[Trends in the incidence of mental and behavioral disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic in Penza Oblast]. / Dinamika zabolevaemosti psikhicheskimi rasstroistvami i rasstroistvami povedeniya v period pandemii COVID-19 v Penzenskoi oblasti.

OBJECTIVE: An analysis of the trend of overall and primary incidence of mental and behavioral disorders, including those caused by the use of psychoactive substances, in different age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic in Penza Oblast. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The data were obtained from statistical report №12 for Penza Oblast. These included the overall and primary incidence of mental and behavioral disorders (MBD), as well as substance use-related MBD (MBDSUR), as calculated per 100.000 people for the period 2015 to 2022. The period 2015 to 2019 was the reference period and 2020 to 2022 was the pandemic period. The calculation was carried out by age groups: children (0-14 years), adolescents (15-17 years), adults (over 18 years), adults over working age (from 55 years for women and from 60 years for men). Statistical processing of the results included regression analysis, calculation of incidence forecast for 2023-2025, and assessment of the significance of the changes using the t-criterion. RESULTS: The decrease in the overall incidence of MBD in adults was highly deterministic (R2=0.82; p=0.012) and significant between 2017-2018 (p=0.009), 2018-2019 (p=0.001) and 2019-2020 (p=0.004). High determination with a logarithmic trend line was characteristic of almost all models, except for the primary incidence of MBD in children and overall incidence of MBDSUR in adults over working age, including after 2020. Among adolescents, the overall incidence of MBDSUR decreased significantly from 2015 to 2022 (p=0.042). CONCLUSION: There was no significant increase in the incidence of MBD, including MBDURS, during the pandemic. At the same time, there was a trend towards the decrease in adults, as well as the increase in the primary incidence of MBD in children and the overall incidence of MBDSUR in adults over working age, which determines the need for further identification of risk factors and development of specific rehabilitation measures for patients in these groups.

[Determining the level of occurrence of the lipid nucleus of atherosclerotic plaques in the abdominal aorta by means of infrared Fourier spectroscopy].

The article deals with the problem of diagnosis of atherosclerotic alterations in abdominal aorta wall in order to reduce atherosclerosis-related mortality. Targeted treatment requires determining the exact mechanism of development of atherosclerosis. Infrared Fourier spectroscopy is suggested as the most rapid and accurate method of diagnosis and analysis of the content of various organic compounds playing a particular role in the development of the atherosclerotic process. Presented herein are the results of studying various types of fluctuations, whose absorption bands correspond to such organic compounds as collagen, elastin and cholesterol esters. A peculiar feature of this technique consists in a new method of the preparation of the material, including preparation of samples to be studied, with no stage of fixation. Analysed herein is one of the pathogenetic mechanisms of the development of the atherosclerotic process, consisting in accumulation in the vascular intima of low and very low density lipoproteins which are detected at a frequency of 1745 cm(-1), corresponding to stretching vibrations of the C=O bond. These organic compounds saturate from the inside the vascular wall, thus leading to formation of a lipid nucleus of an atherosclerotic plaque, whose centre is located at a certain depth. The authors present the results of studying the level of the centre of the lipid nucleus of an atherosclerotic plaque in abdominal aorta in perished 70-74-year-old people. It was determined that for this age group the level of the lipid nucleus is concentrated at a depth of 200-240 µm. Besides, presented are the results obtained while studying the abdominal aorta in 23-26-year-old deceased people whose vessels were not affected by atherosclerosis. Obtained are comparative results on the shift in bandwidth of amid I and amid II in studying the intima of the healthy aorta and atherosclerosis-affected aorta. This peculiarity may later on become an identifier of the degree of the development of atherosclerosis in man. The results of such studies provide possibility to influence namely the centre of the lipid nucleus as one of the initial stages of the development of atherosclerosis in order to slow down the progression of the disease concerned.

[Blood acid-base balance of sportsmen during physical activity].

The aim of this study was to investigate the acid-base balance parameters in blood of sportsmen by physical activity. Before exercise lactate concentration in blood was normal. Carbon dioxide pressure (рСО2), bicarbonate concentration (НСО3 -), base excess (BE), were increased immediately after physical activity lactate concentration increased, while pH, BE, НСО3 -, рСО2 decreased in capillary blood of sportsmen. These changes show the development of lactate-acidosis which is partly compensated with bicarbonate buffering system and respiratory alkalosis. During postexercise recovery lactate concentration decreased, while рСО2, НСО3 -, BE increased. The results of this study can be used for diagnostics of acid-base disorders and their medical treatment for preservation of sportsmen physical capacity.