[International scientific activity of Occupational Medicine Research Institute in 2014].

The article presents results of international scrientific cooperation of the Institute in 2014, including participation in international conferences, forums, congresses.

[Hygienic evaluation of asbestos-containing friction goods application].

The author analyzed literature data and conducted hygienic studies on evaluating risks connected with asbestor fibers release into workplace air and ambient air of populated area, with application of asbestos-containing goods (friction goods, interlining materials) in automobile transport. Conclusion is that air pollution with fiber particles in concentrations exceeding allowable ones is possible only with intense mechanical processing of friction goods.

[Contemporary approach to regulation of asbestos-containing dust].

The authors analyzed present and previous worldwide standards for asbestos-containing dust in air of workplace and ambient air of populated area. Suggestions are presented to correct existing national standards.

[Range of combined treatment of locally advanced skin cancer].

Due to combined use of surgery, chemo- and radiotherapy, 58.8% of patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma survived for 5 years. More organ-saving operations could be performed as a result of administering cisplatin, bleomycin and 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy in conjunction with radiation and subsequent surgery.

[Regulations of controlled use of asbestos-containing materials in construction industry].

The article deals with analysis of Russian Federation Law on safety concerning use of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials in construction of nonindustrial objects. The authors present recommendations on the law improvement for implementation of ILO Convention No. 162 on safety of work with asbestos in Russia.

[Measuring natural and artificial mineral fiber particles in air of civil objects].

The article deals with results of measuring natural and artificial mineral fiber particles in air of dwellings and public buildings, ambient air of Moscow. The authors evaluated the present situation in connection with nonindustrial use of materials containing asbestos and artificial mineral fibers. Consideration covered Russian MACs for asbestos fibers in ambient air of populated area.

[Quantitative evaluation of physical vitality and quality of life in combined therapy of patients with disseminated breast cancer].

The paper discusses the criteria of quantitative presentation of data on individual sensitivities and the body's vital systems potential used in treatment of cancer patients. An index is suggested to assess damage done to a system using an "automated classifier".

[Preliminary and periodic medical examinations of asbestos production workers].

The article covers general principles of health care for workers in various industries associated with contact to dust containing asbestos. The authors present main requirements of legal papers basing concepts that determine role of employers, trade unions, workers and medical officers in creation and maintenance of safe work conditions, in establishment of prophylactic, therapeutic and rehabilitation measures.

[Clinico-roentgenological and occupational correlations as a method of revealing the dose-effect dependence in the development of chrysotile-asbestos fibrosis].

For understanding up-to-date situation with fibrosis caused by chrysotile-asbestos, the authors conducted X-ray and hygienic studies in 2 enterprises extracting and enriching asbestos--"Tuvaasbest" JSC and "Orenbourgasbest" JSC. Authors followed correlation between diffuse pulmonary changes and length of service, dust load and cumulative exposure dose of respirable fibers. The strongest correlation was demonstrated for dust load.

[Evaluation of the mineral fibers content of pulmonary tissue in people engaged in extraction and concentration of chrysotile asbestos and in those living near enterprises].

The authors determined concentration of asbestos fibers in lung tissue samples obtained in hospital of Asbestos town in Sverdlovsk region. The samples were taken from 47 individuals who died with various causes. of Workers engaged into extraction and beneficiation of chrysotile asbestos at Bazhenovsky field, into production of chrysotile asbestos goods and those who reside in close proximity to the enterprises demonstrated no differences in general content of fibrous particles and of chrysotile asbestos fibers in lung tissue, if compared to workers of the same enterprises and industrial regions dwellers of Canada (being second, after Russia, for total chrysotile asbestos production).

[Chrysotile asbestos in Russia: certain results and promising research directions].

The article summarizes studies carried in RAMSc Research Institute for Occupational Medicine on chrysotile asbestos. Not denying potential carcinogenicity characteristic for all kinds of asbestos, those studies stress low biologic aggression of chrysotile asbestos during occupational exposure, even if the excessive MAC is demonstrated formerly in asbestos industry enterprises. Work with chrysotile asbestos, as every one in mining industry, requires not ban, but accomplishment of proper measures aimed to prevent pneumoconiosis and dust bronchitis.

[Improvement of the method of prehospital protection of vision].

The authors describe an improved method for the prevention of ocular diseases in children, consisting in formation of risk groups starting from female consulting centers ("provisional" group), then at maternity hospitals ("provisional" and "reliable" groups), and then at the outpatient clinic after examination by an ophthalmologist ("actual" and "reliable" groups). This work does not require extra staff or finances, and it helps reduce the incidence of ocular diseases, poor vision, and blindness almost twofold.

[Hygienic evaluation of contact with asbestos-containing dusts at thermoelectric power plants].

Hygienic evaluation of air in heating power stations revealed the contamination caused by putting and removing heat-proof covers and showed that insulating workers are exposed to asbestos in concentrations sufficient to cause asbestos-related diseases including malignancies. All this is supported by roetgenologic signs of exposure to asbestos, which were seen during the primary medical examination of the workers having long length of service. The study showed that the staffers out of deal with asbestos are also exposed to the asbestos-containing dust in concentrations exceeding the MAC.

[An objective method of examining visual acuity in children with amblyopia].

The authors analyze the results of vision acuity estimation with the use of visual evoked potentials (VEP) and Ye. M. Orlova's table in infants with amblyopia due to strabismus or impaired refraction.

[Improvement of ophthalmologic care for children at polyclinics].

On the basis of a long-term experience of work of the Children Ophthalmologic Service in Moscow negative aspects of organization of the ophthalmologist's work in the children town polyclinic are shown, and arguments are presented in favor of a proposition to organize an ophthalmologic polyclinical department in basic children polyclinics with introducing medical nurse optometrists [correction of nurses-opticometrists] into the staff of children polyclinics. "A Provisional Statute of a Children Dispensary Polyclinical Department" and a scheme "The Structure of a Children Ophthalmologic Union (Regional, Town, District)" are subjoined.

[The surgical prophylaxis stage in the progression of myopia in children].

The effect of common "simplified" methods of sclera-enhancing operations using various plastic materials on stabilization of the process has been studied in 211 children (410 eyes), aged from 7 to 15 years, with axial progressive myopia from 2.5 to 20 D of initial, advanced, far-advanced stages of the disease. The follow-up period ranged from 6 months to 3 years.

[Evoked potentials during treatment to restore vision in children with various degrees of amblyopia].

Visual evoked potentials to reversed chess patterns have been examined in children with dysbinocular and refraction amblyopia of varying severity before and after pleoptic treatment. This method appears to be helpful for the prediction of the visual results and for monitoring the vision acuity restoration during the treatment of amblyopia in children.