Antarctica challenges the new horizons in predictive, preventive, personalized medicine: preliminary results and attractive hypotheses for multi-disciplinary prospective studies in the Ukrainian “Akademik Vernadsky” station

• Main Authors: Moiseyenko, Yevhen, Sukhorukov, Viktor, Pyshnov, Georgiy, Mankovska, Iryna, Rozova, Kateryna, Miroshnychenko, Olena, Kovalevska, Olena, Madjar, Stefan-Arpad, Bubnov, Rostyslav, Gorbach, Anatoliy, Danylenko, Kostiantyn, Moiseyenko, Olga
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: BioMed Central Ltd. 2016
• Subjects: Predictive preventive personalized medicine; Antarctica; Antarctic “Akademik Vernadsky” station; Physiology research; Disadaptation; “Antarctic syndrome”; Psychology; Pain; Anxiety; Photoperiodism; Desynchronosis; “Schumann resonance”; Infrasound; Climatic; Meteofactors; “Ozone hole”; Microbiota; “Sterile” environment; Vascular disregulation; Akademik Vernadsky Station; Antarctic; Schumann; The Antarctic; Vernadsky Station; Antarc*
• Online Access: http://www.epmajournal.com/content/7/1/11

Abstract Background Antarctica is a unique place to study the health condition under the influence of environmental factors on the organism in pure form. Since the very beginning of the scientific presence of Ukraine in the Antarctic, biomedical research has been developed for the monitoring of individual biomarkers of winterers and medical accompaniment in Antarctic expeditions. The aim of the study was to analyze and discuss the retrospective data of long-term monitoring and observations in Ukrainian Antarctica station “Akademik Vernadsky,” providing multi-scale biomedical information with regard to conditions of a perfect isolation from technological and social influences and under extreme environmental factors. Methods Medical and biological studies have been performed with the participation of all 20 Ukrainian wintering expeditions. We surveyed 200 males aged 20–60 years (mean age 37 years). Extensive medical examinations were carried out before the expedition, during the selection of candidates, and after returning, and particular functions were monitored during the entire stay in Antarctica. The medical records were analyzed to study the reaction of the human organism on phenomena like “Antarctic syndrome,” dysadaptation, anxiety, desynchronosis, photoperiodism, influence of climatic and meteofactors like “Schumann resonance,” infrasound, “ozone hole,” and “sterile” environment; important aspects of its role on human health were precisely studied and discussed. Results The examinations showed the multi-level symptoms of the processes of dysregulation and dysadaptation, as functional tension in the sympathetic-adrenal system rights, especially during urgent adaptation to the Antarctic (1-month stay at the station) and, to a lesser extent, after returning from an expedition to Kyiv. At the .