On Development of Muslim Community of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2021

The article is devoted to the development of the Muslim community of the Republic of Tatarstan (RT) in 2021. The author continues a series of articles exploring the Muslim community of Tatarstan in 2000–2010-s. The article concludes that stability in the religious sphere is generally maintained in the Republic of Tatarstan. In the context of the continuation of the pandemic, social activities are becoming increasingly important. The most important socio- political plot for the Tatar religious fi gures of Russia was the preparation and participation in the All- Russian Population Census of 2021. The VIII Congress of the Muslim Spiritual Administration (MSA) of the Republic of Tatarstan retained the former Mufti and Bash-qadi (the main Sharia judge) of the MSA of the Republic of Tatarstan in their posts. Law enforcement agencies continue to identify the activities and punish representatives of radical organizations banned in the Russian Federation

People's Trust in Authorities as a Phenomenon of Parasocial Relations in Modern Russian Society

The article features the concept of trust as a phenomenon of parasocial relations. Parasocial relationship is one-sided because its object is sometimes unaware of its subject. The phenomenon of people's trust in social institutions still remains largely understudied. The research was based on the sociocognitive approach developed by R. Falcone and C. Castelfranchi and the theory of social representations by S. Moscovici and D. Jodelet. In Russia, population's trust in authorities has always been low, and the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting it even more. The study revealed two forms of institutional trust, one based on social relations and the other based on parasocial relations. The institutional trust in modern Russia combines social and parasocial forms. They are closely interconnected, and the first can transform into the second. The deficit of social relations between Russian population and authorities in the conditions of declining institutional trust may lead to their replacement by less stable parasocial relations.

Molecular genetic study of clinical and cognitive features of schizophrenia: No associations with genes SOD2, GSTO1, NQO1

The main features of schizophrenia are characterized by three domains of symptoms, including positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive defi cits, the overlap of which forms a polymorphism of clinical manifestations. Previous molecular genetic studies have found signifi cant genetic overlaps between the cognitive abilities and the risk of schizophrenia developing. Recent evidence suggests that oxidative stress may play an important role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.Aim. The aim of the study was to investigate the associations of polymorphisms of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2, GSTO1, and NQO1 with clinical polymorphism of schizophrenia and the severity of cognitive deficit.Material and Methods. A comprehensive examination of 457 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia was carried out. Out of the total group of examined patients, cognitive functions were assessed using the BACS scale in 150 schizophrenic patients. The control group comprised 135 healthy individuals with age and gender corresponding to patient group. Their cognitive function was assessed. Genotyping of SOD2 (rs4880), GSTO1 (rs4925), and NQO1 (rs1800566) was done by realtime PCR.Results. When analyzing the distribution of genotypes and alleles of polymorphic variants of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2, GSTO1, and NQO1, no associations between the studied loci and schizophrenia in the Russian population of the Siberian region were revealed. Also, no associations were found with clinical polymorphism of disease (disease course type, leading symptoms (positive or negative), and age of disease onset). The cognitive abilities of schizophrenic patients and healthy individuals were diff erent as expected, but no associations with genetic characteristics were found.Conclusion. In this work, we obtained negative results in regard to associations of polymorphic variants of genes encoding the antioxidant enzymes SOD2 (rs4880), GSTO1 (rs4925), and NQO1 (rs1800566) with the development of schizophrenia in the Russian population in the Siberian region, as well as with the severity of cognitive defi cit. The genetic profi le for the studied loci did not aff ect the clinical manifestations of disease in the examined sample.

Ethnic characteristics of bone remodeling in female patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Structural and metabolic disorders of bone tissue in women with T2DM have no clinical manifestations, but they are accompanied by the risk of fractures.Aim: To study the parameters of bone metabolism, BMD and microarchitectonics in female patients with T2DM in the Buryat population.Materials and methods: The observational single-center one-stage controlled study included 73 women with T2DM, which were divided into 2 groups depending on the functional state of the ovaries (reproductive and postmenopausal periods). In each group, subgroups of the Buryat and Russian populations were identified. The first group included 34 patients with T2DM of the reproductive period: 16 from the Buryat population and 18 from the Russian population. The second group consisted of 39 postmenopausal patients with T2DM: 17 from the Buryat population and 22 from the Russian population. The study of BMD in the lumbar spine (L1-L4), femoral neck (Neck), in the proximal femur (Total hip), trabecular bone score (TBS), serum osteocalcin (OC), N-terminal propeptide type 1 procollagen was carried out (P1NP), vitamin D 25 (OH), blood plasma type I collagen C-terminal telopeptide (β-Cross laps) and ionized calcium (iCa).Results: In female patients with T2DM of the reproductive age of the Buryat population, an increase in both markers of osteosynthesis P1NP (p=0.035), OC (p=0.047), and bone resorption β-Cross laps (p=0.040) was found relative to the similar group of the Russian population. In women with T2DM in the postmenopausal period of the Buryat population, there was also an increase in P1NP (p = 0.016), OC (p = 0.048), β-Cross laps (p = 0.020) compared with the group of postmenopausal women in the Russian population. Structural disorders, characterized by a decrease in TBS, were detected only in the postmenopausal period in female patients of the Buryat population compared to women in the Russian population (p = 0.029).Comparative analysis among women with T2DM of the Buryat population, depending on the functional state of the ovaries, showed that activation of bone remodeling with an increase in P1NP (p = 0.019), OC (p = 0.004) and β-Cross laps (p = 0.004) is characteristic of postmenopausal women accompanied by a decrease in BMD Neck (p = 0.006), BMD Total hip (p = 0.003), BMD L1-L4 (p = 0.049) and TBS (p = 0.020) relative to female patients with T2DM in the reproductive period.Conclusion: In women with T2DM in the Buryat population, both in the reproductive and postmenopausal periods, an increase in bone remodeling markers and BMD stability was found when compared with the corresponding groups of patients in the Russian population. The postmenopausal period was characterized by an additional decrease in TBS in patients with T2DM in the Buryat population relative to women in the Russian population.

Urbanization of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia and the Far East (20th to Early 21st Centuries)

This article integrates studies relating to the history of urban communities of Siberian and Far Eastern indigenous peoples. A multidisciplinary approach to urbanization processes is used; their stages, rates, causes, and principal characteristics are analyzed. The database consists of our own fi eld fi ndings, published results of sociological studies, and those of All-Union and All-Russian population censuses. Three stages of urbanization affecting indigenous Siberians are described, and their factors and mechanisms are evaluated. The process is characterized by intense migration of indigenous peoples to the towns and cities during the recent period, accompanied by large-scale industrial development, and the transition of aboriginal societies from the traditional to the modern lifestyle. The urbanization, however, has not been completed, because of the underdeveloped urban infrastructure and the fact that many indigenous peoples to the cities had retained their rural traditions. The sa lient characteristic of the urbanization of indigenous peoples in the macroregion is that it was asynchronous, and that its sh ort intense phase, whereby the indigenous peoples mostly moved to nearby towns and urbanized villages in the 1960s–1970s, did not extend to all indigenous communities. Urbanization was incomplete in terms of both quality and quantity, and the integration of indigenous peoples into the urban space has engendered serious problems. According to the All-Russian population census of 2010, only fi ve indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Far East had completed the urbanization process: Kereks, Mansi, Nivkhs, Uilta and Shors. Currently, most indigenous peoples are medium-urbanized. The lowest level of urbanization is among the Soyots, Siberian Tatars, Telengits, Tofalars, Tubalars, Chelkans, Chulyms, and Tozhu Tuvans. We conclude that urbanization among the indigenous peoples is a long, diffi cult, and contradictory process, which, in modern Siberia, triggers many ethnocultural and ethno-social transformations of regional multiethnic communities.

Hunting of Game Fowl by the Russian Population of the Tarsky Irtysh Region in the 17th-19th Centuries: written and archaeological sources

Bird hunting as a type of economic activity of the Russian population in the 17th—18th centuries is analyzed on the basis of archeozoological collections and complexes from the cultural layers of rural sites. The composition and ratio of different types of commercial birds, methods of passive and active hunting are determined. The results obtained are compared with written sources of the 19 th century and archaeological materials from other regions. As part of the inventory of archaeological sites, in addition to the bow and arrowheads, a set of clay balls of different sizes and weights was identified, which were used as projectiles for slingshot in hunting flocking birds.

Clinical and Genetic Correlations of Inherital Retinal Disease with Mutations in the ABCA4 Gene by Patients of the Russian Population

Aim: to study genotype-phenotype correlations in patients with inherited retinal diseases with mutations in ABCA4 gene in Russian Federation.Patients and methods. 21 patients from Russian population aged from 7 to 51 years old (mean age 20 ± 11 years with best-corrected visual acuity from 0,02 to 0,6 (0,14 ± 0,11) with ABCA4-associated retinopathy, verified by molecular genetics methods. All patients besides standard ophthalmic examination and photodocumentation were performed Spectral-Domain OCT and fundus autofluorescence on Spectralis ®HRA+OCT (Heidelberg Engineering, Germany). Full-field electroretinogram (ERG), 30-Hz flicker ERG and macular chromatic ERG (MERG) to red stimulus were recorded on electroretinographic system MBN (MBN, Russia). (Russia) Molecular genetic studies were performed using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Sandger direct sequencing. Results: In ABCA4-associated Stargardt disease 1 type (STGD1) genotype [p.L541P, p.A1038V] of «frequent» mutations was revealed in 9 patients, in 2 cases in was associated another “frequent” mutation p.G1961E. In 4 patients with genotype [p.L541P, p.A1038V] “severe” phenotype of Stargardt disease was found: with large defect of the ellipsoid zone and large zone of central reduced autofluorescence, severely subnormal macular ERG (MERG) to red stimulus and subnormal 30 Hz flicker and full-field maximal ERG. In one patient with these mutations in homozygous state ABCA4-associated cone-rod dystrophy (CORD3, clinically looking alike secondary retinal dystrophy is diagnosed. In 2 patients with genotype [p.L541P, p.A1038V] and mutation p.G1961E was found mild phenotype. One patient with homozygous mutation p.R653C autosomal recessive ABCA4-associated retinitis pigmentosa (RP19) was diagnosed. Clinical picture and autofluorescence were polymorphic in all patients.Conclusions. Our study with ophthalmological, molecular genetics and instrumental methods widens the spectrum of clinical signs of inherited eye diseases associated with mutations in АВСА4 gene, widens the spectrum mutations in Russian Federation and reveals clinicо-genetic genotype-phenotype correlations.

Assay of frequency and spectrum of genetic variants in TTN in healthy russian population

Background. Gene TTN associated with all types of cardiomyopathy, however its large size (294 b.p.) warrants a lot of individual unique genetic variants or variants with low frequency, that aggravates their interpretation. Besides that nowadays there is no data about spectrum of variants in this gene in healthy Russian population. Recognition frequency and spectrum of variants in gene TTN in healthy Russian population will allow us to use it for interpretation results of molecular genetic research for patients with different heart pathology, and define prognosis for different heart diseases.Objective. Recognize frequency and spectrum of single nucleotide and truncating variants in gene TTN in healthy Russian population and compare it with international data bases, and evaluate level of pathogenicity these variants and their distributing across titin structure.Design and methods. 192 men in age 55,8±6,6 years were tested with next-generation sequencing. Identified genetic variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Results. Allele missense variant frequency (with frequency less than 0.1%) in TTN in healthy Russian population amount to 15.1 %, and truncating variants — 0.52 %. 37,9 % of them were variants of unknown significance, 62 % — likely-benign and 0.1 % — benign. There was no pathological and likely-pathological variants. Identified genetic variants distributed throughout the titin structure.Conclusion. Received result is congruent с international data bases and researches. Expended laboratory method (Next generation sequencing and confirmation with Sanger sequencing) can be used both in clinical practice, and in creating data bases of genetic variants in healthy Russian population.

Everyday Life and Traditions of the Russian Community of Interwar Сhisinau in the Memoirs of Contemporaries

The article examines the everyday and cultural traditions of the Russian population of interwar Сhisinau based on sources of personal origin. There were selected and analyzed unpublished memoirs of contemporaries who belonged to the noble and intelligent urban stratum, kept in the personal funds of the National Archives of Republic of Moldova. The range of topics and plots is very wide, but Russian problems are implicitly present in all memoirs. Describing everyday habits, leisure, professional occupations, social activities of the Russian-speaking intelligentsia of those years, the authors reflect the world outlook and opinions inherent in their ethno-cultural environment. The studied memoirs show that the everyday life and culture of the Russian population of the 1920s and 30s reflected continuity with those that were characteristic of the previous decades. During the period when Bessarabia was part of Royal Romania, the Russian community, being in new social and ideological conditions, tried to preserve their religious and cultural forms of everyday life. However, while remaining outwardly unchanged, many traditions were filled with a different content moving from social to private life. These personal documents and memoirs allow us to focus on the key topic in ethnology: investigation of the daily life of the Russian population in Bessarabia during the interwar period, less studied in historical discourse.