Symbolic trephinations and population structure

The sample examined consists of 19 skulls with symbolic trephinations and 86 skulls without trepanations dated from the X century. Skulls were all excavated in the Great Hungarian Plain in the Carpathian Basin, which was occupied by the Hungarian conquerors at the end of the IX century. The variations of 12 cranial dimensions of the trephined skulls were investigated and compared to the skulls without trepanations after performing a discriminant analysis. The classification results evince that the variability of non-trephined skulls shows a more homogeneous and a more characteristic picture of their own group than the trephined samples, which corresponds to the notion, formed by archaeological evidence and written historical sources, of a both ethnically and socially differing population of the Hungarian conquerors. According to historical research, a part of the population was of Finno-Ugric origin, while the military leading layer of society can be brought into connection with Turkic ethnic groups. All the same, individuals dug up with rich grave furniture and supposed to belong to this upper stratum of society are primarily characterized by the custom of symbolic trephination, and, as our results demonstrate, craniologically they seem to be more heterogeneous.

Symbolic trephinations and population structure.

The sample examined consists of 19 skulls with symbolic trephinations and 86 skulls without trepanations dated from the X century. Skulls were all excavated in the Great Hungarian Plain in the Carpathian Basin, which was occupied by the Hungarian conquerors at the end of the IX century. The variations of 12 cranial dimensions of the trephined skulls were investigated and compared to the skulls without trepanations after performing a discriminant analysis. The classification results evince that the variability of non-trephined skulls shows a more homogeneous and a more characteristic picture of their own group than the trephined samples, which corresponds to the notion, formed by archaeological evidence and written historical sources, of a both ethnically and socially differing population of the Hungarian conquerors. According to historical research, a part of the population was of Finno-Ugric origin, while the military leading layer of society can be brought into connection with Turkic ethnic groups. All the same, individuals dug up with rich grave furniture and supposed to belong to this upper stratum of society are primarily characterized by the custom of symbolic trephination, and, as our results demonstrate, craniologically they seem to be more heterogeneous.

Epidemic cycles in agricultural populations: a cross-cultural study.

A cross-cultural analysis of mortality patterns is of interest to biological anthropologists and genetic epidemiologists. In this paper, we examine four agricultural populations from Costa Rica, Hungary, and the United States in order to determine if they suffered from a cyclical distribution of epidemics. When possible, we look at the mortality time series of adults and children separately. Of the 2 series, only 2 show significant epidemic cycles. Both are in the Hungarian groups and both affect subadults. Otherwise, the Costa Rica, U.S., and adult series of the Hungarian groups do not show any periodicity of mortality peaks. Our results indicate that epidemic cycles are not as ubiquitous in small agricultural groups as the literature would suggest.

GM2-gangliosidosis B1 variant: a wide geographic and ethnic distribution of the specific beta-hexosaminidase alpha chain mutation originally identified in a Puerto Rican patient.

A point mutation within exon 5 of beta-hexosaminidase alpha chain gene was identified earlier in a Puerto Rican patient with GM2-gangliosidosis B1 variant (the DN-allele) [K. Ohno and K. Suzuki: J. Neurochem. 50:316-318, 1988]. Oligonucleotide probes designed to detect either the normal or the DN-allele showed that four additional patients carried the same mutation. These patients were of Italian, French, Spanish, and English/Italian/Hungarian origin. Three of them, as well as our original patient, were compound heterozygotes with positive signals for both the mutant and normal probes, while the Spanish patient was positive only for the DN-allele. A patient from Czechoslovakia was negative for the DN-allele. Thus, the specific mutation originally found in the Puerto Rican patient has a surprisingly wide geographic and ethnic distribution. This mutation can account for the B1 variant phenotype in five of the six B1 variant patients so far examined.

[Ethnopsychiatry. The guardians of culture. Effects of geographic migration in late adulthood]. / Ethnopsychiatrie. Les gardiens de la culture. Des effets de la migration géographique sur le troisième âge.

If one considers going through life as a temporal migration, one can observe that passing from one stage of life to the other is marked by certain rites (rites of passage or transition). The act of retirement is such a rite. This event involves individual and collective role changes (losses and gains). Within the context of stress produced at that particular time of temporal migration, the author examines the effects of physical (spatial) migration. Four cases are presented to illustrate this kind of situation. They are separated into two groups: multigenerational migration with and without the participation of aged parents. The use of an ethnological model--the concept of "Guardians of Culture"--allows for the study of the problem from the point of view of a reassessment of self in terms of a cultural role. This ethnopsychiatric approach attempts to assume a preventive role in that it deals with the detection of early signs of stress which could have serious repercussions on the health of the elderly population.

[Lambliasis in a european child in Cuba (author's transl)]. / Lambliose bei einem europäischen Kind in Kuba

Attention is drawn to the possibility of infection with Lamblia intestinalis (Giardia lamblia). In Europe, this parasite is found in 3-26% of children; for tropical countries, higher infection rates are given. In Cuba, infection with Lamblia caused intestinal disorders in a European child.