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Regular version of the site

Genes, stress, and demographic consequences

The research seminar with the lecture on "Genes, stress, and demographic consequences" was held on 22nd March. The lecturer was Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the N. Vavilov’s Institute of General Genetics Svetlana Borinskaya.

The workshop was attended by members of the International Laboratory for Socio-cultural research and students of the Master program "Applied Social Psychology". Svetlana Borinskaya provided information on the history of the study of life expectancy and alcoholism in Russia, and outlined the results of modern interdisciplinary research on the effects of genes and social factors for alcohol dependence.

According to studies, the main reason for low life expectancy in Russia is alcoholism. After the abolition of state monopoly on alcohol beverages in the early 90s. there was a sharp drop in life expectancy. The lecturer presented the results of studies on the relationship of socioeconomic factors like education and wealth with the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed. Thus, among the middle-class people with higher education is the lowest percentage suffering from alcohol dependence.

At the biological level predisposition to alcoholism may be explained by the influence of the gene, which controls the oxidation of alcohol in the liver. This gene is differs through the different ethnic groups. For example, there is a high percentage of alcohol intolerance at the biological level of the Japanese and Chinese. Among the Russians and the Europeans atypical variants of the gene are almost never encountered, so the percentage of alcohol in Russia and Europe are much higher.

Another part of the report was devoted to the results of studies on the interrelationship of stress and human genes. The results of Japanese study of individual differences in the neurohumoral regulation of stress situations between students were announced. Svetlana also identified the negative effects of stress often experienced to the human body. High levels of stress, as well as some genetic predisposition are all factors that can lead to alcohol abuse. The speaker stressed that despite the continuing relevance there is almost no fundamental research of alcoholism in Russia.

 

Alexander Stefanov

Trainee researcher