Hygienic assessment of environmental factors that cause insufficient provision with vitamins among pre-school children

An issue related to insufficient provision with vitamins among children in Russia requires profound examination, especially as regards reasons for it, as it will allow to work out targeted prevention measures. Our research goal was to perform hygienic assessment of environmental factors (organization of nutrition, chemical contamination of environmental objects) that influence provision of pre-school children with vitamins. We chose the following research objects: a typical pre-school children facility located in a large industrial center and 188 children aged 6–7 who attended it. We applied a set of sanitary-hygienic, laboratory, and mathematical techniques in our research. We assessed organization of nutrition in the facility; performed a comparative analysis of nutrition quality with calculation and individual weighting technique. We also examined concentrations of technogenic chemicals in the atmospheric air, the air inside the facility, and water supplied to the facility; determined their concentrations in children's blood; studied antioxidant protection system in children and a level of their provision with vitamins. We detected that nutrition in the facility was imbalanced, and actual consumption of some food products was up to 1.7 times lower that it was suggested in a menu, and actual introduction of vitamins was by 30 % lower than calculated one. We showed that environmental objects (the atmospheric air, indoor air, and drinking water supplied to the facility) on industrially developed territories were contaminated with technogenic chemicals (formaldehyde, phenol, ethylbenzene, chloroform, and residual free/fixed chlorine) and it led to occurrence of their increased concentrations and increased concentrations of their metabolites in children's blood. We proved that increased concentrations of oxygen-containing aldehydes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and chlorine-organic compounds in children's blood made antioxidant protection enzymes less active and caused lower concentrations of antioxidant-active vitamins. So, insufficient provision with vitamins among pre-school children who attend a pre-school children facility in a large industrial center is caused not only by insufficient exogenous introduction of vitamins with food but also by effects of their metabolic absorption related to occurrence of technogenic chemicals with pro-oxidant effects in biological media

Features of cardiac disorders in children with chronic respiratory diseases associated with aerogenic exposure to chemical environmental factors

The study has involved 43 children living in areas with poor air quality due to public health indicators. In 24 % of cases during the remission the children (with bronchial asthma and recurrent bronchitis, associated with exposure to anthropogenic chemicals such as suspended solids, aromatic and oxygenated hydrocarbons, formaldehyde) demonstrated peripheral signs of obstruction and the presence of functional cardiac disorders. Being under exposure to adverse effects of environmental chemical factors, the children with chronic respiratory diseases suffer from the developing of the cardiac type of vegetative dysfunction, which was manifested in bradycardia and tachycardia, eytonic and/or sympathicotonic baseline autonomic tone, hypersympathicotonic /astimpathicotonic autonomic reactivity. In 17.9 % of the children it was manifested in transient diastolic dysfunction of right ventricle and in excessive systolic blood pressure in pulmonary artery

Assessment of cardiovascular pathology risk in miners employed at deep chrome mines

Deep mining is widely spread in Russia; therefore, preservation of labor resources employed in the sphere is a vital task. Workers who are employed at deep chrome mines are exposed to combined effects exerted by adverse occupational factors. These factors can either be common for deep mining, or they can be related to specific natural resources. Adverse risk factors cause higher risks that not only occupational, but also production-related diseases can emerge in miners. The authors performed a complex hygienic assessment of working conditions which exist in deep chrome mines. We detected that working conditions in mines could be characterized as "hazardous" and they belonged to 3–4 hazard category due to combined negative effects exerted by physical and chemical factors of the labor process. We also performed clinical and functional examination of 135 workers employed at a chrome mine. Our focus group was made up of 88 miners; the reference group included 47 workers employed at this mine who weren't exposed to adverse factors related to chrome ores mining. All the examined workers were males, aged 30–49, with their working experience ranging from 10 to 25 years. We revealed a failure in functional activity of the endothelium in half of miners whose working experience was shorter than 10 years; and relative risk of such failure was almost 8 times higher than for workers who didn't deal with deep chrome mining. 10 % miners who had been working at the mine for more than 10 years had a substantial decrease in functional reserves of their cardio-respiratory system. Relative risk of atherosclerotic changes in vascular walls, morphological changes in the cardiac muscle and the valve apparatus was from 3.5 to 12 times higher for miners than for workers who didn't deal with deep chrome mining. We detected a direct correlation between a decrease in functional activity of the endothelium and adaptation reserves of the cardio-respiratory system and increased chrome contents in miners' blood. Periodical medical examinations of workers should include functional and morphologic research performed on the cardiovascular system as it will help to reduce morbidity with cardiovascular-pathology among miners employed at deep chrome mines and to properly implement an overall set of preventive measures

On sufficient substantiation for maximum permissible level of zilpaterol in meat products

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee recommends the maximum permissible level of zilpaterol in meat to be fixed at 0.5 µg/kg. This level is substantiated by results of analysis described in several research works. Nevertheless, substantiation provided for this recommended standard requires a detailed discussion. In this study, we aimed to analyze substantiation of FAO/WHO suggestions on the maximum permissible level (MPL) of zilpaterol in meat as per health risks for consumers. Our analysis of research results revealed that the no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) were established allowing for negative effects on various organs and systems in the body. The lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL) under acute exposure was taken as a baseline for establishing MPL. This level produces negative effects on the nervous system (developing tremor). However, modifying factors used in MPL development have not been supported with solid argument. We also established that the LOAEL identified for the nervous system under acute exposure was much lower than NOAELs for other organs and systems under chronic exposure. Therefore, the aforementioned research results seem rather controversial. It is necessary to consider another additional factor, which is wide prevalence of cardiovascular diseases among adult population and risk factors that cause their development. Therefore, potential adverse effects on the cardiovascular system are no less important and we should note that they have been reliably detected both in acute and chronic experiments. In this study, we modeled a health risk caused by adverse effects of consuming meat products with residual zilpaterol levels; the risk was modeled in dynamics. The modeling experiment established that an impermissible health risk of adverse health outcomes in the cardiovascular system occurred even under exposure to zilpaterol in levels close to the lowest limit of sensitivity. Consequently, it seems rather premature to accept the maximum permissible level for zilpaterol in meat that is being suggested at present. It is recommended to cut its level down to the lowest limit of detection