Annals of Human Biology最新文献

Caesarean sections (CS) are the most common surgical procedures performed on women of reproductive age. They should only be performed when medically indicated or in case of acute birth complications. Assessing risk factors that could necessitate a CS is therefore of great interest. The aim of this retrospective medical record-based study was to analyse the significance of maternal height as a risk factor for emergency CS using a data set of 11,110 term births in Vienna, Austria. The emergency CS rate was 8.2%. Mothers experiencing emergency CS were significantly older, shorter, but heavier and more likely to be first-time mothers than women experiencing spontaneous vaginal childbirth. Very short mothers (< 156 cm) had the significantly highest (p < 0.001) emergency CS rate, while women with a height of > 175 cm had the lowest. Maternal height was an independent risk factor for emergency CS. For every centimetre decrease in height, the risk of an emergency CS increased significantly by 6.7%. Maternal height should therefore be considered a risk factor for birth complications that could require an emergency CS, even in a population with a very high standard of prenatal care.

Background: Visual impairments in children can significantly impact their development.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of visual conditions among Togolese orphaned children.

Subjects and methods: A total of 673 orphans of Sub-Saharan African descent, aged 1 month to 23 years, from 17 orphanages in Lomé and surrounding areas were examined between October 2021 and April 2025. Eye assessments included the use of an otoscope, ophthalmoscope, LEA symbol chart (for children aged 3), and E-hook chart (for children >3). Diagnosed conditions were confirmed through specialist referrals when necessary.

Results: Visual conditions were identified in 109 children (16.2%), of whom 61 (56.0%) were referred to ophthalmology for further evaluation. Fifty were diagnosed with a single ocular condition, while 11 had multiple conditions. These were most commonly combinations of ametropia with conjunctival disorders or glaucoma. In total, 73 ocular conditions were identified within this group, with ametropia being the most prevalent (n = 40, 54.8%), particularly astigmatism.

Conclusion: Visual conditions were common among Togolese orphaned children. Although not formally studied, the findings support the integration of routine visual screening into early childhood health programs and school entry assessments to prevent or treat visual conditions with appropriate care.

Background: Climate change is increasing temperatures, frequency of heatwaves, and erratic rainfall, which threatens human biology and health, particularly in already extreme environments. Therefore, it is important to understand how environmental heat stress measures are tied to human water needs and thermoregulation under increasingly hot conditions.

Aim: To test how ambient temperature, heat index, and wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) relate to hydration status and thermal heat perception in a hot, semi-arid environment.

Subjects and methods: Urine samples, perceived heat stress, and anthropometrics were collected among Daasanach semi-nomadic pastoralists (n = 187 children, n = 231 adults) in northern Kenya. Environmental heat stress measures were recorded at sample collection; samples' urine specific gravity (USG) was measured.

Results: Multiple linear and logistic regressions indicate that all environmental heat stress measures were associated with USG, odds of dehydration, and heat perception. Ambient temperature performed marginally better than WBGT, and both performed better than heat index. These associations were stronger among children than adults.

Conclusion: In a hot, semi-arid climate, ambient temperature and WBGT accurately predict human water needs and heat stress, with children more vulnerable to dehydration. To mitigate consequences of extreme heat, local bioculturally-appropriate hydration (e.g. tea) and cooling (e.g. shade) strategies should be encouraged.

Background: Cyclone Idai was one of the most destructive cyclones in the Southern Hemisphere. Malaria prevention is not part of cyclone response, but housing damage has been shown to increase malaria risk.

Aim: To assess the extent to which housing damage led to insecticide treated net (ITN) damage, thus compounding malaria risk.

Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Sussundenga village. This analysis focused on household damage and ITN use in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai. Generalised estimating equations logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with ITN use.

Results: Thirty-five percent (104 of 296) of participants reported not sleeping under an ITN the previous night. Sixty-one percent (64 of 104) of participants who reported not sleeping under an ITN indicated lack of access as the reason why. Minor household damage was associated with 0.34 (95% CI: 0.15-0.78) times lower odds of ITN use and destruction was associated with 0.23 (95% CI: 0.11-0.50) times lower odds of ITN use.

Conclusion: We found that even minor household damage was associated with 70% decreased odds of ITN use. As severe storms become more frequent due to climate change, this is an area for further research to assist malaria control programs in their success.

Background: The built environment buffers residents of large cities, such as New York (NYC), from exposure to low temperatures. Furthermore, average winter temperatures are rising in NYC due to climate change. The degree to which NYC residents exhibit metabolic adaptations to cold stress is currently unclear.

Aim: This study quantified variation in brown adipose tissue (BAT), energy expenditure (EE), and ambient temperature among NYC residents.

Subjects and methods: We recruited 46 adults (31 females; 15 males) and quantified anthropometrics, change in EE, and BAT thermogenesis after a cooling condition in the lab. A subsample of 21 participants wore temperature loggers for three days in order to quantify ambient temperature exposure.

Results: BAT thermogenesis was not significantly associated with change in EE. Participants that were exposed to lower average temperatures exhibited greater BAT thermogenesis (p = 0.013). Change in EE, however, was not significantly associated with time spent outside nor average temperature exposure.

Conclusion: Our study provides mixed evidence for the role of BAT thermogenesis in metabolic adaptations to cold stress among NYC residents. Many young adults in NYC are exposed to minimal amounts of cold stress, and this trend is likely to be exacerbated by climate change.

Background: Long-term cooling and aridification are associated with the spread of grassland habitats and the appearance of new hominin adaptations starting in the late Miocene. However, limited fossil data during critical periods limits our ability to examine these climatic correlations further.

Aim: We set out to reconstruct potential habitat and climate conditions at the origin of our genus Homo.

Subjects and methods: Mammalian faunal lists and species trait data were collected for Ledi-Geraru localities dated from ∼2.78 to <2.59 million years ago (Ma). These were compared to a modern comparative dataset of mammal communities across Africa with known habitat and climate conditions, as well as to other fossil mammal data from eastern Africa in the time period leading up to and following shortly after the earliest known appearance of Homo at ∼2.78 Ma.

Results: Early Homo is associated with ongoing aridification and increasing seasonality in the Afar Depression. While climate trends in eastern Africa parallel global models, local environmental variation persisted across fossil-bearing regions.

Conclusion: Climatic change (aridification and increasing seasonality) continues to be supported as a possible factor in the origins of our genus, although other fossil hominins continued to persist in these conditions.

Background: The agropastoral communities of Coquimbo, Chile, are characterised by their goat herding-based livelihoods, admixed ancestry, and transhumant mobility.

Aim: To explore the impact of these features on genetic diversity and interactions with neighbouring populations.

Subjects and methods: Genotypic polymorphisms of 15 STRs were analysed in 466 individuals from 15 communities. Forensic parameters were estimated. Genetic structure was assessed using R_ST, Nei's distances, MDS, dendrograms, and STRUCTURE, with 23 reference populations from Chile, South America and globally.

Results: A total of 158 alleles were observed, with frequencies ranging from 0.0011 to 0.5172. CSF1PO, D18S51, and Penta E showed deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The panel demonstrated high forensic performance (combined power of discrimination CPD > 0.999999999, combined power of exclusion CPE = 0.99999713817). No clear genetic structure was found within the Coquimbo communities. Regionally, Coquimbo clustered with northern Chile and north-west Argentina. Globally, it resembled other South American admixed populations, slightly differentiated from those from other regions.

Conclusions: The STRs analysed show high forensic potential, low genetic structure within the agropastoral communities, and important similarities with populations in northern Chile and north-west Argentina, supporting the relevance of trans-Andean mobility in shaping their genetic landscape.

Background and aim: We provide ethnographic, photovoice, and psychosocial stress data (food and water insecurity, potentially traumatic events, stress biomarkers) documenting the joys, hazards, and stressors of adolescents engaging in climate-sensitive pastoralist livelihoods in a global climate change hot spot. We aim to holistically capture socio-environmental relationships characterised by climate sensitive livelihoods and forms of precarity exacerbated by climate change.

Subjects and methods: Qualitative and quantitative methods were integrated to understand the embodied toll of hazards that Samburu pastoralists faced based on a sample of 161 young people. Quantitatively, we tested for associations of psychosocial stressors with both psychological distress and cell-mediated immune function (assessed through differences in IgG antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus).

Results: Qualitatively, young Samburu reported drought, food and water insecurity, wildlife encounters, and war exposure. Girls overall endorsed more posttraumatic stress symptoms, although boys reported relatively more stressors; girls overall and young people in the hotter subregion manifested more immune dysregulation.

Conclusion: In spite of important differences between climate subregions, the common elements throughout the Samburu pastoralist leanscape include food and water insecurity and overall precarity exacerbated by drought and climate change. Community-driven interventions are needed to reduce precarity for young people pursuing pastoralist livelihoods.