The data on the assessment of the radiobiological situation and the results of clinical and epidemiological studies into the population health status, exposed to radiation because of the Chernobyl NPP accident are summarized. Appropriate regularities in soil contamination with 137Cs are ascertained. It has been shown that the disease incidence among the children's and adult population of the controlled areas is associated not only with improvement of the disease revealing but with the influence of the accident consequences.
Negative consequences of the impact of alpine factors on the body of man are described. Alpine acute lung edema is one of the dangerous diseases that may develop under alpine conditions. This may affect not only beginners but also aborigines of the mountains, who return to the places they come from after a temporary stay in lowlands. Acute brain edema is regarded as no less severe condition. It may occur in about 1.2% of the people who climb to a height of 4500-5000 m. Primary alpine pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic alpine cor pulmonale are fairly prevalent under alpine conditions.
The authors provide the results of studying the reconstruction of individual doses of thyroid radiation among the community living in polluted areas of the Byelorussian Republic according to radiation monitoring data and with regard to the nature of radioactive pollution of the land. Every individual result of estimating the degree of thyroid radiation was characterized by 3 magnitudes: the lower and upper limit of possible values and by the intermediate (basic) value. The authors hold that studies of the correlations between the values of individual doses of thyroid radiation and different parameters of the radiation situation in every region will promote further specification of individual doses of thyroid radiation.
While detecting the biological and cardiopulmonary age the authors have demonstrated that the long-term work under the conditions of the heating industrial microclimate promotes acceleration of biological body aging. In the intensification of the aging process, of great importance is the time at which one starts working under the heating microclimate conditions. Based on the data obtained the conclusion is drawn that employment of the persons over 40 years may be restricted in relation to so-called "hot" occupations.
The authors provide the results of studying Cs-137 and Sr-90 pollution of soil, plants and milk in the Gomel region in 1986-1989. Describe the dynamics of the ratios soil-grass and milk-soil during that period. The content of Cs-137 in milk ranged from n.10(-10) to n.10(-7) Ci/l in polluted regions and from n.10(-10)-n.10(-9) Ci/l in the so-called pure regions. In all the regions examined, the concentration of Sr-90 in milk was far lower than that of CS-137. After the accident the levels of Cs-137 in milk rose 18-350-fold and those of Sr-90 3-16-fold on the average in the regions. One can observe a progressive decrease of the ratios of accumulation in the grass-soil and milk-soil systems and a decline of the concentration of Cs-137 and Sr-90 in milk. However, the percentage of samples with an increase of the temporarily permissible in 1988 levels of cesium radionuclides was fairly high in 1989 in certain regions: in the Vetkovsk region, it was 35.3 %, in the Chechersky region, it was 28.0 %. During 1987-1989, the concentration or Sr-90 in milk did not exceed 1.10(-9) Ci/l in the areas examined. The broad range of the indicators of milk pollution with Cs-137 and Sr-90 is specified by varying density of the area pollution, differences in the physicochemical status of radionuclides in accident fall-outs, and geochemical characteristics of the soil sheet.
Impulse mechanical and acoustic processes whose action on the body of man may result in unfavourable consequences are ever widely practiced today in industry and in the environment. Impulse processes are characterized by certain physical peculiarities which determine the specificity of their biological effect. In turn, this gives rise to the problems of their hygienic estimation and standardization. At the same time out of the diversity of physical parameters which characterize impulse noise and vibration, one should choose, for hygienic estimation and standardization, only those of them that are responsible for the biological effect to the greatest degree. Different authors suggest different approaches to the hygienic standardization of those processes, which depends on what parameters are recognized by them as more adequate to their biological effect.
The estimation of the effective dose equivalents of exposure to accidental and non-accidental sources was made on the basis of the studying of radiation situation variations in Kiev after the Chernobyl accident in 1986-1989. The total annual effective dose equivalents to the Kiev population from all sources of exposure for 1986-1989 were 9.19, 7.29, 5.34 and 5.03 mSv, respectively. The necessity of radiation health measures aimed at limiting the intake of long-acting radionuclides of Chernobyl nature and reducing the exposure doses by optimizing the x-raying procedure and by regulating the natural radioactivity of building materials are under discussion.
The physiological and hygienic estimation of the working conditions of the new occupational groups of medical workers who service ultrasound (diagnostic, surgical, sterilization, and physiotherapeutic) equipment has demonstrated the intensity of contact ultrasound in the area of contact with hands to undergo changes within wide limits; exposure also changes, correspondingly by a factor of 10 or 10(2), amounting on the average to 1.2-1104 joules for different occupational groups. As a result of the long-term exposure to ultrasonic sources, the workers may develop neurovascular dose-dependent disorders in the form of angiodystonic syndrome of vegetative polyneuritis of the hands. The rate of the augmentation of constant shifts of the thresholds of vibration sensitivity may constitute 1.3 and 0.9 dB per year for those exposed to low and high-frequency sources, respectively. The principle of the frequency dependence of the effects of contact ultrasound is thus based; the maximum permissible level of factor is corrected with regard to the spectral parameters. The joint action of air and contact ultrasound has been examined and the additive effect has been revealed. This made it possible to establish a decreasing correction (5 dB) for the maximum permissible level of contact ultrasound characterized by a more remarkable biological action. The hygienic classification of contact ultrasound has been elaborated, the use of a complex of preventive measures has been based.
It has been shown that men living in the Extreme North experience the tension of thermoregulation and its effectors. The main systems that maintain thermal balance of the body are the cardiovascular system and external respiration taking an active part in the processes of physical and chemical thermoregulation. The double load of the key system leads to non-economic and rapid spending of the functional reserves and risk of early development of disadaptation phenomena. The authors worded a scientific concept of the systemic organization in the maintenance of temperature constancy of the internal medium of man in the Extreme North, which permits estimating the degree of the participation of the subordinated subsystems in thermoregulatory processes.
A retrospective analysis was made of the leading syndromes of chronic radiation sickness (CRS) induced by external gamma-radiation in a dose of 1.0-9.33 Gy during the disease formation and in the long-term period (30-35 years after diagnosis). The frequency of the hematological and neurological syndromes, secretory alterations in the stomach, efficacy of rehabilitation measures, morbidity in specialists with a history of the clinical manifestations of CRS, who continue working are estimated. The incidence of the main somatic diseases is presented.
The whole complex of organizational medical measures on the elimination of afterffects of the large-scale radiation accident at the NPP may consist of the three basic groups: 1) preventive, aimed at maximally lowering the population and its critical subpopulations exposure levels; 2) curative and diagnostic, which, in addition to the rendering of medical assistance, provide for implementation of the programs of long-term population health studies, and 3) sanitation and educational, aimed at preventing negative social and psychological processes that accompany radiation accidents.
Negative consequences of the impact of alpine factors on the body of man are described. Alpine acute lung edema is one of the dangerous diseases that may develop under alpine conditions. This may affect not only beginners but also aborigenes of the mountains, who return to the places they come from after a temporary stay in lowlands. Acute brain edema is regarded as no less severe condition. It may occur in about 1-2 % of the people who climb to a height of 4500-5000 m. Primary alpine pulmonary arterial hypertension and chronic alpine cor pulmonale are fairly prevalent under alpine conditions.
The authors provide the data obtained in experimental animals, pertaining to the influence of certain modifying factors on metabolism and biological effects induced, by radioactive isotopes of iodine, by transuranium elements and beryllium. Out of all the modifying factors investigated, the form of the introduced compound and age turned out the most significant ones.
The paper is concerned with a brief analysis of the reported data on hygienic, epidemiological and experimental estimation of the electromagnetic radiation (EMR) of a videoterminal (VDT). The results of the author's investigations are presented. Based on the data obtained it is concluded that low-intensity wide-band EMR occurs in work places of VDT users. One should bear in mind that the biological action of EMR has not been studied so far.
The data on the assessment of the radiobiological situation and the results of clinical and epidemiological studies into the population health status, exposed to radiation because of the Chernobyl NPP accident are summarized. Appropriate regularities in soil contamination with Cs-137 arc ascertained. It has been shown that the disease incidence among the children's and adult population of the controlled areas is associated not only with improvement of the disease revealing but with the influence of the accident consequences.
Vibratory pathology goes on occupying the leading position in the pattern of occupational diseases. As to the industrial sources of local vibration, a hand power tool is most dangerous. The authors review differences in approaches to the estimation of vibratory disorders in the USSR and abroad, provide the main classifications of the vibratory syndrome and vibratory disease. Show that the pathogenesis of vibratory disease rests on a complex mechanism of neuroreflex and neurohumoral disorders leading to the development of congestive excitation followed by stable changes both in the receptor apparatus and different parts of the nervous system. The clinical symptomatology may include neurovascular disorders, lesions of the neuromuscular system, impairment of the bones and joints, alterations in metabolism, and so forth. In elaborating current measures aimed at vibratory disease prevention, use was made of the data of the prognosis of vibratory pathology risk. Measures for primary and secondary medical prophylaxis, new methods of early diagnosis, pathogenetic therapy with the use of stimulants of non-specific body resistance are described in detail.
The paper is concerned with the problems pertaining to the implementation of the State Union-Republic program of urgent measures for 1990-1992 and Republican programs of the elimination of Chernobyl accident consequences. Among the basic priorities covered by the program, the author regards the problems of the living of the population at the polluted areas, criteria for accepting decisions as to the possibility of further living or settling out together with favourable and unfavourable consequences such a measure as settling out. Emphasis is laid on some priorities of the optimal use of means alloted for implementing the programs of the elimination of Chernobyl accident consequences.
