Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D F Roberts.
Phenotype and gene frequencies of polymorphic systems in blood specimens from 796 donors in Northumberland and Durham (north-east England) were analysed according to region of residence. Significant differences exist among the five geographically defined subpopulations, and it is argued that these derive from patterns of historical settlement.
Handprints obtained from 600 Irish subjects (274 males and 326 females), drawn from all counties of Ireland, were analysed. There was no clear evidence of any differences between the four great provinces of Ireland, nor between east and west, such as were shown by comprehensive blood group data, and it is concluded that Ireland can be regarded as dermatoglyphically homogeneous. Comparisons of the Irish quantitative and qualitative digital dermatoglyphics with those from other samples in Britain, and from other European countries, show that Ireland occupies a near-extreme position in the European range. These results are regarded as compatible with the interpretation from blood group evidence, that Ireland represented a region of refuge for an ancient population in the face of continuing colonizing pressure from the east in prehistoric and historic times, and traces of that ancient population are detectable in the genepool today.
A serological survey of the Dalmatian island of Brac (Croatia), based on a total sample of 747 subjects, shows considerable local genetic variation. While the overall gene frequencies are much as expected from the island's geographical position, the local genetic heterogeneity is made up of differences between the inland and coastal villages, differences between the two coastal areas, and variation among the older inland villages. This heterogeneity is interpreted as deriving from the settlement process (founder effect), random differentiation, and the essentially local marriage pattern.
This lecture draws to the attention of human biologists the opportunities that are available for their participation in international research programmes. Relevant past and present research programmes of the International Union of Biological Sciences are described, together with the larger programmes of the human genome initiative, and the international geosphere biosphere programme on global change of the International Council of Scientific Unions; and the smaller programmes of the World Health Organization and the Council of the European Community. Human biologists have much to contribute to such programmes, but, to do so, personal interests need to be tailored to the requirements of each specific programme.
HLA antigen and gene frequencies at the A, B, and C loci are examined in a sample of 181 Basques and 102 non-Basques in Bilbao, Spain. The most common associations of genes at the A and B loci are as in western Europe generally. The results are compared with gene frequencies in other Basque and non-Basque samples in Spain and France. There is clear distinction in gene frequency between Basques and non-Basques, to which the greatest contribution is made by A1 and B35, followed by B7, B8 and B12; and a difference between Basques in France and in Spain, notably in A28, 29, 30 and 31 and B17 and 18.
The aim of this study was to investigate hypervariable DNA polymorphisms in the Croatian population. Two VNTR loci, D7S22 and D12S11, were studied in a sample of 68 inhabitants of the western and eastern regions of the island of Hvar. Binned allele frequencies and heterozygosity were calculated for the two regions and measures of genetic kinship and genetic distance were computed between the two regions and between each of these regions and nine world populations. The relatively large genetic distance between the two regions of the island of Hvar (0.0353) may reflect historical immigrations from the mainland and interesting peculiarities of the populations that arrived from the Balkan peninsula.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.