Search

Rationale. Hepatitis E (HE) is a zooanthroponosis. Domestic pigs are the main reservoir for hepatitis E virus (HEV) in the Republic of Belarus (RB). Considering the well-developed pig farming, there is a high risk of infection spread among the population; however, the scale of virus circulation and patterns of HE epidemiology in the above region are still insufficiently explored.The aim of the study is to assess HEV seroprevalence specific for the HE epidemic process in RB.Materials and methods. Serum samples (n = 2,784) collected from patients of infectious disease departments at hospitals (n = 1,669) and relatively healthy people (n = 1,114) from different RB regions were used to measure the activity of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) by a kinetic rate method as well as IgG antibodies to HEV by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).Results. In the group of healthy people, anti-HEV IgG were detected in 7.3% (95% CI, 5.8–9.0). In the group of patients with liver disorders, the detection frequency was significantly higher, reaching 11.2% (95% CI, 9.6–12.9). In the groups of healthy people and patients with elevated ALT levels, the HEV seroprevalence did not depend on their gender or the region of residence. The anti-HEV IgG detection frequency gradually increased among olderage patients and reached the peak levels (15.9% on average) in the over-64 age group.Conclusions. RB is characterized by intensive HEV circulation, while the HE epidemic process is characterized by a latent nature. The actual prevalence of HЕ seromarkers among the RB population exceeds the frequency of diagnosed cases, suggesting insufficient vigilance of healthcare workers towards HE and subclinical forms of infection in most of the patients.

The present research featured patients with disabilities who survived COVID-19 and had to undergo a course of comprehensive rehabilitation. Foreign scientists proved that COVID-19 can affect viability, although it does not necessarily triggers mental and psychological health disorders. The research objective was to define the main factors that affect the viability of clients of a medical rehabilitation center. The article contains a review of various approaches to the concept of viability and introduces an authentic definition. The analysis was based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and revealed both positive and negative factors that affect the viability of disabled patients after COVID-19. The positive factors included harmonious or anosognosic attitude to the disease, i.e. unwillingness to consider oneself "sick" or "disabled" in working-age patients with short disease history and high rehabilitation potential, optimistic life attitude, and good family support. The negative factors included anosognosic attitude to the disease in retired patients with a long disease history. They demonstrated diffuse and mixed types of attitude to the disease, with inconsistent components, poor chances for successful rehabilitation and social adaptation, pessimism, and cynicism about rehabilitation. The research results can help specialists of medical centers to adapt their rehabilitation roadmaps to the needs of disabled COVID-19 survivors.

The research substantiates the role of clinical psychologists in the system of comprehensive rehabilitation within the conditions of bio-psychosocial model of rehabilitation. Practical experience and the analysis of scientific literature made it possible to describe peculiarities of modern complex rehabilitation and the problems experienced by clinical psychologists. The authors determined difficulties and characteristics of professional work of rehabilitation psychologist within modern legal terrain. One problem is the lack of professional standard for the profession of clinical psychologist. The other problem is the inconsistency in the use of terms denoting professional specifics. Тhe paper focuses on the specificity of psychodiagnostic and rehabilitative work of a psychologist in the light of changing theoretical basis of rehabilitation and the transition from the International Classification of Disability Disorders and Social Insufficiency to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health. The authors showed the discrepancy between the theoretical approaches of domestic and foreign psychology to the assessment of mental disorders. New professional tasks of the psychologist are defined taking into account multidisciplinary orientation of rehabilitation process. The paper describes the problems of professional training of clinical psychologists and specifies new educational tasks are specified proceeding from the modern approach to rehabilitation. Positive dynamics in the solution of the declared problem can be found in new legislative initiatives, development of General clinical recommendations for rehabilitation psychologists, scientific publications on psychological rehabilitation, update of educational programs for training clinical psychologists.

The article features an empirical study of the development of neurocognitive functions in moderate and late preterm children at the age of 3, 5, 10, 14, and 25 months. To date, this population of infants is 75–80 % of the total number of premature infants, but specialists of different profiles do not give enough attention to this group of children, which limits the amount of information regarding their neurocognitive development, in spite of the fact that prematurity at any gestation period gives the right to refer the child to a risk group of different impairments. Premature birth has a certain impact on the development of the infant’s brain, affecting the important processes of differentiation of neurons, myelination, synaptogenesis, etc. Neurocognitive functions were measured by the Bayley Scales behavioral technique, third edition (Bayley-III). The technique makes it possible to assess the cognitive development, the development of receptive and expressive communication, as well as fine and gross motor skills. The research demonstrated that moderate and late prematurity has a selective effect on the development of neurocognitive functions, and the degree of impact depends on the stage of ontogenesis and the sphere of development.

The premature membranes rupture in a term pregnancy is an important problem of modern obstetrics. Until now, there is no consensus on cause of premature membranes rupture. Our findings suggest higher prevalence of premature membrane rupture in women with complicated pregnancies.