ABSTRACT
In the thousands of years that followed dog domestication, wherever humans went, dogs surely followed. However, the tale of the dog in the ancient South Pacific is often an overlooked one. A small, bandy-legged dog, seemingly not much use for anything but food, this canine could easily be overshadowed in history by more accomplished breeds; the sled dogs of Siberia, the sight hounds of the Middle East, the herders and guarders of Europe, or the practical retrievers of North America. In actuality, tracing the journey of this domesticate could help us to work towards an answer in the mystery of the origin of the first South Pacific colonists. Through discussing the journey and presence of the domestic dog following one of the last great feats of human migration, valuable insight can be gained surrounding one of the longest-standing human-animal relationships. Over time, the closeness of man and dog in the South Pacific persisted, entrenched in folklore and material culture, with this landrace of dog only facing an untimely demise when it was usurped and genetically diluted by European breeds.
ABSTRACT
Osteoporosis is a common bone disorder found predominantly in women in every corner of the globe both in the living and in skeletons of the last seven millennia found in global archaeological excavations, except Polynesia. The Pacific Islands, or South Sea Islands, Polynesian people have an instantly recognisable phenotype characterised by a large bone and muscle mass frequently found in the front row of the rugby union scrum, or as security ‘bouncers’ on the door of night clubs. They are rarely seen in the orthopaedic wards of Australasia in spite of increasing migrant numbers and their passion for the two rugby football codes. This poses the questions of are their bones stronger and if that is the case, why is that? Information directly from the islands is restricted by limited life expectancy, greater health priorities such as diabetes, limited diagnostic facilities and the lack of sophisticated computerised health information collection. However; this paper finds supportive data for the first question and identifies genetic and lifestyle factors as the possible answer to the second question.
ABSTRACT
Background: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common, highly heritable neurobiological disorder of childhood onset, characterized by hyperactivity, impulsiveness or inattentiveness. Aim: To search for differences in risk for ADHD and its components among Chilean native and mixed populations and to look forpossible associations with dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) and dopamine transporter 1 (DAT1) polymorphisms. Material and Methods: School teachers were requested to complete the Conners test, which uses DSM-IV criteria, to screen for ADHD risk among Aymara and Rapa-Nui students. Results: Rapa-Nui children from Easter Island had the highest risk of hyperactivity/impulsiveness. Aymara children from the Arica-Parinacota Region had lower scores. Although inattentiveness scores had lower differences between groups, overall ADHD score differences among studied populations were highly significant. DRD4 and DAT1 alleles had a heterogeneous distribution. Easter islanders had more divergent frequencies, mostprobably as a result of separate migration routes utilized at different timeperiods during the colonization of America and Polynesia. Conclusions: The comparison of ADHD risk parameters between Rapa-Nui and Aymara children showed marked differences. Allele distri-bution of dopamine polymorphisms in Easter Island was also significantly different from northern Chile, due probably to different colonization histories. These findings suggest that higher ADHD risk scores in Easter Island children may be linked to the presence of different DRD4 alleles.