[Epigenetic epidemiology of age-related diseases].

Many studies have shown that our organism is mostly sensitive to different influences in pre- and postnatal periods of ontogenesis. During the critical periods of maturation, these influences induce changes in the organism that relate to ontogenetic plasticity and lead to permanent changes in structure and function of different organ systems of the organism. It is suggested that the main molecular mechanisms of so-called "ontogenetic programming" are based on changes that occur on the epigenetic level, including changes in the genetic expression not connected with modifications of DNA structure.

[Cancer incidence and mortality after low-dose radiation exposure: epidemiological aspects].

Current recommendations for limiting exposure to ionizing radiation are based on the linear-no-threshold (LNT) model for radiation carcinogenesis under which every dose, no matter how low, carries with it some cancer risk. In this review, epidemiological evidences are discussed that the LNT hypothesis is incorrect at low doses. A large set of data was accumulated that showed that cancer risk after ordinarily encountered radiation exposure (natural background radiation, medical X-rays, etc.

[Predisposition to type II diabetes in Ukraine residents exposed to famine 1932-1933 during prenatal development].

It has been shown in a number of studies that the early-life exposition to famine can have long-term consequences for human health. In the present study, the analysis of type 2 diabetes (T2D) prevalence in Ukraine residents born before, during, and after the famine 1932-1933 was performed. It has been found that T2D prevalence is increased in the people exposed to the peak of the famine during prenatal development compared with those not exposed to famine.

[Role of seasonal factors in pre- and postnatal ontogenesis for etiology of type 1 diabetes mellitus].

Type 1 diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by autoimmune degradation of insulin-producing beta-cells. It was shown in a number of epidemiological studies of seasonality of birth in children with type 1 diabetes that the autoimmune process began during fetal and postnatal development. No such studies were carried out in the former Soviet Union countries.

[Effectiveness of measles immunoprophylaxis and the criteria for assessing its possible elimination].

The study of measles morbidity in Donetsk Province in 1960-1984 and the study of antimeasles immunity in different groups of the population have shown that the problem of the liquidation of measles cannot be solved by immunizing the population in a single administration of the vaccine. To enhance the effectiveness of the immunoprophylaxis of measles and its influence on the epidemic process, a number of problems must be solved with the aim to improve the quality of the vaccine, especially its thermal stability, to establish the possibility of shifting the beginning of immunization from 15-17 months to 12 months of age, to increase the coverage of children with immunization against measles by decreasing the number of groundless exemptions from immunization and by immunizing children in risk groups according to individual schedules and dosage, to carry out selectively the booster immunization of persons who have lost their postvaccinal immunity, as revealed by laboratory test, or in whom such loss may be supposed, to introduce the objective method (indirect hemagglutination test) for controlling the state of immunity among different groups of the population into laboratory practice at sanitary and epidemiological stations. As to the possibility of the liquidation of measles, the statement of this problem is correct, but for its solution a complex of additional prophylactic and epidemic-control measures should be taken.