Africa presents the most complex genetic picture of any continent, with a time depth for mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) lineages >100,000 years. The most recent widespread demographic shift within the continent was most probably the Bantu dispersals, which archaeological and linguistic evidence suggest originated in West Africa 3,000-4,000 years ago, spreading both east and south. Here, we have carr...

Intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS) is a major cause of stroke worldwide and is more common in Asians than Caucasians. The study results from the East and West are generally similar, but notable differences exist. For example, studies from the East have reported that ICAS is associated with young age, whereas ICAS seems to be associated with old age in the West. Studies from the East have stron...

AIM To determine estimates of prevalence of selected cardiovascular and related diseases (myocardial and brain infarction, angina pectoris, hypertension, diabetes, and obesity) in western, central, and eastern regions of Slovenia. METHODS A national survey on health status and health behavior of the adult population included 15,379 Slovene inhabitants, aged 25-64. The overall response rate to...

STUDY OBJECTIVE Within Europe, a pronounced geographical gradient of mortality from ischaemic heart disease has been observed with the highest burden in the north east and the lowest in the south west. The study objective was to compare mortality from ischaemic heart disease between former East and West Germany since reunification. DESIGN Analyses of age standardised mortality rates from isch...

This study aimed to investigate the orientation dependence effect and the role of visuospatial abilities in mental representations derived from spatial descriptions. The analysis focused on how the orientation effect and the involvement of visuospatial abilities change when survey and route descriptions are used, and the initial and main orientation of an imaginary tour. In Experiment 1, 48 par...

The aim of this paper is to develop and apply Neural Network (NN) models in order to forecast regional employment patterns in Germany. NNs are statistical tools based on learning algorithms with a distribution over a large amount of quantitative data. NNs are increasingly deployed in the social sciences as a useful technique for interpolating data when a clear specification of the functional re...

In her paper, "Television and Politics in the Former East Germany," Claudia Dittmar analyzes how in the former East Germany (GDR) while television audience was restricted severly by government, at the same time West German broadcasts acquired a substantial audience and what the impact of these broadcasts had on the audience. West German television programs enjoyed a high level of popularity wit...

INTRODUCTION The objectives of the present study were to study regional differences in outcome for a paediatric cochlear implant (CI) population after the introduction of universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) and bilateral implantation in Denmark. MATERIAL AND METHODS Data relate to 94 subjects. A test battery consisting of eight different tests/assessments was performed in order to rep...

We present a computer proof for the empirical observation of Gessel that the number of closed paths in the quarter plane with steps going east, west, south-east, and north-west has a nice closed form.

Population genetic structures illustrate evolutionary trajectories of organisms adapting to differential environmental conditions. Verticillium stem striping disease on oilseed rape was mainly observed in continental Europe, but has recently emerged in the United Kingdom. The disease is caused by the hybrid fungal species Verticillium longisporum that originates from at least three separate hyb...