RESUMO
The endocranial capacities (ECCs) of 73 Western Australian Aboriginal crania were estimated. Using water-standardised mustard seed, ECCs were (in cm3) males--means 1,239, S.D. 92.3; females--means 1,118, S.D. 77.5. The male and female mean values were smaller than those previously published for Australia as a whole; sexual dimorphism (9.7%) was also slightly lower. Comparison of the Western Australian Aboriginal sample with a large Danish sample (Pakkenberg and Voigt, 1964; Holloway, 1980) permitted analysis of factors underlying sex and population differences in ECC. In both samples about 40% of the mean sex differences in ECC could be related to stature differences; for each sex almost 2/3 of the differences between the Western Australian and Danish means appear to be associated with differences in stature and latitude. Allometric adjustments are also involved.
Assuntos
Estatura , Encéfalo/anatomia & histologia , Havaiano Nativo ou Outro Ilhéu do Pacífico , Crânio/anatomia & histologia , Clima , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Análise de Regressão , Caracteres Sexuais , Temperatura , Austrália OcidentalRESUMO
In an earlier study the authors had found that out of a total of 232 adult residents adjacent to a traffic highway, 11% died of cancer during an observation period of 12 years (the corresponding figure for a traffic-free neighborhood was 1.2%). During the same period a proportion of the residents adjacent to the highway were treated with calciumedetate for the purpose of lead elimination. Of these 47 individuals only one died of cancer, while of those who did not undergo calciumedetate treatment the number of deaths was 24, or six times more percentage-wise. This finding, together with numerous references in the literature, leads to the assumption that lead in gasoline may play a significant role in the development of cancer.
