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PubMedDate not supplied

Co-ordinated countermeasures of Caribbean countries against the illicit drug traffic: recent developments and prospects.

The illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances presents a growing threat to the Caribbean countries and territories. The geographical location of the Caribbean subregion between the areas in South America producing illicit drugs and lucrative illicit markets in North America and Europe is an important factor contributing to an increasing involvement of the subregion in illicit drug trafficking operations. In addition, the archipelagic configuration of many of the countries and territories of the Caribbean makes it easier for traffickers to escape law enforcement action, thus providing a further stimulus to international drug trafficking. The Caribbean Governments have therefore initiated law enforcement countermeasures to combat drug trafficking and taken legal and administrative action to prevent and eradicate illicit cultivation of narcotic crops, as well as to prevent and reduce illicit demand for drugs. The Governments have also made increasing efforts to improve international and bilateral co-operation to combat drug trafficking and drug abuse. The decisive efforts of Caribbean Governments, however, are impeded, on the one hand, by the limited availability of trained professional manpower and of the technical and economic resources required to combat drug trafficking effectively, and, on the other hand, by the superior financial and technical capacity of the international drug trafficking organizations. The provision of technical and financial assistance by the international community to the countries and territories of the Caribbean is therefore needed to help overcome these constraints and to enable them to cope with the increasing drug problems in the subregion.

Cannabis↗
PubMed2002

Ethnicity and risk of diabetes-related lower extremity amputation: a population-based, case-control study of African Caribbeans and Europeans in the United kingdom.

BACKGROUND: In the United States, people of black African descent with diabetes have 2 to 3 times the amputation risk of whites. This may be due to differences in care or pathophysiological characteristics. We therefore determined diabetes-related amputation rates in African Caribbeans vs Europeans in the United Kingdom, where care delivery is more equitable. METHODS: We conducted an incidence and case-control study, based in London, England. All diabetes-related amputations performed between 1992 and 1997 were identified. Controls, those with diabetes but no amputation, were sampled from family practitioners. Risk factor data were abstracted from medical records. RESULTS: Incident diabetes-related amputation occurred in 67 Europeans and 19 African Caribbeans. Amputation rates, age standardized to the diabetic population, were 147 per 100 000 and 219 per 100 000 in African Caribbeans and Europeans, respectively (relative risk, 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.32-1.40; P =.2). Case-control analyses were performed on 178 cases and 350 controls. The ethnic difference in amputation risk differed significantly by sex (P =.009 for interaction). The unadjusted odds ratio comparing African Caribbeans with Europeans in men was 0.31 (95% CI, 0.17-0.57; P<.001), and in women was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.49-1.85; P =.9). Adjustment for smoking attenuated the odds ratio in men to 0.45 (95% CI, 0.23-0.89, P =.02); adding neuropathy, peripheral vascular disease, and age attenuated the odds ratio further to 0.97 (95% CI, 0.34-2.73; P =.9). CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to the United States, we find no ethnic difference in diabetes-related amputation in women in the United Kingdom, but in men, amputation risk in African Caribbeans is one third that of Europeans. This was wholly accounted for by low smoking, neuropathy, and peripheral vascular disease rates.

Africa↗
PubMed2000

Porphobilinogen deaminase gene in African and Afro-Caribbean ethnic groups: mutations causing acute intermittent porphyria and specific intragenic polymorphisms.

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP), the most common acute hepatic porphyria, is a low-penetrant autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the porphobilinogen deaminase (PBGD) or hydroxymethylbilane synthase (HMBS) gene. Although AIP has been identified in all the main ethnic groups, little is known about PBGD gene defects in Africans, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Americans. We have carried out PBGD gene screening among seven unrelated AIP families and 98 controls belonging to the Afro-Caribbean (French West Indies) and the sub-Saharan African (Morocco, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, and Burkina Faso) populations. Using denaturing-gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and direct sequencing we characterized six different mutations, including four novel, from the seven AIP families: three splicing defects (IVS 5+2 Ins G; IVS 7+1 G to A in two families; IVS 10-1 G to T); a small deletion (1004 Del G); and two missense mutations (R116 W; A270G). The allele frequencies of the 14 polymorphic sites, previously known in the normal Caucasian population, were similar in Africans and Afro-Caribbean control populations. Interestingly, two common new intragenic polymorphic sites, close to intron/junction boundaries, were identified only in blacks: 1) in intron 2, a single base-pair G deletion at position 3167 (G:0.88; delG:0.12); 2) in intron 10, a A/G dimorphism at position 7052 (A:0.56; G:0.44). These two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were never encountered in 750 unrelated Caucasian subjects. The allele frequency distributions of populations within black ethnic groups (Africans and Afro-Caribbean) are similar. This study highlights differences both in PBGD gene mutations causing AIP and in SNPs between white and black peoples; the allele frequencies provided contribute to a better knowledge of the variability of these markers among the major population groups, especially in sub-Saharan West African and Afro-Caribbean populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Molecular evolution and phylogeny of dengue type 4 virus in the Caribbean.

We sequenced the E gene and adjacent prM/M and NS1 junctions (1940 bp) of 48 Dengue-4 (DEN-4) isolates collected between 1981 and 1999 from 8 Caribbean islands and from 7 South and Central American countries. Phylogenetic analysis confirms a single introduction in the early 1980s and a high degree of gene flow resulting in a pattern of evolution defined more by time period than geographic origin, especially within the Caribbean basin. A modern Caribbean clade consisting of four distinct lineages has arisen, comprised of isolates from Caribbean islands and nearby regions of South America. This clade is defined by three amino acid substitutions in the E (aa 163 and 351) and NS1 (aa 52) proteins. These findings highlight the importance of migration and gene flow in dengue viral change and suggest that efforts to understand disease dynamics in the Caribbean basin need to focus at regional, rather than local scales.

Caribbean Region↗
PubMed2002

The provision of family planning services in the Caribbean.

This article examines the provision of family planning services in selected countries in the Caribbean. The potential impact of the funding shortfall resulting from the phasing out of funding by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and the strategies being adopted by the selected countries to cope with this, are considered. Stratified random sampling methods were employed to select eight Caribbean countries and a pre-designed questionnaire was administered to the agency responsible for family planning services in each country. The sample was stratified geographically to include countries from different parts of the Caribbean. The questionnaire was designed to collect information on the services provided, the name of the agency responsible for the provision of services and, where possible, the number of users of each type of service in 1998 and 1997. Vast disparities were found in the provision of family planning services in different Caribbean countries, in terms of the groups involved, the services available in each country, as well as methods of data collection and compilation. Anguilla and Bermuda were found to provide only limited family planning services, while Barbados, Jamaica and Grenada provide much more sophisticated services. A salient finding was the innovative approaches that various countries in the region have adopted to fund family planning programmes in anticipation of the phasing out of IPPF funding. The standpoint taken in the study is that countries such as Anguilla and Bermuda must strive to improve their provision of family planning services, and that they could learn from Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica, which provide much more comprehensive services. It is also concluded that, unless alternative funding sources are identified and accessed, the provision of family planning services in the Caribbean is likely to decline in the future.

Caribbean Region↗
PubMed1997

Increased incidence of psychotic disorders in migrants from the Caribbean to the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: Several studies have replicated the finding of increased incidence of schizophrenia and related psychoses in first and second generation migrants from the Caribbean. The finding has remained consistent in studies employing different methods, but concern has been expressed about indirect methods of calculating the population at risk. This study aims to overcome these short-comings. METHOD: A further prospective study was undertaken in Nottingham assembling an inception cohort of psychotic patients (N = 168) presenting from a defined catchment area. The 1991 census, which includes codings for self-ascribed ethnic origin, was used to calculate the denominator, employing correction factors for potential under-enumeration. Case-ascertainment was based upon all service contacts and subjects had in-depth assessments including the SCAN. Collateral history was obtained from informants. RESULTS: Subjects born in the Caribbean, or who had one or both parents born in the Caribbean, had a greatly elevated risk (incidence ratios above 7) for all psychotic disorders and for ICD-10 (DCR)-defined F20 Schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: The size of the increase and the methodological safeguards employed support the validity of this now highly replicated finding. A personal or family history of migration from the Caribbean is a major risk factor for psychosis; the consistency of this finding justifies a systematic evaluation of potential aetiological factors. Any hypothesis derived from the evidence so far must explain: increased incidence in first and second generation migrants; increased risk for all psychoses (including affective psychoses); and an effect specifically associated with a migration history from the Caribbean to Northern Europe.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Peripheral arterial compliance is lower in Afro-Caribbeans compared to white Caucasians with type 2 diabetes after adjustment for blood pressure.

Arterial compliance declines with age. However this decline occurs more rapidly in both the hypertensive and diabetic states. Afro-Caribbeans have a higher prevalence of hypertension and other complications of diabetes than the indigenous white Caucasian population. We hypothesise that accelerated decline in arterial compliance may account for this racial difference. Forty-one volunteers, age 62.5 +/- 6.8 years (mean +/- s.d., range 48-75), were selected from diabetic clinics. Twenty-one were Caucasian and 20 were Afro-Caribbean. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured using non-invasive techniques: the 'Complior' system was used to record PWV in the carotid-to-radial (C-R) and carotid-to-femoral (C-F) regions. Central arterial compliance (CAC) was measured by simultaneous aortic flow velocimetry and carotid artery applanation tonometry. The duration of diabetes was taken as the time from clinical diagnosis. Baseline characteristics in the two racial groups were comparable for age, BMI, cholesterol, HbA1c, blood pressure and duration of diabetes. Comparing the PWV in the C-F region showed that the mean PWV was 13.84 +/- 0.28 m/sec in the Caucasians and 13.97 +/- 0.34 m/sec in the Afro-Caribbeans (P = 0. 86) whereas in the C-R region the mean PWV was 11.13 +/- 0.28 m/sec in Caucasians and 12.10 +/- 0.34 m/sec in the Afro-Caribbeans (P = 0. 03). In agreement with the C-F findings there was no statistical difference in CAC between the two races. Adjustment of PWV in the carotid-radial (C-R) region for systolic and diastolic blood pressure, confirmed that the racial differences were independent of blood pressure (difference 0.91 m/sec, P = 0.046 after adjustment for diastolic pressure and 0.89 m/sec, P = 0.056 after adjustment for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure). Accelerated decline in peripheral arterial compliance may account for the increased stroke rate with diabetes in Afro-Caribbeans.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2003

Evaluation of equity in diabetes health care in relation to African and Caribbean ethnicity.

OBJECTIVE: Many US studies have shown that ethnic minority groups have less access to health care. We evaluated whether black African and black Caribbean people with diabetes in the UK gain access to diabetes health care on an equitable basis compared with white people. DESIGN: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey set in 29 general practices in south London. Main measures were self-reported morbidity, SF-36 scores and utilisation of health care. Analyses of utilisation variables were adjusted for age, sex, ethnic group, duration of diabetes, and socio-economic and health status. RESULTS: There were 1,899 respondents (64%) from 2,983 individuals registered with diabetes. These included 799 white, 522 black Caribbean, 163 black African and 415 other subjects with type 2 diabetes. After adjusting for need, black Caribbeans reported higher utilisation of health care than white subjects for four of nine utilisation variables, and black Africans for two. For the remaining variables utilisation was equivalent in different ethnic groups. Black Caribbean subjects were more likely to be treated for hypertension if hypertensive (odds ratio 1.84, 95% CI 1.05 to 3.22), to use blood or urine self-monitoring (1.40, 1.04 to 1.88) and to have attended a diabetes nurse (1.34, 1.04 to 1.74) or dietician (1.49, 1.19 to 1.86). Black Africans were more likely to have attended a dietician (2.15, 1.40 to 3.29) or an ophthalmologist (1.72, 1.10 to 2.70) in the past year. CONCLUSION: There was no evidence from this study that black African or black Caribbean subjects had less access to diabetes health care in relation to need.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Neuropsychological test performance among Caribbean-born and U.S.-born African American elderly: the role of age, education and reading level.

Within-group variation is an important yet under-studied component of cross-cultural neuropsychology. The current study explored this potential source of variation in a neurologically healthy African American elderly sample by comparing the neuropsychological test performance of nondemented groups of Caribbean-born and U.S.-born African American elders who live in New York City. Caribbean-born elders resided in the U.S. for a mean of 41.5 years (SD=17.0). Results indicate that in general, Caribbean-born elders in this cohort did not demonstrate a unique cognitive testing profile from U.S.-born African American elders. However, the Caribbean-born group demonstrated a higher quality of education than their U.S.-born counterparts. The influence of demographic factors (i.e., age and education) on neuropsychological test performance was markedly attenuated in Caribbean-born elders though reading level was the strongest predictor of test performance for all elders, regardless of birthplace.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1999

Screening for depression in African-Caribbean elders.

BACKGROUND: There are increasing numbers of older African-Caribbeans in the UK. Primary care staff often feel less confident about diagnosing depression in this group. Screening instruments may assist in making diagnoses in cross-cultural consultations. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of screening instruments for depression in older African-Caribbean people in Manchester, UK. METHODS: We carried out a two-stage study to compare three screening instruments for depression (Geriatric Depression Scale, Brief Assessment Schedule Depression Cards, Caribbean Culture Specific Screen), with a computerized diagnostic interview for mental health disorders in older adults (Geriatric Mental State). The study was set in inner-city Manchester. The subjects were community-resident African-Caribbeans aged 60 years and over; 227 subjects were approached. Of the 160 people screened, 130 agreed to diagnostic interview. The main outcome measures were Spearman correlation coefficients; these were calculated between each screening instrument and the diagnostic interview. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine appropriate sensitivity and specificity for each instrument. RESULTS: The results for the largest subgroup, the Jamaicans (n = 96/130), demonstrated highly significant correlations between screening instruments and diagnostic interview (P < 0.001). Each instrument had a high sensitivity: Brief Assessment Schedule depression cards (cut-off > or =6; sensitivity 90.9% (95% CI 58.8-99.8), specificity 82.1% (95% CI 74.0-90.3)), Caribbean Culture Specific Screen (cut-off > or =6; sensitivity 90.9% (95% CI 58.8-99.8), specificity 74.1% (95% CI 64.8-83.4)), and Geriatric Depression Scale (cut-off > or =4; sensitivity 100% (95% CI 97.1-100), specificity 69.1% (95% CI 59.6-79.2)). CONCLUSIONS: These screening instruments demonstrate high sensitivity levels, if an appropriate cut-off point is used. The culture-specific instrument did not perform better than the traditional instruments. Health professionals should approach the consultation in a culturally sensitive manner and use the validated instrument they are most familiar with.

Age Distribution↗
PubMed2004

"Don't know enough about it!": awareness and attitudes toward organ donation and transplantation among the black Caribbean and black African population in Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham, United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: The current demand for transplant organs, particularly kidneys, far outweighs the supply in the United Kingdom. This problem is particularly severe for the black African and black Caribbean population, who have been shown to have a disproportionately greater presentation on kidney transplant waiting lists in some regions of the United Kingdom. The situation is clear: There is an urgent need to address the number of black African and black Caribbean patients requiring a kidney transplant, otherwise the human and economic costs will be high. METHODS: An exploratory study was undertaken to assess the current awareness of organ donation and transplantation and to explore attitudes toward these issues in a cross-section of the black African and black Caribbean population in Lambeth, Southwark, and Lewisham. RESULTS: It was found that there was a lack of available information for the black African and black Caribbean communities. This precipitated low levels of awareness about organ donation and transplantation issues. CONCLUSIONS: In an effort to redress this, effective methods for targeting black African and black Caribbean groups are required. From this study, there are indications that appeals for organ donors may be more effectively communicated by using a grass-roots, community-network approach. For this reason, consideration should be given to language and cultural needs, and to the provision of culturally sensitive material and information.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Schizophrenia in Afro-Caribbean immigrants.

Hospital admission rates for schizophrenia are higher in Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Britain than in the white British-born population. However, the reported differences in incidence and prevalence could be due to confounding variables: the diagnosis of schizophrenia might not carry the same prognostic implications in the two groups; and the differences in formal admission rates might not persist when demographic and diagnostic differences are allowed for. The case-notes of 50 Afro-Caribbean immigrants and 41 British-born white patients with a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia were examined retrospectively, the average period covered being 12 years. There were no differences in the number of readmissions, but in the Afro-Caribbean group readmissions were shorter. Involuntary admissions were twice as common in Afro-Caribbeans and this excess was not explained by differences in age, sex, or type of illness. The reported excess of schizophrenia in Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Britain is real, but the illness seems to run a milder course than in the white British-born population.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Increased first-contact rates for very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis in African- and Caribbean-born elders.

BACKGROUND: Studies have consistently shown a higher incidence of schizophrenia with onset in early adult life in African and Caribbean migrants to the UK. AIMS: To establish the incidence (first-contact rates) of very-late-onset (>60 years) schizophrenia-like psychosis (SLP) in south London and to test the hypothesis that this is higher among African- and Caribbean-born than indigenous elders. METHOD: We identified all new referrals of SLP to the Maudsley Hospital between 1995 and 2000. Demographic details, including age, ethnicity and electoral ward (address), were obtained from case notes. Incidence was estimated using 1997 census data to determine the denominator population for each ethnic group. RESULTS: The incidence of SLP was significantly higher in African- and Caribbean-born than indigenous elders: 172.4 per 100,000 population (95% CI=57.9--286.8) in African- and Caribbean-born males and 323.5 per 100,000 population (95% CI 167.8--479.1) in African- and Caribbean-born females. Rates also were increased in elders from other immigrant groups, but the numbers involved were too small to reach accepted levels of significance. CONCLUSIONS: Large-scale epidemiological studies are needed to determine both the incidence of and the coexistent risk factors for SLP among all elderly migrants, who may constitute a group with high service needs.

Africa↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Mental disorders in Latin America and the Caribbean: a public health priority].

OBJECTIVE: The growing burden of mental disorders in Latin America and the Caribbean has become too large to ignore. There is a need to know more about the prevalence of mental disorders and the gap between the number of individuals with psychiatric disorders and the number of those persons who remain untreated even though effective treatments exist. Having that knowledge would make it possible to improve advocacy, adopt better policies, formulate innovative intervention programs, and apportion resources commensurate with needs. METHODS: Data were extracted from community-based psychiatric epidemiological studies published in Latin America and the Caribbean from 1980 through 2004 that used structured diagnostic instruments and provided prevalence rates. Estimates of the crude rates in Latin America and the Caribbean for the various disorders were determined by calculating the mean and median rates across the studies, by gender. In addition, data on service utilization were reviewed in order to calculate the treatment gap for specific disorders. RESULTS: Nonaffective psychosis (including schizophrenia) had an estimated mean one-year prevalence rate of 1.0%; major depression, 4.9%; and alcohol use abuse or dependence, 5.7%. Over one-third of individuals with nonaffective psychosis, over half of those with an anxiety disorder, and some three-fourths of those with alcohol use abuse or dependence did not receive mental health care from either specialized or general health services. CONCLUSIONS: The current treatment gap in mental health care in Latin America and the Caribbean remains wide. Further, current data likely greatly underestimate the number of untreated individuals. The epidemiological transition and changes in the population structure will further widen the treatment gap in Latin America and the Caribbean unless mental health policies are formulated or updated and programs and services are expanded.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

[Toward a model of communications in public health in Latin America and the Caribbean].

OBJECTIVE: So far, there have been no bibliometric or scientometric studies that make it possible to examine, with quantitative, retrospective, and comprehensive criteria, the scientific output on public health in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Further, the weakness of the existing information systems makes it impossible to examine the relevance, quality, and impact of this scientific output, with a view to evaluating it in terms of societal needs and existing patterns of scientific communication. This article presents the results of a bibliographic analysis of the scientific output in the area of public health in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ultimate goal of the analysis is to build a model of scientific communication in this field, to help researchers, managers, and others working in the area of public health to make decisions and choose actions to take. METHODS: We conducted a literature review in order to identify the distribution of publications on public health that were produced by LAC researchers and published in each of the LAC countries from 1980 through 2002. The review used the Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Saúde Pública (LILACS-SP) (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Public Health) bibliographic database. That database is operated by the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information (BIREME), which is in São Paulo, Brazil. We processed the LILACS-SP data using two software packages, Microsoft Excel and Bibexcel, to obtain indicators of the scientific output, the type of document, the language, the number of authors for each publication, the thematic content, and the participating institutions. For the 1980-2002 period, there were 97,605 publications registered, from a total of 37 LAC countries. RESULTS: For the analysis presented in this article, we limited the sample to the 8 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that had at least 3,000 documents each registered in the LILACS-SP database over the 1980-2002 study period. In descending order of the number of publications registered, the 8 nations were: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela. Those 8 countries were responsible for 83,054 publications (85.10% of the total of 97,605 registered documents produced by the 37 LAC countries). Of those 83,054 publications from the 8 countries, 56,253 of them (67.73%) were articles published in scientific journals and 24,488 were monographs (29.48%). The proportion of works produced by two or more coauthors was relatively high (56.48%). The 56,253 articles appeared in a total of 929 different journals. Of the 929 journals, 91 of them published at least 150 articles over the study period. In descending order, LAC journals with the largest number of articles on public health were: Revista de Saúde Pública (Brazil); Cadernos de Saúde Pública (Brazil); Revista Médica de Chile; Archivos Latinoamericanos de Nutrición (Venezuela); and Salud Pública de México. The 91 journals that published at least 150 articles represented 29 different specialties. The most common of the specialties for the 91 journals were general medicine (18 journals) and pediatrics (10 journals). In descending order, the populations that the publications dealt with primarily were human beings in general, females, males, and adults; and, in descending order, a relatively small number of publications dealt with pregnant women and middle-aged or elderly persons. The topics most often covered in the publications were risk factors, health policy, and primary health care, as well as family doctors in the case of Cuba. CONCLUSIONS: This research produced a preliminary model of communications in public health in LAC countries that will hopefully help lay the groundwork for further research to develop a model of scientific communication in LAC nations.

Argentina↗
PubMed1991

Second generation Afro-Caribbeans and young whites with a first admission diagnosis of schizophrenia.

A study of young Afro-Caribbeans and whites diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia on a first admission suggests that the over-representation of Afro-Caribbeans with this diagnosis is not explained by mis-diagnosis. The Afro-Caribbeans were more likely to live alone and to be in contact with the police or prison services before admission. They were also more likely to be admitted compulsorily, especially on forensic orders. They were less likely to make and maintain voluntary contact with the services. There was little difference in the physical treatment given to both groups but the Afro-Caribbeans were more likely to be re-admitted in subsequent years and one third of the Afro-Caribbean males were treated at some time in forensic units. Results are discussed with reference to previous literature and some recommendations made.

Acculturation↗
PubMed2004

Phylogenetic evidence for an ancient rapid radiation of Caribbean sponge-dwelling snapping shrimps (Synalpheus).

A common challenge in reconstructing phylogenies involves a high frequency of short internal branches, which makes basal relationships difficult to resolve. Often it is not clear whether this pattern results from insufficient or inappropriate data, versus from a rapid evolutionary radiation. The snapping shrimp genus Synalpheus, which contains in excess of 100 species and is a prominent component of coral-reef faunas worldwide, provides an example. Its taxonomy has long been problematic due to the subtlety of diagnostic characters and apparently widespread variability within species. Here we use partial mt COI and 16S rRNA sequences and morphological characters to reconstruct relationships among 31 species in the morphologically well-defined gambarelloides species group, a putative clade of obligate sponge associates that is mostly endemic to the Caribbean and contains the only known eusocial marine animals. Analysis of the combined data produced a single tree with good support for many terminal clades and for relationships with outgroups, but poor support for branches near the base of the gambarelloides group. Most basal branches are extremely short and terminal branches are long, suggesting a relatively ancient, but rapid radiation of the gambarelloides group. This hypothesis is supported by significant departure from a null model of temporally random cladogenesis. Calibration of divergence times among gambarelloides-group species using data from three geminate pairs of Synalpheus species separated by the isthmus of Panamá suggests a major radiation between approximately 5 and 7 Mya, a few My before final closure of the Panamanian seaway during a period of spreading carbonate environments in the Caribbean; a second, smaller radiation occurred approximately 4 Mya. This molecular evidence for a rapid radiation among Caribbean marine organisms in the late Miocene/early Pliocene is strikingly similar to patterns documented from fossil data for several other Caribbean reef-associated invertebrate taxa. The similar patterns and timing of cladogenesis evidenced by molecular and fossil data for different Caribbean and East Pacific taxa suggests that the radiation involved a wide range of organisms, and strengthens the case that poor basal resolution in the gambarelloides group of Synalpheus reflects a real evolutionary phenomenon. The rapid radiation also helps explain the historical difficulty of diagnosing species in Synalpheus.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Factor analysis of symptoms in schizophrenia: differences between White and Caribbean patients in Camberwell.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of schizophrenia among African-Caribbeans living in Britain has been frequently reported to be increased. We sought to determine whether the symptom profile in schizophrenic patients from this group differed from that of their White counterparts. METHODS: Factor analysis was applied to symptom data obtained by the Present State Examination (PSE) from a group of White (N = 96) and Afro-Caribbean (N = 64) patients who satisfied Research Diagnostic Criteria criteria for broad schizophrenia. We identified six symptom dimensions: mania, depression, first-rank delusions, other delusions, hallucinations and one which comprised both manic and catatonic symptoms. RESULTS: The only difference between the two ethnic groups was seen on the mixed mania-catatonia dimension with the Afro-Caribbean group being over-represented. There were no other significant differences between the groups. Discriminant analysis, however, revealed no significant differences between the groups in any dimension. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that there are no differences between White and African-Caribbean patients with schizophrenia in terms of the core symptoms of the disorder, however, the African-Caribbean patients may present with more symptoms of a mixed affective nature.

Adolescent↗