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Background: To provide the population with inexpensive and effective medical products of domestic production is one of the most important public health tasks. These may include therapeutic muds, the high therapeutic value of which is confirmed by many years of positive experience with peloid therapy. The basis for interest in therapeutic muds is their efficiency in treating many diseases and regularly discovered new opportunities for their use., Objective: To strive to streamline the use of previously discovered therapeutic muds in Kazakhstan, to search for new hydromineral resources, and to register the latter as minerals., Material and Methods: The material was the results of the analysis of published data on studies of therapeutic muds, their use for medicinal purposes in sanatorium and extrasanatorium conditions, which had been prepared during the grant financing project 'Development of an innovative procedure for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of therapeutic muds in Southeastern Kazakhstan as hydromineral raw materials' (IRN AR 05130934) in 2018., Results and Conclusion: The paper provides a brief description of the results of the study of therapeutic mud deposits in Western Kazakhstan, North Kazakhstan, and the Almaty Region. It gives the main list of diseases in which the use of mud therapy is effective.

The assessment of environmental factors influence on the population quality of life is one of the generally accepted methods of health status evaluation. The leading position in the structure of stress factors associated with nuclear weapons testing is attributed to inadequate informing of the population considering the consequences of radiation exposure, which leads to the development of anxiety and affects the assessment of the quality of life. This paper presents the outcomes of the quality of life evaluation in the population exposed to radiation on the territories of Abai (n=233), Borodulikha (n=222), and Kurchum districts (n=245) of East Kazakhstan region. The tool for assessing the quality of life was SF-36 (Medical outcomes survey short form-36) questionnaire. The analysis of the results revealed the statistically significant decrease in the quality of life of the population of Abay district where the average radiation doses of the respondents (or doses of their parents) were maximal in comparison with control group presented by the population of Kurchum district. In order to minimize the stressful impact of the radiation factor it is necessary to introduce the effective methods of psychological protection for the local population.

This paper reports the results of replicative analysis of associations of 15 SNPs in a region of 14 genes previously identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) with early-onset schizophrenia in Kazakhs. An association of early-onset schizophrenia with genetic markers in three genes (VRK2, KCNB2, and CPVL) was found. An association of rs2312147 in the VRK2 gene with schizophrenia was also previously reported in the Chinese population, so this marker may be considered as possibly race-specific. Two groups consisting of four and six genes demonstrating intergenic epistatic interactions were revealed by multifactor dimensionality reduction methods. The gene ontologies of 14 studied genes were reduced to variants of one molecular function (peptidase activity) and one biological process (positive regulation of biosynthesis processes). Bioinformatic analysis of the protein-protein interactions of products of the genes under study demonstrates that the products of six out of 14 genes may be involved in a single interrelated network, the major connecting link of which is represented by their ubiquitination by the UBC protein.

The Syr-Darya valley fever virus (SDVFV) was originally isolated from the blood of the patient with fever in the Kyzylorda province, Kazakhstan, in July 1973 and was classified to the Cardiovirus genus (fam. Picornaviridae). Later, SDVFV was isolated from the ticks Hyalomma as. asiaticum Schulze et Schlottke, 1929 (Hyalomminae) (1 strain) and Dermacentor daghestanicus Olenev, 1929 (Rhipicephalinae) (7 strains), collected in the floodplains of the Syr-Darya river and the Ili river. In this paper, complet genome of the SDVFV (strain LEIV-Tur2833) was sequenced using the next-generation sequencing approach (GenBank ID: KJ191558). It was demonstrated that, phylogenetically, the SDVFV is closely related closest to the Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) and Vilyuisk human encephalomyelitis virus (VMEV). The similarity of the SDVFV with VHEV and TMEV based on P1 region of the polyprotein-precursor (structural proteins VP1-VP4), reaches 75% and 91% for nucleotide sequences and 80% and 93% for putative amino acid sequences, respectively. For nonstructural proteins regions P2 (2A-2C) and P3 (3A-3D) similarity of SDVFV with TMEV and VHEV is 96%-98%.

This paper reports results of international multicentre non-interventional clinical study of the effectiveness and safety of ascoril expectorant for the treatment of cough in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The study included 16312 patients examined in different cities during 2011-2012. It showed that ascoril expectorant (Glenmark) at a standard dose is an effective agent for the treatment of cough in children above 3 years and adults aged up to 78 years with ARVI and acute bronchitis, exacerbation of these conditions or grade I-II chronic obstructire pulmonary disease. Most patients reported good therapeutic effect within 1 day after intake. Ascoril expectorant caused no adverse reactions and was well tolerated by the patients. 91% of the attending physicians describe the drug as highly effective.

The paper gives information on the prevalence of allergic diseases in Aktobe depending on the level of an anthropotechnogenic load area. The findings indicate that children that the degree of immunodeficiency in persons living in different micro-areas of the city depends on the magnitude of environmental pollution. Among allergic diseases, pollinoses (58.6%) rank first, asthma (19.9%) and allergic rhinitis (15.6%) occupy the second and third places, respectively. At the same time, the incidence of allergic diseases is 21.2-30.3% of all cases in the areas near an industrial area and 9.1-12.1% in those maximally remote from it. The impact of environmental quality on the incidence of allergic diseases depends on gender and age.

The paper presents the results of a review of 69 reports published by Kazakhstan scientists over 50 years. For this period, mesotheliomas were diagnosed in 5 of 14 areas of the country. The basic clinical, demographic, medical, and statistical data are concordant with those published elsewhere on this pathology.

The paper deals with the evaluation of the influence of environmental factors on human health. It analyzes morbidity rates and their prediction in the biogeochemically exposed area.

It is suggested in the paper how to finance stages of healthcare in Kazakhstan. The introduction of the Budget Code is expected to change the functioning of the financial department for the better.

The paper contains the results of an analysis of stages related with emergence of standardization of the healthcare system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Attempts are described to standardize (unify) the medical services rendered to the country's population that lasted for as long as 10 years. The first medical standards of diagnosis and treatment comprised the clinical components alone, whereas the most recent standard embraces also the results of economic estimates, which show the cost of diagnostic and therapeutic measures as well as of surgical and anesthetic interventions. A lack of a unified methodological basis as well as of a normative-and-legal foundation and of analytical research is for today a problem for the promotion of standardization in Kazakhstan. At the same time, introduction of new economic relations into the healthcare system is impossible without evaluating the quality of medical care, which must be expressed both quantitatively and qualitatively and which is possible only if the actual measures and achieved results are compared with the defined norms and standards.

Described in the paper is the normative-and-legal system for the state purchases of medical services in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

The paper delves into the main regularities of the distribution of fossil microorganisms in Precambrian rocks, beginning from the Archean Eon about 3.5 billion years ago and ending in the Cambrian Period about 0.5 billion years ago. The paper analyzes facial peculiarities in the lateral differentiation of microfossils in Proterozoic basins and the main stages of temporal changes in fossil cyanobacterial communities, which are based on the irreversible succession of physicochemical conditions on the Earth and the evolution of eukaryotic microorganisms and their incorporation into prokaryotic ecosystems. To gain insight into Proterozoic fossil records, modern stratified cyanobacterial mats built up from layers of prokaryotes are considered. The analysis of phosphatization, carbonatization, and silification processes in modern algal-bacterial communities suggests that analogous processes took place in Proterozoic microbiotas. A comparison of modern and Precambrian living forms confirms the inference that cyanobacterial communities are very conservative and have changed insignificantly both morphologically and physiologically during the past two billion years.

The paper presents data available in the literature on the natural foci of plague, tularemia, tick-borne spirochetosis, Crimean hemorrhagic fever, tick typhus, Q fever, zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis. The largest number of transmissible infections is shown to be in the natural areas of deserts and piedmont semiarid lands.

The paper analyzes medicosocial problems of occupational stress, characteristics of stressor reactions associated with the health status, job parameters, and lifestyle of different social groups of population. The incidence of stress among various occupational groups in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan has been studied. The authors have detected the role of external and internal environmental factors (social, demographic, biological) in the appearance and development of stress. Recommendations are offered on the detection of stress, identification of groups by the severity of stressor reactions, and formation of risk groups. The scope and type of therapeutic and prophylactic care in specific groups followed up is outlined.

The paper is concerned with multifactorial assessment of the air anthropogenic contamination effect on development of chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases, chronic bronchitis (CB) in particular. Methodological approaches to identify etiological significance of anthropogenic effects in CB genesis include measurements of the air contaminants, calculation of the total contamination index, selection of the study and control territories, analysis of medical documents, conduction of wide-scale medical examinations. CB developing in the conditions of the above contamination is characterized by obstructions, bronchospastic components, other separate or systemic disorders.

The paper discusses the need to develop an effective system of proficiency tests to be used in teaching oncology to general practitioners. Consideration should be made of both the state of the art of oncology teaching method and limited time assigned to it in medical college curricula.

The paper represents some results of a joint commission, organized by the USSR Ministry of Health by order of the USSR Council of Ministers at public requests. The commission worked in the area neighbouring the proving ground at Semipalatinsk in the period of May-July 1988. A radiological situation there was investigated after underground nuclear testing on July 8, 1989. The results of measurements and archive data were used to estimate doses of radiation exposure of the population in the period of 1949 (nuclear testing on the ground and in the atmosphere) and in the period of underground testing, It was shown that in the period of 1949-1963 approximately 10,000 people received increased doses of external and internal irradiation. A high level of radiation-induced chromosome aberrations was noted among them. The highest effective equivalent doses of external and internal irradiation were received by the residents in the villages of Folon' (1.6 Gy during the first testing in 1949), Karaul (0.37 Gy), Sarzhal (0.20 Gy), Semenovka (0.02 Gy). The annual effective equivalent doses at that period did not exceed 0.0056 Gy (the highest value) for the Semipalatinsk residents. Proceeding from the values of collective doses probable long-term effects (malignant tumors) were assessed. Recommendations and conclusions of the commission are presented.

There has been no information on cystogenous nematodes of the genus Heterodera injuring apple trees. The paper checks the first finding of these nematodes on the roots of a cultivated apple tree. The nematodes proved to be a new species, Heterodera mali sp. n. The apple cystogenous nematode resembles the potato cystogenous nematode H. rostochiensis Woll. in having a round body, small cleft of the vulva and similar sizes of eggs. It differs from H. rostochiensis in smaller sizes (on the average 5 against 9) very transparent and thin cuticle, a small distance between vulva and anus (on the average 43 against 86), a smaller value of the Granek's index (on the average 1.3 against 4.6), a smaller number of cuticular folds between vulva and anus (on the average 7 against 21) and different plant-hosts. A detailed description of H. mali sp. n. is given.

The question as to the prevalence of toxigenic microscopic fungi in foodstuffs originating in Kazakhstan is but little studied. In particular, no information on the microflora in the products coming from the south-western areas of the republic are available. The paper brings forth the results consequent upon the study of the problem in the Guriev and Dzhambul regions typical of this area. Microflora in 317 samples of various foodstuffs (wheat grains, flour and mealy products, rice, husket millet, dried meat, etc.) taken in rural families was studied by conventional methods. A highly frequent and intensive contamination of the vegetable and animal products with micomycetes, among which a definite prevalence of the species belonging to genus Aspergillus was noted. Aspergilli were represented mainly by the species known by their toxigenicity (A. flavus, A. fumigatus, A. candidus, A. niger, A. versicolor and others). A conclusion is drawn as to a potential hazard of mycotoxicoses arising in the south-western part of Kazakhstan. Recommendations for instituting preventive measures are given.

In the course of studies on the ecological structure of acute febrile diseases in the season of activity of blood-sucking arthropods strains of a virus antigenically related to Sikhote-Alyñ virus were isolated from the blood of a patient and from Ixodid ticks. This paper presents the results of the study on the causative agent and the clinical picture of the disease caused by this virus. The virus was found to be a new one for science; its appurtenance to the family Picornaviridae, genus Cardiovirus, the antigenic group of encephalomyocarditis has been determined. The virus has been designated "Syr-Darya Valley fever virus" by the area of its isolation.