[Results of the population and genetic study in the Republic of Tatarstan].

Using data on the distribution of frequent surnames, the Crow index and its components, and nine polymorphic DNA loci, it was shown that the Tatar population of the Republic of Tatarstan is divided into subethnic groups (Mishars, Teptyars, and Kazan Tatars). No subdivision within each of these groups was found.

[Phenotypic polymorphism of biomedical parameters of the health status in hygienic studies].

The paper presents the results of investigating the phenotypic polymorphism of a number of biochemical and immunological parameters (the values of oxidative stress, the activity of catalase and glutathione-S-transferase in red blood cells, the serum levels of catecholamines, tumor-necrosis factor-?, and IgG antibody subclasses) in the authors' hygienic studies of genotypic and nongenotypic population samples.

[Use of micronuclear test to the human buccal mucosal epithelium].

The paper presents microphotos of anomalies of the human buccal mucosal epitheliocytic nucleus and gives criteria for their identification. Two procedures for making a scrape from the buccal mucosa were compared. The smears prepared from the samples taken with a urogenital brush showed the lower frequency of cells with micronuclei, protrusions of the "broken egg" and "tongue" types, vacuolated cells, as well as cells with nuclear pyknosis and lysis than those prepared with a rough scrape spatula. The nuclear frequency of cells with condensed chromatin in such smears was higher than that in the rough scrape. In addition, the authors show a relationship of the frequency of cells with the binuclei, perinuclear vacuole, nuclear pyknosis, and condensed chromatin in the nucleus, and absorbed apoptotic (residual) bodies to the examinee's age.

[A methodological scheme for examination of the urban population, by making multilevel assessments of exposure to ambient air pollutants].

A novel methodological design comprising multilevel assessments of exposures of examinees to controlled ambient air pollution according to the data of route stations was developed to examine the population of large towns. The design was tested in 4 surveys of Moscow residents (apparently healthy and outpatients with a number of chronic diseases). The findings indicate the fundamental possibility of altering the traditional differential design of biomedical surveys of the population, by introducing more evidence-based regression analyses and dividing the contributions of individual chemicals to the observed changes in health indices.

[Topical problems of the comprehensive hygienic characterization of urban environmental factors and their influence on the population's health].

The authors consider the topical problems of the influence of urban environmental factors (the quality of drinking water, the pollution of the ambient and dwelling airs and soil) on the health of residents in the urbanized areas. They show it necessary to apply a comprehensive approach to studying and analyzing the influence of a large number of interrelated factors on the population's health and its vulnerable subgroups, by employing the current sensitive biomedical studies, as well as to develop and introduce noninvasive techniques for the early diagnosis of environment-induced diseases.

[Approaches to assessing the human risk of mutagens].

The assessment of the human risk of mutagens is a constituent of the general assessment of the risk of environment-pollutant chemicals to the population's health. An algorithm of assessing the risk of mutagens is proposed. Stage 1 (hazard identification) is to provide an expert analytical characterization of the mutagenic potential of the chemicals polluting the study object. Stage 2 (hazard characterization) is to analyze the quantitative dependences of the effect of mutagens in gametes and somatic cells of man and mammals. Stage 3 (effect evaluation) is to characterize the sources of pollution and the doses of mutagens affecting the population. Stage 4 (risk characterization) is to calculate the risk of mutagens to the population and individuals.

[The congenital morphogenetic variants and genetic polymorphism of the system of xenobiotic detoxication in children living in dioxin-contaminated regions of South Vietnam].

The presence of dioxins and dioxin-containing ecotoxicants (DCE) in human environment leads to multi-level homeostasis disbalance and, eventually, dioxin pathology (DP) develops. This was demonstrated for the adult population of South Vietnam (1), who had suffered from the use of military chlorphenoxiherbicides to which dioxins had been added. The subjects of this study were children who belonged to the second generation of the inhabitants of DCE-polluted South Vietnam areas. In this sample, the frequency of malformations depending on two factors, genes GSTMI, GSTT1, CYP1A1 genotypes, and DCE exposure, were estimated. The study demonstrates that an increased level of congenital morphogenetic variants per one child is associated with the presence of DCE in the environment, as well as the fact that this parameter is influenced by genotypes of xenobiotic detoxication genes.

[A complex approach to evaluation of human genome instability].

In this study, evaluation of genome instability in individuals exposed to chemical compounds included detection of the genetic polymorphism of some xenobiotic metabolic enzymes (CYP1A1, CYP1E1, PON1, GSTM1, GSTT1), as well as measurement of oxidative state chemiluminescent variables and the level of cytogenetic damage. According to the study, the level of chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes shows a strong correlation with PON54 left allele and GSTM1 null genotype, and can be described by the polynomial function of blood plasma luminol-dependent chemiluminescence. The frequencies of micronuclei in buccal epithelium displayed a weak association with GSTT1 null genotype.

[Role of genetic studies in the evaluation of the human influence of environmental factors].

The authors propose to include not only a control of human populations, but also environmental factors (chemical, physical, and biological), and objects (to estimate the cumulative mutagenic activity of water, air, soil, and foodstuffs) in order to ensure human genetic safety. For evaluation of human cell genetic damage, they also propose to use the noninvasive multiple organ micronuclear test, by taking into account additional cardiological parameters. The results of this monitoring makes it possible to define higher genetic risk areas for warranting the necessity, priority, and nature of prophylactic measures and to identify a risk group of individuals to be thoroughly examined and to undergo health-promoting measures.

[Some environmental and hygienic aspects of preschool children's health in an industrial town]. / Nekotorye ékologo-gigienicheskie aspekty zdorov'ia doshkol'nikov promyshlennogo goroda.

The results of a medical genetic study of the spread of congenital morphogenetic types (CMGT) among 3-7-year-old children living in Magnitogorsk whose territory is highly polluted with chemical compounds are presented. In Magnitogorsk, the mean of CMGT cases per child is 2.89, which is much greater than the respective values for environmentally favorable cities and towns in Russia. The most common signs are as follows: diastema (137.79 cases per 1000 children), clinodactyly (135.98 per 1000), epicanthus (122.44 per 1000), and wide umbilical ring (110.71 per 1000).

[Active oxygen forms and genome damage by environmental factors]. / Rol' svobodnoradikal'nogo okisleniia v povrezhdenii genoma faktorami okruzhaiushchei sredy.

The role played by active oxygen forms in damaging the human genome by environmental factors as well as the application of antioxidants to keep the oncology statistics among the hazardous-area residents low are under discussion. According to the independent results, there are essential differences between mechanisms of inflicting a genetic lesion to healthy subjects and to individuals of the risk categories due to that the latter have contacts with high concentrations of chemical compounds and with clinical patients with developed free-radical pathologies.

[Dioxins and medical-genetic indices of health of residents of the town of Chapayevsk]. / Dioksiny i mediko-geneticheskie pokazateli zdorov'ia naseleniia goroda Chapaevska.

The paper presents the results of an integrated medical genetic survey carried out in the town of Chapayevsk. The survey included an estimation of the incidence of congenital malformations (CMF), congenital morphogenetic options (CMGO), evaluation of the frequency of chromosomal mutations of various types and micronuclei in human somatic cells. The incidence of CMF among newborn infants corresponds to that in Russia, but such forms of CMF as congenital hydrocephalus and agenesia and disgenesis of the kidney were more common in the town. The study ascertained that the average number of CMGO per child was on the increase. Cytogenetic findings unambiguously demonstrate that there was a spatial gradient within the town (from the plant to remote districts), higher rates of chromosomal aberrations. Further studies of the effects of dioxins on genetic health are required to assess the actual genetic risk due to its human contact.