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Characteristics of Human Adaptation in the High Altitude of Central Asia and the Antarctic

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Abstract

The study involved healthy males that were not subject to prior training for resistance to hypoxia. Parameters of cardiac hemodynamics and vital lung capacity and red blood cell parameters were measured on days 35–40 of adaptation to altitudes of 3488–4000 m above sea level in the Pamir and Tien Shan mountains, as well as at the Vostok station, which is the remotest inhabited locality on earth, situated on the ice cover of the Antarctic. We were able to demonstrate that distinct functional and adaptation-related profiles developed at altitudes producing similar levels of hypoxia, but differing in the aggregate effect exerted by extreme natural and climatic factors. Of note, the functional reserves of the human organism measured after 5 weeks of adaptation were significantly lower for the high altitude of the Antarctic than for similar altitudes in Central Asia.

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Maksimov, A.L., Belkin, V.S. Characteristics of Human Adaptation in the High Altitude of Central Asia and the Antarctic. Human Physiology 28, 640–646 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021135919326

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