DISAMPING KANAN INI.............
PLEASE USE ........ "TRANSLATE MACHINE" .. GOOGLE TRANSLATE BESIDE RIGHT THIS
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Tulang dari Flores menunjukkan ciri-ciri dari sindrom Down, bukan manusia 'Hobbit' baru
Pada Oktober
2004, penggalian fragmentaris rangka dari pulau Flores Indonesia menghasilkan
yang disebut "yang paling penting evolusi manusia selama 100 tahun."
Penemu yang dijuluki menemukan Homo floresiensis, nama saran sebelumnya dari spesies manusia tak dikenal............
Flores bones show features of Down syndrome, not a new 'Hobbit' human
Date:
August 4,
2014
Source:
Penn State
Summary:
In October 2004, excavation of fragmentary skeletal
remains from the island of Flores in Indonesia yielded what was called 'the
most important find in human evolution for 100 years.' Its discoverers dubbed
the find Homo floresiensis, a name suggesting a previously unknown species of
human.
..............................
In October 2004, excavation of fragmentary skeletal remains
from the island of Flores in Indonesia yielded what was called "the most
important find in human evolution for 100 years." Its discoverers dubbed
the find Homo floresiensis, a name suggesting a previously unknown species of
human.
Now detailed
reanalysis by an international team of researchers including Robert B.
Eckhardt, professor of developmental genetics and evolution at Penn State,
Maciej Henneberg, professor of anatomy and pathology at the University of
Adelaide, and Kenneth Hsü, a Chinese geologist and paleoclimatologist, suggests
that the single specimen on which the new designation depends, known as LB1,
does not represent a new species. Instead, it is the skeleton of a
developmentally abnormal human and, according to the researchers, contains
important features most consistent with a diagnosis of Down syndrome.
"The
skeletal sample from Liang Bua cave contains fragmentary remains of several
individuals," Eckhardt said. "LB1 has the only skull and thighbones
in the entire sample."
No
substantial new bone discoveries have been made in the cave since the finding
of LB1.
Initial
descriptions of Homo floresiensis focused on LB1's unusual anatomical
characteristics: a cranial volume reported as only 380 milliliters (23.2 cubic
inches), suggesting a brain less than one third the size of an average modern
human's and short thighbones, which were used to reconstruct a creature
standing 1.06 meters (about 3.5 feet tall). Although LB1 lived only 15,000
years ago, comparisons were made to earlier hominins, including Homo erectus
and Australopithecus. Other traits were characterized as unique and therefore
indicative of a new species.
A thorough
reexamination of the available evidence in the context of clinical studies, the
researchers said, suggests a different explanation.
The
researchers report their findings in two papers published today (Aug. 4) in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
In the first
place, they write, the original figures for cranial volume and stature are
underestimates, "markedly lower than any later attempts to confirm
them." Eckhardt, Henneberg, and other researchers have consistently found
a cranial volume of about 430 milliliters (26.2 cubic inches).
"The
difference is significant, and the revised figure falls in the range predicted
for a modern human with Down syndrome from the same geographic region,"
Eckhardt said.
The original
estimate of 3.5 feet for the creature's height was based on extrapolation
combining the short thighbone with a formula derived from an African pygmy population.
But humans with Down syndrome also have diagnostically short thighbones,
Eckhardt said.
Though these
and other features are unusual, he acknowledged, "unusual does not equal
unique. The originally reported traits are not so rare as to have required the
invention of a new hominin species."
Instead, the
researchers build the case for an alternative diagnosis: that of Down syndrome,
one of the most commonly occurring developmental disorders in modern humans.
"When
we first saw these bones, several of us immediately spotted a developmental
disturbance," said Eckhardt, "but we did not assign a specific
diagnosis because the bones were so fragmentary. Over the years, several lines
of evidence have converged on Down syndrome."
The first
indicator is craniofacial asymmetry, a left-right mismatch of the skull that is
characteristic of this and other disorders. Eckhardt and colleagues noted this
asymmetry in LB1 as early as 2006, but it had not been reported by the
excavating team and was later dismissed as a result of the skull's being long
buried, he said.
A previously
unpublished measurement of LB1's occipital-frontal circumference -- the
circumference of the skull taken roughly above the tops of the ears -- allowed
the researchers to compare LB1 to clinical data routinely collected on patients
with developmental disorders. Here too, the brain size they estimate is within
the range expected for an Australomelanesian human with Down syndrome.
LB1's short
thighbones not only match the height reduction seen in Down syndrome, Eckhardt
said, but when corrected statistically for normal growth, they would yield a
stature of about 1.26 meters, or just over four feet, a figure matched by some
humans now living on Flores and in surrounding regions.
These and
other Down-like characteristics, the researchers state, are present only in
LB1, and not in the other Liang Bua skeletal remains, further evidence of LB1's
abnormality.
"This
work is not presented in the form of a fanciful story, but to test a
hypothesis: Are the skeletons from Liang Bua cave sufficiently unusual to
require invention of a new human species?" Eckhardt said.
"Our
reanalysis shows that they are not. The less strained explanation is a
developmental disorder. Here the signs point rather clearly to Down syndrome,
which occurs in more than one per thousand human births around the world."
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by David Pacchioli.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal
References:
- Maciej Henneberg, Robert B. Eckhardt, Sakdapong Chavanaves, and Kenneth J. Hs. Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species Homo floresiensis. PNAS, 2014; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1407382111
- Robert B. Eckhardt, Maciej Henneberg, Alex S. Weller, and Kenneth J. Hs. Rare events in earth history include the LB1 human skeleton from Flores, Indonesia, as a developmental singularity, not a unique taxon. PNAS, 2014; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1407385111