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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

A cautionary tale on ancient migration detection: mitochondrial DNA variation in Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands.

Over the past decade, the origin of the first Malayo-Polynesian settlers of the island Pacific has become a contentious issue in molecular anthropology as well as in archaeology and historical linguistics. Whether the descendants of the ancestral Malayo-Polynesian speakers moved rapidly through Indonesia and Island Melanesia in a few hundred years, or whether they were the product of considerable intermingling within the more westerly part of the latter region, it is widely accepted that they were the first humans to colonize the distant Pacific islands beyond the central Solomon Islands approximately 3,000 years ago. The Santa Cruz Islands in the Eastern Solomons would have most likely been the first in Remote Oceania to be colonized by them. Archaeologically, the first Oceanic Austronesian settlement of this region appears to have been overlain by various later influences from groups farther west in a complex manner. Molecular anthropologists have tended to equate the spread of various Austronesian-speaking groups with a particular mitochondrial variant (a 9-base-pair [bp] deletion with specific D-loop variants). We have shown before that this is an oversimplified picture, and assumed that the Santa Cruz situation, with its series of intrusions, would be informative as to the power of mitochondrial DNA haplotype interpretations. In the Santa Cruz Islands, the 9-bp deletion is associated with a small number of very closely related hypervariable D-loop haplotypes resulting in a star-shaped Bandelt median network, suggesting a recent population expansion. This network is similar to Polynesian median networks. In a pairwise mismatch comparison, the Santa Cruz haplotypes have a bimodal distribution, with the first cluster being composed almost entirely of the 9-bp-deleted haplotypes-again attesting to their recent origins. Conversely, the nondeleted haplogroups bear signatures of more ancient origins within the general region. Therefore, while the profiles of the two sets of haplotypes indicate very distinctive origins in different populations with divergent expansion histories, the sequence of their introduction into the Santa Cruz Islands clearly does not follow simply.

DNA, Mitochondrial↗
PubMed1997

Facial scarification and tattooing on Santa Catalina Island (Solomon Islands).

Ritual scarification is the culturally sanctioned process of incising the skin to achieve patterned scars. Scarification was practiced widely by traditional societies, but the encroachment of Western cultural expectations has made the practice increasingly uncommon. Ritual tattooing has a meaningful place in many traditional societies. Ritual scarification and tattooing are still found on Santa Catalina Island, an isolated member of the Solomon Islands in the south-west Pacific.

Cicatrix↗
PubMed2006

Y-chromosome diversity is inversely associated with language affiliation in paired Austronesian- and Papuan-speaking communities from Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands lie in the center of Island Melanesia, bordered to the north by the Bismarck Archipelago and to the south by Vanuatu. The nation's half-million inhabitants speak around 70 languages from two unrelated language groups: Austronesian, a language family widespread in the Pacific and closely related to languages spoken in Island Southeast Asia, and "East Papuan", generally defined as non-Austronesian and distantly related to the extremely diverse Papuan languages of New Guinea. Despite the archipelago's presumed role as a staging post for the settlement of Remote Oceania, genetic research on Solomon Island populations is sparse. We collected paired samples from two regions that have populations speaking Austronesian and Papuan languages, respectively. Here we present Y-chromosome data from these samples, the first from Solomon Islands. We detected five Y-chromosome lineages: M-M106, O-M175, K-M9*, K-M230, and the extremely rare clade, K1-M177. Y-chromosome lineages from Solomon Islands fall within the range of other Island Melanesian populations but display markedly lower haplogroup diversity. From a broad Indo-Pacific perspective, Y-chromosome lineages show partial association with the distribution of language groups: O-M175 is associated spatially with Austronesian-speaking areas, whereas M-M106 broadly correlates with the distribution of Papuan languages. However, no relationship between Y-chromosome lineages and language affiliation was observed on a small scale within Solomon Islands. This pattern may result from a sampling strategy that targeted small communities, where individual Y-chromosome lineages can be fixed or swept to extinction by genetic drift or favored paternal exogamy.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1975

Vector control of filariasis in the Solomon Islands.

In Solomon Islands, filariasis is caused by the nocturnally perodic form of Wuchereria bancrofti and is transmitted by the same vectors of malaria. This study explores the control of this disease as an additional effect of the Malaria Eradication Programme.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

A population genetic study of the Banks and Torres Islands (Vanuatu) and of the Santa Cruz Islands and Polynesian Outliers (Solomon Islands).

As part of a multidisciplinary survey of populations in the Banks and Torres Islands of Vanuatu and the Southern and Central Districts of the Solomon Islands, nearly 2,400 persons have been tested for ABO blood groups and a number of serum protein and red cell enzyme genetic marker systems. For the ABO system, the populations are characterized in general by high gene O and low gene B frequencies except in two of the Polynesian Outlier Islands, Rennell and Bellona, which have high frequencies of B. Among the serum proteins, several alleles have distributions indicating significant movement of people between islands. These include Albumin New Guinea and the transferrin alleles TfD1, and TfBLae, and TfB2. Similar specific alleles for red cell enzymes also show distributions reflecting interisland population movement as well as contact with persons from outside the southern Pacific region. Examples are ACPR1 in the acid phosphatase system, PGM31 and PGM71, PGM92, and PGM102, PGK4 and also HbJTongariki. The data available for 11 polymorphic systems were used to generate genetic distances. Of the four Polynesian Outlier Islands, Anuta is most remote genetically, with Rennell and Bellona also relatively isolated. The fourth Polynesian Outlier, Tikopia, occupies a position genetically close to the Melanesian populations of the Banks and Torres Islands and the southern Solomons. The history of early European contact and voyaging in the Pacific, as well as archaeological and linguistic evidence and local legends, indicate that significant movements of people occurred between islands and provided opportunities for genes to be introduced from Europeans, Africans, and Asians. The genetic marker studies give evidence for genes from all these sources, though at a low level. Despite this admixture, the Polynesian Outlier and Melanesian populations have preserved their own distinctive genetic patterns.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1994

Prevalence of malaria and its relationship to anemia, blood glucose levels, and serum somatomedin c (IGF-1) levels in the Solomon Islands.

As part of establishing effective methods for malaria control, the malaria-associated nutritional status was surveyed on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomon Islands in 1993. A total of 506 residents participated in this study. The slide positive rate for malaria was 54% (275/506) in all ages, with a high of 79% for children aged 4-6 years. Plasmodium falciparum was the most common species (52%), followed by P. vivax (29%). Splenomegaly in children from infants to age 15 was detected at the rate of 30% (104/343) by the palpation method. Body mass index was lower in Solomon Islanders than for the Japanese population up to 15 years old in both genders. Mean values for serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) were also lower in Solomon Islanders in children under 18 years old. The hemoglobin distribution curves were almost identical in the malaria-positive (P(+)) and -negative (P(-)) groups. The percentage of cases with less than 80 mg/dl of blood glucose and those with less than 50 ng/ml of IGF-1 were higher in the P(+) group than for the anti-malaria drug-untreated malaria-negative (P(-)D(-)) group. It is suggested that low blood glucose and low IGF-1 levels may have some relationship with the malaria infection.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Scrub typhus in the Eastern Solomon Islands and Northern Vanuatu (New Hebrides).

Rickettsia tsutsugmushi has been isolated from Rattus rattus from Vanua Lava island in Northern Vanuatu (New Hebrides) and from R. exulans and Leptotrombidium akamushi on Ndende island in the Eastern Solomon Islands. The well-known vector mite L. deliense was found on Mota Lava and Vanua Lava in Vanuatu, but no isolation was made from pools of this mite. Serology confirms that R. tsutsugamushi infects humans in the Banks group of islands in Northern Vanuatu and that infection is much more widespread in the Solomon Islands than the limited isolations indicate.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Measuring maternal mortality in developing Pacific island countries: experience with the sisterhood method in the Solomon Islands.

AIMS: To estimate the maternal mortality rate in the Solomon Islands, and to assist health planning and implementation of effective interventions. METHOD: The sisterhood method, an indirect technique for deriving population-based estimates of maternal mortality was used in interviews with 2580 randomly chosen women reporting on the fertility and mortality experience of their sisters. RESULTS: The maternal mortality ratio in this study was 549 per 100,000 (95% CI 431, 684). This equates to one maternal death in every 180 pregnancies. CONCLUSION: The sisterhood method was found to be easy to administer, inexpensive and quick, and is recommended as a measurement tool to other developing countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Hospital services for children in the Solomon Islands: rebuilding after the civil conflict.

AIMS: The Solomon Islands health service, infrastructure and economy were severely affected by the civil conflict that occurred between 1998 and 2003. In 2002 plans to rebuild health services for children, especially those provided in provincial hospitals, were developed by paediatricians, in collaboration with the World Health Organization. We aimed to inform this process by an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the child health service, particularly in provincial hospitals. METHODS: A systematic assessment of the quality of hospital care for children in Solomon Islands was conducted in November 2003. The study used a WHO assessment tool, modified for use in the Asia-Pacific region. RESULTS: The assessment highlighted several problems in clinical care, human resources, health financing, referral systems, and training, and has been used as a basis for several interventions for improving the quality of paediatric care. CONCLUSION: This study and the initiatives that have followed it demonstrate the link between such assessments, child health policy and quality improvement activities. Such programs can be implemented even where resources are very limited. Sustaining initiatives based on this assessment will be important for the Solomon Islands if it is to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for child survival by 2015.

Child↗
PubMed1991

Highly divergent molecular variants of human T-lymphotropic virus type I from isolated populations in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

To determine the molecular genetic relationship between Melanesian strains of human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) and cosmopolitan prototype HTLV-I, we amplified by PCR, then cloned, and sequenced a 522-base-pair region of the HTLV-I env gene in DNA extracted from uncultured (fresh) and cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from six seropositive Melanesian Papua New Guineans and Solomon Islanders, including a Solomon Islander with HTLV-I myeloneuropathy. Unlike isolates of HTLV-I from Japan, the West Indies, the Americas, and Africa, which share greater than or equal to 97% sequence homology, the Melanesian strains of HTLV-I were only 91.8%-92.5% identical with a prototype Japanese HTLV-IATK-1. The nucleotide sequence of proviral DNA from the Solomon Islander with HTLV-I myeloneuropathy also diverged markedly from that of HTLV-I isolated from Japanese patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy and from Jamaican patients with tropical spastic paraparesis, suggesting that these variant viruses are capable of causing disease. The HTLV-I variants from Papua New Guineans, in turn, differed by nearly 4% from the Melanesian variants from Solomon Islanders, indicating the existence of another HTLV-I quasi-species. By contrast, HTLV-I strains from two residents of Bellona Island, a Polynesian Outlier within the Solomon Islands, were closely related to cosmopolitan prototype HTLV-I (greater than or equal to 97% sequence identity), suggesting recent introduction, possibly during this century. These findings are consistent with a proto-Melanesian HTLV-I strain of archaic presence, which evolved independently of contemporary cosmopolitan strains, and pose new questions about the origin and global dissemination of HTLV-I.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Ciguatera fish poisoning in the Solomon Islands.

Ciguatera fish poisoning may have existed in the Solomon Islands long ago though there has never been any ciguatera fish poisoning tests been carried to confirm its presence. Suspected occurrences are infrequent and seasonal. Most cases of ciguatera fish poisoning are undocumented that when cases do occur they depend largely on traditional-knowledge and anecdotal information. Areas suspected to have ciguatoxic poisoning problem in the Solomon Islands includes Santa Cruz, Rennell and Bellona, Indispensable reefs, Ontong Java and Wagina island. Fish species considered ciguatoxic includes red emperor, red snapper, roundfaced batfish, barracuda and blue lined sea-bream. In any way ciguatera fish poisoning is as yet not a big health problem in the Solomon Islands.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Prevalence of antibody to Chlamydia pneumoniae in residents of Japan, the Solomon Islands, and Nepal.

Sera of 4,050 residents from Japan, 276 from the Solomon Islands, and 602 from Nepal were tested by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to determine the prevalence of antibody to Chlamydia pneumoniae. The prevalence of IgG and IgA antibodies was significantly higher in the Solomon Islands (64.9% and 82.2%) and Nepal (73.1%, and 69.8%) than in Japan (53.6% and 41.1%). These prevalence rates increased throughout the teenage years in the Solomon Islands and Japan and leveled off with age, whereas in Nepal the prevalence rates gradually increased with age. The prevalence of a high (> 3.0) IgA antibody index, which is suggestive of acute infection, was significantly higher in the Solomon Islands (34.8%) than in Japan (3.2%) and Nepal (10.5%). The prevalence of IgG antibody ranged from 46.4% to 67.7%, and the prevalence of IgA antibody ranged from 33.7% to 61.8% in the four difference areas of Japan. These findings indicate considerable differences in the prevalence of antibodies to C. pneumoniae by age in these nations and between the regions of Japan tested.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Control of scabies, skin sores and haematuria in children in the Solomon Islands: another role for ivermectin.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of a 3-year programme aimed at controlling scabies on five small lagoon islands in the Solomon Islands by monitoring scabies, skin sores, streptococcal skin contamination, serology and haematuria in the island children. METHODS: Control was achieved by treating almost all residents of each island once or twice within 2 weeks with ivermectin (160-250 microg/kg), except for children who weighed less than 15 kg and pregnant women, for whom 5% permethrin cream was used. Reintroduction of scabies was controlled by treating returning residents and visitors, whether or not they had evident scabies. FINDINGS: Prevalence of scabies dropped from 25% to less than 1% (P < 0.001); prevalence of sores from 40% to 21% (P < 0.001); streptococcal contamination of the fingers in those with and without sores decreased significantly (P = 0.02 and 0.047, respectively) and anti-DNase B levels decreased (P = 0.002). Both the proportion of children with haematuria and its mean level fell (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001, respectively). No adverse effects of the treatments were seen. CONCLUSION: The results show that ivermectin is an effective and practical agent in the control of scabies and that control reduces the occurrence of streptococcal skin disease and possible signs of renal damage in children. Integrating community-based control of scabies and streptococcal skin disease with planned programmes for controlling filariasis and intestinal nematodes could be both practical and produce great health benefits.

Child↗
PubMed2004

Relationship of genotype rather than race to hepatitis B virus pathogenicity: a study of Japanese and Solomon Islanders.

The aim of this study was to determine the predominant hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotype in the Solomon Islands and determine if there is any racial correlation between genotype and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) production in Japanese and Melanesian individuals. A total of 403 serum samples from 206 Melanesian HBV carriers in the Solomon Islands and 197 Japanese carriers from Fukuoka (n = 106) and Okinawa (n = 91) living in Japan in 2001 were tested. The HBV genotypes of 206 Melanesian subjects were 114 with genotype C (55.3%) and 92 with genotype D (44.7%). The HBV genotypes of 197 Japanese subjects were 74 with genotype B (37.6%) and 123 with genotype C (62.4%). The total HBeAg prevalence of subjects in Fukuoka (36.8%) was significantly higher than that of subjects in Okinawa (14.3%) (P < 0.0001) and subjects in the Solomon Islands (35.0%; P = 0.0014, by the Mantel-Haenszel test). The genotype C prevalences were significantly different, ranging from 24.2% in Okinawa, to 54.4% in the Solomon Islands, to 95.3% in Fukuoka (all P < 0.0001, by chi-square test). The prevalence of HBeAg positivity was significantly higher in Melanesian genotype C subjects (42.0%) than Melanesian genotype D subjects (26.6%) (P = 0.0310). Similarly, the prevalence of HBeAg positivity was significantly higher in Japanese genotype C subjects (36.6%) than Japanese genotype B subjects (9.5%) (P < 0.0001). These findings indicate that that HBV was of genotypes C and D in the Solomon Islands, and that the pathogenesis of HBV-infected patients is related to HBV genotype rather than race.

Adolescent↗