Locomotion with a supplementary motor task after the exposure to 21-day dry immersion

The paper presents the results of studying changes in human locomotion biomechanics following the 21-day exposure to dry immersion. Participants were 8 normal male subjects at the age of 45.3 ± 5.4 years who were tested twice on days 14 and 7 before DI and immediately after its completion. After 21 days in immersion, significant changes in the clearance between the foot and bar in the range from 5 to 30 cm were observed only when the obstacle was 30 cm high. It is noteworthy that step length also reduced during crossing lower obstacles. Therefore, after DI we observed changes in two motor task parameters (stepping over an obstacle), i.e. widening of the clearance between the foot and bar, and decrease of the step length. © 2020 Slovo Ltd. All rights reserved

The formation of human populations in South and Central Asia

By sequencing 523 ancient humans, we show that the primary source of ancestry in modern South Asians is a prehistoric genetic gradient between people related to early hunter-gatherers of Iran and Southeast Asia. After the Indus Valley Civilization's decline, its people mixed with individuals in the southeast to form one of the two main ancestral populations of South Asia, whose direct descendants live in southern India. Simultaneously, they mixed with descendants of Steppe pastoralists who, starting around 4000 years ago, spread via Central Asia to form the other main ancestral population. The Steppe ancestry in South Asia has the same profile as that in Bronze Age Eastern Europe, tracking a movement of people that affected both regions and that likely spread the distinctive features shared between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages