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At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Trends and disparities in coronary heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases in the United States: findings of the national conference on cardiovascular disease prevention.

A workshop was held September 27 through 29, 1999, to address issues relating to national trends in mortality and morbidity from cardiovascular diseases; the apparent slowing of declines in mortality from cardiovascular diseases; levels and trends in risk factors for cardiovascular diseases; disparities in cardiovascular diseases by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography; trends in cardiovascular disease preventive and treatment services; and strategies for efforts to reduce cardiovascular diseases overall and to reduce disparities among subpopulations. The conference concluded that coronary heart disease mortality is still declining in the United States as a whole, although perhaps at a slower rate than in the 1980s; that stroke mortality rates have declined little, if at all, since 1990; and that there are striking differences in cardiovascular death rates by race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geography. Trends in risk factors are consistent with a slowing of the decline in mortality; there has been little recent progress in risk factors such as smoking, physical inactivity, and hypertension control. There are increasing levels of obesity and type 2 diabetes, with major differences among subpopulations. There is considerable activity in population-wide prevention, primary prevention for higher risk people, and secondary prevention, but wide disparities exist among groups on the basis of socioeconomic status and geography, pointing to major gaps in efforts to use available, proven approaches to control cardiovascular diseases. Recommendations for strategies to attain the year 2010 health objectives were made.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1992

Digital dermatoglyphic patterns of Eskimo and Amerindian populations: relationships between geographic, dermatoglyphic, genetic, and linguistic distances.

Dermatoglyphic traits have been used to assess population affinities and structure. Here, we describe the digital patterns of four Eskimo populations from Alaska: two Yupik-speaking villages from St. Lawrence Island and two Inupik groups presently residing on mainland Alaska. For a broader evolutionary perspective, these four Eskimo populations are compared to other Inuit groups, to North American Indian populations, and to Siberian aggregates. The genetic structures of 18 New and Old World populations were explored using R-matrix plots and Wright's FST values. The relationships between dermatoglyphic, blood genetic, geographic, and linguistic distances were assessed by comparing matrices through Mantel correlations and through partial and multiple correlations. Statistically significant relationships between dermatoglyphics and genetics, genetics and geography, and geography and language were revealed. In addition, significant correlations between dermatoglyphics and geography, with linguistic variation constant, were noted for females but not for males. These results attest to the usefulness of dermatoglyphics in resolving various evolutionary questions concerning normal human variation.

Alaska↗
PubMed1994

Population structure of the Chenchu and other south Indian tribal groups: relationships between genetic, anthropometric, dermatoglyphic, geographic, and linguistic distances.

We describe the genetic structure and interrelationships of nine south Indian tribal groups (seven from Andhra Pradesh and two from the adjoining states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala) using seven polymorphic loci (ABO, MN, RH, PGM, ACP, PGD, and LDH). R matrix analysis indicates that the Andhra Pradesh tribes are clustered and that the Kadar and Irula are genetically isolated from them. This dispersion of populations has been explained by the combination of relatively high frequencies of the alleles RH D and MN M in the Kadar and the relatively high proportions of the allele PGM*2 in the Irula. The Mahaboobnagar Chenchu subgroup is isolated from other Telugu-speaking groups because of high frequencies of the PGM*1 and ACP*A alleles. The regression of mean per locus heterozygosity (H) on distance from the gene frequency centroid (rii) reveals considerable levels of external gene flow among the Lambadi, the Yerukula, and the two Chenchu subgroups and more homogeneity in the Kolam, Koya, Yanadi, Irula, and Kadar. Mantel statistics were used to assess the relative effects of nonbiological processes (i.e., language and geography) on the morphological and genetic patterns of these subdivided populations. The significance of correlations was determined between different data sets (genetic, dermatoglyphic, anthropometric, geographic, and linguistic) at three levels involving nine, six, and five populations. Although multiple correlation analysis reveals significant combined effects of geography and language on genetics, anthropometrics, and dermatoglyphics, highly significant partial correlations suggest strong effects of geography on both anthropometry and genetics. Our analysis indicates that geographic factors have an overwhelming effect on the genetic differentiation of the south Indian tribal groups.

Alleles↗
PubMed1997

Genetic structure of the indigenous populations of Siberia.

This study explores the genetic structure of Siberian indigenous populations on the basis of standard blood group and protein markers and DNA variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) variation. Four analytical methods were utilized in this study: Harpending and Jenkin's R-matrix; Harpending and Ward's method of correlating genetic heterozygosity (H) to the distance from the centroid of the gene frequency array (rii); spatial autocorrelation, and Mantel tests. Because of the underlying assumptions of the various methods, the numbers of populations used in the analyses varied from 15 to 62. Since spatial autocorrelation is based upon separate correlations between alleles, a larger number of standard blood markers and populations were used. Fewest Siberian populations have been sampled for VNTRs, thus, only a limited comparison was possible. The four analytical procedures employed in this study yielded complementary results suggestive of the effects of unique historical events, evolutionary forces, and geography on the distribution of alleles in Siberian indigenous populations. The principal components analysis of the R-matrix demonstrated the presence of populational clusters that reflect their phylogenetic relationship. Mantel comparisons of matrices indicate that an intimate relationship exists between geography, languages, and genetics of Siberian populations. Spatial autocorrelation patterns reflect the isolation-by-distance model of Malecot and the possible effects of long-distance migration.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1998

The spatial focus of U.S. interstate migration flows.

"Despite the widespread interest in the changing geographies of national migration regimes, it is somewhat remarkable that no widely accepted measure of the spatial concentration or focus exhibited by such geographies has emerged. We examine four of the most popular indices of inequality in this paper and contrast their performance as measures of spatial focus. Adopting the coefficient of variation as our preferred alternative, we go on to examine the spatial focus of aggregate interstate migration steams in the U.S. over time. Then we consider disaggregations of the migration streams by age, race and nativity, and examine the role of states as national redistributors of these same subpopulations."

Age Factors↗
PubMed2005

Inbreeding levels and consanguinity structure in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa (1862-1980).

This work analyzes the spatial heterogeneity of consanguinity in the Basque province of Guipúzcoa (Spain), using data provided by Catholic dispensations (1862-1980). Secular trends in consanguinity rates (%M(C)) and mean inbreeding coefficient (F) were similar in the seven Guipúzcoan regions considered, with peaks between 1881-1920 and subsequently a gradual decline. Substantial differences in consanguinity characteristics emerged when the regions were classified according to level of urbanization. Principal component analysis (accounting for more than 85% of the total variance in consanguinity variables) clearly discriminated between urbanized and less urbanized regions. The latter stand out for their high consanguinity rates (3.57-6.73%), mean inbreeding coefficient (0.00112-0.00240), and M22/M33 ratio (M22, first cousins; M33, second cousins), which ranged between 0.89-1.48. Moreover, in less urbanized regions, marital consanguinity was eminently local, and mainly conditioned by regional endogamy (71.4-85.0%). By contrast, urban subpopulations showed the lowest consanguinity rates (1.60-1.96%) and mean inbreeding coefficient (around 0.0007). In these regions, the M22/M33 ratio also exhibited high values (1.07-1.56), but this time at the expense of the contribution of the immigrant group. Discussion of the factors that could have modeled this spatial variation in consanguinity centers on: 1) demographic aspects related to the chronology and intensity of industrialization, 2) the geography of the territory and the geography of peopling, and 3) linguistic differences, expressed in the uneven distribution of Basque-speakers among the different territories considered.

Consanguinity↗
PubMed2001

Genetic variation and population structure in Oryza malampuzhaensis Krish. et Chand. endemic to Western Ghats, South India.

Oryza malampuzhaensis Krish. et Chand. (2n = 4x = 48; Poaceae, Oryza) is endemic to Western Ghats, South India, and shows a highly localized distribution over a small geographical area in this region. This is the most poorly understood taxon in genus Oryza and is often misidentified as O. officinalis owing to their close morphology. We assessed the nature and distribution of genetic variation among 11 populations of O. malampuzhaensis using random amplified polymorphic DNA markers. The analysis revealed low genetic variation in O. malampuzhaensis. Cluster analysis of pairwise genetic distances of populations revealed three distinct clusters and the grouping of populations largely corresponded to their geographical proximity. Restricted gene flow and a geography-dependent differentiation were evident among populations. The altitude-influenced differences in ecological factors among the natural habitats of the populations seem to be the cause of the geography-dependent differentiation. Genetically isolated smaller populations and a narrow genetic base in O. malampuzhaensis point to its vulnerability to genetic drift and genetic depauperation. Thus O. malampuzhaensis appears to be under the threat of extinction and needs to be conserved by use of suitable methods. The present study also identified molecular markers diagnostic for O. malampuzhaensis.

Altitude↗
PubMed2003

Finnish Disease Heritage I: characteristics, causes, background.

This review of the Finnish Disease Heritage (FDH), a group of rare hereditary diseases that are overrepresented in Finland, includes the following topics: FDH characteristics, causes and background, primary theory, revis(it)ed theory, consanguineous marriages in Finland, internal migration of the 1500s, family series for further FDH studies, geography and population structure as a basis for FDH, geography of individual diseases, the structure of FDH families, family structure in individual diseases, Finnish gene mutations, linkage disequilibrium and haplotypes, age of gene mutations, frequencies of disease genes and carriers, and a short description of the possible future of FDH.

Consanguinity↗
PubMed2006

HIV/AIDS and the construction of Sub-Saharan Africa: heuristic lessons from the social sciences for policy.

There is no doubt that Sub-Saharan African countries face major problems due to the HIV/AIDS pandemic that has ravaged the region. Yet the Eurocentric construction of the region as the source of the virus not only creates negative stereotypes in social science disciplines like geography, but also glosses over the potential of social science disciplines to provide knowledge and influence policy about HIV/AIDS. This oppositional construction of the region has unfortunately contributed to a glossing over of many aspects of Sub-Saharan Africa's people, their environment, culture, history, politics, economics, gender relations, and the region's global status that would provide important input for policy aimed at curbing the devastating spread of HIV in the region. This paper argues that once we recognize that HIV is a global virus with trans-cultural implications, social science disciplines, such as geography, can reveal certain attributes about the region and its HIV/AIDS pandemic that can be used in policy formulation to combat the spread of the virus.

Africa South of the Sahara↗
PubMed2003

Placing private health care: reading Ascot Hospital in the landscape of contemporary Auckland.

The closing years of the 20th century were a time in New Zealand dominated by health care reforms inspired by neo-liberal ideology. The result has been changing geographies of public and private health care providers and the evolution of a new discourse of health care. Ascot Integrated Hospital, situated in the affluent Auckland suburb of Remuera, opened in 1999, reflecting and projecting this new discourse. It is a pioneer, competing for patient patronage in a contracting market for surgical and medical providers. In this paper we survey the recent history of private hospital developments in New Zealand, then more closely consider the Ascot, a hospital that has deployed language to construct itself and its achievements in the public imagination. Given the context of an extremely competitive environment for private patients, this construction glamorises medicine and links healing with a contrived place. We conclude that texts associated with the Ascot provide a useful vehicle for advancing cultural geographies of health care and ideas of the place of hospitals in western capitalist countries.

Geography↗
PubMed2003

Therapeutic landscapes and First Nations peoples: an exploration of culture, health and place.

This paper contributes to an expanding body of research within Health Geography that focuses on the role of therapeutic landscapes in shaping health. Therapeutic landscapes demonstrate the importance of places for maintaining physical, emotional, mental and spiritual health. Meanings of place and the relationship between place and health have culturally specific dimensions, yet these tend to be overlooked especially with respect to First Nations peoples. This paper broadens the analysis of therapeutic landscapes by exploring their culturally specific dimensions in the context of the everyday lives of 'Anishinabek' and thus contributes to a better understanding of First Nations peoples. First Nations peoples contend that the relationship they have with the land shapes the cultural, spiritual, emotional, physical and social lives of individuals and communities. While geographic research has explored First Nations peoples health, few studies have attempted to explore the influence of cultural beliefs and values on health-let alone the intricate link between the land and health. This paper presents the results of 17 in-depth interviews conducted with Anishinabek (Ojibway and Odawa) living in one First Nations community in northern Ontario, Canada. The findings from the interviews demonstrate that culture is an important component of the link between health and place in everyday life. Incorporating First Nations peoples' perspectives of health and place reveals that the current conceptualizations of health and place within the Geography of Health literature are only partial.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1999

Phylogeographical autocorrelation of phenotypic evolution in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.).

The analysis of phenotypic divergence among local populations within a species has been traditionally performed in a spatial context, although advances in genetic analysis using mtDNA have permitted a simultaneous evaluation of geographical and historical patterns of variation, so-called phylogeographical analysis. In this paper, we combine these two dimensions of variation (geographical space and phylogenetic history) to evaluate patterns of phenotypic evolution in honey bees (Apis mellifera L.). Data on 39 phenotypic traits, derived from 417 colonies grouped into 14 subspecies, were analysed using autocorrelation methods. Mantel tests indicated that the relationship between phenotypic divergence, estimated by Euclidean distances among subspecies' morphological centroids, was significant both when compared to geographical distance (r=0.371; P < 0.01) and to genetic distance (estimated as sequence divergence (%) in a mtDNA region encompassing part of the NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 and isoleucine transfer RNA (r=0.329; P < 0.01)). For the analysis of each trait, the effects of the geographical co-ordinates (latitude and longitude of subspecies geographical range) and of the phylogenetic patterns (defined by eigenvectors of the genetic distance matrix) on phenotypic variation were simultaneously analysed using an extension of a recently developed model, called Phylogenetic Eigenvector Regression (PVR). In general terms, the partial regression slopes indicated that the variation in the characters traditionally associated with adaptive processes, such as body and wing size, were better explained by geographical position. However, characters usually thought to be neutral, such as wing venation angle, were more associated with phylogeny. This is expected because PVR can be interpreted as a partition model, in which adaptive variation tends to be independent of phylogeny (and, in this case, associated with geography). In addition, the first principal component derived from the expected values of the model for each trait, which can be interpreted as the phenotypic variation predicted by phylogeny, is more structured in a north-south cline than are the original data, supporting an adaptive interpretation. The phylogeographical autocorrelation analyses performed in this study show that different traits are more related to one of the two dimensions of variation (geography and phylogeny), and these patterns can furnish insights into the nature of phenotypic evolution in these organisms.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

Geographic routing in social networks.

We live in a "small world," where two arbitrary people are likely connected by a short chain of intermediate friends. With scant information about a target individual, people can successively forward a message along such a chain. Experimental studies have verified this property in real social networks, and theoretical models have been advanced to explain it. However, existing theoretical models have not been shown to capture behavior in real-world social networks. Here, we introduce a richer model relating geography and social-network friendship, in which the probability of befriending a particular person is inversely proportional to the number of closer people. In a large social network, we show that one-third of the friendships are independent of geography and the remainder exhibit the proposed relationship. Further, we prove analytically that short chains can be discovered in every network exhibiting the relationship.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2005

Geographers of Mars: cartographic inscription and exploration narrative in late Victorian representations of the red planet.

Over two decades spanning the turn of the twentieth century, astronomers' claims about the landscape and climate of Mars spurred widespread scientific and popular interest in the possibility that the red planet might be inhabited. This essay offers a new explanation for the power with which the notion of an inhabited Mars gripped noted scholars and everyday citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. Rather than pointing to a rekindling of age-old philosophical interest in the plurality of worlds, it argues that turn-of-the-century scientific narratives about Mars derived much of their power and popularity from ties with the newly established discipline of geography. From mapmaking to travelogue-style writing, astronomers borrowed powerful representational strategies from the discipline of geography to legitimize their claims about the red planet. In making the link between geographical and astronomical science more explicit, the essay further suggests that turn-of-the-century representations of Mars could be productively recontextualized alongside geographical works produced in the same period.

Astronomy↗
PubMed2007

Divergent host plant adaptation and reproductive isolation between ecotypes of Timema cristinae walking sticks.

Theoretical and empirical studies have demonstrated that divergent natural selection can promote the evolution of reproductive isolation. Three unresolved questions concern the types of reproductive barriers involved, the role of geography, and the factors determining the extent of progress toward complete speciation. Here I synthesize studies of Timema cristinae host plant ecotypes to address these issues. The approach is to compare the magnitude of multiple reproductive barriers among different ecological and geographic scenarios, where pairs of populations within each scenario are the unit of replication. Application of this approach to T. cristinae revealed that divergent host adaptation can promote the evolution of diverse reproductive barriers, including those that are not inherently ecological. Gene flow in parapatry tended to constrain divergence, with the notable exception of the reinforcement of sexual isolation. Thus, geography affected progress toward speciation but did not influence all reproductive barriers in the same way. Studies of any single pair of taxa often capture only certain stages of the speciation process. For example, reproductive isolation between T. cristinae ecotypes is incomplete, and so only the stages before the completion of speciation have been examined. Studies of more divergent taxa within the genus are required to determine the factors that complete speciation.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2006

Mitochondrial DNA variation in Mauritania and Mali and their genetic relationship to other Western Africa populations.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation was analyzed in Mauritania and Mali, and compared to other West African samples covering the considerable geographic, ethnic and linguistic diversity of this region. The Mauritanian mtDNA profile shows that 55% of their lineages have a west Eurasian provenance, with the U6 cluster (17%) being the best represented. Only 6% of the sub-Saharan sequences belong to the L3A haplogroup a frequency similar to other Berber speaking groups but significantly different to the Arabic speaking North Africans. The historic Arab slave trade may be the main cause of this difference. Only one HV west Eurasian lineage has been detected in Mali but 40% of the sub-Saharan sequences belong to cluster L3A. The presence of L0a representatives demonstrates gene flow from eastern regions. Although both groups speak related dialects of the Mande branch, significant genetic differences exist between the Bambara and Malinke groups. The West African genetic variation is well structured by geography and language, but more detailed ethnolinguistic clustering suggest that geography is the main factor responsible for this differentiation.

Africa, Western↗
PubMed2006

Effects of introduced salmonids on a montane population of Iberian frogs.

Amphibians are declining worldwide because of multiple factors, including human-mediated introduction of fishes into naturally fishless areas. Although several studies have focused on the effect of exotic fishes on native amphibians breeding in ponds or lakes, little is known about their effects on stream-breeding species. We studied the effects of introductions of native brown trout (Salmo trutta) and exotic brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) on the stream-breeding, endemic Iberian frog (Rana iberica) in a protected area in central Spain. We assessed occurrence patterns of tadpoles and salmonids and compared habitat use of the three species. We also determined experimentally whether chemical cues from salmonids elicited antipredator behavior in tadpoles. Finally, we assessed the relative influence of tadpole habitat preferences, differences in salmonid species, and invasion geography on tadpole occurrence. Despite widely overlapping habitat preferences, tadpoles and trout did not coexist, with the former restricted to fishless habitats. Tadpoles detected chemical cues from both trout species and reacted by decreasing their activity, although the response toward the native brown trout was stronger The residual distribution of Iberian frogs in Peñalara is better explained by the geography of fish invasions than by the fish species involved. Measures such as fish extirpation from certain areas, aimed at recovering lost habitat and improving connectivity among remaining populations of Iberian frogs, seem critical for the species' long-term survival in central Spain.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Geostatistical analysis of disease data: accounting for spatial support and population density in the isopleth mapping of cancer mortality risk using area-to-point Poisson kriging.

BACKGROUND: Geostatistical techniques that account for spatially varying population sizes and spatial patterns in the filtering of choropleth maps of cancer mortality were recently developed. Their implementation was facilitated by the initial assumption that all geographical units are the same size and shape, which allowed the use of geographic centroids in semivariogram estimation and kriging. Another implicit assumption was that the population at risk is uniformly distributed within each unit. This paper presents a generalization of Poisson kriging whereby the size and shape of administrative units, as well as the population density, is incorporated into the filtering of noisy mortality rates and the creation of isopleth risk maps. An innovative procedure to infer the point-support semivariogram of the risk from aggregated rates (i.e. areal data) is also proposed. RESULTS: The novel methodology is applied to age-adjusted lung and cervix cancer mortality rates recorded for white females in two contrasted county geographies: 1) state of Indiana that consists of 92 counties of fairly similar size and shape, and 2) four states in the Western US (Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah) forming a set of 118 counties that are vastly different geographical units. Area-to-point (ATP) Poisson kriging produces risk surfaces that are less smooth than the maps created by a naïve point kriging of empirical Bayesian smoothed rates. The coherence constraint of ATP kriging also ensures that the population-weighted average of risk estimates within each geographical unit equals the areal data for this unit. Simulation studies showed that the new approach yields more accurate predictions and confidence intervals than point kriging of areal data where all counties are simply collapsed into their respective polygon centroids. Its benefit over point kriging increases as the county geography becomes more heterogeneous. CONCLUSION: A major limitation of choropleth maps is the common biased visual perception that larger rural and sparsely populated areas are of greater importance. The approach presented in this paper allows the continuous mapping of mortality risk, while accounting locally for population density and areal data through the coherence constraint. This form of Poisson kriging will facilitate the analysis of relationships between health data and putative covariates that are typically measured over different spatial supports.

Cluster Analysis↗