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African Samples (african + sample)
Selected AbstractsThe influence of age, sex, population group, and dentition on the mandibular angle as measured on a South African sampleAMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 4 2009Anna C. Oettlé Abstract The mandibular angle is measured in physical anthropological assessments of human remains to possibly assist with the determination of sex and population affinity. The purpose of this investigation was to establish how the mandibular angle changes with age and loss of teeth among the sexes in South African population groups. The angles of 653 dried adult mandibles from the Pretoria Bone Collection were measured with a mandibulometer. Males and females of both South African whites and blacks were included. To compensate for imbalances in numbers among subgroups, type IV ANOVA testing was applied. No association was found between age and angle within either of the populations, within sexes, or within dentition groups. The angle was the most obtuse in individuals without molars and with an uneven distribution of molars, and most acute in the group with an even distribution of molars on both sides. Statistically significant differences (P < 0.001) were found in the angle between the two population groups and sexes in the overall sample as well as in the subgroup with absent molar teeth (P = 0.003 for sex, males more acute angle, and P = 0.001 for population group, blacks more acute angle), although a very large overlap existed. No significant differences could be demonstrated between the sexes or populations within the subgroups with molars. We concluded that the loss of molars, especially if complete or uneven, has a considerable effect on the mandibular angle. In the assessment of human remains, the mandibular angle is not very usable in determining sex. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] The ancient inhabitants of Jebel Moya redux: measures of population affinity based on dental morphologyINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF OSTEOARCHAEOLOGY, Issue 2 2007J. D. Irish Abstract This paper reexamines some of the methods and craniometric findings in the classic volume The Ancient Inhabitants of Jebel Moya (Sudan) (1955) by Mukherjee, Rao & Trevor, in light of recent archaeological data and relative to a new dental morphological study. Archaeological evidence characterises these inhabitants as having been heavily influenced by outside sources; yet they managed to establish and maintain their own distinctive culture as seen in the site features and surviving artefact collections. The dental study, modelled after the original craniometric-based investigation and using the same or similar comparative samples, detected complementary indications of outside biological influence. In the study, up to 36 dental traits were recorded in a total of 19 African samples. The most influential traits in driving inter-sample variation were then identified, and phenetic affinities were calculated using the Mahalanobis D2 statistic for non-metric traits. If phenetic similarity provides an estimate of genetic relatedness, these affinities, like the original craniometric findings, suggest that the Jebel Moyans exhibited a mosaic of features that are reminiscent of, yet distinct from, both sub-Saharan and North African peoples. Together, these different lines of evidence correspond to portray the Jebel Moya populace as a uniform, although distinct, biocultural amalgam. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Tracing the geographical origin of Megastigmus transvaalensis (Hymenoptera: Torymidae): an African wasp feeding on a South American plant in North AmericaMOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 2 2003Sonja J. Scheffer Abstract Determining the geographical origin of an introduced organism can be critical to understanding or managing a non-native species, but is often difficult when the organism is small or inconspicuous. We used a phylogeographical approach to identify the region of endemism and determine the geographical origin of world populations of the seed-feeding wasp Megastigmus transvaalensis (Hussey). This wasp feeds on African Rhus species and South American Schinus species in various locations around the world. Because it is present both in Africa and in South America, it is unclear whether the wasp was originally an African Rhus -feeder that has begun feeding on Schinus or a South American Schinus -feeder that has started feeding on Rhus. Phylogenetic analysis of 800 bp of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I sequence data found extensive variation and phylogeographical structure within African M. transvaalensis. Specimens from other locations around the world were all identical in COI sequence and were phylogenetically nested within the African samples. We conclude that M. transvaalensis was originally an African Rhus -feeder that readily attacks Schinus. We evaluate potential pathways of introduction of this wasp to the New World, and we discuss implications of our results for biocontrol efforts against invasive Schinus populations. [source] Population relationships in the Mediterranean revealed by autosomal genetic data (Alu and Alu/STR compound systems)AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 3 2010Emili González-Pérez Abstract The variation of 18 Alu polymorphisms and 3 linked STRs was determined in 1,831 individuals from 15 Mediterranean populations to analyze the relationships between human groups in this geographical region and provide a complementary perspective to information from studies based on uniparental markers. Patterns of population diversity revealed by the two kinds of markers examined were different from one another, likely in relation to their different mutation rates. Therefore, while the Alu biallelic variation underlies general heterogeneity throughout the whole Mediterranean region, the combined use of Alu and STR points to a considerable genetic differentiation between the two Mediterranean shores, presumably strengthened by a considerable sub-Saharan African genetic contribution in North Africa (around 13% calculated from Alu markers). Gene flow analysis confirms the permeability of the Sahara to human passage along with the existence of trans-Mediterranean interchanges. Two specific Alu/STR combinations,CD4 110(,) and DM 107(,),detected in all North African samples, the Iberian Peninsula, Greece, Turkey, and some Mediterranean islands suggest an ancient genetic background of current Mediterranean peoples. Am J Phys Anthropol 2010. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Genotype Frequencies of Selected Drug Metabolizing Enzymes and ABC Drug Transporters among Breast Cancer Patients on FAC ChemotherapyBASIC AND CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY & TOXICOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Nasir Ali Afsar With some exemptions, single nucleotide polymorphisms in such genes, however, are not known to be susceptibility factors for breast cancer. This study explored genotype profiles for the breast cancer patients on fluorouracil, doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (FAC) in a Pakistani set of population and their comparison with HapMap data. Sixty-eight female breast cancer patients were included. All received FAC chemotherapy. Relevant genotyping was done either through restriction fragment length polymorphism or pyrosequencing. The variant allele frequencies were: 5.1% for CYP2C9*2 (430C>T), 15.4% for CYP2C9*3 (1075A>C), 27.2% for CYP2C19*2 (681G>A), 33.1% for GSTA1*B (-69C>T, -52G>A), 62.5% for ALDH3A1*2 (985C>G), 58.8% and 4.4% for ABCB1 (2677 G>T/A), 64.7% for ABCB1 3435 C>T, and 15.4%, 33.1% and 39.7% for ABCC2 (,24 C>T, 1249 G>A and 3972 C>T). In comparison with HapMap, this first exploration in Pakistani samples shows higher frequency of (i) CYP2C9*3 carriers (p < 0.05) than in Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese and African samples, (ii) ALDH3A1*2 carriers (p < 0.01) than Caucasian, Hispanic, Chinese, Japanese and African samples. For ABC transporters, a higher frequency of variant allele was observed in (iii) ABCB1 2677 G>T/A (p < 0.01) than Caucasian, Hispanic and African, (iv) ABCB1 3435 C>T (p < 0.05) than Chinese, Japanese and African, (v) ABCC2 1249 G>A (p < 0.01) than Hispanic, Chinese and Japanese samples. In conclusion, cyclophosphamide activation and detoxification of reactive intermediates may be altered in the Pakistani. Though carriers of CYP2C19*2 were higher than in Caucasian and Hispanics, they did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.05). [source] | ||||||||||