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a greater strain on the functioning of the migrants' immune systems in the Far East, 

 accompanied by changes in the state of biological cell membranes in terms of the POL 

 jmd AOS characteristics. Migrants who arrived from "cold" climatic geographical regions 

 have a higher level of MDA and lower glutathionereductase activity. After five months 

 in a new environment, both groups develop the same level of MDA in erythrocytes, 

 common, free and bound H-groups, reduced glutathione and glutathionereductase. The 

 general mechanism of human adaptation was found regardless of the direction of 

 migration. Also found were specific changes in adaptation and re-adaptation processes, 

 which consist of changes in interhemispheric neurodynamics and ensure new (and 

 improved) methods of perceiving and processing information. It was shown that the 

 process of adaptation upon arriving to the West is more prolonged, but it is more 

 accelerated in the re-adaptation period; psychiatric adaptation to sea voyages lasting two 

 or three years takes less time to develop in individuals who are permanent or long-term 

 residents in the maritime area, regardless of their individual and typological peculiarities. 

 The respiratory system and the mental health are at the greatest risk in seamen coming 

 from different parts of this country. The disruption of the social and the psychological 

 adaptation observed between voyages results in alcoholism in seamen with a prevalence 

 of socially determined, submissive and pseudocultural motivations, and also motivations 

 to search for new stimulations. 



Prospective investigation of migrant and indigenous populations of Chukotka 

 revealed that an average of 5 years after the primary screening, the incidence of 

 hypertension increases in the migrant population (males aged 30-59 years) with the 

 length of stay in the North and with age, with serious forms of hypertension accounting 

 for most of the increase. An increase in the number of new cases of hypertension is 

 reliably higher than in lower latitudes: 13% in Chukotka and 6% in Moscow. 



The incidence of borderline hypertension among the migrant population after the 

 second screening was 24.4%, twice as high as the CIS [Commonwealth of Independent 

 States] average. Among the patients with borderline hypertension, individuals with the 

 diastolic variant of borderline hypertension predominate, which is prognostically 

 imfavorable in terms of the risk of complications of cardiovascular diseases (strokes and 

 infarctions). 



An in-depth examination of indigenous inhabitants of Chukotka indicated that 

 among those who during the primary examination were diagnosed with angina on the 

 basis of the standard WHO questionnaire, the diagnosis was confirmed in only half of 

 the cases. In those diagnosed with angina for the second time, a true ischemic cardiac 

 disease was found only in one third of the cases, and the others had noncoronary 

 diseases. 



As a result of prospective studies in Chukotka it was found that more than 50% 

 of migrant males have hypertension, and the incidence of hypertension increases reliably 

 the longer they stay in the North. Among the indigenous population, an increase in new 



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