Project description:This study reports results from the ancient DNA analysis of a unique child burial at Paquimé, northern Chihuahua, Mexico. Located between Mesoamerican and Ancestral Puebloan groups, Paquimé (also known as Casas Grandes) was a vibrant multicultural centre during the 13th-14th centuries AD. Archaeologists have long debated Paquimé's social organization. Our analysis of Burial 23-8 has revealed that this child, placed under the centre post of an important room, had parents who were close genetic relatives. We argue that this child's consanguinity and special depositional context resulted from an elite family's practice of aggrandizing social status.
Project description:Analysis of transcript abundance estimates as a function of child soldier status, PTSD symptoms, and psychological resilience. Gene expression profiling was conducted on dried blood spot (DBS) samples collected from community dwelling adolescents and young adults in Nepal. Approximatley half of the sample were former child soldiers in the Nepal People's War and the other half were demographically similiar civilian non-combatants. In addition to basic demographic characteristics (age, sex, ethnic minority status, social caste status, education level), participants were also assessed on syptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS, assessed by a culturally adapted version of The Child PTSD Symptom Scale; Kohrt BA, et al. (2011) Validation of cross-cultural child mental health and psychosocial research instruments: adapting the Depression Self-Rating Scale and Child PTSD Symptom Scale in Nepal. BMC Psychiatry 11(1):e127, with higher values indicating greater PTSD symptoms) and psychological resilience (assessed by a culturally adapted version of the Resilience Scale; Wagnild GM & Young HM (1993) Development and psychometric evaluation of the Resilience Scale. Journal of Nursing Measurement, with higher values indicating greater resilience). Dichotomous variables were coded 0=no/absent and 1=yes/present. Valid gene expression data are available for 254 samples.
Project description:Ammonia-oxidizing archaeal (AOA) amoA diversity and relative abundance in Gulf of Mexico sediments (0-2 cm) were investigated using a functional gene microarray; a two color array with a universal internal standard