People Are Taller in Countries With Better Environmental Conditions

German, Alina; Mesch, Gustavo S.; Hochberg, Zèev

doi:10.3389/fendo.2020.00106

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Recently [ 57 , 58 ], an RNA-Seq data analysis was based on this oldest phylogeny concept [ 59 ] widely used elsewhere [ 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. Let us look at these orthologous genes one by one and discuss effects of their expression changes on reproductive potential in humans as well as during divergence of domestic and wild animals from their most recent com-mon ancestor [ 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 ] ( Table 8 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Human gene SHOX (short stature homeobox) underexpression is an adaptive epigenetic response to adverse living conditions in humans according to a cohort-based study [ 83 ] because each calorie saved due to short stature helps to enhance stress resistance [ 84 ]. This SHOX insufficiency in humans corresponds to a Shox2 deficit [ 87 ] in aggressive rats under study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Altogether, here we propose SHOX as a candidate human gene contributing to self-domestication syndrome as follows: SHOX excess as an epigenetic response to better life [ 84 ] resulting in tall stature [ 83 ] might be regarded as what humans pay with health (e.g., the tall-stature–related complications of pregnancy [ 85 , 86 ]) for the benefits received during evolution (e.g., the anthropogenic environment instead of the natural one).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…within human disease models based on Nr5a1-null male mice: hyper-anxiety during impaired aggressive sexual behavior up to male infertility in line with male patients carrying NR5A1 defects [77] as well as NR5A1 deficit can cause hypoestrogenism [78] leading to 1% of cases of female infertility [79] → in retrospective meta-analysis of PubMed content: NR5A1 excess contributes to excessive estrogen biosynthesis raising risks of estrogen-dependent inflammatory disorders in women [80] Human gene SHOX (short stature homeobox) underexpression is an adaptive epigenetic response to adverse living conditions in humans according to a cohort-based study [83] because each calorie saved due to short stature helps to enhance stress resistance [84]. This SHOX insufficiency in humans corresponds to a Shox2 deficit [87] in aggressive rats under study.…”

Section: Nr5a1mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Domestication Explains Two-Thirds of Differential-Gene-Expression Variance between Domestic and Wild Animals; The Remaining One-Third Reflects Intraspecific and Interspecific Variation

Chadaeva

Пономаренко

Kozhemyakina

et al. 2021

Animals

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Belyaev’s concept of destabilizing selection during domestication was a major achievement in the XX century. Its practical value has been realized in commercial colors of the domesticated fox that never occur in the wild and has been confirmed in a wide variety of pet breeds. Many human disease models involving animals allow to test drugs before human testing. Perhaps this is why investigators doing transcriptomic profiling of domestic versus wild animals have searched for breed-specific patterns. Here we sequenced hypothalamic transcriptomes of tame and aggressive rats, identified their differentially expressed genes (DEGs), and, for the first time, applied principal component analysis to compare them with all the known DEGs of domestic versus wild animals that we could find. Two principal components, PC1 and PC2, respectively explained 67% and 33% of differential-gene-expression variance (hereinafter: log2 value) between domestic and wild animals. PC1 corresponded to multiple orthologous DEGs supported by homologs; these DEGs kept the log2 value sign from species to species and from tissue to tissue (i.e., a common domestication pattern). PC2 represented stand-alone homologous DEG pairs reversing the log2 value sign from one species to another and from tissue to tissue (i.e., representing intraspecific and interspecific variation).

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Nr5a1mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Domestication Explains Two-Thirds of Differential-Gene-Expression Variance between Domestic and Wild Animals; The Remaining One-Third Reflects Intraspecific and Interspecific Variation

Chadaeva

Пономаренко

Kozhemyakina

et al. 2021

Animals

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show abstract

“…Why are these trends different from those in high-income countries? A key factor is likely to be the persisting high burden of infectious disease, which is detrimental both to child growth and health (maintenance) (89), as well as other social and environmental stresses (312). Given higher extrinsic mortality risk, it is arguably unsurprising that energy allocation to growth and maintenance is constrained in favour of greater allocation to reproduction and defence.…”

Section: Nutrition Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life History Transitions at the Origins of Agriculture: A Model for Understanding How Niche Construction Impacts Human Growth, Demography and Health

Wells

Stock

2020

Front. Endocrinol.

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Over recent millennia, human populations have regularly reconstructed their subsistence niches, changing both how they obtain food and the conditions in which they live. For example, over the last 12,000 years the vast majority of human populations shifted from foraging to practicing different forms of agriculture. The shift to farming is widely understood to have impacted several aspects of human demography and biology, including mortality risk, population growth, adult body size, and physical markers of health. However, these trends have not been integrated within an over-arching conceptual framework, and there is poor understanding of why populations tended to increase in population size during periods when markers of health deteriorated. Here, we offer a novel conceptual approach based on evolutionary life history theory. This theory assumes that energy availability is finite and must be allocated in competition between the functions of maintenance, growth, reproduction, and defence. In any given environment, and at any given stage during the life-course, natural selection favours energy allocation strategies that maximise fitness. We argue that the origins of agriculture involved profound transformations in human life history strategies, impacting both the availability of energy and the way that it was allocated between life history functions in the body. Although overall energy supply increased, the diet composition changed, while sedentary populations were challenged by new infectious burdens. We propose that this composite new ecological niche favoured increased energy allocation to defence (immune function) and reproduction, thus reducing the allocation to growth and maintenance. We review evidence in support of this hypothesis and highlight how further work could address both heterogeneity and specific aspects of the origins of agriculture in more detail. Our approach can be applied to many other transformations of the human subsistence niche, and can shed new light on the way that health, height, life expectancy, and fertility patterns are changing in association with globalization and nutrition transition.

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Secular trends in height, weight, and body mass index in the context of economic and political transformations in Russia from 1885 to 2021

Negasheva,

Khafizova,

Movsesian

2023

American J Hum Biol

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ObjectivesTo study and analyze the impact of socio‐economic factors on secular changes in height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) among Moscow's youth over the time interval from the late 19th–early 20th century to the present.MethodsAnthropometric data, including height, weight, and BMI, were collected through surveys conducted on youths aged 17–20 years in Moscow from the 1880s for males and from the 1920s for females to the present. The dataset includes information on 6434 individuals surveyed from 2000 to 2019, as well as previously published mean values. Economic development indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, monthly average income per capita, and the Gini coefficient, were examined to analyze the association between secular trends in body size and socio‐economic conditions.ResultsA positive secular trend in height and weight has been observed among Moscow's youth from the early 20th century to the present. Substantial increases in height occurred during the second half of the previous century, stabilizing in the 2000s. Over the analyzed period, both average body weight and BMI values showed a consistent rise. The pattern for BMI exhibited a U‐shaped trend, with a decline from the 1970s to the mid‐1990s, followed by a subsequent increase. Strong correlations were found between the secular changes in body size among Moscow's youth and temporal fluctuations in key socio‐economic indicators, including GDP per capita, monthly average income per capita, and the Gini coefficient.ConclusionThe study demonstrates the significant influence of socio‐economic conditions on intergenerational changes in body size, as evidenced by the positive secular trend in physique indicators (height, weight, and BMI) among Moscow's youth.

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People Are Taller in Countries With Better Environmental Conditions

Cited by 12 publications

References 28 publications

Domestication Explains Two-Thirds of Differential-Gene-Expression Variance between Domestic and Wild Animals; The Remaining One-Third Reflects Intraspecific and Interspecific Variation

Domestication Explains Two-Thirds of Differential-Gene-Expression Variance between Domestic and Wild Animals; The Remaining One-Third Reflects Intraspecific and Interspecific Variation

Life History Transitions at the Origins of Agriculture: A Model for Understanding How Niche Construction Impacts Human Growth, Demography and Health

Secular trends in height, weight, and body mass index in the context of economic and political transformations in Russia from 1885 to 2021

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