Introduction. A distinctive feature of the modern lifestyle of children and adolescents is insufficient physical activity having a negative effect on their health. We conducted a physical activity survey for 997 schoolchildren and 597 students of the city of Ufa. Results. The results showed that 688 respondents (43.16%) did not do sport outside school or university. 272 people (17.06%) reported jogging and playing sports games on their own. 634 respondents (39.78%) attended sports clubs and sections on a regular basis. The survey demonstrated that physically inactive students and schoolchildren violated daily routine. Such schoolchildren spent significantly more leisure time on television viewing (52.78%) compared to their peers attending sports clubs (41.36%). The percentage of schoolchildren spending much time on the computer among those not doing sport was also higher (58.59% vs 41.47%). The same trend was observed in the students: 36.24% of the students not practicing sport spent most of their leisure time on the computer. Physically active students spent enough time outdoors as compared to those not doing sport (23.40% vs 11.15%). Conclusions. The surveyed schoolchildren and students revealed age and gender differences in sports patterns. The duration of training and the level of sportsmanship was higher in boys than in girls. We also observed the increase with age in the number and duration of training, as well as the level of sportsmanship. The health status analysis showed that the schoolchildren and students doing sport had significantly more harmonious physical development, while disharmonious physical development was more common among physically inactive persons. The pupils and students practicing sport regularly showed higher lung vital capacity, hand muscle strength, and a higher level of adaptation.

Purpose. The purpose of the study was to analyze world experience and international practice of regulating natural lighting at schools and innovative solutions in this field. Results and discussions. The article presents the list of regulations of European countries regarding standard requirements for daylight and artificial lighting in residential and public buildings. The Daylight Factor (DF), which is the equivalent of the Russian natural illumination coefficient, varies from 0.8 to 5 per cent in different countries. The article describes lighting and insolation requirements for the daylight factor, light coefficient, combined discomfort indicator, light transmission coefficient, and light flux distribution in residential and public buildings, including comprehensive schools, in such countries as the United Kingdom, Germany, Greece, Poland, USA, Sweden, Cyprus, Netherlands, and Japan. The list of rated parameters of daylight both in the Russian Federation and in foreign countries is identical. At the same time, the requirements for natural lighting (DF, duration of insolation) in European standards are more stringent. The impact of daylight on schoolchildren's health and performance was the subject of research in Sweden and the United States. Their authors concluded that studying in classrooms without daylight could disrupt the basic hormonal background, affect the ability of children to concentrate attention and interact with each other, influence growth and the number of days missed due to illness. Conclusions. The analysis of international data proving the importance of daylight in forming optimal conditions for education and eyesight of schoolchildren and preventing health disorders enabled us to conclude on the necessity to launch scientific research into mathematical models of health risks for schoolchildren.

Introduction. Drinking water is a necessary element of life support of the population. Many studies conducted around the world have established a relationship between the quality of drinking water and public health. On the basis of the Perm State Medical University studies were conducted to assess the effects of oxygen-enriched drinking water on human respiratory, cardiovascular and nervous systems as well as serum erythropoietin (EPO) levels. The objects of study were 32 volunteers (7 men and 25 women) aged 18 to 28. The purpose of the research was to study the effect of oxygen-enriched drinking water on the basic physiological systems of the human body and serum EPO levels of healthy volunteers. Methods. We applied the following research methods: physiological methods were used thrice (on the first, tenth and twenty-first days) to test the cardiovascular (heart rate, SBP, DBP, Kerdo index, Harvard step test), respiratory (BH, JELL, JEL, Stange and Gencha tests) and nervous (Anfimov test, SAN test, ShAS test) systems; laboratory tests of serum EPO levels in venous blood of the volunteers; and statistical methods (statistical processing was performed using Microsoft Office Excel 2007 and STATISTICA V. 7 software package (StatSoft Inc., USA). Results. The use of oxygenated water helps increase functional and reserve capabilities of the basic physiological systems of the body and improve tissue oxygenation.

The aim of the study was to determine some heavy metals in human biological samples and to establish the hygienic significance of the obtained data in order to identify possible risks of adverse exposures and to assess the level of environmental pollution of the observed districts with heavy metals. Materials and methods. The studies were conducted in different areas of Baku. Concentrations of some heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Cu, and Zn) in human blood and hair, as well as in soil samples of residential, industrial and suburban areas were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results. Different levels of heavy metals in the studied biological samples were established depending on the area of residence. The highest concentrations were registered in the people dwelling in the industrial area. At the same time, blood concentrations of metals did not exceed corresponding permissible values, regardless of the area of residence. Yet, metal concentrations in human hair with respect to the area of residence of our subjects followed a different pattern: concentrations of Pb, Cd, and Cr in hair exceeded the minimum values of their reference levels in the residents of all study areas while the concentrations of Ni, Cu, and Zn in hair turned out to be significantly higher than the regulatory levels in those living in the residential and industrial districts of the city. Consequently, the concentrations of all heavy metals measured in human hair of the people dwelling in the urban residential and industrial areas significantly exceeded the corresponding reference levels and correlated (r = 0.90-0.99) with high concentrations of those metals in local soils. Conclusions. The study results enabled us to conclude that a significant excess of the relevant hygienic standards for heavy metals both in human hair and soil in the study areas posed a certain risk of developing environment-related diseases from high outdoor exposures to toxic metals. They also proved the priority importance of testing hair as a reliable diagnostic medium for biological monitoring in hygienic studies.

Introduction. The supply of high quality potable water to the population living within the geochemical provinces remains an important problem since the imbalance of chemical elements is a risk factor for various diseases and syndromes. The purpose of the study was to analyze the quality of surface and groundwater related to the geochemical characteristics of the region and to assess public health risks. Materials and methods. Water quality was analyzed in the areas of the Zabaykalsky Krai characterized by the presence of geochemical anomalies. Non-carcinogenic risk assessment of combined exposure to multiple chemicals in drinking water was carried out in accordance with the requirements of R 2.1.10.1920-04. Results. We established the excess of maximum permissible concentrations for such elements as iron (1.1-5.1 MPC), fluorides (1.1-2 MPC), nitrates (2.2 MPC), manganese (5.1 MPC), zinc (2.5-4.6 MPC), and cadmium (1.3-1.5 MPC). Higher than acceptable values of non-carcinogenic hazard quotients were attributed to the effects of nitrites (HQ = 1.5) and arsenic (HQ = 3.4) on the child population in the Kirinsky district. The total hazard index (THI) exceeded the permissible one for children in the Kyrinsky (5.05), Borzinsky (1.92), Chitinsky (1.19), and Tungokochensky (1.24) districts, the urban-type settlements of Zabaykalsk (2.07) and Priargunsk (1.62), and the towns of Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky (1.1) and Chita (1.87). Arsenic, fluorine, iron, and nitrites in water contributed the most to the risk level. Conclusions. The priority water pollutants included heavy metals, nitrites, arsenic, manganese, iron salts, and fluorides due to local natural geochemical features and industrial pollution. The assessment of the total non-carcinogenic risk based on hazard quotients showed that the children were at higher risk for toxic effects of those chemicals on the immune system, teeth, bone tissue, cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract, skin, reproductive, respiratory, and hematopoietic systems, liver, kidney, central nervous and musculoskeletal systems.

The purpose of the study was to study the patterns of forming average annual and cumulative exposure doses. The subject of the study was the dynamics of the average annual and cumulative doses of the adult population of the Russian Federation after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. Results and conclusions. We estimated the contribution of external and internal exposure doses accumulated during the first year after the disaster into the total doses accumulated in 1986-2016 in the population living in the areas with different levels of¹³⁷Cs activity in surface soil. The contribution of the exposure doses received during the first year after the accident into the total doses accumulated in 1986-2016 by the population of the regions with different levels of¹³⁷Cs activity in surface soil was more than 30%. The contribution of the internal exposure dose received during the first year after the accident into the total exposure dose accumulated in 1986-2016 by the population exceeded that of the external dose. We predicted the average annual and cumulative exposure doses of the population until the year 2056: in 2016, the actual average annual exposure dose for the population exceeded 1.0 mSv/year only in 19 settlements of the Bryansk Region while by 2056 the number of such settlements would be null. In 2016, the average cumulative exposure dose of the population exceeded 70 mSv in 55 settlements of the Bryansk Region, the maximum being 299 mSv. According to the forecast for the year 2056, the total number of settlements in the Bryansk Region with the average cumulative exposure dose of the population equal to or greater than 70 mSv would approach 92. All these settlements are situated only in the Bryansk Region. The maximum expected value of the average cumulative exposure dose would be 374 mSv. We estimated the contribution of the population exposure dose accumulated in 1986-2016 into the exposure dose accumulated during 70 years (a lifetime dose). The contribution of the average accumulated effective exposure dose for 1986-2016 into the dose predicted for 19862056 ranged 86% to 94%. This means that the major part of the lifetime dose has been already accumulated by the locals.

Introduction. The process of predicting infrasound exposures in residential areas is difficult due to the lack of methods of mathematical modeling and calculating probable infrasound levels in an open area. The assessment of infrasound exposures in residential areas can be only performed using direct instrumental studies. The purpose of the study was to determine the prospects for organizing and monitoring infrasound exposures in residential areas. Materials and methods. We analyzed federal and departmental regulations on infrasound measurements. Low-frequency noise pollution in residential areas of various parts of St. Petersburg was studied. The objects of experimental research were selected in the immediate vicinity of road junctions, railways, air transport trajectories, and in the zones of large industrial enterprises. Results. More than 1,000 instrumental measurements were taken. We analyzed infrasound test reports, which were part of environmental engineering surveys, over a 10-year period and found significant discrepancies between the results obtained under similar conditions by various laboratories. Conclusions. We established that the infrasound levels produced by the main anthropogenic sources in St. Petersburg did not exceed permissible levels. We also substantiated inexpediency of conducting comprehensive studies and monitoring the parameters of infrasound in residential areas.

The purpose of the study was to assess detection rates of human papillomavirus in cervical cancer cases of Nizhny Novgorod. Materials and methods. We used the real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test samples of mucosa lining of the cervical canal and/or transformation zone taken from 630 women with cervical dysplasia of different degrees and 107 incident cases of cervical cancer that did not undergo treatment. The detection and differentiation of 14 genotypes of high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) was carried out using the AmpliSens® HPV HCR-genotype-FRT PRC kit. Results. The overall infection rate of women with oncogenic human papillomaviruses was 41.8%. Among the genotypes, HPV 16 (39.2%), 18 (15.5%), 33 (16.6%), and 56 (11.9%) predominated. A high prevalence of oncogenic HPV was detected in the women with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (58.1%) and cervical cancer (90%). The spectrum of genotypes in women with neoplasia of various degrees differed. In women with CIN II and CIN III, vaccine-preventable HPV genotypes (HPV 16 and 18) playing the leading role in the development of cervical cancer were the most frequent. The same genotypes dominated in the women with invasive cervical cancer. One oncogenic HPV genotype was usually found in the infected women (69%). The high-risk HPV infection was often combined with Ureaplasma ssp (49.3%), Mycoplasma hominis (20.1%), Cytomegalovirus (21.1%), and Herpes simplex I/II (18.2%) infections. Combinations of high-risk HPV with Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes 6 were found in 8.3% and 5% of the cases, respectively. Conclusions. Our findings proved a wide prevalence of high carcinogenic risk HPV 16 and 18 genotypes, thus indicating the expediency of using Cervarix and Gardasil vaccines registered in the Russian Federation and containing antigens to these types of virus for specific prevention of the HPV infection.

Introduction. At present, the areas endemic for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) tend to expand. Monitoring of TBEV antibody detection rates in the population of non-endemic areas in order to adopt timely measures for specific and non-specific disease prevention thus acquires particular importance. The Tuguro-Chumikansky District is not among the endemic areas of the Khabarovsk Krai. Yet, the rise in the number of people seeking medical attention for an ixodes tick bite and TBE rates in the local population has been registered recently. Our purpose was to establish the level of natural herd immunity to the tick-borne encephalitis virus in the population of the Tuguro-Chumikansky District. Materials and methods. We conducted a serological survey among unvaccinated permanent residents of 6 villages of the study district. Results. The highest TBEV antibody detection rates were registered in the examined residents of the villages of Tugur (61.3 ± 8.75%) and Udskoye (51.4 ± 8.22%). On the whole, specific immunoglobulins for the tick-borne encephalitis virus were found in 29.4 ± 2.26% of the subjects, thus indicating that the locals have contacts with infected vectors or have possibly suffered from the inapparent (subclinical) infection. Discussion. The established immunoglobulin G detection rates and immunity levels to TBEV may show that the population of the Tuguro-Chumikansky District is involved in the epidemic process. A further increase in the number of people bitten by ticks can lead to an increase in the registered TBE incidence in the district making it yet another regional area endemic for the disease.

Our purpose was to study epidemiologic risks of people getting infected with tularemia in the natural focus of the steppe type in the Stavropol Krai during the periods of epidemic manifestations of varying intensity in 2003-2018 in order to develop the tactics of their minimization by means of preventive and anti-epidemic measures. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using statistical data and materials of the annual state reports on the sanitary and epidemiologic situation in the Stavropol Krai for 2003-2018. We analyzed all local cases of tularemia registered during the study period (100 cases). Results. The hunting and foodborne (38.0%), household (30.0%) and waterborne (30.0%) epidemiologic types of tularemia were identified. The increased incidence rate was observed in January - March 2017 (42 people). During this period, 47.6% of cases were of hunting-related and foodborne, 30.9% - of waterborne, and 21.5% - of household epidemiologic types of human tularemia. Discussion. In 2003-2018, not only local cases of hunting-related, foodborne and household epidemiologic types of tularemia were registered at the sporadic level, but waterborne tularemia began to prevail in people. There were multiple cases of the disease induced by infected water of local water supply systems. This must be taken into account when carrying out preventive measures. In individuals involved in hunting and cutting hares, vaccination should be carried out additionally in existing enzootic areas of the focus, where the pathogen is currently not detected in the biocenosis. The minimization of epidemiologic risks to public health is facilitated by the constant control of rodent access to local water pipelines in places of increased epizootic activity and epidemic hazard. Timely elimination of design drawbacks in the areas of water intake and sewage treatment plants and preventive disinfestation significantly reduce the risk of multiple incident cases of tularemia.

The purpose of the study was to improve the methodological support of interdepartmental cooperation in implementing measures for sanitary protection of territories at railway border crossings. Materials and methods. We analyzed interagency personnel training at railway border checkpoints during preparation for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup and reports on the planned annual training in some regions of the Russian Federation to assess their compliance with modern requirements for ensuring biological safety. Results. Based on the results of analyzing the content and methodological aspects of anti-epidemic measures and interdepartmental cooperation during drills at railway border crossings, we updated the training methodology taking into account the requirements of international and Russian regulations governing the procedures at checkpoints and current conditions and capabilities of services when ensuring biological safety. The article provides recommendations for personnel training and drills at railway border crossings on the topic “Organization of anti-epidemic measures upon identification of a suspected case of an especially dangerous communicable disease”.