Janet Monge

Atherosclerosis across 4000 years of human history: the Horus study of four ancient populations

BACKGROUND Atherosclerosis is thought to be a disease of modern human beings and related to contemporary lifestyles. However, its prevalence before the modern era is unknown. We aimed to evaluate preindustrial populations for atherosclerosis. METHODS We obtained whole body CT scans of 137 mummies from four different geographical regions or populations spanning more than 4000 years. Individuals from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, the Ancestral Puebloans of southwest America, and the Unangan of the Aleutian Islands were imaged. Atherosclerosis was regarded as definite if a calcified plaque was seen in the wall of an artery and probable if calcifications were seen along the expected course of an artery. FINDINGS Probable or definite atherosclerosis was noted in 47 (34%) of 137 mummies and in all four geographical populations: 29 (38%) of 76 ancient Egyptians, 13 (25%) of 51 ancient Peruvians, two (40%) of five Ancestral Puebloans, and three (60%) of five Unangan hunter gatherers (p=NS). Atherosclerosis was present in the aorta in 28 (20%) mummies, iliac or femoral arteries in 25 (18%), popliteal or tibial arteries in 25 (18%), carotid arteries in 17 (12%), and coronary arteries in six (4%). Of the five vascular beds examined, atherosclerosis was present in one to two beds in 34 (25%) mummies, in three to four beds in 11 (8%), and in all five vascular beds in two (1%). Age at time of death was positively correlated with atherosclerosis (mean age at death was 43 [SD 10] years for mummies with atherosclerosis vs 32 [15] years for those without; p<0·0001) and with the number of arterial beds involved (mean age was 32 [SD 15] years for mummies with no atherosclerosis, 42 [10] years for those with atherosclerosis in one or two beds, and 44 [8] years for those with atherosclerosis in three to five beds; p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION Atherosclerosis was common in four preindustrial populations including preagricultural hunter-gatherers. Although commonly assumed to be a modern disease, the presence of atherosclerosis in premodern human beings raises the possibility of a more basic predisposition to the disease. FUNDING National Endowment for the Humanities, Paleocardiology Foundation, The National Bank of Egypt, Siemens, and St Lukes Hospital Foundation of Kansas City.

Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East

We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000 and 1,400 bc, from Natufian hunter–gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages before their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter–gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter–gatherers of Europe to greatly reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those of Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.

The Mismeasure of Science: Stephen Jay Gould versus Samuel George Morton on Skulls and Bias

Stephen Jay Gould, the prominent evolutionary biologist and science historian, argued that “unconscious manipulation of data may be a scientific norm” because “scientists are human beings rooted in cultural contexts, not automatons directed toward external truth” [1], a view now popular in social studies of science [2]–[4]. In support of his argument Gould presented the case of Samuel George Morton, a 19th-century physician and physical anthropologist famous for his measurements of human skulls. Morton was considered the objectivist of his era, but Gould reanalyzed Mortons data and in his prize-winning book The Mismeasure of Man [5] argued that Morton skewed his data to fit his preconceptions about human variation. Morton is now viewed as a canonical example of scientific misconduct. But did Morton really fudge his data? Are studies of human variation inevitably biased, as per Gould, or are objective accounts attainable, as Morton attempted? We investigated these questions by remeasuring Mortons skulls and reexamining both Mortons and Goulds analyses. Our results resolve this historical controversy, demonstrating that Morton did not manipulate data to support his preconceptions, contra Gould. In fact, the Morton case provides an example of how the scientific method can shield results from cultural biases.

Arterial ligation for pediatric epistaxis: developmental anatomy.

Background Anatomic studies of adult skulls have aided in the design of operations for the surgical ligation of nasal feeding vessels in the treatment of severe epistaxis. Lack of appropriate specimens has prevented similar studies in children. We performed an anthropometric study of archeological specimens to learn the effects of growth on key anatomic relationships. Methods We studied the skulls of children who died between 200 and 8000 years ago, recovered from archeological digs around the world. Measurements of the distances from the posterior lacrimal crest to the foramina of anterior and posterior ethmoidal arteries and optic canal and the pyriform aperture to the foramen of the sphenopalatine artery were made and compared with postnatal age, estimated from facial growth and dental eruption patterns. Results There is rapid growth in the orbit and midface during the first 6 years of life and gradual growth between 7 years and adulthood. The length of the medial wall of the orbit doubles during development with disproportionate enlargement of its anterior half. Conclusion Arterial ligation is sometimes required for intractable pediatric epistaxis, especially after trauma. The changing relationships of critical structures in the orbital must be understood to allow safe ethmoidal artery ligation. The transantral approach to the maxillary artery is greatly limited by lack of midfacial development and maxillary pneumatization. We describe the necessary parameters for endoscopic, transnasal sphenopalatine artery ligation in growing children.

Fibrous Dysplasia in a 120,000+ Year Old Neandertal from Krapina, Croatia

We describe the first definitive case of a fibrous dysplastic neoplasm in a Neandertal rib (120.71) from the site of Krapina in present-day Croatia. The tumor predates other evidence for these kinds of tumor by well over 100,000 years. Tumors of any sort are a rare occurrence in recent archaeological periods or in living primates, but especially in the human fossil record. Several studies have surveyed bone diseases in past human populations and living primates and fibrous dysplasias occur in a low incidence. Within the class of bone tumors of the rib, fibrous dysplasia is present in living humans at a higher frequency than other bone tumors. The bony features leading to our diagnosis are described in detail. In living humans effects of the neoplasm present a broad spectrum of symptoms, from asymptomatic to debilitating. Given the incomplete nature of this rib and the lack of associated skeletal elements, we resist commenting on the health effects the tumor had on the individual. Yet, the occurrence of this neoplasm shows that at least one Neandertal suffered a common bone tumor found in modern humans.

Computed tomographic evidence of atherosclerosis in the mummified remains of humans from around the world.

Although atherosclerosis is widely thought to be a disease of modernity, computed tomographic evidence of atherosclerosis has been found in the bodies of a large number of mummies. This article reviews the findings of atherosclerotic calcifications in the remains of ancient people-humans who lived across a very wide span of human history and over most of the inhabited globe. These people had a wide range of diets and lifestyles and traditional modern risk factors do not thoroughly explain the presence and easy detectability of this disease. Nontraditional risk factors such as the inhalation of cooking fire smoke and chronic infection or inflammation might have been important atherogenic factors in ancient times. Study of the genetic and environmental risk factors for atherosclerosis in ancient people may offer insights into this common modern disease.

Human sacrifice and intentional corpse preservation in the Royal Cemetery of Ur

The Royal Tombs at Ur have been long famous for their chilling scenario of young soldiers and courtesans who loyally took poison to die with their mistress. The authors investigate two of the original skulls with CT scans and propose a procedure no less chilling, but more enforceable. The victims were participants in an elaborate funerary ritual during which they were felled with a sharp instrument, heated, embalmed with mercury, dressed and laid ceremonially in rows.

Hurler syndrome: a case report of a 5-year follow-up of dental findings after bone marrow transplantation.

Hurler syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder of mucopolysaccharide metabolism. It results from a deficiency in lysosomal enzymes responsible for the breakdown of glycosaminoglycans. Affected individuals may show progressive physical and mental deterioration as glycosaminoglycans are deposited in the organs of the body. Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) is effective in improving some of the clinical manifestations of Hurler syndrome. Death is caused by cardiorespiratory failure and usually occurs before the second decade of life. In this case report, the course of dental development was followed over 5 years, from the primary dentition into the permanent dentition, of a child who was successfully treated with a bone marrow transplant in infancy. The timing of bone marrow therapy has significant and variable effect on the stages of tooth development with implications for the long-term maintenance of the dentition.

Dental calcification stages of the permanent M1 and M2 in U.S. children of African-American and European-American ancestry born in the 1990s

Reported here are the preliminary results of an ongoing study undertaken to determine if there are significant changes from the results obtained in the middle of the 20th Century in the range of variation in dental development in American children of European and African ancestry. Several thousand orthopanoramic radiographs, available from the Dental Clinics of Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania will eventually be incorporated into this study. The 170 radiographs that have thus far been analyzed document significant changes in the maturation and development of the first and second permanent lower molars. Children in this study have dentitions that are maturing earlier than those in the samples published by Moorrees et al.(1963)and (1973). If the results of this preliminary analysis are confirmed by the incorporation of additional teeth and a larger sample of children, as has been reported elsewhere, it will be necessary to reconsider the characterization of dental development in living humans. Confirmation would also require re-evaluation of the range of inherent plasticity in human dental development. These preliminary results, along with the work by zihlman et.al (2004), suggest that current concepts of what constitutes ‘‘normal’’ dental development in living humans and chimpanzees may have to be reconsidered; there are also marked implications for the way in which the developing dentition in fossil hominins is characterized.

The anatomy of the mummy: mortui viventes docent--when ancient mummies speak to modern doctors.

There is almost a universal fascination with prehistoric, protohistoric, and historic human remains that preserve the soft tissues (nonskeletal) of the body (general definition of a mummy). While most people within the general public engage with mummies as part of a museum exhibit process, many scientists have taken that fascination much further. Starting as a general fascination with mummification, the scientific process involved in the study of mummies began in earnest in the late 18th Century AD. This issue of the Anatomical Record was conceived and formulated to bring together a series of researchers to highlight their most groundbreaking research on the scientific advances that surround the 21st Century AD study of these preserved biological beings including an illumination of the cultural processes that purposefully or inadvertently are preserved either within their tissues or are present within the context (archaeological) in which they are found (excavated). Twenty‐six research articles are presented in this volume on a variety of topics all related to the rich transdisciplinary fields that are now directing their research efforts to the state‐of‐the art analysis of human mummified remains. Anat Rec, 298:935–940, 2015.