Genetic variation in Bougainville and Solomon Islands populations

This paper reports the findings of genetic variation in eight populations of the Solomon Islands. Blood specimens collected from 345 Aita, 191 Nasioi and 416 Nagovisi of Bougainville, 379 Lau, 453 Baegu and 385 Kwaio of Malaita, and 504 Ontong Java, and 328 Ulawa subjects were tested for A-B-O, M-N-S-s, Rh, Hp, Tf, secretor, and red-cell acid phosphatase systems. Considerable differences were found among the eight populations with respect to all polymorphic systems studied. It was not possible to distinguish Austronesian groups from non-Austronesian groups on the basis of gene frequencies.     

Human ecology in the Solomon Islands: Biomedical observations among four tribal societies

Data are presented from the first four groups studied in a longrange investigation of human ecology in the Solomon Islands. The groups varied in habitat, way of life, genetic background, and exposure to Western influence. Coverage of residents in designated hamlets was 78% for Kwaio, Malaita Island; 91% for Nasioi, Bougainville Island; and over 95% for both Lau and Baegu of Malaita. In all, 1626 persons were studied: 256 Nasioi, 443 Kwaio, 442 Lau, and 485 Baegu. All four groups were demographically “young,” with a high ratio of persons under 15 to those over 45 years of age, but a significant proportion lived to old age. Nutrition was adequate, though low in protein and fat. They had very little color-blindness and virtually no myopia, astigmatism, glaucoma, or hypertensive and coronary heart disease. Malaria, trachoma, and intestinal parasitism reflected differences in habitat and ways of life, but tuberculosis did not. Despite a density as high as that recorded for any human population, the Lau, living on small artificial islets in a saltwater lagoon, enjoyed robust health.     

Some genetic traits in Solomon Island populations. V. Assortative mating, with special reference to skin color

Married couples in four Solomon Islands tribes did not mate assortatively for body size or shape. All four groups had high correlations (0.6 to 0.9) between spouses' age and moderate correlations, 0.3 to 0.5, for age-associated traits like nose height, ear length, and grayness of hair. Three brownskinned groups from Malaita (Kwaio, Lau, and Baegu) showed significant assortative mating for skin color whereas the very dark-skinned Nasioi, from Bougainville, did not. The positive correlations between spouses for skin color, with r's for various bodily regions ranging from 0.2 to 0.6 in the three Malaitan tribes, persisted when age was partialled out. As expected with assortative mating, the Malaitans' skin color was highly variable.     

Some genetic traits in Solomon Island populations. 3. Relative toe length

Among 1,605 Solomon Islanders from four tribes, there was no sex difference in relative length of the first and second toes. In three of the tribes, longer first toes were slightly more frequent in persons over the age of 45. The percentages of longer first toes in the groups as a whole were 60.5% for Baegu, 66.4% for Nasioi, and 72.1% for Kwaio. These frequencies, resembling those reported for white Americans, Europeans, and single small samples of New Caledonians and Vietnamese, were much below those for Africans. The fourth tribe, the Lau, had only 37.1% with a longer first toe, the lowest percentage reproted so far around the world. No simple mode of single-gene inheritance was apparent, and polygenic inheritance is proposed.     

Gammaglobulin allotypes of Melanesians from Malaita and Bougainville, Solomon Islands

Data are presented on the distribution of the Gm and Inv allotypes of human IgG in samples from Melanesian populations, three from Malaita and three from Bougainville of the Solomon Islands. The Lau from Malaita are polymorphic for the phenogroup, Gm^{1, 2, 5, 13, 14}. This phenogroup is not known to be polymorphic in any other population of the world. The Inv¹ frequencies of the populations from Malaita are lower than the lowest observed in samples from Bougainville, and this may indicate an extension of the north-south cline for Inv¹ previously reported for Bougainville. Samples from Aita in the north of Bougainville and from the Nagovisi in the south confirm the existence of the north-south cline for Inv¹ in Bougainville and suggest the presence of a Gm cline.     

Prevalence of antibodies interactive with HTLV-I antigens in selected Solomon Islands populations

Serum samples obtained in 1986 from healthy individuals in three distinct Solomon Islands populations were screened for antibodies to human lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I). One of the populations tested lives on the remote Polynesian outlier atoll, Ontong Java. The other two groups, the Baegu and the Lau, are Melanesians living on Malaita, the most populous of the larger Solomon Islands. Eighty-eight of a total of 601 (14.6%) sera tested were repeatably reactive in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that uses as antigen a lysate of HTLV-I viral particles. The prevalence of antibodies interactive with HTLV-I viral particles. The prevalence of antibodies interactive with HTLV-I antigens varied among the three groups, ranging from 8.5% (16/188) in the Baegu, through 13% (7/54) in the Lau, to 18.1% (65/359) among the Ontong Java population. The specificity of the screening ELISA was confirmed by protein immunoblot. No serum samples were obtained from children under 9 years of age. Although 121 of the 601 sera came from children between the ages of 9 and 19, none of these were reactive in the HTLV-I ELISA. Starting in the third decade, the prevalence of HTLV-I seropositivity increased with age, from 8.8% (10/113) between the ages of 20 and 29 to a peak of 25.9% (15/58) and 25% (15/60) in the sixth and seventh decade, respectively. This age-specific prevalence pattern is strikingly similar to that which is seen in populations where HTLV-I infection is endemic.     

Some genetic traits in Solomon Island populations. IV. Mid-phalangeal hair

Among 425 Lau and 467 Baegu of northern Malaita, there were no tribal differences in mid-phalangeal hair. The trait was present more often in males than in females, and after puberty than before it. Age differences were more marked for males than for females. Among 168 men 20 years of age and older in both tribes, the frequency of mid-phalangeal hair was 58.3%; among 189 women of similar age, 34.4%. These frequencies were at or just below those reported for Caucasian samples, just above that for Japanese, and considerably above those for Negroes and American Indians. Analysis of family data did not confirm the hypothesis that the absence of mid-phalangeal hair is recessive to its presence.     

Kastom and Anticolonialism on Malaita: “Culture” as Political Symbol

Most Melanesians invoking ideologies of kastom have, in becoming Christianized and partly Westernized, hearkened back to ways now lost or abandoned. But the Kwaio of Malaita are preoccupied with kastom, while traditional religion, social organization and exchange still prevail. Why and how? The Kwaio are compared with Kwara'ae and other Malaita peoples concerned with kastom - many Christianized, others clinging to old ways.     

Kwaio Women Speak: The Micropolitics of Autobiography in a Solomon Island Society

Attempts to elicit women's autobiographies among the Kwaio (Malaita, Solomon Islands) yielded little, seemingly confirming views that women's voices in tribal societies are "muted," women's views perspectival and partial. Further efforts yielded rich, insightful, self-accounts from 15 Kwaio women. The historical, ethnographic, and sexual-political contexts of these self-accounts are examined. What women can and will say about themselves and their society can never, I conclude, be taken as direct evidence of what they know and don't know, or of "women's status."     

Malocclusion in the Kwaio, a Melanesian group on Malaita, Solomon Islands

In the present investigation, a number of occlusal variables which contribute to malocclusion were quantified among the Kwaio people of Malaita, Solomon Islands. Angle classification, overjet, overbite, openbite, crossbite, rotation, crowding, and spacing were assessed from dental casts of 180 persons (94 males, 86 females) who had complete permanent dentitions anterior to the first molar. Males had significantly more overjet and mandibular incisor crowding than females, and significantly less posterior openbite and mandibular canine-premolar spacing. The frequency of openbite, rotation of maxillary teeth, and crowding of anterior teeth increased with advancing age. The frequency of posterior crowding decreased after age 30. Spacing, in general, increased with advancing age. In the distribution of the Angle classes of occlusion, the Kwaio resembled Australian aborigines living in technologically primitive circumstances.     

The size and morphology of the Nasioi dentition

Dental impressions were obtained on 240 Nasioi, a Melanesian population living on the island of Bougainville. Odontometric data are presented for both the permanent and deciduous teeth, and the former teeth are also examined morphologically. The results show that the Nasioi have large permanent teeth like other Australoid populations whereas the deciduous teeth are only of moderate size. The coefficients of variation are large in the permanent teeth compared to other populations but the sexual dimorphism in tooth size and variability is not remarkable. Morphologically, the permanent teeth of the Nasioi are characterized by a cusp number pattern, a high frequency of the Dryopithecus + pattern on the first mandibular molar, few individuals with a Cusp of Carabelli, and a moderate expression of shovelled-shaped anterior teeth.     

Complex segregation analysis of Carabelli's trait in a melanesian population

A complex segregation analysis was performed on Carabelli's trait on the upper first molar utilizing 358 nuclear families from the Solomon Islands of Bougainville and Malaita. Simultaneous estiamtion of three sources of variation by the method of maximum likelihood demonstrates a significant effect of shared sibling environment which accounts for over 19% of the variance in liability for the trait. In addition, a statistically significant major gene influence is discussed and suggestions for quantifying individual liability levels for this and other dental traits are outlined.     

Voter Integrity,Trust and the Promise of Digital Technologies: Biometric Voter Registration in Solomon Islands

Drawing on the anthropology of technology, this article examines the introduction of a digital biometric voter registration for Solomon Islands 2014 national election. Four perspectives on biometric voting are brought into dialogue: (1) the technological particularities, strengths and shortcomings of biometric voting registration (BVR), (2) a global and international embrace of the technology for its perceived ‘universal’ tendency to secure identities, (3) efforts by the Solomon Islands state to showcase its political stability by means of BVR and (4) the ways village-based voters come to understand, interpret and re-imagine BVR as political technology. We show how, within the ethnographic context of North Malaita, debates surrounding BVR reveal a continued distrust and uncertainty in North Malaitans’ relationship with the Solomon Islands state and its representatives. Within the context of this uncertainty BVR is re-imagined as technology that aids voter integrity within rather than beyond patronage networks.     

Solomon Islander skin pigmentation: Ultrastructural differences related to genetic variation in Melanesia

Genetic differences between Solomon Islander populations are distinguishable on the basis of melanosome packaging in epidermal keratinocytes. By electron microscopic study of skin pigmentation in various Melanesian populations, we have found distinct inter-island differences in the mode of melanosome packaging. Melanosomes are found as singlets in the skin of Bougainville Islanders but are found aggregated in melanosome complexes in Malaita Islanders and Ontong Javanese. This variation in melanosome packaging represents an important biologic difference found between Solomon Islanders and may reflect the genetic diversity existing in the original Melanesian founding population or populations.     

Variation in dental occlusion and arches among melanesians of bougainville island,papua New Guinea. I. Methods,age changes,sex differences and population comparisons

Population studies of malocclusion lack comparability because of the subjective criteria employed in the definition of malocclusion. Alternatively, individual characteristics of occlusion can be quantified and compared within and between populations. Measurements were taken from the dental cases of 319 male an 359 female Melanesians from Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. The cross-sectional age changes from 12 to 68 years of age included an increase in intermolar arch width, a decrease in arch length and intercanine arch width, and increased crowding and malalignment. Neither age nor sex accounted for a large proportion of the differences among individuals. When compared to industrialized groups, the Bougainville population had a slight reduction in variance for most characteristics. Only the sagittal molar relationship was markedly less variable on Bougainville. The results emphasize that a quantitative evaluation of individual occlusal variables may reveal differences within and between populations not detected when simple malocclusion frequencies are reported.     

Cowboys and Aliens: Body Techniques and Audience Reception in Malaita,Solomon Islands

Based on ethnographic fieldwork among the Lau of Malaita Province, Solomon Islands, this article revisits the “imperial cowboy problem” through an anthropology of technology approach. It examines audience preference for Westerns, or “cowboy movies,” and their rejection of science fiction, or “new technology movies.” Non-verbal, visual communication, material cultures and body techniques are shown to be particularly significant for how unintended audiences engage with foreign visual media, given their own sociocultural context.     

New Specificity of Australia Antigen

THE immunodiffusion laboratory at the Institute for Cancer Research frequently acts as a reference laboratory to test anti-Australia antigen sera for our colleagues in many parts of the world. Because Australia antigen is known to possess different antigenic specificities^1–4, a panel was established which consisted of Australia antigen specimens selected from hepatitis and Down's syndrome patients and from clinically normal residents of the Lau area in Malaita, British Solomon Islands. Sera from normal blood donors without Australia antigen were included as negative controls. All antisera received after August 1971 were tested against this panel to detect heterogeneity among both the antibodies tested and the antigens included in the panel. Immunodiffusion was performed in a seven-hole Ouchterlony pattern with the antiserum in the centre well and a positive Australia antigen control serum from a Pennsylvania Down's syndrome patient in the top and bottom wells. The patterns were cut in a layer of 1.1% agarose in veronal buffer, pH 8.2, on glass lantern slides^6,7.     

Book Reviews

Book reviewed in this article: Anthropology in Papua New Guinea. Edited by lan Hogbin Politics in New Guinea. Traditional and in the Context of Change: Some Anthropological Perspectives. Edited by Ronald M. Berndt and Peter Lawrence Alternative Strategies for Papua New Gulnea. Edited by A. Clunies Ross and J. Langmore Baegu: Social and Ecological Organisation in Malaita, Solomon Islands. By Harold M. Ross The South Sea Islanders and the Quensland Labour Trade. By William T. Wawn. Edited by Peter Corris The Australian Aborigines. By B. A. L. Cranstone Hunters of the Northern Forest. By Richard K. Nelson Tahitians, Mind and Experience in the Society Islands. By Robert I. Levy Ancient Polynesian Society. By Irving Goldman Ilocano Rice Farmers. By Henry T. Lewis La course de pirogues au Laos: an complexe culturel. By Charles Archaimbault The Character of Kinship. Edited by Jack Goody Population Growth: Anthropological Implications. Edited by Brian Spooner Researches into the Physical History of Man. By J. C. Prichard. Edited by G. W. Stocking Human Origins. By D. Weitzman and R. E. Gross Communicating Across Time and Space. By D. Weitzman and R. E. Gross     

Numerical taxonomic study of thermophilic Bacillus isolated from three geographically separated deep-sea hydrothermal vents

Abstract: A numerical taxonomic study has been carried out with 80 strains, newly isolated, from three geographically separated deep-sea hydrothermal vents (Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Guaymas Basin and Lau Basin) and eleven thermophilic reference strains representing 11 Bacillus species. The deep-sea isolates were all halotolerant spore-forming rods and grew aerobically above 65°C. Results from unweighted average linkage cluster analysis of a similarity matrix derived from the simple matching coefficient, showed formation of nine major phena, which were defined at the 83% similarity level or above. Seven phena were composed exclusively of strains isolated from the same site (4 from Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 1 from Guaymas Basin and 2 from Lau Basin). The majority of the Lau Basin isolates clustered with 6 of the reference strains in one phenon, while isolates from Mid-Atlantic Ridge and Guaymas Basin were found separated from this phenon at the 69% similarity level. The other reference strains showed less than 69% similarity with the deep-sea isolates.     

Modernization and the onset of overweight and obesity in bougainville and solomon islands children: Cross‐sectional and longitudinal comparisons between 1966 and 1986

This set of cross‐sectional and longitudinal data from children and young adults in certain Bougainville and Solomon Islands populations undergoing rapid modernization during the period 1966–1986 reveals very different responses to essentially the same stimuli—the introduction and widespread availability of western dietary items and reductions in habitual activity. Our analyses of over 2,000 children and young adults first measured in 1966–1972, with follow‐up surveys in 1968–1970 and 1985–1986, show changes in overweight/obesity in these communities have their onset around puberty, and are not related to differences in childhood growth stunting. The prevalence of overweight and obesity increased substantially during the period of this study among young adults, particularly women, and in groups with more Polynesian affinities, where the frequency of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) tripled over this 20‐year interval. However, the BMI of the more Papuan groups on Bougainville remained remarkably stable, even though they were close to the epicenter of modernization during this period, the Bougainville Copper Mine. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.