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Biomedical subjects

D C Hodges

Publications and source records attributed to D C Hodges.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis in a British skeletal population.

The potential role of dental function in TMJ osteoarthritis is examined in an ancient British population. Human skeletal remains from five archaeological sites in England (n = 369) were studied to assess the associations between the presence of osteoarthritis and dental function variables, in particular antemortem tooth loss and dental attrition. Individuals aged over 17 years with at least a portion of either the left or right TMJ were included in the study. Each individual was scored for the occurrence of arthritic lesions on the mandibular condyle and glenoid fossa, the level of dental attrition, and antemortem tooth loss. A loglinear analysis was performed with osteoarthritis as the dependent variable and tooth loss, attrition, sex, and age as the independent variables. Tooth loss and sex are not significantly associated with TMJ osteoarthritis when attrition and age are included in the analysis. Attrition is significantly associated with osteoarthritis even when the analysis corrects for age. The significant association of attrition with osteoarthritis suggests that dental functions may have an influence, separate from ageing, on the development of TMJ osteoarthritis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Atresia of the external acoustic meatus in prehistoric populations.

A case of atresia of the external acoustic meatus is presented from a prehistoric Late Woodland site in Iowa. The affected individual was a female aged 30 to 40 years. The left temporal bone displayed a thin bony plate occluding the external acoustic canal. No evidence of middle ear or inner ear malformation was observed on the axial tomographs, although the external canal was shortened. The individual is diagnosed as having a mild case of congenital atresia. The report extends the geographical and temporal distributions of this archaeologically rare condition.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Health and agricultural intensification in the prehistoric Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico.

The effects of agricultural intensification on health are examined in prehistoric populations of the Valley of Oaxaca, Mexico. Agriculture was practiced in the Valley of Oaxaca by the beginning of the Early Formative period (ca. 1400 B.C.), and had intensified by the Late Formative (ca. 500 B.C.). Skeletal remains from 14 archaeological sites in the Valley are pooled by temporal affiliation into a nonintensive agriculture group (1400-500 B.C.) and an intensive agriculture group (500 B.C.-1400 A.D.). The health effects of agricultural intensification are assessed by comparing the frequency of periosteal reactions, cribra orbitalia, and enamel hypoplasia between the intensive and nonintensive agricultural groups. Overall, no significant differences (alpha = 0.05) are found between the nonintensive and intensive groups. Power analyses of the chi-square tests indicate that the tests have a high probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis. The intensification of agriculture does not appear to have had a deleterious effect on the health of the prehistoric population of the Valley. The differences between this study and previous studies of health and agricultural development may be explained by differences between the processes of intensification and development or by differences between primary and secondary centers of agricultural development.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1985

A statistical test for differences in sexual dimorphism between populations.

Many studies involve comparison of measures of sexual dimorphism between two samples. This comparison is used to test a variety of hypotheses, such as changing environmental conditions. Methods for testing the significance of the difference between two populations tend to be complex, and/or require access to complete original data. We offer a simplified approach which is based on a linear regression model using dummy variables. Our method is computationally simple and can be used with summary statistics (sample size, means, standard deviations) instead of raw data. We present three examples of the application of our method to problems in physical anthropology. We also note that our method has a broader range of applications apart from that of sexual dimorphism.

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1985

Longitudinal study of growth status and airport noise exposure.

A study of children living adjacent to an international airport was conducted to learn whether noise exposure affected physical growth. Prenatal and postnatal noise exposures were estimated for each subject based on noise levels at their residences during jetplane takeoffs. Subjects' birthweights were standardized for sex and parity, and their postnatal heights and weights were standardized for sex and age (range 6-11 years). The difference between standardized birthweight score and postnatal height score, and between birthweight score and postnatal weight score, represent a change in growth status of a more or less permanent nature, respectively. After adjusting for confounding factors, children from the exposed community (n = 103) had a significantly smaller mean of status change by height (p less than 0.05), and a somewhat smaller mean of status change by weight (0.10 less than p less than 0.05) in comparison to children from an unexposed community (n = 94). A dose-response curve was then expected in the exposed community. However, in multiple regression analyses of the exposed children, noise exposure was not related to either change in growth status variable. This second result is inconsistent with the differences between communities and suggest that they are a result of factors other than noise exposure. We conclude that the moderate to severe noise levels of the areas surrounding most subjects' homes did not adversely affect postnatal growth. Further studies of noise and growth should concentrate observations on people exposed to even more severe noise levels than those experienced by most subjects in this study.

Aircraft↗
PubMed1985

Variation in size at birth and cigarette smoking during pregnancy.

The influence of cigarette smoking during pregnancy and other familial factors on size at birth and gestation length is investigated among 458 births to 227 mothers living in a suburban community in the U.S. In this sample, 56% of the births were to mothers who reported not smoking during the pregnancy and 35% were to mothers who reported smoking 20 cigarettes or less. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was employed to examine the influence of cigarette smoking after statistical adjustment for such social and biological characteristics of the family as parents' sizes, education, income, and aspects of mother's reproductive history. After correction for significant social and biological characteristics, smoking status was a significant contributor to birth weight variation. In fact, cigarette smoking had the next-largest partial correlation coefficient (r = -0.26) second to gestation length. Birth length is also negatively associated with cigarette smoking, though not so strongly as is birth weight. The reduction in birth lengths can be attributed to the reduction in birth weights. Gestation length was not associated with cigarette smoking in this sample. The analysis of collinearity between smoking status and the other independent variables indicates that the effect of smoking appears to be independent of interrelationships among the independent variables.

Birth Weight↗