Obituary: Marshall T. Newman (1911-1994)

This is the published version. Copyright 1995 Wayne State University Press.There is no abstract available for this article

Editorial: Plagiarism and Scientific Communication: A Cautionary Note

This is the published version. Copyright 1993 Wayne State University Press.There is no abstract available for this work

Obituary: Dale David Dykes (1945-1990)

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from www.jstor.org.No abstract is available for this item

Digital Dermatoglyphic Patterns of Eskimo and Amerindian Populations: Relationships between Geographic, Dermatoglyphic, Genetic, and Linguistic Distances

This is the published version. Copyright 1992 Wayne State University Press.Dermatoglyphic traits have been used to assess population affinities and structure. Here, we describe the digital patterns of four Eskimo populations from Alaska: two Yupik-speaking villages from St. Lawrence Island and two Inupik groups presently residing on mainland Alaska. For a broader evolutionary perspective, these four Eskimo populations are compared to other Inuit groups, to North American Indian populations, and to Siberian aggregates. The genetic structures of 18 New and Old World populations were explored using /?-matrix plots and Wright's FST values. The relationships between dermatoglyphic, blood genetic, geographic, and linguistic distances were assessed by comparing matrices through Mantel correlations and through partial and multiple correlations. Statistically significant relationships between dermatoglyphics and genetics, genetics and geography, and geography and language were revealed. In addition, significant correlations between dermatoglyphics and geography, with linguistic variation constant, were noted for females but not for males. These results attest to the usefulness of dermatoglyphics in resolving various evolutionary questions concerning normal human variation

Genetic Determinants of Blood Pressure Level Among the Black Caribs of St. Vincent

This is the published version. Copyright 1981 Wayne State University Press.The Black Caribs of St. Vincent Island are a mixture of African, Arawak, and Carib (Venezuela) ancestry. The biological consequences of this tri-ethnic admixture in relation to blood pressure level was investigated in a sample of 421 Black Caribs from three villages, however, no statistically significant relationship was observed between African ancestry and blood pressure. Estimation of the heritability of blood pressure was determined utilizing familial data. Correlations between mother-offspring diastolic pressure and sib-sib systolic and diastolic pressures were significant at the 0.05 level. Mean blood pressure within various age cohorts were compared to Black American, Carawak, and African populations. The Black Caribs of St. Vincent Island appear to be more similar to Black Americans regarding changes in blood pressure level with age

A Comparison of Mortality Patterns in Human Populations Residing Under Diverse Ecological Conditions: A Time Series Analysis

This is the published version. Copyright 1983 Wayne State University Press.During the last century, a number of epidemics have swept across the world causing similar mortality peaks in diverse human populations. In particular, the effects of the influenza epidemic of 1918 can be seen in urban and rural human aggregates separated by continents and thousands of miles. This paper examines mortality periodicity, due to diverse population structures, ecology, and exposure to similar pathogens, through the use of time series analyses. Specifically, raw yearly mortality figures for two Italian alpine communities, Acceglio and Bellino, are compared with those of a Mennonite congregation living in Kansas, United States, for the same time periods. Crosscorrelation, autocorrelation, and power spectrum analyses have been applied in order to identify possible mortality periodicity and to compare these cycles across populations. The mortality cycles occur at approximately 10 years in the Mennonite series, and 13 in Acceglio and Bellino. Explanations are proposed for these data and for the significant correlations exhibited by the three time series. The last century of human existence saw a number of major demographic changes on a world-wide basis resulting from a variety of technological breakthroughs and medical developments. For example, as a result of innovations in transportation, there has been a rapid breakdown of reproductive and geographical isolation of small human populations such as the Mennonites. Due in part to this geographical isolation, communities that were exposed to specific pathogens periodically experienced disease epidemics, and mortality patterns were unique to each population. The incidence and duration of these epidemics depended in part on the demographic structure of the population and the unique historical events that introduced the pathogen into the community. The purpose of this paper is to explore the mortality patterns of three human populations living under diverse ecological conditions with exposure to various pandemic diseases. In particular, we examine the periodicity of mortality patterns using power spectral, cross-correlation and autocorrelation analyses, and explore some variables which may contribute to this periodicity