Introduction: Nutrition is one of the most important components of a healthy lifestyle, yet daily eating practices of many people are unhealthy.

Objective: To assess the attitude towards healthy eating and nutritional practices of Russians of different age groups.

Materials and methods: The article is based on the results of all-Russian representative sociological surveys 1,500 respondents aged 18 and older in 30 constituent entities of the Russian Federation conducted by the Research Center for Socio-Political Monitoring of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in April 3 to 12, 2024.

Result: A third or more of the respondents in each age group do not follow a healthy diet or meal timing. The main reason for that is the lack of habit, which is common for all socio-demographic groups and has become more prevalent over the past decade. Lack of time is yet another obstacle to eating healthy reported by young people and middle-aged citizens, while lack of money is more relevant for the older generation. Poor eating practices are most widespread among young people, especially those aged 18 to 24 years: 43.3 % drink carbonated sweet drinks at least several times a week, 26.0 % eat crisps with the same frequency, 19.3 % eat fast food and 10.0 % drink energy beverages on a regular basis. As people age, they start avoiding unhealthy foods and drinks and become more mindful of their diet.

Conclusion: The recommendations based on the study results are related to the need to improve management decisions in raising public awareness of the principles of healthy eating and stimulating their observance, taking into account different age groups of the population, as well as creating appropriate conditions for consumption of high-quality, safe, and healthy products.

Introduction: The current state of society and the pace of its development make high demands on human health. Formation of a healthy lifestyle of high school student athletes has its own peculiarities associated with their specific way of life and sport-related requirements.

Objectives: To identify strategies of healthy lifestyle self-management of sports school students and to develop recommendations for their improvement.

Materials and methods: The questionnaire-based survey was conducted in May 2024. The sample consisted of 202 students of sports schools of the city of Lipetsk. The sample was multistage, with quota sampling at the final stage. Along with the questionnaire-based survey, document analysis and frequency analysis were used.

Results: The data analysis showed that adequate understanding of a healthy lifestyle was formed only in 32.7 % of the sports school students. We found that some student athletes lacked knowledge, skills, and abilities to analyze important components of a healthy lifestyle: 40.1 %, 51.5 %, and 25.2 % of the students neglected the analysis of nutrition, sleep, and physical activity, respectively. Depending on the strategies of nutrition, physical activity, and active interaction with the coach, parents and friends, three types of self-management strategies rated as “excellent”, “good”, and “satisfactory” were identified, the indicators of which became the basis for the development of recommendations for their improvement. The highest self-assessment based on 12 indicators was given to the “excellent” management strategy, which was based primarily on a high level of support from the coach, family, and friends.

Conclusion: The study revealed the main structural elements of the healthy lifestyle self-management strategy of high school student athletes. For each component of the management strategy, the key parameters describing the existing “positive” and “negative” strategies were identified, on the basis of which recommendations of cognitive, organizational, managerial, and informational nature were developed to improve these self-management strategies.

Introduction: The number of chronic diseases among schoolchildren has demonstrated a 1.5-fold increase recently. The years of study in high school largely determine physical and mental health of adolescents. High intensity of the educational process combined with unfavorable learning conditions lead to overload, reduced working capacity, growth problems, and development of chronic diseases in teenagers.

Objective: To conduct a hygienic assessment of educational workload and associated fatigue in high school graduates in the city of Perm.

Materials and methods: In October–November 2022, we conducted an analytical cohort study comprising the review of sanitary and epidemiological requirements for school environment, content and organization of work in five schools, the analysis of compliance of lesson timetables with the requirements of Russian health regulations and standards and teachers’ recommendations, and an anonymous survey of 89 eleventh graders to detect signs of fatigue, self-rated psychological and emotional state during and after classes, and features of the latter. The data were analyzed using SPSS 12.0 with the calculation of extensive indicators.

Results: The necessary period of adaptation to a new school week was found to be neglected at all schools: 32 students (35.9 %) reported having tests on Mondays and 86.5 % of them complained of feeling very tired after classes on that day. We noted an excess of the maximum number of lessons a day and non-compliance with the recommended break time in two and four of five schools, respectively. Almost half of the respondents (44 students or 49.4 %) mentioned poor attention and a decrease of academic performance despite their knowledge and more than a third (32 students or 35.9 %) confessed that they had begun losing interest in core subjects.

Conclusion: Our findings showed that a heavy and unevenly distributed school workload causes fatigue, subsequent exhaustion, and worse academic achievement in final year students of Perm.

Introduction: Fine respirable particles РМ10 and РМ2.5 are known to affect human health; in certain concentrations, they are able to induce additional cases of respiratory, cardiovascular, and immune diseases and increased mortality rates.

Objectives: To evaluate fine particle concentrations in some cities included in the Clean Air Federal Project, to assess health risks posed by these chemicals, and to analyze prospects of pollution control.

Materials and methods: The empirical base included over 10,000 concentrations of PM10 and РМ2.5 measured within the public health monitoring system maintained by the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) in 11 cities involved in the Clean Air Federal Project. Risks posed by exposure to PM10 were assessed using hazard quotients at the upper limit of the 95 % confidence interval of mean annual levels. Parameters of emission sources were analyzed using information from consolidated databases created for the selected cities.

Results: We established that in the cities of Krasnoyarsk, Novokuznetsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, and Omsk, ambient PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were up to 2.3 and 2.8 times higher than the average annual maximum allowable concentrations, respectively. In Krasnoyarsk and Novokuznetsk, PM10 exposures posed high unacceptable risks of respiratory diseases (HQ95 = 3.61–4.73). In the cities of Omsk, Lipetsk, Magnitogorsk, Mednogorsk, and Chita, health risks were assessed as unacceptable and alerting (HQ95 = 1.1–1.9). In summary databases of stationary emission source parameters, PM10 and PM2.5 are not specified.

Conclusion: Improvement of the air quality management system involves developing and implementing calculation methods for establishing the composition of dust emissions with the allocation of fine fractions; developing and legally securing methods for instrumental measurement of PM10 and PM2.5 in industrial emissions. PM monitoring results and changes in health risks should be considered as objective indicators of effectiveness of measures aimed at reducing harmful emissions, including those implemented within the Clean Air Federal Project.

Introduction: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH/polyarenes) as endocrine disruptors affect the excretion of thyroid hormones. To assess endocrine disorders following PAH exposures, the blood level of thyroid-stimulating hormones is tested.

Objectives: To study the relationship between blood concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and the thyroid hormone level and to substantiate maximum no-effect levels of PAH in blood of children and adolescents based on their hormone profile test results.

Materials and methods: Under the 2022-2023 pilot project comprehensive chemical and clinical laboratory blood tests for children and adolescents aged 4 to 14 years (n = 81) were conducted and ambient air samples were analyzed in the areas with and without exposures to the airborne pollutants. The relationship between blood concentrations of PAHs and hormone and antibody levels in the blood serum of children and adolescents was established using regression analysis. The maximum no-effect concentration of the marker of exposure was determined as the upper limit of the 95 % confidence interval of the exponential model.

Results: In the observation area, significantly higher levels of polyarenes in ambient air and blood of children and adolescents were established exceeding those measured in the reference area by 1.7–2.8 times and 3.5–9.9 times, respectively (p ≤ 0.05). A higher blood level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and a lower concentration of urinary iodine were determined in children from the observation group. Based on TSH level, maximum no-observed-effect blood levels of naphthalene, anthracene, and pyrene in children and adolescents were identified.

Discussion: The relationship between biomarkers of exposure and effect reflect the nature of impact of individual polyarenes on thyroid function. Maximum no-effect blood levels of polyarenes in the pediatric population help assess health risks from inhalation exposures.

Conclusion: Based on TSH expression criterion, maximum no-effect concentrations of polyarenes in blood of children and adolescents aged 4–14 years have been established, recommended as safety criteria under chronic exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Introduction: Sufficient amounts of essential macro- and microelements (ME) are necessary to ensure proper regulation of thyroid gland function. Women of reproductive age living in the north of Russia are one of the most vulnerable parts of the population.

Objective: To establish the element status of women of reproductive age given the serum thyroid hormone level and to analyze the matrix of correlations between concentrations of macro- and microelements, parameters of the hypothalamicpituitary-thyroid axis, thyroid volume, and calculated indices.

Materials and methods: In spring 2023, twenty-five female residents (27.28 ± 0.23 years old) of Magadan were examined. Groups 1 and 2 included women with thyroid hormone levels of 0.5–2.0 mU/L (low to normal) and 2.0–4.2 mU/L (normal to high), respectively. Initial data were analyzed by nonparametric statistical methods using IBM SPSS Statistics V21.0.

Results: Median concentrations of the elements in the compared groups were not significantly different; in most cases, they corresponded to laboratory values but differed from the region-specific indicators. The highest total element deficiency of 331 % was determined in Group 1 against 216 % in Group 2. The correlation matrices in the surveyed groups differed: in Group 2, thyroid volume (TV) was associated with such thyroid-stimulating elements as Co, Cu, and Zn, while I was associated with TSH antibodies. Free fractions of thyroxine formed bonds with Ca, Co, Cu, Fe, Mg, and Mn in Group 1 only. At the same time, regardless of the serum TSH, the following correlation pairs were found in elemental clusters: Co/Mn, Fe/Al, Fe/Ca, Fe/I, Fe/Li, I/Ca, I/P, Mg/Ca, Mg/V, Mn/Ca, and Zn/P.

Conclusion: The low to normal TSH levels established in women of reproductive age were associated with a more severe deficiency of macro- and microelements and the largest number of correlations between them, markers for thyroid function, and integral indices.

Introduction: There are few published studies on characteristics and mechanisms of COVID-19 transmission from health workers to third parties, including their family members, in the scientific literature.

Objective: To assess risks for transmission of the novel coronavirus disease from healthcare workers to their social and professional contacts.

Materials and methods: We surveyed 178 healthcare workers who had previously recovered from COVID-19 using a specially developed questionnaire. The work used the analytical epidemiological method of the case-control study. Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).

Results: We established a high risk of disease transmission from healthcare workers infected with COVID-19 in the occupational setting. The relative risk of developing the disease was 1.92 times (p < 0.05) for household members and 1.56 times (p = 0.1973) higher for colleagues. The findings showed that the relative risk of COVID-19 transmission to household members was associated with disease severity in the subjects. The results also demonstrated positive correlations between COVID-19 in family members and the following factors: duration of social contacts during normal conversation and loud talking or singing, physical activity, social distance kept when communicating with the diseased, apartment floor space per person, and the intensity of natural ventilation of the living area.

Conclusion: Our assessment of risks of COVID-19 transmission from health workers to their social and/or professional contacts showed that family members and colleagues were at the highest risk of infection. Its results convincingly prove the need for further studies of working conditions of healthcare workers and the expediency of improving the methodology for assessing the risk of spread of occupational infections.

Introduction: Anthrax remains relevant due to the almost ubiquitous spread in the Russian Federation of anthrax stationary hazardous areas and soil foci. The Sverdlovsk Region is distinguished by large anthrax epizootics in the past.

Objective: To assess anthrax risks based on ranking results using optimized methodology of multiple factor analysis and geoinformation technologies in the Sverdlovsk Region.

Materials and methods: The archival and updated data on anthrax by the Sverdlovsk Regional Office of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing were examined. The administrative territories of the region were ranked using a previously developed multivariate analysis technique based on the determination of the rank values of characteristics of the stationary hazardous areas (R_1-8) and supplemented by a correction factor to ∑R_1-8, the values of which depend on the number of the intra-subject administrative territories. The introduced adjustment makes it possible to unify the ranking methodology and compare the risks of infection in the regions of Russia.

Results: In 58 % of the administrative territories of the region, low and medium anthrax risks were established in the presence of high-risk territories (42 %), mostly in the south and east of the region. The location of high-risk territories and up to 70 % of stationary hazardous sites correlates with natural zones favorable for the pathogen (gray forest, floodplain soils in broad-leaved, forest-steppe landscapes, etc.).

Conclusions: In recent decades, the Sverdlovsk Region has been characterized by relative well-being in terms of anthrax despite the presence its risk factors. The ranking results will ensure better efficiency of epidemiological surveillance of this infection.

Introduction: Exposure to adverse environmental factors has been proven to induce additional cases of disease and death in the population. In the absence of effective measures taken to improve environmental quality, the levels of these factors rise, thus causing a potential increase in related human health outcomes. The concept of "prevented" morbidity and mortality cases is used to describe contribution of such measures to improving health of the population.

Objective: Theoretical computational study of prevented regional health losses resulting from control and supervisory activities of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).

Materials and methods: The previously developed cascade model is theoretically presented in the triple system of links between control and supervisory activities of Rospotrebnadzor, environmental quality indicators, and public health using methods of neural network modeling, factor analysis, and multiple linear regression. Morbidity, mortality, and years of potential life lost were taken as responses to changes in environmental quality. Specific planned and unscheduled activities of Rospotrebnadzor, including liability imposed on business entities polluting the environment were considered as affecting the quality of the latter.

Results: We established pronounced regional differences in prevented morbidity cases. The largest number of prevented cases ranging from 4,574 to 19,047 per 100,000 population was observed in the Republic of Dagestan, Kaliningrad and Saratov Regions, the city of Sevastopol, the Murmansk Region, the Altai Republic, the Belgorod Region, and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. The smallest number of incident cases prevented through Rospotrebnadzor control and supervisory activities (1,976 to 2,528 per 100,000 population) was noted in the Sverdlovsk, Altai, Krasnoyarsk, and Tambov Regions, Republics of Tyva and Karelia, the Ryazan Region, and the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. The highest number of prevented deaths in the general population (55.6 to 101.7 per 100,000 population) was observed in the city of Sevastopol, the Kaliningrad Region, the Republic of Dagestan, Saratov, Tula, Belgorod, and Krasnodar Regions, and the Chechen Republic. The lowest number of prevented deaths (17.8 to 26.6 per 100,000 population) was estimated in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Murmansk, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Transbaikal, and Altai Regions, the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, and the Nizhny Novgorod Region. The largest number of prevented years (1.61 to 3.73) of potential life lost was established in the Republic of Dagestan, the Kaliningrad Region, the city of Sevastopol, Saratov, Belgorod, Bryansk, and Lipetsk Regions, and the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Many of these regions were also among the leaders in terms of prevented morbidity and mortality. The smallest number of prevented years of life lost was observed in the regions of the Central, Ural, and Siberian Federal Districts, while the highest were noted in the Southern and North Caucasus Federal Districts.

Conclusions: We conducted the theoretical computational study of potential regional health losses prevented by means of control and supervisory activities of Rospotrebnadzor, structured and differentiated the losses by constituents of the Russian Federation, as well as by age groups, causes of morbidity and mortality, and environmental quality indicators.