A new visual method for the determination of sex using the human hip bone (os coxae) is proposed, based on a revision of several previous approaches which scored isolated characters of this bone. The efficacy of the methodology is tested on a sample of 402 adults of known sex and age of French and Portuguese origins. With the simultaneous use of five characters of the hip bone, it is possible to provide a correct sexual diagnosis in 95% of all cases, with an error of 2% and an inability to identify sex in only 3%. The advantage of this new method is a reduction in observer subjectivity, since the evaluation procedure cannot involve any anticipation of the result. In addition, this method of sex determination increases the probability of a correct diagnosis with isolated fragments of the hip bone, provided that a combination of elements of one character is found to be typically male or female.

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A Method for Visual Determination of Sex, Using the Human Hip Bone

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is believed to be highly prevalent today because of recent increases in life expectancy and body mass index (BMI), but this assumption has not been tested using long-term historical or evolutionary data. We analyzed long-term trends in knee OA prevalence in the United States using cadaver-derived skeletons of people aged ≥50 y whose BMI at death was documented and who lived during the early industrial era (1800s to early 1900s; n = 1,581) and the modern postindustrial era (late 1900s to early 2000s; n = 819). Knee OA among individuals estimated to be ≥50 y old was also assessed in archeologically derived skeletons of prehistoric hunter-gatherers and early farmers (6000-300 B.P.; n = 176). OA was diagnosed based on the presence of eburnation (polish from bone-on-bone contact). Overall, knee OA prevalence was found to be 16% among the postindustrial sample but only 6% and 8% among the early industrial and prehistoric samples, respectively. After controlling for age, BMI, and other variables, knee OA prevalence was 2.1-fold higher (95% confidence interval, 1.5-3.1) in the postindustrial sample than in the early industrial sample. Our results indicate that increases in longevity and BMI are insufficient to explain the approximate doubling of knee OA prevalence that has occurred in the United States since the mid-20th century. Knee OA is thus more preventable than is commonly assumed, but prevention will require research on additional independent risk factors that either arose or have become amplified in the postindustrial era.

/pdf/knee-osteoarthritis-has-doubled-in-prevalence-since-the-mid-2xhtvj5clo.pdf

Knee osteoarthritis has doubled in prevalence since the mid-20th century

New multiplex PCR sets of commonly used short tandem repeat (STR) markers have been developed to produce PCR products that are reduced in size when compared to standard commercial STR kits. The reduction in size of these amplicons can facilitate the examination and analysis of degraded DNA evidence by improving amplification efficiency. This "miniSTR" approach will permit current forensic practitioners to use STR markers and instrumentation already present in their laboratories and to generate genotyping data that is directly comparable to reference samples and searchable through the FBI's Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) databases. This paper discusses the development of these new primer sets and presents some initial results in the analysis of degraded and aged DNA samples. A method for removal of problematic fluorescent dye artifacts is also described. Comparison studies in over 100 samples have verified that these miniSTR primers can provide fully concordant results to commercial STR kits and can provide improved signal from degraded DNA specimens. These miniplex sets should prove valuable in the analysis of samples where allele dropout and reduced sensitivity of larger STR alleles occurs.

/pdf/the-development-of-reduced-size-str-amplicons-as-tools-for-2henjyl34q.pdf

The development of reduced size STR amplicons as tools for analysis of degraded DNA.

Cutmarks made by stone tools, conchoidal flake scars from hammerstone percussion, carnivore tooth marks, striations from sedimentary abrasion, and other surface modifications on bones from archaeological sites constitute a crucial body of evidence for investigating the role of human behaviors and of nonhuman taphonomic processes in site formation. This paper describes the various kinds of bone surface modifications produced by humans and by nonhuman processes and assesses the current status of bone surface modification studies with regard to such issues as the need for greater analytical standardization, the selection of instruments for examining bone specimens, tactics for identifying the origins of marks on bones, and strategies for inferring human behaviors.

Bone surface modifications in zooarchaeology

Acknowledgements Prologue 1. Dental anthropology and morphology 2. Description and classification of permanent crown and root traits 3. Biological considerations: ontogeny, asymmetry, sex dimorphism and intertrait association 4. Genetics of morphological trait expression 5. Geographic variation in toot crown and root morphology 6. Establishing method and theory for using tooth morphology in reconstructions of late Pleistocene and Holocene human population history 7. Tooth morphology and population history Epilogue Appendices References Index.

The Anthropology of Modern Human Teeth: Dental Morphology and its Variation in Recent Human Populations

Preliminary investigation has indicated that the use of the ventral arc, subpubic concavity, and medial aspect of the ischio-pubic ramus as sexing criteria allows one to sex the os pubis with an accuracy in excess of 95%. The method described here is simple and objective enough to allow the beginning researcher to sex hip bones accurately while requiring the presence of only a small fragment of the bone.

A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis

Artificial grooves about 2 mm in width have been observed on the cervical region of teeth of American Indian populations which come from widespread localities and which extend through considerable time depth. The grooves appear to have been made ante-mortem and to show a close relationship with interproximal caries and peridontal bone resorption. It is conjectured that the grooves represent efforts of a therapeutic or, at least, palliative nature.

T. W. Phenice

Papers

A newly developed visual method of sexing the os pubis

Artificial interproximal grooving of the teeth in American Indians

The Sonota complex and associated sites on the northern Great Plains

Prehistoric Human Skeletal Material From Three Sites In North and South Dakota