Focus on Research
Penn State Intercom......March 6, 2003

Don't get big-headed, but cranial
measurements are hereditary

By A'ndrea Messer
Public Information

A reanalysis of the data of an early 20th-century study by the father of modern American anthropology has shown that Franz Boas was wrong and that there is a substantial genetic component to cranial form that can be used in modern forensics, according to Penn State and University of Tennessee anthropologists.

"After Boas published his study in 1912, everyone said you cannot use cranial measurements to tell differences in populations," says Corey Sparks, graduate student in anthropology. "Uncritical acceptance of his findings has resulted in 90 years of misunderstanding about the magnitude of (cranial) plasticity."

Cranial plasticity is the idea that the dimension of the head, the measurements across the face, the head length and head breadth and the cranial index -- a ratio of head length to breadth -- change readily with environmental factors.

Sparks, working with Richard Jantz, professor of anthropology, University of Tennessee, looked at the data from Boas' "Report presented to the 61st Congress on Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants," which was published by Columbia University Press in 1928 as "Materials for the Study of Inheritance in Man." The data contain information on head measurements of approximately 13,000 European-born immigrants and American-born children from the New York City area. The information, which had not been analyzed since Boas' days, was divided into seven population groups -- Bohemians, Central Italians, Poles, Hungarians, Scots, Sicilians and a group composed of individuals of Jewish ancestry from Western Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Romania.

Boas claimed in a 1912 American Anthropology article that there were dramatic effects on cranial form depending on the time of exposure to the American environment and that it was not heredity but environment that caused differences.

"Reanalysis of Boas' data not only fails to support his contention that cranial plasticity is a primary source of cranial variation, but rather supports what morphologists and morphometricians have known for a long time, that most of the variation is genetic variation," the researchers reported. According to the researchers, about 10 years before the immigrant study, Boas was one of the most statistically and quantitatively oriented anthropologists, but in the final report presented to congress, Boas' statistical fluency disappeared.

Sparks and Jantz performed standard statistical tests that assessed the differentiation among the three cranial measurement and the cranial index of the American-born and European-born children. It showed that there was only a significant difference in 11 of the 156 tests, all in the Jewish population.

"The predominant trend in the data suggests a much more significant effect of age on the cranial index rather than of duration of American residence," the researchers said. "This suggests an overall stability of the cranial index in response to changing environment and fails to support the propositions of Boas."

Because of the detail of the data set, the researchers were able to look at hereditability. Data were available on multiple generations of families and so the likelihood that the head length, breadth and face breadth characteristics were inherited could be tested.

"We found that the dominant force for all traits was genetic," Sparks said. "So whereas, based on Boas' report one could not use cranometric measurements to look at populations, our data suggests that one can, which has immediate repercussions for forensic anthropology and such analyses as those of Kennewick Man and other very early human remains. Opponents can no longer cite Boas as an indication that skeletal analysis is unacceptable or inaccurate."

Why was Boas wrong? The researchers suggest that the sheer size of the data set could have been part of the problem. However, they also note that Boas showed "disdain for the often racist ideas in anthropology" at that time and his view that this racist approach should end might have influenced his analysis. If so, his report, if not putting an end to scientific racism, did serve to make it more difficult to use cranial measurements to further racist ideas. Sparks and Jantz "make no claim that Boas made deceptive or ill-contrived conclusions" in his report, because they acknowledge that differences between the American and European-born samples exist. They do claim that the data, subjected to modern analysis, does not support Boas' statements about environmental influence on cranial form.

"We performed statistical comparisons that rarely showed any significant difference between the American and European born, but did show some significance to both family and population, indicating a genetic rather than environmental cause."

A'ndrea Elyse Messer can be reached at aem1@psu.edu.

Economically, as nation goes, so
goes the state of Pennsylvania

By Paul Blaum
Public Information

As the nation goes, so goes Pennsylvania -- not in politics, but in the ups and downs of the business cycle. In 2001, after eight years of growth, both the U.S. and Pennsylvania economies slipped into recession. The tandem motion of economic fortunes during 1990-2001, from recession to growth to recession, shows how closely tied Pennsylvania is to the national economy, says a new report jointly produced by Penn State, Verizon and the Pennsylvania Economic Development Association.

"Road to 2003: An Update on Pennsylvania," the 15th edition of this report, notes that if trends of 1990-2001 continue for the next few years, jobs and population will likely grow in the state, but at a slower tempo than in the nation, and also statewide unemployment should hover around the U.S. average, the report notes. The recent recession has been mild and short, as recessions go.

"As the state moved from slow-growth into recession during June 2000-01, total employment dropped only 440 jobs (negative 0.01 percent) and the rate of unemployment rose but slightly from 4.3 to 4.8 percent, said Ted Fuller, University economist and report co-author. "Remarkably, as of June 2001 and three months into the recession, almost one-half of the state's 67 counties still had an unemployment rate under 5.0 percent."

More recently, from June 2001-2002, the state has lost an estimated additional 80,000 jobs (1.4 percent decline). In June 2002, unemployment stood at 5.5 percent statewide, but below the national rate of 6.0 percent. Currently, both the state and the nation appear to be struggling to emerge from the recession. The "Road to 2003" report describes long-run employment, unemployment and population trends in Pennsylvania from 1990-2001 and highlights recent trends from 1999-2001 as the state and nation moved into recession. Job trends are detailed statewide and by county for seven major sectors and statewide for more than 300 industries.

"The long-run picture from June 1990-2001 shows the state trailing the nation in both employment and population growth. Pennsylvania's population grew only 3.2 percent from 1990-2000 compared to 12.8 percent for the nation, and employment during June 1990-2001 expanded only 10.3 percent in the state versus 20.6 percent nationwide," said report co-author Stephen Smith, professor of agricultural and regional economics and director of the Center for Economic and Community Development.

The state unemployment rate actually rose at a slower pace than the national unemployment rate from June 2001-2002, a year that included much of the recent recession.

"Forecasts by the Verizon Economics Group in 'Road to 2003' suggest relatively slow growth in output and jobs in 2003-04 for both Pennsylvania and the nation coupled with only moderate declines in unemployment," Fuller said.

"Road to 2003" is available at http://cecd.aers.psu.edu and http://www.teampa.com.

Foundation launches $6.3 million diabetic
retinopathy center at Hershey Center

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has announced the launch of $6.3 million JDRF Center for Mechanisms and Intervention of Diabetic Retinopathy at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center.

The center, which is being funded over a five-year period, will focus on one of the most debilitating complications of diabetes -- diabetic retinopathy -- a degenerative eye disease that affects millions.

An interdisciplinary team of 20 researchers at Penn State Hershey, under the leadership of Thomas W. Gardner, director; Jim Jefferson, co-director; and David A. Antonetti, associate director; will focus on the biological causes of impairment in the early stages of diabetic retinopathy (progressive damage to the retina). They will use those findings to conduct pre-clinical testing of drugs and then move into clinical trials as soon as possible so that patients can benefit from the research.

"We've brought together experts in metabolism, gene expression, vascular biology, neurobiology, transgenic animal models, neuroimmunology and clinical ophthalmology to work in an innovative way to gain understanding of the complex metabolic and cellular alterations caused by diabetes," said Gardner, professor of ophthalmology and cellular and molecular physiology.

The center includes five projects and three support facilities that are interdisciplinary and interrelated and are designed to determine points in retinal metabolism that can be targeted for treatment. Among the projects is one that addresses the role of microglia cells and whether they contribute to retinopathy; it also tests whether a drug which is already FDA approved to treat acne can reduce and potentially ameliorate the progression of retinopathy. Scientists also are testing a novel drug delivery approach with steroid medications in and around the retina to treat macula edema (swelling of the macular region -- the most sensitive part of the retina) in diabetic retinopathy.

Slow download speeds
capture interest of Net surfers

As cable companies and Internet access providers compete for customers by offering broadband service, cable modems and digital subscriber lines as faster access to the Web, slower download speeds sometimes prompt greater user response than faster download speeds, a study says.

S. Shyam Sundar, associate professor of communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory at Penn State, and Carson Wagner, assistant professor of advertising at the University of Texas, have announced their findings. With the growth of Internet-based communication, for everything from electronic commerce to news, researchers have theorized about the impact of download speed -- the time required for the images and information that comprise a full page on the Web to display on a computer screen. The study shows that download speeds induce behavioral and physiological changes for audience members who access information on the Web. The results also show slower download speeds increase arousal in some instances. Through three separate experiments, the researchers measured the impact of download speed by monitoring skin condu ctance levels of participants exposed to slow- or fast-loading versions of the same Web site.

For more of the story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/downloadspeeds.html.

RESEARCH IN BRIEF

Grant enables researchers
to study forest ecology

An interdisciplinary team of University scientists from the Environment Institute in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the Pennsylvania Institute of the Environment will develop land management practices that will serve to maintain and regenerate forested and open training areas for the Pennsylvania National Guard at Fort Indiantown Gap, with support from a $560,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

Researchers from the College of Agricultural Sciences School of Forest Resources, Departmen t of Entomology and the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, and the Environment Institute are conducting a series of interrelated projects, including fire and soil histories and analyses, studies of deer density and the impacts on forest regeneration, and bird and insect assessment and monitoring.

Firms need to create
'learning organizations'

For companies that truly want to be a "learning organization" for their employees, the critical ingredients are commitment, trust and vision, according to a University researcher.

To talk about becoming a "learning organization" without creating a learning atmosphere is an exercise in futility. A workplace learning climate is only favorable when employers have taken specific, carefully planned steps to ensure that their employees learn, said William J. Rothwell, professor of work-force education and development in the College of Education.

For more of the story, go to http://www.psu.edu/ur/2002/employeelearning.html.

PENN STATE'S RESEARCH HERITAGE

Evan Pugh, Penn State's first president (1859-64), was a national advocate of adding science, agriculture and engineering to traditional collegiate studies. Penn State emerged as one of three agricultural colleges in the United States before the 1862 Morill Land-Grant College Act -- which promoted these new subjects and for which Pugh lobbied hard. Because of him, Penn State was named Pennsylvania's sole land-grant college in 1863.

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