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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.

The cytological state of nasal and oral mucosae in the children and adolescents living in the town of Koryazhma was evaluated at the schools located differently from the Kotlas pulp-and-paper mill (PPM). All the Kozyazhma children under examination were found to have an increased epithelocytic alteration index, which is likely to suggest cytotoxic exposure, which was shown to a greater extent with the duration of residence at the school more adjacent to the PPM. The first-form pupils from the school locates more closely to the PPM were found to showed a higher index of natural microflora colonization with buccal epitheliocytes and a trend for an increase in the epitheliocytic differentiation coefficient characterizing the high incidence of diseases.

In the paper there is evaluated the relationship of features of electronic state of the environment with a level of chronic, noninfectious diseases (CNID) in the regions of Russia, obtained on the basis of the monitoring measurements of the intensity of natural background electronic Bose condensate (BEBC) of natural ecosystems in a number of Russian regions and seas of the Arctic Ocean. The assessment of BEBC was implemented on results of measurements of redox state of distilled water being in the contact with natural water. The equilibrium redox state of distilled water, determined by the influx of electrons (quantum reduction) outside, is proportional to the intensity of BEBC. The obtained data attest to an increase in the intensity of the background of EBC in Siberia regions and, especially, within the limits ofwaters of Lake Baikal (the redox potential of the surface water in the lake ~ -70mV). Also there is observed a strong dependence of the background EBC in the latitudinal direction. Low levels of background EBC were noted in the Arkhangelsk region and the north-eastern Chukotka. Functioning of international systems of plasma sounding of ionosphere (such systems as HAARP) were established to have a detrimental effect on the background EBC in these regions. According to the results of measurements of the relative values of intensities of natural background of Bose condensate of electrons there was constructed the dependence reflecting the relationship of the prevalence of noninfectious diseases in the regions of Russia with the redox state of distilled water which can be characterized as a significant (regression coefficient R2 = 0.78). The relationship between noninfectious diseases (NID, %) with the intensity of the background of EBC (Ib rel. units) is estimated by the equation: NID [%] = 0.24Eh [mV]-25, where Eh ~ I/Ib. Numerical evaluations show that an increase in the biosphere redox potential of water by 90mV leads to an increase of the primary incidence by 20% (relatively to the average values for Russia). Analysis of results attests to the relationship of CNID with the electrophysical state of the environment that allows from different positions to arrive to true causes of their emergence, associated with changes in the electrophysical conditions of habitation and human activities that lead to the nascency of cellular metabolic disturbances.

The paper characterizes clinical, hormonal, and immunological parameters in 443 female patients residing under anthropogenic loading. The high prevalence of thyroid diseases was ascertained in infertile women living in an industrial center. Non-pregnant patients were found to have more pronounced hormonal changes than pregnant ones. The immunity status data may be suggestive of cell-mediated and humoral immunity derangements that are typical of secondary immunodeficiency.

The paper analyzes the clinical and laboratory features of Lamblia infection in children living under long-term low-dose chemical load. The scientific search methodology comprised the meticulous examination of the patients randomized by the presence or absence of protozoonosis and the statistical processing and expert analysis of the results. The comprehensive approach could define the main signs of the pathomorphism of lambliosis in the areas with high anthropogenic loads and identify immunological disorders, intoxication, and hepatobiliary dysfunctions. The impact of environmentally induced chemical contamination of the biosphere on the natural history of protozoonosis should be borne in mind when evaluating the biological hazard and risk of environmental biological factors on the population health and when scheduling and implementing hygienic and sanitary-and-epidemiological measures to prevent lambliosis in the high anthropogenic load areas.

The paper provides the results of experimental risk assessment of exposure to a biological factor combined with a chemical factor, which present with the protein-bearing dust and sulfur dioxide. The regularities and specific features of the functioning of the body's physiological systems have been revealed in the development of responses to combined exposure to biological and chemical factors, which show that the response may take three basic paths: sensitization, allergopathy, and toxic allergopathy. The essentials of the methodology evaluating and predicting the nature of the biological effects of a response in the experimental study of combined exposure to biological and chemical factors of the nature have been developed.

The paper presents the general principles and procedure of the development and implementation of measures to decrease and prevent environmental pollution with persistent toxic substances (PTS) in the Russian Arctic and, accordingly, to reduce a risk of the deleterious effects of PTS on human health. Based on the results of a study of PTS in the Russian Arctic (from the Kola Peninsula to Chukotka), the authors first systematized the basic lines and actions and formulated specific measures to reduce the North population's exposure to PTSs, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, organic chlorine pesticides (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, hexachlorocyclohexane, hexachlorobenzene, etc.), and heavy metals (mercury, lead, cadmium). A package of measures is aimed at maximally reducing the presence of PTS-containing objects and materials in the north (via detection, collection, and extermination), at neutralizing the soils in settlement lands, at setting up safe water consumption systems, at organizing effective control over the safe use of chemicals and the levels of PTS in raw food materials and foodstuffs, and at working out recommendations on safe procedures for food purchase, storage, and cooking.

The paper gives data on the nature of snow cover pollution in the urbanized areas in relation to the remoteness from the basic sources of ambient air pollution. The total snow content of carcinogens has been estimated.

The paper deals with the morbidity- and mortality-associated problem arising from the processes occurring in the transition period of development of new Russia. It points to the leading role of health care service in this process. The authors show the real health status of the working population, the actual state of affairs with the rendering primary medical care at industrial institutions. Measures are proposed to apply specific science-based health-promoting technologies adopted from Russian space medicine and called prenosological monitoring.

The paper gives an algorithm, a procedure for calculation of aircraft noise, and its spread modeling. The performed investigations have provided guidelines that will become the first Russian official guiding document for assessing a risk from aviation noise to human health.

The paper describes the ecological and hygienic significance of the physical factors of the urban dwelling environment: the macroclimate of a residential area, the microclimate within the residential and public buildings, the ionic ozone regimen of premises, an electromagnetic load on the population, the problems associated with noise and light exposure. It also gives an integrated assessment of the current air-conditioning systems, household electric appliances, and building engineering systems. A system of measures is proposed to optimize the quality of the urban dwelling environment.

The paper considers the problem while studying various physical factors of the environment. It presents prospects for further investigations of the influence of physical factors on human health and the quality of the environment. The paper also gives a detailed description of advances and promising lines of studies in the area under discussion.

The paper considers the problem in the comparative assessment of a carcinogenic risk and harm from ionizing irradiation and some chemical ambient air pollutants (formaldehyde, suspended matter) to the population's health in the Kolsky peninsula. The findings suggest that a chemical risk factor has a much greater impact on human health than a radiation risk factor, which should be taken into account while developing a nature-conservation policy in the region.

The occurring climate changes have a considerable impact on human health. The higher frequency of different natural disasters, including flood and typhoons, deteriorates the epidemiological situation. Evidence is provided for the importance of climate warming as a risk factor for a number of communicable diseases, including West Nile fever in the Astrakhan and Volgograd Regions. The paper presents the results of analytical epidemiological surveys, by using the time-series analysis, in Tver and Moscow, which indicate an increase in the number of fatal outcomes particularly among the elderly during temperature heat and cold waves. The specific features of the impact of climate warming on human health in the northern and southern regions of the country are considered. The need for developing the National Plan of Actions to prevent the population's health from climate changes is warranted.

The paper gives the data of studies establishing the regularities of formation of the composition, levels, and space-time features of pollution of ambient air, soil, and drinking water in the risk of their influence of the health status of the children residing in the urbanized and rural areas. The studies have ascertained that the magnitude of a complex anthropogenic load of the environment on the pediatric population living in the urbanized area is 4.9 times higher than that in the rural area. The priority chemical pollutants are different in the urbanized and rural areas. The urbanized area has been found to be most unfavorable as to the risk of development of non-carcinogenic effects with the calculated hazard indices being kept in mind. The same trend is shown for the calculated population risk indices.

The paper presents data on morbidity in the population living in the suburban area of an industrial center (the city of Ryazan), by taking into account gross ambient emission from the stationary sources, ambient pollution levels, and a sanitary assessment of the quality of life. Differences were found only in the extent of specific emission (per km2 and per capita). The studies in the 1991-2006 changes in the health status of the children living in the suburban areas indicated that the average many years' morbidity rates were significantly less than those in the city (other than diseases of blood and blood organs), but these were at the level of the average regional rates. The comparison of childhood morbidity in the suburban areas versus a control area revealed a significant rise in morbidity with the diagnosis first established as a whole and by individual classes of diseases. Morbidity and correlation analysis in the rural areas adjacent to the industrial center suggest that ambient emission of chemicals from the stationary sources has a great impact on these parameters.

The paper presents data of examining 238 residents from the Yamal region. The study of free radical oxidation values in patients with dyslipidemia has revealed that there is an association between the parameters of lipid metabolism and the rate of lipid peroxidation and the activation of the antioxidant system.

The paper provides data on the assessment of a carcinogenic risk to the population of Bratsk, a large industrial center. Long-term ambient air pollution with 3,4-benz(a)pyrene, formaldehyde, chromium, and other impurities causes the inadmissible level of a risk that has some differences for dwellers in some districts of the town. Clinical and immunological studies of an apparently healthy population revealed the tension of defensive immune mechanisms in the residents who were more exposed to pollution. Comparison of the level of breast cancer oncomarkers, neurospecific enolase in the sera of populations in the differently carcinogenic areas enables the level of man-made exposure to be considered as a significant risk factor.

The paper presents the results of examining the snow cover polluted with heavy metals in the large industrial town of Ufa. The level of man-caused burden on the snow cover of the conventional parts of the town was estimated and compared upon exposure to a wide range of snow cover pollutants. The priority snow cover pollutants were identified among the test heavy metals.

The paper considers the sources of water supply of the population of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District--Yugry. It gives data on the quality of water from the underground and surface sources. The reliably protected groundwater can meet the needs of the population of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District--Yugry for drinking water after improving its quality by aeration and filtration. An estimate of the population's provision with water is given by the towns and districts of the area. The state of most domestic water pipes was ascertained to be poor: 35.8% of the municipal water pipes and 75.0% of the departmental ones did not meet the hygienic requirements. 52.8% of water samples failed to meet the hygienic standards in sanitary and chemical indices, and 3.7% in microbiological ones, which undoubtedly affected the population's health. There are two ways of improving the water supply of the district's population: 1) to improve purification of the whole water delivered to inhabited localities and 2) to provide the population with high-quality water to be only drunk, including that to be bottled.

The paper considers the results of evaluating the functional capacities of the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous systems in students before studying at a higher educational establishment under poor conditions of the Middle Ob Region. Among the first-year students, there was a preponderance of persons with impaired adaptive mechanisms (64% of the examinees), which was attended by a varying increase in the activity of the sympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system. In young males, poor adaptations were 1.6 times more common than those in girls. In female students, the detected tension of regulatory systems was less marked than in male students. The findings make it necessary to monitor long the health status of students and to implement prophylactic measures during education.

Summary. The paper provides comparative characteristics of water quality in the assessment of a risk for intestinal infections in drinking water use. It has shown that of the greatest predictive value is direct detection of potentially pathogenic microorganisms, as well as the integral indicator determined by glucose fermentation, such as glucose-positive coliform bacteria. Estimation of the per cent of nonstandard samples of water before its entering the distribution network and in the latter, including glucose-positive Escherichia coli GPEC, is recommended. The samples containing GPEC in a quantity of more than 2 CFU/100 ml should be singly taken into account.

The paper considers theoretical approaches to and rules of thumb for compensation for socioenvironmental damage at the municipal level. There is evidence for the necessity of designing a uniform present-day package of methods to calculate the damage with a uniform complex of evaluation of all factors, both quantitative and non-quantitative ones. The authors propose to finish off early developed procedures to specify and quantify a health-exposure relationship, and to have a more adequate market economic interpretation of the above phenomena.

The paper presents the results of complex sanitary-and-epidemiological, toxicological-and-hygienic, and medical diagnostic studies of health and the environment, by taking into account the activity of a toxic industrial waste ground. Toxic waste burning on primitive unfiltered apparatuses was shown to lead to the formation of a biogeochemical province that is characterized by pollution of soil, bottom sediment, subsoil well water and snow with heavy metals, the components of toxic waste. Burning of waste and its storage in the open trenches resulted in ambient air pollution with organic solvents, nitric oxide and sulfur oxide had a negative impact on the health of children living at a distance of 3 km from the ground.

The paper considers the negative impact of weather changes in combination with the altered quality of ambient air on the economic and social spheres of society and on the population's health. It describes experience in assessing a possible damage to the health of the Moscow population from exposure to elevated concentrations of ambient air pollutants (suspended matter, nitrogen and sulfur dioxides, carbon oxide). The results of assessment simulation of dissemination of chemicals contained in the emission from the Moscow heat-and-power objects under poor weather conditions are presented.

The paper provides the results of a long-term study of morphofunctional health indices in children in an industrial town. In 1976-2001, there were negative changes in the children's health status, such in the parameters of physical development, in the prevalence of nervous, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and endocrine diseases in the area adjacent to the industrial zone of a town. The authors show it possible and expedient to use a medical and ecological questionnaire survey in the implementation of sociohygienic monitoring.

The paper presents the results of some guidance studies assessing the risk, recently conducted at the A. N. Sysin Research Institute of Human Ecology and Environmental Health, such as validation of toxicological and hygienic criteria for risk assessment upon short- and long-term human exposures to deleterious substances; development and introduction of methods for assessing health risk and damage, by applying computer technologies; elaboration of guidelines for establishing the cause-and-effect relationship of changes in health indices to those in the environment; characterization of damage caused by ambient air pollution in Russian cities and towns; possibilities of using the guidance for assessing the risk to improve sociohygienic monitoring. It also gives the results of testing scientific developments in the assessment of a multienvironmental risk in the areas exposed to emission from aluminum works (Khakasia) and chemical and petrochemical enterprises (Samara Region) and in the determination of contribution of emission from the Moscow fuel-and-energy complex to risks and damages to human health, caused by ambient air pollution. The urgent issues of further development of modern trends in risk guidance studies are determined.

The paper summarizes the results of implementation of the sociohygienic monitoring system in the Sverdlovsk Region, the stages of the populational and individual diagnosis, by using a risk-assessing methodology and current environmental and epidemiological studies. Sociohygienic monitoring allowed the priorities to be determined in health maintenance and promotion in the population of this region. The accumulated experience illustrated by some examples that have been earlier published in detail supports the need for a relationship of the above guidelines within the sociohygienic monitoring system, for the development of mechanisms responsible for risk management and further improvement of surveillance of the sanitary and epidemiological situation.

The paper describes a principal scheme of insurance protection organization due to the negative human influences of environmental factors and industrial risks as one of the most effective mechanisms responsible for controlling sanitary-and-epidemiological well-being and human health. It also considers how a voluntary medical collective insurance program and a civil responsibility insurance one are being implemented due to unforeseen damages done to the population's health and how the quality and safety of goods (work, services) are controlled. Organizational, methodic, and normative legal approaches are proposed to developing the population's insurance protection system.

The authors consider the organization of a system for monitoring of ambient air pollution by suspended matter (by fractions of less than 10 microm and less than 2.5 microm) as one of the most urgent tasks in the harmonization of the Russian and western methods for assessing the quality of the environment. The frame plan for organization of ambient air suspended matter monitoring in the countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasia, and Central Asia, proposed by the WHO European Regional Office provides basic guidelines for this system and may be adapted to Russian conditions, as evidenced by the author's experience. The paper summarizes the basic results of the studies that have established the association of respiratory disease in junior schoolchildren with exposure to PM10 and PM2.5.

Sanitary legislation plays an important role in supervisory activities ensuring the protection of consumers' rights and human well-being. The paper considers the basic laws and standard acts allowing for legal regulation in this sphere of activities.

The paper describes possible conditions for forming the natural and artificial geochemical provinces available on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as the impact of localities' soil pollution with chemicals on human health, by using specific areas as an example. Emphasis is laid on the fact that it is urgent to substantiate priorities to organize and manage a section of sociohygienic monitoring of localities' soil.

In the past two decades, there has been an increase in the number of earthquakes, tidal waves, accidents at chemically dangerous enterprises, and other types of catastrophes, which have posed an emergency survival problem for society. The scientific development of this problem has given rise to a new area of preventive medicine--catastrophe hygiene that is designed to eliminate (reduce) the poor influence of emergency factors and to offer the suffered population safe conditions of accommodation and/or life, water supply, nutrition, and other elements of survival under these conditions. The paper defines the subject and objects of studies in catastrophe hygiene. It characterizes the value and role of this science in the organization and implementation of preventive measures to liquidate the medicosanitary consequences of emergencies, as well as the place of hygienic facilities and research institutes within the framework of the Russian emergency service.

The paper presents the results of a complex biochemical study of the health status of children from Moscow, the Moscow Region, Yaroslavl, Cherepovets, the Voronezh Region, etc. The presented results allowed the authors to detect renal protective dysfunction in children in relation to environmental pollution. The greatest deviations of the studied parameters were observed in Moscow (Garden Ring, Central Administration Okrug (CAO)) and in the industrial town of Cherepovets (the area in vicinity of the Severostal enterprise). The results of a complex biomedical examination of 486 children in the Moscow CAO were first analyzed. The spread of changes was established in the studied parameters over a time, which indicates the presence of immunodeficiency, immunopathology, renal detoxifying dysfunction, and nasal and oral mucosal changes.

The entry of complexes of organic compounds, the components of the emissions from petrochemical and oil-refining plants into the environment leads to its quality and can have an adverse impact on the health status of the population in the area adjacent to the petrochemical plant. This paper deals with the formation of an evidence base for evaluating the etiopathogenetic role of the chemical components of emissions from a petrochemical plant in the development of diseases in the population under environmental conditions. The files of data accumulated in the period of 1994-2001 were analytically generalized in the electron database in accordance with the content of the priority chemical components of emissions in the body of 250 children living in the industrial area where the study plant is situated. The estimation of the level and time course of changes in toxicants in the blood of children identified health indicators to optimize monitoring and to evaluate the efficiency of environment-protective and therapeutic-and-prophylactic programs. The findings suggest that the elevated level of some organic compounds that exert a polytropic toxic effect on the vital organs and systems is a risk factor for diseases and requires a systemic monitoring.

The paper presents the results of an analysis of the efficiency of sanitary and environment-protective measures relating the ambient atmosphere in the oil-producing areas of the Republic of Tatarstan. It characterizes the environment-protective activity of the PJSC "Tatneft", gives a sanitary evaluation of the quality of the ambient air in the oil-producing areas. It has been ascertained that the improvement of manufacturing technology and the construction of gas and dust catching units on the oil-producing facilities reduce atmospheric pollutant emissions. The levels of hydrocarbons, nitric oxide, and hydrogen sulfide have been substantially decreased. At present, the influence of oil-producing facilities on the quality of the ambient air is 17-19%; the main source of atmospheric pollution is motor transport (its influence on atmospheric pollution is 40-56%). At present versus 1989-1995, the degree of pollution and the mutagenic potential of the ambient air are reduced, which suggests the efficiency of sanitary and environment-protective measures implemented by the PJSC "Tatneft".

The paper presents data on environmental factor-induced changes in human health. The health status was studied in rail workers living and working in the areas exposed to radiation. This demonstrated a higher incidence of neoplasms, anemias, alimentary and circulatory diseases. Children had a high incidence of chronic lymphonoid tissue diseases and anemias. It is suggested that a complex of negative environmental factors is formed not only by radiation, but also by industrial pollution of the areas and by adverse and hazardous occupational factors.