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G W Lasker

Publications and source records attributed to G W Lasker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Biosocial correlates of stature in a British national cohort.

Analyses of height variation using the 1970 UK national cohort study (12,508 children at age 10 and 5470 at age 16) found clear evidence that children of higher socioeconomic status (as measured by social class, crowding, tenure, type of accommodation, income and receipt of government financial assistance) were on average taller than children of lower socioeconomic status but there was little or no difference in average stature between children living in urban or rural areas. Significant differences in height remained for most of the variables after removing the effects of father's social class suggesting that reliance on social class per se to explain height variation is inadvisable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

The hierarchical genetic structure of an urban town, Kidlington, Oxfordshire, examined by the coefficient of relationship by isonymy.

The surnames of the 3443 males registered to vote in Kidlington in 1977 yield a Coefficient of Relationship by Isonymy of 0.000564 {Ri = sigma(n(n-1))/2 N(N-1), in which n = the number of men of each surname and N = sigma n}. Those of the four wards separately average 0.000722. However, if one includes only one male of any one surname in each residence, the values are, respectively, 0.000534 and 0.000535. That is, the only structure seen between the two levels is in the influence of men of the same surname resident in the same house. An analysis of relationship by residence on the same street yields a value of Ri somewhat higher than that for the ward as a whole, however, suggesting that even within a ward there may be a tendency for the house of relatives occasionally to lie close together.

England↗
PubMed1999

Changes over 100 years in degree of isolation of 21 parishes of the Lima Valley, Italy, assessed by surname isonymy.

Changes over 100 years (1887-1986) in degree of isolation of 21 parishes of the Lima valley, Italy, were assessed using surname analysis. Crow and Mange's inbreeding coefficients and Lasker and Kaplan's repeated pair values were calculated using 8026 marriage records; temporal changes were assessed by dividing birth cohorts into 4 time periods of 25 years each: 1887-1911, 1912-1936, 1937-1961, and 1962-1986. Analysis was carried out at 2 hierarchical levels: the population of the valley as a whole and the valley's subdivision into 21 parishes. The relationship between population size and level of isonymy during the breakdown of isolates was investigated. The results show that there is a small difference in inbreeding coefficients between the first 2 periods at either hierarchical level of analysis and a substantial decrease in marital isonymy during the study period is mostly due to the change in male random isonymy. Furthermore, the Fn value at the higher hierarchical level almost coincides with the mean F value at the lower hierarchical level, indicating that over time the parish remained the fundamental reproductive unit. Regression analysis showed that geographic isolation became increasingly important in differentiation among the parishes in population size and in levels of inbreeding. The marked deviation from equilibrium between drift and migration that characterizes the breakdown of isolates of almost all the rural populations is an important disturbing factor in assessing the relationship between level of inbreeding and population size. Comparison over time allows us to better describe the evolutionary forces at the basis of the changes in genetic structure of a population.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1997

Census versus sample data in isonymy studies: relationship at short distances.

The degree of isonymy is greatly influenced by whether or not it includes the extent of isonymous relationship resulting from persons of the same surname living in the same residence. In a sample of 313 male citizens in one English village and 386 males in another village, isonymy within the same residence averaged 0.86. Total relationship by isonymy was 60% and 48% understated in samples of one individual of any surname at each residence in the two villages, such as would result from use of telephone directories as a source. In these villages isonymy between occupants of contiguous houses was also elevated. Only a small fraction of the total isonymy could be attributed to different residences on the same street, so this has little effect on the coefficient of relationship for the whole village or region. The larger the population, the less the bias from ignoring within-household relationships.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Behavioral influences on the evolution of human genetic diversity.

Unique aspects of human behavior account for special features of human evolution. For instance, the best data on the mating patterns of undisturbed hunting-gathering populations are those of Norman Tinsdale for Australian Aborigines. Among some 574 linguistically distinct tribes, he collected information on 755 marriages from the period prior to significant contact with Europeans. One can extrapolate from these data on 1510 individuals. In an average tribe of some 500 individuals, 62-65 of them would have had one parent who was a member of a different tribe and 7 or 8 of them would have been offspring of a parent from a distant tribe, not an adjacent one. Such rates of intergroup marriage, generation after generation, would have produced considerable gene flow, a pattern that likely has occurred during most of human prehistory. The pattern of descent is trellis-like, not one of successive fissioning. Some genetic diversity between tribes must have existed, but most genetic variation would have been within rather than between tribal groups. One implication of this pattern is that ethnically defined groups are not a suitable basis for studying human genetic diversity. Geographically stratified random sampling of the species would be more likely to ensure an unbiased estimate of genome variability.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Influence of social class on the correlation of stature of adult children with that of their mothers and fathers.

Studies of parent-child correlations in stature require data which can be viewed as random samples of some general population and which are large enough to allow partition of the variable and evaluation of non-genetic and genetic influences. In a sample of 4336 individuals drawn from a cohort of all persons born in England, Scotland and Wales in 1 week in 1958, the correlation of statures of the males with their fathers, the females with their fathers, the males with their mothers and the females with their mothers were 0.36, 0.43, 0.41 and 0.47 respectively at age 16 of the offspring and 0.41, 0.41, 0.47 and 0.46 respectively at age 23. Allowance for the occupational social class of the fathers lowers the correlations, but in no case by more than 5%. Allowance for the occupational class achieved by the offspring by age 23 has little effect on the correlations.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Relationship of people across an international border based on an isonymy analysis across the German-Danish frontier.

Using lists of names of male personal telephone subscribers, isonymy was calculated within and between 29 contiguous areas in a north-to-south line extending 210 km south of Grindsted, Denmark. Each area shared some surname(s) with every other area. Isonymy was high across both the present and past borders of Denmark with Germany and was consistently lower in areas beyond 160 km south of Grindsted. Relative isonymy between areas was also smaller on average south of the present border than north of it, and smaller still for pairs of areas spanning the border. This is partly accounted for by decreases in isonymy with distance, but the slope of the logistic regression on distance is greater for the northern moiety than the southern one. Most of these findings can be traced to the influence of common surnames ending in 'sen', the distribution of which tends to correlate highly with isonymy. Such surnames tend to be of recent origin and to be very frequent and hence highly polygenic. Thus much of the heterogeneity is explained by surname history rather than genetic heterogeneity.

Denmark↗
PubMed1996

Repetition of the same pair of surnames in marriages in Albanian Italians, Greek Italians, and the Italian population of Campobasso Province.

The isolation of a population as a result of any boundary leads to a kinship mating pattern, the extent of which can be measured by the frequency of repeated pairs of surnames in actual marriages compared with that in random pairings. The repeated pairs within surname lineages (RPw) method can be used to assess random repetitions and the endogamous or exogamous behavior of a population. The RPw method was applied to data from grandparent surnames of children living in 45 Albanian Italian and 13 Greek Italian villages of southern Italy and Sicily and in 22 Italian villages of Campobasso Province (central Italy). The total mean RPw was 0.02782 in Albanian Italians, 0.01993 in Greek Italians, and 0.03427 in the Italian-speaking population. When RPw was subdivided into its components and compared with random and marital isonymy, the low level of inbreeding shown by the two southern Italian ethnic minorities and by the Italian population of Campobasso Province could be accounted for by the subdivision of the populations.

Albania↗
PubMed1996

Further note on possible changes in the geographic distribution of ABO and RH blood groups in Great Britain.

We previously reported the tendency for the clines of blood group distributions in England, Scotland, and Wales to become flatter as the result of internal migration. The data came from a one-week birth cohort followed for 16 years. A further seven years and a finer geographic analysis yield mixed results. The Rh- clines did become flatter, but the clines for ABO blood groups A and O showed the opposite tendency during the additional years.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1995

Effect of interregional migration on geographic variability in biological and social traits in Great Britain.

Over 19% of individuals born in England, Scotland, and Wales during March 3-9, 1958, resided in 1981 in a region different from the region of their birth. This internal migration among the 11 regions increased geographic homogeneity for one genetic variable (ABO blood group). Cramer's V for mother's A, O, and B or AB blood group decreased from 0.0504 to 0.0476. Mother's Rh+/- blood group was not significantly different among regions of place of birth or subsequent place of residence of the offspring. Variability among the regions increased by migration from region of birth to region of residence 23 years later for the social class of male head of household (Cramer's V increased from 0.0815 to 0.0877) and for years of schooling completed (V increased from 0.107 to 0.129). Stature behaved more like the social variables (mean square deviation among regions increased from 371 cm2 to 481 cm2 in females and from 426 cm2 to 471 cm2 in males), but body weight tended to become more uniform among regions (mean square deviation decreased from 220 kg2 to 178 kg2 in females and from 315 kg2 to 260 kg2 in males).

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Inbreeding coefficients from the surnames of grandparents of the schoolchildren in Albanian-speaking Italian villages.

Data on grandparental surnames were obtained from children in 45 Italo-Albanesi villages in nine provinces of southern Italy and Sicily. Concordance of surnames (isonymy) and inbreedding by village were estimated for each province and on the total sample. Total mean isonymy is 0.0251. The weighted mean inbreeding coefficient, and its random and non-random components are 0.0063, 0.0024 and 0.0039, respectively. Isonymy values are similar to those of rural Italian villages except that Alpine and some Appennine villages appear to be more isolated and inbred.

Albania↗
PubMed1992

Given name relationships support surname 'genetics': a note and correction.

Analysis of a further four samples of first names in the index of marriages registered in England and Wales in the first 3 months of 1975 support the claim that there is no significant difference of 'between' versus 'within' registration district Ri. Since given names show none of the localisation seen in surnames, the surname geography is ascribable to genetic rather than cultural factors of personal naming. The correct formulations for coefficient of relationship by isonymy are given.

England↗
PubMed1991

Cultural factor in the geographic distribution of personal names: pseudogenetic analysis of first names used to estimate the cultural component of coefficients of relationship by isonymy.

By applying to given names formulations for analyzing the genetics of surname distributions, under certain assumptions one can separate the genetic components from the cultural components of surname distributions. Geographic distributions of surnames regularly yield larger coefficients of relationship or kinship within local populations than between them: for instance, Ri = 75 x 10(-5) within a local area in England but the Ri of those villages with all of England and Wales is 42 x 10(-5). On the contrary, the first names in an English and Welsh sample give essentially the same pseudocoefficient (based on first names) within registration districts (Ri = 354 x 10(-5) as between districts (Ri = 370 x 10(-5). Thus the decrease with distance of the coefficients based on surnames can be ascribed to the genetic component according to the Malécot principle, assuming that the first names are chosen in the same way as the surnames originated and consequently that the cultural component of surname distributions is no more localized than the distribution of given names (in this sample not at all).

Consanguinity↗
PubMed1990

Lack of an association between ABO and Rh blood group polymorphisms and stature, body weight, and BMI in a cohort of British women.

Analysis of variance shows no significant associations between stature, weight, or body mass index (BMI) and ABO or Rh blood group phenotypes among a sample of mothers in England, Scotland, and Wales whose children were born during March 3-9, 1958. Social factors are significantly associated with stature and weight; the effects of social class of the women's fathers, regions of birth of the women, their ages, whether their education continued beyond age 16 or not, and the total number of births were separated out by regression analysis. The adjusted residual regression of ABO and Rh phenotypes were not significantly related to reported stature, weight, or BMI.

ABO Blood-Group System↗
PubMed1990

Relationships estimated by isonymy among the Italo-Greco villages of southern Italy.

Surnames of parents and grandparents were collected from 1993 children in the primary schools of the thirteen Italo-Greco communes that lie in two areas, four communes in Reggio Calabria in the "toe" of Italy and nine in Lecce in the "heel." The coefficients of relationship by isonymy show almost no relationship between the two areas. The smaller area in Reggio Calabria Province has consistently larger coefficients of relationship between communes than the larger area in Lecce Province. The difference can be ascribed to greater accumulated random isonymy in the smaller area. These populations are not genetic isolates, but each area shows a degree of cohesiveness with respect to surnames that suggests that they are genetically somewhat distinct. Contiguous pairs of communes tend to have higher coefficients of relationship than pairs of communes separated by intervening communes.

Consanguinity↗