Lack of association of rs3798220 with small apolipoprotein(a) isoforms and high lipoprotein(a) levels in East and Southeast Asians.

Objective: The variant allele of rs3798220 in the apolipoprotein(a) gene (LPA) is used to assess the risk for coronary artery disease (CAD) in Europeans, where it is associated with short alleles of the Kringle IV-2 (KIV-2) copy number variation (CNV) and high lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)) concentrations. No association of rs3798220 with CAD was detected in a GWAS of East Asians. Our study investigated the association of rs3798220 with Lp(a) concentrations and KIV-2 CNV size in non-European populations to explain the missing association of the variant with CAD in Asians.

Melanesian and Asian origins of Polynesians: mtDNA and Y chromosome gradients across the Pacific.

The human settlement of the Pacific Islands represents one of the most recent major migration events of mankind. Polynesians originated in Asia according to linguistic evidence or in Melanesia according to archaeological evidence. To shed light on the genetic origins of Polynesians, we investigated over 400 Polynesians from 8 island groups, in comparison with over 900 individuals from potential parental populations of Melanesia, Southeast and East Asia, and Australia, by means of Y chromosome (NRY) and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers.

Child care practices in nonindustrialized societies.

Objective: To described child care practices associated with an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in nonindustrialized 19th and 20th century societies.

Methodology: The Human Relations Area Files collection is a unique source of information on the cultures of the world. The electronic version of the Human Relations Area Files represents 200 000 pages of fully indexed cultural material on a stratified random sample of 60 nonindustrialized societies.