Sanitary and hygienic aspects of the covid-19 self-isolation

© 2020 Mitrokhin et al. Introduction: Self-isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic is a temporary measure to limit the spread of infection. All citizens arriving from abroad to Russia must comply with the rules of self-isolation. Since April 2, 2020, almost all citizens of the Russian Federation have followed the rules of self-isolation. Also, this month in the Russian capital, Moscow, about 6 million citizens have isolated themselves. In general, in the territory of Russia, the number of citizens on self-isolation reached 100 million. Billions of citizens around the world are staying at home due to the self-isolation regime, so a sanitary assessment must be considered. Self-isolation, characterized by physical inactivity, hypoxia, diet disturbances, lifestyle changes during work / rest, mental stress; this provides an opportunity to identify the presence of public health risk factors and contributes to an increase in the incidence of No Communicable Diseases (NCDs). Purpose of the Study: Carrying out a sanitary-hygienic assessment of COVID-19 self-isolation, determining priority risk factors causing non-infectious diseases, and proposing preventive measures. Objectives: To Identify public health risk factors during self-isolation. To conduct a comprehensive hygienic assessment of self-isolation according to the priority criteria. To develop a pointing system (hygiene index for self-isolation). To propose measures to minimize health risks during self-isolation. Materials and Methods: We used analytical, and systematization approaches. Information from the legal documents of the hygienic-sanitary laws of the Government of the Russian Federation (nutrition hygiene, hygiene of workforce, children, and teenagers). World Health Organization COVID-19 documents. Research Results: We assessed the sanitary-hygienic aspects of self-isolation to identify the leading risk factors on public health, and as a result, we proposed hygienic criteria for self-isolation. We developed a hygienic self-isolation index point score (HSIPS) that considers the Russian law-based requirements for diet, work, rest, and physical activities. Thus, the usage of those hygienic standards is beneficial to prevent public health risks in ordinary and extremely challenging conditions of self-isolation. We proposed measures to minimize risks during self-isolation, and we based them on adequate sanitary-hygienic standards. The main sanitary-hygienic risk factors of self-isolation are: sedentary lifestyle, hypoxia, nutritional deficiencies (malnutrition), and work/rest imbalance. Conclusion: We proposed a sanitary-hygienic definition of self-isolation. We identified leading risk factors for public health of the self-isolated population. We proposed sanitary-hygienic criteria for assessing self-isolation based on the regulations and standards of the Government of the Russian Federation. We developed a hygienic self-isolation index point score (HSIPS), which determines that the optimal mode is directly proportional to the coefficients of a person’s physical activity (D), indoor area (air cubic capacity) per isolated (S), time spent in fresh air (T) and inversely proportional to the calorie intake. We proposed measures to prevent noncommunicable diseases (NCD) for citizens on self-isolation

Organizational measures aiming to combat COVID-19 in the Russian Federation: the first experience

© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Background: Coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreading took place in the Russian Federation in recent 10 months. Russia has a reliable and effective governmental public health infrastructure that worked at an advanced level to control the situation since the first day of receiving reports about pneumonia ofunknown etiology cases in December 2019 and the registration of the first COVID-19 cases in Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Several measures were applied (administrative, organizational, technical, sanitary, and hygiene), nevertheless, creating an adequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic was 15 a challenge for the Russian national public health authorities. Areas covered: We used official information of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), the Russian Federation Government, and Moscow Government, and the official World Health Organization (WHO);the analysis was conducted between 1 December 2019 and 31 March 2020. Expert opinion: Rospotrebnadzor implemented a set of measures which comprised of three stages: 1. Stage 1 Preventive and sanitary measures; 2. Stage 2 Organizational and technical measures; 3. Stage 3 Organizational and preventive measures

Sex Hormone Candidate Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Endometriosis

The present study was designed to examine whether sex hormone polymorphisms proven by GWAS are associated with endometriosis risk. Unrelated female participants totaling 1376 in number (395 endometriosis patients and 981 controls) were recruited into the study. Nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) which GWAS correlated with circulating levels of sex hormones were genotyped using a TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. FSH-lowering, and LH- and testosterone-heightening polymorphisms of the FSHB promoter (allelic variants A rs11031002 and C rs11031005) exhibit a protective effect for endometriosis (OR = 0.60–0.68). By contrast, the TT haplotype loci that were GWAS correlated with higher FSH levels and lower LH and testosterone concentrations determined an increased risk for endometriosis (OR = 2.03). Endometriosis-involved epistatic interactions were found between eight loci of sex hormone genes (without rs148982377 ZNF789) within twelve genetic simulation models. In silico examination established that 8 disorder-related loci and 80 proxy SNPs are genome variants affecting the expression, splicing, epigenetic and amino acid conformation of the 34 genes which enrich the organic anion transport and secondary carrier transporter pathways. In conclusion, the present study showed that sex hormone polymorphisms proven by GWAS are associated with endometriosis risk and involved in the molecular pathophysiology of the disease due to their functionality

Indoor Environmental Quality in Dwellings and Lifestyle Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russian Perspective

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and as a response, public health authorities started enforcing preventive measures like self-isolation and social distancing. The enforcement of isolation has consequences that may affect the lifestyle-related behavior of the general population. Quarantine encompasses a range of strategies that can be used to detain, isolate, or conditionally release individuals or populations infected or exposed to contagious diseases and should be tailored to circumstances. Interestingly, medical students may represent an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic can form new habits and change lifestyle behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey to assess changes in lifestyle-related behavior of self-isolated medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then we analyzed the sanitary-hygienic regulations of the Russian Federation to determine the requirements for healthy buildings. Results showed that during the pandemic, the enforcement of isolation affects medical students’ lifestyle-related behavior and accompanies an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and healthy buildings are cutting-edge factors in preventing COVID-19 and NCDs. The Russian sanitary-hygienic regulations support improving this factor with suitable requirements for ventilation, sewage, waste management, and disinfection. Herein, assessing isolation is possible through the hygienic self-isolation index

The VNTR polymorphism of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene and blood pressure in women at the end of pregnancy

Objective: Examine the association of the 4a/4b polymorphism of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) with blood pressure in women at late pregnancy. Materials and methods: Blood pressure before pregnancy and at the end of gestation (37–40-week term) was measured in 588 women of the Russian ancestry. The women were divided into groups according to the body mass index and the presence of preeclampsia at late pregnancy. The 4a/4b polymorphism of the eNOS gene was genotyped using PCR with subsequent screening of amplified fragment length polymorphisms. Results: The 4a4a eNOS genotype was associated with higher levels of diastolic blood pressure in pregnant women and with more pronounced dynamics of the diastolic and mean arterial pressure in the development of pregnancy (p = 0.02–0.03). Pregnant women with the 4a4a genotype and increased body mass index had higher systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure (p = 0.001–0.009). In pregnant women with preeclampsia, the 4a4a genotype was associated with higher level of diastolic blood pressure at the end of pregnancy (p = 0.04), whereas in the women without preeclampsia this genotype was associated with more pronounced changes of blood pressure at pregnancy (p = 0.02). Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that the genotype 4a4a of the eNOS gene is associated with higher levels of blood pressure in women at the end of pregnancy. Keywords: Pregnancy hypertension, Preeclampsia, Endothelial nitric oxide synthase, Gene polymorphis

Interchangeability of class I and II fumarases in an obligate methanotroph Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z.

The methanotrophic bacterium Methylotuvimicrobium alcaliphilum 20Z is an industrially promising candidate for bioconversion of methane into value-added chemicals. Here, we have study the metabolic consequences of the breaking in the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle by fumarase knockout. Two fumarases belonging to non-homologous class I and II fumarases were obtained from the bacterium by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli. Class I fumarase (FumI) is a homodimeric enzyme catalyzing the reversible hydration of fumarate and mesaconate with activities of ~94 and ~81 U mg-1 protein, respectively. The enzyme exhibited high activity under aerobic conditions, which is a non-typical property for class I fumarases characterized to date. The calculation of kcat/S0.5 showed that the enzyme works effectively with either fumarate or mesaconate, but it is almost four times less specific to malate. Class II fumarase (FumC) has a tetrameric structure and equal activities of both fumarate hydration and malate dehydration (~45 U mg-1 protein). Using mutational analysis, it was shown that both forms of the enzyme are functionally interchangeable. The triple mutant strain 20Z-3E (ΔfumIΔfumCΔmae) deficient in the genes encoding the both fumarases and the malic enzyme accumulated 2.6 and 1.1 mmol g-1 DCW fumarate in the medium when growing on methane and methanol, respectively. Our data suggest the redundancy of the metabolic node in the TCA cycle making methanotroph attractive targets for modification, including generation of strains producing the valuable metabolites