Fetal exposure to the Ukraine famine of 1932-1933 and adult type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The short-term impact of famines on death and disease is well documented, but estimating their potential long-term impact is difficult. We used the setting of the man-made Ukrainian Holodomor famine of 1932-1933 to examine the relation between prenatal famine and adult type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This ecological study included 128,225 T2DM cases diagnosed from 2000 to 2008 among 10,186,016 male and female Ukrainians born from 1930 to 1938. Individuals who were born in the first half-year of 1934, and hence exposed in early gestation to the mid-1933 peak famine period, had a greater than twofold likelihood of T2DM compared with that of unexposed controls. There was a dose-response relationship between severity of famine exposure and increase in adult T2DM risk.

Fleeing mass starvation: what we (do not) know about the famine-migration nexus.

The relationship between famine and migration has not been studied adequately to date. A systematic review of scholarship centred on famine and its demographic, political, and socioeconomic effects demonstrates the paucity of academic attention to the issue. This paper surveys the dominant hypotheses and findings regarding the connection between famine and migration. It delineates key questions that an interdisciplinary and case-based exploration of the subject should address, highlighting gaps in the literature with respect to population-level analyses. Primary observations about the literature reviewed include tenuous generalisations about the linkage between famine and migration and partial examination of the role of politics in enabling or prohibiting mobility during hunger-related crises. In addition, disciplinary silos influence which particular aspects of a famine are scrutinised and which are not appraised. In view of these concerns, international legal and humanitarian norms governing migration also need to pay closer attention to its association with famine.

DNA methylation of the INSR gene as a mediator of the association between prenatal exposure to famine and adulthood waist circumference.

The aims of this study were to explore whether DNA methylation at INSR and IGF2 mediated the association of prenatal exposure to the Chinese great famine with adulthood waist circumference (WC) and BMI. A total of 235 subjects were selected into the present study from severely affected province and a neighbor province with less severely affected famine in China through multi-stage clustered random sampling. DNA methylation at the INSR and IGF2 gene promoter regions was detected by the Sequenom's MassARRAY system. The "mediation" package of R was used to evaluate the mediation effect of DNA methylation on the association between prenatal exposure to the famine and adult WC and BMI. The results showed that prenatal famine exposure was significantly associated with higher overall methylation level of the INSR gene (d = 3.6%; 95% CI 1.2-6.0; P = 0.027) and larger adulthood WC (d = 2.72 cm; 95% CI 0.20-5.24; P = 0.034). Furthermore, famine significantly increased methylation levels at four CpG sites. Methylation of the CpG7 site mediated 32.0% (95% CI 5.0-100.0%, P = 0.029) of the association between prenatal exposure to the Chinese great famine and adulthood WC. In conclusion, Epigenetic changes to the INSR might mediate the adverse effect of prenatal famine exposure on WC in adulthood.

Extreme climate after massive eruption of Alaska's Okmok volcano in 43 BCE and effects on the late Roman Republic and Ptolemaic Kingdom.

The assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BCE triggered a power struggle that ultimately ended the Roman Republic and, eventually, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, leading to the rise of the Roman Empire. Climate proxies and written documents indicate that this struggle occurred during a period of unusually inclement weather, famine, and disease in the Mediterranean region; historians have previously speculated that a large volcanic eruption of unknown origin was the most likely cause. Here we show using well-dated volcanic fallout records in six Arctic ice cores that one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the past 2,500 y occurred in early 43 BCE, with distinct geochemistry of tephra deposited during the event identifying the Okmok volcano in Alaska as the source. Climate proxy records show that 43 and 42 BCE were among the coldest years of recent millennia in the Northern Hemisphere at the start of one of the coldest decades. Earth system modeling suggests that radiative forcing from this massive, high-latitude eruption led to pronounced changes in hydroclimate, including seasonal temperatures in specific Mediterranean regions as much as 7 °C below normal during the 2 y period following the eruption and unusually wet conditions. While it is difficult to establish direct causal linkages to thinly documented historical events, the wet and very cold conditions from this massive eruption on the opposite side of Earth probably resulted in crop failures, famine, and disease, exacerbating social unrest and contributing to political realignments throughout the Mediterranean region at this critical juncture of Western civilization.

Sex differences in adult famine mortality in medieval London.

OBJECTIVES: Recurrent famine events during the medieval period might have contributed to excess mortality during the Black Death in London, England (c. 1349-1350). Previous research using conventional methods of age estimation revealed that adult males experienced lower risks of mortality under "normal" (attritional) but not famine mortality conditions following the Black Death. However, given the biases inherent in conventional age estimation methods, this study reassesses sex differences in risks of medieval adult famine mortality using ages estimated via transition analysis, which avoids some of the limitations of conventional age estimation methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We apply hazards analysis (the Gompertz model of adult mortality) to ages estimated for human skeletal remains (n = 1245) from London cemeteries dated to the pre-Black Death (c. 1000-1250 CE) and post-Black Death (c. 1350-1540 CE) periods. RESULTS: The results reveal no sex differences in risks of mortality before the Black Death but indicate that adult males faced lower risks of mortality after the Black Death during conditions of normal and famine mortality. CONCLUSIONS: These findings largely support those of our previous research, which suggested that selective mortality during the Black Death or sex-biased improvements in standard of living following the epidemic reduced risk of mortality for adult males in the post-Black Death period under normal mortality conditions. However, the use of transition analysis age estimates also revealed a reduced risk of mortality for post-Black Death adult males under famine conditions.

Relief food subsistence revealed by microparticle and proteomic analyses of dental calculus from victims of the Great Irish Famine.

Food and diet were class markers in 19th-century Ireland, which became evident as nearly 1 million people, primarily the poor and destitute, died as a consequence of the notorious Great Famine of 1845 to 1852. Famine took hold after a blight (Phytophthora infestans) destroyed virtually the only means of subsistence-the potato crop-for a significant proportion of the population. This study seeks to elucidate the variability of diet in mid-19th-century Ireland through microparticle and proteomic analysis of human dental calculus samples (n = 42) from victims of the famine. The samples derive from remains of people who died between August 1847 and March 1851 while receiving poor relief as inmates in the union workhouse in the city of Kilkenny (52°39' N, -7°15' W). The results corroborate the historical accounts of food provisions before and during the famine, with evidence of corn (maize), potato, and cereal starch granules from the microparticle analysis and milk protein from the proteomic analysis. Unexpectedly, there is also evidence of egg protein-a food source generally reserved only for export and the better-off social classes-which highlights the variability of the prefamine experience for those who died. Through historical contextualization, this study shows how the notoriously monotonous potato diet of the poor was opportunistically supplemented by other foodstuffs. While the Great Irish Famine was one of the worst subsistence crises in history, it was foremost a social disaster induced by the lack of access to food and not the lack of food availability.

HOW INFECTION SHAPED HISTORY: LESSONS FROM THE IRISH FAMINE.

Human history has been profoundly affected by infection throughout the millennia. In most cases, the impact has been a direct consequence of infection in humans. However, in the 1840s, a plant infection - potato blight, caused by the fungus Phytopthera infestans - showed us how an environmental catastrophe in a vulnerable community can profoundly affect human history. Before the visitation of potato blight, the population of Ireland was the most rapidly growing in Europe in the early 1840s. Yet between 1845 and 1850, Ireland's population fell by over one-third - with 3 million people disappearing from the island - half through death and half through emigration. This directly led to a subsequent diaspora of almost 80 million people, many destined for residence in the Americas. The diaspora carried enormous consequences for the social, economic, and political development of the US. Today, lessons from the Irish famine remain poignant and relevant. Social science maps the dimensions of a disaster dependent on the size of its impact and the relative vulnerability of the society which experiences the disaster. Ireland's vulnerability was in terms of its overall poverty and its dependence on the potato as a subsistence crop. However, a critical factor in the disaster was the political structure in which it occurred - where governance was unwilling and unable to respond to the needs of the population.

Adult body height as a mediator between early-life conditions and socio-economic status: the case of the Dutch Potato Famine, 1846-1847.

Adult body height appears to be a relatively accurate summary variable of early-life exposures' influence on health, and may be a useful indicator of health in populations where more traditional health-related indicators are lacking. In particular, previous studies have shown a strong, positive relationship between environmental conditions in early life (particularly nutritional availability and the disease environment) and adult height. Research has also demonstrated positive associations between height and socioeconomic status. We therefore hypothesize that height mediates the relationship between early-life conditions and later-life socio-economic outcomes. We also hypothesize that the period of exposure in early life matters, and that conditions during pregnancy or the first years of life and/or the years during puberty have the largest effects on height and socio-economic status. To test these relationships, we use a sample of 1817 Dutch military conscripts who were exposed during early life to the Dutch Potato Famine (1846-1847). We conduct mediation analyses using structural equation modelling, and test seven different time periods in early-life. We use potato prices and real wages to proxy early-life environmental conditions, and occupational status (using the HISCAM scale) to proxy socioeconomic status. We find no evidence of mediation, partial or full, in any models. However, there are significant relationships between potato prices in adolescence, height and socio-economic status. To determine causality in these relationships, further research is needed.