Pavao Rudan

Prevalence of metabolic syndrome and related metabolic traits in an island population of the Adriatic

Background: Metabolic syndrome, a constellation of risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes, has reached epidemic proportions worldwide. Epidemiological studies in transitional societies will provide insight into the underlying factors that interact in its manifestation. Aims: To estimate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, provide a comparative analysis of two metabolic syndrome definitions and assess clustering and association of metabolic traits and cardiovascular diseases in an Adriatic island population. Subjects and methods: In a cross-sectional study, data on four anthropometric, blood pressure and 11 biochemical traits were obtained from 1430 adults from the island of Hvar. Results: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 25% and 38.5% based on Adult Treatment Panel III and International Diabetes Federation definitions, respectively. Rates of abdominal obesity, elevated blood glucose and hypertension were high. Among the traits not included in the definitions, levels of LDL, total cholesterol and fibrinogen were markedly elevated. The majority of the phenotypes were significantly associated with the syndrome, the strongest being waist circumference. Conclusion: The Croatian islanders are characterized by a high prevalence of metabolic abnormalities. Central obesity is the strongest contributor of the syndrome. With a high prevalence of dyslipidemia and pro-inflammatory factors, the population is at substantial risk for cardiovascular diseases.

Morphological variation and population structure on the island of Korčula, Yugoslavia

A comparison of head and body morphology on the ecologically uniform island of Korčula provides a good example of the balance that occurs in microevolution between selective pressures toward homogenization and selective inertia toward heterogeneity. thirty-eight measurements were made from a sample of 471 males and 526 females. Head variables, being more eco-stable than body variables, remain relatively more different between two distinct populations (eastern and western villages) than do the more eco-labile body variables, although both do vary significantly between east and west. The differences apply to both men and women. These east-west contrasts reflect the differential migration of Slavs to the island over the past three centuries, with a new wave of immigrants settling mainly in the east and introducing a new gene pool to the pre-existing Slavic hybrid population which had settled the island in the sixth to the eighth centuries. In addition to the predominant east-west differences in morphology, we also find significant variation between all villages in both head and body variables. We conclude that this is an indication of the considerable reproductive isolation that has persisted between all villages until the post-World War II period.

Population structure of the Island of Korcula, Croatia

Serogenetic data on 16 systems and migration data from birthplaces of parent and offspring, collected from 949 inhabitants of 8 vilages on the island of Korcula in the eastern Adriatic (Croatia), were analysed. Geographic distance is not a strong determinant of the population structure on the island. The pattern of the genetic variation now observed derives mainly from history and migration behavior.

Sets of complementary phenotypic relationships across five isolated populations: Traces of expression of different gene complexes?

The aim of this study is to search for certain repeating phenotypic patterns, i.e. sets of complementary relationships across five isolated populations, which may represent the traces of expression of different genes or gene complexes. The study was conducted among isolates of five island populations of eastern Adriatic, Croatia, and the data were collected between 1979 and 1990. Selected phenotypic characteristics included measures of biological distances (e.g. anthropometrical body and head distances, physiological, dermatoglyphic and radiogrammetric bone distances), while other examined traits included sociocultural (linguistic), bio-cultural (migrational kinship) and genetic distances. The sample consisted of 6,286 examinees from 43 villages of five isolate populations. Correlations between distance matrices based on examined traits were analyzed in each of five populations using Mantels test of matrix correspondence, and factor analysis (rotated principal component) was then performed over obtained correlation matrices. The results showed that there were several consistent and significant correlations between some analyzed traits across all of the studied isolate populations, which might indicate their regulation by the shared gene complexes or genome regions. The analyses identified three main clusters of correlations in all five isolate populations: the first one containing anthropometric measures (body and head measures and physiological properties in both sexes), the second one containing geographic distance-related traits (migrational kinship, linguistic and genetic distances), and the third one containing dermatoglyphic properties and radiogrammetric bone measures in both sexes. The higher order varimax rotation over the matrix of factor correlations revealed that the primary source of variation within all five analyzed populations was not sex-related, but rather variable-specific.