Doctoral Dissertation Research: Weaning practices, subsistence strategies, and skeletal growth and development

人类骨骼能够对生物力学压力做出塑性反应，包括与咀嚼有关的压力。这篇博士论文项目通过对工业化前人口的各种断奶和生存实践的分析，检验了饮食模式和骨骼特征之间的关系。这项研究对可能影响我们物种骨骼生长和发育的生物文化因素有了深入的了解，包括影响牙齿排列和功能的因素。该项目促进对女科学家的研究生培训，向临床受众传播研究成果，对学生进行科学教育和课程开发，以及通过科普渠道进行公共科学交流。虽然研究人员发现，不同的生存策略会导致脸型和下巴形状的差异，但断奶做法的影响和哺乳的生物力学效应还没有被很好地理解。此外，现代婴儿的行为，如吮吸拇指、奶瓶喂养和提前终止母乳喂养，都与牙齿错牙合的增加有关，这表明，人们认为随着农业的到来而发生的断奶做法的转变，可能是现代牙齿咬合问题增加的部分原因。该项目使用颅骨和下颌的3D扫描数据，调查面部形态、断奶做法和生存策略之间的关系。该项目还试图通过使用现代正畸标准量化牙齿咬合来评估断奶/生存行为与牙齿咬合模式之间的关联。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The human skeleton is capable of plastic responses to biomechanical pressures, including those associated with chewing. This doctoral dissertation project examines relationships between dietary patterns and skeletal characteristics through analysis of pre-industrial populations with various weaning and subsistence practices. The research advances insights about biocultural factors that may influence skeletal growth and development in our species, including factors affecting dental alignment and function. The project fosters graduate student training of a female scientist, dissemination of findings including to clinical audiences, science education and curriculum development for students, and public science communication through popular science outlets. While researchers have found differences in face and jaw shape with differing subsistence strategies, the effects of weaning practices and the biomechanical effects of suckling are not well understood. Additionally, modern infant behavior such as thumb-sucking, bottle-feeding and early termination of breastfeeding are implicated in the rise of dental malocclusions, suggesting that shifts in weaning practices that are thought to have occurred with the advent of farming may be partially responsible for the increase in modern dental occlusion problems. This project investigates associations between facial morphology, weaning practices, and subsistence strategies, using cranial and mandibular 3D scan data. The project also seeks to assess the association between weaning/subsistence behavior and dental occlusion patterns by quantifying dental occlusion using modern orthodontic criteria.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.