scholarly journals Comment on: The Vitamin D–Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas, Nutrients 2018, 10, 554

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Elias ◽  
Mary Williams
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Skin Pigmentation ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Distinctive Features

In response to a recent article by Jones et al. (Nutrients 10: 554–568, 2018) [1], we agree that three distinctive features evolved in Homo erectus prior to the emergence of modern humans.[...]

scholarly journals Reply: “Comment on: The Vitamin D–Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas, Nutrients 2018, 10, 554”

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1759
Author(s):  
Patrice Jones ◽  
Mark Lucock ◽  
Martin Veysey ◽  
Emma Beckett
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Skin Pigmentation ◽  
Evolutionary Model

We thank Elias and Williams for their interest in our review [...]

Flores after floresiensis: Implications of local reaction to recent palaeoanthropological discoveries on an eastern Indonesian island

2008 ◽  
Vol 162 (2) ◽  
pp. 336-349
Author(s):  
Gregory Forth
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Local Reaction ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
Cranial Capacity ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
A New Species

In a recent article (Forth 2005) I discussed possible implications for several sorts of anthropology of the discovery, on the eastern Indonesian island of Flores, of skeletal remains interpreted as a new species of Homo – Homo floresiensis. The discovery was, and remains, controversial, not least because the creature so classified, interpreted by the discovery team as an endemic dwarf descendant of Homo erectus, stood just over a metre tall and had a cranial capacity of just 380 cc, thus a brain about the size of a chimpanzee’s. It had also survived until at least 12,000 BP , well within the period modern humans (Homo sapiens) were present in this part of Indonesia (Brown et al. 2004; Morwood et al. 2004).

scholarly journals The Vitamin D–Folate Hypothesis as an Evolutionary Model for Skin Pigmentation: An Update and Integration of Current Ideas

Nutrients ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 554 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrice Jones ◽  
Mark Lucock ◽  
Martin Veysey ◽  
Emma Beckett
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Skin Pigmentation ◽  
Evolutionary Model

scholarly journals Recent origin of low trabecular bone density in modern humans

2014 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 366-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habiba Chirchir ◽  
Tracy L. Kivell ◽  
Christopher B. Ruff ◽  
Jean-Jacques Hublin ◽  
Kristian J. Carlson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Trabecular Bone ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Lower Limbs ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Human Skeleton ◽  
Trabecular Density ◽  
Fossil Hominins

Humans are unique, compared with our closest living relatives (chimpanzees) and early fossil hominins, in having an enlarged body size and lower limb joint surfaces in combination with a relatively gracile skeleton (i.e., lower bone mass for our body size). Some analyses have observed that in at least a few anatomical regions modern humans today appear to have relatively low trabecular density, but little is known about how that density varies throughout the human skeleton and across species or how and when the present trabecular patterns emerged over the course of human evolution. Here, we test the hypotheses that (i) recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the upper and lower limbs compared with other primate taxa and (ii) the reduction in trabecular density first occurred in early Homo erectus, consistent with the shift toward a modern human locomotor anatomy, or more recently in concert with diaphyseal gracilization in Holocene humans. We used peripheral quantitative CT and microtomography to measure trabecular bone of limb epiphyses (long bone articular ends) in modern humans and chimpanzees and in fossil hominins attributed to Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus/early Homo from Swartkrans, Homo neanderthalensis, and early Homo sapiens. Results show that only recent modern humans have low trabecular density throughout the limb joints. Extinct hominins, including pre-Holocene Homo sapiens, retain the high levels seen in nonhuman primates. Thus, the low trabecular density of the recent modern human skeleton evolved late in our evolutionary history, potentially resulting from increased sedentism and reliance on technological and cultural innovations.

scholarly journals Homoplasy in the evolution of modern human-like joint proportions in Australopithecus afarensis

eLife ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjali M Prabhat ◽  
Catherine K Miller ◽  
Thomas Cody Prang ◽  
Jeffrey Spear ◽  
Scott A Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Limb ◽  
Lower Limb ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Australopithecus Afarensis ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Homo Habilis ◽  
Hominin Evolution ◽  
Parsimonious Explanation ◽  
Phylogenetic Hypotheses

The evolution of bipedalism and reduced reliance on arboreality in hominins resulted in larger lower limb joints relative to the joints of the upper limb. The pattern and timing of this transition, however, remains unresolved. Here, we find the limb joint proportions of Australopithecus afarensis, Homo erectus, and Homo naledi to resemble those of modern humans, whereas those of A. africanus, Australopithecus sediba, Paranthropus robustus, Paranthropus boisei, Homo habilis, and Homo floresiensis are more ape-like. The homology of limb joint proportions in A. afarensis and modern humans can only be explained by a series of evolutionary reversals irrespective of differing phylogenetic hypotheses. Thus, the independent evolution of modern human-like limb joint proportions in A. afarensis is a more parsimonious explanation. Overall, these results support an emerging perspective in hominin paleobiology that A. afarensis was the most terrestrially adapted australopith despite the importance of arboreality throughout much of early hominin evolution.

scholarly journals Arguments that Prehistorical and Modern Humans Belong to the Same Species

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rainer Kühne
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Homo Neanderthalensis ◽  
Out Of Africa

I argue that the evidence of the Out-of-Africa hypothesis and the evidence of multiregional evolution of prehistorical humans can be understood if there has been interbreeding between Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens at least during the preceding 700,000 years. These interbreedings require descendants who are capable of reproduction and therefore parents who belong to the same species. I suggest that a number of prehistorical humans who are at present regarded as belonging to different species belong in fact to one single species.  

STOSSTHERAPY IN ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTION IN CHILDREN

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1958 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-421
Author(s):  
ALEX J. STEIGMAN
Keyword(s):  
Vitamin D ◽  
Tract Infection ◽  
Respiratory Tract ◽  
Acute Respiratory Infection ◽  
Lower Respiratory Tract ◽  
Recent Article ◽  
Conventional Treatment ◽  
Pneumococcal Pneumonia ◽  
Antibacterial Agents ◽  
Massive Dose

STOSSTHERAPY is a word of Germanic origin, Stoss referring to "a thrust" or "a push." The term has been used to describe a method of treating rickets with a single massive dose of vitamin D. In a recent article (Brit. M. J., 1:487, March 1, 1958) the author "thrusts" antibacterial agents at children and compares the results with conventional treatment by antibacterial agents over a period of some days. The chief contribution of this paper is to remind the reader that careful earlier studies showed that a single massive dose of sulfonamide can be curative of pneumococcal pneumonia in children, a fact established almost 20 years ago. In the debit side is the introduction of a burdensome word in a paper remarkably devoid of appropriate documentation. Between October, 1952, and October, 1954, 174 children with acute lower-respiratory-tract infection were treated at the Evelina Children's Hospital of Guy's Hospital, London, with penicillin by injection or oral sulfonamide, or a combination of both. The personal preferences of no less than 14 doctors who admitted these patients dictated the decisions regarding therapy.

Evolution theory and the future of humanity

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wills
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Skin Pigmentation ◽  
Homo Erectus ◽  
Skin Colour ◽  
Evolution Theory ◽  
The Future ◽  
Genetic Level ◽  
High Level

No field of science has cast more light on both the past and the future of our species than evolutionary biology. Recently, the pace of new discoveries about how we have evolved has increased (Culotta and Pennisi, 2005). It is now clear that we are less unique than we used to think. Genetic and palaeontological evidence is now accumulating that hominids with a high level of intelligence, tool-making ability, and probably communication skills have evolved independently more than once. They evolved in Africa (our own ancestors), in Europe (the ancestors of the Neanderthals) and in Southeast Asia (the remarkable ‘hobbits’, who may be miniaturized and highly acculturated Homo erectus). It is also becoming clear that the genes that contribute to the characteristics of our species can be found and that the histories of these genes can be understood. Comparisons of entire genomes have shown that genes involved in brain function have evolved more quickly in hominids than in more distantly related primates. The genetic differences among human groups can now be investigated. Characters that we tend to think of as extremely important markers enabling us to distinguish among different human groups now turn out to be understandable at the genetic level, and their genetic history can be traced. Recently a single allelic difference between Europeans and Africans has been found (Lamason et al., 2005). This functional allelic difference accounts for about a third of the differences in skin pigmentation in these groups. Skin colour differences, in spite of the great importance they have assumed in human societies, are the result of natural selection acting on a small number of genes that are likely to have no effects beyond their influence on skin colour itself. How do these and other recent findings from fields ranging from palaeontology to molecular biology fit into present-day evolution theory, and what light do they cast on how our species is likely to evolve in the future? I will introduce this question by examining briefly how evolutionary change takes place.

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