How Humans Change in Drastically New Environments
Much research has been done on the long-term adaptive consequences of migration; however, less attention has been focused on short-term health effects of traveling. When traveling, people experience new environments and new microbiomes that affect the individual’s health. While this travel might be short-lived, there may be longer-term consequences to this activity. What happens to an individual’s immune response and vital signs when they are introduced to a new environment? How might this impact immigration patterns and spread of disease across native and immigrant populations? This research examined the physiological changes that two separate groups of individuals experienced while living in the Peruvian Amazon for three weeks. The variables examined in this analysis were weight, body temperature, and neuterophil/lymphocyte ratio. These variables were measured before extreme exposure to the new environment, once after extreme exposure, then after their return to the United States. All collected data was analyzed using ANOVA. Initial results suggest no adverse health effects induced by travel, and in fact, overall health markers either altered to healthier levels and/or maintained at a healthy level during travel. This may be due to increased physical activity during the travel, or an underlying beneficial effect of travel to new places.
Tibial Torsion
The angle of torsion of the tibia (twisting about its long axis) is partly responsible for the typical slightly toed-out angle of the foot during walking in modern humans. A 1.8 million-year-old Homo erectus skeleton from Dmanisi, Georgia, has an unusually low tibial torsion angle, suggesting that its foot was pointed more directly forward. The same individual also had a pattern of metatarsal (MT) robusticity that contrasts with modern humans, with the middle MTs being relatively stronger compared to the medial (big toe side) ones. The two features could related: Dmanisi’s tibial torsion and foot placement led to more stresses placed on the middle of the foot, as opposed to along the medial side as in modern humans. This research will test the hypothesis by examining the effects of tibial torsion on stresses in the foot during walking in modern human subjects. This research has applications to both early human fossils and modern clinical biomechanics questions.
The Effects of Juvenile Hormone and Royal Jelly on Gromphadorhina portentosa
Juvenile hormone is used by invertebrates to keep the reproductive system immature. Royal jelly is used by queen bees to grow as large and live as long as possible. The ecophysiology lab studies the effects of the combination of these two horomones on Gromphadorhina portentosa. So far it is found that the combination creates a larger invertebrate without a mature reproductive system. This treatment is ongoing and being monitored.
DNA Barcoding at Selu Conservancy Center
Biology 232 classes at Radford University traveled to the Selu Conservancy Center to collect invertebrates and conduct DNA barcoding to identify different invertebrates in the area. The information collected from DNA barcoding was then put into an international database to help the general public learn about where different invertebrates are located in the world.
Grooming and Aggression in One Male Units of Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas) at the North Carolina Zoo
Baboons are complex social creatures. They depend on affiliative and aggressive behavior to interact with those within and surrounding their group. Units are formed from a single dominant male that is surrounded by several reproductive females, and their juveniles. These units will then merge to form a band. By studying the affiliative and aggressive behaviors between members of a single unit and amongst a band, a picture of the social interactions will form. Two consecutive days of observations were taken of the baboon troop housed at the North Carolina Zoo, observing a single male unit for a set length of time then switching, to create 12 observation periods. All events of both grooming and aggression within the group were recorded. As a stress relief valve, grooming has developed as a means to restore potentially damaged relationships following a bout of aggression, by both males and females. The purpose of this study was to determine if grooming is a pre-aggression behavior as well.
Biparietal Osteodystrophy: Etiology and Implications
Two adult individuals from the Robinson site, an enslaved community located in Virginia, were found with thinning of the parietal bones. A differential diagnosis and skeletal analysis are undertaken to shed light on not only the disease etiology, but also on how this condition might have affected their lived experiences. This lesion has been noted in the archaeological and modern medical literature and typically presents symmetrically on both parietals. It does not appear more often in any region of the world, but it does appear more often in older females. There has been no definitive answer to why this condition forms. Multiple conditions could lead to parietal thinning including: pressure atrophy, osteoporosis, growth defect, age atrophy, congenital, and biparietal osteodystrophy (also known as biparietal symmetric atrophy). After skeletal analysis and comparison of the disease presentation, biparietal osteodystrophy seems the most likely cause. The age and sex of the individuals, as post-menopausal women, as well as the lesion presentation make this condition the best fit. While the underlying cause of biparietal osteodystrophy have been debated; a review of the clinical literature suggests it may be the result of an endocrine disruption of sex hormones due to menopause. As this condition is progressive, these women would have lived for a period of time before it would have been noticeable. While they may have experienced no difference in their day-to-day life, the clinical literature notes that painful headaches are sometimes experienced with this condition.