Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Pivot Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Target Concepts:
Gene/Protein
Disease
Symptom
Drug
Enzyme
Compound
Query: UMLS:C0039730 (
thalassemia
)
10,305
document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)
Thalassemia
is a
congenital blood disorder
which destroys red blood cells at a faster rate than can be produced, resulting in anemia. Historically, this disease is found more often in Old World populations, such as Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian. The earliest reported skeletal evidence of
thalassemia
comes from the eastern Mediterranean (Atlit-Yam) and is correlated with early agriculturalists' exposure to malarial parasites. While there have been virtually no skeletal reports of
thalassemia
in prehistoric Native American populations, among the individuals from the 8000-year-old hunter-gatherer site of Windover, Florida there is a single potential case of the disease. A female in her early 20's exhibits bilateral foreshortening of the humeri with indications of premature epiphyseal fusion. Both proximal humeri are medio-laterally compressed, the gleno-humeral joint surfaces exhibit medial deformation, and bones show expansion of the medullary cavity with increased cancellous bone growth. These characteristics have been reported as indicators of
thalassemia
in both clinical and archaeological contexts. Alternate diagnoses such as congenital dislocation or injuries during child birth are considered but fail to account for the full set of characteristics shown. Individual #76 may, therefore, represent the oldest reported case of
thalassemia
from a native North American skeletal population.
...
PMID:An 8000-year-old case of thalassemia from the Windover, Florida skeletal population. 2953 32
