Introduction: Issues of protecting and promoting health of the working population are the most important problem of modern occupational medicine and healthcare. The mortality of workers leads to large economic losses for the society.
Objective: To conduct a comparative analysis of mortality structure and patterns in the working-age population of the Ural Federal District in 2018–2022.
Materials and methods: Based on official statistics, we established the age structure of the population, long-term rates, standardized mortality rates per 100,000 working-age population for the main causes of death, increase rates and trends of their growth. The structure of population mortality was analyzed in accordance with ICD-10 codes.
Results: The analysis of mortality among the population of working age in the Ural Federal District for 2018–2022 revealed negative dynamics in most of its constituents. The proportion of deaths in working age was 24.9 %, with the working-age death rate in men being 3.5 times higher than that in women. In the structure of causes of death of the working-age population, including males, diseases of the circulatory system (29.0 %), external causes (23.1 %), and neoplasms (13.7 %) ranked highest while neoplasms (21.7 %), diseases of the circulatory system (21.2 %), and infectious diseases (14.4 %) prevailed in women. Characteristics of the regions that determine their socio-economic development influence the age and sex composition and mortality rates in the working-age population.
Conclusion: Reducing mortality rates in working age will require both increased government investments and the development of corporate medicine, combining efforts of employers, employees and authorities to improve health and well-being of the working-age population.

Introduction: The global trend of population ageing and transformation of professional routes of young people in the agro-industrial complex make the study of effects of social and health factors on working life expectancy of agricultural equipment operators especially relevant.
Objective: To establish subjective social and health-related factors influencing the decision to continue working as agricultural mechanics by age groups.
Materials and methods: In 2023–2024, we established the work ability index (n = 121), conducted an empirical sociological quantitative study (n = 102) and a qualitative sociological study (in-depth interview, n = 28) of agricultural mechanics. Results: Three blocks of determinants of working life expectancy have been established as follows:
1. Socioeconomic, including marital status, income, housing and living conditions. Quantitative data indicate that 75 % of the respondents have families, 59 % live with children or grandchildren, 45 % own a private house with a personal subsidiary farm, and 45 % live in an apartment. Per capita income of 50 % of the respondents varies from 20 to 35 thousand rubles and of 32 % – from 36 to 50 thousand rubles.
2. Psychological and physiological, including job burnout and health. The mean duration of current employment of the respondents equals 31.2 years. The majority (65 %) started working between the ages of 18 to 20, while 32 % of the respondents began working before they turned 18.
3. Motivational. The main reasons to continue working after retirement are extra money (28.9 %) and financial necessity (24.7 %) due to the expected small pension, as well as the opportunity to work owing to the absence of age-related discriminatory practices in agriculture.
Conclusions: Health status and working conditions are the determinants of working life expectancy of mechanists of pre-retirement age while motivational factors, such as career growth opportunities, professional development, and salary are of greater value for middle-aged agricultural equipment operators, the number of whom is small.

Introduction: Minimizing job-related health risks is one of the priorities for implementing strategic objectives of the demographic policy of the Russian Federation.
Objective: To assess the group risk of work-related diseases in employees of modern petroleum product manufacturing.
Materials and methods: The study involved 467 men aged 41.56 ± 9.24 years with 14.87 ± 9.39 years of duration of current employment. Comprehensive hygienic and epidemiological studies of working conditions and health of core personnel of a petroleum refinery were conducted. The causal relationship between working conditions and health disorders was assessed using the relative risk (OR), its 95 % confidence interval (CI) and etiologic fraction (EF). Assessment and categorization of occupational risk levels of work-related diseases and evaluation of their acceptability were performed in accordance with R 2.2.3969–23, Russian Guidelines for Assessing Occupational Risks to Workers’ Health: Organizational and Methodological Foundations, Principles and Criteria for Assessment. Microsoft Excel and Statistica10.0 were used for statistical data analysis.
Results: We have established that working conditions in petroleum product manufacturing are noted for combined exposure to classes 2 to 4 hazardous chemicals, noise, heavy work and heating microclimate (secondary refining) and are classified as harmful (degrees 2 to 3) and posing occupational risks to workers’ health. Statistically significant cause-andeffect relationships were revealed between working conditions and moderate musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases (OR = 1.77; EF = 43 %) and severe diseases of the eye and adnexa (OR = 4.496; EF = 78 %). The levels of group occupational risk of diseases ranged from moderate (0.65 × 10–2) for myopia to medium (3.28 × 10–2) for obesity and high (3.28 × 10–2) for dorsalgia, all being unacceptable. The risk of health disorders was found to be determined by factors of the occupational environment at different stages of the technological process. Workers engaged in primary oil refining were at high risk of dorsalgia (6.65 × 10–2) and obesity (3.98 × 10–2); those engaged in secondary refining were at medium risk of disorders of refraction and accommodation (2.09 × 10–2); workers of the electrical equipment operation shop were at high risk of disorders of refraction and accommodation (5.55 × 10–2) and at moderate risk of dorsalgia (0.94 × 10–2), all being unacceptable.
Conclusion: Occupational risk of a high (unacceptable) level is the basis for the development of targeted measures of disease prevention in oil refining workers given their involvement at different stages of the technological process.

Introduction: Particulate matter is one of the anthropogenic pollutants of the occupational environment that increases the risk of adverse cardiovascular events in workers.
Objective: To assess structural and functional characteristics of arteries in workers with chronic exposure to airborne particulate matter.
Materials and methods: In September 2020, we conducted a cross-sectional study involving 161 workers occupationally exposed to airborne particulate matter (observation group) and 82 administrative employees (reference group). Standard methods were used to measure intima-media thickness of the brachiocephalic trunk (in 142 blue and 78 white-collar workers), assess endothelial function (in 94 and 70), and brachial artery wall stiffness (in 150 and 65 workers, respectively). Airborne particle concentrations were measured using a DustTrak 8533 analyzer. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS 23. The Mann - Whitney and chi-square tests were used to compare quantitative and qualitative indicators, respectively. The relationship between dust exposure and endothelial dysfunction was established using logistic regression.
Results: Workplace air concentrations of fine particles measured for the observation group were significantly higher than those for the reference group: from 76 times for PM10 to 357 times for PM1. In the observation group, the relative increase in the brachial artery diameter (12.7 % versus 16.1 %) and the endothelial sensitivity index (0.08 versus 0.14 conventional units) were significantly lower than in the reference group (p = 0.0001 to 0.006); endothelial dysfunction was more prevalent (28 (29.8 %) versus 9 (12.9 %) workers, p = 0.003), and the brachial augmentation index was higher (1.02 (0.91; 1.15) versus 0.96 (0.87; 1.06), p = 0.006). We established a statistical relationship between higher airborne particle concentrations and increased likelihood of endothelial dysfunction (R2 = 0.37–0.4).
Conclusions: High levels of particulate matter in the occupational environment enhance the likelihood of endothelial dysfunction and increased arterial stiffness with the estimated contribution of 37–40 %. Effective dust control measures are essential for prevention of cardiovascular diseases in industrial workers.

Introduction: The demographic situation in the Russian Federation over the past decades is noted for a low birth rate. According to the State Report by the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), in 2023, 75.4 million Russian people experienced combined exposure to multiple chemicals. Chemical exposure, particularly that to lead as an occupational and environmental risk factor, has a significant impact on the human reproductive system, starting from childhood.
Objective: To search, summarize, and systematize published data on adverse effects of lead on the reproductive system as a basis for further development of therapeutic and preventive measures.
Materials and methods: The sources for the bibliography search were the PubMed search engine, the Scopus abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed scientific literature, the eLibrary and CyberLeninka Russian electronic scientific libraries. The search was conducted among Russian and English-language publications issued in 2004–2024. Of over 500 articles screened, 36 full-text publications describing the results of epidemiological studies of lead exposure and its adverse effects on the reproductive system of laboratory animals and/or humans were selected for this review, of which 23 articles were published within the past 5 years.
Results: The most frequent effects observed in a large number of studies assessing reproductive toxicity of lead include a change in the weight of the reproductive organs, disruption of their histological structure, cytotoxic effects on spermatozoa, their motility, viability, and integrity, the presence of abnormalities, as well as changes in the level of hormones in tissues and blood serum, activity and amount of enzymes associated with the reproductive system. The effect of lead on the reproductive system is inevitably accompanied by a change in the expression of genes responsible for regulation of inflammatory processes, activation or inhibition of apoptosis, antioxidant protection, regulation of the function of enzyme systems and hormonal changes.
Conclusion: Further study of lead effects on the reproductive system will help reveal mechanisms of toxicity, which can subsequently be considered “critical points” for preventive health and therapeutic measures to be focused on.

Introduction: In the Republic of Belarus, no hygienic standards or methods of control in the workplace air have been developed for the group of modern amide local anesthetics, including articaine hydrochloride.
Objectives: To study the specific toxic effect of the pharmaceutical substance articaine hydrochloride on the respiratory system, to establish limiting indicators and threshold concentrations for chronic inhalation exposure for subsequent justification of the safe level of the substance in the workplace air of a pharmaceutical facility.
Materials and methods: Experimental studies were carried out on 36 outbred albino rats intranasally exposed to various concentrations (2, 10 and 50 mg/m3) of the pharmaceutical substance during 4 months. At the end of the experiment, we collected bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and tested it for cytokine concentrations and cellular structure. The trachea, bronchi and lungs were isolated from euthanized animals for pathomorphological studies. Statistical data processing was performed using parametric and nonparametric tests in Statistica 13 software. Differences between groups were considered significant at p < 0.05.
Results: The specific toxic effect of the pharmaceutical substance on the bronchopulmonary system at different levels (2-10-50 mg/m3) of inhalation exposure to articaine hydrochloride was manifested by the maximum development of pathomorphological structural changes at the highest concentration of 50 mg/m3, such as a statistical increase in the thickness of the interalveolar septa of the lungs by 1.85 times, the appearance of pronounced perivascular andperibronchial infiltration in the lungs in more than half of the rats. Changes in the composition of bronchoalveolar lavage were characterized by a significant increase in the cellular inflammatory component and transformation of the cytokine profile. At the exposure of 50 mg/m3, an increase in the content of lymphocytes and neutrophils was noted by 6.09 and 3.4 times, respectively, the appearance of plasma cells and an increase in the concentration of IL-1 and IL-6 by 2.0 and 3.2 times.
Conclusions: The dose-dependent morphological, cytological, and functional changes in the respiratory organs and lavage characterize the exposure concentration of 2 mg/m3 as practically ineffective, 10 mg/m3 as threshold, and 50 mg/m3 as effective in terms of the toxic effects under study.

Introduction: Mining is carried out at ever greater depths. However, there is little data on the influence of depthrelated physical factors. Heping Xie has proposed the notion of “deep underground medicine”, which studies human health effects of deep underground factors.
Objective: To examine deep underground physical factors and methods for assessing exposure by depth of the mine based on domestic and foreign sources.
Materials and methods: A literature search was conducted using relevant keywords in the PubMed search engines, in the Scopus, Web of Science, Medline, The Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Global Health, CyberLeninka, RCSI, and other databases. Prospective studies of working conditions and health status of workers in deep underground mines for 2000–2024 were included. Of 200 search results, 27 full-text articles were eligible for inclusion in the review. The articles discussing works on the surface of mines were discarded, аs well as review articles.
Results: A high risk of heat stress in miners that increases with the depth of the mine was revealed in the course of generalization and systematization of published data. The necessity of studying deep underground factors that can affect human health, including air temperature, heat generated within rocks, radiation, and air pressure is discussed. Methods for assessing exposure to physical factors and the need to improve them are demonstrated.
Conclusions: The necessity of improving methods for assessing exposures to deep underground physical factors is noted as the air and rock temperature, air humidity, and atmospheric pressure increase while the γ-radiation dose rate decreases with the depth. In order to prevent diseases caused by exposure to deep underground factors, a differentiated approach to depth-related preventive health measures is essential.

Introduction: Anthropogenic activities cause the emergence of new organic compounds with poorly studied physicochemical and toxic properties in the environment. Due to the shortcomings of water treatment technologies, the presence of these compounds in drinking water sources poses a threat to human health. Even extremely low concentrations of some of the organic components can have adverse biological effects. Data on changes in the composition of water during household boiling are scarce, which makes studies of organic substances in different types of water particularly relevant.
Objective: To analyze changes in the composition of organic substances following tap water boiling using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques.
Materials and methods: We used GC-MS to identify organic substances in tap water samples collected at a water supply treatment plant of a large industrial city in the Sverdlovsk Region in different seasons of the year before and after boiling and to compile the list of substances having adverse human health effects.
Results: Of 65 organic substances identified in tap water over the study period, 23 (35.4 %) had toxic, irritating, organspecific and/or carcinogenic effects on humans. Of 53 compounds found in boiled tap water, 14 (26.4 %) had a proven negative effect on the organism. About 10 % of organic substances originally identified in tap water retained after boiling.
Conclusion: We identified organic compounds in tap water before and after boiling, revealed a seasonal pattern of changes in the composition of organic substances, found substances with toxic and carcinogenic properties, and established changes in the composition of identified organic substances after boiling.

Background: Identification of the markers of effect of environment and nutrition on the human body, given their interplay, remains relevant for health risk assessment.
Objective: To identify markers of children’s health effects of environmental exposures and nutrition with account for their mutual influences.
Materials and methods: The study involved 197 preschool children living in two towns of the Sverdlovsk Region with different levels of environmental pollution. In January 2022 to June 2024, we tested mass concentrations of 19 metals, cytogenetic parameters of buccal epithelium, interleukins (IL-1, IL-4), glutathione-S-transferase, and 60 organic acids in urine of the subjects. We also evaluated the preschool menu and off-school nutrition, anthropometric parameters, morbidity based on outpatient cards, and health status using a questionnaire-based survey. Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS were used for statistical data analysis. 
Results: We established that in the children living in the territory with high airborne risks, the levels of exposure to seven chemicals exceeded the reference values, especially those of aluminum and manganese by 3.9 and 2.5 times, respectively. Cytogenetic damage to buccal epithelial cells, higher values of markers of allergic reactions (IL 4), higher values of glutathione-S-transfer and organic acids, and markers of detoxification were also more frequent in this group (p < 0.001). We noted that the diet of children was deficient in vitamins B1 and C, calcium, and, judging by the markersof organic acids, essential amino acids and vitamins B9 and B12. The exposed children differed from the controls in high exposure to arsenic, mercury, and copper; there was also a larger proportion (85 %) of children with cells with micronuclei and atypical nuclei, high concentrations of inflammatory cytokines (IL 1), energy and protein deficiencies, excess sugars in the diet, and markers of energy metabolism disorders among them.
Conclusions: The identified markers of two non-adaptive metabolotypes to environmental exposure and nutritional phenotypes will allow a differentiated approach to developing diets.