[The international cooperation in organizing penicillin production in the USSR].

The article considers interaction of the USSR with foreign scientists and international organizations in the process of mastering production of penicillin and establishment of penicillin industry. The analysis of archival documents demonstrated that despite influence of unfavorable foreign policy factors, various forms of this interaction were one of the decisive conditions of establishment of large-scale antibiotic production in the USSR by the end of the 1940s.

Origin and evolution of subtype B variants in the former Soviet Union countries.

Contrary to the global trend, between 2010 and 2020, an increase of 43% new HIV infections was recorded in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Analyses of phylogenetic relationship, and routes and modes of transmission of the HIV-1 subtype B across the former Soviet Union (FSU) region are currently lacking. The objective of this analysis was to investigate the origin and transmission routes of HIV subtype B in FSU countries. We performed phylogenetic and phylodynamic analyses using 21,007 publicly available subtype B sequences from Europe and Asia, including thirteen FSU countries. Our study suggests that BFSU strain evolved more recently in FSU countries (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan) compared to the Western B variant in Western Europe (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland). The primary high-risk group responsible for the transmission of subtype B was found to be MSM/homosexual. Intermixing of phylogenetic clusters among high-risk groups and bridging with the general population indicated that the HIV epidemic is no longer confined to distinct key populations - emphasizing an urgent need to improve the HIV harm-reduction efforts among high risk as well as general populations.

[The review of the book "The Clinic of Internal Diseases in the USSR. History in Persons" by V. I. Borodulin (with participation of E. N. Banzelyuk, M. V. Poddubny and A. V. Topolyansky)].

The review analyzes the fundamental work of V. I. Borodulin about the history of Internal Disease Clinic in the USSR, based on the biographies of more than fifty prominent Soviet therapeutists; the research is devoted to development of main Soviet therapeutic scientific schools and formation of new scientific and educational clinical disciplines in this field in 1920s-1970s, as well as difficulties and dynamic life of therapeutic elite in the USSR in that period.

[The Constituent and Second Sessions of the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1944-1945) and tasks of the Soviet medicine in post-war period].

The article presents the materials of the 1st and 2nd sessions of the General Meeting of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (1944 and 1945). The comparative analysis of main tasks set at these sessions for the Soviet medical science and practical public health is implemented. It is demonstrated that if the 1st session of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences (December 20-22, 1944) was devoted, in addition to organizational tasks, to formulation of main directions in development of fundamental (morphology, physiology, biochemistry, etc.), and practical (surgery, therapy, obstetrics, etc.) medicine, then at the 2nd session (October 28 - November 2, 1945) scientists and medical workers of the USSR were tasked to eliminate sanitary consequences of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and to restore health of population of the country.

[On the history of specialization in the clinic of internal diseases: the role of S.S. Zimnitsky (Kazan) in the formation of nephrology in the USSR].

Russian nephrology, like most clinical disciplines, has passed through two stages in its historical development: at the first stage, it became isolated as an important area of scientific research within the framework of the Soviet clinic of internal diseases, at the second stage it became an independent scientific and educational clinical discipline and medical specialty. The article shows the role of Kazan internist S.S. Zimnitsky as one of the founders of nephrology in the USSR at the first stage of its formation and as one of the leaders of the functional direction in Soviet clinical medicine.

[On the formation of cardiology in the USSR: who should be called its founders?]

During the XX century, specialized clinical areas gradually emerged from the general body of internal medicine, among which cardiology became one of the first. The literature has not yet explicitly considered the question of who should be considered the founders of Russian cardiology. Our data suggest that D.D. Pletnev, G.F. Lang, N.D. Strazhesco, V.F. Zelenin, A.L. Myasnikov and E.I. Chazov exhaust the nominal composition of the founders of cardiology in the USSR.

Who won World War II? Conflicting narratives among the allies.

World War II was a cataclysmic event that consumed people from many countries for at least 6 years. We discuss a large-scale study of how people from 11 nations remember the war, including 8 Allied and 3 Axis countries. The study showed dramatic differences in how people of the former Soviet Union and those of the other 10 countries remembered the war. Events listed by the Soviet Union were almost completely different from those in the other 10 countries. In addition, Russians (as representatives of the former Soviet Union) claimed greater responsibility in winning the war (75% of the war effort) than did people from any other nation (although the US and UK also claimed over 50% responsibility). However, when people of each country rated other countries' contributions to the war, they rated the US as having a greater impact than the former Soviet Union. Another interesting finding is that when asked why the US dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, most people of ten countries said it was to win the war, with the exception being people from Russia. Further, the older the person in 7 of those countries, the more they agreed with the statement that the US dropped the bombs to end the war. Our study points up the importance of national collective memory in understanding and remembering World War II and how their can be stark differences in collective memory even among allies in the war.

What next for the polyclinic? New models of primary health care are required in many former Soviet Union countries.

BACKGROUND: There is unfinished reform in primary care in Russia and other former Soviet Union (FSU) countries. The traditional 'Semashko' multi-specialty polyclinic model has been retained, while its major characteristics are increasingly questioned. The search for a new model is on a health policy agenda. It is relevant for many other countries. OBJECTIVES: In this paper, we explore the strengths and weaknesses of the multi-specialty polyclinic model currently found in Russia and other FSU countries, as well as the features of the emerging multi-disciplinary and large-scale primary care models internationally. The comparison of the two is a major research question. Health policy implications are discussed. METHODS: We use data from two physicians' surveys and recent literature to identify the characteristics of multi-specialty polyclinics, indicators of their performance and the evaluation in the specific country context. The review of the literature is used to describe new primary care models internationally. RESULTS: The Semashko polyclinic model has lost some of its original strengths due to the excessive specialization of service delivery. We demonstrate the strengths of extended practices in Western countries and conclude that FSU countries should "leapfrog" the phase of developing solo practices and build a multi-disciplinary model similar to the extended practices model in Europe. The latter may act as a 'golden mean' between the administrative dominance of the polyclinic model and the limited capacity of solo practices. The new model requires a separation of primary care and outpatient specialty care, with the transformation of polyclinics into centers of outpatient diagnostic and specialty services that become part of hospital services while working closely with primary care. CONCLUSION: The comprehensiveness of care in a big setting and potential economies of scale, which are major strengths of the polyclinic model, should be retained in the provision of specialty care rather than primary care. Internationally, there are lessons about the risks associated with models based on narrow specialization in caring for patients who increasingly have multiple conditions.

The State of Public Health Education and Science During and After the Fall of the Soviet Union: Achievements, Remaining Challenges, and Future Priorities.

Objectives: In the post-COVID-19 world, when the adequacy of public health workforce education is being critically re-evaluated, this study undertakes a historical analysis of how the educational and scientific field of public health developed during and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The study intends to historically contextualize public health education and science development in former Soviet Republics. It attempts to document achievements after gaining independence and identify remaining challenges that need to be addressed for advancing public health science and education in Former Soviet Union countries to better prepare them for future pandemics and address current health challenges of the nations. Methods: The study used a mixed-methods review approach combining both a literature review, information collection from the school's websites, and secondary analysis of the quantitative data available about scientific outputs-peer-reviewed articles. Results: During communist rule and after the fall of the Soviet Union, the main historical events seem to have shaped the public health field of former Soviet countries, which also determined its eventual evolution. The international efforts post-1991 were instrumental in shifting medically oriented conceptualization of public health toward Western approaches, albeit with variable progress. Also, while scientific output has been growing from 1996 to 2019, sub-regional differences remain prominent. Conclusion: The region seems to have matured enough that it might be time to start and facilitate regional cooperation of public health schools to advance the field of public health and research. Regional and country variabilities feature prominently in the volume and quality of scientific output and call for the immediate attention of national governments and international partners.

Risk and Respirators: The Hazardous Trajectories of Soviet Occupational Safety, 1940s-80s.

This article explores a distinct Soviet policy of occupational care that emerged after World War II, when Soviet industry invented an array of respiratory protective equipment (RPE). The annual production of millions of devices highlighted the development of a complex Soviet transinstitutional system for insuring safe occupational breathing. Following key premises of respiratory safety policies in the activities of Soviet organizations, this article traces a biopolitical shift from mortality to vitality. By showing the curial role of RPE in the history of occupational rather than military safety in the twentieth century, the article fills a major research gap to feature Soviet modernity through the unique lens of industrial respiratory care in postwar Soviet Union between the late 1940s and the early 1990s.

Background Level of Unstable Chromosome Aberrations in the Kazakhstan Population: A Human Biomonitoring Study.

Kazakhstan is known as a country with a complex radioecological situation resulting from different sources such as a natural radiation background, extensive activities of the industrial system of the former Soviet Union and a well-known testing of nuclear power weapons occurred in the Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS) area. The present study focuses on the assessment of the background of dicentric chromosomes in Kazakhstan's population, which is the starting point in the dose assessment of irradiated people, since the baseline level of spontaneous dicentrics can vary significantly in different populations. In this context, aiming to determine the background frequency of chromosome aberrations in the population of Kazakhstan, considering the heterogeneity of natural radiation background levels of its large territory, a selection of 40 control subjects living in four cities of North, South, West and East Kazakhstan was performed. The cytogenetic study on the selected groups showed fairly low background frequency values of chromosome aberrations (0.84 ± 0.83 per 1000 cells), comparable with other data in the literature on general populations, reporting background frequency values between 0.54 and 2.99 per 1000 cells. The obtained results should be taken into account when constructing the dose-effect calibration curve used in cytogenetic biodosimetry, as a "zero" dose point, which will reduce the uncertainty in quantifying the individual absorbed dose in emergency radiological situations.

[An historical review of "scientific acupuncture and moxibustion" in the 1950s -- Learning from the Soviet Union].

The medicine of the Soviet Union represented by Pavlov's advanced neurological theory played a major role in the medical system for the New China in the 1950s. In terms of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, it embodied in the 'scientific' reconstruction of main and collateral channels and mechanism of acupuncture and moxibustion, reported on acupoint electric measurement and skin active point, and developed acupuncture theory with Integrated Medicine. In this sense, 'learning from the Soviet Union', was one of the important factors for 'scientised acupuncture and moxibustion', which influenced the constructing of contemporary acupuncture and moxibustion in China and drove the development of 'scientised acupuncture and moxibustion'. In addition, inevitably, it led to some conflicts and contradictions between traditional medicine and modern sciences in the process of 'learning from the Soviet Union'. This review of 'learning from the Soviet Union', the analysis of its advantages and disadvantages, and synthesis of its experiences, will provide an historical reference to current development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Is the Association between Suicide and Unemployment Common or Different among the Post-Soviet Countries?

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) collapsed in 1991 and separated into the 15 post-Soviet countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The post-Soviet countries have faced many economic problems, including unemployment. The association between suicide and unemployment in post-Soviet countries has not been well studied. Here, we researched the annual suicide rate and the unemployment rate during the 28-year period from 1992 to 2019 in the 15 post-Soviet countries. We calculated the correlation coefficients between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate in each of the countries during this period, and we determined the association between the suicide rate and unemployment rate. Our major findings were that (1) the suicide rates among both males and females were significantly associated with the unemployment rate in nearly half of the 15 countries, and (2) for nearly 70% of the males in the entire set of 15 countries, there was an association between the suicide rate and the unemployment rate. Suicide-prevention researchers and organizations should be aware of our findings, and specific suicide-prevention measures based on these results are desirable.

Health literacy in former Soviet Union immigrants in the US: A mixed methods study.

BACKGROUND: People with limited health literacy may have trouble finding, understanding, and using health-related information and services and navigating the healthcare system. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the health literacy of immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) using the Health Literacy Survey (HLS19-Q12 in Russian) and explore associated socio-demographic factors. METHOD: This mixed methods study recruited adult immigrants through social networks and social media and included data from online survey and follow-up interviews. Variance in health literacy was explained using multiple linear regression. Qualitative data were analyzed through modified Grounded Theory approach. FINDINGS: Survey respondents (n = 318) were primarily female college-educated FSU immigrants aged 20-74 from 14 of the 15 FSU countries and distributed across 33 US states. Forty percent scored at or below predefined cut-offs for inadequate or problematic health literacy levels. Social status, social support, and English proficiency were significant variables in explaining variance in health literacy scores while controlling for age, gender, and education. Interviews (n = 24) identified eight themes: English proficiency, social support, health insurance, experience with health care, complexity of the US healthcare system, relevant health information, health beliefs/practices, and trust. DISCUSSION: There is a need to distribute health-related information in the native language (e.g., Russian), potentially through social media and immigrants' social networks. Health providers should be aware of the prevalence of inadequate and problematic health literacy among FSU immigrants and consider associated social factors.

[Nikolai Mikhailovich Borodin: the little-known person involved in the USSR penicillin project].

The progress in development of the Soviet penicillin industry in the late 1940s was associated with implementation of foreign experience. The article, on the basis of analysis of declassified archival documents, demonstrates that one of the initiators of development of industry on the basis of foreign technologies was N. M. Borodin, doctor of biological sciences. N. M. Borodin, while on scientific assignments in England, provided the USSR with important scientific and technical information and producers for production of penicillin and streptomycin. It is established that familiarity of N. M. Borodin with arrangement of scientific research and organization of antibiotics production abroad resulted in his plan of developing the Soviet penicillin industry that was noted by the USSR leadership.

[The E. Chain Memorandum: the new documents and facts].

In the article, for the first time are introduced into scientific circulation declassified materials of the Russian State Archive of Economics that confirm the fact that in 1948 professor E. Chain of Oxford University provided the Soviet Union with technical documentation and producers for production of penicillin and streptomycin. The archival documents reveal the circumstances of conclusion of contract with E. Chain, its conditions, indicate causes of the problems with payment for his service and demonstrate the reaction of E. Chain himself and the representatives of the departments involved, allowing us to speculate about motives of their actions.

On the classification of cerebral tumors: A tribute to Leonid Smirnov.

The corresponding member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR Professor Leonid Iosifovich Smirnov (1889 - 1955) authored several dozen publications on neuropathology of infections, schizophrenia, cerebral injuries, and brain tumors. Based on his study of pathology of gunshot head injuries during World War II he suggested a doctrine of traumatic on traumatic brain disease. He was the author of the first Russian classification of cerebral tumors and had an impact on the development of neurooncology in the former USSR. The aim of this paper is to show the early development of modern neuropathology at the example of a leading Soviet neuropathologist in the first half of the 20th century and his relevance for modern classification of CNS tumors.

Positive and negative social contacts with immigrants from different groups: Investigating the role of group appraisal and opportunity for contact using network analysis.

What can enhance positive inter-group contacts in a world of mass immigration is a subject high on the theoretical and practical agenda. However, there is a lack of research examining how contacts with different immigrant groups are related to characteristics of the group, as perceived by the receiving society. Using Threat-Benefit Theory (Tartakovsky & Walsh, 2016a, 2016b, 2019, 2020), the present study examines how different domains of positive and negative appraisal of a specific immigrant group may relate to contacts with group members. Using a representative sample of 1600 adults in the majority of the Jewish population in Israel, we applied network analysis to examine relationships between threat-benefit appraisal, opportunities for contact and levels of positive and negative contacts with four immigrant groups: diaspora immigrants from Ethiopia, Western countries and the former Soviet Union and asylum seekers. Levels of contact were related to particular domains of appraisal, which differed across immigrant groups. However, opportunities for contact had a stronger association with contact than the appraisal. Results point to a theoretical need to develop nuanced models related to inter-group contact, which consider particular characteristics of the immigrant group as perceived by the local population.

Traditional health-related practices of Russian-speaking immigrants.

The population of foreign-born residents continues to grow in the United States. One of the largest growing groups of immigrants is the population of Russian-speakers moving from the countries of the former Union of Soviet Socialistic Republics (Soviet Union/USSR). Like many other immigrants, Russian speakers present with various health concerns. Empirical literature indicates a gap in research that addresses culturally based beliefs and behaviors related to health in this group of immigrants. A qualitative ethnographic study that addresses the health-related practices of Russian-speaking immigrants was conducted on the East Coast of the United States. Twenty-eight participants, ages 36-86, were interviewed, along with participant observation and analysis of documents. Data analysis revealed three related categories: perception of health, perception of illness, and health-related practices. Perceptions of health were influenced by families and defined roles within the family. Perceptions of illness were outlined by approaches to disease management and remedies to illness. Subsequently, the health-related practices of Russian-speaking immigrants were molded by perceptions of health and illness. Further research is recommended to examine specific health-related practices of Russian-speaking immigrants in the United States and to explore more diverse groups within this aggregate.

Determinants of Legislation on Social Health Insurance in Transition Countries.

This study aims to address the question: Why did transition countries enact laws related to social health insurance (SHI) at different times, even though they experienced dissolution of the Soviet Union at the same time in the early 1990s? We used Ragin's fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to investigate the configurations of causal conditions that affected the speed of developing SHI-related legislation in 24 post-socialist countries. The potential causal conditions were health status, economic status, level of governance, level of democracy, issue salience, and number of medical professionals. We found 3 pathways that led to the enactment of SHI-related laws and 1 pathway that inhibits enactment. The key factors impacting enactment of SHI-related laws were non-corrupt governments and realization of democracy. In addition, medical professionals' involvement in policymaking could be the factor to enact SHI-related laws. Further research is needed for more in-depth analysis regarding what the laws specifically include, type of health insurance systems that were adopted based on the laws, and if the legislation contributed toward achieving universal health coverage.