The etiology of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) is unknown. There are many insights, however, from epidemiologic/demographic information. A systematic medical literature review regarding DDH was performed. There is a predominance of left-sided (64.0%) and unilateral disease (63.4%). The incidence per 1000 live births ranges from 0.06 in Africans in Africa to 76.1 in Native Americans. There is significant variability in incidence within each racial group by geographic location. The incidence of clinical neonatal hip instability at birth ranges from 0.4 in Africans to 61.7 in Polish Caucasians. Predictors of DDH are breech presentation, positive family history, and gender (female). Children born premature, with low birth weights, or to multifetal pregnancies are somewhat protected from DDH. Certain HLA A, B, and D types demonstrate an increase in DDH. Chromosome 17q21 is strongly associated with DDH. Ligamentous laxity and abnormalities in collagen metabolism, estrogen metabolism, and pregnancy-associated pelvic instability are well-described associations with DDH. Many studies demonstrate an increase of DDH in the winter, both in the northern and southern hemispheres. Swaddling is strongly associated with DDH. Amniocentesis, premature labor, and massive radiation exposure may increase the risk of DDH. Associated conditions are congenital muscular torticollis and congenital foot deformities. The opposite hip is frequently abnormal when using rigorous radiographic assessments. The role of acetabular dysplasia and adult hip osteoarthritis is complex. Archeological studies demonstrate that the epidemiology of DDH may be changing.

https://downloads.hindawi.com/archive/2011/238607.pdf

The Epidemiology and Demographics of Hip Dysplasia

https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/access/item%3A2860646/view

New insights into the consumption of maize and other food plants in the pre-Columbian Caribbean from starch grains trapped in human dental calculus

The commemoration of the Columbian quincentenary played an important role in stimulating new research on the biological effects of the arrival of Europeans on Native American groups throughout the New World. Although these discussions have involved many disciplines, physical anthropology has been underrepresented until recently. This article reviews a range of studies on the biological impact of European colonization of the Americas on native populations. Historical sources, mission and civil records, archaeological information, and human skeletal remains have provided a fund of data that are being used to document and interpret native health and well-being after 1492. Osteological investigations reveal that before contact, native populations were not living in a pristine, disease-free environment. Moreover, prehistoric populations experienced occasional eruptions of social conflict and violence, patterns of which are similar to what has been documented in contemporary small-scale societies. Archaeological, historical, and bioarchaeological studies provide compelling evidence that the arrival of Europeans did not occasion a sudden pandemic of smallpox in the early sixteenth century. Rather, epidemic disease in the contact era was a patchwork affair, striking some populations and not others at various times. Regionally based bioarchaeological investigations have disclosed new details about the contact period in the Americas and elsewhere (e.g., Polynesia), particularly in regard to variability in physiological stress, health status, diet and nutritional quality, and activity patterns. These studies show that although rapid population loss and extinction occurred in some areas, many groups survived and accommodated new and challenging circumstances. These findings also indicate that there are common elements to native response to contact with Europeans, but population and regional changes were shaped by localized factors. The demographic resurgence and population recovery during the twentieth century illustrates that Native Americans are a vital part of today's human biological landscape in the western hemisphere. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ajpa.1330370606

In the wake of Columbus: Native population biology in the postcontact Americas

Histomorphometry of Human Cortical Bone: Applications to Age Estimation

Time is a wicked thing. It has no tangible substance, and yet it has an extremely solid autonomy, advancing ever so constantly. And, most wickedly, its correlation to other things is often lamentably weak. This weak interdependence between time and many other natural phenomena is the cardinal reason for the difficulties which exist in human biology in assessing the two variables historic dating of human remains and age at death. In particular the problem of age estimation has been approached by many methods developed in the last decades — which illustrates that the existing techniques were always insufficient.

Dental Age in Adults — A Review of Estimation Methods

Preliminary data on the skeletal biology of 78 Taino skeletons belonging to Juan Dolio, an archaeological site of the Maguana province, 80 Km. east of S. Domingo, are presented. The minimum number of individuals, sex, age, stature, and morphologic and morphometric characters were determined. Dental wear and pathology of cranial and post-cranial bones were also recorded.

Skeletal biology of the Taino: a preliminary report

50 undecalcified cross sections of mandible of 50 individuals of known sex and age (32 males and 18 females) were examined The sample age range was 18–97 years The avnumber of secondary osteons (X1) and average number of fragmented osteons (X2) were computed to correlate them with chronological age at death (Y) Linear regression analyses showed that in this age group, age at death could be estimated with a SE of ±642 years for the variable X1 and a SE of ±1145 years for the variable X2 Some remarks about the reliability of bone methods for age at death estimation are also made

Skeletal age determination by nandibular histomorphometry

A statistical model for the estimation of the age at death is defined and tested to evaluate its performance. It is characterized by the probability of the femoral frequency of secondary osteons for any given age, that we compute by means of 28 scheletons of Italian subjects. In a standard case we obtain good evalutations of the methods, while in practice it can be used according to the objectives of the particular investigation. Moreover other surveys could easily be added to our data in order to obtain a more powerfool tool.

A. Drusini

Papers

Skeletal biology of the Taino: a preliminary report

Skeletal age determination by nandibular histomorphometry

Age at death determination by means of femoral frequency of secondary osteons