The utility of carpals for sex assessment: a preliminary study.

Sex assessment is key when investigating human remains either from medicolegal contexts or archaeological sites. Sex is usually assessed by examination of the skull and pelvis, but this may not always be possible if skeletal material is fragmented or incomplete. The present study investigated the potential for using carpals to assess sex, utilizing 100 individuals of known-sex from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection, curated at the Natural History Museum (London). A series of newly-defined measurements are applied to all eight carpals. Inter and intraobserver error tests show that all measurements are satisfactorily reproduced by the first author and another observer. Paired t-tests to investigate side asymmetry of the carpals reveal that some, but not all, measurements are consistently larger on the right hand side than the left. Independent t-tests confirm that all carpals are sexually dimorphic. Univariate measurements produce accuracy levels that range from 64.6 to 84.7%. Stepwise discriminant function analysis, devised separately for left and right sides, provides reliable methods for assessing sex from single and multiple carpals, with an accuracy range of 71.7 to 88.6%. All functions derived are tested for accuracy on a sample of 20 additional individuals from the Christ Church, Spitalfields Collection.

Dust accumulation in the canopy: a potential cause of dental microwear in primates.

Dental microwear researchers consider exogenous grit or dust to be an important cause of microscopic wear on primate teeth. No study to date has examined the accumulation of such abrasives on foods eaten by primates in the forest. This investigation introduces a method to collect dust at various heights in the canopy. Results from dust collection studies conducted at the primate research stations at Ketambe in Indonesia, and Hacienda La Pacifica in Costa Rica indicate that 1) grit collects throughout the canopy in both open country and tropical rain forest environments; and 2) the sizes and concentrations of dust particles accumulated over a fixed period of time differ depending on site location and season of investigation. These results may hold important implications for the interpretation of microwear on primate teeth.

Activity-induced patterns of dental abrasion in prehistoric Pakistan: evidence from Mehrgarh and Harappa.

A detailed investigation of worn teeth should reveal a record of past activity patterns including information regarding diet, food preparation methods, and craft or occupational activities. Anthropological studies of the extensive dental samples from Neolithic (MR 3) and Chalcolithic (MR 2) levels at Mehrgarh, Baluchistan, and Bronze Age Harappa, Punjab, yielded several interesting examples of unusual dental abrasion. This paper provides macro- and microscopic (scanning electron microscope) descriptions of three types of activity-induced dental abrasion: 1) interproximal tooth grooving and interproximal abrasion patches, 2) facial abrasion of maxillary anterior teeth, and 3) lingual abrasion of maxillary incisors in association with rounded wear of lower incisors. The gross size and shape of abrasion features, the orientation of microscopic wear striae, and ethnographic parallels are employed in inferring causal factors involved in their formation. Behavioral activities and dietary explanations possibly associated with each type of dental wear are considered and their implications for reconstructing prehistoric activity patterns discussed. The need for extensive ethno-anthropology research into variations of tooth use among living people with different diets, subsistence bases, and craft specializations is essential to further progress in this field.

[Selective photooxidation of methionine, tyrosine and tryptophane using thionine and toluidine blue as sensitizers (author's transl)]. / Fotooxidación selectiva de metionina, tirosina y triptófano utilizando tionina y azul de toluidina como fotosensibilizadores.

Thionine and toluidine blue were used as sentizers on photooxidation processes of methionine, tryosine and tryptophane. They were more effective than methylene blue. Methionine was photooxidized to sulfoxide and tryptophane to kinurenine. A tyrosine-sensitizer addition compound was postulated. Dye concentration, pH, temperature and EDTA presence conditions were determined on each one of the modification reactions. Methionine at acid pH was selectively modified. On the basis of obtained results and published references, a direct interaction of singlet oxygen with methionine and tryptophase and the excited dye with tyrosine was respectively discussed.