Introduction: November 6, 2021 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of an outstanding scientist and organizer of health care, academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Galina Nikolaevna Serdyukovskaya. For 33 years, Dr. Serdyukovskaya headed the Institute of Pediatric and Adolescent Health of the Ministry of Health of the USSR (now the Research Institute of Hygiene and Health Protection of Children and Adolescents of the National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health of the Russian Ministry of Health).

Objective: The article aims to analyze and present invaluable contribution of Professor Serdyukovskaya to the development of Russian medical science and one of its most important areas – pediatric and adolescent health.

Materials and methods: We analyzed archival materials, scientific publications for the period 1965–2012.

Results: The article describes the main scientific achievements of pediatric health physicians and their importance in protecting health of the younger generation under the guidance of Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences G.N. Serdyukovskaya. It also presents the main scientific directions of the institute headed by this eminent scientist, stages of formation and development of scientific foundations of preventive pediatric health care. The role and place of research conducted by the personnel of the Institute under the leadership of Galina Serdyukovskaya in the national state system of health protection of the younger generation of the country is demonstrated.

Conclusion: These materials are the scientific, organizational and methodological basis for researchers who continue to develop new areas of research to maintain and improve child and adolescent health laid down by G.N. Serdyukovskaya.

Introduction: Deterioration of students’ health, the absence of scientific substantiation of consistent actions, key directions and indicators of work of comprehensive schools in the sphere of health protection of participants in the educational process determine the purpose of the study to give a rationale for the algorithm and model of creating a common health promoting school environment.

Materials and methods: The study was carried out in four directions: 1) study of health promoting activities in modern schools; 2) analysis of indicators of socio-psychological climate of schools; 3) study of the lifestyle, work pressure and schedule, health status and psychological well-being of teachers; and 4) study of foreign instruments for assessing health promotion interventions at schools. The objects of the study included comprehensive schools, schoolchildren, teachers, and foreign instruments for assessing health promotion interventions at schools. The research materials were statistically processed by nonparametric methods using Statistica 13.3 software.

Results: Most of the surveyed Russian schools are at the initial stages of developing health promoting frameworks. Based on the expert statistical analysis of health promotion interventions of Russian schools at different levels of development and having different achievements in the field of preventive activities, effective directions and specific indicators for assessing results at each stage of creating a common preventive environment in a comprehensive school were identified and substantiated.

Conclusions: An algorithm and a model of a common preventive school environment consisting of seven components have been developed and a system for its monitoring by key indicators, the subjects and objects of which are students, their parents and teachers, has been substantiated. The results of health promoting activities at school include health improvement in schoolchildren and teachers, their emotional well-being, a decreased prevalence of behavioral risk factors, and improvement of knowledge and skills in relation to health and of the academic performance of students.

Background: In contemporary conditions of digital transformation of education, the medical community, teachers, and parents are concerned about health effects of electronic learning tools in children. The emergence of new types of digital tools necessitates studies of related fatigue of schoolchildren in the dynamics of learning. A questionnaire-based survey of pupils aimed to establish their main complaints attributed to the use interactive panels, the most common type of educational boards in the classroom, helps identify and analyze weaknesses from the point of view of health maintenance in organization of the educational process.

Objective: To study specific health effects of interactive panels used in the classroom in fifth-year pupils.

Materials and methods: We conducted a questionnaire-based survey of 130 schoolchildren aged 11 years to establish their self-rated health, visual functions, risk factors and educational experience related to the use of interactive displays. Data processing was carried out using nonparametric methods of statistical analysis; relative risk values were established according to the rules of evidence-based medicine.

Results: Some pupils, especially those with vision impairment, had complaints indicative of general and visual fatigue following the exposure to interactive panels. Inappropriate or excessive use of the interactive display in the classroom increased the frequency of such complaints.

Conclusion: The reported adverse factors including bright light from the display, small and fuzzy image, rising temperature in the classroom, etc., defined preventive measures to be implemented for ensuring safe learning conditions.

Background: Introduction of digital technologies into the educational process involves the widespread use of keyboard typing and spending less time handwriting. At the same time, studies in the field of physiology and hygiene of handwriting show its importance for the development and formation of brain functions in children in the learning process. Potential risks for child development associated with regular typing and rare handwriting require proper hygienic assessment of the former. Yet, the lack of a scientifically based methodological approach is a strong limitation for such studies.

Objective: To develop a methodological approach and conduct a pilot study on hygienic assessment of digital writing based on a bio-cybernetic analysis of the bioelectrical activity of the brain.

Materials and methods: To arrange and conduct the research, we developed an algorithm based on a comparative analysis of the bioelectrical activity of the brain during typing and handwriting. Scalp electrodes were applied according to the International 10–20 system. EEG registration was carried out using a Neuro-KM computer-aided electroencephalograph by Statokin, Russia, with a Brainsys the intrahemispheric and interhemispheric coherence of the alpha rhythm.

Results: We established that the power of vibrations in the alpha range during digital and handwriting decreased compared to the resting state. Such a decrease reflecting activation of the cortex was noted in a more extensive area during handwriting. Typing decreased alpha waves only in the motor and sensorimotor areas of the brain. Compared to the resting state, handwriting significantly increased interaction between all areas of the cortex inside both hemispheres while typing did that in one hemisphere only.

Conclusion: Our findings indicate that handwriting is provided by a more complex system of activation and interaction of areas of the cerebral cortex than typing. The developed algorithm can be used for further research on digital writing.

Background: Significant changes in the methods and modes of mobile phone (MP) use in modern primary schoolchildren and insufficient knowledge of their health consequences have determined the relevance and purpose of this study.

Objective: To assess the dynamics of MP use in primary school students and its impact on children’s well-being.

Materials and methods: In 2017–2019, changes in the type of MP, modes of voice communication and mobile Internet (MI) use, and the dynamics of the health symptoms frequency were assessed in the prospective cohort study of 47 primary schoolchildren (25 boys and 22 girls) using questionnaires. MP radiation levels were measured for 23 children.

Results: During the observation period, we noted a decrease in the level of MP radiation (p = 0.002); an increase in the proportion of children using MI (from 57.4 to 85.1 %, p = 0.006) and in the frequency (p = 0.002) and duration (p = 0.01) of MI use; keeping MP closer to the body in the daytime (p = 0.01). By the end of the study, we observed an increase in the proportion of children with clinically significant symptoms (CSS) of sleep disturbance (from 23.4 to 40.4 %, p = 0.025) and anxiety (from 2.12 to 12.8 %, p = 0.043). The decrease in MP radiation levels accompanied by an increase in the frequency and duration of MI use correlated with the replacement of the “push-button” MP with a smartphone. The switch to smartphone and MI usage was associated with an increase in CSS of anxiety (p = 0.02) and difficulty falling asleep (p = 0.043).

Conclusion: The study showed that in modern junior schoolchildren aged 7–10 with a short experience of MP usage, transition to using a MP as a multimedia device is a more important factor in impairment of well-being than the duration and intensity of MP voice communication.

Introduction: Daily diets of contemporary schoolchildren mainly consist of foodstuffs, which are rich in fats and carbohydrates but poor in proteins, vitamins, and trace elements. Food stereotypes associated with consumption of freeze-dried and refined food as well as fast food products have become widespread. Such negative manifestations of the eating behavior of schoolchildren are largely determined by nutritional unawareness and necessitate appropriate measures for enhancing food literacy to preserve and strengthen health of the younger generation.

Objectives: To assess nutritional awareness of contemporary schoolchildren in a digital environment using a modified questionnaire.

Materials and methods: We modified the questionnaire developed on the basis of ten principles of healthy eating promoted by the World Health Organization to establish healthy diet awareness of 73 Moscow fifth-year schoolchildren. The self-administered questionnaire contained 23 questions.

Results: Almost all the respondents lacked the necessary level of knowledge about healthy eating: 93 % and 7 % of the schoolchildren had a moderate and low food literacy level, respectively, and none of the pupils demonstrated a high level of awareness. The diet was perceived as unbalanced or partially balanced by 14 % and 7 %, respectively, and high-calorie – by 70 % of the respondents. Only 10 % of the pupils agreed that the diet influenced their school performance, while 20 % of them were not sure about that and 70 % disagreed.

Conclusions: The identified eating disorders were associated with the level of food literacy. Our questionnaire proved to be an effective tool of obtaining detailed information about dietary habits of schoolchildren, and it can therefore be recommended for a larger survey aimed at early detection of eating disorders, improvement of food literacy, and prevention of nutrition-related health problems.

Introduction: Efficiency criteria of recreational facilities for children shall be updated in the light of goals and tasks set for contemporary camps.

Objective: To evaluate parents’ opinion about organization of recreation and health improvement in children’s summer camps.

Materials and methods: In 2019–2020, an anonymous questionnaire-based survey of 343 parents, potential consumers of children’s recreation services, from 48 Russian regions was carried out with support of the Internet catalog of children’s camps incamp.ru.

Results: According to the parents, the main purpose of the children’s stay in the camp is rest (88.0 % of the respondents; 95 % confidence interval (CI): 84.6–91.5), mastering of communication skills and making new friends (79.9 %; 95 % CI: 75.6–84.1), health improvement (49.0 %; 95 % CI: 43.7–54.3), and acquisition of new knowledge (48.1 %; 95 % CI: 42.8–53.4). A third of the parents positively assessed health improvement of their child in the camp without specifying its criteria (32.3 %; 95 % CI: 27.4– 37.4); 27.1 % (95 % CI: 22.4–31.8) noted an improvement in the child physical and emotional state. The respondents believed that child health improvement was strongly influenced by increased physical activity (86.6 %; 95 % CI: 83.0–90.2), diet quality (83.7 %; 95 % CI: 79.8–87.6), camp location (77.0 %; 95 % CI: 72.5–81.4), and living conditions (74.3 %; 95 % CI: 69.7–79.0). The parents were of the opinion that the length of stay was of least importance for health improvement (32.1 %; 95 % CI: 27.1–37.0).

Conclusions: An effective system of developing children’s recreation and health improvement should take into account that parents and guardians are an essential part of it as potential consumers of children’s recreation services and their current expectations need to be considered when updating efficiency criteria for children’s camps.

Introduction: Current vocational secondary education (VSE) in Russia is characterized by a focus on practical training (as part of dual training) aimed at improving professional competencies of graduates. It also demonstrates negative trends in adolescent health, which requires optimization and development of specific algorithms of medical support for students aged 14–22 years and older appropriate to their academic and practical workload.

Objective: To assess adaptation of college students to learning conditions, depending on their health status, and to substantiate ways of improving their health care.

Material and methods: We retrieved and analyzed information from the database of multicenter studies conducted within the unified program of the National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health of the Russian Ministry of Health. Our sample included 197 first- and second-year college boys from the cities of Omsk and Moscow studying to become welders and auto mechanics. The quality of life, health and well-being indicators were evaluated according to the International Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form (MOS SF-36). The students were divided into subgroups based on their health status. The statistical processing complied with modern requirements and criteria of evidence-based medicine.

Results: We established that vocational schools admitted a significant number of applicants with the above specialty preferences suffering from chronic diseases (21.1–26 %). Results of the questionnaire-based survey of future welders and car mechanics revealed difficulties in adaptation to the educational process of the students with chronic disorders expressed by lower quality of life indicators, frequent health complaints and feelings of fatigue, especially in second-year students who experience an increasing academic and practical workload.

Conclusions: Students with chronic diseases mastering professions with hazardous working conditions represent population at risk, require health monitoring, determination of professional suitability, and control over the working conditions in industrial practice. The importance of protecting health of future professionals is determined by implementation of practice-based training in 42 % of vocational schools. Models of school medicine proposed to optimize health care in comprehensive schools can be adapted to conditions of secondary vocational facilities. Foreign studies have proved feasibility of an early onset of work-related diseases in certain occupations, even before completion of training, thus necessitating vocational guidance, professional medical advice, and development of an effective system of medical support for adolescents and students.

Background: In the right dose, physical activity can bring health benefits.

Objectives: To assess indicators of health and physical development of students engaged in amateur sports.

Materials and methods: The study involved 30 male students aged 23.8 ± 0.3 years. We established their daily energy expenditures, integral indices characterizing their physical development, such as body weight, Pignet, strength, vitality, and Kerdo vegetative indices, endurance rate, circulatory efficiency, and the index of functional changes. We also analyzed cardiovascular system parameters including heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure at rest, after exercise and after exercise recovery. Results of the biochemical blood test taken the next morning after workout were used to evaluate the status of functions and systems of the body.

Results: Energy expenditures amounted to 3,665.5 ± 37.3 kcal. Students were physically strong, their functional capabilities of the respiratory system and adaptation to sports (according to the activity of the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system) were found satisfactory while their physical activity was assessed as high (hard work). In the body, catabolic processes pre was evidenced by the index of functional changes (in 57.7 % of the students adaptation was in the state of functional stress); reaction of the cardiovascular system (endurance and heart rates, circulatory efficiency, creatine kinase MB, troponin-1, ALT, and LDH); increased erythropoiesis; hormonal changes (cortisol, testosterone); changes in the metabolism of proteins (total protein, urea, uric acid), fats (total cholesterol, high- and low-density lipoproteins), and hormones (cortisol, testosterone); signs of an early stage of anemia (erythrocytes, total protein, ferritin).

Conclusion: The use of the methodology for assessing the functional status of the human body by integral and biochemical criteria during recovery period after exercise enables pre-nosology diagnostics and prevention of health disorders during active sports.

Background: One of the main negative factors of the educational environment is the increased stress impact on the cardiovascular system of students preparing for examinations. The cumulative effect of a long-term, systematic exposure to stressors may be accompanied by impaired mental and somatic health of students. The extent of response to stress is individual; it is usually determined by cardiovascular health and a complex of psychophysiological characteristics of the body.

Objective: To study the main parameters of central hemodynamics in medical students depending on the body mass index and adaptive potential in the pre-examination study period

Materials and methods: In spring–summer 2019, 170 medical students (young men and women aged 20.4 ± 0.3 years) with different adaptive potential of the circulatory system were surveyed during a pre-exam study period to establish their anthropometric indicators, blood pressure and heart rate and to further estimate the body mass index and the main central hemodynamics parameters.

Results: The average heart rate of students during the pre-exam study period was 85.4 ± 12.21 beats per minute. The level of metabolic and energy processes in the myocardium was characterized as moderate with a tendency to insufficient functional capacity of the cardiovascular system (CI = 90.4 ± 1.22). Significant differences were revealed in a number of parameters un-der study depending on gender, body mass index (F = 3.99; p = 0.00890) and the adaptive potential of the circulatory system (F = 23.08; p = 0.00000).

Conclusions: In the pre-examination study period, both the heart rate and the Kerdo index among the students were elevated, which indicates the predominance of sympathetic autonomic stress. The students with tense adaptation mechanisms demonstrated higher values of certain hemodynamic parameters. The pulse pressure and the Robinson index were higher in overweight students compared to their peers with a normal body mass index. None of the students with class 1 obesity had a satisfactory level of adaptation of the circulatory system. The analysis of central hemodynamic parameters enables the assessment of tolerance of the cardiovascular system of students to the burden of learning.

Introduction: The key objective of national projects is to maintain and promote health of citizens. Nutrition makes a significant contribution to health protection; yet, problems related to quantitative and qualitative characteristics of nutrition, food safety, and high risks of nutrition-related diseases are obvious. Current trends necessitate the development of new approaches to training specialists majoring in preventive medicine. The students mastering a specialty program shall acquire general cultural and professional competencies and be ready to perform medical, organizational, managerial, and research activities, including those needed to respond to challenges related to safe and high-quality nutrition. The required competency building occurs when studying the main academic disciplines and may be then reinforced and deepened by the variable part (or elective academic component) of the educational program.

Objective: To substantiate the content of the variable part of the educational program on food safety aimed to improve the quality of training of public health physicians in this area.

Materials and methods: Based on the requirements of the federal higher education standard, professional standard and an exemplary educational program of higher education for students majoring in medical and preventive care, the curriculum of the Ural State Medical University was supplemented with optional academic disciplines containing separate sections on food hygiene, as well as the discipline titled “Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance over Food Production and Sale”.

Results and conclusions: The experience in the development and implementation of optional academic disciplines has demonstrated their high demand by students and general satisfaction with results of training. It has also created conditions for multiple repetition and consolidation of learning materials by means of food examinations in class, hygienic education according to individual and group programs, and studies of new technologies for food production, circulation, quality and safety assurance.

Background: It is of current importance to develop an algorithm for assessing chemical and physical safety of products for children and adolescents made with such innovative materials as organic cotton, bamboo, fibers and threads containing silver ions used for children’s underwear, materials impregnated with marigold extract for insoles of children’s footwear, and diapers from plant raw materials. The institute conducts testing and scientific substantiation of children’s goods made using innovative technologies.

Objective: To assess safety of diapers made with innovative materials (ECO-diapers).

Materials and methods: We conducted physicochemical, toxicological and organoleptic testing of 200 samples of medium size disposable baby ECO-diapers made with innovative materials.

Results: The results of chemical and toxicological tests of ECO-diapers in a model aqueous environment showed that the formaldehyde concentration in aqueous extracts of the diaper samples ranged from 0.08 ± 0.020 to 0.1 mg/dm³; toxicity index values – from 74.1 to 89.1 %; pH – from 0.35 to 0.5 units, and the total phenolic content – from < 0.005 to 0.024 ± 0.002 mg/dm³, thus being within permissible limits. Measured concentrations of acetaldehyde, acrylonitrile, acetone, benzene, hexane, methyl and propyl alcohols, toluene, ethyl acetate, lead, arsenic, zinc, chromium were also below threshold values. Chemical testing of the samples of baby diapers in a model air environment with exposure duration of 4, 12, and 24 hours detected migration of chemicals already after four hours of exposure, which did not change following 12 and 24 hours. The value of water absorption capacity, which is one of the main indicators of functional benefit of diapers, ranged from 307.6 ± 30.8 g to 355.5 ± 35.5 g and significantly exceeded the established standard (not less than 240.0 g for medium size diapers) owing to the use of innovative materials in the production of ECO-diapers.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate the necessity to develop special methodological approaches to measuring breathability of ECO- and traditional diapers, to regulate smell by including this organoleptic quality criterion in the list of safety requirements, and to limit exposure duration in a model air environment to four hours.