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Southern European (southern + european)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences33%
Life Sciences33%
Humanities and Social Sciences33%

Terms modified by Southern European

  • southern european country
    		•

    Selected Abstracts

    The peopling of Madeira archipelago (Portugal) according to HLA genes

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF IMMUNOGENETICS, Issue 1 2009
    A. Arnaiz-Villena
    Summary The Madeira-Porto Santo Archipelago was officially colonized in 1420 by Portuguese settlers. Its importance in Columbus' information for the American discovery and for slave traffic across the Atlantic is unquestionable. Thus, a complex peopling may have given rise to a present-day high admixture of ethnicities according to HLA genes. A sample of 173 healthy unrelated Madeirans was analysed and compared with 6986 HLA chromosomes from other worldwide populations. Genetic distances, neighbour-joining dendrograms and correspondence analyses were used for comparisons. Southern European, North African (including Canary Islands), Jewish and Mediterranean typical HLA alleles were found and genetic distances from Madeirans to these populations were the closest ones. In addition A*24-B*65-DRB1*0102-DQB1*0501 and A*68-B*08-DRB1*0301-DQB1*0201 haplotypes were newly found in Madeira and not found in any other population. Jewish-Armenian-Middle East haplotype (A*33-B*65-DRB1*0102-DQB1*0501) is one of the most common haplotypes; this haplotype is also present in Spaniards and North Africans. Quantitatively, Portuguese, North Africans (Algerians), Spaniards and Canary Islanders (in this order) are the most important parental populations to Madeirans. Results are discussed on the basis of the recorded historical peopling which does not show a noticeable African gene input in present-day Madeiran population according to our data; one of the closest related populations found is the Canary Islanders, suggesting that Guanche (Canary Islands first inhabitants) slaves gene flow is still noticed at present, both in Madeira and in Canary Islands populations. [source]

    Welfare Regimes for Aging Populations: No Single Path for Reform

    POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, Issue 4 2009
    Mehmet F. Aysan
    We consider recent trends in pension policies in OECD countries in light of demographic aging associated with welfare regime type (Liberal, Social Democratic, Continental, and Southern European). These regime types represent different responsibilities assumed for social security on the part of the market, the state, and the family. While there are significant differences in labor market characteristics, the demographic similarities in aging bring similar pressures for pension reforms across OECD countries. These reforms address fiscal issues in state pensions, typically by increasing the length of the working life, placing more of the pension responsibility on individuals, or converting to defined-contribution approaches. Our study shows that there is no single path for pension reform. While there are some variations, welfare states tend to follow their traditional paths, which differ across welfare regime types. [source]

    Self-reported and clinically determined oral health status predictors for quality of life in dentate older migrant adults

    COMMUNITY DENTISTRY AND ORAL EPIDEMIOLOGY, Issue 1 2008
    R. Mariño
    Abstract,,, Objective:, This paper reports the impact of oral health on the quality of life (QOL) of Southern European, dentate older adults, living independently in Melbourne, Australia. Participants were recruited through ethnic social clubs and interviewed about oral health, general health, socio-demographics, and QOL using the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 12 (SF-12). The SF-12's physical and mental health component summary scores (PCS and MCS, respectively) were computed. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) assessed the specific impact of oral health on QOL. Participants were also given a clinical oral examination. Results:, A total of 603 eligible older adults volunteered; 308 were from Greek background and 295 were from Italian background. Mean age was 67.7 years (SD 6.2), with 63.7% being female. The PCS score had a mean value of 45.8 (SD 11.8), and MCS had a mean of 47.8 (SD 5.7). PCS was associated with, periodontal status, chronic health condition, self-perceived oral health needs, self-assessed oral health status, oral health impact score and the interaction between gender and level of education [F(11 552) = 10.57; P < 0.0001]. These independent variables accounted for 16% of the variance in PCS. The multivariate model predicting MCS had only one significant variable (self-reported gingival bleeding), explaining 1.5% of the variance. The OHIP-14 ranged from 0 to 48 with a mean score of 5.6 (SD 9.3). The model predicting OHIP-14 contained four significant variables: perceived oral health treatment needs, number of missing natural teeth, reports of having to sip liquid to help swallow food, and gender [F(4576) = 33.39; P < 0.0001], and explained 18% of the variance. The results demonstrated a negative association between oral health indicators and both the oral health-related QOL and the physical component of the SF-12. Conclusion:, The present findings support a growing recognition of the importance of oral health as a mediator of QOL. However, the self-selected sample and modest predictive power of the multivariate models suggest that further research is needed to expand this explanatory model. [source]

    Gastroschisis: International epidemiology and public health perspectives,

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL GENETICS, Issue 3 2008
    Eduardo E. Castilla
    Abstract Gastroschisis offers the intriguing epidemiological situation of a pandemic, strongly associated with very low maternal age. Identifying gastroschisis, and distinguishing it from the other abdominal wall defects, is theoretically easy but difficult in practice. The baseline birth prevalence of gastroschisis before the pandemic was approximately 1 in 50,000 births and has increased since between 10- and 20-fold. In many populations worldwide, it is still increasing. Such increasing prevalence and the association with very low maternal age are well proven, but the interaction between these two findings remains unknown. Geographic gradients (decreasing prevalence from North to South) are clear in Continental Europe and suggestive in Britain and Ireland. Gastroschisis seems more frequent in Caucasians compared to African Blacks and Orientals, and in Northern compared to Southern Europeans. These observations indicate the need for investigating gene,environment interactions. Since the global human situation is marked by inequalities among as well as within countries, the medical care and public health impact of gastroschisis varies widely among regions and social strata. The postnatal benefits of prenatal diagnosis of gastroschisis include family awareness; adequate planning of delivery with alerted obstetrical, pediatric, and surgical staff; optimal risk categorization, and personalized protocol for action. The increasing prevalence of gastroschisis combined with improved medical techniques to reduce morbidity and mortality are also increasing the burden and costs of this anomaly on health systems. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

    Biohistorical approaches to "race" in the United States: Biological distances among African Americans, European Americans, and their ancestors,

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2009
    Heather J.H. Edgar
    Abstract Folk taxonomies of race are the categorizations used by people in their everyday judgments concerning the persons around them. As cultural traditions, folk taxonomies may shape gene flow so that it is unequal among groups sharing geography. The history of the United States is one of disparate people being brought together from around the globe, and provides a natural experiment for exploring the relationship between culture and gene flow. The biohistories of African Americans and European Americans were compared to examine whether population histories are shaped by culture when geography and language are shared. Dental morphological data were used to indicate phenotypic similarity, allowing diachronic change through United States history to be considered. Samples represented contemporary and historic African Americans and European Americans and their West African and European ancestral populations (N = 1445). Modified Mahalanobis' D2 and Mean Measure of Divergence statistics examined how biological distances change through time among the samples. Results suggest the social acceptance for mating between descendents of Western Europeans and Eastern and Southern European migrants to the United States produced relatively rapid gene flow between the groups. Although African Americans have been in the United States much longer than most Eastern and Southern Europeans, social barriers have been historically stronger between them and European Americans. These results indicate that gene flow is in part shaped by cultural factors such as folk taxonomies of race, and have implications for understanding contemporary human variation, relationships among prehistoric populations, and forensic anthropology. Am J Phys Anthropol 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

    Ethnocultural Reproduction and Attitudes towards Cohabiting Relationships,

    CANADIAN REVIEW OF SOCIOLOGY/REVUE CANADIENNE DE SOCIOLOGIE, Issue 4 2001
    Barbara A. Mitchell
    Se fondant sur des notions d'interculturalité et de changement social, cet article fournit une explication des différences ethnoculturelles dans les attitudes à l'endroit des relations de cohabitation hétérosexuelle chez les jeunes adultes canadiens. L'accent est mis sur la mise au jour des mécanismes clés par lesquels les groupes ethniques « reproduisent » des orientations teintées de traditionalisme ou de libéralisme à l'endroit de ces conditions de logement. L'ensemble de données utilisé dans cette recherche est tiré d'un sous-ensemble de 1 907 jeunes adultes choisis au hasard dans la Culture and Coresidence Study de 1999,2000. Les analyses à deux variables montrent de fortes différences ethnocuturelles dans la propension à déclarer que la cohabitation est acceptable, les Britanniques étant les plus favorables, suivis des Européens du Sud, des Chinois et enfin des Indo-Canadiens. Les réultats de l'analyse de régression logistique révèlent qu'une constellation de facteurs ethnocul-turels concourent à ces différences, par exemple la religiosité des jeunes adultes, le traditionalisme dans la famille et le rôle assignéà chacun des sexes, ainsi que l'usage quotidien d'une langue ethnique avec son entourage. From a cross-cultural and social change perspective, this paper explicates ethnocultural differences in attitudes towards heterosexual cohabiting relationships among Canadian young adults. The focus is on uncovering the key mechanisms by which ethnic groups "reproduce" traditional or liberal value orientations towards this living arrangement. The data set used in this research is drawn from a sub-set of 1,907 randomly-selected young adults from the 1999,2000 Culture and Coresidence Study. Bivariate analyses show strong ethnocultural differences in the propensity to report that cohabitation is acceptable, with the British group the most favourable, followed by Southern Europeans, Chinese, and finally, Indo-Canadians. Results from the logistic regression analysis reveal that a constellation of ethnocultural factors contribute to these differences. These include: young adult's religiosity, familism and gender-role traditionalism, and routine use of ethnic language with peers. [source]