SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Nonmetric traits of Hawaiian and Chamorro skulls were examined for evidence bearing on their populational affinities. Distance analyses reveal that the Hawaiian and Chamorro people, although not very near each other, are both closer to the East Asian than to the Jomon-Ainu or to the Arctic peoples. Our study of nonmetric cranial variation does not suggest an affinity between the Jomon and Pacific peoples.
A review is made of the Gm haplotype distribution in 60 groups of Eskimos, North, Central and South American Indians, totaling 22,808 individuals. Differences were observed in the shapes of the distribution of Gm*ag and the other markers. Nearly identical values for FST and average heterozygosities were obtained in the North+Central/South comparisons. North-South and Southwest/Northeast clinal differences were observed in the Americas using correspondence factorial analysis. The two haplotypes mainly responsible for these differences are Gm*axg and Gm*abOst. When the populations are classified by language groups, besides the recognized differences between Eskimos and Athabaskan (Na-Dene) speakers compared with Amerinds, others are found. For instance, Uto-Aztecan speakers of the United States and Mexico differ in Gm frequencies from the Nuclear Chibchan, Macro-Arawak, and Carib speakers of Central and South America. The notion of a homogeneous Amerind genetic pool does not conform with these and other results.
Postcranial skeletal data from two recent Eskimo populations are used to test David Frayer's model of sexual dimorphism reduction in Europe between the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. Frayer argued that a change from big-game hunting and adoption of new technology in the Mesolithic reduced selection for large body size in males and led to a reduction in skeletal sexual dimorphism. Though aspects of Frayer's work have been criticized in the literature, the association of big-game hunting and high sexual dimorphism is untested. This study employs univariate and multivariate analysis to test that association by examining sexual dimorphism of cranial and postcranial bones of two recent Alaskan Eskimo populations, one being big-game (whale and other large marine mammal) hunting people, and the second being salmon fishing, riverine people. While big-game hunting influences skeletal robusticity, it cannot be said to lead to greater sexual dimorphism generally. The two populations had different relative sexual dimorphism levels for different parts of the body. Notably, the big-game hunting (whaling) Eskimos had the lower multivariate dimorphism in the humerus, which could be expected to be the structure under greatest exertion by such hunting in males. While the exertions of the whale hunting economic activities led to high skeletal robusticity, as predicted by Frayer's model, this was true of the females as well as the males, resulting in low sexual dimorphism in some features. Females are half the sexual dimorphism equation, and they cannot be seen as constants in any model of economic behavior.
The mtDNA variation of 198 Aleuts, as well as North American and Asian populations drawn from the literature, were analyzed to reconstruct the Aleuts' genetic prehistory and to investigate their role in the peopling of the Circumarctic region. From median-joining network analysis, three star-like clusters were identified in the Aleuts within the following subhaplogroups: A3, A7 (an Aleut-specific subclade of A3), and D2. Mismatch analyses, neutrality test scores, and coalescent time estimates for these three components provided evidence of two expansion events, one occurring at approximately 19,900 B.P. and the other at 5,400 B.P. Based on these findings and evidence from the archaeological data, four general models for the genetic prehistory of the Aleutian Island chain are proposed: 1) biological continuity involving a kin-structured peopling of the archipelago; 2) intrusion and expansion of a non-native biface-producing population dominated by subhaplogroup D2; 3) amalgamation of Arctic Small Tool tradition peoples characterized by D2 with an older Anangula substratum; and 4) biological continuity with significant gene flow from neighboring populations of the Alaskan mainland and Kodiak Island. The Aleut mtDNAs are consistent with the Circumarctic pattern by the fixation of A3 and D2, and the exhibition of depressed diversity levels relative to Amerind and Siberian groups. The results of this study indicate a broad postglacial reexpansion of Na-Dene and Esko-Aleuts from reduced populations within northern North America, with D2 representing a later infusion of Siberian mtDNAs into the Beringian gene pool.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of antibiotic treatment of urethritis or cervicitis on the incidence of recurrences of articular symptoms in Reiter's syndrome patients. METHODS: Retrospective evaluation of the medical charts of 109 patients living in Greenland. RESULTS: Thirty-seven percent of the episodes of genitourinary tract inflammation that were not treated or were treated with penicillin were followed by arthritis, compared with 10% of those treated with tetracycline or erythromycin. CONCLUSION: Antibiotics active against Chlamydia trachomatis reduced the risk of postvenereal arthritis in the population studied.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the preliminary classification criteria proposed by the European Spondylarthropathy Study Group (ESSG) in Alaskan Eskimo populations. METHODS: We examined, interviewed, and reviewed the records of 104 Eskimo patients with spondylarthropathy and 75 with other rheumatic disorders, and evaluated them according to the proposed criteria. RESULTS: We found an overall sensitivity of 88.5% and a specificity of 89.3%, which is similar to the reported values in European populations. CONCLUSION: The ESSG criteria performed well in a population very different from that in which they were developed, and deserve further evaluation as a much-needed and useful epidemiologic tool.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
BACKGROUND: Two important goals of cancer surveillance are to provide milestones in the effort to reduce the cancer burden and to generate observations that form the basis for cancer research and intervention for cancer prevention and control. Determination of the cancer burden among American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) has been difficult largely due to lack of data collection efforts in many areas of the country and misclassification of racial data that results in undercounting of Native Americans. There is a revitalized commitment to improve data collection among the national agencies and organizations. METHODS: Data on cancer trends from 12 areas covered by the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program were reviewed for incidence and death rates for 1992-2000. AIAN trends were examined and compared with trends among other racial/ethnic population groups. Reference was made to studies of disease-specific survival for nine of the SEER areas for 1988-1997. RESULTS: In SEER areas, cancer incidence rates for AIAN populations appeared to be decreasing significantly for lung and breast cancers among women and for prostate cancer among men. However, death rates rose, although not significantly, over the same period, except for a significant decrease in prostate cancer. Among the cancers with rising death rates were lung cancer (AIAN women) and colorectal cancer (AIAN men). In addition, survival often was lower for AIAN populations. CONCLUSIONS: Although the incidence was stable or decreased among AIAN populations, increased death rates and lower survival rates indicate the need for intensified application of cancer prevention and control measures, including screening and treatment. Difficulties in interpretation of data include small population size and substantial interregional differences in rates.
BACKGROUND: Very little is known about breast carcinoma risk factors for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) women undergoing screening. The Gail model has been a useful tool for predicting the risk of breast carcinoma in several populations. It has not been applied systematically to AI/AN women. METHODS: The current study was a retrospective review of 1458 screening mammograms performed for AI/AN women. The authors applied the Gail model to estimate both absolute risk and relative risk for breast carcinoma for AI/AN women screened in South Dakota, Arizona, and Alaska. RESULTS: The mean age of the women was 52.4 years. The onset of menses was not significantly different than expected. The average age at first birth was 20 years, very few women were nulliparous, and few women were age > 30 years at first live birth. The proportion of women reporting a first- or second-degree relative with breast carcinoma was similar to the proportion in the general population. The results of the model indicated an overall average relative risk that ranged from 1.42 to 2.69 compared with white American women, depending on the model assumptions used. Using a modified Gail model and calculating an imputed absolute risk, the expected incidence of breast carcinoma in this population increased to rates of 170-180 per 100,000 in the next 10 years, a significant increase over the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-derived incidence rates from 1988 to 1992 of 31.6 per 100,000 for AI women in New Mexico and 78.9 per 100,000 for AN women. CONCLUSIONS: The model indicated a likelihood of increasing rates of breast carcinoma in the study population. The data obtained were useful in generating preliminary estimates of breast carcinoma risk in the study population, for which no prospective population survey has been completed. The inherent weaknesses in the current retrospective study indicated the need for a large-scale prospective data collection to confirm these exploratory findings.
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) suffer from inordinate morbidity and mortality from various cancers. The Spirit of Eagles is a national Special Populations Network that has developed the community infrastructure to support culturally appropriate, long-range, comprehensive cancer control activities. Subcontracts were developed that involved major cancer centers, nonprofit organizations, policy boards, professional societies, and educators. Community-based cancer control grants were distributed through the Spirit of Eagles program. Community-based participatory research involved 38 communities in a broad range of cancer control activities. The key to long-range improvement in cancer morbidity and mortality in AI/AN communities lies in building infrastructure to support strong partnerships enabling community-based participatory research. Cancer 2006. (c) 2006 American Cancer Society.
Alaska Natives have a high incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), with regional, ethnic, village, and familial clustering. During 1969-1988, 15 of the 45 incident cases of HCC in Alaska Natives occurred in 5 families. This report presents epidemiologic, virologic, and immunogenetic data on these 5 families. The results of hepatitis B virus (HBV) serologic testing indicates that HBV infection was an important factor in 4 of the 5 families. Human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) testing was performed in 3 families. The HLA results are reviewed in relationship to the familial clustering of HCC.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
We analyzed the demographic, clinical, laboratory and histologic features of 13 patients who were diagnosed as having polyarteritis nodosa associated with hepatitis B virus infection over a 12-year period, 1974 to 1985. All 13 patients were Yupik Eskimos and resided in southwest Alaska, an area hyperendemic for hepatitis B virus infection. The annual incidence of hepatitis B virus-associated polyarteritis nodosa for this population is 7.7 cases per 100,000 population. All patients presented with multisystem disease, and all had biopsy or angiographic findings consistent with polyarteritis nodosa. All 13 were positive for hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e antigen at diagnosis. Two untreated patients and two of five patients who received corticosteroids died, vs. none of six who received corticosteroids plus cyclophosphamide. None of the patients who survived the initial bout of polyarteritis nodosa has relapsed after a mean follow-up of 55 months, but all have become chronic HBsAg carriers. In eight patients, clinical or serologic evidence indicated that polyarteritis nodosa followed recent hepatitis B virus infection. We concluded that hepatitis B virus-associated polyarteritis nodosa is a serious, life-threatening complication that occurs early in the course of hepatitis B virus infection, is ameliorated by immunosuppressive therapy and can be prevented by hepatitis B vaccine.
A survey of cancer incidence among Alaska Natives for the 5-year period 1969-73 revealed fewer cancer cases overall than expected in relation to US rates, but significantly increased risk for certain cancer sites: the nasopharynx in both sexes (with excesses over 15-fold), the liver in males, and the salivary glands, gallbladder, kidney and thyroid in females. Compared with earlier reports, the observations suggest marked changes in cancer incidence among Alaska Natives over the past two decades, with declines in esophageal and invasive cervical cancers, and increases in cancers of the lung, colon and rectum.