Primary liver cancer incidence and survival in ethnic groups in England, 2001–2007

Background: The patterns of primary liver cancer incidence and survival are not known for detailed ethnic groups within the UK. Methods: Data on patients resident in England diagnosed with primary liver cancer (ICD-10 C22) between 2001 and 2007 were extracted from the National Cancer Data Repository. Age-standardised incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were calculated for different ethnic groups separately for males and females, using the White ethnic groups as baselines. Overall survival was analysed using Cox regression, adjusting sequentially for age, socioeconomic deprivation and co-morbidity. Results: Ethnicity data were available for 75% (13,139/17,458) of primary liver cancer patients. Compared with the White male baseline, Chinese males had the highest IRR. Black African, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian men also had statistically significant high IRRs. Black Caribbean men had a marginally elevated incidence rate compared with White men. In comparison with White women, Pakistani women had the highest IRR. Bangladeshi, Chinese, Black African and Indian women also had high IRRs. As observed in men, Black Caribbean women had an incidence rate closer to that of White women. Pakistani men and women, Black African women and Chinese men had statistically significantly better survival compared with their White counterparts. Conclusion: The variation found in the incidence of primary liver cancer, could be due to established risk factors such as hepatitis B and C infection being more prevalent among certain ethnic groups. Country of birth, age at migration and length of stay in England are likely to be important factors in this disease, and future research should examine these where possible.     

Social dominance and feeding patterns of spotted hyaenas

In some parts of East Africa, spotted hyaenas (Crocuta crocuta) live in large groups and at high population densities, and scramble competition among clan members during feeding at large carcasses is reported. By contrast, spotted hyaenas in the Namib Desert of southwestern Africa live in small groups and at low densities. When assembled at carcasses, Namib Desert spotted hyaenas show linear dominance hierarchies. Adult females outrank adult males and usually feed one at a time or with their dependent offspring. Feeding rates at small carcasses in the Namib Desert are approximately equal to those reported in East Africa, but at large carcasses Namib Desert spotted hyaenas show linear dominance hierarchies. Adult females outrank adult males and usually feed one at a time or with their dependent offspring. Feeding rates at small carcasses in the Namib Desert are approximately equal to those reported in East Africa, but at large carcasses Namib Desert spotted hyaenas feed significantly more slowly. Thus lower-ranking individuals eventually gain access to large carcasses but are excluded from smaller ones. We relate these patterns of food consumption to possible evolutionary pathways to social hunting by spotted hyaenas.     

Indentured migration and differential gender gene flow: the origin and evolution of the East-Indian community of Limón, Costa Rica

After the emancipation of African slaves in the Caribbean, the labor void left by out-migrating former slaves was filled by in-migrating indentured servants from prepartition India and China. In some areas of the Caribbean such as Trinidad, Suriname, and Guyana, the East-Indian migrants formed large communities. In this article, we report a study based on mtDNA and Y-chromosomal markers of a small East-Indian community from Limón, Costa Rica. The purpose of the project is to determine the place of origin in the Indian subcontinent of the ancestors of our group and the contributions to its gene pool through gene flow by members of other ethnic groups. Both Y-chromosome and mtDNA suggest that the Indo-Costa Ricans descend from migrants primarily from Central India. While both paternal and maternal markers indicate that this group is overwhelmingly of Indian origin, they also indicate that males and females of African, European, and Amerindian origin contributed to it differently. We discuss our results in the historical context of the virtual extinction of Amerindian Caribbean groups, the forced migration of African slaves to the Caribbean, and the gene flow between Amerindians, Europeans, East-Indians, and Africans that eventually produced the Caribbean's currently diverse gene pool.     

Skin colorimetry in Belize. II. Inter- and intra-population variation

Skin colorimetry readings taken in Belize, Central America (formerly British Honduras) with the two most commonly used portable reflectometers reveal significant differences in mean reflectance between Garifuna (Black Caribs) and Creoles, and between Garifuna in two settlements. These differences are related to variation in African, Indian, and European admixture, as estimated from serological markers. Sex differences are not evident in univariate comparisons, but females are significantly lighter than males in multivariate analyses of variance. Polynomial age trends exist in some groups for certain variables, but account for a very small amount of the variation in skin color within these groups.     

The effect of early experience on aggression in two territorial scorpaenid fishes

Synopsis The protogynous, Indo-Pacific serranid fish Anthias squamipinnis forms three types of social groupings, often within the same population: discrete groups, continuous masses, and intermediate groupings. In an intermediate grouping on Aldabra Island, Indian Ocean, females had larger home ranges than males and moved over the home range of several males. The movement rate of females into and out of specific locations within the grouping depended on the continuous presence of males. When males were removed, the movement rate increased. After females had completed sex reversal, thereby replacing the removed males, movement rate declined. These aspects of space use were identical to previous findings in discrete groups. It is suggested that the three types of social grouping each result from the interaction of these patterns of space use with plastic behavioral features at a particular site with particular substrate characteristics and a particular demographic history.     

Pan paniscus 1973 to 1996: Twenty-three years of field research

Although the pygmy chimpanzee is not smaller than a chimpanzee, it has long intrigued anthropologists with its more gracile build and greater arboreality. The social organization of the pygmy chimpanzee is unique among primates in showing female-bonding among nonrelatives, little male bonding despite male residence, and relative inability of males to outrank females. The crucial ecological basis for this difference from the male-bonded system of chimpanzees is that pygmy chimpanzees do not go through an extended season of low food availability during which party sizes fall to low levels.     

Rank relations of juvenile and subadult natal males of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) at Affenberg Salem

Rank relations of more than 100 juvenile and subadult natal Barbary macaque males were analyzed. Hierarchical relations among individuals of the same age were established early during the first year of life. With few exceptions concerning infants from very high-ranking genealogies, males dominated female peers regardless of maternal rank. Males started to outrank females from older cohorts during the second year of life and completed the process of rank reversal with adult females at 5-6 years of age. An age-graded dominance pattern existed among males from different birth cohorts. Only 3 rank reversals between males from different cohorts were observed. Rank reversals among males of the same birth cohort occurred more frequently. Rank position of a male among his male peers was influenced by birth order, by maternal rank, and by the presence of juvenile brothers. Most males without juvenile brothers had low positions, regardless of maternal rank. Males born late in the birth season were also low-ranking, even when juvenile brothers were present. There was no cohort where ranking among males was determined by maternal rank alone, as is the case in rhesus monkeys and Japanese macaques. Adult/subadult male carriers had no noticeable effect on rank positions of 'their' infants. It is suggested that a weaker influence of Barbary macaque mothers on rank of their sons is related to very early integration of male infants in male social/play groups.     

Rank relations among sisters in semi-free-ranging Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

Although semi-free-ranging Barbary macaque females are able to outrank older females from lower-ranking matrilines (matrilineal rank acquisition), they do not systematically outrank their older sisters, as is known to be the case for semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We test the hypothesis that differences in the support received by younger sisters against their older sisters and against older lower-ranking females might account for this interspecific difference. Thirty-one sister dyads, members of a group of 109 Barbary macaques living at La Montagne des Singes, France, were observed during 16 months. The results indicate that (1) all females were dominant to their younger sisters, and the latter were never observed to challenge their older sisters; (2) younger sisters received as much kin support against their older sisters as against older lower-ranking females; (3) only very young females received support from their kin against their older sisters; (4) younger sisters received much more support from nonkin females against lower-ranking females than against their older sisters; and (5) Barbary macaque females appear to be supported against their older sisters less frequently than rhesus macaque females are. We conclude that the lack of nonkin support is the main factor accounting for the failure of younger sisters to outrank their older sisters in Barbary macaques. Initially this might result from kin support not being sufficient to induce younger sisters to challenge and to solicit support against their older sisters.     

Development of intervention behavior in Japanese macaques: Testing the targeting hypothesis

Matrilineal dominance systems, which characterize several species of cercopithecines, are determined largely by the patterning of third-party aggressive interventions in conflicts. Although the role of interventions in structuring rank relations has received much attention, very few studies have dealt specifically with the development of intervention behavior. In other words,most studies have focused on the interventions received and their effect on the recipients rather than on the interventions performed and the goals of the interveners. We analyzed the intervention behavior of 10 juvenile females in a colony of 40 Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)housed at the University of Montreal Laboratory of Behavioral Primatology. The analysis of 749 interventions performed by the juveniles over their first 4 years and 2425 interventions received over the same period reveals that (1) juvenile females intervened selectively against females ranking below their mother, (2) they began to intervene at about the same time that they began to challenge the latter females in dyadic contests, (3) they sided with females as well as with males against these females, (4) juvenile interveners incurred little risks in terms of aggressive retaliation from their targets, (5) they derived immediate benefits in terms of conflicts won over stronger targets, (6) interventions often did not take place when the possible recipients needed support, and (7) interveners did not conform to a pattern of mutually preferential support. These results support the view that interventions by juveniles are selfish (vs altruistic) and constitute a low-cost and effective means to target and to outrank prospectively subordinate females.     

The dentition of the Indian Knoll skeletal population: odontometrics and cusp number.

Data on the permanent dentition of 153 individuals from the well known Indian Knoll skeletal population are presented. Mesiodistal and buccolingual measurements were taken with a Helios dial caliper. Cusp number of maxillary and mandibular molars are recorded. The Indian Knoll dentition is larger than many modern groups but smaller than Australoid or Mesolithic groups. With the exception of maxillary 12, males have larger teeth than females in both dimensions. The lower canine is the most dimorphic tooth. Through rank order correlation, an association was shown between the sexual dimorphism of the mesiodistal and buccolingual dimensions. Compared to modern groups, the Indian Knoll population displays a moderate degree of sexual dimorphism in tooth size. In general, the coefficients of variation were greater for the more distal teeth within morphological classes. Amounts of size variability did not differ significantly between the sexes; moreover, rank order correlations indicated that patterns of variability in both dimensions were similar for males and females. The predominant cusp number pattern for upper molars is 4-3-3 and for lowers 5-5(4)-5. No sex differences were shown for cusp occurrence or bilateral asymmetry in cusp number.     

Analysis of the region V mitochondrial marker in two Black communities of Ecuador,and in their parental populations

Data on the frequency of the mtDNA region V deletion were used to estimate the relative maternal contribution from the parental populations to the gene pools of the two Black communities of Rio Cayapas and Viche in northern Ecuador. Ethnohistorical records and nuclear DNA data indicate that these populations are hybrids of West African and Amerindian populations. The unique distribution of the DNA marker in these parental groups provided good admixture estimates. The fraction of mtDNA of Amerindian origin in the population of Rio Cayapas is quite small (8%±5%), whereas in the community of Viche the native Americans contributed the major portion of the gene pool (51%±15). The mtDNA estimate for Rio Cayapas is similar to that of some protein polymorphisms, which confirms the cultural and genetic isolation of this community from the neighboring native population. On the other hand, the admixture value obtained from nuclear genes in Viche is statistically different from the estimate obtained from mtDNA data. This supports the traditional belief, gathered from historical records and cultural data, that the contribution from Indian females was higher than that of Indian males, at least in the primary settlements of the African-American population of Esmeraldas.     

P.T.C. thresholds, blood factors, colour vision and fingerprints of Jivaro Indians in Eastern Ecuador

Among the Jivaro Indians of Eastern Ecuador, very low non-taster frequencies were found, a situation in accord with most of the other, through few sets of P. T. C. data available for South American Indians. The Jivaro have maximal frequencies (1.000) of the alleles I° and D, typical of most South American Indian groups. The colour blindness frequency of males (7.1%) is seemingly higher than North American Indian figures and is similar to European frequencies. Jivaro dermatoglyphic data are in broad general agreement with data available for Amerindian groups generally, and for many Asian mongoloids, with high pattern intensity indices for males and females, mainly the result of a very high whorl incidence. The digital distribution of the pattern types for the greater part accords with the generalisations of Cummins and Midlo ('61). There are marked sex differences in the data, females having a lower mean pattern intensity index, a higher value for Dankmeijer's Index and a lower value for Furuhata's Index. Unfortunately there are few other sets of South American Indian data available for comparative purposes.     

Hierarchical organization of femaleMacaca radiata in captivity

Females of several species of macaques form cohesive matrilineal units in which all members share a collective status. The relationship between rank and kinship inMacaca radiata has not previously been studied. Analysis of observations of social interactions in a large and stable captive group ofM. radiata and longitudinal study of kinship and reproductive success indicate that with few exceptions a matrilineal dominance hierarchy exists in that group. Four young, upwardly mobile females are responsible for the exceptions. Contrary to the pattern noted in other species of macaques, several adult females outrank their daughters. Old age and deteriorating physical condition of mothers appear to be associated with mother-daughter rank reversals. The age and lineage size of females when they entered the group have had a lasting impact. Females who entered the group as adults have achieved higher rank and greater reproductive success than females who entered the group as juveniles without relatives. This research was conducted at the California Primate Research Center in Davis, supported by USPHS grant RR00169.     

Osteoporotic bone loss in two prehistoric Indian populations

To examine the demineralizing effects of the ageing process on the human skeleton, a photon absorptiometric method was employed which measured bone mineral mass. Rates and amounts of demineralization were compared in two prehistoric Indian populations: Indian Knoll (dated between 2500 and 2000 B.C. ) of the Archaic Period and Pete Klunk (dated between 50 B.C. and 250 A.D. ) of the Middle Woodland or Woodland or Hopewell Period. The former was exclusively a hunting and gathering group while the latter supplemented its hunting and gathering with part-time agriculture. Archaeological and osteometric data suggest that Hopewell had a more nutritionally adequate and reliable diet than Indian Knoll. By regression slope analysis it was shown that, as in modern populations, trabecular and female rates of loss are greater, respectively, than cortical or male rates. Hopewell males and females lost bone at a faster rate than Indian Knoll males and females. When amounts of demineralization in these two groups were compared to that of a contemporary group, the Indian Knoll and contemporary populations were found to lose the same amount while Hopewell lost the greatest amount. It is suggested from these comparisons that dietary sufficency does not contribute significantly to skeletal maintenance during ageing.     

Group sex ratio and sex reversal

In hermaphroditic fishes, the initiation of sex reversal by male removal explains the replacement of lost males but does not explain how the number of males in a group may increase. Since numerous species apparently cannot produce primary males, a second means of initiating sex reversal must exist. In the present study we formulate a model which suggests the existence of an additional mechanism governing sex change: as soon as the ratio of adult females to males within a group exceeds a certain threshold value, a female changes sex even though no male has been removed. This process is inferred from comparison of data collected in the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean with the model's predictions concerning size at sex reversal and the sex ratio of groups. The results suggest how several ecological factors may influence the occurrence rate of sex reversal and the development and growth of social groups.     

Social Behavior of Males and Simultaneous Hermaphrodites in the Lantern Bass

Serranus baldwini (Serranidae), the lantern bass, is a small, gleaning carnivore found in turtle grass and rubble substrates in the Caribbean. Small S. baldwini are simultaneous hermaphrodites, but large members of this species are males. The males patrol territories in which several hermaphrodites reside. Hermaphrodites spawn as females with the resident males and rarely spawn as males themselves. Unlike the pattern in reciprocating hermaphrodites, courtship is largely a male function in S. baldwini. Males are much more active and aggressive than are hermaphrodites. In reciprocally spawning species, interactions among mates are more symmetrical. The behavior patterns found in the serranines reflect the differences in mating systems in a manner similar to that found in other organisms and is consistent with current mating system theory.     

Race and Ethnic Differences in Religious Involvement: African Americans, Caribbean Blacks and Non-Hispanic Whites

This study examined differences in religious participation and spirituality among African Americans, Caribbean Blacks (Black Caribbeans) and non-Hispanic Whites. Data are taken from the National Survey of American Life, a nationally representative study of African Americans, Black Caribbeans and non-Hispanic Whites. Selected measures of organizational, nonorganizational and subjective religious participation were examined. African American and Caribbean Blacks were largely similar in their reports of religious involvement; both groups generally indicated higher levels of religious participation than non-Hispanic Whites. African Americans were more likely than Black Caribbeans to be official members of their places of worship, engage in activities (choirs, church clubs) at their place of worship and request prayer from others. Black Caribbeans reported reading religious materials more frequently than African Americans. The discussion notes the importance of examining ethnic differences within the black American population of the United States.     

Polymorphism and pair formation in the mosquitofish Gambusia holbrooki (Pisces: Poeciliidae)

Synopsis Pair formation was studied in a polymorphic population of Gambusia holbrooki in a brackish drainage canal in Southern Florida. All females and the majority of males were gray colored and only 5% of the males were black spotted. A small fraction of the population formed pairs, composed of a female and a male that swam synchronously and close together for several minutes. During pairing the male often achieved gonopodial contact with the female. Black spotted males occurred in pairs ten fold more frequently than expected under random pairing. The major behavioral mechanism accounting for the disproportionate occurrence of spotted males in pairs is, probably, the preference of females for these males.     

Dispersal, recruitment and migratory behaviour in a hawksbill sea turtle aggregation

We investigated the dispersal, recruitment and migratory behaviour of the hawksbill sea turtle ( Eretmochelys imbricata ), among different life-history stages and demographic segments of the large hawksbill turtle aggregation at Mona Island, Puerto Rico. There were significant differences in both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotype diversity and haplotype frequencies among the adult males, females and juveniles examined, but little evidence for temporal heterogeneity within these same groups sampled across years. Consistent with previous studies and the hypothesis of strong natal homing, there were striking mtDNA haplotype differences between nesting females on Mona Island and nesting females in other major Caribbean rookeries. Breeding males also showed strong, albeit weaker, genetic evidence of natal homing. Overall, Bayesian mixed-stock analysis suggests that Mona Island was the natal rookery for 79% (65–94%) of males in the aggregation. In contrast, the Mona Island rookery accounted for only a small subset of the new juvenile recruits to the foraging grounds or in the population of older juvenile hawksbills turtles on Mona. Instead, both new recruits and the older juvenile hawksbill turtles on Mona more likely recruited from other Caribbean rookeries, suggesting that a mechanism besides natal homing must be influencing recruitment to feeding habitats. The difference in the apparent degree of natal homing behaviour among the different life-history stages of hawksbill turtles at Mona Island underscores the complexity of the species' life-history dynamics and highlights the need for both local and regional conservation efforts.     

Sexual differences in tailwind drift compensation in Phoebis sennae butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae) migrating over seas

One prediction derived from optimal migration theory is thatmigrating animals that maximize their flight distance on agiven amount of energy will decrease their airspeed in a tailwindand increase it in a headwind. To test this in a migratingbutterfly, I followed male and female cloudless sulfur butterfliesPhoebis sennae (Pieridae) migrating from Colombia toward Panamaover the Caribbean Sea. P. sennae headed westerly over the Caribbean Sea in the morning and then turned southeasterly tohead downwind in the afternoon. Changes in heading and trackdirections of P. sennae were not related to changes in theposition of the solar azimuth. As predicted from optimal migrationtheory, flight velocities of females decreased in a tailwindto minimize energy consumption. However, males did not showany compensation for tailwinds. Females are minimizing energyconsumption, whereas males may be minimizing the time to reachthe destination site in order to maximize matings with newlyarrived or newly emerged females. Orientation of females changedbefore that of males, presumably because their greater reproductiveload imposed greater flight costs and limited flight fuels.