[Physiological and hygienic assessment of the impact of mobile phones with various radiation intensity on the functional state of brain of children and adolescents according to electroencephalographic data].

To test the effect of mobile phones (MP) of various radiation intensities on the functional state of the brain in children and adolescents, a sham-controlled EEG-study was conducted in a group of thirteen 6-13 years old children, including eight 6-10 years old children. The study showed that a 3-minute exposure to the MP causes the significant decline in alpha-band absolute power, which depends on the radiation intensity and the user's age. Different from sham, an EEG-effect of MP with the energy flux density (EFD) about 100 mW/cm2 was registered both in total, and in a younger (6-10 yr) group. Its bilateral character, more prominent in the hemisphere that is ipsilateral to MP, indicates that this intensity of the radiation influences not only the superficial cortical areas of the ipsilateral hemisphere, but also the deep structures of the brain. MP with the EFD less than 1 mW/cm2 differed from sham by EEG-effect only in the group of children who are 6-10 years old. Its local, ipsilateral character indicates to the superficial influence of such intensity of the radiation on the cortex of the ipsilateral hemisphere. The results show that for the regulation of MP-radiation it's necessary to consider age features of the brain's response. The high significance of the EFD, as an index in the assessment of the impact of MP on the EEG of children, is shown. Since almost all schoolchildren are the users of mobile phones, the situation with the valuation of MP-effects on children of various ages, requires hygienic solution.

[Hygienic assessment of the use of readers in elementary school].

A comparative study of the reading process and the efficacy of memory acquisition when using the reader and the paper carrier was performed in 16 3rd class pupils. Process indices show a preference for reading from the reader screen if compared to a sheet of paper. In this the gradient of the gain in mistakes is more pronounced while reading from the reader screen, that indicates to the stumbling block of the task and the psychophysiological cost of process of reading from the reader. Evaluation of the results on the efficacy of the memory function showed significant difficulty of memory acquisition when working with reader.

[Hygienic aspects of cellular communication in school age].

In the article there are presented the materials of research on the spread and usage of mobile phones among children and adolescents of different age groups in the Russian regions, the data of the performed tests of cellular communication devices, as well as the established effects of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) on biological objects. Risk groups of schoolchildren for adverse effect of EMR on health have been determined.

[Methodological approaches to the hygienic evaluation of total artificial lighting of classrooms with different light sources on the basis of the response of the cardiovascular system of schoolchildren].

Hygienic evaluation of innovative equipment in educational institutions requires the use of appropriate methods permitting to establish valuable criterias for the effectiveness of the application of new technologies. The study of the response of the cardiovascular system of schoolchildren under using different light sources allowed to establish the increase in adaptive capacities and the improvement of the functional state of the organism in LED in comparison with fluorescent lighting.

[Psychophysiological research of changes of the functional condition of the neuro-psychic sphere of younger schoolchildren during the school day at luminescent and LED lighting in the classroom].

The purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis that the LED lighting (LL) in training class does not have a negative impact on the change in the functional state of the neuro-psychiatric sphere in pupils by the end of the school day, if compared with traditional for schools fluorescent lighting (FL). With the help of specially matched methods for psychophysiological examination there was performed the testing of changes in the functional state of the neuro-psychiatric in pupils during the school day and there was made an analysis of these changes in dependence on the type of lighting the classroom. LL, if compared to FL, was established to lead to a significant weakening of the negative changes of functional lability of the visual analyzer, the power of excitation of the nervous system and cognitive functions, as well as to an increase in positive changes in psychomotorics. The data obtained allow us to recommend the use of LED lighting equipment in modern schools.

[Hygienic aspects of the use of LED light sources for general illumination in schools].

For the time present becoming more common semiconductor sources of artificial lighting has become a more and more frequent practice. With the aim to study the impact of LEDs on the health of schoolchildren studies in experimental conditions (specially equipped classrooms) were performed. The comparative analysis of the state of vision, mental health and emotional state of pupils in primary, middle and high schools under fluorescent and LED lighting, meeting to the regulatory requirements, has revealed that the physiological cost of schooling in the use of LED units in classrooms is lower than in a traditional, fluorescent lighting.

[Physiological and hygienic assessment of perception of the information from electronic device for reading (reader)].

A comparison of the legibility of the three different media: paper personal computer (LCD) and the e-reader in schoolchildren (12-14 years of age) was performed. Comprehensive assessment of the reading performance (speed of reading aloud, the number of errors in reading, and integral indicator of the degree of difficulty of visual task), its physiological value (according to data of EEG, EOG and ECG), and subjective preference of type of media by the schoolchildren showed that by the sum of signs e-reader occupies an intermediate position between printed text and the computer screen. The effect of increased emotional intensity of using e-reader (increased motivation), which is manifested in the preservation of the sympathetic nervous system activation after the reading, was obtained. The necessity of additional research has been shown.

[Medico-prophylactic foundations of the safety of information and communication technologies used in educational institutions].

The problems pertaining to the safety of information and communication technologies used in the spheres of education and leisure activities of children and adolescents are discussed. The relevant risk factors are identified. Results of physiological and hygienic studies for substantiating regulations of continuous work with a personal computer are presented taking into account the children's age and hygienic requirements to electronic teaching aids.

[Hygienic aspects of the use of light-emitting diode sources in the communal artificial lighting systems].

To estimate the possibilities of using light-emitting diode energy-saving lighting in the residential and public houses, industrial buildings and structures is one of society's most important tasks. The concept of these researches was to study comparative psychophysiological and functional changes in the volunteers working under general lighting generated by light-emitting diodes and luminescent lamps. The results of the study permit one to recommend the use of light-emitting diodes in general lighting systems in the rooms wherein visual and mental load work is done, i.e. in the industrial, office, and public buildings intended for adult users for different purposes, as well as in rail transport objects.

[Scientificaly sound methodological approaches to safety evaluation of toys].

Sanitary-epidemiologic safety of toys is an important aspect of health protection and promotion for the rising generation. The authors propose scientifically substantiated methods allowing to improve quality and efficiency of safety evaluation of toys.

[The specific features of hygienic assessment of printing products].

The paper presents the results of studying a lettering-art work relationship in the present-day publications for children and adolescents, as well as their readability. The range of major hygienically significant parameters and techniques of text lettering in the publications has been extended on the basis of the findings. Hygienic classification criteria have been developed for books, journals, magazines, and text-books. The quantitative indicator--the potential risk factor of a specific text-book for the visual system of pupils--has been substantiated.

[Hygienic assessment of children's clothes made using new-generation textile auxiliaries].

The paper presents the results of sanitary-and-chemical studies of samples of tissues treated with new-generation textile auxiliaries (TAs). The application of new-generation TAs containing the lower levels of formaldehyde (FA) is shown not to eliminate the problem of their safe use in making children's clothes. The safe values for exposure to FA have been estimated in relation to the real load of a garment. The toxic action of cutaneous versus intragastric FA has been evaluated in immature rats. The clothes FA level of 20 microg/g has been found to produce no toxic effect on a living organism.

[Guidelines for hygienic classification of learning technologies].

Optimization of the educational environment under the present-day conditions has been in progress, by using learning techwares (LTW) without fail. To organize and regulate an academic process in terms of the safety of applied LTW, there is a need for their classification. The currently existing attempts to structure LTW disregard hygienically significant aspects. The task of the present study was to substantiate a LTW safety criterion ensuring a universal approach to working out regulations. This criterion may be the exposure intensity determined by the form of organization of education and its pattern, by the procedure of information presentation, and the age-related peculiarities of a pupil, i.e. by the actual load that is presented by the product of the intensity exposure and its time. The hygienic classification of LTW may be used to evaluate their negative effect in an educational process on the health status of children and adolescents, to regulate hazardous factors and training modes, to design and introduce new learning complexes. The structuring of a LTW system allows one to define possible deleterious actions and the possibilities of preventing this action on the basis of strictly established regulations.

[Visual reactions in children and adolescents on reading editions of various formats].

At present, 93-96% of the respondent schoolchildren read extraschool literature. An investigation of the impact of edition format on readability has ascertained that due to the uniform distribution of brightness in the field of vision, large newspaper fonts prevents the development of visual fatigue and provides significantly higher performance and quality of visual work as compared with low book fonts. Experimental studies have yielded data on the stability of a near vision point; this phenomenon may be considered as adaptation to a learning process and myopia developing during learning may be regarded as the price of this adaptation.

[The response of high school students' visual system in a model experiment with a wide scope of variants of information display].

In order to develop hygienic standards for information view on a personal computer display, a model (laboratory) experiment on high school students was performed. A wide scope of variants of information display (15 color combinations of alogical tests consisting of 7000 symbols vs. reading from a sheet of paper) was used, and the response of the visual system was studied. The response of the viewers was assessed according to reading speed taking into account the number of mistakes, which made it possible to determine visual task complexity for each variant of the test. The second parameter under study was mistake dynamics, counted according to the number of mistakes per each thousand of symbols read. The data obtained demonstrated that to high school students reading a PC monitor was a significantly more difficult visual task than reading a sheet of paper. The following color combinations on the computer display were most favorable: blue text on a yellow background, yellow text on a blue background, and red text on a green background.

[Hygienic assessment of the impact of the lettering of text-books].

The study has established the parameters of lettering of text-books, which has a positive effect on the memory function of schoolchildren of different age. It is expedient to use color prints and their varying sizes in the text-books for junior pupils. Two types of page lettering may be used in secondary school text-books, moreover, the application of color prints is justifiable to a lesser extent than that of back-and-white one. Equitypes used in the text-books for senior schoolchildren are adequate to memory functions. The san-serif type is optimal for effective material learning in junior classes while the Times type is in middle and senior classes.

[The use of learning computers in the general educational system: hygienic aspects].

The use of learning computers (LCs) in a present-day academic process poses for hygienists and physiologists new problems, such as to evaluate the influence of LCs on schoolchildren's health and to substantiate and to develop the ways of drawing up and presenting the materials in terms of their readability and regulation of learning regimens. Analysis of the currently available LCs has established the factors contributing to the accelerated development of visual and overall fatigue, its accumulation: the brightness characteristics of electronic pages, including both the violation of the allowable brightness levels and the irregularity of intensity distribution; a significant inadequacy of type sizes; a great variety of lettering and coloring. The recent LCs for general education are the visual aggressive medium for schoolchildren, which is certain to require their hygienic evaluation on the basis of specially developed hygienic requirements for LCs.

[Development and scientific rationale for a universal index for rapid assessment of readability].

The hygienic regulations of academic books, including teachware, for children and adolescents necessitate the performance of special studies to assess their readability by the unified procedure that would suggest a visual response while reading. This study has developed and warranted a universal readability index by the velocity of reading. There are significant regression correlations between the velocity of reading as the readability index and the degree of tiredness, detected by various visual functions. The parameters of accommodation and adaptive properties of the eye are most sensitive to visual load on reading. Reading velocity as an indicator of readability of illogical texts may be used as a rapid method under laboratory and natural conditions to determine the action of various textual loads on the visual system.

[New methodological approaches to the hygienic standards of clothes for children and adults]. / Novye metodicheskie podkhody k gigienicheskomu normirovaniiu odezhdy dlia detei i vzroslykh.

The hygienic assessment is presently a research issue related mainly with commissioning new materials into production; the above issue is equally related with materials' diversity, with expanding the choice of commodities and with the multi-functionality of the latter as well as with modern technologies and with the forthcoming admittance of our country to the WTO, which necessitates a harmonization of regulating requirements in various countries. The old approaches towards regulations of cloths are outdated and are no longer in line with the requirements of today. The chemical stability of contemporary synthetic fibers and the narrowing-of-gap between their physical-and-hygienic indices and those of natural fibers ensures unified approaches towards the hygienic evaluation of both. A real load that is conceptually found as a product of the impact intensity on the impact duration time is a hygienically valuable criterion ensuring a universal approach towards regulating the cloths hygienic safety. A hygienic classification provides, in case of each item, for defining the index of its hygienic safety (HIS), which is a basis for designing the differential requirements towards cloths of various functional purposes and for various age groups. The area of contact with the skin during wear and the age of consumer are the key components of system (The Hygienic Classification of Cloths". The article is supplemented by 1 drawing, 2 tables and a list of literature (8 entries; article's volume is 5 pages).

[Health-related requirements for the print design of illustrated texts in publications intended for children]. / Gigienicheskie trebovaniia k shriftovomu oformleniiu illiustrirovannykh tekstov v detskikh izdaniiakh.

The fact that there are essential differences in the volumes of texts for continuous reading in the belles-lettres and those for episodic reading (encyclopaedias, comic books, etc.) and marked differences in the area of the type pages intended for illustrations made it necessary to substantiate differential requirements for these groups of publications. Hygienic requirements were corrected by using the data obtained from 150 experiments covering 36 secondary-form pupils. Based on the well-known data on temporary visual fatigue thresholds (TVFT) and on the experimental findings, the authors defined the ratio of higher TVFT to the actual time of reading the texts of different volumes. A complex of print design indices to be hygienically regulated varies with the multiplicity that is in fact a safety factor.