Health and agricultural intensification in the prehistoric Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico

The effects of agricultural intensification on health are examined in prehistoric populations of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Agriculture was practiced in the Valley of Oaxaca by the beginning of the Early Formative period (ca. 1400 B.C.), and had intensified by the Late Formative (ca. 500 B.C.). Skeletal remains from 14 archaeological sites in the Valley are pooled by temporal affiliation into a nonintensive agriculture group (1400-500 B.C.) and an intensive agriculture group (500 B.C.-1400 A.D.). The health effects of agricultural intensification are assessed by comparing the frequency of periosteal reactions, cribra orbitalia, and enamel hypoplasia between the intensive and nonintensive agricultural groups. Overall, no significant differences (alpha = 0.05) are found between the nonintensive and intensive groups. Power analyses of the chi-square tests indicate that the tests have a high probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis. The intensification of agriculture does not appear to have had a deleterious effect on the health of the prehistoric population of the Valley. The differences between this study and previous studies of health and agricultural development may be explained by differences between the processes of intensification and development or by differences between primary and secondary centers of agricultural development.     

How and why humans grow thin skulls: Experimental evidence for systemic cortical robusticity

To what extent is cranial vault thickness (CVT) a character that is strongly linked to the genome, or to what extent does it reflect the activity of an individual prior to skeletal maturity? Experimental data from pigs and armadillos indicate that CVT increases more rapidly in exercised juveniles than in genetically similar controls, despite the low levels of strain generated by chewing or locomotion in the neurocranium. CVT increases in these individuals appear to be a consequence of systemic cortical bone growth induced by exercise. In addition, an analysis of the variability in vault thickness in the genus Homo demonstrates that, until the Holocene, there has been only a slight, general decrease in vault thickness over time with no consistent significant differences between archaic and early anatomically modern humans from the Late Pleistocene. Although there may be some genetic component to variation in CVT, exercise-related, non-genetically heritable stimuli appear to account for most of the variance between individuals. The thick cranial vaults of most hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists suggests that they may have experienced higher levels of sustained exercise relative to body mass than the majority of recent, post-industrial humans. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Living standards in Black and White: Evidence from the heights of Ohio Prison inmates, 1829–1913

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in the economic history literature. Moreover, a number of core findings are widely agreed upon. There are still some populations, places, and times, however, for which anthropometric evidence remains limited. One such example is 19th century African-Americans in the Northern US. Here, we use new data from the Ohio state prison to track heights of Black and White men incarcerated between 1829 and 1913. We corroborate the well-known mid-century height decline among White men. We find that Black men were shorter than White men, throughout the century controlling for a number of characteristics. We also find a pattern of height decline among Black men in mid-century similar to that found for White men.     

The Caribou Eskimo: General and specific disease

Reported here are two forms of skeletal pathology identified in an inclusive sample of Caribou Eskimo skeletons. Harris Lines, nonspecific indicators of stress, show marked periodicity in approximately one-half of the observable adults. This pattern is interpreted as the result of a recurrent, annual stress cycle, perhaps attributable to late winter famine. A second form of pathological change comprises resorptive lesions primarily localized in the spinal column and infrequently found on articular surfaces of the appendicular skeleton. Differential diagnosis is developed utilizing attributes of lesion form, lesion distribution, and epidemiology. Emphasis is placed upon deriving objective models which reflect disease in the absence of modern medical intervention. Major forms of pathology known to produce vertebral lesions are included. The model which best fits the Caribou Eskimo data is that of tuberculosis.     

Climatic influences on species: Evidence from the fossil record

The detailed Neogene and Quaternary paleoclimatic reconstructions now available provide a means to test how species respond to environmental change. Paleontologic studies of marine organisms show that climatic change causes evolution (via cladogenesis and anagenesis), ecophenotypic variation, migration, morphologic stasis and extinction. Evolution during climatic change is a rare event relative to the number of climatic cycles that have occurred, but climate-related environmental barriers, usually temperature, may play an important role in the isolation of populations during allopatric speciation.     

Microbial community succession and lignocellulose degradation during agricultural waste composting

The changes of microbial community during agricultural waste composting were successfully studied by quinone profiles. Mesophilic bacteria indicated by MK-7 and mesophilic fungi containing Q-9 as major quinone were predominant and seemed to be important during the initial stage of composting. Actinobacteria indicated by a series of partially saturated and long-chain menaquinones were preponderant during the thermophilic period. While Actinobacteria, fungi and some bacteria, especially those microbes containing MK-7(H4) found in Gram-positive bacteria with a low G+C content or Actinobacteria were found cooperate during the latter maturating period. Since lignocellulsoe is abundant in the agricultural wastes and its degradation is essential for the operation of composting, it’s important to establish the correlation between the quinone profiles changes and lignocellulose degradation. The microbes containing Q-9 or Q-10(H2) as major quinone were found to be the most important hemicellulose and cellulose degrading microorganisms during composting. While the microorganisms containing Q-9(H2) as major quinone and many thermophilic Actinobacteria were believed to be responsible for lignin degradation during agricultural waste composting.     

Pectic oligosaccharides from agricultural by-products: production,characterization and health benefits

Pectin containing agricultural by-products are potential sources of a new class of prebiotics known as pectic oligosaccharides (POS). In general, pectin is made up of homogalacturonan (HG, α-1,4-linked galacturonic acid monomers) and rhamnogalacturonan (RG, alternate galacturonic acid and rhamnose backbone with neutral side chains). Controlled hydrolysis of pectin containing agricultural by-products like sugar beet, apple, olive and citrus by chemical, enzymatic and hydrothermal can be used to produce oligo-galacturonides (GalpOS), galacto-oligosaccharides (GalOS), rhamnogalacturonan-oligosaccharides (RGOS), etc. However, extensive research is needed to establish the role of POS, both as a prebiotic as well as therapeutic agent. This review comprehensively covers different facets of POS, including the nature and chemistry of pectin and POS, potential agricultural residual sources of pectin, pre-treatment methods for facilitating selective extraction of pectin, identification and characterization of POS, health benefits and important applications of POS in food and feed. This review has been compiled to establish a platform for future research in the purification and characterization of POS and for in vivo and in vitro studies of important POS, so that they could be commercially exploited.     

New anthropological data on the Mesolithic communities from Portugal: the shell, middens from Sado

The Portuguese Mesolithic communities are commonly related with the shell middens from Muge from which nearly 300 human skeletons were recovered. There is, however, another important Mesolithic Portuguese site: the shell middens of the Sado Valley, south of Lisbon. Mainly excavated in the 1950s and 1960s by the staff of the National Museum of Archaeology in Lisbon, eleven different shell middens were located (Arnaud, 1989) from which near one hundred skeletons were recovered. In 1982 a long-term multidisciplinary research program, directed by Arnaud, was initiated to relocate and restudy the large amount of artefacts retrieved. Last year, another project involving the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition in Portugal, in terms of paleobiology, started several anthropological analysis of the series bridging this period where the Sado ones are included. In the present paper we present some demographic and paleopathological aspects of Sado assemblage. Despite some of the skeletons being calcified and paraffin embedded, which precluded some anthropological aspects, the general state of preservation allowed a valid paleobiological research. Moreover, in some cases it was possible to reconstruct the original position of the individual interments. The radiocarbon dates already obtained by the team of Arnaud (1989) reveal that this cluster of sites, as in the one from Muge in the Tagus valley, had been occupied over a period of at least 1000 years between the mid-eighth and the mid-seventh millennium BP (Arnaud, 1989). New dates are, nevertheless, presented. The anthropological sample comprises male and female adults as well as an important proportion of sub-adults. The most relevant observations concern dental wear and other oral pathology items such as caries rates.     

Evidence of spinal tuberculosis at the beginning of the fourth millennium BC from Arene Candide cave (Liguria, Italy)

This paper describes tuberculosislike lesions affecting the spine of Neolithic skeleton found in Arene Candide cave (Liguria, Italy) and representing one of the earliest cases of this disease in Europe. The burial is attributed to middle Neolithic (square-mouthed pottery culture) whose layers date, by 14C, to the first half of the fourth millennium BC. The skeleton, well preserved in the postcranial portion, belongs to a male aged about 15 years having a very light body build. Resorptive lesions localized to the lower thoracic and upper lumbar vertebral bodies, collapse and angular kyphosis, resulting from complete destruction of T11 and T12 and partial destruction of T10 and L1, are the main pathologic features. The morphology of the lesions, sites involved, and age of the specimen are consistent with a diagnosis of tuberculous spondylitis (Pott's disease). The extreme gracility of the skeleton, along with other signs of stress (Harris lines, enamel hypoplasia) suffered during the last years of life, and the limited bony regeneration point to a disease process in its late phase having arisen at the beginning of adolescence. The funerary ritual suggests that the social integration of this adolescent was not prevented by the severe infirmity.     

Behavior-induced auditory exostoses in imperial Roman society: evidence from coeval urban and rural communities near Rome

Presence and features of auditory exostoses were investigated in two cranial samples of Roman imperial age (1st-3rd century A.D.). The skeletal material comes from the necropolises of Portus (Isola Sacra) and Lucus Feroniae (Via Capenate), two towns along the Tevere River, in close relation with the social and economic life of Rome. Deep-rooted differences between the human communities represented by the skeletal samples (83 and 71 individuals, respectively, in this study) are documented both historically and archaeologically. The results show lack of exostoses in the female sex, a negligible incidence among the males of Lucus Feroniae, but a high frequency in the male sample from Isola Sacra (31.3%). Auditory exostoses are commonly recognised as localized hyperplastic growths of predominantly acquired origin. Features of the exostoses found in the male crania from Isola Sacra (particularly in relation to the age at death of the affected individuals) support this view. Furthermore, several clinical and anthropological studies have pointed out close links between the occurrence of auditory exostoses and prolonged cold water exposure, generally due to the practice of aquatic sports, or to working activities involving water contact or diving. In this perspective, the differences observed between the two Roman populations and between the sexes (in Isola Sacra) appear to result from different social habits: the middle class population of Portus habitually used thermal baths, whereas it is probable that thermae were seldom frequented (if at all) by the Lucus Feroniae population represented in the necropolis (mostly composed by slaves or freedmen farm laborers).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The base of the cilium: roles for transition fibres and the transition zone in ciliary formation, maintenance and compartmentalization

Both the basal body and the microtubule-based axoneme it nucleates have evolutionarily conserved subdomains crucial for cilium biogenesis, function and maintenance. Here, we focus on two conspicuous but underappreciated regions of these structures that make membrane connections. One is the basal body distal end, which includes transition fibres of largely undefined composition that link to the base of the ciliary membrane. Transition fibres seem to serve as docking sites for intraflagellar transport particles, which move proteins within the ciliary compartment and are required for cilium biogenesis and sustained function. The other is the proximal-most region of the axoneme, termed the transition zone, which is characterized by Y-shaped linkers that span from the axoneme to the ciliary necklace on the membrane surface. The transition zone comprises a growing number of ciliopathy proteins that function as modular components of a ciliary gate. This gate, which forms early during ciliogenesis, might function in part by regulating intraflagellar transport. Together with a recently described septin ring diffusion barrier at the ciliary base, the transition fibres and transition zone deserve attention for their varied roles in forming functional ciliary compartments.     

Mesenchymal to epithelial transition during tissue homeostasis and regeneration: Patching up the Drosophila midgut epithelium

Stem cells are responsible for preserving morphology and function of adult tissues. Stem cells divide to self-renew and to generate progenitor cells to sustain cell demand from the tissue throughout the organism''s life. Unlike stem cells, the progenitor cells have limited proliferation potential but have the capacity to terminally differentiate and thereby to substitute older or damaged mature cells. Recent findings indicate that adult stem cells can adapt their division kinetics dynamically to match changes in tissue demand during homeostasis and regeneration. However, cell turnover not only requires stem cell division but also needs timed differentiation of the progenitor cells, which has been much less explored. In this Extra View article, we discuss the ability of progenitor cells to actively postpone terminal differentiation in the absence of a local demand and how tissue demand activates terminal differentiation via a conserved mesenchymal-epithelial transition program revealed in our recent EMBO J paper and other published and unpublished data. The extent of the significance of these results is discussed for models of tissue dynamics during both homeostasis and regeneration.     

Mesenchymal to epithelial transition during tissue homeostasis and regeneration: Patching up the Drosophila midgut epithelium

Stem cells are responsible for preserving morphology and function of adult tissues. Stem cells divide to self-renew and to generate progenitor cells to sustain cell demand from the tissue throughout the organism's life. Unlike stem cells, the progenitor cells have limited proliferation potential but have the capacity to terminally differentiate and thereby to substitute older or damaged mature cells. Recent findings indicate that adult stem cells can adapt their division kinetics dynamically to match changes in tissue demand during homeostasis and regeneration. However, cell turnover not only requires stem cell division but also needs timed differentiation of the progenitor cells, which has been much less explored. In this Extra View article, we discuss the ability of progenitor cells to actively postpone terminal differentiation in the absence of a local demand and how tissue demand activates terminal differentiation via a conserved mesenchymal-epithelial transition program revealed in our recent EMBO J paper and other published and unpublished data. The extent of the significance of these results is discussed for models of tissue dynamics during both homeostasis and regeneration.     

Glutathione levels during thermal induction of the yeast-to-mycelial transition in Candida albicans

Glutathione (GSH) levels were directly monitored by reverse phase HPLC during the thermal yeast-to-mycelial induction of Candida albicans. The GSH levels decreased approximately 100-fold within 120 min which corresponded to the time of maximal yeast-to-mold conversion. The yeast to mold conversion was inhibited by 1-p-chlorophenyl-4,4-dimethyl-5-diethylamino-1-penten-3-one (CDDP), a thiol-specific alkylator, which prevented the decline in GSH levels. These results are discussed with respect to the potential involvement of intracellular GSH levels in regulation of the yeast-to-mold dimorphism in Candida albicans.     

Apartheid's end: South Africa's transition from racial domination

South Africa's transition to inclusive democracy does not conform to the prevalent theories of either revolution, or élite controlled ‘pact‐making’ as in Brazil. As a country long divided between supporters and opponents of racial domination, the loyalty of the former prevented a revolutionary overthrow, and the resistance of the latter drove and impinged upon negotiations. To account for South Africa's transition, we must take cognizance of the history of racial domination as the central impediment to democracy in that country. I argue that such racial domination was encoded as a means of unifying white ethnic groups, previously at war. Over the course of this century, amidst ongoing tension, intra‐white conflict was diminished with policies unifying whites on racial grounds. But such policies, excluding blacks, provoked massive resistance. When white unity had been more largely achieved, and the nation‐state and its economy threatened by growing protest by the majority, apartheid was ended. This process conforms with the seminal argument of Dunkwart Rustow (1970), that democracy can be achieved only with greater ‘national unity’ gained through contestation.