All Outputs (10)

Use of zinc deposited in deciduous teeth as a retrospective measurement of dietary zinc exposure during early development (2023)
Journal Article
Wahono, N. A., Wakeling, L. A., Dirks, W., Banks, D. A., Shepherd, T. J., Ford, D., & Valentine, R. A. (2023). Use of zinc deposited in deciduous teeth as a retrospective measurement of dietary zinc exposure during early development. Frontiers in Oral Health, 4, Article 1119086. https://doi.org/10.3389/froh.2023.1119086

Purpose: We proposed that zinc (Zn) deposition in deciduous teeth would be a timed record of exposure to this essential micronutrient over very early life. We tested this hypothesis by gathering information on the maternal and child's diet during pre... Read More about Use of zinc deposited in deciduous teeth as a retrospective measurement of dietary zinc exposure during early development.

Elemental models of primate nursing and weaning revisited (2022)
Journal Article
Smith, T. M., Arora, M., Bharatiya, M., Dirks, W., & Austin, C. (2023). Elemental models of primate nursing and weaning revisited. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 180(1), 216-223. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24655

Objectives
Intra-tooth patterns of trace elements barium (Ba) and strontium (Sr) have been used to infer human and nonhuman primate nursing histories, including australopithecine and Neanderthal juveniles. Here, we contrast the two elemental models... Read More about Elemental models of primate nursing and weaning revisited.

Fine-scaled climate variation in equatorial Africa revealed by modern and fossil primate teeth (2022)
Journal Article
Green, D. R., Ávila, J. N., Cote, S., Dirks, W., Lee, D., Poulsen, C. J., Williams, I. S., & Smith, T. M. (2022). Fine-scaled climate variation in equatorial Africa revealed by modern and fossil primate teeth. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119(35), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2123366119

Variability in resource availability is hypothesized to be a significant driver of primate adaptation and evolution, but most paleoclimate proxies cannot recover environmental seasonality on the scale of an individual lifespan. Oxygen isotope composi... Read More about Fine-scaled climate variation in equatorial Africa revealed by modern and fossil primate teeth.

Permanent signatures of birth and nursing initiation are chemically recorded in teeth (2022)
Journal Article
Smith, T. M., Austin, C., Ávila, J. N., Dirks, W., Green, D. R., Williams, I. S., & Arora, M. (2022). Permanent signatures of birth and nursing initiation are chemically recorded in teeth. Journal of Archaeological Science, 140, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2022.105564

In 2013 we presented a model for identifying nursing behavior from primate teeth based on rapid postnatal concentration changes in the non-essential trace element barium. Here we leverage the permanent neonatal (birth) line in the enamel of several d... Read More about Permanent signatures of birth and nursing initiation are chemically recorded in teeth.

Dental microstructure records life history events: A histological study of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Gabon (2021)
Journal Article
Lemmers, S. A., Dirks, W., Street, S. E., Ngoubangoye, B., Herbert, A., & Setchell, J. M. (2021). Dental microstructure records life history events: A histological study of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Gabon. Journal of Human Evolution, 158, Article 103046. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103046

Accentuated lines in dental microstructure are hypothesized to correlate with potentially stressful life history events, but our understanding of when, how and why such accentuated lines form in relation to stressful events is limited. We examined ac... Read More about Dental microstructure records life history events: A histological study of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) from Gabon.

Odontochronologies in male and female mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) and the development of dental sexual dimorphism (2020)
Journal Article
Dirks, W., Lemmers, S. A. M., Ngoubangoye, B., Herbert, A., & Setchell, J. M. (2020). Odontochronologies in male and female mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) and the development of dental sexual dimorphism. American journal of physical anthropology, 172(4), 528-544. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24094

Objectives: We examine how dental sexual dimorphism develops in mandrills, an extremely sexually dimorphic primate. We aimed to (a) establish the chronology of dental development (odontochronology) in male and female mandrills, (b) understand interin... Read More about Odontochronologies in male and female mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) and the development of dental sexual dimorphism.

Enamel formation and growth in non-mammalian cynodonts (2018)
Journal Article
O'Meara, R. N., Dirks, W., & Martinelli, A. G. (2018). Enamel formation and growth in non-mammalian cynodonts. Royal Society Open Science, 5(5), Article 172293. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172293

The early evolution of mammals is associated with the linked evolutionary origin of diphyodont tooth replacement, rapid juvenile growth and determinate adult growth. However, specific relationships among these characters during non-mammalian cynodont... Read More about Enamel formation and growth in non-mammalian cynodonts.

Lemur Biorhythms and Life History Evolution (2015)
Journal Article
Hogg, R., Godfrey, L., Schwartz, G., Dirks, W., & Bromage, T. (2015). Lemur Biorhythms and Life History Evolution. PLoS ONE, 10(8), Article e0134210. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134210

Skeletal histology supports the hypothesis that primate life histories are regulated by a neuroendocrine rhythm, the Havers-Halberg Oscillation (HHO). Interestingly, subfossil lemurs are outliers in HHO scaling relationships that have been discovered... Read More about Lemur Biorhythms and Life History Evolution.

Determinants of childhood lead exposure in the postleaded petrol era: The Tooth Fairy cohort from Newcastle upon Tyne (2014)
Journal Article
Hodgson, S., Manmee, C., Dirks, W., Shepherd, T., & Pless-Mulloli, T. (2014). Determinants of childhood lead exposure in the postleaded petrol era: The Tooth Fairy cohort from Newcastle upon Tyne. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 25, 420-426. https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2014.79

Lead is an environmental contaminant causing irreversible health effects in children. We used dentine lead levels as a measure of early-life lead exposure and explored determinants of lead exposure in children living in Newcastle upon Tyne, a histori... Read More about Determinants of childhood lead exposure in the postleaded petrol era: The Tooth Fairy cohort from Newcastle upon Tyne.

3D-Geomorphometrics tooth shape analysis in hypodontia (2014)
Journal Article
Al-Shahrani, I., Dirks, W., Jepson, N., & Khalaf, K. (2014). 3D-Geomorphometrics tooth shape analysis in hypodontia. Frontiers in Physiology, 5, Article 154. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2014.00154

Assessment of tooth morphology is an important part of the diagnosis and management of hypodontia patients. Several techniques have been used to analyze tooth form in hypodontia patients and these have shown smaller tooth dimensions and anomalous too... Read More about 3D-Geomorphometrics tooth shape analysis in hypodontia.