Modern Populations Research Articles

Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea.

Populations genetically related to present-day Europeans first appeared in Europe at some point after 38,000-40,000 years ago, following a cold period of severe climatic disruption. These new migrants would eventually replace the pre-existing modern human ancestries in Europe, but initial interactions between these groups are unclear due to the lack of genomic evidence from the earliest periods of the migration. Here we describe the genomes of two 36,000-37,000-year-old individuals from Buran-Kaya III in Crimea as belonging to this newer migration. Both genomes share the highest similarity to Gravettian-associated individuals found several thousand years later in southwestern Europe. These genomes also revealed that the population turnover in Europe after 40,000 years ago was accompanied by admixture with pre-existing modern human populations. European ancestry before 40,000 years ago persisted not only at Buran-Kaya III but is also found in later Gravettian-associated populations of western Europe and Mesolithic Caucasus populations.

Eruption Status and Congenital Absence of Mandibular Third Molars from the Past to the Present in the Japanese Population

The eruption status and congenital absence of mandibular third molars were studied over time from the Jomon era to the present. The data were radiographs of buried human skeletons and modern populations. Eruption status was classified as upright, inclined, horizontal and congenital absence. The relationship with the M2-retromolar space was also examined. The eruption style of the mandibular third molars depends on the size of the M2-retromolar space, and as the M2-retromolar gap becomes narrower, the eruption goes from upright to inclined and then to horizontal. In congenital absence, most of the M2-retromolar space is less than 1/2 the mesiodistal diameter of the second molar. Congenital absence of mandibular third molars has been strongly influenced by heredity from prehistoric times to the Edo era. However, from the 1930s to the present, it has been more influenced by the environment, particularly food habits, with congenital absence of mandibular third molars declining as dietary habits becomes more favorable.

Range-wide and temporal genomic analyses reveal the consequences of near-extinction in Swedish moose

Ungulate species have experienced severe declines over the past centuries through overharvesting and habitat loss. Even if many game species have recovered thanks to strict hunting regulation, the genome-wide impacts of overharvesting are still unclear. Here, we examine the temporal and geographical differences in genome-wide diversity in moose (Alces alces) over its whole range in Sweden by sequencing 87 modern and historical genomes. We found limited impact of the 1900s near-extinction event but local variation in inbreeding and load in modern populations, as well as suggestion of a risk of future reduction in genetic diversity and gene flow. Furthermore, we found candidate genes for local adaptation, and rapid temporal allele frequency shifts involving coding genes since the 1980s, possibly due to selective harvesting. Our results highlight that genomic changes potentially impacting fitness can occur over short time scales and underline the need to track both deleterious and selectively advantageous genomic variation.

Attention-Based Multihead Deep Learning Framework for Online Activity Monitoring With Smartwatch Sensors

The expeditious propagation of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies implanted in different smart devices such as smartphones and smartwatches have a ubiquitous consequence on the modern population. These devices are employed to collect data and to aid in tracking and analyzing the users’ daily activities using various human activity monitoring and recognition (HAR) techniques. However, most current HAMR approaches rely on exploratory case-based shallow feature learning architectures, which endeavor to recognize activities correctly in real-world situations. To address this issue, we offer a unique strategy for HAMR that leverages the attention mechanism with multi-head convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Long-Short-Term-Memory (LSTM). The accuracy of activity detection is improved in the presented method by integrating attention into multi-head CNNs followed by LSTM for better feature extraction and selection. Verification investigations are carried out using data from the University of California (UCI) repository, which is publicly available. The results show that our proposed framework is more accurate than current frameworks using both the 10-fold and leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. Finally, the proposed method can recognize human activity in real-time, regardless of the type of smart device.

"Heal the sick": Health status and caregiving during the 17th-18th century in Northern Italy (St. Biagio cemetery, Ravenna).

The study of health-related care provision in archeology gives important indications on the culture and community organization of past populations. This study aims to assess the health status of the skeletal assemblage recovered from the burial site of St. Biagio (Ravenna, 17th-18th Centuries); next, we identified likely instances of need for and receipt of caregiving in response to the condition, to examine evidence of community attitudes toward disease and disability. The skeletal assemblage is composed of 133 individuals in a generally good state of preservation. Sex and age-at-death were estimated through classical anthropological methods. Health status was inferred through the biological index of frailty (BIF) and paleopathological analysis was performed through macroscopic and radiographic investigations. The "bioarcheology of care" approach was applied to individuals who showed evidence of impairment and disability. The skeletal assemblage of St. Biagio was equally represented by males and females (50% males), with a higher percentage of adults (83.4%) than subadults (10.5%), and this is reflected in the high life expectancy at birth (40.3 years). No significant differences in health status emerged between age groups and sexes, with a generally high percentage of joint diseases, antemortem trauma, and infectious diseases. Evidence of care and compassion was found in some individuals with a high degree of impairment or disability, as in the case of probable Angelman syndrome. This study provided important insights into the biological and social aspects of an Early Modern population in Northern Italy, showing that people with functional and/or visible abnormalities were probably cared for in life and were presumably considered full members of the society.

Genomic Data Disclose Potential Information on Evolutionary Interactions among Different Human Populations and Novel Education Technology Development

Study on language gene polymorphism patterns (LGPP) across different population genomes could provide incentives to develop novel education technology and important information on human evolution. In this study, as a preliminary observation, we adopted 148 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites from 13 language genes, each with 4-13 SNPs. These SNPs were screened across 112 whole genome sequences (including 59 ancient genomes ranging from 2000 BP to 120000 BP) from five continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America). We found that five distinct LGPPs featured across human evolution history, in which LGPP-1 may be the oldest version shared by animals and primitive hominins, though data also showed that LGPP-1 is still existing in some modern human populations. Asian and African possessed all LGPP types while European seemed lacking in the LGPP-2. Surprisingly, African samples had a relatively larger evolutionary distance from animals than other populations in LGPP1-4, while in LGPP-5 (the modern human type), some African samples had a relatively small evolutionary distance from animals than other human populations. Except for LGPP-2, all other LGPPs contained Asian, African and European, suggesting that there were vigorous interactions among these three continents all the time during human evolution. In this study, ancient American samples were only found in LGPP1-3, suggesting that either mutual migration among different continents happened much earlier than expected, or ancient Americans had little interactions with other populations after migrating into the America land.

High clergy feasts and suburban suppers: Diet and social status in Medieval and Early Modern Tartu, Estonia

This study explores the dietary habits of various social groups in Medieval and Early Modern Period Tartu in Estonia. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios from bone collagen were measured for 137 humans (115 adults and 22 non-adults) and 50 faunal specimens (including terrestrial mammals, birds, and fish). The results are in keeping with other comparable medieval and early modern European populations and indicate a diet largely based on terrestrial resources. Higher social status individuals from Tartu cathedral consumed significantly more marine protein than those from other burial locations. Dietary habits among commoners did not differ greatly between urban, suburban and rural locations. However, a distinct gender bias was apparent regarding access to higher trophic level protein with males having statistically significantly higher carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios compared to females.

METHOD FOR CREATING A GENERALIZED PORTRAIT-RECONSTRUCTION OF A PALAEOANTHROPOLOGICAL GROUP BASED ON 3D SKULL MODELS

The article presents a new method for visualizing paleoanthropological data – a generalized portrait-reconstruction based on craniological data. A generalized or composite portrait is widely used in studying modern population; it provides generalized visual information about the facial morphology of any population sample. Palaeoanthropological morphological studies also rely on group data, but often lack summarizing visual information. The method of craniofacial reconstruction provides reliable portraits of individuals from ancient groups. However, individual craniofacial reconstructions do not give insight into the morphology of the entire group or the difference between groups. The proposed method creates a craniofacial reconstruction based on a generalized three-dimensional model of the skull, built on the mean values of the coordinates of landmarks placed on the surfaces of models of all skulls in the sample. Testing this method on two morphologically different craniological samples showed that the final summary model reproduces the specific facial morphology of each group and the selected number of landmarks is sufficient. A generalized portrait-reconstruction illustrates morphological features and differences between paleoanthropological groups, and allows visual comparisons with modern populations.

A case of bilateral cleft palate with obturator prosthesis from XVIII century Cracow (Poland)

Atrophy or structural defects of the bone palate may be associated with congenital defects, cancer, damage related to dentition, or specific inflammatory diseases such as tuberculosis or syphilis. The prevalence of these conditions in modern populations is relatively high, but still the number of studies based on archaeological skeletal material is scarce.The aim of the work is to present the case of an adult male from 18th-century Poland with a large cavity in the hard palate to which was fitted a well-preserved obturator.The sex and age-at-death of the individual were estimated according to the methodology used in anthropological research. The skull of the individual was subjected to a detailed macroscopic assessment. Imaging tests were also performed using computed tomography.The differential diagnosis indicates the most probable cause of the defect to be an isolated bilateral cleft palate.

Assessing the genetic composition of cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) before sweeping anthropogenic impact.

During the last century, the critically endangered cotton-top tamarin (Saguinus oedipus) has been threatened by multiple anthropogenic factors that drastically affected their habitat and population size. As the genetic impact of these pressures is largely unknown, this study aimed to establish a genetic baseline with the use of temporal sampling to determine the genetic makeup before detrimental anthropogenic impact. Genomes were resequenced from a combination of historical museum samples and modern wild samples at low-medium coverage, to unravel how the cotton-top tamarin population structure and genomic diversity may have changed during this period. Our data suggest two populations can be differentiated, probably separated historically by the mountain ranges of the Paramillo Massif in Colombia. Although this population structure persists in the current populations, modern samples exhibit genomic signals consistent with recent inbreeding, such as long runs of homozygosity and a reduction in genome-wide heterozygosity especially in the greater northeast population. This loss is likely the consequence of the population reduction following the mass exportation of cotton-top tamarins for biomedical research in the 1960s, coupled with the habitat loss this species continues to experience. However, current populations have not experienced an increase in genetic load. We propose that the historical genetic baseline established in this study can be used to provide insight into alteration in the modern population influenced by a drastic reduction in population size as well as providing background information to be used for future conservation decision-making for the species.

The Trivers-Willard Effect for Educational Investment: Evidence from an African Sample

The Trivers-Willard hypothesis (TWH) states that individuals in good condition favor offspring of the sex that has a higher variance in reproductive value. Empirical studies with historical human populations suggest that the TWH might explain biased birth-ratios as well as biased parental investment in male or female offspring. However, empirical tests of the TWH in modern human populations are less conclusive.In this study, we investigate whether parental investment in education might be skewed according to the TWH in an African sample (N = 314) that includes students from 8 different countries. The data show that male students who rate their family’s wealth high tend to report more parental involvement in their own education, whereas the opposite is true for female students. This pattern is in accordance with the TWH for parental investment. The results support the validity of evolutionary explanations of behavioral bias in the context of parental investment in offspring education.

Частота встречаемости внутреннего лобного гиперостоза у представителей адаптивных типов по данным краниологии

Introduction. Hyperostosis frontalis interna (HFI) is a pathological condition characterized by the growth of the inner surface of the frontal bone. Most researchers describe HFI as a symptom associated with hormonal dysfunctions, which prevails in the modern population. This paper provides an analysis of HFI frequency on the craniological material of four adaptive types. Materials and methods. We have examined 2211 skulls (59 craniological collections from the Anuchin Research Institute and Museum of Anthropology, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, RAS and Federal Research Center of the Tyumen Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences). We have analyzed the total frequency of HFI, used a comparative intergroup analysis, and evaluated the degree of HFI expression and the distribution of the trait. Results and discussion. It was found that the frequency of HFI in groups of arctic, continental and temperate adaptive types ranged from 2.3% to 4.3%, which is significantly less than in the modern population (12-37%). In the group of the tropical adaptive type, HFI was not found. As a result of a comparative study of the severity of cases of frontal hyperostosis, type A was the most common, HFI type B was less common, and type C was recorded only for one individual of the Arctic adaptive type. The reasons for the relatively low prevalence of HFI in representatives of various adaptive types are discussed. Conclusion. According to a low frequency of HFI in studied adaptive types comparing to data in modern population can be considered that adaptation to environment and life style is more important than climate and geographical features. @ 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

Актуализация конституциональной схемы В.П. Чтецова для определения соматотипов у 17–19-летних юношей и девушек с учетом секулярных изменений размеров тела современного населения

Introduction. Against the background of the secular trend, which many authors note all over the world, researchers are faced with a methodological problem consisting in the choice of a constitutional scheme for assessing the type of physique. Until the early 2000s, V.P. Chtetsov's somatotypological scheme was widely used in our country, which has now lost its relevance due to the processes of secular trend. The aim of this study is to update the assessment tables in V.P. Chtetsov's constitutional scheme and to actualise the application of this scheme for the assessment of somatotypes in modern youth (aged 17–19 years). Materials and methods. The study is based on the materials obtained during the annual anthropometric monitoring of Moscow student youth in 2000-2023 (number of samples: 3026 women and 3452 men; measurement of more than 20 physique indices). Results. The updated normative tables for V.P. Chtetsov's constitutional scheme, calculated on the basis of anthropometric survey materials of more than 6400 people, are presented. Not only mean values and values of standard deviations have been updated in accordance with modern data, but also the general appearance of the tables (the boundaries of intervals for conversion of measuring features into points are presented) for easy reading of information. Discussion. When comparing the initial evaluation tables of V.P. Chtetsov's scheme with the updated ones, the main tendencies of the secular trend are observed: the modern youth clearly show a significant increase in longitudinal skeletal dimensions and a slight decrease in transverse skeletal dimensions, as well as a decrease in muscle mass and an increase in the fat component of the physique in comparison with the surveyed sample of the early 70s of the last century. A comparative analysis of the distribution of different variants of somatotypes of girls and boys, determined according to the original tables of V.P. Chtetsov's scheme and according to the updated tables of the same scheme, has been carried out. The distribution based on the updated normative tables objectively reflects the variability of body features and the distribution of somatotypes in modern youth. Conclusion. The obtained results are of practical importance, as new estimation tables for determining somatotypes (in this study for men and women aged 17–19) according to the constitutional scheme of V.P. Chtetsov, taking into account secular changes in body size in the modern population, are introduced into academic turnover. @ 2023. This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license

Лактулозосодержащие кормовые добавки как фактор прижизненного формирования качественной и безопасной продукции

Purpose. Evaluation of various types of modern lactulose-containing additives and the effectiveness of their use in feeding farm animals as one of the options for decision the problem of in vivo formation of high-quality and safe livestock products for the healthy nutrition of the modern population. Discussion. The revolution in feed production made by the Soviet scientist Minenkov A.R. in the middle of the 20th century, namely the use of antibiotics as a feed additive to stimulate productivity, became a failure by the beginning of the 21st century. By this time, the negative consequences of prolonged use of antibiotics were revealed, which led to the active rejection of them in animal husbandry practice as productivity stimulants. They were replaced by pro- and prebiotic feed additives that have a healing effect on animal organism, thereby beneficially influencing their productive characteristics. Prebiotics in feed production are more convenient to use than probiotics, as they have a greater degree of unpretentiousness to storage conditions, but at the same time they are easier to obtain than live microorganisms. Lactulose is the most well-known and proven prebiotic in animal husbandry. Feed additives based on it in the body of animals have an identical mechanism of action based on enzymatic cleavage in the large intestine of this disaccharide by bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, which triggers a number of interrelated processes that have a beneficial physiological effect. The considered results of the use of some lactulose-containing feed additives on broiler chickens, Saanen goats, pigs and rabbits made it possible to conclude that for the above animal species there is a similar positive effect from the presence of new lactulose-based feed additives in the diet: intensification of growth and development of animals, as well as strengthening of resistance to adverse external factors, which directly affects the life-time formation of better and safer livestock products. Conclusion. Reviewed studies on the use of modern lactulose-based feed additives and the results obtained confirm their ability to have a beneficial effect on the growth, development and resistance to negative factors from outside the body of farm animals, such as broiler chickens, goats, pigs and rabbits. This, in turn, contributes to the lifetime formation of improved quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the resulting livestock raw materials.

Mousterian human fossils from El Castillo cave (Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain).

El Castillo cave is a well-known site because of its Paleolithic archaeology and parietal rock art. This paper is focused on the human remains found by V. Cabrera in the Mousterian Unit XX assigned to MIS 4 and early MIS 3. The fossils consist of one upper left second premolar (ULP4), one incomplete proximal hand phalanx, and one partial femoral head. The tooth and the phalanx were assigned to adults, whereas the femoral head belonged to an immature individual due to the absence of fusion traces to the metaphyseal surface. The external morphology and metrical characterization of the Castillo-1466 (ULP4) tooth crown was quantified and compared to the variability of other Neanderthal dental remains and a sample of modern human populations. We also quantified its 3D enamel thickness distribution, its roots morphology, as well as the presence of chipping, and their possible relation to masticatory or paramasticatory activities. Castillo-1466 shows crown dimensions compatible with middle-sized Neanderthal teeth, but with a remarkably thicker enamel than other Neanderthal premolars, such as Marillac 13. The femoral head and the hand phalanx fragment are compared to published values for Neanderthals, although both partial fossils lack diagnostic features precluding any clear taxonomic diagnostic. Therefore, their attribution to Neanderthals is assumed based on the dating of the layers in which they were discovered. El Castillo cave Mousterian fossils represent another contribution to the knowledge of the Middle Paleolithic populations of Northern Spain, where different sites along the Cantabrian mountains yielded several human remains assigned to MIS 4 and early MIS 3.

Global prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection among individuals with obesity: A protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Modern populations are prone to obesity, as sedentary lifestyles prevail globally. Previous research has shown that obesity and Helicobacter pylori are mutually associated. However, the global prevalence of H. pylori among individuals with obesity is not yet determined. A comprehensive search will be conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science online databases for studies that have reported the prevalence of H. pylori infection among individuals with obesity. Cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies will be included if reported sufficient data. Records screening, data extraction, and quality assessment will be done by independent reviewers. Joanna Bridge Institute checklist for prevalence studies will be used to appraise the included studies. Prevalence will be pooled using random effect models. Heterogeneity will be quantified by I 2 and p value. Subgroup analyses and meta-regression will be utilized to address the sources of residual between-study heterogeneity. Understanding the regional and global occurrence of H. pylori infection in individuals with obesity can provide valuable insights for health policymakers and clinicians to devise proficient diagnostic and eradication strategies, thereby enhancing postoperative outcomes for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The study's strength will lie in not being restricted to language and time of publication, comprehensive investigation of regional and pre- and posteradication estimates, and the effects of time trends and sociodemographic indices on H. pylori prevalence. However, potential heterogeneity in methodologies used across prevalence studies could affect the interpretation of the results. Additionally, the study relies on previously published studies, limiting data quality and completeness.

Children’s orthopaedics

The August 2023 Children’s orthopaedics Roundup360 looks at: DDH: What can patients expect after open reduction?; Femoral head deformity associated with hip displacement in non-ambulatory cerebral palsy; Bony hip reconstruction for displaced hips in patients with cerebral palsy: is postoperative immobilization indicated?; Opioid re-prescriptions after ACL reconstruction in adolescents are associated with subsequent opioid use disorder; Normative femoral and tibial lengths in a modern population of USA children; Retrospective analysis of associated anomalies in 636 patients with operatively treated congenital scoliosis; Radiological hip shape and patient-reported outcome measures in healed Perthes’ disease; Significantly displaced adolescent posterior sternoclavicular joint injuries.

Bioarchaeological and paleogenomic profiling of the unusual Neolithic burial from Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (Calabria, Italy)

The Neolithic burial of Grotta di Pietra Sant’Angelo (CS) represents a unique archaeological finding for the prehistory of Southern Italy. The unusual placement of the inhumation at a rather high altitude and far from inhabited areas, the lack of funerary equipment and the prone deposition of the body find limited similarities in coeval Italian sites. These elements have prompted wider questions on mortuary customs during the prehistory of Southern Italy. This atypical case requires an interdisciplinary approach aimed to build an integrated bioarchaeological profile of the individual. The paleopathological investigation of the skeletal remains revealed the presence of numerous markers that could be associated with craft activities, suggesting possible interpretations of the individual’s lifestyle. CT analyses, carried out on the maxillary bones, showed the presence of a peculiar type of dental wear, but also a good density of the bone matrix. Biomolecular and micromorphological analyses of dental calculus highlight the presence of a rich Neolithic-like oral microbiome, the composition of which is consistent with the presence pathologies. Finally, paleogenomic data obtained from the individual were compared with ancient and modern Mediterranean populations, including unpublished high-resolution genome-wide data for 20 modern inhabitants of the nearby village of San Lorenzo Bellizzi, which provided interesting insights into the biodemographic landscape of the Neolithic in Southern Italy.

The role of Beringia in human adaptation to Arctic conditions based on results of genomic studies of modern and ancient populations.

The results of studies in Quaternary geology, archeology, paleoanthropology and human genetics demonstrate that the ancestors of Native Americans arrived in mid-latitude North America mainly along the Pacific Northwest Coast, but had previously inhabited the Arctic and during the last glacial maximum were in a refugium in Beringia, a land bridge connecting Eurasia and North America. The gene pool of Native Americans is represented by unique haplogroups of mitochondrial DNA and the Y chromosome, the evolutionary age of which ranges from 13 to 22 thousand years. The results of a paleogenomic analysis also show that during the last glacial maximum Beringia was populated by human groups that had arisen as a result of interaction between the most ancient Upper Paleolithic populations of Northern Eurasia and newcomer groups from East Asia. Approximately 20 thousand years ago the Beringian populations began to form, and the duration of their existence in relative isolation is estimated at about 5 thousand years. Thus, the adaptation of the Beringians to the Arctic conditions could have taken several millennia. The adaptation of Amerindian ancestors to high latitudes and cold climates is supported by genomic data showing that adaptive genetic variants in Native Americans are associated with various metabolic pathways: melanin production processes in the skin, hair and eyes, the functioning of the cardiovascular system, energy metabolism and immune response characteristics. Meanwhile, the analysis of the existing hypotheses about the selection of some genetic variants in the Beringian ancestors of the Amerindians in connection with adaptation to the Arctic conditions (for example, in the FADS, ACTN3, EDAR genes) shows the ambiguity of the testing results, which may be due to the loss of some traces of the "Beringian" adaptation in the gene pools of modern Native Americans. The most optimal strategy for further research seems to be the search for adaptive variant.

Council of Experts: chronic shoulder pain as a multidisciplinary problem

Chronic shoulder pain (CSP) is a clinical syndrome associated with inflammatory and degenerative musculoskeletal changes, characterized by pain in the shoulder that persists for at least 3 months, arising or aggravated by functional activity in this area. The frequency of CSP in the modern population reaches 20–33%, it is one of the leading causes of severe suffering, disability and seeking for medical attention. The main causes of CSP are shoulder rotator impingement syndrome (subacromial impingement syndrome), calcific tendinitis, adhesive capsulitis, shoulder and acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis. Accurate diagnosis of these diseases is necessary for the correct choice of treatment. Differential diagnosis is carried out using tests that evaluate the function of the shoulder joint and the rotator cuff muscles (Neer, Speed, Hawkins tests, etc.), as well as using instrumental methods (ultrasound, magnetic resonance tomography, X-ray). In CSP, it is necessary to exclude septic, oncological, visceral, systemic rheumatic and other diseases, as well as musculoskeletal pathology of the cervical spine, upper chest and back, which can cause pain in the shoulder region.Therapy for diseases that cause CSP should be personalized and complex, aimed at maximum pain control and restoration of function. For this purpose, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local injection therapy with glucocorticoids, hyaluronic acid, and platelet-rich plasma are used. In some cases, muscle relaxants, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, local injections of botulinum toxin type A are indicated. Physiotherapy and medical rehabilitation methods play a fundamental role in the treatment of CSP.