bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The education of one spouse and the fatness of the other spouse
Authors: Garn Stanley M. , Sullivan Timothy V. , Hawthorne Victor M. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractAs shown in 702 wives with 9–12 years of education and 612 husbands similarly educated, the summed skinfolds of one spouse are influenced by the educational level of the other spouse, considerably so for the husbands. Women with 9–12 years of education married to men of lower educational attainment are higher in the sum of four skinfolds while women of similar years of schooling married to men of college education and beyond are leaner (P=0.001). Possible explanations for the effect of the education of one spouse on the fatness level of the other spouse include selective mating in the direction set by the husband's socioeconomic milieu and fatness “drift” on the part of the wives, again in the direction of the husband's socioeconomic status (SES). While these findings do not lend themselves to a simple biological explanation, they do reiterate the effects of socioeconomic variables on fatness level within populations and even within families.
Development of protocols for the application of salivary steroid analysis to field conditions
Authors: Lipson S. F. , Ellison P. T. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe simple and noninvasive nature of sample collection for salivary steroid assay makes this technique well suited for anthropological field studies of human reproduction function. In this study, a series of controlled experiments was done to investigate the effects of modifying common clinical sample collection and storage procedures for field use. Matched sets of samples were assayed for four steroids to test the effects of using plastic, rather than glass, collection tubes, of using a stimulant to aid collection, and of storing samples at ambient temperature rather than frozen.Our work confirms the feasibility of collecting samples for salivary steroid assay in field situations, while at the same time emphasizing the importance of considering methodological issues in planning and interpreting such studies. Our results show that it is acceptable to use polystyrene collection tubes and a carefully chosen stimulant to aid collection, and that samples can be stored at ambient temperature in the field when frozen storage is not available. In addition, they demonstrate the necessity for consistency in sample collection and storage procedures.
Selective migration as a bias in modernization studies: Premigration differences in morphology and blood pressure among 15–30 year‐old American Samoans
Authors: Pearson Jay D. , Hanna Joel M. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractPremigration differences in anthorpometry and blood pressure are examined for evidence of selective migration for biological characteristics. We conducted a 5‐years follows‐up of the migration status of 99 American Samoans 15–30 years old who had been previously examined in 1981 and found that 33 had migrated. Analysis of covariance of the baseline anthorpometry and blood pressures of the nonmigrants (n = 58) and those who subsequently migrated (n = 29) indicates that selective migration does occur among young American Samoan adults. Migrants of both sexes tended to be younger and leaner and had significantly lower mean blood pressures than nonmigrants even before migration. Selective migration of lean individuals with lower blood pressures may contribute to the lower blood pressures of migrants from American Samoa living in Hawaii or to the heterogeneity in other Samoan populations. These results are one of the few examples of biological selectivity demonstrated to date and illustrate the dangers of assuming that the effects of selective migration are negligible in studies of migration and health.
Are the known chronic diseases related to the human lifespan and its evolution?
Authors: Weiss Kenneth M. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThere is running debate in the gerontological research literature concerning the relationship between causes of mortality and the human lifespan. Much of this debate concerns whether we can, by biomedical intervention in known degenerative diseases, square the human survivorship curve, at a point near some human “maximum lifespan potential” (MLP) This paper examines the concepts of lifespan and MLP and the relationship between the shape of the survivorship curve and the pattern of age‐specific mortality from chronic disease. The MLP need only be viewed as a statistical phenomenon whose genetic determination relates to general human metabolism rather than to programmed events occurring at the end of the human lifespan. The available evidence suggests that slowing of underlying senescence processes will not have the desired effects on survivorship, but rather the opposite.
Is poor early growth related to adult immune aging? A follow‐up study
Authors: Clark George A. , Aldwin Carolyn M. , Hall Nicholas R. , Spiro Avron , Goldstein Alan 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThymosin alpha 1 (TSN‐α1) is produced by the thymus gland, regulates immune function, and measures thymic involution. Poor early growth permanetly stunts size and function in features ceasing growth early, such as vertebral neural canals (VNCs) and the thymus gland (resulting in decreased TSN‐α1). The purpose of this study was to follow‐up prior research (Clark et al.: Hum. Biol. 60:435–451, 1988) demonstrating that healthy adults (n = 16) with lower levels of TSN‐α1 had significantly smaller VNCs and greater sitting height. If true, these relationships should still exist later in time. Consequently, TSN‐α1 was remeasured in 13 of the original men 2.5 years later. Bivariate analyses showed that lower TSN‐α1 serum levels still tended to correlate with smaller VNCs (r = .52; P = .065). These result were similar to the original study (VNCs r= .47; P < .05). In a stepwise regression, age weight, height, sitting height, fasting cortisol, and VNC were used to predict fasting TSN‐α1. As in the first study, only sitting height and VNC entered the equation. Together, they explained 57% of the variation (P = .01), markedly similar to the 54% (P < .05) explained by the first study. Thus, even though this was a small sample, this stability over time strengthens the hypothesis that poor early growth permanently lowers TSN‐α1. Nonetheless, these studies are pilot studies and should still be viewed with caution.
The British, American NCHS, and Dutch weight standards compared using the LMS method
Authors: Cole T. J. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe LMS method (Cole, 1988) is a method for fitting and summarising growth standards. The standard is represented by three curves plotted against age: The Box–Cox power transformation needed to bring the distribution close to normality (the L Curve), the mean (the M curve), and the coefficient of variation (the S curve), respectively. Individual centiles of the weight distribution at any age can be obtained from the age‐specific L, M, and S values by assuming that transformed weight is normally distributed. The British (Tanner et al.,1966 ), American NCHS (Hamill et al., 1977), and Ducth (Roede and Van Wieringen, 1985) national weight standards are compared by this method, and the centiles closely. The fit is better for the British and Dutch standards, where the centiles were originally drawn by eye, than for the American NCHS standard, which used cubic splines in its construction. The L curves from the three standards show a consistent pattern of changing skewness during childhood, particularly in puberty, which has not previously been noted. The values of the L, M, and S curves in each standard are tabulated by age and sex, and they allow any reference weight centile to be calculated. Equally, observed weights including those in the tails of the weight distribution can be expressed as centiles or SD scores to full accuracy.
Application of molecular techniques to the study of human physiological variation
Authors: Ferrell Robert E. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractPhysiological differences between human populatios, manifest as apparent adaptation to extreme environments, as differences in patterna of growth and development, and as differences in prevalence of common disease, are a mofer subject area of human biology. The approach of the geneticist interested in understanding these difference has been largely that of the proverbial drunk looking for has lost keys. We have characterized those genes whose products are easily assayed from peripheral blood and sought post hoc statistical evidence for a relationship between gene frequencies and physiological variables. With few exceptions, this approach has failed to provide convincing evidence of the role of genes in determining physiological differences between populations. This is not unexpected since the genes which our knowledge of physiology would predict to be important in determining physiological homeostasis.Recent advances in molecular biology (particularly in the ability to isolate and clone specific genes and to use these as probes to detect genomic variation—polymorphism—associated with these genes in human populations) and advances in our ability to resolve and visualize genetic variation in protein products provide the tools for a direct evaluation of the role of specific gene in determining physiological differences between populations. I will review the “candidate genes” available for the study of several physiological systems and present preliminary data from my laboratory related to genetic determinants of lipid metabolism.
Body size and form of black girls age 9 years living in central South Carolina and eastern North Carolina
Authors: Robinson Patricia R. , Spurgeon John H. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractSomatic data were collected during 1986–1987 on 53 Black girls age 9 years living in Calhoun County in rural central South Carolina. Measures of body size (standing height, sitting height, upper limb length, lower limb height, arm girth, hip width, and body weight), body from (lower limb height as a percentage of sitting height, arm girth as a percentage of upper limb length, calf girth as a percentage of lower limb height, hip width as a percentage of lower limb height) and skin‐fat thickness (over triceps and on abdomen) were analyzed for central tendency and variability. Comparisons were made with earlier samples of Black girls measured in rural regions of Richland County in central South Carolina during 1975–1976 and in urban Greenville city and rural Pitt County in eastern North Carolina during 1980–1981 as well as with earlier studies conducted in various parts of the United States. The four same‐age group samples yielded similar means for standing height, sitting height, arm and calf girth, and body weight. The Calhoun County girls exceeded their Pitt County, North Carolina, peers in lower limb height, upper limb length, and lower limb height as a percentage of sitting height. In each of the subgroups studied, the distribution of measures for skin‐fat thicknesses was, to some extent, skewed positively.
New approach for estimating excess body fat from changes in abdominal girth
Authors: Katch Frank I. , Katch Victor L. , Behnke Albert R. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractA new method is proposed for determining changes in percent body fat (%BF) based on the difference between an initial value for abdominal girth (AG) and a calculated “target” AG based on a desired %BF. Group data from large‐scale anthropometric surveys in the military were used to derive specific reference values for Q, defined as the ratio of AG at a desired %BF to F(√BMkg/Htm). For an individual, Q*F resulted in an AG that corresponded to a desired %BF (set at approximately 20% for males and 30% for females). The method was applied to professional football players, longshoremen, shot‐put and weight‐lifting athletes, and obese males and females who reduced body mass and altered their body composition. The results showed that changes in AG with body mass loss were proportional to percentage changes in total body fat loss. These relationships permitted extrapolation to a projected target AG that corresponded to a desired %BF. The proposed method differs from the traditional approach that first determines %BF, and then the individual attempts to achieve a desired change in body mass or body composition. The objective of the new method is straightforward; the individual endeavors to attain a target AG that corresponds to a desired %BF.
Differences in the subcomponents of fat‐free body in relation to height between black and white children
Authors: Slaughter M. H. , Lohman T. G. , Boileau R. A. , Christ C. B. , Stillman R. J. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe individual subcomponents of fat‐free body (FFB) in relation to height were investigated in 131 white (N = 85) and black (N = 46) males (MW, MB) and 108 white (N = 63) and black (N = 45) females (FW, FB), aged 8 to 18 years. Bone mineral content (BM), bone width (BW), and bone mineral index (BMI) were measured using photon absorptiometry; total body water (TBW) was measured by deuterium dilution; body density was measured by hydrostatic weighing, correcting for residual lung volume; and estimates of lean body mass (LBM) were made from total body potassium (40K spectroscopy). The subcomponents of the FFB—BM, BW, BMI, TBW, and K—were regressed on the log of height to determine the exponent of the independent variable (Ht) that would most accurately predict the dependent variables (BM, BW, BMI, TBW, K) within gender and race. Regression equations were derived for each of the variables used to represent a subcomponent of the FFB on Ht. Significant (P < .05) racial differences were found in BW, with the MB having wider bones than the MW. Significant racial differences were observed in BMI with FB demonstrating a greater difference across height than FW. Racial differences in BM and TBW approached significance within the female sample. At heights greater than the mean of a typical pubescent child, the males had higher values for each of the variables, except for BMI, than did the females. The lower BMI values observed in males indicated that the rate at which male bones grow in width was greater than their rate of mineralization. Within the male sample, blacks had higher bone mineral than whites with the magnitude of these differences dependent on the variable under consideration. Within the female sample the blacks had greater amounts of BM and BMI in relation to height, while the whites had a greater amount of K. Therefore, the magnitude of the differences between blacks and whites in the subcomponents of the FFB are dependent on gender, stature, and the particular subcomponent of the FFB under consideration.
Height and weight differences among South African Urban schoolchildren born in various months of the year
Authors: Henneberg Maciej , Louw Graham J. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractAmong 1,165 subjects aged 6–18 years who were examined once cross‐sectionally, a significant variation in body height and weight according to the month of birth of the subjects was found. All subjects belonged to the so‐called Cape Coloured community, were born locally, and their parents belonged to the most affluent sector of the community. Individuals born in February to July were shorter and weighed less (by 13 to 17% of the standard deviation) than those born in August to January. These results are similar to those obtained for Canadian children, who were measured on their birthdays. Since our individuals were measured only once, at the same time of the year, observed differences cannot be ascribed to seasonal fluctuations of growth rates prior to measurement but must constitute a persistent effect of seasonal fluctuation in earlier growth. Immediate environmental conditions (food, temperature, rainfall, and insolation) in the Southern Hemisphere fluctuate seasonally 6 months out of phase from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Thus the similarity of our findings to those from the Northern Hemisphere suggests a factor common for the entire earth, possibly related to the ellipsoid shape of the orbit of the planet.
Reciprocal causal influences among malnutrition, growth retardation, and diarrhea in preschool children
Authors: Sibrián Ricardo , Elston Robert C. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractStructural regression models are applied to longitudinal data to study reciprocal causal influences between malnutrition and infection in preschool children. Two models of three waves (time periods) are applied: a two‐variable model, the variables being acute malnutrition and diarrhea; and a three‐variable model, which includes chronic malnutrition as a third variable. Malnutrition is measured by standardized weight for age and standardized height for age, and enteric infection is measured by diarrhea. The latter is expressed as the number of days with diarrhea or fever divided by the number of days at risk in the trimester preceding anthropometric assessment. The data used in the analysis were gathered as part of a longitudinal study to estimate the effects of nutrition on mental and physical growth, conducted by the Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panamá (INCAP) in rural Guatemala. The sample comprises 508 children with complete data from families residing in four rural villages. Results provide evidence of significant causal influence of both diarrhea on acute malnutrition and of acute malnutrition on diarrhea. A cumulative effect of acute malnutrition on chronic malnutrition that leads to growth retardation is identified. Accordingly, interventions aimed at decreasing the causal effect of infection on malnutrition, as well as interventions aimed at improving the nutritional condition of children, are required.
Inference of a gene and its paths of descent: The Newfoundland example
Authors: Thompson E. A. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThis paper presents various aspects of Pedigree Analysis through a review of a study of a Newfoundland genetic isolate. This study has evolved over a number of years and involved many researchers. The population came to attention due to a greatly enhanced incidence of a variety of lymphoreticular malignancies. Genetic analysis shows clearly that there are (at least) two groups of traits. Whereas the distribution of the leukaemia and lymphosarcoma cases show no clear genealogical pattern, the existence of a single recessive allele causing susceptibility to Hodgkin's disease and immunodeficiency in an isolated New‐foundland population can be inferred. There appears to be no heterozygote penetrance, but in the period up to 1974 homozygote penetrance was high and perhaps complete. More important, the ancestral paths of the allele can be inferred. Many ancestral individuals are obligatory carriers, and most others have either probability >95% or <5% of having carried the allele. More recently, methods were developed and applied in order to investigate linkage of this locus to conventional blood group and serum protein marker loci. Although no linkages were found, some observed associations were clarified, and some definite non‐linkages established.
Effect of moderate weight loss on ovarian function assessed by salivary progesterone measurements
Authors: Lager Catherine , Ellison Peter T. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractThe effects of moderate, voluntary weight loss on ovarian function are studied by monitoring the daily levels of salivary progesterone in 8 dieting women (18 cycles) and 9 age‐matched controls (19 cycles). Both groups of women were within normal standards of weight for height, though the dieters were significantly heavier than the controls. Dieters lost weight at an average rate of 1.9 ± 0.3 kg/mo during the study. Dieters' cycles during periods of weight loss (weight loss cycles) have significantly lower peak levels of luteal progesterone (controls 655 ± 46 pmol/L, weight loss 461 ± 67 pmol/L; P < 0.005) and lower average levels of luteal progesterone (controls 287 ± 30 pmol/L, weight loss 214 ± 23 pmol/L; P < 0.005) than do controls. All control cycles were classified as ovulatory by virtue of at least one salivary progesterone reading ≥ 300 pmol/L. Only 62% of the weight loss cycles were classified as ovulatory by this criterion. Where longitudinal weight data are available both the magnitude and duration of progesterone elevation correlates significantly with net weight change during the preceding cycle and show no significant correlation with net weight change during the current cycle. Examination of individual profiles confirms that the most profound suppression of luteal activity usually occurs during post‐loss rather than weight loss cycles, even if weight is stable or increasing during the post‐loss cycle itself. These results, together with field studies of African horticultural populations, suggest that human ovarian function may be adapted to modulate waiting time to conception in response to trends in energetic balance.
Estimation of energy expenditure in Western Samoa, American Samoa, and Honolulu by recall interviews and direct observation
Authors: Pearson Jay D. 
Published: June 2005

AbstractReliable and accurate estimates of energy expenditure are a fundamental requirement for research on energy balance, energy flow, and other biocultural phenomena. Cross‐validation of estimates derived from more than one time‐allocation method can detect sources of bias and may lead to estimates which are more credible than those from activity recalls used alone. This paper compares 24‐hour activity recalls and direct observations as methods of estimating the energy expenditure of 145 18–37‐year‐old Samoans residing in rural Western Samoa, American Samoa, and Honolulu. Daily energy expenditure was estimated on 2 workdays by activity recalls (n = 214) or by focal‐individual observations (n = 91). Samoan men expend 2,900–3,400 kcal/day and women expend 2,250–2,650 kcal/day. Estimates of energy expenditure in the Western Samoa sample are comparable to other subsistence horticultural societies, while the American Samoan and Honolulu samples are comparable to other sedentary working populations. Group estimates from recall interviews are 100–400 kcal/day higher than from observations, although this is only a difference of 5–10%. Overestimation of energy expenditure is more evident at higher work intensities than for sedentary activities. The apparent exaggeration of strenuous activity in this, and other, studies indicates that without cross‐validation, self‐reported activity data may often be confounded by an unknown amount of subjective bias.
Correlates of enamel hypoplasia with human dental reduction
Authors: McKee Jeffrey K. , Lunz Richard 
Published: June 2005

AbstractHuman dental reduction has been manifested in evolutionary and secular trends, but it is not known to what degree each of these complementary processes contributes to changes in tooth size. Enamel hypoplasia is a marker of developmental stress that is often found to be of greater frequency and severity in populations undergoing dental size reduction. In order to test the developmental association of enamel hypoplasia with tooth size, measurements of bucco‐lingual and mesio‐distal diameters were taken on teeth of 54 black male skulls from southern Africa. Those dentitions that exhibited incisal enamel hypoplasia were significantly reduced in size as compared to those showing no signs of developmental stress. A distinct pattern of reduction emerged: the bucco‐lingual diameters of the I1, I2, P3, P4, M1, and M2 were significantly reduced, whereas the mesio‐distal diameters of only the I2 and M2 decreased in size. The I2 and M2 showed the greatest degree of reduction despite the lack of macroscopic enamel hypoplasia on the M2. Application of the data to the variety of dental reduction patterns evinced in modern and ancient populations indicates that factors including tooth shape, developmental timing of stress, and genetic determinants of tooth size must be considered in order to partition evolutionary and secular trends in the dentition.