Journal of physiological anthropology and applied human science最新文献

Undoubtedly modern mankind is an omnivorous species. Nevertheless, types of diet changed at the time of anthropogenesis. The Upper Palaeolithic period is the crucial time because of the appearance of anatomically modern humans in Europe. The main goal in this period investigation is to find the Neanderthal man-Upper Palaeolithic man diet distinction. A sharp early Holocene rise in humidity and temperature and melting of the permafrost resulted in the complete destruction of traditional migration routes, campsite losses, and the flora and fauna of inland territories changing. All these factors affected nutrition patterns, too. The comparison of the different Mesolithic and Neolithic groups' diet patterns allow us to discuss problems of the influence of cultural and ecological factors. The bone tissue chemical concentrations (Ca, Zn, Sr, Cu) from Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic burials are considered to reconstruct individual and group patterns of nutrition. The results of the atomic absorption method were used.

This study is concerned with long-term anthropometric examinations of children and adolescents aged 3-17 years in Moscow (over 10,500 persons, longitudinal and cross-sectional). Population variability of physical development was analyzed by means of regional estimation tables, which were developed on the basis of a regression analysis (scale of the regression of body mass to body length within a range from M - 1sigmaR to M + 2 sigmaR) and used for individual and group diagnostics taking into account age and sex. Such an approach allowed for the determination of the dynamics of the variability of Moscow schoolchildren from decade to decade (inter-population variability) and variations due to social differences (intra-population variability).

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between individual difference in melatonin suppression by exposure to light and habitual bedtime. Seventeen healthy male students (mean age: 22.6+/-2.4 yr) volunteered to participate in the study. The subjects were exposed to light (1000 lx) for 2 hours from 2 hours before the time of peak salivary melatonin concentration. Two hours after exposure to the light, melatonin suppression had occurred in fifteen subjects. No significant correlation was found between the rate of melatonin suppression and habitual bedtime in the fifteen subjects in whom melatonin suppression occurred. However, the habitual bedtime of the two subjects in whom melatonin suppression did not occur was earlier than that of the other subjects. These results suggest that there are some people with very low sensitivity to light and that this may affect habitual bedtime.

An evaluation was made of the serum lipid levels and factors relating to atherogenicity in schoolchildren in Akita, Japan, in order to determine actual conditions and promote awareness of health. The subjects were 2878 boys and 2729 girls aged 9, 12 and 15 years, who lived in cities, towns and villages in the Akita prefecture. Physical and lifestyle data including serum lipids were collected from the subjects in their schools under the direction of the prefectural board of education. Total cholesterol levels were found to be nearly equal to those currently representative for Japanese children, ethnically situated between blacks and whites in the United States of America. Atherogenic indices (AIs) were lower than those in all other countries owing to the elevated high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels observed in this study. According to data obtained from the questionnaires that were part of the study, regularly taking breakfast and exercising in sports clubs seems connected to maintaining lower atherogenicity in childhood.

Variations in cardiovascular responses to orthostatic stress were investigated in terms of physiological polymorphism. Variations of physiological measurements are subdivided into individual differences and measurement errors. However, individual differences are often considered to be an error in statistical analysis due to its limitations in experimental design. In order to discuss about the relative contribution of individual difference in cardiovascular responses to postural changes, percent contribution (PC) was estimated using the Taguchi method. Six healthy male adults (age range: 21-27) were subjected to orthostatic stress by inducing a postural inclination of 60 degrees head-up-tilting to the horizontal, and the responses were measured thrice in each subject on different days. The respective changes of heart rate (HR) and stroke volume (SV) in the period from the resting supine to the head-up-tilt position were significantly increased (p < 0.01) and decreased (p < 0.01) without affecting the mean blood pressure (MBP). The PC of individual difference in HR showed a significantly higher ratio of individual difference during the head-up-tilt (71.4-76.2%) compared with supine rest (0.0-50.4%). While the main variations of HR during supine rest were not the individual differences between the subjects, the day-to-day differences within the subject were significant. The PC of individual differences in MBP and SV constantly displayed a significant difference between the subjects. These results suggest that the strategy for maintaining stable cardiovascular regulation may be different even in normal subjects. In the perspective of physiological parameters, PC monitoring may serve as an empirical approach to evaluate physiological polymorphism.

A complex anthropological survey based on population-genetic methods and a study of a wide spectrum of genetic systems (43 alleles from 17 independent loci) was undertaken among 450 Buryat women of post-reproductive age. The results obtained showed the influence of particular genetic markers and their complex on the formation of peculiarities in the reproduction structure of the Buryat population.A sharp increase in phenotype GC 2-2 frequency and the corresponding GC*2 allele of the group-specific component (GC) was established for women groups with burdened obstetric records. These groups are characterized also by a considerable decrease in the observed geterozygosity (Ho) as compared to its expected value (He). Samples including women with multiple pregnancies in the recorded obstetric anamnesis are characterized by a significant increase in the frequency of the rare alleles TF*C3 of the transferrin system and those of PI*Z belonging to the proteinase inhibitor system (a1-antitrypsin) as compared to the control group. The results obtained widened current knowledge about the influence of genetic and environmental components on reproduction processes in human populations.

The source of activity of every individual or group is to a great extent determined by the necessity of interaction with other individuals or groups (Afanasiev, 1990), i.e. with the diversity of anthropological surroundings. This manifests itself in the participation of individuals in the organization of their ecosystems, including the ethnocultural and physical conditions of life (Sukharev, 1998). Therefore it is possible to single out certain ecological aspects of perception of anthropological specificity of the surrounding population by an individual (group), leaning upon the definition of anthropoecology as a discipline, studying the laws of interaction between human communities and the system of natural, social and other factors, (Anthropological dictionary, 2004) as well as the coevolution of humans with their environment, in the process of adaptation (Lisseyev, 2001). At the same time it is usually emphasized that the ecological approach is best of all realized on the base of the principle of reciprocity of development of an individual and the surrounding reality, on the perception of the objects of this reality (including other people) with due regard to the reasons for the preference and corresponding values orientation. This represents the subject of ecological psychology (Sergeyenko, 2002; Pavlenko, 2002). In this context the relations between the individual and the environment (autoecology) as well as between the individual and a group (sinecology) are considered (Lisseyev, 2001). The study of the aesthetic perception of anthropological types by individuals belonging to different ethnoterritorial and age groups is the subject matter of a special branch of physical anthropology-anthropoaesthetics, which studies the peculiarities of the aesthetic preference of human facial features in modern populations, analyzing the dependence of human perception on the anthropological environment (Haldeyeva, 2004).

The use of artificial neural networks for simulation of the control of an anthropomorphic mechanism when its mass-inertia characteristics are changing is considered in this paper. It is shown in theory that the change in mass-inertia characteristics of the model does not have a linear relationship with the output parameter but a spurt-like change in the pattern of the output function after a certain threshold. The data of the model experiment served as a basis for a full-scale test with discus throwers who had different height-weight parameters during a year of study. Specific traits in the technique of standing discus throwing are shown, and their dependence on the changes of anthropometric characteristics of sportsmen.

A close evolutionary relationship of physiology and ecology of organisms determines the dynamic dependence of the population physiological status in man on ecological factors. For the explanation of the stability and variability of population physiological status the concept of physiological homeostasis was applied. The investigation of physiological status in several populations of Middle Asia, Kazakhstan, North-East Asia and Khakassia has shown that reversible changes in the environment may temporarily destabilize the equilibrium in the "population-environment" system and prolonged stresses may cause a state of disadaptation. For estimation of population physiological homeostasis dependent on the environment, generalized dispersion, correlation and factor analyses are very informative. They not only mark the violation of population homeostasis, but also indicate changes in the environment.

The aim of this study was to compare the physiological responses and energy cost between two ascending patterns, the single-step (SS) and the double-step (DS), in climbing a public staircase. In the SS pattern, a person climbs one step at a time whilst in the double-step (DS) pattern, the individual traverses two steps in a single stride. Advocates of each stepping pattern claimed that their type of ascent is physically more taxing and expends more calories. Thirty subjects (10 males and 20 females) climbed a typical 11-storey flat (each step height of 0.15 m, a total of 180 steps and a vertical displacement of 27.0 m). The subjects climbed using either the SS pattern at a tempo of 100 steps x min(-1) or the DS pattern at 50 steps x min(-1). The prescribed stepping frequencies ensured that an equal amount of total work was performed between the SS and DS patterns. The climbing patterns were performed in random order. Physiological measures during the last 30 s of the climbs were used in the comparative analysis. The results showed that ventilation, oxygen uptake and heart rate values were significantly higher (all p < 0.01) in the SS as compared to the DS pattern. However, the caloric expenditure during the SS pattern was calculated to be only marginally higher than the DS pattern. In conclusion, ascending with the SS pattern led to significantly higher physiological responses compared to the DS pattern. The higher calorie expended with the SS compared to the DS pattern was deemed to be of little practical significance.