Sandwiched Grandparents and Biological Health Risks in China

This study examined the cross-sectional associations between intergenerational caregiving and health risks among sandwiched Chinese grandparents who provide care to grandchildren, great-grandparents, or both. Drawing on biomarker data from the 2011 wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (N range = 2,189–3,035), we measured age-related biological health risks of hypertension, diabetes, inflammation, and allostatic load. We found that health risks did not necessarily increase with the intensity of intergenerational caregiving. Providing care to grandchildren and great-grandparents simultaneously was not as detrimental to health as reported in earlier studies from the United States. Sandwiched grandparents could benefit from providing care to grandchildren or great-grandparents only. These unexpected findings might be related to the cultural mandates of filial piety and family solidarity in China. Grandfathers and grandmothers experienced different associations between varying types of intergenerational caregiving and health risks.

Somatotype as a Component of the Biological Determinant of Mental Health

The paper summarizes the results of the studies devoted to the impact of a person's constitutional features on his or her mental state. According to many anthropologists, human constitution is characterized not only by a specifics of metabolism level (muscle, fat and bone components of the body) and by a susceptibility to certain types of diseases, but also by psychophysiological features. Since biological health, including mental health, is generally determined by genetic and hereditary factors, the authors of the paper examine the possibility of considering the somatotype as a component of the biological determinant of mental health. To create the concept of a personalized approach that takes into account the relationship of somatotype and psychophysiological indicators in the educational process, the authors propose to conduct a study of the students' constitutional characteristics in combination with psychological testing.

Ecosystem approach in legal regulation of biosafety

In Russia, the aim to attain biosafety is declared in the strategic political documents without being adequately addressed in law relating to interaction between human communities and natural systems. To involve the ecological approaches into environmental legislation it seems reasonable to include into the general concept of beneficial quality of the environment the biological health of nature, when the impact of pathogenic, disease generating factors emanated by nature shall be minimized. The legal regulation should be based on the ecosystem and nature-based approach assuming that social development should follow and be in harmony with laws of nature. This approach will allow to upkeep the biological balance and biological health of nature and ensure biological safety of nature for human communities.

Examining the Impact of Individual and Shared Biological Risks on Health among Older Married Couples

Relationship research has suggested that health among spouses is interdependent and should be considered jointly. Using data from the 2008/2010 and 2016/2018 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (3858 qualified couples; age=67.0±9.6), we investigated the joint influence of married partners’ individual and shared cumulative biological risk on future health outcomes. Two risk indicators were constructed to indicate biological health in different domains. Individual grip strength, walk speed, lung function, and cystatin-C were biomarkers selected to construct frailty risk whereas blood pressure, pulse, waist circumference, C-reactive protein, glycohemoglobin, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and total cholesterol were biomarkers used to construct cardiometabolic risk. Shared risk was calculated as the number of risks the partners shared. We employed multilevel Poisson regression models to nest partners within couples and examine the effects of individual and shared cumulative risks on future functional limitations. Heckman correction was performed to correct potential selection bias. Our unadjusted models showed individual (frailty: b=0.22, p<.001; cardiometabolic: b=0.10, p<.001) and shared (frailty: b=0.17, p<.001; cardiometabolic: b=0.08, p<.01) risks are associated with greater future functional limitations. Further, shared cardiometabolic risk moderated the effect of individual risk (b=-0.01, p<.05). In the adjusted models, the direct associations between shared risks and future functional limitations were explained by indicators of partner selection and shared experiences. In the fully adjusted model, the cross-level interaction for frailty risk became statistically significant. The unique set of dynamics shown in our study offered new insights into understanding how couples influence one another in the context of multisystem biological health.

СРАВНИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНТРОПОГЕНЕТИЧЕСКИЙ АНАЛИЗ ПРОЦЕССОВ ВОСПРОИЗВОДСТВА ПОПУЛЯЦИИ САРАНСКА ПЕРИОДА 90-х

Представлены данные по городу Саранску, полученные в рамках проводимой ИЭА РАН долгосрочной антропогенетической программы исследования процессов воспроизводства в популяциях РФ. Показано, что в семьях городских популяций Поволжья практикуется регулируемый тип рождаемости. Выявлено резкое возрастание вклада небиологических факторов в величину коэффициента отбора. Применение искусственной регуляции репродукции влияет на процессы воспроизводства в популяциях. Репродукция выступает в роли универсального индикатора социального и биологического здоровья общества. The paper presents the data on the city of Saransk, obtained in the course of the long-term anthropogenetic program of research on reproduction processes in the populations of the Russian Federation conducted by the IEA RAS. It is shown that fertility is controlled among the families of urban populations in the Volga region. A sharp increase in the contribution of non-biological factors to the value of the coefficient of selection is revealed. Artificial reproduction regulation affects the reproduction processes in populations. Reproduction acts as a universal indicator of social and biological health of society.

A Hypothesis: The Interplay of Exercise and Physiological Heterogeneity as Drivers of Human Ageing

As the inherent ageing process affects every facet of biology, physiology could be considered as the study of the healthy human ageing process. Where biological health is affected by lifestyle, the continual and continuing interaction of this process with physical activity and other lifestyle choices determine whether the ageing trajectory is toward health or disease. The presentation of both these states is further modified in individuals by the interaction of inherent physiological heterogeneity and the heterogeneity associated with responses and adaptions to exercise. The range of heterogeneity in healthy physiology is circumscribed by the necessity to conform to that of the human species. Our hypothesis is that, when sufficient exercise is present, these multiple interactions appear to produce an ageing profile that, while functional ability is in decline, remains synchronous, coherent, and integrated throughout most of life. In the absence of sufficient physical activity, physiology over time is gradually deteriorating toward the production of a lifestyle disease. Here, the ageing process, interacting with individual physiological heterogeneity, probably determines the age of presentation of a disease as well as the order of presentation of subsequent diseases. In this article, we discuss this hypothesis and related concepts in the context of the trajectory of healthy and non-healthy human ageing.

Comparative Investigations of Population Health in Urban Military and Non-Military Communities of Roman Britain

This research compiles and compares the biological health profiles of three urban populations at Venta Belgarum (Winchester), Londinium (London), and Eboracum (York) as a means for assessing health and status differences between military and non-military urban populations in Roman Britain. Data concerning a total of 1,334 individuals representing all ages and both sexes were analyzed between the three cemetery samples. Estimations of mean stature, rates of periosteal reaction, porotic hyperostosis, cribra orbitalia, linear enamel hypoplasias, and trauma are compared here in an effort to discuss relative health, status, and inequality within the wider populations of urban non-military communities (Venta Belgarum) and their urban military counterparts (Londinium and Eboracum). The discussion here hopes to highlight skeletal evidence concerning the prevalence of inequality and possible structural violence within urban sites as connected to the constant presence of military units, and the cultural aspects and access to resources therein.

Suitability of Free-Living Marine Nematodes as Bioindicators: Status and Future Considerations

Nematodes are among the most abundant organisms on Earth, and have important roles in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Free-living marine nematodes have been used successfully as indicators of biological health and ocean pollution for at least the past 40 years, but their use as bioindicators is not ubiquitous. They have been most often used specifically as indicators of heavy metal and hydrocarbon pollution, with far fewer instances of their use as indicators of biological, environmental, or physical perturbations. Although free-living marine nematodes are among the best bioindicators owing to their worldwide distributions, abundances, and genus- and species-specific responses to environmental pollution, there are still some challenges that prevent their use globally. Here, we present a review of characteristics that make free-living marine nematodes excellent bioindicators, recent studies that have used them as bioindicators, and suggestions for future directions in the use of these fauna as indicators in the marine environment. Specifically, we consider the use of marine nematodes for microplastics (an understudied class of pollutants that are a future threat to global biodiversity), the value of current nematode indices as measures of ecosystem health, and the importance of improved and continued international collaboration in the field of marine nematology.