Slavic Population Research Articles

The Spectrum of Disease-Associated Alleles in Countries with a Predominantly Slavic Population.

There are more than 260 million people of Slavic descent worldwide, who reside mainly in Eastern Europe but also represent a noticeable share of the population in the USA and Canada. Slavic populations, particularly Eastern Slavs and some Western Slavs, demonstrate a surprisingly high degree of genetic homogeneity, and, consequently, remarkable contribution of recurrent alleles associated with hereditary diseases. Along with pan-European pathogenic variants with clearly elevated occurrence in Slavic people (e.g., ATP7B c.3207C>A and PAH c.1222C>T), there are at least 52 pan-Slavic germ-line mutations (e.g., NBN c.657_661del and BRCA1 c.5266dupC) as well as several disease-predisposing alleles characteristic of the particular Slavic communities (e.g., Polish SDHD c.33C>A and Russian ARSB c.1562G>A variants). From a clinical standpoint, Slavs have some features of a huge founder population, thus providing a unique opportunity for efficient genetic studies.

Increased interest with the introduction of fast-track diagnostic pathway is associated with the regionally increased frequency of giant cell arteritis in Poland: a study based on POLVAS registry data.

Slavic populations, such as those in Poland, are considered to have a low prevalence of giant cell arteritis (GCA), although epidemiological data are sparse. The study aimed to compare the reported frequency of GCA in various regions of Poland and analyze the differences between them. We conducted a multicenter, retrospective study of all GCA patients included in the POLVAS registry-the first large multicenter database of patients with vasculitis in Poland. The data from the POLVAS registry were compared with the reported prevalence provided by national insurers from the corresponding regions. A 10-fold increase in the diagnostic rates of GCA was observed in Poland between 2008 and 2019, reaching 8.38 per 100,000 population > 50 years old. It may be attributed to increased interest accompanied by improved diagnostic modalities with the introduction of ultrasound-based, fast-track diagnostic pathways in some centers. However, regional inequities are present, resulting in 10-fold differences (from 2.57 to 24.92) in reported prevalence between different regions. Corticosteroid (CS) monotherapy was the main stem of treatment. Further cooperation and education are needed to minimize regional inequities. This observational study suggests some potential for further increase of the recognizability of GCA and wider use of other than CS monotherapy treatment regimens. We hope that the Polish experience might be interesting and serve as some guidance for the populations where GCA is underdiagnosed.

#1556 An unusually high prevalence of TMEM67 c.1843T>C (p.Cys615Arg) variant in Russia

Abstract Background and Aims A hypomorphic TMEM67 variant c.1843T>C (p.Cys615Arg) (rs201893408) is associated with an autosomal-recessive condition characterized by a combination of nephronophthisis and liver fibrosis, and, in some cases, neurologic manifestations. According to the gnomAD database, it reaches the highest prevalence in Swedish population (MAF=17/26128, 0.00065). In two large European studies of nephronophthisis and related conditions, the contribution of this pathogenic allele to TMEM67-associated disorders reached 15%-27%. The report presents the first evidence for the major contribution of this recurrent variant to nephronophthisis in Russia. Method Blood DNA samples of 29 pediatric patients, undergoing chronic renal replacement therapy in a dialysis department of a large pediatric medical center, were evaluated by targeted (“clinical exome”) sequencing. KAPA HyperCap Heredity Panel (Roche) was used for target enrichment. Sequencing was performed on Illumina Nextseq2000 device. The alignment on GRCh37 reference genome sequence was made using BWA 0.7.12; HaplotypeCaller (GATK 3.3.0) was used for variant calling. Causative variants were verified by Sanger sequencing. Results Among other findings, we have identified two unrelated Russian patients, homozygous for TMEM67 p.Cys615Arg mutation; none of them have previously been diagnosed with nephronophthisis. Patient D, a 11-year-old girl, presented with unexplained chronic kidney disease with unremarkable ultrasound findings. Patient B was an 8-year-old girl with chronic kidney disease linked to bilateral ureterohydronephrosis. In both patients, cholestatic hepatitis of unknown etiology was diagnosed. No neurological involvement was reported. The parents of both girls denied consanguinity. One more Russian patient homozygous for p.Cys615Arg variant had been previously described [Andreeva and Savenkova, 2022; in Russian]: the 2-year-old child born from non-consanguineous parents had prenatally identified multiple renal cysts, nephrogenic arterial hypertension, and laboratory signs of cholestasis. The analysis of Ruseq database (ruseq.ru) confirmed high prevalence of TMEM67 c.1843T>C (p.Cys615Arg) variant in Russian population (MAF=14/10860, 0.0013). Conclusion TMEM67 c.1843T>C (p.Cys615Arg) allele is particularly common in Russian pediatric patients with chronic kidney disease and liver involvement, and, therefore, deserves to be analyzed in other countries with predominantly Slavic population.

Nijmegen syndrome in childhood: a clinical case

Nijmegen syndrome is a rare monogenic pathology with an autosomal recessive type of inheritance. The disease is manifested by congenital developmental anomalies and microcephaly, primary immunodeficiency, frequent recurrent viral and bacterial infections, retardation in physical and neuropsychic development. In the medical literature, 150 cases of the syndrome are described; pathology occurs more often among the Slavic population. Nijmegen syndrome belongs to a group of diseases with chromosomal instability. The pathogenetic feature of the syndrome is congenital immunodeficiency of the humoral (B-lymphocytes) and cellular (T-lymphocytes) components. According to statistics, 40 % of children with Nijmegen syndrome are diagnosed with malignant neoplasms. lymphoid tissue is more often affected (non-Hodgkin’s B and T-cell lymphomas, acute lymphoblastic leukemia), and the development of solid neoplasia is also possible. To diagnose Nijmegen syndrome, in addition to assessing the patient clinical status, it is necessary to conduct an extended immunological examination with the determination of immunoglobulins A, M, G and molecular genetic studies.The article presents a clinical case of diagnosis and treatment of Nijmegen syndrome in childhood.

Jewellery of Pastyrske Circle among Materials of Saltiv Culture: Data Analysis

In the paper, jewellery from sites and assemblages of the Saltiv culture, which do not chronologically fit within the boundaries of its existence, are considered. In the article the jewellery characteristic of the Pastyrske hillfort is analysed (group II, subgroup 2). It is represented by two burial complexes and two hoards. Sukha Homilsha cemetery 1 was investigated by V. K. Mikhiev. Burial no. 29 (fig. 1) contained a medallion pendant similar to finds from Pastyrske hoard of 1949 and a number of other assemblages from the second half of the 7th to the first half of the 8th centuries. Burial date: late 8th — early 9th centuries. Staryi Saltiv cemetery was investigated by V. H. Borodulin and V. K. Mikheev. In catacomb no. 21 (fig. 3) in a female burial was found anthropozoomorphic fibula — type VI-D according to O. M. Prykhodniuk or type II.1 according to V. Rodinkova. The date of the burial is debatable: V. S. Aksionov dates it within the boundaries of 750—770, while O. V. Komar believes that it belongs to the Middle Saltiv horizon II, that is, from 790s. Varvarivka hoard discovered in 2017. The complex includes: tools associated with metalworking, handicraft products for general purposes and for the processing of organic raw materials, household items. Bronze items are divided into three groups: armour details (?), raw materials and jewellery. A fibula, similar to the find from catacomb no. 21 of the Staryi Saltiv cemetery, belongs to the items of the Pastyrske circle. Khorosheve hoard discovered in 2021. The asssemblage includes: implement for working with metal, raw materials and weapons. The rest of the items are bronze jewellery, most of which belong to the Pastyrske circle: one earring and three fibulae. All the considered monuments of the Saltiv culture with finds of jewellery from Pastyrske hillfort are concentrated in the Siverskyi Donets basin. The main stage of their existence is defined within the chronological boundaries of the Pastyrske hillfort existence — the middle of the 7th — the middle of the 8th centuries. Two hoards of the Pastyrske circle are known in this region — Zaitsiv and Korobovi Khutory. Archaeological finds of fibulae and an earring of this circle were also revealed in this region. These data indicate that the Slavic population with significant cultural and trade ties with Pastyrske hillfort lived in the Siverskyi Donets basin during the second half of the 7th — the first half of the 8th centuries. The chronology of burial no. 29 of the Sukha Homilsha cemetery differs from the chronology of the existence of the round pendant by at least half a century (table 1). The chronology of the hoards from Varvarivka and Khorosheve is embedded in the general boundaries of the Saltiv culture existence: from 740—750 — the first decades of the 10th century. The chronology of the female burial from catacomb no. 21 of the Staryi Saltiv cemetery is debatable: 750—770 or from the 790s. An analysis of items belonging to the Pastyrske circle from the sites and assemblages of the Saltiv culture indicates that these adornments could have been reused. They do not necessarily indicate the contacts of the Slavic population with the inhabitants of the Khazar Khaganate.

Frequency of coffee consumption in the Slavic population and its impact on health

Introduction and purpose:
 There are many articles specifying coffee's influence on the health and behavior of consumers. However, most of the studies are conducted on populations living in the United States, Western Europe or China. We did not find many studies reporting the effects of coffee consumption on the Slavic population. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of coffee consumption in this population and its impact on such health elements as insomnia, body weight, well-being, irritation, hypertension or headache.
 Material and method:
 The anonymous survey included questions about the frequency of coffee consumption and selected health effects was created and subsequently distributed through social media (Telegram platform) in August 2023.
 Results:
 We collected a total of 89 surveys. The median age of participants was 31 (IQR: 24-38). 27 individuals indicated that they do not consume coffee at all (30.34%). The rest of the group most often choose the following options: I drink it several times a day - 24 individuals (26.97%) and 26 individuals drink it once a day (29.21%). We demonstrated a correlation between the amount of coffee consumption and the frequency of insomnia (r=0.39, p=0.028). Additionally, we observed a negative correlation between coffee consumption and body weight (r=0.18, p=0.048). However, we did not find a relationship between coffee consumption and elevated or lowered mood (p>0.05).
 Conclusions:
 In the study group, the frequency of coffee consumption was higher than the global average and in some cases led to insomnia. The positive aspects of drinking coffee outweighed the side effects and lead to the conclusion that it is a safe drink in the group of surveyed Slavs.

The Ghost of the Ottoman Scourge: Ottoman Hauntology and Dystopia in Socialist Yugoslav History Textbooks (1945–1990)

This article studies the depiction of the Ottoman period, and the dystopian narratives about that period, in history textbooks printed in Bosnia and Herzegovina during Socialist Yugoslavia. It connects literature on nationalism and education in the peculiar context of Bosnia-Herzegovina within former Socialist Yugoslavia. Housing a substantial native Slavic Muslim population, Bosnia was unique in that it was not a ‘national’ republic, but rather the only multi-national Republic within the Yugoslav federation. This population dates to the Ottoman period in Bosnia (1463–1878), when a significant part of the population converted to Islam. The period in question has been much maligned by Serbian and Croatian historiographies. It was presented as a ‘Dark Age’ in which a foreign imposition hindered the development of the nations into modernity. Conversely, Marxist writings too decried the backwardness of the Ottomans and Islamic Civilization as a whole. This intersection of nationalist and Marxist understandings of the past both envisioned a grand utopian future set against the abuses of the period, making it highly interesting to examine how textbooks presented it to younger generations. As representations of ‘official knowledge’, the textbooks therefore largely used the language of dystopia (a society worse than the reader’s) to present Ottoman rule. It was shown to be a period of unjust extraction, violence, and the end of independent development. However, this article argues, the books not only aimed to decry the historical injustices. They presented the regime and its modern values positively. Unfortunately, despite the political gains the Bosnian Muslim population gained in Yugoslavia, the textbook image of the Ottomans has hardly changed. This would have disastrous consequences in the Wars of the 1990s, when the Bosnian Muslims were conveniently cast as the ‘Turkish’ nemesis, as the Ghost of the House of Osman roamed largely free through Yugoslavia’s history textbooks.

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase polymorphic variants C677T and A1298C in rectal cancer in Slavic population: significance for cancer risk and response to chemoradiotherapy.

Background: Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been suggested as risk, prognostic, and predictive factors for colorectal cancer in various populations, but have not been validated so far. The aim of this study was to examine the association of MTHFR C677T (rs1801133) and A1298C (rs1801131) single nucleotide polymorphisms with the risk of rectal cancer as well as the response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) based on 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)/leucovorin (LV) in the locally advanced setting. Patients and methods: This case-control study included 119 healthy controls and 97 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). For MTHFR genotyping, restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (PCR-RFLP) was employed. Results: In silico analysis highlighted that SNPs C677T and A1298T correlate with MTHFR gene expression, and that gene expression profile correlates with cancer risk and stage. Using dominant and recessive models, it was found that the MTHFR 677CC vs. 677CT+677TT have increased risk of cancer development (odds ratio (OR): 2.27; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.30-3.95, p = 0.002) as well as 677CC+677CT compared to 677TT (OR: 4.18, 95% CI: 1.16-14.99, p = 0.014). MTHFR 1298AA also shown increased risk for cancer development compared to 1298AC+1298CC (OR:2.0, 95% CI: 1.20-3.59, p = 0.035) Statistical analysis of combined genotypes highlighted the protective role of CT/AC combined genotype (OR: 3.15 95% CI: 1.576-6.279, p = 0.002) while the CC/AA genotype showed an increased risk for rectal cancer development (OR: 2.499, 95% CI: 1.246-5.081, p = 0.016) The carriers of the 677C/1298A haplotype had the highest risk for developing rectal cancer (OR: 1.74; 95% CI: 1.198-2.530, p = 0.002) while the 677T/1298C haplotype seems to provide a protective effect. (OR: 0.44; 95%CI 0.248-0.795, p = 0.003). No significant association with response to chemoradiotherapy was found. Conclusion: Our data point to MTHFR 667C allele and 1298A alleles as low-penetrance risk factors for rectal cancer in our population. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study of this type performed on the Slavic population in the Western Balkan, as various population-based factors might also be significant our findings can be used for future meta-analyses and the construction of genetic cancer risk prediction panels.

Nijmegen breakage syndrome: 25-year experience of diagnosis and treatment in Ukraine.

Nijmegen breakage syndrome (NBS) is an autosomal recessive disorder, characterized by microcephaly, immunodeficiency, and impaired DNA repair. NBS is most prevalent among Slavic populations, including Ukraine. Our study aimed to comprehensively assess the prevalence, diagnosis, clinical data, immunological parameters, and treatment of NBS patients in Ukraine. We conducted a retrospective review that included 84 NBS patients from different regions of Ukraine who were diagnosed in 1999-2023. Data from the Ukrainian Registry of NBS and information from treating physicians, obtained using a developed questionnaire, were utilized for analysis. Among 84 NBS patients, 55 (65.5%) were alive, 25 (29.8%) deceased, and 4 were lost to follow-up. The median age of patients was 11 years, ranging from 1 to 34 years. Most patients originate from western regions of Ukraine (57.8%), although in recent years, there has been an increase in diagnoses from central and southeastern regions, expanding our knowledge of NBS prevalence. The number of diagnosed patients per year averaged 3.4 and increased from 2.7 to 4.8 in recent years. The median age of NBS diagnosis was 4.0 years (range 0.1-16) in 1999-2007 and decreased to 2.7 in the past 6 years. Delayed physical development was observed in the majority of children up to the age of ten years. All children experienced infections, and 41.3% of them had recurrent infections. Severe infections were the cause of death in 12%. The second most common clinical manifestation of NBS was malignancies (37.5%), with the prevalence of lymphomas (63.3%). Malignancies have been the most common cause of death in NBS patients (72% of cases). Decreased levels of CD4+ and CD19+ were observed in 89.6%, followed by a reduction of CD3+ (81.8%) and CD8+ (62.5%). The level of NK cells was elevated at 62.5%. IgG concentration was decreased in 72.9%, and IgA - in 56.3%. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy was administered to 58.7% of patients. Regular immunoglobulin replacement therapy has helped reduce the frequency and severity of severe respiratory tract infections. Improvements in diagnosis, including prenatal screening, newborn screening, monitoring, and expanding treatment options, will lead to better outcomes for NBS patients.

Генетический полиморфизм фиколина-2 в арктических популяциях

Aim. To study the prevalence of polymorphisms rs17549193 and rs7851696 of the ficolin-2 gene FCN2 among the Nenets, Dolgan-Nganasan and Slavic populations using a molecular genetic study of single nucleotide polymorphisms. Design. Comparative population-genetic research. Materials and methods. Newborn infants of the Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory — Nenets (n = 261) and Dolgan-Nganasan (n = 104) — and Slavic children of Krasnoyarsk aged 8–18 years with and without bronchial asthma of varying severity were examined. DNA extraction from venous blood and dry blood stains was performed. The genotyping of polymorphisms rs17549193 and rs7851696 of the FCN2 gene was performed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results. The minor allele of the polymorphism rs17549193 FCN2 in Nenets is significantly less than in Slavs of control group and with asthma — 19.9% vs. 28.8% (p < 0.001) and 27.5% (p = 0.002). The prevalence of the T allelic variant rs7851696 FCN2 in the Nenets and Dolgan-Nganasans is also lower than in the Slavs with and without asthma — 7.3 and 3.8% vs. 14.6 and 12.6% (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Due to the fact that most human diseases are genetic determinism, it is relevant to study the characteristic features in individual populations to draw up recommendations to healthcare organizations. Understanding the role and functions of ficolin-2 as one of the proteins of the lectin pathway of activation of the complement system is of great importance for the development of new methods of disease prevention and evaluation of the functioning of immune protection. Keywords: ficolin-2, FCN2, Nenets, Dolgans, populations, asthma.

Роль этнокультурных компонентов в формировании идентичности восточнославянского населения Сибири

The present study, via the cases of territorial-ethnographic and confessional-ethnographic groups revealed the role of ethnocultural components in the emergence of various forms of identity of the Eastern Slavs, which had lived in Siberia since the end of 16th century up to the 2020s and established that the following patterns exist in the shaping of new forms of ethnocultural identity of the East Slavic population of Siberia. Some of these identity forms had a local way and maintained their steady existence within the territorial boundaries of certain areas or regions. Another part of them underwent the path of transformation from local to diffuse existing. As a rule, such names (initially having a narrow meaning) gradually turned into peculiar ethnocultural stereotypes, which in different regions were associated with certain groups of old settlers, peasants-migrants or old believers. Characteristic feature of these names was that they identified many unrelated local communities that were only symbolically united by some ethno-differentiating attribute, while possessing cultural variability. The analysis indicates that different forms of ethnocultural identity of the East Slavic population of Siberia had their own life cycles. As a rule, specific ethnocultural names that arose in Siberia ceased their widespread existence when the differences between the groups they designated were erased. During the first decades of the 21th century, among the East Slavic population of Siberia dominates multi-level way of ethno-cultural identity, the most important components of which are general civil Russian identity, as well as ethnic and regional Siberian identity.

Latin in Soviet Secondary Schools (1948–1954): Philology and Ideology

In the years between 1948 and 1954, several schools in the Soviet Union incorporated Latin into the curriculum for high school students. To implement the reform, S. P. Kondratyev and A. I. Vasnetsov developed a textbook that has gone through four editions. The textbook includes chrestomathic materials with excerpts from Latin texts and methodological recommendations. The manuals were compiled hastily without adequate discussion of their content. The innovation, which consisted in the reorganization of grammatical material, the different selection of original Latin texts (extracts from the works of Herodotus, Justin, and Maciej Miechowita describing the ancient state of territories that were part of the Soviet Union), and an increase in the proportion of historical and linguistic material in the explanation of grammar rules, met with disapproval from the professional community of classical philologists, who criticized the teaching and methodological approach of the course. Kondratyev and Vasnetsov only made concessions by 1953, but they tried to strengthen the ideological and educational components in the teaching of Latin in schools. The adapted texts and proverbs chosen for the students demonstrated those characteristics of the Romans that corresponded with the ideal of a Soviet person (collectivism, courage, determination in overcoming difficulties, humility, comradeship, selflessness, etc.). A number of historical and linguistic references in textbooks allude to contemporary events and, consequently, play the role of political education. For example, the preservation of the Roman vocabulary in conditions of dependence on the Etruscans can be compared to the resistance of the Slavic population in Bulgaria. However, the experiment was abandoned in 1954. This article considers the teaching and methodology of Latin as a marker of ideological processes. The introduction of this subject in secondary schools fits within the general context of late Stalinist classicism.

Брачные предпочтения женщин и мужчин из числа представителей коренных народов Нижнего Амура и Сахалина

The analysis of statistical, archival materials and literature allowed us to draw the following conclusions. If in the second half of the XIX century among all the indigenous peoples of the Lower Amur and Sakhalin (for example, the Nivkhs, Evenks, Uilta (Oroks)) same-ethnic marriages prevailed, then from the second half of the XX century mixed marriages began to prevail, women more willingly preferred mixed marriages. Besides, if previously interethnic marriages were registered mainly between representatives of different indigenous minorities of the North, then now marriages with the Slavic population predominate. The reasons for this phenomenon are: a large percentage of consanguineous ties within ethnic groups, an unfavorable sex ratio (there are more women than men, especially in reproductive age), and the reluctance of men to do anything, which further contributes to the search for marriage partners outside their ethnic group.

Decoloniality and Russian Music: Finno-Ugric Legacies in Contemporary St. Petersburg

This article presents two case studies examining the musical groups Talomerkit and Ingervala in the context of the late Soviet and post-Soviet reawakening of Finno-Ugric culture in St. Petersburg, Russia. Coming from different ethnic backgrounds, these two groups demonstrate different ways of engaging with local Finno-Ugric traditions. While Talomerkit uses a so-called tradition-based approach with minimal alteration of primary material, Ingervala looks for alternative stylistic choices through electric instruments and electronic sounds. Based on my fieldwork done in June 2018 and May 2019, I present ethnographic observations about Talomerkit and Ingervala’s musical activities and focus on issues related to the repatriation of Finno-Ugric musical heritage to a local community in St. Petersburg after the interruption of these traditional musical practices during the Soviet period. By using ethnomusicological approaches of decolonization, my aim is to foreground the voices of artists and activists who engage with the legacy of a small, non-Slavic Finno-Ugric population indigenous to the lands of present-day St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast. I argue that those autochthonous perspectives are instrumental in challenging the cultural discourse in Anglophone Russian music studies, which predominantly focuses on musical knowledge production through the lens of the Slavic population.

До питання мовної політики та мовного планування на Закарпатті в період першої Чехословацької Республіки

Issues of language policy and language planning in Transcarpathia during the first Czechoslovak Republic The concepts of state language, official language, and minority language do not have a generally accepted definition in international law. In Central and Eastern Europe, the state language is usually the language of the majority of the population of a particular country, in which it also serves as the official language. In interwar Czechoslovakia, the 1920 Language Law allowed the use of the language of the Slavic population, which constituted the absolute majority in the territory of Transcarpathia, as the official language in administration, office work, culture and education, granting the region's Slavs a greater degree of political, cultural and linguistic autonomy than they had ever enjoyed. But this linguistic freedom also brought practical problems to the surface. First of all, during this period there were three standard versions of the language adopted as the official language of the region. This article analyses the attitudes of the state and local intellectuals towards these language variants. Keywords: language policy, language planning, official language, language variants, Transcarpathia, the period between the two world wars

КАЛЕНДАРНАЯ ОБРЯДНОСТЬ ВОСТОЧНОСЛАВЯНСКОГО НАСЕЛЕНИЯ АЛТАЙСКОГО КРАЯ В 1940-х – 1960-х гг. КАК РЕЗУЛЬТАТ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ ЭТНОКУЛЬТУРНОГО САМОСОЗНАНИЯ

Based on the materials of 2013–2023 field studies conducted by the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, the article examines the features of the winter-spring calendrical rites of the East Slavic population of Altai Krai in the 1940s – 1960s. The author identifies innovations in a number of customs and rites that arose as a result of the adaptation of traditional culture to the modernization of life and Soviet cultural policy. It is conclude that during the period under review significant transformations occurred in the calendrical rites of the population, which led to the changes in ethnocultural identity.

Węgrzy w Małopolsce w X-XII wieku w świetle źródeł toponomastycznych i archeologicznych

This article deals with the interpretation of toponyms and archaeological materials from early medieval Lesser Poland that may be associated with the Hungarians or the Khazar Kabars. So far, they have most often been interpreted as traces of invasions by Hungarians – nomads (single monuments) or the operations of watchtowers they established to control the passes through the Carpathians and subjugated the local Slavic population (the so-called Old Magyar cemetery in Przemyśl) in the late 9th and1st half of the 10th century. It could have been related to their participation in the armed squads of the Piasts or the Rurikiviks, the activities of Hungarian merchants or prisoner-of-war settlements. The dating and interpreting the so-called Old Magyar cemetery in Przemyśl remains an open issue until it is fully developed and the results published.

Factors Influencing the Choice of a Child’s Name and Its Relationship with the Religiosity of Interfaith Marriages: Orthodox (Slavic) and Muslim (Turkish)

Names symbolize an individual’s identity, highlighting their unique attributes and representing their religious and cultural background. Names often serve as initial indicators of individuals’ cultural identities and beliefs. In the context of interfaith marriages, the names given to children can offer symbolic insights; however, a comprehensive exploration of the religious, national, and cultural factors underlying such naming choices is required. In many cases, the social environment of interfaith couples exerts pressure on the couple to choose a name aligning with their religion and identity, whether willingly or unwillingly. Antalya, a Turkish province that initially attracted a substantial Slavic population for tourism but subsequently witnessed a significant influx of permanent residents due to the ample employment prospects in the tourism sector, is notably distinguished by its increased Slavic demographic relative to other Turkish urban centers. In this context, Antalya garners notice because of the prevalence of interfaith marriages. This study investigates the preferences of Orthodox (Slavic) and Muslim (Turkish) couples within the region in terms of how they name their children and the factors influencing their preferences. This study systematically gathers and assesses the factors influencing the naming choices of children of these interfaith couples, particularly their correlation with religiosity. To accomplish this, a semi-structured interview prepared by the researchers was employed for data collection, and the data were subsequently analyzed using document analysis.

The Rurikids: The First Experience of Reconstructing the Genetic Portrait of the Ruling Family of Medieval Rus' Based on Paleogenomic Data.

The Rurikids were the reigning house of Rus', its principalities and, ultimately the Tsardom of Russia, for seven centuries: from the IX to the end of the XVI century. According to the Primary Chronicle (the Tale of Bygone Years), the main chronicle of Rus', the Rurik dynasty was founded by the Varangian prince Rurik, invited to reign in Novgorod in 862, but still there is no direct genetic evidence of the origin of the early Rurikids. This research, for the first time, provides a genome-wide paleogenetic analysis of bone remains belonging to one of the Rurikids, Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich (?-1294), the son of the Grand Prince of Vladimir Alexander Yaroslavich Nevsky (1221-1263). It has been established that his Y chromosome belongs to the N1a haplogroup. Most of the modern Rurikids, according to their genealogies, belonging to the N1a haplogroup, have the most similar variants of Y chromosomes to each other, as well as to the Y chromosome of Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich. Genome-wide data of the medieval and modern Rurikids unequivocally indicates that they belong to the N1a haplogroup of the Y chromosome, starting at least from the XI century (since the time of Prince Yaroslav the Wise). All the other alleged Rurikids, both ancient and modern, being carriers of other haplogroups (R1a, I2a), possess high heterogeneity of the sequence of Y chromosomes, meaning that we cannot confirm their common ancestry. The most probable ancestors of Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich in the male line were the men who left the burial ground Bolshoy Oleny Island on the coast of the Kola Peninsula about 3,600 years ago. The reconstruction of the genome of Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich indicates the contribution of three ancestral components to his origin: (1) the early medieval population of the east of Scandinavia from the island of Oland, (2) representatives of the steppe nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes of the Iron Age or the early medieval population of central Europe (steppe nomads from the territory of Hungary), and (3) the ancient East-Eurasian component. Reliable statistics were also obtained when the Scandinavians were replaced with the Medieval Russian Slavic populations of the XI century. Thus, for the first time, we have shown the complex nature of interethnic interactions in the formation of the nobility of medieval Rus' on the example of the ancient Rurikid.

A Machine-Learning-Based Approach to Prediction of Biogeographic Ancestry within Europe.

Data obtained with the use of massive parallel sequencing (MPS) can be valuable in population genetics studies. In particular, such data harbor the potential for distinguishing samples from different populations, especially from those coming from adjacent populations of common origin. Machine learning (ML) techniques seem to be especially well suited for analyzing large datasets obtained using MPS. The Slavic populations constitute about a third of the population of Europe and inhabit a large area of the continent, while being relatively closely related in population genetics terms. In this proof-of-concept study, various ML techniques were used to classify DNA samples from Slavic and non-Slavic individuals. The primary objective of this study was to empirically evaluate the feasibility of discerning the genetic provenance of individuals of Slavic descent who exhibit genetic similarity, with the overarching goal of categorizing DNA specimens derived from diverse Slavic population representatives. Raw sequencing data were pre-processed, to obtain a 1200 character-long binary vector. A total of three classifiers were used-Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and XGBoost. The most-promising results were obtained using SVM with a linear kernel, with 99.9% accuracy and F1-scores of 0.9846-1.000 for all classes.