BACKGROUND The spread of agriculture into Europe and the ancestry of the first European farmers have been subjects of debate and controversy among geneticists, archaeologists, linguists and anthropologists. Debates have centred on the extent to which the transition was associated with the active migration of people as opposed to the diffusion of cultural practices. Recent studies have shown tha...

In the Southwest Atlantic, coral reefs are unique due to their growth form, low species richness, and a high level of endemic coral species, which include the most important reef builders. Although these reefs are the only true biogenic reefs in the South Atlantic Ocean, population genetic studies are still lacking. The purpose of this study was to develop a suite of microsatellite loci to help...

The impact of climate variability on the water cycle in desert ecosystems is controlled by biospheric feedback at interannual to millennial timescales. This paper describes a unique field dataset from weighing lysimeters beneath nonvegetated and vegetated systems that unequivocally demonstrates the role of vegetation dynamics in controlling water cycle response to interannual climate variabilit...

Various factors r esponsible in inducing upwelling are discussed. A distinction is m a de between the process of upwelling: and its etlects On the environmental cOnditions. Upwelling oft' the southwest coast of India is discussed in relation °to the time variation of density structure (CSt), horizontal divergence of surface CUrrent vectors, wind stress components parallel and perpendicular to t...

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to determine the contribution of individual and contextual socioeconomic status (SES) to the prevalence of diabetes mellitus and glucose intolerance in the adult population in rural southwest China. METHODS A population-based cross-sectional study of diabetes was performed in 4801(2152 men) Chinese adults (≥ 25 years old). Multilevel logistic regression model was us...

BACKGROUND Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a major public health problem with serious consequences. This study was conducted to assess the magnitude of IPV in Southwest Ethiopia in predominantly rural community. METHODS This community based cross-sectional study was conducted in May, 2009 in Southwest Ethiopia using the World Health Organization core questionnaire to measure violence again...

Dramatic crustal deformation and river incision in Southwest China induced by the Indo-Asian collision have long been argued to contribute to the complicated landscapes, heterogeneous environment and abundant biodiversity in this region. However, biological impacts in promoting intraspecific phylogeographical subdivision and divergence along the Red River Fault zone (RRF) remain poorly understo...

During the past 4 years noteworthy weather fluctuations of a persistent kind have occurred over large portions of the United States, the most prominent of which have been the deficiency in precipitation over the Northeast and the excess over the Southwest and the Northern Plains. The nature of these abnormalities is described with the help of seasonal frequency distributions of precipitation de...