The genetics of the pre-Roman Iberian Peninsula: a mtDNA study of ancient Iberians.

The Iberians developed a surprisingly sophisticated culture in the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula from the 6th century BC until their conquest by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. They spoke and wrote a non-Indo-European language that still cannot be understood; their origins and relationships with other non-Indo-European peoples, like the Etruscans, are unclear, since their funerary practices were based on the cremation of bodies, and therefore anthropology has been unable to approach the study of this people. We have retrieved mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from a few of the scarce skeletal remains that have been preserved, some of them belonging to ritualistically executed individuals. The most stringent authentication criteria proposed for ancient DNA, such as independent replication, amino-acid analysis, quantitation of template molecules, multiple extractions and cloning of PCR products, have been followed to obtain reliable sequences from the mtDNA hypervariable region 1 (HVR1), as well as some haplogroup diagnostic SNPs. Phylogeographic analyses show that the haplogroup composition of the ancient Iberians was very similar to that found in modern Iberian Peninsula populations, suggesting a long-term genetic continuity since pre-Roman times. Nonetheless, there is less genetic diversity in the ancient Iberians than is found among modern populations, a fact that could reflect the small population size at the origin of the population sampled, and the heterogenic tribal structure of the Iberian society. Moreover, the Iberians were not especially closely related to the Etruscans, which points to considerable genetic heterogeneity in Pre-Roman Western Europe.

[A comparative study of the evolution of caries in mentally retarded subjects of 5 years' duration]. / Estudio comparativo de la evolución de la caries en personas disminuidas psíquicas de 5 años de duración.

OBJECTIVE: To study the evolution of caries in two groups of mentally retarded individuals. DESIGN: Longitudinal, prospective, non randomized study, with a five-years follow-up period, with intervention and control groups. SETTING: Community trial. Primary health care centre in Martorell. SUBJECTS: Mentally retarded individuals attending a workshop school (intervention group, N = 29) and living in a boarding school (control group, N = 25). INTERVENTION: One group was on a program of prevention and treatment of caries, the other one received the usual care and acted as a control group. MEASUREMENT AND MAIN RESULTS: The number of absent, filled and caries teeth were studied from 1992-1997. An analysis of the variance with repeated measures was carried out. The groups were comparable for most demographic characteristics and basal odontological parameters. While in the control group the number of caries increased (mean92 = 2.2; standard error [SE] = 0.5); mean97 = 3.3; SE = 0.5; p = 0.03) in the intervention group it did not change (mean92 = 1.8: SE = 0.4; mean97 = 1.7; SE = 0.2; p = 0.73). The variation over time was significantly different between the groups (p = 0.03). The mean of filled teeth increased in the intervention group (mean92 = 0.7; SE = 0.4; mean97 = 2.2; SE = 0.4; p < 0.0001) and it did not change in the control group (mean92 = 1.2; SE = 0.5; mean97 = 1.4; SE = 0.6; p = 0.48). There were statistical significant differences between the two groups in the variation over time (p = 0.017). CONCLUSIONS: Preventive and curative odontological intervention in mentally retarded individuals can be useful to improve the evolution of caries.

[Treatment of patent ductus arteriosus in preterm infants]. / Tratamiento del "ductus" arterioso persistente en recién nacidos pretérmino.

A retrospective study is made on the results of the treatment of 38 preterm infants with symptomatic PDA; they represented an incidence of 4% of all the admissions to our Unit from June 1978 to March 1980. 30 of the 38 infants (79%) had PDA associated with RDS. Conservative medical treatment failed in 42% of the patients, requiring the administration of indomethacin for pharmacologic closure of their PDA. The different responses to the drug in each of the established groups are commented, being the group with a birth weight less than 1,500 g who presented the highest percentage of re-openings (62.5%) and of therapeutic failures (50%). An early closure of the PDA can contribute to decrease the morbidity and mortality of these infants, specially those with lower birth weight.

[Pancreatic lipomatous hypoplasia associated with skeleton anomalies. Shwachman's syndrome (author's transl)]. / Hipoplasia lipomatosa del páncreas asociada a alteraciones esqueléticas. Síndrome de Shwachman.

A five month old girl with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, skeletal deformities and a non constant neutropenia (Shwachman's syndrome) is presented. Infectious complications, mainly septic and pulmonary, which caused her death, were frequent. The pathologic findings showed a pancreatic lipomatous hypoplasia and absence of zymogen granulos, as well as anomalies of the growing cartilage where no radiological abnormalities could be seen.