Hasil untuk "Physical anthropology. Somatology"

Laura Edith Cruz, Juan Carlos Fernicola

At the end of the 19th century, Ameghino studied the fossils of the “conglomerado osífero” (Late Miocene, Paraná, Entre Ríos, Argentina), erecting at least 13 new species of cingulates. Some of the type specimens of these species have been considered lost, relying only on the descriptions of Ameghino and some figures of the type or referred materials of his 1889 atlas. The specimens described by Ameghino belonged to private (e.g., Lelong Thévenet, Ameghino) and public collections (e.g., those of Professor Scalabrini). This work aims to record the type specimens and referred materials of Cingulata within the Lelong Thévenet Collection and deposited in the collections housed at the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”. The Lelong Thévenet Collection was acquired by this institution in 1886, but the specimens were formally included, at different times, in the Colección Nacional de Paleovertebrados. An exhaustive search of the cingulate specimens referred to said collections was carried out, which resulted in the identification of several of them in Ameghino’s 1889 atlas. We found materials collected by Lelong Thévenet and Ameghino in the Colección Nacional de Paleovertebrados and Colección Nacional Ameghino, respectively. Many of these materials have been recognized as type specimens or referred materials of these armored mammals, identifying 10 original materials, of which four correspond to holotypes and six to referred materials; added to these, 17 casts were identified, six of them from holotypes and the other 11 referred by Ameghino in his atlas.

Yang Zhao, Jordan Bestwick, Jan Fischer et al.

Abstract Chondrichthyan egg capsules, fossil and recent, have a taxonomical significance that can provide important insights into the occurrence and reproductive strategy of their producers. However, the rare occurrence of fossil capsules and their sometimes difficult identification hinder our understanding of their systematics and significance. Laffonia from the Late Jurassic of Switzerland and its probable junior synonym, Pseudocaudina, from the Late Jurassic lithographic limestones of southern Germany, have been interpreted in a variety of ways including as a fructification of a plant, a possible egg capsule of a shark or ray, a presumed holothurian, a possible actinarian, or even a ctenophore. Here, we redescribe the holotype of Laffonia, which has a fusiform body that is ornamented with over seven longitudinal ribs and two narrow striated flanges at its lateral edges. These morphological features are incompatible with a diploblast or echinoderm affinity, but highly resemble the characteristics of certain holocephalan egg capsules in several respects. Our phylogenetic analysis places Laffonia within a group containing the Carboniferous fossil capsules Crookallia and Vetacapsula, as well as recent chimaerid capsules. Thus, we suggest that the Mesozoic Laffonia represents an intermediate morphotype between the Carboniferous species and extant chimaerid capsules. Laffonia is the only known fossil chimaerid-like capsule from the Mesozoic so far, which offers novel insights into the morphology and evolution of holocephalan egg capsules.

Natalia Jagielska

Gregory S. Paul 2022. The Princeton Field Guide to Pterosaurs. 184 pp. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-18017-5. Price USD 29.95 (hardcover).

Kyle H. Rosen, Caroline E. Jones, Jeremy M. DeSilva

Bipedal locomotion is a hallmark of being human. Yet the body form from which bipedalism evolved remains unclear. Specifically, the positional behaviour (i.e. orthograde vs. pronograde) and the length of the lumbar spine (i.e. long and mobile vs. short and stiff) of the last common ancestor (LCA) of the African great apes and humans require further investigation. While fossil evidence would be the most conclusive, the paucity of hominid fossils from 5–10 million years ago makes this field of research challenging. In their absence, extant primate anatomy and behaviour may offer some insight into the ancestral body form from which bipedalism could most easily evolve. Here, we quantify the frequency of bipedalism in a large sample (N = 496) of zoo-housed hominoids and cercopithecines. Our results show that while each studied species of ape and monkey can move bipedally, hylobatids are significantly more bipedal and engage in bipedal locomotion more frequently and for greater distances than any other primate sampled. These data support hypotheses of an orthograde, long-backed and arboreal LCA, which is consistent with hominoid fossils from the middle-to-late Miocene. If true, knuckle-walking evolved in parallel in Pan and Gorilla, and the human body form, particularly the long lower back and orthograde posture, is conserved.

DENIS GERAADS, SAMIR ZOUHRI

We describe here the first definite representative of the subfamily Elasmotheriinae in North Africa. It comes from the upper Miocene site of Skoura near Ouarzazate, on the southern slope of the Central High Atlas in Morocco. It consists of a virtually complete skull with articulated mandible and a few fragmentary postcranial remains, making it by far the best known elasmotheriine from the African late Miocene. We assign it to a new taxon, Eoazara xerrii gen. et sp. nov. The skull is characterized by long nasal bones indicating a strong horn and long, anteriorly expanded, edentulous pre-maxillae. Compared to other Rhinocerotidae, the face is moderately elongated; the lower incisors are of medium size; and the premolar row is short. The upper molars have a strongly pinched protocone, a long antecrochet, and an unexpanded central valley. Eoazara xerrii gen. et sp. nov. is at a lower evolutionary grade than the Chinese species of Ningxiatherium and Parelasmotherium, but probably comparable to the very incomplete remains from the East African late Miocene forms. We regard Eoazara as a member of a chiefly Eurasian clade, rather than as a survivor of a hypothetical African elasmotheriine branch. Parsimony analysis confirms the monophyly of the Elasmotheriinae, but that of the remaining Rhinocerotidae is questionable.

R. Hoffmann, D. Morón-Alfonso, C. Klug et al.

Abstract Findings of ammonoid soft tissues are extremely rare compared to the rich fossil record of ammonoid conchs ranging from the Late Devonian to the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary. Here, we apply the computed-tomography approach to detect ammonoid soft tissue remains in well-preserved fossils from the Early Cretaceous (early Albian) of NE-Germany of Proleymeriella. The ammonites were found in glauconitic–phosphatic sandstone boulders. Analyses of the high-resolution Ct-data revealed the presence of cameral sheets, the siphuncular tube wall, and the siphuncle itself. The siphuncle is a long, segmented soft tissue that begins at the rear end of the body chamber and comprises blood vessels. Chemical analyses using energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) showed that all preserved soft tissues were phosphatized and are now composed of fluorapatite. The same holds true for preserved shell remains that locally show the nacreous microstructure. We provide a short description of these soft tissue remains and briefly discuss the taphonomic pathway.

Kim Sterelny

Children and subadults were obviously part of ancient human communities, and almost certainly, in important ways their activities were distinctive; they did not routinely act like scaled down adults. Yet their presence was quite cryptic, but not entirely hidden. Their lives and acts did leave traces, although these tend to be be fragile, ambiguous and fast-fading. In addition to pursuing the methodological issues posed by the detection of subadult lives, this special issue raises important questions about the role of children, and their willingness to experiment and play, on innovation. It is true that ethnographically known forager children are almost certainly more autonomous, experimental and adventurous than WEIRD children, and this was probably true of the young foragers of the early Holocene and late Pleistocene too. Their greater willingness to experiment probably fuelled a supply of variation, and perhaps occasionally adaptation as well, especially finding new uses for existing materials. Much more certainly, innovations tend to be noted, taken up and spread by adolescents. They were vectors of change, even if perhaps only rarely initiators of change.

Andreas Streinzer, A. Poppinga, Carolin Zieringer et al.

During the government-imposed contact restrictions in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, older adults feared that they may no longer be able to experience physical contact with family members. They were, however, given hope by a ‘cuddle curtain’, a device that promised to enable familial intimacy while blocking the exposure of older bodies to the coronavirus. Our research team traced how one such artefact was used in nursing homes in Switzerland. Here, we discuss its cultural biography to explore notions of intimacy by relating discussions about the curtain to anthropological discussions about entanglement and detachment. We contrast positive associations between the curtain and familial intimacy with regulations surrounding body fluid barriers in sex work, in order to relate the ‘thing’ to the larger context within which it circulates.

Erin Debenport, Anthony K. Webster

This article considers the ongoing importance of studying writing practices within and beyond anthropology. The works included here concentrate on scholarship that has appeared since the productive yet divisive debates that established literacy as a plural phenomenon that is best studied ethnographically. It focuses on research that surveys the multiplicity of graphic forms, the changing notions of literacies, and the ways that literacy is implicated in and constitutive of sites of power. In addition, the cited works engage with the linguistic and semiotic ideologies that inform such literacy practices, the various aesthetic sensibilities that shape writing, and the physicality/materiality of inscriptive practices. Considering the effects of previously theorizing writing as a single, uniform phenomenon and the shift to research that characterizes inscriptive practices as multiple makes possible an argument for moving beyond multiplicity to question what writing is and can be, looking to works on “inscriptive practices” and “graphic pluralism.”

D. Beeler, J. Jonker

The etymology of the term “healing” dates back to 900 ce with references pointing to northwestern Europe. Historically, healing is seen to be embedded in religion. The connection between religion and healing, while emphasizing an anthropological approach, considers categories such as (but not limited to): worldviews, religious beliefs, religious and spiritual practices, rituals, deities, and symbols rather than science. Considered holistically, studies on healing depict “healing-as-practice” (framed as praxis: theory and practice integrated) rather than just a phrase, a concept, a cognitive undertaking or even a discipline in and of itself. Positioned in this way, healing is also situated in practices of global institutions, religions, spiritualties, and indigenous communities alike. In doing so, the nuances of healing used as a phrase or concept, as well as the flexibility it has in terms of understanding what matters to humans are illuminated. Healing embraces all dimensions of human life: the physical, psychological, social, and cultural. This helps position the term “healing,” a popular term within biomedicine, health care, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) modalities, as associated with holism. In considering the holistic nature of healing, one process includes the healing of bones, organs, and tissue suggesting an underlying common order for healing that can be influenced by religious or spiritual rituals. At the other end of the spectrum of processes, individuals experience healing without any improvement in bodily function. Rather, they experience a type of subjective transformation as a result of distinct cultural, religious, or spiritual practices. In between the biological mechanisms of healing and the psychosomatic influences on healing, lies healing-as-praxis where something or someone intervenes in a person’s constellation of body, mind, spirit, and environment intent on stimulating healing or reaching a state of healing. This indicates that healing-as-practice has (at least) three domains; process or activity, intervention, and outcome or accomplishment, and relates to tradition, community, and social environment. Furthermore, healing-as-practice implies salutogenesis, an approach that focuses on the processes that support healing and well-being; while a focus on illness has to do with the configuration of one’s social, psychological, and spiritual condition. Thus, a distinction is made between curing and healing. Healing is concerned with meaning in relation to illness and curing is related to disease, albeit the terms illness and disease may be swapped in which case disease is interpreted as dis-ease—to be read as “being not at ease”—where mind and/or spirit are also involved. Therefore, the relation between healing and religion/spirituality is a natural one.

H. Wakamatsu

Musahiplik is the tradition of fictive kinship which has long been practiced within both Turkish and Kurdish Alevi communities in Turkey. Musahip is a special term which means blood brother used in Alevi community. The tradition of Musahiplik may be defined as a religious fraternity between two men who are not relatives. And at the same time, if these two men marry their wives also have relation of Musahip. The fraternity is dedicated to a religious authority called Dede. It is an institution of social characteristic that is proper for originated from nomad or semi-nomad societies and of recent urban settlement. This custom is one of the most important religious practices of Alevis in Turkey. In a ceremony in the presence of a Dede, the two couples make a life-long commitment to care for the spiritual, emotional, and physical needs of each other and their children. The ties between couples who have made this commitment are at least as strong as it is for blood relatives. So much so, that Musahiplik is often called spiritual brotherhood (manevi kardeslik). In this article, drawing on my own research data, I shall first discuss how the Musahiplik is practiced in the field in Turkey, and provide a brief outline of their meaning in Alevi theology. I shall then present the current situation of Musahiplik and popular beliefs and discuss the underlying motives of the religious actors involved. Finally, I shall contextualize these cases within a broader theoretical and comparative perspective on fictive kinship from the point of view of Cultural Anthropology.

Hugo Mercier, Yoshimasa Majima, Nicolas Claidière et al.

Many socially significant beliefs are unintuitive, from the harmlessness of GMOs to the efficacy of vaccination, and they are acquired via deference toward individuals who are more confident, more competent or a majority. In the two-step flow model of communication, a first group of individuals acquires some beliefs through deference and then spreads these beliefs more broadly. Ideally, these individuals should be able to explain why they deferred to a given source – to provide arguments from expertise – and others should find these arguments convincing. We test these requirements using a perceptual task with participants from the US and Japan. In Experiment 1, participants were provided with first-hand evidence that they should defer to an expert, leading a majority of participants to adopt the expert's answer. However, when attempting to pass on this answer, only a minority of those participants used arguments from expertise. In Experiment 2, participants receive an argument from expertise describing the expert's competence, instead of witnessing it first-hand. This leads to a significant drop in deference compared with Experiment 1. These experiments highlight significant obstacles to the transmission of unintuitive beliefs.

Katsuyasu Kouda, Masayuki Iki, Kumiko Ohara et al.

Abstract Background Epidemiological data regarding the association between serum levels of IGF-I and bone mineral acquisition during childhood are scarce. Here, we investigated the association between serum levels of IGF-I and bone status during puberty. Methods We analyzed prospective 3-year follow-up data of 254 community-dwelling children who completed both baselines (at age 11.2 years) and follow-up (at age 14.2 years) surveys in Hamamatsu, Japan. Total body (TB) bone area and bone mineral parameters were assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Results During the 3-year follow-up period, there were significant (P < 0.05) increases in total body less head (TBLH) areal bone mineral density (aBMD), TBLH bone mineral content (BMC), and TB bone area, and a significant decrease in TB bone mineral apparent density (BMAD, volumetric bone mineral density, vBMD). IGF-I levels showed significant positive relationships with TBLH BMC and TBLH aBMD at both baseline and follow-up. TBLH aBMD in boys and TB BMAD in girls at follow-up showed significant increases from the lowest to highest quartiles of baseline IGF-I levels after adjusting for confounding factors. Similarly, changes in TBLH aBMD in boys and TB BMAD in girls during the 3-year follow-up period showed significant increases from the lowest to highest quartiles of baseline IGF-I levels after adjusting for confounding factors. Conclusions These results suggest that pubertal children with high levels of serum IGF-I tended to have high bone mineral acquisition later on.

Santiago Rodríguez López, Juan Manuel Bajo

Se analizó la prevalencia de obesidad general y abdominal (OA) en adolescentes escolares, con diferente proporción corporal, de la ciudad de Córdoba, Argentina. Este es un estudio transversal en el que se incluyeron 614 adolescentes (11-18 años, edad media 13,9±2,1; 51,8% niñas). Se obtuvieron datos de tres establecimientos secundarios públicos de la ciudad de Córdoba durante los años 2007-2014. La proporción corporal se estimó mediante el índice córmico (IC=talla sentado/talla total x 100), y se obtuvieron valores Z estandarizados según sexo y edad, y cuartiles (Q1-4) de estos valores. Los niveles de sobrepeso y obesidad general se calcularon en base al índice de masa corporal [IMC=peso(kg)/talla(m)2], siguiendo las referencias de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, y se obtuvieron valores Z por sexo y edad. La OA se determinó mediante el índice cintura-talla (ICT=perímetro de la cintura/talla); se definió OA cuando ICT≥0,5. En general, se observó que, comparados con individuos con IC menor, aquellos con IC más altos (con piernas relativamente más cortas) presentan valores Z medios mayores de IMC e ICT, junto con una mayor prevalencia de sobrepeso, obesidad general y OA. Este patrón fue estadísticamente significativo en las niñas, mientras que entre los niños también se observó, aunque menos marcadamente y sin alcanzar una significación estadística. Considerando los efectos adversos de la obesidad en la salud inmediata y en el futuro de los adolescentes, los individuos con niveles elevados de IC deberían ser especialmente monitoreados en estudios nutricionales y de crecimiento.

Magdalena Borsuk-Białynicka

Three morphotypes of the fifth metatarsal (MttV), one of the most informative bones of the postcranium, have been described herein from the Early Triassic karst deposits of the Czatkowice locality (Southern Poland). Two of them have been assigned to a basal archosauriform Osmolskina czatkowicensis and a basal lepidosauromorph, Sophineta cracoviensis, respectively, while one is undetermined saurian. Two morphological categories of the hooked fifth metatarsals recognized from this assemblage account for two different solutions to the problem of improvement of locomotion. A strongly inflected (sensu Robinson 1975) MttV shaft consists of two parts, a distal one lying on the ground in a plantigrade manner and a proximal one bent at an angle to get align with the ventral surface of the crus and proximal tarsus. In contrast, a straight shaft of the hooked MttV, suggests its subvertical life position and thus a digitigrade foot stance. The hooking of the fifth metatarsal, that is currently accepted saurian synapomorphy, appeared in phylogeny in a primitive state referred to herein as a neckless type: with neither a neck-shaped articular protrusion for the fourth distal tarsal nor a directly medial orientation of the articular facet. A derived long-necked type with protruding arricular part and more directly medial orientation of the articular facet appeared, at various stages of further phylogeny. A strong plantar–dorsal inflexion of the fifth metatarsal associated with a protrusion of lateral plantar tubercle, dates from a directly pre-lepidosaurian stage of evolution.

Mordechai Ben Menachem

Often the most fertile insights into contemporary problems come not from those in the mainstream but from the more adventurous spirits who have charted their own intellectual course. Definition of anthropology: the science of human beings; especially: the study of human beings and their ancestors through time and space and in relation to physical character, environmental and social relations, and culture. What are the anthropological aspects of information and of software-the entity that controls information (at least, certain dimensions of control)? We know that software and information are both notoriously difficult to manage well. What does that mean, why is it important, and what can be done about it? Much to the surprise of many readers, these questions are life critical issues, for almost all of humanity.

Soomin Lee, Naoko Muto, Yoshihiro Shimomura et al.

Abstract Background In the human retina, the contribution of intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) to the regulation of the pupillary response remains poorly understood. The objective of the current study was to determine the response dynamics of the pupillary light reflex to short, successive pulses of light. In order to better assess the roles of ipRGCs and cones, we used pulses of blue and green light. Methods Each participant was exposed to 1-ms blue (466 nm) and/or green (527 nm) light pulses simultaneously or separately, with inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) of 0, 250, 500, 750, or 1000 ms. Pupil diameter was measured using an infrared camera system. Results We found that human pupillary light responses during simultaneous irradiation or successive irradiation with ISIs ≤ 250 ms were equivalent, though successive irradiation of blue- and green-pulsed light with ISIs ≥ 500 ms induced markedly increased pupillary constriction. Conclusions We propose that this result may be related to cell hyperpolarization that occurs in the retina just after the first light stimulus is turned off, with the threshold for this effect being between 250 and 500 ms in the human retina.

Fuyuki Oyama, Keita Ishibashi, Koichi Iwanaga

Abstract Background Time perception associated with durations from 1 s to several minutes involves activity in the right posterior parietal cortex (rPPC). It is unclear whether altering the activity of the rPPC affects an individual’s timing performance. Here, we investigated the human timing performance under the application of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) that altered the neural activities of the rPPC. Methods We measured the participants’ duration-discrimination threshold by administering a behavioral task during the tDCS application. The tDCS conditions consisted of anodal, cathodal, and sham conditions. The electrodes were placed over the P4 position (10-20 system) and on the left supraorbital forehead. On each task trial, the participant observed two visual stimuli and indicated which was longer. The amount of difference between the two stimulus durations was varied repeatedly throughout the trials according to the participant’s responses. The correct answer rate of the trials was calculated for each amount of difference, and the minimum amount with the correct answer rate exceeding 75% was selected as the threshold. The data were analyzed by a linear mixed-effects models procedure. Results Nineteen volunteers participated in the experiment. We excluded three participants from the analysis: two who reported extreme sleepiness while performing the task and one who could recognize the sham condition correctly with confidence. Our analysis of the 16 participants’ data showed that the average value of the thresholds observed under the cathodal condition was lower than that of the sham condition. This suggests that inhibition of the rPPC leads to an improvement in temporal discrimination performance, resulting in improved timing performance. Conclusions In the present study, we found a new effect that cathodal tDCS over the rPPC enhances temporal discrimination performance. In terms of the existence of anodal/cathodal tDCS effects on human timing performance, the results were consistent with a previous study that investigated temporal reproduction performance during tDCS application. However, the results of the current study further indicated that cathodal tDCS over the rPPC increases accuracy of observed time duration rather than inducing an overestimation as a previous study reported.

J. Fleagle

Hitoshi Wakabayashi, Titis Wijayanto, Y. Tochihara

Human adaptability to cold environment has been focused on in the physiological anthropology and related research area. Concerning the human acclimatization process in the natural climate, it is necessary to conduct a research assessing comprehensive effect of cold environment and physical activities in cold. This study investigated the effect of cold water immersion on the exercise performance and neuromuscular function during maximal and submaximal isometric knee extension. Nine healthy males participated in this study. They performed maximal and submaximal (20, 40, and 60% maximal load) isometric knee extension pre- and post-immersion in 23, 26, and 34 °C water. The muscle activity of the rectus femoris (RF) and vastus lateralis (VL) was measured using surface electromyography (EMG). The percentages of the maximum voluntary contraction (%MVC) and mean power frequency (MPF) of EMG data were analyzed. The post-immersion maximal force was significantly lower in 23 °C than in 26 and 34 °C conditions (P < 0.05). The post-immersion %MVC of RF was significantly higher than pre-immersion during 60% maximal exercise in 23 and 26 °C conditions (P < 0.05). In the VL, the post-immersion %MVC was significantly higher than pre-immersion in 23 and 26 °C conditions during 20% maximal exercise and in 26 °C at 40 and 60% maximal intensities (P < 0.05). The post-immersion %MVC of VL was significantly higher in 26 °C than in 34 °C at 20 and 60% maximal load (P < 0.05). The post-immersion MPF of RF during 20% maximal intensity was significantly lower in 23 °C than in 26 and 34 °C conditions (P < 0.05), and significantly different between three water temperature conditions at 40 and 60% maximal intensities (P < 0.05). The post-immersion MPF of VL during three submaximal trials were significantly lower in 23 and 26 °C than in 34 °C conditions (P < 0.05). The lower shift of EMG frequency would be connected with the decrease in the nerve and muscle fibers conduction velocity. To compensate for the impairment of each muscle fibers function, more muscle fibers might be recruited to maintain the working load. This might result in the greater amplitude of EMG after the cold immersion.