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The purpose of the investigation was to comprehensively assess working conditions and their impact on the health of female workers engaged in the manufacture of present-day paper wallpaper. A complex of sanitary-and-hygienic, clinical-and-physiological, sociomedical, and statistical studies was used to tackle the tasks set in the investigation. Stage 1 made a sanitary-and-hygienic assessment of industrial factors (microclimate, noise, vibration, the content of toxicants and dust) in the workplaces of female workers from the papering shops using an Elita rolling automatic machine. The following stage analyzed morbidity among the workers and identified a number of functional parameters. A combination of poor factors characterizing their parameters and exceeding the sanitary standards influenced on the workers engaged in the manufacture of paper wallpaper. The leading harmful industrial factors are heating microclimate, production noise, and the working air level of harmful chemical substances in the working air. The production process under such microclimatic conditions causes the body's thermal changes characterized by the senses of total warm discomfort and the tension of thermoregulatory mechanisms, as confirmed by weighed mean skin temperature studies and decreased working capacity. The working conditions in the manufacture of wallpaper products are shown to result in an increase in female morbidity.

Objective: to assess an effect of chemical contaminants contained in emissions of pulp and paper mill on prevalence respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in population of Novodvinsk. The average annual concentrations of chemicals of concern were calculated by modeling. A prevalence of population was studied by using of the primary medical documentation in sex among children from 0 to 17 and adults from 65 and older Hazard index (HIi) was used to assess the non-cancer health effects. Unit risk was used to calculate individual cancer risk (CR). Testing of null hypothesis was conducted by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and ?2. The hazard index for respiratory tract (HIi = 3,54; 95% CI: 3.34-3.70) and cardiovascular system (HIi = 0.78; 95% /DE: 0.74-0.82) in the district close to the Arkhangelsk pulp and paper mill (APPM) were higher than in remote districts. In this district the prevalence of bronchial asthma in boys (30.7+13.8%), women (47.0+9.8%) and men (127.4+45.2%) was the highest. Also in this district the prevalence of hypertension among women (139.1+14.4%) and men (311.5+56.1%), diseases of veins among women (48.2+10.8%) and diseases of upper respiratory tract among men (177.0+36.4%) was higher than in remote districts from the APPM. The level of CR in the district located close by the APPM was acceptable (1.0 (10-5; 95% CI: 9.0 (10-6-1, 18(10-5).

To evaluate the cytogenetic and cytotoxic effects of a set of pollutions in the town of Koryazhma, the investigators made a complete karyological analysis (cytogenetic, apoptotic, and indirect proliferation parameters) of buccal and nasal epithelial exfoliative cells in two groups of old school age children living at various distances from a pulp-and-paper mill (PPM). The residential area that is adjacent to the PPM can be considered to be poor in the influence of genotoxic factors since there were 1.6- and 1.65-fold increases in cytogenetic disorders and cells with an atypically shaped nucleus, respectively, with a 1.57-fold reduction in the level of cell apoptosis. Karyological changes were revealed in the nasal mucosa, rather than in the buccal mucosa, which permitted one to recommend for the evaluation of the influence of environmental factors, the impact of ambient air pollution in particular, and to conduct cytogenetic studies on the cells of not only the buccal epithelium (that has been better studied), but also those of the nasal epithelium.

Sanitary-chemical, bacteriological and toxicological characterization of sediments in the regions of the pulp and paper mills sewage letting out are given. Methods of the analytical control are offered.

The contributors used the sensibilization threshold to establish MACs for the dust of the fodder yeast produced as a result of pulp and paper waste products' recycling. The product belongs to the group of substances with low toxicity. It does not produce local irritation and exhibits sensibilization properties in case of both epi- and intracutaneous introduction. The sensibilization threshold in repeated introductions of protein-containing dusts was registered at 4.1 mg/m3. In industrial conditions, the fodder yeast concentrations at the level of about 4 mg/m3 caused increased morbidity with temporary disability.

A complex physiological-hygienic assessment of the adaptational capabilities of the organism of students trained to be electrofitters and technologists in the dynamics of a 2-year course in vocational-technical schools has been carried out. The data obtained show the tension of adaptational mechanisms not only during the first, but also during the second year of studying. It has been found out that the conditions of occupational training are the factor that impedes the adaptation of students to studying at VTS.

Standard test paper, recommended by the WHO for the assessment of the arthropod sensitivity, was used to assess the sensitivity of Ornithodoros papillipes, the agent of tick-borne relapsing fever, to a number of pesticides widely used in or holding good promise for the agent control. Poor sensitivity of the tick to dieldrin, malathion, propoxur, bendiocarb (less than 40% of the ticks died after 1 h exposure), satisfactory sensitivity to DDT, and permetrin (60% of the ticks died), and very high sensitivity to deltametrin (100% death of the ticks) were revealed. The authors believe that the ticks will be similarly sensitive to other cyan-containing pyretroids.

The authors compare the results of vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) excretion measurements by high-voltage electrophoresis on paper and by microelectrophoresis on cellulose acetate. Transverse scanning of electrophoregrams has been used for quantitative evaluation of the results of microelectrophoregrams on cellulose acetate. The results of VMA excretion measurements by the two methods have been in good correlation: r = 0.93, n = 15, y = 0.17 + 0.78x, p less than 0.01. Electrophoresis on cellulose acetate is three times less labor consuming and can be performed with Soviet equipment and maintenance medium. The excretion intensity can be assessed visually by reference values of VMA concentration.