Biomedical subjects

P M Everson

Publications and source records attributed to P M Everson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1996

Immunoglobulin haplotype frequencies in Anabaptist population samples: Kansas and Nebraska Mennonites and Indiana Amish.

Anabaptist history is a chronicle of repeated migrations, fissions, and fusions of various subgroups. The effects of these events should be evident in the population biology of the Anabaptist groups. No prior genetic studies have included the polymorphic and highly informative immunoglobulin markers. Here, 685 serum samples representing 1 Amish and 3 Mennonite community samples (7 congregations) were studied for immunoglobulin allotypes. The haplotypes IGHG*F B, IGHG*A,Z G, and IGHG*A,X,Z G range in frequency from 0.542 to 0.765, 0.123 to 0.290, and 0.075 to 0.170, respectively. IGK*1 frequencies range from 0.035 to 0.077. All frequencies are within expected ranges for central and western European population samples. There was considerable intergroup variability among the Anabaptist samples that was statistically significant (chi29 = 22.63, 0.005 < p < 0.01). Principal component analyses, including the immunoglobulin allotype frequencies and published data on ABO, MN, and Rhesus (Dd) markers, demonstrate that the Mennonite congregation samples with close historical ties group together and are distinct from the Amish and Meridian congregation samples.

Christianity↗

PubMed1995

Mortality in a migrating Mennonite church congregation.

Preston's two-census method of demographic estimation is applied to three pairs of reconstructed censuses from the records of a migrating Mennonite church congregation covering the period 1780-1890. The three pairs of censuses correspond to three periods (1780-1790, 1850-1860, and 1880-1890) and to stays in three settings (Prussia, Russia, and Kansas, respectively). The Mennonites' stay in Prussia was a period of hardship. In Russia they expanded their economic base and developed new farming methods, dramatically increasing their productivity. The Mennonites took these skills to Kansas, where they continued to be successful. The increase in life expectancy at age 5 corroborates this picture. The Prussian period exhibits the shortest life expectancy for both sexes. After the move to Russia, life expectancy increased for both sexes and continued to increase with the move to Kansas. The model also provides limited evidence for fertility depression following the move to Kansas.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Immunoglobulin haplotypes: markers of reproductive success?

Immunoglobulin haplotypes are highly polymorphic and are useful for analyses of both macro- and microdifferentiation of populations. The origins of this diversity are not known, but recent reports suggest strong selection at this locus. Increased rates of first-trimester spontaneous abortions have been reported when parents share GM phenotypes. Reduced fertility has been observed in mixed European descent white and Hutterite populations when both parents share immunoglobulin haplotypes. Population samples with completed family information and GM haplotype data are rare; the objective here is to provide this information on another sample. A sample of 242 Mennonite couples with mothers older than 40 years was divided into 3 groups of matings based on how many haplotypes were shared: 0, 1, or 2. The distribution of mean completed family sizes for the three groups were 3.35 +/- 1.85 (n = 23), 3.47 +/- 1.69 (n = 128), and 3.37 +/- 1.60 (n = 91), respectively; these values were not significantly different (F = 0.145, p = 0.865). The log-rank test was used to compare the time-to-next-birth curves. The intervals between first and later births (2-4 births) were not significantly different for the three subgroups either. There is also only limited evidence for segregation distortion in another sample of 923 offspring (in which at least one parent is heterozygous.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗

PubMed1989

Changes in completed family size and reproductive span in Anabaptist populations.

The Anabaptist Amish, Hutterite and Mennonite peoples trace their origins to the Reformation. Although they share certain beliefs, such as adult baptism and the separation of church and state, each group is culturally unique. The Hutterite and Amish are highly fertile and their populations exhibit stable rates of growth. These demographic characteristics reflect communal living among the Hutterites and labor intensive farming practices among the Amish. The Mennonites are the most receptive Anabaptist group to outside socioeconomic influences and provide a demographic contrast to the more conservative Amish and Hutterites. Demographic data collected during a study of aging in Mennonite population samples from Goessel and Meridian, Kansas, 1980, and Henderson, Nebraska, 1981, formed the basis of a cohort analysis in order to assess fertility change over time. Completed family size has decreased significantly in all three communities since 1870. Since the early 1900's the mean age of the mother at first birth has fluctuated but the mean age of mother at the birth of the last child is decreasing significantly for the communities of Goessel and Henderson, thus effectively shortening the reproductive span. The pattern is somewhat different for Meridian, the most conservative of the three communities.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in a college sample: an exploratory study.

Departures from normal development can be partly assessed by measuring fluctuating asymmetry (FA), that is, differences from perfect symmetry in traits that display bilateral symmetry. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), one of the most common psychiatric conditions, is diagnosed if there are developmentally inappropriate levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. The objective here is to measure whether AD/HD behaviors positively correlate with FA in head, hands, and fingerprints of a sample of college students (n = 176, 57 male, 119 female) not selected for AD/HD. FA was measured as the absolute value of the difference between right and left sides divided by group mean trait size. Average FAs (mean, SE) were lowest for finger lengths (e.g., male, 3rd, 0.011 +/- 0.001; female, 3rd, 0.012 +/- 0.001) and highest for digit ridge counts (e.g., male, 5th, 0.075 +/- 0.007; female, 2nd, 0.069 +/- 0.005). Average FAs were similar between the sexes and only one facial measure and the facial index (summed FAs) differed significantly between the sexes (F > M). The scores for measures of the adult AD/HD behavioral assessment instrument, the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) were high overall in this sample and males exhibited higher rates of symptoms than females. A Rasch measurement model analysis of individual responses to the WURS produced a true interval score for each person that is a measure of individual "AD/HDness." FA indices were then regressed on Rasch scores. A univariate analysis of all the variables demonstrated a significant interaction of sex. Hand, Dermatoglyphic, Face, and Total Indices were then regressed by sex on the Rasch values of "AD/HDness." Only in males was there a trend for the Dermatoglyphic Index (F(1,55) = 3.627, P = 0.062) and Total Index (F(1,55) = 3.811, P = 0.056) to increase as AD/HDness increases.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and fluctuating asymmetry in another college sample.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) represents a developmental lag that may be reflected in fluctuating asymmetry (FA), i.e., differences from perfect symmetry in traits that display bilateral symmetry. Burton et al. (2003 Am. J. Hum. Biol. 15:601-619) found a statistical trend for FA to increase (as dermatoglyphic index or as total index) as the behavioral measure for AD/HDness (Rasch logit values derived from the Wender Utah Rating Scale, or WURS) increased in males but not in females. The objective here was to do a similar study in an independently collected sample of college students (n = 222; 61 male, 161 female) not selected for AD/HD, looking at FA vs. symptoms for AD/HD based on Rasch versions of responses to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM IV) (Barkley and Murphy 1998 Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, New York: Guilford Press, p. 95-96) and the more comparable shortened WURS. FAs were lowest for body and ear height, and highest for eye width and nose width, and ranged from 0.01 +/- 0.001 (mean +/- SE) for foot and ankle widths to 0.13 +/- 0.01 in eye and nose widths for both sexes; the sexes did not differ significantly. Males displayed higher AD/HD symptom rates overall. There was a significant correlation between body FA and the WURS measure in females after Bonferroni correction (P = 0.002, r(2) = 0.058). Thus, AD/HD symptoms levels increased with an increase in body FA in female college students not selected for AD/HD.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and digit ratios in a college sample.

Diagnosticians recognize three subtypes of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) if there are developmentally inappropriate levels (six or more symptoms) of Hyperactive-Impulsive behavior, or Inattentive behavior, or both (Combined), respectively. ADHD may partly reflect androgen dysfunction, and an arguable proxy for prenatal androgen exposure is the 2D:4D finger ratio set at least as early as week 9 in the fetus; this is lower in men than in women. We examined the relationship between digit ratios and ADHD symptoms representing the three phenotypes: ADHD/Combined as measured by "summarized" (Rasched) scales, i.e., 1) the short version of the Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) and a total symptom list derived from the DSM IV, and the subdivided DSM IV into 2) ADHD/Inattentive and 3) ADHD/Hyperactive-Impulsive inventories, in a sample of European-descent college students (135 female, 52 male) not selected for ADHD. All digit ratios were calculated excluding the thumb. There were significant sex differences for the 2D:4D digit ratios of both hands (RH and LH), and between the RH 3D:4D and between the LH 2D:3D ratio. In females, the more masculine the LH 2D:4D ratio, the more the ADHD/Combined symptoms (both WURS and DSM) and the more the ADHD/Inattentive symptoms and ADHD/Hyperactive-Impulsive symptoms. More masculine ratios also correlated between the total WURS and RH 2D:3D, RH 2D:4D, and LH 2D:3D; and between the inattentive DSM symptoms and LH 2D:5D, and between the ADHD/Hyperactive and Impulsive symptoms and RH 3D:4D.

Adolescent↗