A genetic history of the pre-contact Caribbean.

Humans settled the Caribbean about 6,000 years ago, and ceramic use and intensified agriculture mark a shift from the Archaic to the Ceramic Age at around 2,500 years ago. Here we report genome-wide data from 174 ancient individuals from The Bahamas, Haiti and the Dominican Republic (collectively, Hispaniola), Puerto Rico, Curaçao and Venezuela, which we co-analysed with 89 previously published ancient individuals. Stone-tool-using Caribbean people, who first entered the Caribbean during the Archaic Age, derive from a deeply divergent population that is closest to Central and northern South American individuals; contrary to previous work, we find no support for ancestry contributed by a population related to North American individuals.

Association between Characteristics of Impostor Phenomenon in Medical Students and Step 1 Performance.

Impostor phenomenon (IP) is a widely recognized experience in which highly performing individuals do not internalize success. Self-doubt toward one's ability or intelligence is unexpectedly common. Prior research has associated IP with medical student perceptions, burnout, and demographic characteristics.

Mental health literacy in korean older adults: A cross-sectional survey.

Unlabelled: WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Mental health literacy is a fairly new concept, first introduced in 1997. It refers to what people know and believe about mental health disorders. People's knowledge and beliefs help them to recognize, manage and prevent mental disorders.

Statutory Compensation for the Wrongly Imprisoned.

This article provides an overview of the unique challenges faced by men and women who have been wrongly convicted, imprisoned, and subsequently exonerated, and discusses the relevance of social work to exoneration. The ways in which exonerees can seek compensation are described, and state compensation statutes are examined, delineating monetary and reentry support provisions. Currently, 30 states and the District of Columbia have compensation statutes.

HPV Literacy and Associated Factors Among Hmong American Immigrants: Implications for Reducing Cervical Cancer Disparity.

Previous studies show that certain minority and ethnic communities experience low human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination rates despite a higher cervical cancer burden. HPV is known to be responsible for almost all cervical cancer cases. Hmong Americans, a growing Asian American population, appear to be at increased risk.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor is a novel determinant of cigarette smoke-induced lung damage.

Cigarette smoke (CS) is the most common cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), including emphysema. CS exposure impacts all cell types within the airways and lung parenchyma, causing alveolar tissue destruction through four mechanisms: (1) oxidative stress; (2) inflammation; (3) protease-induced degradation of the extracellular matrix; and (4) enhanced alveolar epithelial and endothelial cell (EC) apoptosis. Studies in human pulmonary ECs demonstrate that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) antagonizes CS-induced apoptosis.

United Arab Emirates: phylogenetic relationships and ancestral populations.

In the current report, 109 unrelated individuals from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were typed across 15 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) loci (D8S1179, D21S11, D7S820, CSF1PO, D3S1358, TH01, D13S317, D16S539, D2S1338, D149S433, vWA, TPOX, D18S51, D5S818 and FGA) routinely employed in population genetics analyses and compared across a set of ethnically and geographically targeted reference collections. UAE, located at the southeastern most portion of the Arabian Peninsula, in the tri-continental crossroads connecting Africa, Europe and Asia, has been influenced by a number of human dispersal waves from a plethora of sources including the Paleolithic "Out of Africa" migrations, the exodus of Neolithic pastoral agriculturalists from the Fertile Crescent and Northern Africa, as well as more recent migrations from Asia and the Middle East. We found that despite the high levels of consanguinity that characterize UAE, this population is genetically highly heterogeneous.

Differential timing of arousals in obstructive and central sleep apnea in patients with heart failure.

Study Objectives: In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), arousals generally occur at apnea termination and help restore airflow. However, timing of arousals in central sleep apnea (CSA) has not been objectively quantified, and since arousals can persist even when CSA is alleviated, may not play the same defensive role as they do in OSA. We hypothesized that arousals following central events would occur longer after event termination than following obstructive events and would be related to circulation time.

The Himalayas: barrier and conduit for gene flow.

The Himalayan mountain range is strategically located at the crossroads of the major cultural centers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Although previous Y-chromosome studies indicate that the Himalayas served as a natural barrier for gene flow from the south to the Tibetan plateau, this region is believed to have played an important role as a corridor for human migrations between East and West Eurasia along the ancient Silk Road. To evaluate the effects of the Himalayan mountain range in shaping the maternal lineages of populations residing on either side of the cordillera, we analyzed mitochondrial DNA variation in 344 samples from three Nepalese collections (Newar, Kathmandu and Tamang) and a general population of Tibet.

Y-STR diversity and sex-biased gene flow among Caribbean populations.

In the present study, we report, for the first time, the allele and haplotype frequencies of 17 Y-STR (Y-filer) loci in the populations of Haiti, Jamaica and the Bahamas (Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma, Grand Bahama, Long Island and New Providence). This investigation was undertaken to assess the paternal genetic structure of the abovementioned Caribbean islands. A total of 607 different haplotypes were identified among the 691 males examined, of which 537 (88.

Y-chromosomal diversity in Haiti and Jamaica: contrasting levels of sex-biased gene flow.

Although previous studies have characterized the genetic structure of populations from Haiti and Jamaica using classical and autosomal STR polymorphisms, the patrilineal influences that are present in these countries have yet to be explored. To address this lacuna, the current study aims to investigate, for the first time, the potential impact of different ancestral sources, unique colonial histories, and distinct family structures on the paternal profile of both groups. According to previous reports examining populations from the Americas, island-specific demographic histories can greatly impact population structure, including various patterns of sex-biased gene flow.

Paternal lineages signal distinct genetic contributions from British Loyalists and continental Africans among different Bahamian islands.

Over the past 500 years, the Bahamas has been influenced by a wide array of settlers, some of whom have left marked genetic imprints throughout the archipelago. To assess the extent of each group's genetic contributions, high-resolution Y-chromosome analyses were performed, for the first time, to delineate the patriarchal ancestry of six islands in the Northwest (Abaco and Grand Bahama) and Central (Eleuthera, Exuma, Long Island, and New Providence) Bahamas and their genetic relationships with previously published reference populations. Our results reveal genetic signals emanating primarily from African and European sources, with the predominantly sub-Saharan African and Western European haplogroups E1b1a-M2 and R1b1b1-M269, respectively, accounting for greater than 75% of all Bahamian patrilineages.

Divergent genetic strata in five Bahamian islands.

Based on historical records, the genetic landscape of the Bahamian archipelago is presumed to be complex and to exhibit island-specific characteristics, yet the genetic composition of the island chain, which could corroborate or refute these past accounts, remains poorly defined. As such, the current investigation was undertaken to genetically characterize 5 Bahamian populations representing the Northwest (Grand Bahama and Abaco) and Central (Eleuthera, Exuma and Long Island) Bahamas across the 15 autosomal Identifiler loci routinely employed in forensic analyses. Altogether, our findings suggest that Bahamians are a genetically heterogeneous group, with each island sampled receiving differential contributions from African, European, East Asian and Native American sources.

The carbonic anhydrase isoforms of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: intracellular location, expression, and physiological roles.

Aquatic photosynthetic organisms, such as the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, respond to low CO(2) conditions by inducing a CO(2) concentrating mechanism (CCM). Carbonic anhydrases (CAs) are important components of the CCM. CAs are zinc-containing metalloenzymes that catalyze the reversible interconversion of CO(2) and HCO(3)(-).

Divergent patrilineal signals in three Roma populations.

Previous studies have revealed that the European Roma share close genetic, linguistic and cultural similarities with Indian populations despite their disparate geographical locations and divergent demographic histories. In this study, we report for the first time Y-chromosome distributions in three Roma collections residing in Belgrade, Vojvodina and Kosovo. Eighty-eight Y-chromosomes were typed for 14 SNPs and 17 STRs.

p53 mediates cigarette smoke-induced apoptosis of pulmonary endothelial cells: inhibitory effects of macrophage migration inhibitor factor.

Exposure to cigarette smoke (CS) is the most common cause of emphysema, a debilitating pulmonary disease histopathologically characterized by the irreversible destruction of lung architecture. Mounting evidence links enhanced endothelial apoptosis causally to the development of emphysema. However, the molecular determinants of human endothelial cell apoptosis and survival in response to CS are not fully defined.

Functional characterization of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii ERG3 ortholog, a gene involved in the biosynthesis of ergosterol.

Background: The predominant sterol in the membranes of the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is ergosterol, which is commonly found in the membranes of fungi, but is rarely found in higher plants. Higher plants and fungi synthesize sterols by different pathways, with plants producing cycloartenol as a precursor to end-product sterols, while non-photosynthesizing organisms like yeast and humans produce lanosterol as a precursor. Analysis of the C.

The genetic structure of populations from Haiti and Jamaica reflect divergent demographic histories.

The West Indies represent an amalgamation of African, European and in some cases, East Asian sources, but the contributions from each ethnic group remain relatively unexplored from a genetic perspective. In the present study, we report, for the first time, allelic frequency data across the complete set of 15 autosomal STR loci for general collections from Haiti and Jamaica, which were subsequently used to examine the genetic diversity present in each island population. Our results indicate that although both Haiti and Jamaica display genetic affinities with the continental African collections, a stronger African signal is detected in Haiti than in Jamaica.

Genetic insights into the origins of Tibeto-Burman populations in the Himalayas.

The Himalayan mountain range has played a dual role in shaping the genetic landscape of the region by (1) delineating east-west migrations including the Silk Road and (2) restricting human dispersals, especially from the Indian subcontinent into the Tibetan plateau. In this study, 15 hypervariable autosomal STR loci were employed to evaluate the genetic relationships of three populations from Nepal (Kathmandu, Newar and Tamang) and a general collection from Tibet. These Himalayan groups were compared to geographically targeted worldwide populations as well as Tibeto-Burman (TB) speaking groups from Northeast India.

Mitogen activated protein kinase activated protein kinase 2 regulates actin polymerization and vascular leak in ventilator associated lung injury.

Mechanical ventilation, a fundamental therapy for acute lung injury, worsens pulmonary vascular permeability by exacting mechanical stress on various components of the respiratory system causing ventilator associated lung injury. We postulated that MK2 activation via p38 MAP kinase induced HSP25 phosphorylation, in response to mechanical stress, leading to actin stress fiber formation and endothelial barrier dysfunction. We sought to determine the role of p38 MAP kinase and its downstream effector MK2 on HSP25 phosphorylation and actin stress fiber formation in ventilator associated lung injury.

The genetic legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the island of New Providence.

The Bahamian archipelago has been influenced by a wide array of settlers (Lucayans, Eleutherian Adventurers, British Loyalists, Creoles from the United States and African slaves) throughout its short but dynamic history. Nevertheless, the Bahamas remains poorly characterized genetically and little is known about each group's contribution to the island chain. In the current study, the population of New Providence was analyzed based on 15 autosomal STR loci routinely employed in forensic DNA fingerprinting applications.