Hyperlipoproteinemia type V

Isolation, Migration, and Health is the outcome of a meeting held in Tokyo to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the International Association of Human Biologists (IAHB). The focus of this book is on the processes of isolation and migration and their effects on the health and disease condition of different populations. Twenty-two papers and an epilogue are presented by 48 authors from Brazil, Croatia, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The papers cover a wide range of topics concerning isolate dynamics and their characteristics (such as the elevated occurrences of rare and unique diseases), migration, and the use of migrant-sedent comparisons to shed light on the role of environmental factors in disease.

The opening chapter of the compendium, a presidential address by N. Fujiki, briefly covers the relationship between the International Biological Programme and the IAHB, isolate studies in Japan, and disease studies and sets the tone for the rest of the papers in the volume.

Several chapters are devoted to the treatment of the dynamics and the biological aspects of isolate populations. J.V. Neel identifies and provides examples of three different types of isolates on the basis of the origin and nature of the populations. He points to differences in the genetic profiles. T. Yanase discusses the breakup of Japanese isolates, differences among Japanese communities in this process, and the effect of breakup on congenital malformation rates and inbreeding depression. Y. Imaizumi considers the variation in consanguinity in Japan in terms of the social factors that influence such matings. F. Vogel discusses the interactions of human hosts with infective agents and the effects of isolate breakup on hereditary disease and infection patterns, with some intriguing speculations about the relation between isolate breakup and current health problems such as HIV infection. Vogel also calls for a new paradigm, called "ecogenetics," to include infective agents and human hosts within the framework of the ecosystem.

In the next three chapters K.C. Malhotra, D.P. Mukherjee, and S.S. Papiha discuss isolate populations from India. Malhotra reviews the ethnic elements contributing to the Indian population, the extent of biological variability among them, and the variety of sociocultural organization present in India. He cites genetic evidence concerning the Europoid origin of Hindu castes and their subsequent diversification. Mukherjee's contribution deals with the variation in consanguinity across India and its genetic consequences. Papiha assesses immunoglobulin variation in Indian populations as a function of ecological stress and attempts to shed light on the role of systematic and nonsystematic pressures on immunogenetic diversity in India.

The next four papers deal with various aspects of genetics. B. Bonne-Tamir et al. compare beta-globin haplotypes and classic polymorphisms to explore the origins and relations of several Israeli populations. The DNA and serological polymorphisms analyzed demonstrate a similar pattern of differentiation, without exact conformity, among the major Jewish groups, all of which display a strong Mediterranean affinity for the genetic markers considered. R. Sukernik investigates genetic distances in 31 circumpolar populations from 8 ethnic groups in northwestern and northeastern Siberia on the basis of GM haplotype variation and discusses the implications for the peopling of the New World. The next two papers, by N. Yasuda and N. Saitou et al., are concerned with genetic methods. Yasuda provides new algorithms, based on the counting method, for the estimation of frequencies of haplotypes or of a set of tandemly linked loci as well as formulas for polymorphic information content and paternity exclusion as a power-sum of allele frequencies. Saitou et al. present information on genetic distances from three different data sets using several different methods. They show that a method based on a network unrooted tree (i.e., the neighborhood joining approach) is the most appropriate way to describe genetic affinities because this method reflects the geographic, isolation, and migration patterns of populations better than other approaches do.

The next group of papers, from K. Kondo, R. Yanagihara and R.M. Garruto, and H. Hamaguchi et al., are concerned with selected health problems in isolates. These papers raise interesting questions about the future distribution of disease as isolates break up. Kondo considers neurological diseases (some of them unique) in the Amami Islands of southern Japan and relates these to such practices as village endogamy, social stratification, and consanguinity-all common features of feudal Japan. Yanagihara and Garruto investigate HTLV-1 virus among the Hagahai people through an examination of serological and virological evidence and demonstrate a high prevalence rate of ancient origin among this isolate group from Papua New Guinea. Hamaguchi et al. report on electrophoretic, serum cholesterol level, and amino acid sequencing results on the apolipoprotein E and RFLP haplotypes for the LDL receptor gene in a Japanese sample.

The last seven papers in this volume are concerned with various aspects of the migration process. P.T. Baker concentrates on the value of and the problems associated with migrant studies. I. Prior reports on correlates of Tokelauen migration to New Zealand, including increases in body weight, obesity, blood pressure, and the incidences of diabetes and gout. P. Lefevre-Witier explores, with examples from his own work on the Tuaregs of the Sahara, the discrepancies between the genetic and ecological definitions of population isolates. P. Rudan et al. discuss the migration-based differences in the population structure of the villages located on three eastern Adriatic islands. The investigation by H. Hara et al. attributes the higher prevalences of diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia and elevated LDL levels among Japanese Americans compared with their Japanese counterparts to such aspects of American life as higher amounts of animal fat in the diet and lower exercise rates. Y. Kanazawa et al. compare Japanese subjects with Japanese Brazilians and Japanese Americans for the incidence of type 2 diabetes to elucidate the etiology of the disease and discuss the difficulties encountered in the identification and recruitment of Japanese relatives of migrants to Brazil and the United States for participation in the project. The final paper, by G. Mimura et al., compares Okinawans and Okinawan Americans for environmental factors, particularly diet, that affect ischemic heart disease and implicates hyperlipoproteinemia in the higher levels of the disease in migrants. The final contribution to this volume is a thoughtful epilogue by D.F. Roberts.

The symposium on which this book is based intended (1) to bring together the research on isolates and migrants on genetics and health and disease to evaluate what has been accomplished and what yet remains to be done and (2) to ultimately help reduce the incidence of disease. This book seems to succeed in its first objective by presenting 22 papers (the majority of which represent the efforts of researchers from the Asian continent not readily familiar to readers in the West), representing a number of different perspectives and methodological approaches in a single source, and by raising some interesting questions for future consideration. It is reassuring that in many cases the results reported here confirm, on the basis of investigations from the Asian continent, observations previously made on other isolates and migrant populations. To what extent this compendium will succeed in its second objective remains to be seen and depends as much on the success of the health care professions as on all of us leading more healthy lifestyles.

Although this book does have a few typographical errors, some confusing references to populations, and a couple of less than perfectly clear illustrations, overall it is well written. The price of the book is a problem. Few students--the audience most likely to benefit from the book--will be able to afford it at $69.95.

Copyright Wayne State University Press Jun 1994
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