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478 records returned

Selection in utero: A biological response to mass layoffsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Most research describing the biological response to unemployment appears appropriately motivated by clinical or public health concerns and focuses on death, disease, and medical care. We argue that expanding the work to include other outcomes could contribute to basic science. As an example, we use the response to mass layoffs to discriminate between two explanations of low ratios of male to female live births in stressed populations. One explanation asserts that ambient stressors reduce the ratio of males to females conceived. The other argues that the maternal stress response selects against males in utero. We show that ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - November 14, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Ralph Catalano, Claire E. Margerison Zilko, Katherine B. Saxton, Tim Bruckner Source Type: journals

The mean measure of divergence: Its utility in model-free and model-bound analyses relative to the Mahalanobis D2 distance for nonmetric traitsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of this report is to support the MMD, and in the process: (1) provide a brief history of the statistic, (2) review its attributes and applicability relative to the often-used Mahalanobis D2 statistic for nonmetric traits, (3) compare results from MMD and D2 model-free analyses of previously-recorded sub-Saharan African dental samples, and (4) investigate its utility for model-bound analyses. In the latter instance, the ability of the D2 and other squared Euclidean-based statistics to approximate a genetic relationship matrix and Sewall Wright's fixation index using phenotypic data, and the inability of the MM...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - November 13, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Joel D. Irish Source Type: journals

Book review: The Ethics of Protocells: Moral and Social Implications of Creating Life in the LaboratoryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 23, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Juli Peretó Source Type: journals

Body size and human energy requirements: Reduced mass-specific total energy expenditure in tall adultsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Mammalian resting energy expenditure (REE) increases as [sim]weight0.75 while mass-specific REE scales as [sim]weight-0.25. Energy needs for replacing resting losses are thus less relative to weight (W) in large compared with small mammals, a classic observation with biological implications. Human weight scales as [sim]height2 and tall adults thus have a greater weight than their short counterparts. However, it remains unknown if mass-specific energy requirements are less in tall adults; allometric models linking total energy expenditure (TEE) and weight with height (H) are lacking. We tested the hypothesis that mass-speci...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Steven B. Heymsfield, Angelo Pietrobelli Source Type: journals

Change in waist circumference over 11 years and current waist circumference independently predict elevated CRP in Filipino womenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
C-reactive protein, a marker of chronic, low-grade inflammation, is strongly associated with current central adiposity, and has been linked to elevated risk of cardiovascular disease. Less is known about the contribution of longitudinal change in waist circumference to current inflammation. We evaluated the extent to which current waist circumference and change over an 11-year interval contribute independently to low-grade systemic inflammation measured in a group of 1,294 women, 35-69 years, participating in the Cebu Longitudinal Nutrition and Health Survey in the Philippines. Waist circumference was measured at the time ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Julienne N. Rutherford, Thom W. Mcdade, Nanette R. Lee, Linda Adair, Christopher Kuzawa Source Type: journals

Growth patterns in early childhood and final attained stature: Data from five birth cohorts from low- and middle-income countriesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Growth failure is cumulative, and short stature is associated with multiple indices of reduced human capital. Few studies have been able to address in a single analysis both consideration of the timing of growth failure and comparison across populations. We analyzed data from birth cohorts in Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines, and South Africa (n = 4,659). We used data on length at birth (available for three of the five cohorts), 12 mo, 24 mo, and mid-childhood to construct cohort- and sex- specific conditional length measures. We modeled adult height as a function of conditional length in childhood. The five cohor...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Aryeh D. Stein, Meng Wang, Reynaldo Martorell, Shane A. Norris, Linda S. Adair, Isabelita Bas, Harshpal Singh Sachdev, Santosh K. Bhargava, Caroline H.D. Fall, Denise P. Gigante, Cesar G. Victora, On Behalf of the Cohorts Group Source Type: journals

Book review: The 10,000 Year Explosion: How Civilizations Accelerated Human EvolutionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Milford H. Wolpoff Source Type: journals

Book review: Genetic Effects on Environmental Vulnerability to Disease., Number 293Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Erika Von Mutius Source Type: journals

Book review: Vitamins and Hormones: Folic Acid and Folates, Volume 79, Vitamins, and Hormones SeriesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Hanjo A. Hellmann Source Type: journals

Book review: The Atlas of Food: Who Eats What, Where, and WhyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: James Loucky Source Type: journals

Book review: The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, ChangelingsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 22, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Courtney L. Meehan Source Type: journals

Stability of genetic influences on pulmonary function in a longitudinal study of octogenarian twinsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Using data from the first four waves of the OCTO-Twin study (twins 80 + years), the present study investigated the stability and change of genetic and environmental contributions to pulmonary function. Using a genetic simplex model, variance in peak expiratory flow (PEF) at each wave was decomposed into additive genetic and nonshared (specific) environmental factors. Additionally, this analysis distinguished the source of these influences, either from previous waves (transmissions) or from novel influences at each wave (innovations). At each time point (except wave 1), the genetic variance was due to genetic transmissions ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 20, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Terrie Vasilopoulos, Holly A. Mack, Gerald E. McClearn, Stig Berg, Boo Johansson, George P. Vogler Source Type: journals

Human birth seasonality and sunshineEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study tests for the presence of increased ELI during the 1 or 2-month period preceding the conceptual month. Monthly birth data for Helsinki, Finland; Kiev, Ukraine; Hanoi, Vietnam; Matlab, Bangladesh; Nashville, Tennessee; Los Angeles, California; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado and Pretoria, South Africa, are correlated (Pearsonian r) to corresponding monthly meteorological data. With the exception of Matlab, birth data are adjusted for conception date, 31-day months, leap years and monthly deviation from an annual mean. Meteorological data are adjusted for a 1-2-month exposure to ELI before conception. From these c...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: David R. Cummings Source Type: journals

The reproducibility of ethnic differences in the proportional awake-sleep blood pressure decline among womenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
A growing body of evidence indicates that African Americans (AA), on average, have a smaller proportional decline in blood pressure (BP) from waking to sleep than European Americans (EA), but this difference is largely based on correlational data from a single assessment day. The persistence of this difference over repeated sampling is not well established. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether ethnic differences in the awake-sleep BP decline between AA and EA persisted over three monthly assessments. The subjects were 47 AA (age = 39.7 ± 8.7) and 92 EA (age = 37.4 ± 9.2) normotensive women. Subjects had 24-h...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Helene M. Van Berge-Landry, Dana H. Bovbjerg, Gary D. James Source Type: journals

Maternal capital and the metabolic ghetto: An evolutionary perspective on the transgenerational basis of health inequalitiesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
There is particular interest in understanding socioeconomic and ethnic variability in health status. The developmental origins of disease hypothesis emphasize the importance of growth patterns across the life-course in relation to noncommunicable disease risk. The physiological components of cardiovascular risk, collectively termed the metabolic syndrome, derive in part from a disparity between the homeostatic "metabolic capacity" of vital organs and the "metabolic load" induced by large tissue masses, a rich diet and sedentary behavior. From an evolutionary perspective, the risk of such disparity is decreased by maternal ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Jonathan C.K. Wells Source Type: journals

Boys live dangerously in the wombEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The growth of every human fetus is constrained by the limited capacity of the mother and placenta to deliver nutrients to it. At birth, boys tend to be longer than girls at any placental weight. Boy's placentas may therefore be more efficient than girls, but may have less reserve capacity. In the womb boys grow faster than girls and are therefore at greater risk of becoming undernourished. Fetal undernutrition leads to small size at birth and cardiovascular disorders, including hypertension, in later life. We studied 2003 men and women aged around 62 years who were born in Helsinki, Finland, of whom 644 had hypertension: w...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Johan G. Eriksson, Eero Kajantie, Clive Osmond, Kent Thornburg, David J.P. Barker Source Type: journals

Short but catching up: Statural growth among native Amazonian Bolivian childrenEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The ubiquity and consequences of childhood growth stunting ( (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Ricardo Godoy, Colleen Nyberg, Dan T.A. Eisenberg, Oyunbileg Magvanjav, Eliezer Shinnar, William R. Leonard, Clarence Gravlee, Victoria Reyes-García, Thomas W. Mcdade, Tomás Huanca, Susan Tanner, Bolivian TAPS Study Team Source Type: journals

Childhood conditions and education as determinants of adult height and obesity among Greenland InuitEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Height and obesity are risk factors for cardiovascular disease and other physical and mental health conditions. Their association with childhood socioeconomic position has been demonstrated in studies among European and a few third world populations. In a random sample of adult Greenland Inuit (N = 2302) we studied the association between childhood socioeconomic conditions and height as well as prevalence of obesity (BMI [ge] 30) in a cross sectional design. In block recursive graphical independence models, height was associated with mother's place of birth, birth cohort, childhood residence, alcohol problems in childhood ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: P. Bjerregaard, The Greenland Population Study Group Source Type: journals

Does second-to-fourth digit length ratio (2D:4D) predict age at menarche in women?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Prenatal steroid levels, estimated as the ratio of second-to-fourth digit length (2D:4D), have been related to reproductive success in women, but direct associations between 2D:4D and physiological measures of fertility remain rare. A recent study reported that lower, masculinized right hand 2D:4D was correlated with delayed age at menarche in women. We addressed this question by investigating whether 2D:4D was associated with recalled age at menarche in 282 post-reproductive Finnish women, using Cox regression model that controlled for a woman's sibling composition, urban or rural residence and temporal trend in menarchea...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Samuli Helle Source Type: journals

Discrimination, psychosocial stress, and health among Latin American immigrants in OregonEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Chronic psychosocial stress related to discrimination has been shown to be associated with biological measures such as elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), increased body fat, and higher fasting glucose levels. Few studies have examined these relationships in immigrant populations. The present study recruited a sample of 132 Oregon Latino immigrant adults to investigate the relationships between perceived discrimination and several health measures (blood pressure, body mass index [BMI], and fasting glucose). Results indicate that perceived discrimination stress predicted elevated SBP among men but not among women. Perce...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Heather H. McClure, J. Josh Snodgrass, Charles R. Martinez JR., J. Mark Eddy, Roberto A. Jiménez, Laura E. Isiordia Source Type: journals

Persistence of growth stunting in a Peruvian high altitude community, 1964-1999Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The growth of children living in Nuñoa, a Peruvian high-altitude community, was studied over a 35-year period using data collected in 1964 and 1999. There had been evidence of a secular trend in growth in the mid-1980s, but this was before a period of sociopolitical upheaval lasting until the late 1990s partly linked to the activities of the Shining Path group and the Peruvian government's response. Anthropometric data for 576 children examined in 1964-1966 were compared with data from 361 children examined in 1999. Data were converted to Z Scores using NCHS/WHO reference standards. Compared with the 1964 cohort, boys in ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 14, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Ivan G. Pawson, Luis Huicho Source Type: journals

Gonadal steroids and salivary IgA in healthy young women and menEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study was designed to test links between steroids and one marker of mucosal humoral immunity - immunoglobulin A (IgA) in healthy individuals, to facilitate comparisons with other species and clinical populations, as there are few existing studies with healthy humans that also allow gender/sex investigations. Participants (86 women, 91 men) provided a saliva sample for measurement of testosterone (T), estradiol (E2), and IgA. Results showed that E2 was significantly and positively correlated with IgA in women, and group analyses by E2 quartile showed that this association was linear. No significant correlations or nonl...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - October 13, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Sari M. Van Anders Source Type: journals

Human population genetic diversity as a function of SNP type from HapMap dataEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Data from the international HapMap project were mined to determine if the degree of genetic differentiation (Fst) is dependent on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) category. The Fst statistic was evaluated across all SNPs for each of 30 genes and for each of five chromosomes. A consistent decrease in diversity between Europeans and Africans was seen for nonsynonymous coding region SNPs compared to the three other SNP categories: synonymous SNPs, UTR, and intronic SNPs. This suggests an effect of balancing selection in reducing interpopulation genetic diversity at sites that would be expected to influence phenotype and t...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - September 9, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Seymour Garte Source Type: journals

Molecular genetic perspectives on the Indian social structureEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
For historical reasons, the Indian subcontinent is endowed with enormous ethnic, cultural, and genetic heterogeneity of its people. In the process of understanding the dynamics and sociocultural complexity of Indian society, anthropologists have come up with a number of hypotheses involving certain social/cultural processes that may modulate evolutionary processes. In this article, we outline some of those hypotheses and present molecular genetic evidences, both published and unpublished, to demonstrate the effects of those social/cultural processes. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - September 8, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: B. Mohan Reddy, Vikal Tripathy, Vikrant Kumar, Nirmala Alla Source Type: journals

Book review: Charles Darwin's Shorter Publications 1829-1883Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 28, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Miguel DeArce Source Type: journals

Book review: Endocrinology of Social RelationshipsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Bruce S. Cushing Source Type: journals

Book review: The Rise of Homo sapiens: The Evolution of Modern ThinkingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Fiona Coward Source Type: journals

Book review: Finding Our Tongues: Mothers, Infants, and the Origins of LanguageEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Patricia M. Greenfield Source Type: journals

Book review: Dietary Modulation of Cell Signaling PathwaysEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Yongping Bao Source Type: journals

Brains versus brawn: An empirical test of Barker's brain sparing modelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This article develops an allometric framework for testing the principal prediction of the Barker model - that among those born small muscle mass is sacrificed to spare brain growth - then evaluates this hypothesis using data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). The results indicate clear support for a negative relationship between the allometric development of the two tissues; however, a further consideration of conserved mammalian fetal circulatory patterns suggests the possibility that system-constrained patterns of developmental damage and "bet-hedging" responses in affected tiss...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 21, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Jack Baker, Megan Workman, Edward Bedrick, M. Anderson Frey, Magdalena Hurtado, Osbjorn Pearson Source Type: journals

Breastfeeding as obesity prevention in the United States: A sibling difference modelEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study tests the hypothesis that breastfeeding serves as one protective factor against children's subsequent development of obesity. We used linear-, logistic-, and sibling fixed-effects regression models to evaluate the association between infant feeding history and body mass index (BMI) in late childhood or adolescence (9-19 years, mean = 14 years). Complete data were available for 976 participants (488 sibling pairs) in the 2002 Child Development Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, a nationally representative survey of families in the United States. In sibling pairs in which only one sibling was breast...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Molly W. Metzger, Thomas W. McDade Source Type: journals

Sociodemographic determinants of growth among Malian adolescent femalesEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In Africa, research concerning the social determinants of poor nutritional status has typically focused on children under 5 years of age and has used defined categorical boundaries based on international reference standards. In this article, stunting and wasting of 1,157 Malian adolescent girls is measured through both categorical and continuous data. The focus on adolescent girls is significant because there is relatively little literature examining this group, and because adolescence marks the time when girls gain greater workload responsibilities, autonomy of food choices, and, as a result of the adolescent growth spurt...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 18, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Timothy F. Leslie, Lisa R. Pawloski Source Type: journals

Are cortisol profiles a stable trait during child development?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Exposure to stressful experiences can increase vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. A potential neuroendocrine mechanism mediating the link between stress and health is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system, with a key role attributed to the glucocorticoid hormone cortisol. Retrospective and cross sectional clinical studies of humans and experimental studies with nonhuman primates and rodents suggest that traumatic experiences during critical periods in development may have permanent effects on HPA regulation, which in turn can have deleterious effects on health. Here I report results from a continuous 20-ye...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 18, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Mark V. Flinn Source Type: journals

Birthweight and paternal involvement predict early reproduction in British women: Evidence from the National Child Development StudyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
There is considerable interest in the mechanisms maintaining early reproduction in the most socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in developed countries. Previous research has suggested that differential exposure to early-life factors such as low birthweight and lack of paternal involvement during childhood may be relevant. Here, we used longitudinal data on the female cohort members from the UK National Child Development Study (n = 3,014-4,482 depending upon variables analyzed) to investigate predictors of early reproduction. Our main outcome measures were having a child by age 20, and stating at age 16 an intended age o...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - August 10, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Daniel Nettle, David A. Coall, Thomas E. Dickins Source Type: journals

Impact of BRCA mutations on female fertility and offspring sex ratioEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In conclusion, we did not find evidence for an effect of BRCA mutations on female fertility. We found a significant excess of females among the offspring of female carriers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Potential contribution of observed sex ratio distortions to positive selection for BRCA mutations may warrant further investigation. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 29, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Roxana Moslehi, Ranjana Singh, Lawrence Lessner, Jan M. Friedman Source Type: journals

Nutritional status, body composition, and intestinal parasitism among the Mbyá-Guaraní communities of Misiones, ArgentinaEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Indigenous communities in Argentina represent socially and economically neglected populations. They are living in extreme poverty and environmental degradation conditions. New information about health status and socio-environmental features is urgently needed to be applied in future sanitary policies. Present study describes the nutritional status, body composition, and intestinal parasitism among Mbyá-Guaraní children from three communities in the Misiones Province. Anthropometric parameters were analized for 178 individuals (aged 1-14). Data were transformed to z-scores using NHANES I and II. Stunting showed the greate...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 28, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: M.L. Zonta, E.E. Oyhenart, G.T. Navone Source Type: journals

Retraction for "Rural Urban Differences of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Adult Asian Indians" American Journal of Human Biology 20:440-445, 2008Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 28, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Mithun Das, Susil Pal, Arnab Ghosh Source Type: journals

Genetic composition of Brazilian population samples based on a set of twenty-eight ancestry informative SNPsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Ancestry informative SNPs can be useful to estimate individual and population biogeographical ancestry. Brazilian population is characterized by a genetic background of three parental populations (European, African, and Brazilian Native Amerindians) with a wide degree and diverse patterns of admixture. In this work we analyzed the information content of 28 ancestry-informative SNPs into multiplexed panels using three parental population sources (African, Amerindian, and European) to infer the genetic admixture in an urban sample of the five Brazilian geopolitical regions. The SNPs assigned apart the parental populations fr...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 27, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Tulio C. Lins, Rodrigo G. Vieira, Breno S. Abreu, Dario Grattapaglia, Rinaldo W. Pereira Source Type: journals

Quantifying calcium intake in school age children: Development and validation of the Calcium Counts!© food frequency questionnaireEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
This study evaluated the validity and reliability of the Calcium Counts!© FFQ (CCFFQ) for estimating calcium intake in school children in the US. Healthy children, aged 7-10 years (n = 139) completed the CCFFQ and 7-day weighed food records. A subset of subjects completed a second CCFFQ within 3.6 months. Concurrent validity was determined using Pearson correlations between the CCFFQ and food record estimates of calcium intake, and the relationship between quintiles for the two measures. Predictive validity was determined using generalized linear regression models to explore the effects of age, race, and gender. Inter- an...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 20, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Babette S. Zemel, Lisa B. Carey, Donna R. Paulhamus, Virginia A. Stallings, Richard F. Ittenbach Source Type: journals

Habits of the heart: Life history and the developmental neuroendocrinology of emotionEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The centrality of emotion in cognition and social intelligence as well as its impact on health has intensified investigation into the causes and consequences of individual variation in emotion regulation. Central processing of experience directly informs regulation of endocrine axes, essentially forming a neuro-endocrine continuum integrating information intake, processing, and physiological and behavioral response. Two major elements of life history - resource allocation and niche partitioning - are served by linking cognitive-affective with physiologic and behavioral processes. Scarce cognitive resources (attention, memo...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 19, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Carol M. Worthman Source Type: journals

Book review: Reticulate Evolution and Humans: Origins and EcologyEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 14, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Adam Van Arsdale Source Type: journals

An analysis of secular change in the human mandible over the last centuryEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In light of several recent investigations that have identified notable secular change in cranial size and morphology over the last century, the present study addresses its possible effects in the mandible in U.S. populations. Standard measurements of 407 mandibles from the Terry (Smithsonian) and Hamann-Todd (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) Collections, which are primarily composed of individuals living in the early 20th century, were compared with those of 595 mandibles from the Forensic Anthropology Database (Tennessee), which is primarily composed of individuals living from the later part of the century. The t-test...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 13, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: D. C. Martin, Marie Elaine Danforth Source Type: journals

Book review: Milk Proteins: From Expression to FoodEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 13, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Rafat A. Siddiqui Source Type: journals

Book review: Truth Machine: The Contentious History of DNA FingerprintingEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
No abstract. (Source: American Journal of Human Biology)
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 13, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: John J. Love Source Type: journals

Genetic profiling of the Azores Islands (Portugal): Data from 10 X-chromosome STRsEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
We present a study of the polymorphism in 10 X-chromosome STR loci (DSXS8378, DXS9898, DXS7133, GATA31E08, GATA172D05, DXS7423, DXS6809, DXS7132, DXS9902, DXS6789) conducted on a total of 304 chromosomes (97 females and 110 males) of unrelated individuals with Azorean ancestry. Average gene diversity was 74.47%, ranging from 66.21% (DXS7133) to 81.19% (GATA172D05). No shared haplotypes were found. Genotype frequencies among females displayed conformity with Hardy-Weinberg expectations for all loci. Pairwise linkage disequilibrium tests did not reveal evidences of association between the studied markers. Significant differe...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 10, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Francisca Silva, Rui Pereira, Leonor Gusmão, Cristina Santos, António Amorim, Maria João Prata, Conceição Bettencourt, Paula Lourenço, Manuela Lima Source Type: journals

Sodium, blood pressure, and ethnicity: What have we learned?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
An enormous amount of research has yielded significant knowledge about ethnic differences in sodium homeostasis and blood pressure regulation. Consistent findings such as greater sodium-sensitivity, lower potassium excretion and high higher serum sodium levels in African Americans need further exploration to define more precise physiological mechanisms. The genetic alleles associated with sodium homeostasis in relation to blood pressure have accounted for only a small proportion of the variance in blood pressure. Several allelic variants differ in frequency among ethnic groups and heat-adapted genetic variants have a high ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 9, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Lillian Gleiberman Source Type: journals

Autosomal and X chromosome Alu insertions in Bolivian Aymaras and Quechuas: Two languages and one genetic poolEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Thirty-two polymorphic Alu insertions (18 autosomal and 14 from the X chromosome) were studied in 192 individuals from two Amerindian populations of the Bolivian Altiplano (Aymara and Quechua speakers: the two main Andean linguistic groups), to provide relevant information about their genetic relationships and demographic processes. The main objective was to determine from genetic data whether the expansion of the Quechua language into Bolivia could be associated with demographic (Inca migration of Quechua-speakers from Peru into Bolivia) or cultural (language imposition by the Inca Empire) processes. Allele frequencies we...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 9, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Magdalena Gayà-vidal, Jean-Michel Dugoujon, Esther Esteban, Georgios Athanasiadis, Armando Rodríguez, Mercedes Villena, René Vasquez, Pedro Moral Source Type: journals

The health of Arctic populations: Does cold matter?Email this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
The objective of the study was to examine whether cold climate is associated with poorer health in diverse Arctic populations. With climate change increasingly affecting the Arctic, the association between climate and population health status is of public health significance. The mean January and July temperatures were determined for 27 Arctic regions based on weather station data for the period 1961-1990 and their association with a variety of health outcomes assessed by correlation and multiple linear regression analyses. Mean January temperature was inversely associated with infant and perinatal mortality rate, age-stan...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 9, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: T. Kue Young, Tiina M. Mäkinen Source Type: journals

Metric and nonmetric dental variation and the population structure of the AinuEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
Gene flow and genetic drift are important factors affecting geographic variations in human phenotypic traits. In the present study, the effects of gene flow from an outside source on the pattern of within- and among-group variation of the Ainu from Sakhalin Island and three local groups of Hokkaido are examined by applying an R-matrix approach to metric and nonmetric dental data. The comparative samples consist of their ancestral and neighboring populations, such as the Neolithic Jomon, the subsequent Epi-Jomon/Satsumon, the Okhotsk culture people who migrated from Northeast Asia to the northeastern part of Hokkaido during...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - July 9, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: Tsunehiko Hanihara Source Type: journals

Reproductive development and parental investment during pregnancy: Moderating influence of mother's early environmentEmail this article to a colleague. Save this article to My Clippings. Discuss or comment on this article.
In this study, birth weight and proportionate birth weight (neonate's birth weight as a percentage of its mother's prepregnancy weight) were used as measures of parental investment during pregnancy. In a sample of 580 first-time mothers, we tested the hypothesis that the psychosocial stress experienced as a child would moderate the association between age at menarche and investment during pregnancy. We found that earlier menarche in those women who experienced stressful life events before 15 years of age was associated with a lower birth weight and proportionate birth weight. Conversely, in those who reported no childhood ...
Source: American Journal of Human Biology - June 24, 2009 Category: Biology Authors: David A. Coall, James S. Chisholm Source Type: journals