Cartographic evaluation of the risk of natural elements' deficiency in the soil cover provoking spatial variation of the endemic morbidity level (on example of thyroid morbidity among population of the Central Federal District, Russia).

The main goal of the study is to evaluate the contribution of the natural geochemical risk in the central part of the Eastern European Plain to the spatial distribution of human diseases provoked by the deficiency of biologically significant microelements (Co, Cu, and I) in the environment. The Central Federal District (CFD) of Russia, located in the Eastern European Plain is characterized by a deficiency of Co, Cu, and I in the environment (soils, local food). To access the risk of thyroid diseases associated with Co, Cu, and I content in soils of the CFD based on published data of trace elements concentrations and digital soil map we create maps of the elements variation in soil cover allowing to estimate their mean concentration in the regions.

Chemical composition of groundwater used for drinking in conditions of natural deficiency of iodine and selenium and evaluation of its health effect: the case of Bryansk region (Russia).

Chemical composition of drinking water was examined in rural settlements of Bryansk region to reveal its influence on distribution of endemic thyroid diseases among population after the Chernobyl accident (1986) with due regard to different sources of water, the age and composition of water-bearing rocks. Groundwater samples (n = 515 in total) were collected in 156 rural settlements over the region in the period from 2007 to 2017 and analyzed for major cationogenic elements (Ca, Mg, Sr, K, Na, Mn, Zn, Fe, Al, Si) and anions (HCO, Cl, F, SO, NO, PO) as well as for I and Se using ICP-AES, potentiometry, photometry and spectrofluorimetry. The results confirmed a low supply of water samples with iodine (Median (Me) = 5.

On the ordered nature of redistribution of technogenic elements in undisturbed elementary landscape-geochemical systems of the temperate zone on the example of the Chernobyl Cs fallout.

The study is aimed at identifying patterns in distribution of pollutants in the elementary landscape-geochemical systems (ELGS) of the temperate zone. The study used Cs as a tracer, which allows a highly detailed analysis of the nature of the heterogeneity of secondary migration in the toposequence: summit-slope-closing depression, treated as the elementary landscape-geochemical system. The study site was located in the Bryansk region in the Chernobyl abandoned area with an initial level of Cs contamination exceeding 1480 kBq/m (40 Ci/km).

Endemic diseases of geochemical origin and methodological approaches toward their prevention and elimination.

A new approach to the study of diseases of geochemical origin is presented, which is based on the hypothesis that all such geochemical endemias were not possible in conditions of virgin biosphere and are products of human civilization. Two genetically different types of endemic diseases of geochemical origin are distinguished, each having a specifically spatial structure: (1) diseases of natural origin due to natural element deficiency or excess in the particular zones or areas; (2) diseases of anthropogenic origin related to chemical transformation of the environment in the course of agricultural or industrial production. Anthropogenically provoked diseases of geochemical nature always occur in conditions of already formed natural geochemical heterogeneity.

137Cs and 40K in the terrestrial vegetation of the Yenisey Estuary: landscape, soil and plant relationships.

Plant species, forming important components of Arctic food chains and of interest from a monitoring perspective, were studied at 36 plots representing flood plain and terrace landscapes of the Yenisey River and Estuary from its upper delta to the gulf. (137)Cs contamination densities at the plots varied from 0.35kBq/m(2) (central delta, sandy riverside plot) to 88kBq/m(2) (the upper delta plot) indicating both global and regional sources of anthropogenic pollution.

Risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to 131I in childhood.

Background: After the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in April 1986, a large increase in the incidence of childhood thyroid cancer was reported in contaminated areas. Most of the radiation exposure to the thyroid was from iodine isotopes, especially 131I. We carried out a population-based case-control study of thyroid cancer in Belarus and the Russian Federation to evaluate the risk of thyroid cancer after exposure to radioactive iodine in childhood and to investigate environmental and host factors that may modify this risk.