Volume 100, Nº 5 (2021)

Introduction. Environmental safety is one of the main priorities of state policy. It ensures the legal regulation of relations in space activities to strengthen the defense and security of the Russian Federation and further extension of the international cooperation of the Russian Federation.

Material and methods. In the fall areas of the stages of the booster rockets, screening studies were carried out to identify the propellant component 1.1-unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in atmospheric air (n=14) and drinking water (n=23), determine its metabolite N-nitrosodimethylamine quantitatively in the residents’ blood (n = 90) living in the surveyed areas before the rocket launch (n = 45) and after the launch (n = 45). Аlso quantitative determination of the N-nitrosodimethylamine metabolite in the residents’ urine in the observation group (n = 108) was performed. For comparison, there was selected a group of residents not related to rocket and space activities (n = 13). Identification and analysis of samples of atmospheric air, drinking water, and biological media (blood, urine) was performed using Agilent 7890A gas chromatograph (USA) with a 5975C quadrupole mass spectrometric detector (MCD) and a capillary column of the HP-FFAP 30m • 0.25mm • 0.25µm series.

Results. The study revealed the absence of asymmetric 1.1-dimethylhydrazine in 100% of analyzed atmospheric air samples. During the observation period, the concentrations of N-nitrosodimethylamine in the range of 0.00039 to 0.001 mg/dm³ were found in drinking water samples that did not exceed the hygienic standard (LOC_NDMA 0.01 mg/dm3). N-nitrosodimethylamine in a concentration range of 0.00095-0.346 mg/dm³ was determined in the blood samples of the population. The studies revealed that after the rocket launch, the N-NDMA concentration in the blood was 1.8 times higher than the concentration registered before the rocket launch. In the urine sample of the resident living in the surveyed area, N-nitrosodimethylamine was detected with a high degree of reliability according to the essential ion with mass 74 m/z and confirmatory ion of 42 m/z, and the concentration was quantitatively calculated at a level of C_N-DMA = 0.23 μg/ml. The detection of N-nitrosodimethylamine in blood and urine, even in trace amounts, indicates the possibility of exposure.

Conclusion. Performed comprehensive studies made it possible to prove the relative safety of the ecological situation in the fall areas of the booster rockets that are located close to settlements when considering the environmental pollution with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and can be used for systematic monitoring.

Introduction. Until now, in the Russian Federation, unlike Western countries, hygienic regulations have not been developed for magnetic fields (MF) of low-frequency ranges.

The aim of the study is a scientific substantiation of the threshold limit values (TLV) of magnetic fields in the range of 3 Hz - 30 kHz at workplaces.

Materials and methods. A comparative analysis of domestic and foreign hygienic normative-methodical documentation regulating the TLV of magnetic fields of low-frequency ranges at workplaces is carried out. When substantiating TLV in the frequency range of 3 Hz - 30 kHz, the method of calculating the corrected value of the RMS MF strength in decadal frequency bands is used, taking into account its target values for different exposure times.

Results. MF sources in the frequency range 3 Hz - 30 kHz were shown to be widely used in various areas of activity. The analysis of current domestic and foreign documents regulating the impact of MF in low-frequency bands showed the possibility of harmonizing hygienic regulations. The TLV MP in decadal frequency bands and the criteria for their hygienic assessment are scientifically substantiated.

Conclusion. The studies made it possible for the first time in the Russian Federation to develop MF hygienic standards in the frequency range of 3Hz - 30 kHz at workplaces, the introduction of which into the practice of sanitary and epidemiological supervision will ensure adequate control over the electromagnetic environment and preservation of workers’ health.

Introduction. The extraction of potash ores is developing at a significant pace. The flotation method is the way to obtain potassium chloride using chemical reagents that have a toxic effect on the respiratory and nervous system, and liver. The complex long-term impact of occupation factors of the working environment with an increase in work experience leads to a rise in the prevalence of diseases of vital organs and systems. 

The aim of the study is to assess the change in individual biochemical indices of unfavorable responses on the part of the health of workers at a potassium ore processing enterprise, depending on the length of work experience. 

Materials and methods. The working conditions of workers were assessed, the content of some aldehydes, hexane, and heptane in biological media was investigated, and changes in many biochemical parameters were established. 

Results. The factors of the working environment in workers at the potassium ore processing enterprise are characterized by the simultaneous exposure to chemicals (potassium chloride, formaldehyde, propionic and butyric aldehydes, hexane and heptane), physical parameters (industrial noise, the microclimate of the working area, the severity of the labor process) and are assessed as harmful (class 3.1). During long-term labor activity (more than ten years), workers have an accumulation of hexane in the urine (1.4 times) and the increased associated content of norepinephrine in blood plasma (up to 1.3 times), not established in workers with up to ten years of work experience. Workers with ten years of work experience and noise with a level of intensity at workplaces exceeding 14.4 dBA showed an increase of 1.3-2.3 times in the level of homocysteine ​​and lipoprotein, not established in workers with a work experience duration of fewer than ten years. No dependence on the service terms was found for changes in sensitization indices of the upper respiratory tract and hepatocytes’ cytolytic activity. 

Conclusion. The revealed changes in indices with an increase in the length of service require special attention for the early diagnosis of occupational diseases and the development of measures to prevent emerging changes in critical organs and systems.

Aim of the study. To analyze the patterns of the comorbidity pathology formation in employees occupied in oil production.

Materials and methods. Observation group - 292 employees of the oil production enterprise (100% men). The average age was 39.4 ± 10.6 (20-65) years. Average work experience is 13.1 ± 9.6 (3-22) years. The comparison group included 65 employees working in the management of the enterprise. The average age is 40.2 ± 9.8 (20-65) years. Average work experience is 18.5 ± 9.5 (5-23) years. Observation group - 292 oil and gas production operators (OGP) - 100% men. The study involved a comprehensive research program, results analysis, and mathematical modeling.

Results. It is typical for oil and gas production operators to be exposed to a complex impact of harmful production factors: industrial noise, the intensity of work, and physical overload combined with chemical factors. A prior occupational risk to the employees under mentioned working conditions was classified from low (moderate) risk to medium (significant) risk. The age of employees with developed comorbid pathology in the observation group was 31.7 ± 5.4 years, work experience in the specified working conditions was 4.6 ± 1.1 years; the age of workers in the comparison group was 35.4 ± 3.9 years, work experience was 7.4 ± 2.7 years. The results of functional studies have demonstrated a complex of abnormalities in workers with little expressed clinical symptomatology. Analysis of comorbid pathology showed an increase in n according to CIRS score, increasing the working experience among oil and gas operators.

Conclusion. Comorbid pathology occurs in oil production workers within ten years of working experience under conditions of combined occupational and non-occupational factors. In the comorbid pathology development, both induced intrasystemic and intersystemic disorders significantly worsens the working life prognosis. 

Introduction. Thanks to possessing beneficial properties and vitamin content, citrus fruits occupy a prominent place in the ubiquitous nutrition of all ages due to various crops. On the other hand, due to climatic conditions, they cannot be cultivated in our country and are classified as imported products, which justifies the importance of controlling their safety.

Purpose of the work. The creation of a multicomponent method for determining the residual amounts of pesticides and their metabolites in citrus fruits.

Materials and methods. HPLC with triple quadrupole mass detector in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode and capillary gas-liquid chromatography with mass selective detector (GC-MC) in selected ion monitoring mode (SIM) together were used to perform the identification and quantitative determination of the active substances of pesticides of various classes (amino pyrimidines, imidazoles, carbamates, strobilurins, triazoles, organophosphorus compounds, etc.) As a sample preparation method, there was used the QuEChERS technology, based on the extraction of pesticides with an organic solvent from a homogenized sample in the presence of salts containing citrate buffer and the purification of the extracts by dispersive solid-phase extraction.

Results. To control the safety of citrus fruits (lemons, grapefruits, oranges, tangerines) imported from Egypt, Turkey and Abkhazia, purchased on the food market, a multi-method was used for determining the residual amounts of a wide range of pesticide compounds (50 names of active ingredients of pesticides and their toxic metabolites) in citrus fruits. The identified levels of active pesticide ingredients did not exceed the established MRLs.

Conclusion. The modern development of the analytical chemistry of pesticides, the use of a tandem of gas and liquid chromatography with mass spectrometric detection made it possible to implement a group method for the quantitative determination of the active substances of pesticides and their toxic metabolites in citrus fruits. Modern development makes it possible to detect the contamination of their residual amounts in the processed products.

Introduction. Pollution of drinking water and atmospheric air by anthropogenic haptens forms an imbalance of adaptive capacities of the immune system in children. 

The purpose of the work is to identify the features of the cytokine profile in children exposed to vanadium and chlorine-containing compounds (for example, chloroform).

Materials and methods. We examined 283 children who live in conditions of chronic low-level peroral exposure to drinking water hyperchlorinated products. The control was a contingent of 224 children consuming drinking water of chloroform of adequate quality. We also examined 215 children living in conditions of chronic aerogenic low-level exposure to vanadium, the control being a contingent of 131 children living in the territory of conditional sanitary and hygienic well-being without any stationary sources of vanadium contamination of the atmospheric air. Chemical-analytical and immunoenzymometric methods were used in the study.

Results. In children living under chronic oral exposure to drinking water hyperchlorination products, chloroform was identified in the blood, which normally should not be detected. In children living in an area with elevated levels of aerogenic vanadium load, the vanadium content in the blood was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001) 4.4 times higher than the upper limit of the reference interval. We have established that under conditions of blood contamination with chloroform Th₂-shift of cytokine profile occurs - concentration cytokines IL4, IL6 increases statistically significantly, frequency of excess was 2.2 and 4.3 times in comparison with the values obtained in unexposed children ( p ≤ 0,001-0,031); under conditions of contamination of biological media with vanadium, a decrease in Th₁ cytokine production was observed - the expression of the proinflammatory cytokine TNFα was statistically significantly depressed, the multiple of the decrease was 2.2 times as compared to the results obtained in children not exposed to vanadium ( p = 0.032). 

Conclusions. The presented results show the contamination of chloroform and vanadium to cause a multidirectional nature of changes in the cytokine profile of serum in exposed children with technogenic gaptenes, forming in the future various mechanisms of deterioration of immune response: activation of humoral (Th₂-dependent), associated with chloroform contamination or cell suppression (Th₁-dependent), associated with excess contamination of vanadium.

Introduction. The quality of the habitat and increasing intensity of the educational load determine the negative changes of the health of schoolchildren, associated with a violation of immune mechanisms adaptation.

Purpose. Study of features of the immune status of schoolchildren in the conditions of excessive hapten contamination by exogenous chemical factors.

Materials and methods. Students who live in territories differing in the formation of excessive human-made chemical contamination (total 162 students) of senior and secondary education levels were examined. The analysis of contaminants in biological media utilizing gas chromatography method, high-performance liquid chromatography method, mass spectrometry method was performed. The state of cellular immunity was evaluated by the reaction of phagocytosis using formalinized ram erythrocytes and CD-immunogram parameters by flow cytometry. The state of humoral immunity identified with the production of serum immunoglobulins by radial immunodiffusion, as well as expression of specific antibodies to chemical factors by the method of allergosorbent testing.

Results. We revealed an association of excess content of lead, nickel, formaldehyde, benzene, phenol in blood with deficiency phagocytic activity, imbalance of CD-subpopulations of immunocompetent cells characterized by the predominance of T lymphocytic activation (CD3⁺-lymphocytes), and a decrease in B-lymphocytes (CD19⁺-cells) both concerning the norm and to the group of schoolchildren with a permissible level of contaminating load. Secondary and senior students differed in imbalance of the immunoregulatory index CD4⁺/CD8⁺, and lower expression was revealed in high school students serum immunoglobulins IgM and IgA. In schoolchildren with excessive hapten contamination, there is a high level of sensitization to exogenous chemical factors according to the specific IgE antibodies to nickel, formaldehyde, and IgG to benzene, phenol, lead.

Conclusion. The revealed imbalance of immune profile indices reflects the state of immunological health of schoolchildren, and the indices of cellular (immunoregulatory index CD4⁺/CD8⁺) and humoral (specific antihapten reagins) immunity, can be used as diagnostic for assessing the immune status in schoolchildren of secondary and senior levels of education in the conditions of excessive hapten contamination.

Introduction. Nutrition is one of the most critical factors determining the health status of children and adolescents. Violation of the nutritional status in excess body weight hurts the state of physical development of children. Malnutrition in childhood in childhood is a risk factor for the development of alimentary-dependent diseases, which determined the relevance of this study-the study of the structure of the actual nutrition of younger schoolchildren with various indicators of nutritional status to develop recommendations for optimizing the diet. 

Material and methods. The essential nutrition was studied in 80 younger schoolchildren of public educational institutions of Smolensk at the age of 9.5-10.5 years. To determine the nutritional status of schoolchildren, we used the standards of the World Health Organization (2007). Actual nutrition was studied using the 24-hour nutritional reproduction method. The composition of the body of children was investigated by the bioimpedance method using the AVS-02 Medass analyzer. 

Results. In the structure of nutrition of primary schoolchildren, regardless of the nutritional status of children, there is a deficit in the consumption of many essential products of the children’s diet (milk and dairy products, fish, vegetables, and fruits). In the diets of schoolchildren with excessive nutritional status, an excess of products with high energy value (confectionery and pasta, sugar) was revealed. In the intake of essential nutrients, there was noted an imbalance associated with excessive consumption of fats and carbohydrates, along with a lack of dietary fibers, a number of minerals (calcium, phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, iodine), and vitamins (C, B₁, B₂, A, E, biotin).

Conclusion. Comparative analysis of the actual nutrition in primary schoolchildren identified disorders and structure of food packages’ imbalance composition, most pronounced in children with excessive nutritional status. The performed correlation analysis confirmed the existence of a reliable relationship between nutritional status indices, anthropometric indices, and parameters of the body composition of the examined children.

Introduction. As part of implementing the federal project “Clean air” provisions, the Human health risk assessment in Bratsk, Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk, Chita under the influence of ambient air-polluting chemicals was carried out. The main task of the risk assessment was to substantiate the list of priority chemicals that make the most significant contribution to risks (for monitoring and quoting) and to determine the primary sources of air pollution in the city with these substances (for subsequent quotas). 

Materials and methods. The initial information for assessing the exposure and human health risks in each city was the consolidated databases of stationary and mobile emissions sources. Calculations were carried out in standardized software products of the “Ecolog-Gorod” series. Risk indicators were determined under the provisions and requirements of the guideline R 2.1.10.1920-04. In each city, the calculations were performed at residential buildings (from 11 to 14 thousand points in the territory). Emissions from more than 1350 thousand sources were taken into account. Surface concentrations of 45 to 60 impurities in each city are considered. 

Results. Unacceptable, including high health risk, was found to form in all the cities studied. According to the hazard index, the diversity of exceeding the permissible risk levels reached 15-20 times. About 630 thousand people live in areas of unacceptable risk, including more than 200 thousand people in areas of high risk of diseases. Critical affected organs and systems are the respiratory systems, immune system, blood, offspring development, etc. The chemical impurities determined for each territory and their sources, which together contribute up to 90% to unacceptable risks, are considered as priorities for monitoring and quotas. Recommendations were developed to improve the procedure for preparing initial data for risk assessment and verify the results of risk assessment by epidemiological and medical-demographic studies.

Introduction. The study’s relevance is due to the demand for repellent and insecticidal agents in the consumer market and their widespread use as protection against mosquitoes. At the same time, the problem of the impact on the human health of these funds has not been sufficiently studied. In this regard, analyzing the safety of repellents and insecticides for human health is of scientific interest. 

The aim of the study is to substantiate methodological approaches to assessing the risk to human health associated with the use of insecticides and repellents. 

Materials and methods. Authors used methods of analysis of scientific literature, toxicological methods for the study of health safety, methods of quantitative chemical analysis, biochemical methods for the study of blood serum, methods of mathematical modeling, health risk assessment methodology. 

Results. The assessment of the risk of negative responses from organs and systems of the body when exposed to repellents and insecticides has been carried out. Methodological approaches to assessing health risks under various scenarios for repellents and insecticides have been developed and tested. 

Conclusion. A feature of the proposed methodological approaches is the ability to take into account dose loads for various routes of entry of active substances into the body, the duration of exposure to a repellent or insecticide during regular use, and possible use in regimes exceeding normal use. As a result of the experiment, it was found that with the inhalation of an insecticide with 1% transfluthrin, the level of acceptable risk is observed at a level of exposure of transfluthrin in the air up to 0.0272 mg/m³. Under a percutaneous intake of the 50% DEET repellent, the acceptable risk level was noted at exposure less than 1200 mg/kg/day. In case of percutaneous arrival of the DETA repellent 7.5%, the level of acceptable risk is established under exposure up to 250 mg/kg/day.