Specific Kinship Research Articles

Related in Death? Further Insights on the Curious Case of Bishop Peder Winstrup and His Grandchild’s Burial

In 2021, we published the results of genomic analyses carried out on the famous bishop of Lund, Peder Winstrup, and the mummified remains of a 5–6-month-old fetus discovered in the same burial. We concluded that the two individuals were second-degree relatives and explored the genealogy of Peder Winstrup to further understand the possible relation between them. Through this analysis, we found that the boy was most probably Winstrup’s grandson and that the two were equally likely related either through Winstrup’s son, Peder, or his daughter, Anna Maria von Böhnen. To further resolve the specific kinship relation, we generated more genomic data from both Winstrup and the boy and implemented more recently published analytical tools in detailed Y chromosome- and X chromosome-based kinship analyses to distinguish between the competing hypotheses regarding maternal and paternal relatedness. We found that the individuals’ Y chromosome lineages belonged to different sub-lineages and that the X-chromosomal kinship coefficient calculated between the two individuals were elevated, suggesting a grandparent–grandchild relation through a female, i.e., Anna Maria von Böhnen. Finally, we also performed metagenomic analyses, which did not identify any pathogens that could be unambiguously associated with the fatalities.

Kinship and socio-economic status: Social gradients in frequencies of kin across the life course in Sweden

The influence of kin on various outcomes is heavily debated. However, kinship size itself conditions the probability of potential effects. Socio-economic gradients in the prevalence, variance, and types of kin are, therefore, a vital aspect of the functions of kin. Unfortunately, these parameters are largely unknown. We used Swedish register data to enumerate consanguine and in-law kin across the life course of the 1975 birth cohort. We calculated differences in kinship size between this cohort’s income quartiles and educational groups. We decomposed how specific kin relations, generations, and demographic behaviours contributed to these differences. Among low socio-economic status (SES) groups, higher fertility in earlier generations resulted in more kin compared with high-SES groups. Low-SES groups had more horizontal consanguine kin, while high-SES groups had more in-laws. Lower fertility and higher union instability among low-SES men substantially narrowed SES differences in kinship size. Kinship size varied substantially within SES groups.

Dynamic household structure and composition: a manual for longitudinal analysis of living arrangements

ObjectiveThis research note introduces a set of tools to conduct analysis of household structure and composition with either limited or comprehensive longitudinal data. The data used here are from Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems in Africa, but the methods can be adapted and applied to other longitudinal micro-data such as register data. A training manual describing the procedures for creating time-varying household measures step-by-step is supplied as supplementary material to this note. Code is provided in STATA but can easily be translated for other statistical software, and the logic for each step remains the same.ResultsThe analysis of household structure demonstrates how with limited data (such as a household identifier), it is possible to construct time-varying measures of household membership, including household size or the number of members in specific age and sex groups. The analysis of household composition demonstrates how with expanded data (including links to parents in addition to residence status in the same household), it is possible to construct time-varying measures of household membership of specific kin, i.e. mother, sibling or grandparent. The results illustrated in this research note are a taste of what can be achieved by following the training manual in the supplementary material.

Family dynamics in dementia care: A phenomenological exploration of the experiences of family caregivers of relatives with dementia.

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Several studies explore and describe the role of family dynamics in dementia care. However, few focus specifically on the diversity of family relationships that influence family caregivers' experiences of providing care to a relative with dementia. The role of family caregivers engaging in unpaid care of relatives with dementia is becoming more and more critical as the numbers of people living with dementia increase across the globe. Family caregivers are a diverse group of people as there are different categories of kinship relations and thus cannot be viewed as a single collective. They are linked intricately to their family and social support systems, however, they often experience limited family support, and tensions between family members can be a major source of stress. Hence, health professionals need to deepen their understanding of family relationships to enable them to provide effective advocacy and clinical support to family caregivers. WHAT THE PAPER ADDS TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: This study is unique in that it focuses on a range of family relationships in which a person with dementia finds themselves. It highlights that this network of complex connections influences the caregiving process. The study demonstrates the important role that siblings can play in sharing the caregiving load. However, this sharing is rarely balanced or fair and there is always someone in the family who carries the heaviest load. Communication between family members is frequently a challenge, with family members experiencing denial or an inability to understand the challenges encountered by the family caregiver. Most studies focus on the relationship between the family caregiver and the relative with dementia alone, rather than the family network of the family caregiver and how it influences the caregiving process. This study is unique as it focuses on family dynamics and the family network, particularly the range of family relationships in which family caregivers and their relative with dementia find themselves. Other studies tend to focus on a specific kinship category and the family network, such as an adult child, caring for their parent, but this study presents a wide variety of kinship categories to demonstrate the diversity of family caregiving contexts. The family caregivers in this study all highlighted the need or desire for effective support from the family network. Challenges of communication between family members and the caregiver were also evident and were framed within the existing family dynamic of each family. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR MENTAL HEALTH NURSING?: The findings suggest the need for communication (training and therapeutic) interventions between family caregivers and other family members (secondary caregivers). Mental health nurses are often well positioned to offer the family caregiver the option to undertake such an intervention. The findings emphasize the diversity of family caregiving situations and argue that mental health nurses can assess the nature of the care situations and work with families on how best to address the needs of the relative with dementia and the main caregiver. However, tensions frequently exist between family members, some of which existed prior to the relative acquiring dementia and other tensions as a consequence of the relative acquiring dementia. Mental health nurses could assist as a mediator between family members in order to assist families to become more cohesive. ABSTRACT: Introduction This article explores the diverse nature of family caregivers, focusing on the different categories of kinship relations. Family caregivers are linked intricately to their families, but often experience limited family support, causing stress and tension between family members. Aim The article aims to explore the family relationships of family members caring for relatives with dementia in order to provide an insight into the role of such relationships on the caregiver relative with dementia dyad. Method A phenomenological, exploratory-descriptive design was used. Eight participants took part and data were obtained using collages and semi-structured interviews. Results A range of family relationship patterns was highlighted including sibling involvement in the caregiving process; spousal involvement in supporting a caregiver of a parent; and spousal involvement in caring for their spouse. Discussion The family caregivers highlighted the need or desire for effective support from the family network. Challenges of communication between family members and the caregiver were also evident and were framed within the existing family dynamic of each family. Implications for Practice Mental health nurses need to deepen their understanding of family relationships to enable them to provide effective advocacy and clinical support to family caregivers and assist families to become more cohesive.

Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann. Writing the Caribbean in Magazine Time. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2021. 216p. Paper, $29.95 (ISBN: 9781978822429).

In this book, Katerina Gonzalez Seligmann traces the way literary magazines in the middle of the twentieth century created different senses of geographical belonging and affiliation for their readers. She explores how these journals created relations to locality and elsewhere that betrayed their desires for specific kin relationships. Seligmann accomplishes her ultimate goal of mapping polycentric networks of infrastructure, ideas, and literature for us that are worthy of study in their own right, without reference to the global centers of literary production where capital fuels larger infrastructures that we are constantly in danger of confusing for value.

U IME KĆERKE – ANTROPOLOGIJA RODA U CRNOJ GORI

This paper presents an edited version of an introduction to a special issue of the journal “Comparative Southeast European Studies”, which asks how we can understand gendered practices in Montenegro beyond the balkanist discourse. The key argument is that we can understand gendered practices in Montenegro such as sex-selective abortions only if we consider the complicated ways in which material and economic processes become intertwined with social and cultural logics, simultaneously reinforcing old stereotypes while creating new spaces for action and change. The practice of gender in Montenegro is predicated on specific kinship and property relationships, which it also perpetuates and women in the country are neither as oppressed nor as free as they might seem from a liberal feminist perspective. Anyone pondering how to articulate criticism and how to encourage change to gendered practices in Montenegro should take into account how possibilities for individual as well as collective action are shaped by kinship relationality, inheritance expectations and state and public policy on gender.

Why have aggregative multicellular organisms stayed simple?

Multicellularity has evolved numerous times across the tree of life. One of the most fundamental distinctions among multicellular organisms is their developmental mode: whether they stay together during growth and develop clonally, or form a group through the aggregation of free-living cells. The five eukaryotic lineages to independently evolve complex multicellularity (animals, plants, red algae, brown algae, and fungi) all develop clonally. This fact has largely been explained through social evolutionary theory's lens of cooperation and conflict, where cheating within non-clonal groups has the potential to undermine multicellular adaptation. Multicellular organisms that form groups via aggregation could mitigate the costs of cheating by evolving kin recognition systems that prevent the formation of chimeric groups. However, recent work suggests that selection for the ability to aggregate quickly may constrain the evolution of highly specific kin recognition, sowing the seeds for persistent evolutionary conflict. Importantly, other features of aggregative multicellular life cycles may independently act to constrain the evolution of complex multicellularity. All known aggregative multicellular organisms are facultatively multicellular (as opposed to obligately multicellular), allowing unicellular-level adaptation to environmental selection. Because they primarily exist in a unicellular state, it may be difficult for aggregative multicellular organisms to evolve multicellular traits that carry pleiotropic cell-level fitness costs. Thus, even in the absence of social conflict, aggregative multicellular organisms may have limited potential for the evolution of complex multicellularity.

Weighted Graph Embedding-Based Metric Learning for Kinship Verification.

Given a group photograph, it is interesting and useful to judge whether the characters in it share specific kinship relation, such as father-daughter, father-son, mother-daughter, or mother-son. Recently, facial image-based kinship verification has attracted wide attention in computer vision. Some metric learning algorithms have been developed for improving kinship verification. However, most of the existing algorithms ignore fusing multiple feature representations and utilizing kernel techniques. In this paper, we develop a novel weighted graph embedding-based metric learning (WGEML) framework for kinship verification. Inspired by the fact that family members usually show high similarity in facial features like eyes, noses, and mouths, despite their diversity, we jointly learn multiple metrics by constructing an intrinsic graph and two penalty graphs to characterize the intraclass compactness and interclass separability for each feature representation, respectively, so that both the consistency and complementarity among multiple features can be fully exploited. Meanwhile, combination weights are determined through a weighted graph embedding framework. Furthermore, we present a kernelized version of WGEML to tackle nonlinear problems. Experimental results demonstrate both the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed methods.

Organization of historical cemeteries

Anthropology The organization of Early Medieval cemeteries of the Alemanni, a Germanic tribe, is thought to be based on households. However, specific kinship relationships between individuals found in these cemeteries have not been tested formally. O'Sullivan et al. examined 13 individuals from the Niederstotzingen cemetery in southern Germany using ancient DNA. The strontium and oxygen isotope content of their dental enamel revealed that, whereas five of the individuals were second-degree relatives born in the region, two others were of nonlocal origin. Thus, other social processes, such as personal fealty to powerful families, might also have influenced the composition of these cemeteries. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aao1262 (2018).

The House of the Mother: The Social Roles of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry

The House of the Mother: The Social Roles of Maternal Kin in Biblical Hebrew Narrative and Poetry

The relationship of family history and risk of type 2 diabetes differs by ancestry

AimType 2 diabetes (T2DM) in a first-degree relative is a risk factor for incident diabetes. Americans of African ancestry (AA) have higher rates of T2DM than Americans of European ancestry (EA). Thus, we aimed to determine whether the presence, number and kinship of affected relatives are associated with race-specific T2DM incidence in a prospective study of participants from the Genetic Study of Atherosclerosis Risk (GeneSTAR), who underwent baseline screening including a detailed family history. MethodsNondiabetic healthy siblings (n=1405) of patients with early-onset coronary artery disease (18–59 years) were enrolled (861 EA and 544 AA) and followed for incident T2DM (mean 14±6 years). ResultsBaseline age was 46.2±7.3 years and 56% were female. T2DM occurred in 12.3% of EA and 19.1% of AA. Among EA, 32.6% had ≥1 affected first-degree relatives versus 53.1% in AA, P<0.0001. In fully adjusted Cox proportional hazard analyses, any family history was related to incident T2DM in EA (HR=2.53, 95% CI: 1.58–4.06) but not in AA (HR=1.01, 0.67–1.53). The number of affected relatives conferred incremental risk of T2DM in EA with HR=1.82 (1.08–3.06), 4.83 (2.15–10.85) and 8.46 (3.09–23.91) for 1, 2, and ≥3 affected, respectively. In AA only ≥3 affected increased risk (HR=2.45, 1.44–4.19). Specific kinship patterns were associated with incident T2DM in EA but not in AA. ConclusionsThe presence of any first-degree relative with T2DM does not discriminate risk in AA given the high race-specific prevalence of diabetes. Accounting for the number of affected relatives may more appropriately estimate risk for incident diabetes in both races.

COMPARISON OF TWO DIFFERENT MULTIPLEX SYSTEMS IN CALCULATING KINSHIP AMONG CLOSE RELATIVES

This study compares the results obtained using two multiplex systems, PowerPlex® 16 System and PowerPlex® Fusion System, to evaluate the probability of a specific kinship relationship between the offspring of three pairs of identical twins, such as full kinship (siblings), first-degree relatives (first cousins) and half-siblings. Genomic DNA was isolated and amplified from buccal swab and selected short tandem repeat (STR) markers were detected. Electropherograms were generated and analyzed for all persons, using two multiplex systems. Paternity testing for every nine offspring of six examined couples was performed and in all cases the probability that the alleged father is the true father, was over 99.9999%. Kinship analyses were performed setting up two different hypotheses and calculating the likelihood ratio (LR) and kinship probability. Determining the degree of kinship between persons who were full siblings, likelihood ratio showed the highest values contrary to other two types of kinship. Kinship analyses between first cousins showed a higher probability that the examined persons are half-siblings, rather than they are first cousins. In most cases, the introduction of additional seven loci included in PowerPlex® Fusion System increased the values of average likelihood ratios. It is recommendable to use over 20 STR loci in complex kinship analyses.

Comments on the "Kinship Face in the Wild" Data Sets.

The Kinship Face in the Wild data sets, recently published in TPAMI, are currently used as a benchmark for the evaluation of kinship verification algorithms. We recommend that these data sets are no longer used in kinship verification research unless there is a compelling reason that takes into account the nature of the images. We note that most of the image kinship pairs are cropped from the same photographs. Exploiting this cropping information, competitive but biased performance can be obtained using a simple scoring approach, taking only into account the nature of the image pairs rather than any features about kin information. To illustrate our motives, we provide classification results utilizing a simple scoring method based on the image similarity of both images of a kinship pair. Using simply the distance of the chrominance averages of the images in the Lab color space without any training or using any specific kin features, we achieve performance comparable to state-of-the-art methods. We provide the source code to prove the validity of our claims and ensure the repeatability of our experiments.

Population genetic data for 15 X chromosomal short tandem repeat markers in three U.S. populations

314 African American, 434 U.S. Caucasian, and 398 U.S. Hispanic individuals were typed at X STR markers DXS6795, DXS9902, DXS8378, DXS7132, DXS6803, DXS6789, DXS7424, DXS101, GATA172D05, DXS7130, GATA165B12, HPRTB, GATA31E08, DXS10147, DXS7423. High forensic efficiency parameter values confirm the potential usefulness of these markers in certain specific kinship situations involving female offspring as well as identity testing. Alleles previously unobserved in U.S. populations were noted in this study at 8 different markers. Additionally, null alleles and a triallelic pattern were observed and described. Pairwise comparisons indicated consistency with similar published populations at overlapping markers. These data represent a substantial increase in the quantity of U.S. X chromosomal short tandem repeat data available to the community.

The Ties Allowed to Bind: Kinship Legalities and Migration Restriction in the Interwar Americas

AbstractNew immigration restrictions in the United States and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s made legal entry dependent on specific kinship formalities. This article explores the impact of the new system through a study of British Caribbean migrants. Because family patterns and the place of church and state sanction within them varied greatly by class—here, as in many parts of the world—the result was a curtailment of mobility that affected elites very little, and working-class would-be migrants enormously. In order to elucidatede factopatterns of exclusion, the author concludes, historians of transnational labor must begin paying more attention to the work “family” does.

Effect of linkage between vWA and D12S391 in kinship analysis

Ideally for use in forensic analyses, genetic markers on the same chromosome should be more than 50 Mb in physical distance to ensure full recombination and thus independent inheritance. The forensic community has given attention to two STR markers, D12S391 and vWA, that are 6.3 megabases (Mb) apart on chromosome 12. Recent studies have shown no significant linkage disequilibrium between vWA and D12S391 in U.S. and worldwide populations, although genetic linkage has been identified. It is important to evaluate the impact of linkage effects on kinship analysis. In this study, we aimed to determine a more precise measurement of the recombination frequency between vWA and D12S391 based on a larger number of informative meiosis than has been studied previously. We estimated the recombination frequency (θ) to 0.089 (95% CI 0.044–0.158). Using pedigrees simulated under specific kinship scenarios where recombination was expected to affect the likelihood ratio (LR), we evaluated the impact on LR values of including or ignoring linkage between vWA and D12S391. For all pedigree scenarios considered, on average, LR values ignoring linkage were slightly underestimated than when linkage was considered. However, in the incest scenario considered, LR values could be overestimated up to 25–30 times when linkage was ignored. We demonstrate that the effect of ignoring linkage in the likelihood ratio calculation can be considerable. These results suggest that linkage should be considered during kinship analysis when vWA and D12S391 are tested for pedigrees where a recombination could impact the LR value.

Natural Landscapes and Regional Constructs of Gender: Theorizing Linkages in the Indian Context

This article theorizes the influence of natural landscape or terrain on the construction of feminine gender roles in India. Throughout the discussion, an attempt is made to understand the regional nuances in the construction of feminine gender roles with a reference to the role of terrain or natural landscape. Primarily, by virtue of their terrain conditions, landscapes, it is argued, lay the foundations for the emergence of a specific set of cultural conditions. These cultural layers, which include a specific kinship regime, work in tandem to create and sustain regional gender constructs. Thus, the basis of regional differences in the construction of femininity and feminine gender roles may be traced in part to specific types of natural landscapes or terrain and the demand for women’s labor that they evoke. The latter is itself contingent upon, among other factors, the productivity of agricultural land. Despite significant changes in society, the relevance of these natural landscapeinspired constructs of gender remains.

Choice of kin in consanguineous marriages: Effects of altruism and ecological factors

Background. Despite being associated with multiple genetic problems, consanguineous marriages continue to remain extremely prevalent worldwide. Studying the variation of kin preferences in diverse inbred societies may provide some answers to this paradox. Aim. To find the reasons for specific kin choice in different geographical areas of the world. Method. We used a set of sociobiological rules (kin altruism, sexuality and inbreeding avoidance) and ecological constraints (e.g. tribal warfare, food availability) that influence human behaviour. The cumulative help that the extended family can provide to a nuclear family was calculated using the coefficient of relatedness between kin in different types of consanguineous families. Results. The maximum potential support for kin markedly varied between different types of consanguineous marriages. Overall, members of consanguineous families received up to two-and-half times more support than members of non-consanguineous families. In various inbred cultures, preference for a specific type of kin was determined by prevailing ecological limitations and sociobiological factors interacting in a complex manner. Conclusion. In different inbred populations, the ideal kin for a consanguineous marriage is the one who can provide the most altruistic support; however, this choice is influenced by biological rules of behaviour and ecological constraints.

Distinguishing kinship from genealogical likelihoods

Kinship analyses, besides paternity, are increasingly common in forensic genetics routine. The evaluation of the probability of a disputed kinship between individuals using unlinked autosomal markers employs a likelihood ratio format: the probability of the observations assuming the kinship is true against the probability of the same observations under the alternative hypothesis of a different degree of relationship (usually its absence). However, with very few exceptions (identity, first degree relatedness—paternity or maternity, full-brotherhood or unrelated), the algebraic expressions are not unique for a given kinship, the same probability value being obtained for various genealogical constellations. Then, in a likelihood ratio, what is compared are sets of possible kinship configurations, which are defined by identity-by-descent probabilities known as Jacquard's coefficients. Pedigrees with the same identity-by-descent probabilities are thus undistinguishable by unlinked autosomal markers. In the literature the most common reported undistinguishable kinships, by autosomal transmission, are avuncular, half-sibs and grandparent–grandchild. Therefore, when reporting the results of genetic information upon a specific kinship case a particular caution must be taken in order to avoid misconceptions and fallacious inferences.

Sex Differences in Violent versus Non-Violent Life-Threatening Altruism

Many studies on Hamilton's (1964) inclusive fitness theory have used the burning house and kidney donation examples of life-threatening altruism. However, these examples may not be sufficiently exhibiting the risk involved with life-threatening altruism that would have occurred in hunter-gatherer societies, such as fighting off attackers and/or predators. The present study examined participants' estimated likelihood to perform altruistic acts for specific kin members/friends in two violent life-threatening situations (i.e., being mugged and being chased) and two non-violent life-threatening situations (i.e., the burning house and kidney donation examples). Participants were 216 undergraduate students who completed a questionnaire on altruism toward an actual kin member/friend. Each questionnaire contained four life-or-death scenarios (two violent and two non-violent) in which either the participant's sibling, cousin, or best friend was in danger and needed help. Results indicated that people were more likely to help siblings than cousins and friends in both the violent and non-violent hypothetical scenarios. Participants indicated a greater likelihood to help people in violent situations than in non-violent situations. Women indicated a greater estimated likelihood than men to help people in non-violent situations while men indicated a greater estimated likelihood than women to help people in violent situations. Both male and female participants indicated a greater estimated likelihood to help women than men in violent situations.