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The paper deals with study by the method of solid-phase indirect immunoenzyme analysis of levels of the novel serotonin-modulated anticonsolidation protein (SMAP) that is directly correlated with serotonin level as well as of biomarker cytochrome P-450 in the liver, gills, and brain of the eastern alburnoid (Alburnoides bipunctatus eichwaldi) caught in the rivers Khudat, Akstafachai, Kura, and Araks flowing at the territory of Azerbaijan. There was revealed a marked downregulation of cytochrome P-450 and SMAP in the liver and gills of the fish caught in the Akstafachai River relatively to values in the fish from the Khudat River not contaminated with pollutants. In the liver and gills in the fish from the Kura and Araks rivers, a significant differently directed changes of the cytochrome P-450 and SMAP levels were observed: downregulations of the cytochrome P-450 versus an upregulation of SMAP. In the brain of the fish from the River Akstafachai there was observed some downregulation of cytochrome P-450, whereas in fish from the Kura and Araks rivers--a significant upregulation of the SMAP level. The obtained results are analyzed from standpoint of processes of adaptation and disadaptation of aquatic organisms to impact of pollutants.

Nematodes belonging to the genus Physaloptera Rudolphi, 1819 were obtained from the Lybian jird Meriones libycus and the social vole Microtus socialis in the Gobustan area as a result of helminthological research. These nematodes significantly differed from other species of the genus in morphological and morphometric characters. In the present paper, they are described as the new species Physaloptera musayevi sp. n.

Description a lecithodendroid cercaria, Cercaria rhionica II (Galaktionov, Dobrovolskij, 1987) (Plagiorchiida: Lecithodendroidea) from the freshwater mollusk Melanopsis praemorsa (L.) from the Kura River in Azerbaijan is given, including figures, morphological data, and differential diagnosis. Special attention is paid to the structure of excretory system, secretory apparatus, tegument armature, inclusions in parenchyma, topography of sensilla (chaetotaxy) and some peculiarities of cercarian biology. The paper also includes some data on the life cycle of the parasite, including figures and descriptions of experimentally obtained cysts and metacercariae.

Environmental physical activity (EPA) is considered as one of main regulators of human homeostasis. Evidence is growing that components of this activity through the "human factor" (i.e., changing human physiological and psychological status) can affect the dynamics of traffic accidents (TA)-the modern life epidemic. This paper presents results of studies conducted in order to reveal the potential influence of EPA [solar (SA), geomagnetic (GMA) and cosmic ray (CRA) activities] on the number of TA and related casualties in the years of the maximum and declining phase of SA cycle 23 (2000-2005). We selected the 7,160 most severe TA and their related 7,558 deaths and 1,647 severe injuries, registered in the Grand Baku Area (Azerbaijan, middle latitudes), for analysis. A significant increase of TA and victims was observed during the whole year and also during the last months of the year. The monthly numbers of TA and victims were inversely related to SA (probability p = 0.0002), and non-significantly to background GMA, but were significantly affected by major geomagnetic disturbances and storms. A strong correlation between CRA variations (cosmic ray intensity measured by ground-based neutron monitors on the Earth's surface) and the number of TA (p = 0.001) has been observed. It was found that the number of TA which occur within a month depends significantly on the particular month of the year, the CRA, and the SA levels (inverse correlation). The increase of the number of TA is also significantly linked to geomagnetic storms, but not to steady GMA. These effects can be related to changes in human functional and behavioral markers provoked by EPA influences.

This paper examines the key human resource issues for health amongst mid-level workers in Central Asia CIS countries. It focuses on Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan highlighting the human resource issues that are evident within these countries and illustrating how they differ from those described in the sub-Saharan developing countries. The key human resource issue highlighted by the World Health Organization Report [WHO. (2006). World Health Report: Working together for health. Geneva: WHO] was the scarcity of health workers. Four million health care workers were identified as essential if the health services of the world are able to meet current health needs. The primary area of need highlighted was in Africa. Africa bears the greatest burden of disease but has the lowest number of health care workers. In the CIS countries in Central Asia different human resource issues have emerged. The Soviet health care system was comprehensive but labour intensive it had a primarily acute and a specialist disease focused approach with little investment in primary and community health care. It was unsustainable and the legacy that it left the new Central Asian emerging nations was of a large workforce with poor levels of competence and outdated approaches to providing care along with a crumbling infrastructure. In response to this situation health reform has been introduced which focuses on a family model of primary health care with family doctors supported by Family Health Nurses. This approach is beginning to make a difference to the morbidity and mortality of the populations but still has a long way to go before its full benefits are realised.

Some health indices were studied in teenagers in Nagorny Karabakh. The paper presents data on their physical development, hemodynamics, sexual maturity, and total morbidity. There are some regional features in the study indices, which consist in low harmonicity of physical development and hemodynamics, as well as in high morbidity rates with a predominance of cardiovascular and collagen diseases. The found abnormalities may be directly related to the poor environment for teenagers in Nagorny Karabakh after the 1991-1994 war in the region and show it necessary to improve their living conditions, medical control, and therapeutical-and-prophylactic measures.

Patterns and levels of migration in eight states located in the southern region of the former Soviet Union are analyzed for the period from 1989 to the beginning of 1996. "The focus of the paper is on the composition of migration streams by nationality and the impact that migration has had on the changing population of the newly independent states formed after the dissolution of the former Soviet Union. Recent data are tabulated and estimates discussed in detail disclosing the exodus of Russians and movement of other nationalities in each of the Transcaucasian (Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia) and Central Asian (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) countries.", (excerpt)

In the paper are presented the data on revealement of cryptosporidian oocysts (Apicomplexa, Sporozoa) in feces of cattle, swine and sheep of different ages and results of the experimental infection of laboratory animals (rats, mice, rabbits, coypus) with the oocysts detected as well. The latters were attributed to Cryptosporidium parvum species. The analysis of the size characteristic in the isolates of naturally and artificially infected hosts has shown that the oocysts dimensions might vary both in different host species and in different individuals of one host species.

Mosquito populations are not uniform in irritability to insecticides. Due to this reason presentation of the test results as an average number of one mosquito's flights during 10 or 15 minutes contact with insecticide paper does not reflect infrapopulation differences. It is proposed to divide mosquitoes into 3 groups: not irritable (0-1 flight per 10 minutes of contact), moderately irritable (2-9 flights), and highly irritable (10 and more). For the irritability tests only mosquitoes with 0-1 flight (during contact with control paper) were taken. Spontaneously irritable mosquitoes (2 and more flights in control) may become the reason of erroneous results. Yearly and seasonal changes of irritability level in different Anopheles species depending on the insecticide spraying intensity are shown. First proof of the inherited irritability to insecticides and specificity of this quality is obtained. Indirect data indicate that probably polygenic inheritance of irritability takes place in Anopheles.