Work at high altitude and non-fatal cardiovascular disease associated with unfitness to work: Prospective cohort observation.

Introduction: Mining at high altitude exposes workers to hypoxic environment and cold climate in addition to conventional hazards in mining, but very little is known on how to define fitness to work in prospective candidates with pre-existing conditions. The aim of the current study was to define the incidence of cardiovascular diseases leading to unfitness to work as well as their predictors in a prospective observation.

Methods: A total of 569 prospective employees (median age 34 (interquartile range (IQR) 28;40) years, 95% men 85% mid-altitude residents) for a high-altitude gold mine in Kyrgyzstan operating at 3800-4500 meters above sea level were screened at pre-employment in 2009-2012 and followed by January 2022.

Maternal treatment with a selective delta-opioid receptor agonist during gestation has a sex-specific pro-cognitive action in offspring: mechanisms involved.

There is growing evidence that the treatment of several mental disorders can potentially benefit from activation of delta-opioid receptors. In the future, delta-agonists with a safe pharmacological profile can be used for the treatment of mood disorders in pregnant women. However, the data on prenatal exposure to delta-opioid agonists are missing.

Bridging the mood and stress hormone levels between mothers and their babies: The study design and first preliminary results.

The neurobiological mechanisms involved in the influence of post-partum maternal mood fluctuations on child development are far from being understood. Here we present the design of an ongoing study aimed to test the hypothesis that the mental state of the mother has an impact on her neonate which is manifested by similarities in the neuroendocrine function of the mother and the child. The hypothesis is being tested under both stress and non-stress conditions in mothers and babies aged 3-4 days and 7-9 months.

Neuroendocrine response to a psychosocial stress test is not related to schizotypy but cortisol elevation predicts inflexibility of semantic memory retrieval.

An altered stress response can contribute to the transition from preclinical psychotic symptoms to the clinical manifestation of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. The present study was aimed at testing the hypotheses that (i) the autonomic and neuroendocrine responses under psychosocial stress are dysregulated in individuals with high psychosis proneness (schizotypy); (ii) the magnitude of post-stress autonomic activation and cortisol release predicts alterations in semantic memory retrieval. The study was performed in 73 healthy individuals of both sexes with either high or low schizotypal traits preselected out of 609 individuals using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire.

High levels of indoor fine particulate matter during the cold season in Almaty prompt urgent public health action.

Introduction: Almaty is the largest city of Kazakhstan with extreme air pollution, mostly in the cold season, but little is known whether staying indoors could lessen the exposure. The aim was to quantitatively characterize indoor fine PM levels and to verify the contribution of ambient pollution to it in a polluted city like Almaty.

Methods: We collected forty-six 24-hour 15-min average samples of the ambient air and a similar number of paired indoor samples (total 92 samples).