Megan Brickley

The Effects of Socioeconomic Status on Endochondral and Appositional Bone Growth, and Acquisition of Cortical Bone in Children From 19th Century Birmingham, England

Endochondral growth, appositional growth, and acquisition of cortical bone thickness in the femur are investigated in subadult skeletons (N = 43, dental age range birth to 12 years) from the 19(th)-century AD burial site of St. Martins churchyard, Birmingham, England. Endochondral growth is monitored using diaphyseal femoral length. Appositional growth is monitored using radiographic midshaft mediolateral width and acquisition of cortical bone using combined mediolateral cortical thickness measured at the midshaft from radiographs. The methodology involves plotting these variables against dental age. Growth is compared in children of differing socioeconomic status. Higher and lower status individuals are identified in the assemblage by their burial in brick vaults in the case of the former and in earth-cut graves in the case of the latter. The relationships between bone dimensions and dental age are described using a polynomial regression procedure, and analysis of regression residuals is used to evaluate differences in bone dimension-for-dental age between the two status groups. Results show that lower socioeconomic status individuals had lower cortical thickness-for-dental age than those of higher status. This was interpreted as likely reflecting poorer nutrition in the children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds. There was no patterning with respect to socioeconomic status in femur diaphyseal length or midshaft width. The results support the idea that, for skeletal populations, growth in cortical thickness may be a more sensitive indicator of adverse conditions in childhood than growth in bone length or width.

You are not what you eat during physiological stress: Isotopic evaluation of human hair

Variation in δ(13) C and δ(15) N values can be assessed to understand not only diet, but also the influence of physiological factors on an individual. The metabolic balance of an individual can impact isotopic signals in tissues that are forming during the periods of metabolic stress. Fluctuating δ(15) N values are associated with physiological stressors that alter an individuals metabolism such as infection, injury, or pregnancy. This study examines variation in δ(13) C and δ(15) N values along sequentially segmented hair in both modern and archaeological individuals. Subjects with an observable skeletal pathology, known chronic illness, or evidence of pregnancy were compared with controls exhibiting no evidence of physiological stress. The results on hair samples from individuals from 19(th) century Belleville, Ontario, four modern cadavers (two with cancer and two sudden deaths), and two living pregnant women indicate that δ(15) N values are approximately 1‰ higher in individuals with a pathological condition (e.g., infection, fracture, or cancer) and are 1‰ lower during pregnancy, whereas δ(13) C values show less variability. Higher nitrogen values may represent the recycling of nitrogen derived from the breakdown of existing proteins in the body (catabolism), whereas lower δ(15) N values are related to increased utilization of dietary and urea nitrogen for tissue synthesis during pregnancy. These findings suggest that short-term fluctuations of δ(15) N values may be the result of changes in an individuals metabolic balance, and that metabolic imbalance poses a confounding factor to ancient dietary studies when using rapidly growing tissues such as hair.

Techniques for the Investigation of Age-Related Bone Loss and Osteoporosis in Archaeological Bone

With increasing awareness of age-related bone loss and osteoporosis in modern Western populations, a growing number of studies have set out to investigate whether individuals in the past were similarly affected (Martin and Armelagos, 1979; Bennike and Bohr, 1990; Lees et al., 1993; Agarwal and Grynpas, 1996; Brickley and Howell, 1999; Drusini et al., 2000; Mays, 2000). Research has demonstrated that age-related bone loss and osteoporosis results in changes to cortical bone (Derisquebourg et al., 1994), structural changes to trabecular bone (at a gross and microscopic level [Jayasinghe, 1994]), and bone mass and density (Cummings et al., 1993). Bone turnover and age-related bone loss are highly complex processes (see Chapters 1 and 2, this volume). The interaction between bone loss in both cortical and trabecular bone throughout the skeleton allows a variety of possible approaches to the study of bone loss. A range of techniques have been developed, each of which allows assessment of a different aspect of bone loss. Although this area has generated a great deal of recent interest, the epidemiology of age-related bone loss and fragility fractures, both in clinical and archaeological contexts, is unclear. The history of the development of the disease is not yet fully understood and a range of possibilities is currently being explored. For example, (1994) suggest that increasing bone loss may be an evolutionary trend (see also Chapter 8, this volume).

Approaches to co-occurrence: Scurvy and rickets in infants and young children of 16–18th century Douai, France☆

Disease co-occurrence is defined as the presence and interaction of multiple diseases in a single individual. The phenomenon occurred in the past, but detailed analyses of individuals affected by co-occurrence seldom appear. This paper presents 12 possible cases of scurvy and rickets co-occurrence from the Saint-Amé skeletal collection in Douai, France, dated to the 16-18th century. Each individual was evaluated for evidence of both diseases using macroscopic and radiographic techniques. Additional backscatter scanning electron microscopy evaluation for evidence of rickets was completed on a sub-sample of seven co-occurrence cases. Co-occurrence detection increased with the use of multiple techniques. No unique features identifying scurvy and rickets co-occurrence were observed; instead features associated with both diseases were present. Following clinical expectations, scurvy features were clearly developed while rickets features were subtle. Possible disease sequence and socio-cultural implications are suggested. The studys findings are important to further research on disease co-occurrence as information on cases enhances our ability to understand site context.

Growth in an English population from the Industrial Revolution.

The rapid urbanization of the Industrial Revolution in 18th-19th century England presented new health challenges. Our aim is to investigate using English skeletal remains whether the living conditions for an urban working class group in the Industrial Revolution negatively impacted upon their skeletal growth compared with a population from a rural agrarian parish. The Industrial Revolution skeletal material is from St Martins Churchyard, Birmingham (SMB), West Midlands. It dates primarily from the first half of the nineteenth century when Birmingham was a major manufacturing center. The rural group is from Wharram Percy (WP), North Yorkshire, and dates from 10th-19th century AD. The methodology involves plotting diaphyseal bone lengths versus dental age for subadults. No overall difference was found between the two populations in bone length-for-age among the 2- to 18-year cohort. However the younger parts of the SMB cohort were smaller than at WP; the opposite was true of the older parts of the cohort. Growth rate, as inferred from crosssectional data, appeared greater at SMB than at WP. The only result consistent with expectations is the larger bone dimensions in young children from WP, but this likely reflects prolonged breastfeeding at WP not differences in urban and rural environments. That the deleterious health effects that we know accompanied the major transition in human society from a rural agrarian to an urban industrialized living environment should be little manifest in skeletal endochondral growth data is discouraging for those who would use such methodology to monitor health in earlier populations.

New findings in the identification of adult vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia: Results from a large-scale study

This is the first systematic large-scale palaeopathological study of adult vitamin D deficiency osteomalacia. One thousand one hundred and eighty-one skeletons from multiple urban contexts in post-mediaeval England (c. AD 1700-1855) were analysed. Twelve adults with evidence of osteomalacia were identified. When added to the seven cases previously identified by Brickley et al. (2007) the individual prevalence rate increased to 19 of 1323 individuals (1.43%). New lesions affecting the medial ilium, scapula coracoid process, proximal femur and vertebrae are presented. These are infrequently occurring indicators, but are important in expanding the previously documented range of skeletal changes of adult osteomalacia and may aid the future identification of this condition in archaeological human remains. Importantly, the pathological lesions recorded in archaeological skeletons were different in expression to those observed in pathology museum collections. The more extreme changes found in many museum collections were not identified in this study. A trend for osteomalacia to have occurred in older adults is demonstrated in these results, raising questions over the impacts on health at different stages of the life course.

Picking up the pieces: Utilizing the diagnostic potential of poorly preserved remains

With pressures on time and resources available to those undertaking research in paleopathology, poorly preserved archaeological human remains can often receive limited attention or be completely excluded from the analysis of archaeological sites. Although incomplete skeletons often yield minimal demographic information and can complicate the diagnosis of some pathological conditions, this is not universal. Significant information can be obtained even in partial remains on metabolic bone diseases (where, by definition, the whole skeleton is involved), and for conditions such as osteoarthritis and fractures which can be diagnosed in isolation. We present an example of an incomplete skeleton that provided valuable new information on pathological changes associated with osteomalacia, a condition that has been little studied to date in paleopathology. This skeleton also contributes to our understanding of the factors surrounding the classification of fractures, and provides new insight into the full range of circumstances in which eburnation can develop. This example demonstrates the value of including partial and poorly preserved skeletons in paleopathological analysis and the extent of information that can be obtained.

The Young Woman and her Baby or the Juvenile and their Dog: Reinterpreting Osteological Material from a Neolithic Long Barrow

The results of the re-analysis of the bone from West Tump long barrow, Gloucestershire, which was originally excavated in the late nineteenth century, are presented in this paper. The study revealed that the young woman and her baby mentioned by the excavator are in fact a juvenile of indeterminate sex and a dog. It is possible that this represents one of the youngest dogs to have been placed in association with a human burial from England. The findings of this research demonstrate that, not only should previously excavated sites be curated, but that proper provision should be made for the long-term curation of material currently being excavated.

Ancient Vitamin D Deficiency: Long-Term Trends

Vitamin D deficiency is now widely recognized as one of the most common health conditions in the world, with important consequences for overall health. Levels of deficiency appear to be rising, but the extent to which past humans were affected by vitamin D deficiency and the roles of this hormone in past human health are currently unknown. The discovery that mineralization defects in tooth dentin reflect periods of deficiency and are preserved in our earliest ancestors offers a unique opportunity to provide information on past social and cultural organization and, with further work, to contribute to ongoing debates on change in skin pigmentation. Here we show that humans from some of the earliest Middle Eastern and European communities were affected by deficiency, but levels and severity appear to have increased notably through time. On a simple comparative scale, severity of deficiency was four times as high in Greek communities in 1948 CE as in early farming communities from ca. 3000 BCE; some individuals in the later periods would have had rickets. Research using interglobular dentin in humans and nonhuman primates has the potential to fill in many important gaps in understanding past and present aspects of vitamin D deficiency.

Possible scurvy in the prisoners of Old Quebec: A re-evaluation of evidence in adult skeletal remains

Scurvy is known to have been present in many past communities but recognising the condition in adult skeletal remains poses significant challenges. Fifty skeletons of Protestant prisoners who died between 1746 and 1747 were excavated in 1986-1987 from the walls of Old Quebec, Canada. Documentary sources indicate scurvy was present, and those considered the most likely candidates (n=9) were selected for re-evaluation using recently published macroscopic diagnostic criteria. Cranial porosity, hypertrophy and periosteal new bone formation (PNBF) were compared. The non-specific nature of skeletal changes in adult scurvy has a considerable effect on the potential to suggest a diagnosis. It is conceivable that all individuals had scurvy close to the time of death, but just two displayed probable evidence of scurvy and a further two had possible evidence of scurvy. Remaining cases had insufficient evidence for diagnosis. Although not straightforward, significantly more information was obtained by combining the results of the three types of pathological changes considered. Recent work has highlighted the difficulties of using PNBF in paleopathology, but careful evaluation of location and approximate stage of healing at the time of death contributes useful information that can be used to indicate level of disease burden and possible co-occurrence of conditions.