes is to use some kind of superimposition of the two forms under study and then look at the “residuals” as the shape change. In this paper, I take a careful look at this general strategy and point out some subtle but inherent and important pitfalls. Additionally an alternative approach based on Euclidean Distance Matrix representation is presented. It is applicable to two‐ as well as threedimensional objects.
Dental development and the evolution of life history in Hominidae
Authors: Smith B. Holly 
Published: February 2006

AbstractDevelopment of the dentition is critically integrated into the life cycle in living mammals. Recent work on dental development has given rise to three separate lines of evidence on the evolution of human growth and aging; these three, based on several independent studies, are reviewed and integrated here. First, comparative study of living primate species demonstrates that measures of development (e.g., age of emergence of the first permanent molar) are highly correlated with the morphological attributes brain and body weight (as highly as r = 0.98, N = 21 species). These data predict that small‐bodied, small‐brained Australopithecus erupted M1 at 3–3.5 years and possessed a life span comparable to that of a chimpanzee. Second, chronological age at death for three australopithecines who died at or near emergence of M1 is now estimated as ∼3.25 years based on incremental lines in teeth; this differs substantially from expectations based on human growth schedules (5.5–6 years). Third, developmental sequences (assessed by the coefficient of variation of human dental age) observed in gracile Australopithecus and great apes diverge from those of humans to a comparable degree; sequences become more like modern humans after the appearance of the genus Homo. These three lines of evidence agree that the unique rate and pattern of human life history did not exist at the australopithecine stage of human evolution. It is proposed that the life history of early Homo matched no living model precisely and that growth and aging evolved substantially in the Hominidae during the last 2 million years.
Histological study on the chronology of the developing dentition in gorilla and orangutan
Authors: Beynon A. D. , Dean M. C. , Reid D. J. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractThe single previous study on tooth development in great apes (Dean and Wood: Folia Primatol. (Basel) 36:111–127, 1981) is of limited value because it is based on cross‐sectional radiographic data. This study considers problems in defining stages of tooth development in radiographs of developing ape dentitions and provides data on tooth chronology in Pongo pygmaeus and Gorilla gorilla by using histological methods of analysis. Crown formation times were estimated in individual teeth, and an overall chronology of dental development was found by registering teeth forming at the same time by using incremental growth lines. The earlier radiographic study correctly identified the molar and second premolar chronology and sequence in great apes, but significantly underestimated crown formation times in incisors, first premolars, and canine teeth in particular. Ape anterior tooth crowns take longer to form than the equivalent human teeth, but the overall dental developmental period in great apes is substantially shorter than in humans. Gorilla root extension rates appear to be fast, up to approximately 13 μm/day. This rapid root growth, associated with early tooth eruption, appears to be the developmental basis for the observed differences in timing between developing dentitions in great apes and humans.
Enamel incremental periodicity in the pig‐tailed macaque: A polychrome fluorescent labeling study of dental hard tissues
Authors: Bromage Timothy G. 
Published: February 2006

AbstractBromage and Dean originally outlined a nondestructive method for the study of enamel formation and concluded that early hominids resembled the extant apes more closely than they did modern humans in their rates of growth and maturation. The method used assumed that an enamel circadian rhythmicity was referable to a longer near‐weekly period represented by perikymata (periodic surface growth features). This assumption became a matter of debate and discussion. In this study, developing teeth in Macaca nemestrina were labeled with polychrome fluorescent dyes. Examination of the distribution of these dyes in two sectioned teeth provides experimental confirmation of enamel circadian periodicity.