European populations display low genetic differentiation as the result of long-term blending of their ancient founding ancestries. However, it is unclear how the combination of ancient ancestries related to early foragers, Neolithic farmers, and Bronze Age nomadic pastoralists can explain the distribution of genetic variation across Europe. Populations in natural crossroads like the Italian peninsula are expected to recapitulate the continental diversity, but have been systematically understudied. Here, we characterize the ancestry profiles of Italian populations using a genome-wide dataset representative of modern and ancient samples from across Italy, Europe, and the rest of the world. Italian genomes capture several ancient signatures, including a non–steppe contribution derived ultimately from the Caucasus. Differences in ancestry composition, as the result of migration and admixture, have generated in Italy the largest degree of population structure detected so far in the continent, as well as shaping the amount of Neanderthal DNA in modern-day populations.

Population studies on normal and dysfunctional characteristics of menstrual cycles are scarce for western populations and practically non-existent for non-western ones. Recent data suggest that the type of menstrual cycle can be relevant for later gynaecological problems in several ways. The type of menstrual cycle is related to menarcheal age in a way that those with early maturation show more menstrual disorders which are the largest diagnosis category accounting for hysterectomies in adult women. On the other hand menstrual pain is often cited as the main single cause of school absenteeism among adolescent girls. The aim of this study is to describe characteristics of menstrual cycles, prevalence of main dysfunctions and their relationship to the age of maturity. The sample comprises 495 adolescent girls from Marrakech (Morocco) aged 12-19 years. At 13 years, 40% of these girls had reached menarche. The median age at menarche is 13.04. The prevalences of abdominal pain, premenstrual symptoms and irregularity are 69.60, 51.20 and 23.03 respectively. Abdominal pain is significantly more frequent in girls with early menarche.

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In order to study the prevalence of obesity and overweight and to understand how the human body is perceived among Moroccan mountain populations, we carried out a survey that covered a sample of 436 Amazigh individuals aged 20 years and more from the High Moroccan Atlas. Through this survey, we noticed that obesity is still low among men (2.4%), whereas the prevalence of obesity among women is alarming and reaches 13.3%. The prevalence of overweight is also high, especially among women, with 32.8% vs. 21.8% among men. Obesity prevalence, especially overweight, is higher than that recorded in the national rural level. The high prevalence of overweight that can develop to obesity should be taken into account mainly when dealing with women that still value overweight. In fact, women in our sample underestimate their overweight more than men and wish to have a heavier body.

The human platelet alloantigen systems HPA-1, -2, -3, -4, -5 and -6 in a Moroccan Berber population from the Amizmiz region were determined by polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). The gene frequencies obtained from these unrelated Berbers were 0 x 747 and 0 x 252 for HPA-1a and -1b; 0 x 817 and 0 x 182 for HPA-2a and -2b; 0 x 682 and 0 x 317 for HPA-3a and -3b; 1 and 0 x 0 for HPA-4a and -4b; 0 x 8616 and 0 x 1383 for HPA-5a and -5b; 1 and 0 x 0 for HPA-6a and -6b. The Berbers have the highest frequency for the 1b, 2b and 5b alleles of all the populations reported to date and also the lowest frequency for the 3b allele.