American Journal of Human Biology最新文献

Human biologists seek to understand how cultural, environmental, and biological forces shape observed patterns of human variation. Yet contemporary insights and approaches to observational causal inference remain underutilized in the field. We outline a structured but flexible roadmap for causal inference in human biology that begins with theory development, defines causal questions and estimands, employs directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) to clarify assumptions, and evaluates key identification criteria prior to statistical analysis. We position this framework within a spectrum of causal inference traditions, spanning from interventionist approaches rooted in well-defined, manipulable exposures to realized approaches that engage historically situated and ecologically embedded phenomena. Rather than offering a prescriptive checklist, we frame this toolkit as an opening: a step toward anthropological causal inference that integrates transparency, theoretical and methodological coherence, and the epistemological commitments of the biocultural synthesis in human biology and anthropology.

Arab adolescents are both racialized and invisible minorities in Canada and the United States (US), following the war on terror, incomplete ethnic categorization, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab racism. We conducted a scoping review of physical and psychological health in Arab adolescent populations living in the US and Canada. Inclusion criteria encompassed adolescents and emerging adults aged 10–24 who identified as Arab or having Arab identity and Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) origins. Included scholarly literature reported at least one physical or psychological health outcome and was published in English or Arabic up until 2025. We identified over 200 relevant studies using PubMed, Web of Science, ResearchRabbit.ai, Google Scholar, and Undermind AI. We reviewed 50 total studies that met our inclusion criteria, highlighting the paucity of research on health and biopsychosocial variation among Arab adolescents in North America over a 30-year period. Despite heterogeneity in the health outcomes reported across studies, many focused on acculturative stress, ethnic identity formation, mental health, and discrimination. Few studies examined physical health and sexual and reproductive health; none examined pubertal, immunological, or linear growth outcomes. We discuss how biocultural and human biological research approaches can contribute to advancing a needed and more holistic understanding of health variation among Arab adolescent populations.

Inflammation is the immune system's natural response to initial tuberculosis infection. Tuberculosis bacteria have gained adaptations to manipulate the inflammatory process, sometimes settling into latency and containment in granulomas, ensuring their survival. Grounded in an evolutionary framework, this hypothesis-driven narrative synthesis centers upon immune-related switches, macrophage manipulations, and the critical roles of vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGFA) in the body, exploring how this pro-inflammatory mitogen expressed by M1 macrophages frames risks for latent tuberculosis reactivation. The review focuses on trauma, ovulation, and depression, three case studies of pro-inflammatory switches creating risks for reactivation because of M1 macrophage polarization, the up-regulation of VEGFA expression, and angiogenesis (the sprouting of new blood vessels). A biological rationale is extended for why skeletal tuberculosis is so often connected with onsets in childhood, why adolescent and reproductive age females may experience heightened risks for latent tuberculosis reactivation relative to males, and why there is a potential for latent tuberculosis reactivation following onsets of depression. The immunity switches and reactivation risks of trauma, ovulation, and depression are problematic, particularly in contexts of endemic tuberculosis if large numbers of people are routinely latently infected, and among individuals with natural “high producer” VEGFA phenotypes, or those with strong type 1/M1/T_H1 or type 3/M1/T_H17 pro-inflammatory switch tendencies, and in infections with tuberculosis bacteria possessing macrophage- and granuloma-manipulating adaptations (virulence factors). Arguably, any disease or physiological state engaging pro-inflammatory switches (common and sometimes chronic in the modern population) and M1 macrophage polarizations, and any drug treatments or therapeutics intending to alter VEGFA expression should be considered for latent tuberculosis reactivation risk.