Doctoral Dissertation Research: Obstetric constraints on neurocranial shape in nonhuman primates

博士论文研究：非人类灵长类动物神经颅骨形状的产科限制

• 批准号: 2341137
• 负责人: Christopher Percival
• 金额: $ 1.77万
• 依托单位: SUNY at Stony Brook
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-02-15 至 2026-01-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341137&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Obstetric; constraints

The “obstetric dilemma” refers to the tight fit between a human infant’s head and its mother’s birth canal, a disproportion that contributes to difficult labor and maternal mortality. However, humans are not the only primates to experience obstetric difficulties. Birth complications as severe as maternal or infant death have been recorded in some small-bodied monkey species, whose babies have relatively large bodies during birth. This doctoral dissertation research tests the hypothesis that infant cranial narrowness is an evolutionary adaptation to mitigate obstetric constraint in these small-bodied monkeys. By deepening our understanding of obstetric constraint in nonhuman primates, and how these species cope with it, we may also better understand the evolutionary roots of the human obstetric dilemma. This project supports the research and training of an early-career female scientist and development of educational modules on the evolution of obstetric constraint and the necessity of obstetric and reproductive healthcare. Many small-bodied new-world monkeys exhibit a long and narrow skull shape, in contrast to the globular shape observed in humans and apes. Previous research suggests that cranial narrowness allows these species to give birth to large-brained infants while minimizing the risk of obstructed labor, drawing parallels to the human obstetric dilemma. Conversely, small-bodied old-world monkeys do not exhibit cranial narrowness as adults, a disparity that could be explained by variation in obstetric constraints or by interspecies differences in how cranial shape changes after birth. This project analyzes the correlation between obstetric constraint and cranial narrowness in nonhuman primates and uses geometric morphometrics to track cranial shape change from infant to adult life stages in representative species of small-bodied new-world and old-world monkeys. The investigators synthesize methods from prior research in the fields of obstetrics and developmental morphology to create 3D reconstructions of the primate birth canal and generate infant primate CT scan data valuable to future anthropological research.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.

“产科困境”是指人类的头部与母亲的出生管之间的紧密拟合，这是造成困难的劳动和孕产妇死亡的不成比例。但是，人类并不是遇到产科困难的唯一素数。在某些小型猴子物种中记录了像母子或婴儿死亡一样严重的出生并发症，他们的婴儿在出生时的身体相对较大。这项博士学位论文研究检验了以下假设：婴儿颅骨狭窄是减轻这些小猴子产科约束的进化适应。通过加深我们对非人类素数中产科约束的理解，以及这些物种如何应对，我们也可以更好地了解人类产科困境的进化根源。该项目支持对早期女性科学家的研究和培训，以及有关产科约束发展以及产科和生殖医疗保健必要的教育模块的发展。与人类和猿类观察到的全球形状相反，许多小型的新猴子表现出长而狭窄的头骨形状。先前的研究表明，颅骨狭窄允许这些物种生下大脑婴儿，同时最大程度地减少了障碍劳动的风险，从而使人类产科困境相似。相反，小型的旧世界猴子不像成年人一样表现出颅骨狭窄，这种差异可以通过产科约束的变化或出生后颅骨形状变化的种间差异来解释。该项目分析了非人类隐私的产科约束与颅骨狭窄之间的相关性，并使用几何形态图表跟踪颅骨形状的变化，从婴儿到成人生命阶段的变化，在代表性的小型新事物和老式猴子的代表性物种中。研究人员从妇产科和发育形态领域的先前研究中综合方法来创建灵长类动物出生管的3D重建，并产生婴儿的灵长类动物CT扫描数据对未来的人类学研究有价值。这奖反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过对基础的知识效果和广泛的评估来评估，并以评估为贵族，并被认为是珍贵的。