Tooth size of two populations from Micronesia was measured and compared with other Pacific populations. Subjects were high school students of Kiribati and Palau, surveyed in 1995 and 1996. Mesiodistal diameters were generally larger in Palau than in Kiribati in both sexes, while buccolingual diameters of Kiribati were slightly larger than those of Palau. Mahalanobis' distances were computed on the basis of these parameters among 10 Pacific populations. Two dimensional expression of the distances in multi-dimensional scaling showed that Palau and Kiribati were plotted in the center of the first axis closely to Samoa, while Fiji and Negritos were plotted on both ends of the axis. The two Micronesians were separated on the second axis. The results of cluster analysis revealed that Kiribati was classified into Fiji group, while Palau was grouped with Samoa and modern Philippines.

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The distribution of transferrin phenotypes was investigated in nine populations of southwestern Japan: mainland Kagoshima Prefecture and the Nansei Islands. Populations from Tanegashima to Okinawa were homogenous in the distribution of TF C subtypes. Miyako and Ishigaki in the southwesternmost region had higher frequencies of TF^*C1, and lower frequencies of TF^*C2 than the seven other populations. A new TF D variant, tentatively designated TF Dama, differed in isoelectric point from adjacent variants including TF Dchi, TF Doki and TF D1. TF^*Dama was found to be a new genetic marker for the Nansei Islands. Geographical clines of TF allele frequencies are also discussed.

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We describe the oldest evidence of gout from skeletal remains found in Asia. A middle-aged male skeleton excavated from the shell mound at Ohta in Onomichi-city, Hiroshima prefecture, Western Japan (the middle Jomon period: 4500-3500 BP), showed erosive arthritis in the forefoot. The characteristic feature of the erosions observed in the present skeleton is a periosteal bone apposition at the outer aspect of the involved cortex and a “punched-out” configuration as seen in radiographs. In addition to thesepaleopathological indings, a pauciarticular nature, involvement of the forefoot, male gender and a lack of perilesional osteopenia provided further support for the diagnosis of tophaceous gout. Because gout is associated with good nutrition, the presence of some well-nourished society in Jomon period should be considered.

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Hand-auger testing was conducted at a circular earthwork located in Krek, southeastern Cambodia in order to examine the applicability f the hypothesis that the site was a round village similar to those still observable among minority groups inhabiting northeastern Cambodia, southern Laos and central Vietnam. The results of the testing strongly supported the hypothesis. Some morphological and spatial aspects of the site thus far not well known were also clarified through the investigation. The study of the circular earthworks may eventually provide us with the clues as to the time depth of the Mon-Khmer occupation of mainland Southeast Asia.

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The influence of climatic-geographic factors on the Russians of Western and Eastern Siberia and on the Buryats of Eastern Siberia was investigated. A comparison of important ecotypological characteristics such as body mass index and topography of subcutaneous adipose tissue confirmed better adaptability in the Russian males than the females to the stressful influence of the severe continental climate of Eastern Siberia. It suggests the possibility that the “conservatism” of the female gene pool can lead to chronic stress caused by incomplete adaptation to the influence of a severe continental climate.

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Investigations of the effects of maternal employment on child nutrition in poor populations have have shown that children below the age of 1 year suffer nutritionally from having an employed mother, while older children benefit. This study examines this possibility in a very poor population in Calcutta, India. Z scores of height for age (H/A), weight for age (W/A) and weight for height (W/H) relative to NCHS references were calculated from cross-sectional anthropometric measurements made on 166 mother-child pairs, and related to maternal nutritional and occupational status/and child feeding practices. Z scores of H/A show a decline relative to National Center for Health Statistics references across age groups regardless of maternal employment status. However, children with employed mothers have significantly higher H/A but not W/H, while breastfed children have higher W/H regardless of their age. Although employed women are heavier and have a higher mean BMI than women who do not work for income, there is no relationship between maternal size and nutritional status, and between the stature and nutritional status of the child. The greater stature of the offspring of employed women may be due greater long-term food availability to the families of such women, but this conjecture remains untested. The stage of feeding effect, in which breastfeeding infants are heavier for stature than those receiving supplements or having been weaned altogether, is independent of maternal nutritional status. Very young children do not suffer nutritionally as a consequence of maternal employment, relative to older children. This may be in part a function of the availability of free dietary supplements from the Jack Preger clinic, but also of employment patterns which are predominantly informal and part-time, and which allow mothers to persist in breastfeeding even while working.

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Recent research on the possible external origins of the new developments in technology, society, culture and civilisation that took place in Yayoi Japan has concluded that there was substantial migration from East Asia, specifically Korea. This paper presents vidence from dental, cranial and DNA studies which suggests that there was another group, from island Southeast Asia (present-day Indonesia), in the Yayoi population.

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