Medical Anthropology - 10/29

Trauma

• Trauma is an injury to living tissue caused by an extrinsic force or mechanism

• May reflect

  • Day-to-day life

  • Interpersonal injury

  • Trauma associated with the death event

Antemortem, Perimortem, and Postmortem

• Antemortem (sometimes premortem) - indicating trauma or injury that occurred prior to death - determined by signs of healing

• Perimortem - indicating trauma around the time of death - often more easily distinguishable form post mortem findings

  • Neither perimortem nor postmortem trauma will show evidence of healing, Perimortem injuries may or may not be directly related to the cause of death

• Postmortem - indicating damage that occurs after the point of death

Trauma Analysis - Types of Trauma

• Sharp force - includes linear incisions created by sharp straight edge, punctures, and chop marks

• Blunt force - crushing, breaking injuries produced by low-velocity impact over a larger area

• Projectile - penetrating wound at high velocity (ex: gunshot wound)

• Thermal - Bone exposure to high heat

Sharp Force Trauma

• V-shaped cuts - sharp tools or weapons

• U-shaped cuts - predator teeth or claws

Taphonomy 

• Taphonomy - the study of what happens to remains after they have deposited (after death)

• Examples

  • Rodent gnawing

  • Carnivore damage

  • Burned bone

  • Root etching 

  • Weathering 

  • Cut marks

Fossilization

• For the relatively rare percentage of human remains (<1%)

• Fossilization will occur which transforms the organic tissue of bone into minerals (permineralization)

Medical Anthropology

• Between cultural and biological anthropology

• It is the study of a wide array of research topics which can include how pathologies impact different populations, the way medical practices vary across cultures, impact of evolutionary forces on the human immune system, and other things

Across Cultures

• Medical anthropologists may even investigate what it means to be sick across different cultural contexts

Thinking of Evolution

• Pathology as Adaptation - Sickle Cell Disease and Malaria Resistance

  • Sick cell disease is a heritable genetic condition that results in hemoglobin being expressed as a variant form causing red blood cells to take on a flattened crescent shape

• Symptoms

  • Anemia

  • Episodes of pain

  • Swelling of hands and feet

  • Frequent infections

  • Delayed growth or puberty

  • Vision problems

• Incidences of Malaria vs. Rates of Sickle Cell Disease

  • They are both typically in the same region and cover most of the same locations in specifically Africa

• For individuals who have a heterozygous expression of the sickle cell trait
  (meaning only one copy of the trait) do have some protection from the
  most serious (fatal) effects of malaria. They also will be carriers of the
  sickle cell trait without themselves typically suffering any symptoms.

• Individuals who are homozygous and have active cases of the disease
  however, not only is there no protection, but the effects of malaria will
  likely be more fatal as malaria infection increases serious symptoms of
  sickle cell disease.

• Population Genetics of Sickle Cell Disease

  • Among African populations, somewhere between 1-3% of the population will exhibit an active Sickle Cell Disease condition (homozygous recessive).

  • In the same set of populations, 20-30% are estimated to have the
    heterozygous (carrier) trait and will be protected from the most serious effects of malaria.

  • As of 2023, over 200 million cases of malaria occur every year,
    contributing to more than a half million deaths annually

Bone Pathology 

• Anthropologists can also study the osteological effects of disease on the skeletal structures of the body for both living and deceased individuals:

• Disease pathologies indicate illnesses and/or stress suffered during one’s lifetime

• Excessive bone growth or breakdown of bone

• Classified by cause or origin

• Examples

  • Osteosarcoma

  • Osteogenesis Imperfecta

  • Rickets

  • Achondroplasia