[Inhalation risk upon exposure to emission from industrial enterprises in the town of Magnitogorsk].

Based on the risk assessment methodology, the authors gives information on Magnitogorsk priority industrial enterprises; the chemicals contained in their emission from halation risk, which are responsible for moderare and severe risks. Negative health effects due to chronic inhalation exposure and the poorest environmental areas under observation are identified. The directions of application of the findings are specified.

[New evidence for the detection of ehrlichia and anaplasma in ixodes ticks in Russia and Kazakhstan]. / Novye dannye o vyiavlenii érlikhii i anaplazm v iksodovykh kleshchakh v Rossii i Kazakhstane.

Polymerase chain reaction and sequence analysis were used to screen Ehrlichia and Anaplasma DNA in 900 specimens of Ixodes ticks of four genera (Dermacetor, Haemaphysalis, Ixodes, and Hyalomma) collected on 14 administrative territories of Russia and Kazakhstan. Anaplasma phagocytophilia DNA was detected and identified in Ixodes persulcatus ticks gathered in the Altai and Primorye Territories. Ehrlichia muris DNA was genotyped in the I. persulcatus ticks collected in the Tyumen, Omsk, and Novosibirsk Regions and the Altai Territory. Examining the Haemaphysalis concinna collected in the Primorye Territory revealed A. bovis DNA. The I. persulcatus ticks gathered in the Omsk Region were found to have "Ehrlichia-like "Schotti variant" DNA, Studying the ticks of the genera Dermatocentor and Hyalomma gathered in Russia and Kazakhstan failed to detect the representatives of the genera Anaplasma and Ehrlichia. The detection of A. phagocytophilia DNA in the I. persulcatus ticks in the Altai and Primorye territories and the serological verification of cases of human granulocytic anaplasmosis among patients with tick-borne infections in these territories lead to the conclusion that there are natural loci of this disease in West Siberia and the Far East of Russia.

[Genotyping of spotted tick fever rickettsiae, detected in Russia and Kazakhstan]. / Genotipirovanie rikketsii gruppy kleshchevoi piatnistoi likhoradki, vyiavlennykh v Rossii i Kazakhstane.

R. slovaca was first detected in the ticks D. marginatus gathered in the Stavropol Territory and the Voronezh Region (European Russia). The recently discovered rickettsial genotype DnS14 was first found in the ticks D. silvarum from Buryatia and D. niveus from the Karaganda Region (Central Kazakhstan). The rickettsial genotype RpA4 was most common in the ticks of the genus Dermacentor in Russia and Central Kazakhstan. An analysis of the spread of rickettsias of the STF group shows their close ecological relation to definite types of Ixodes. The rickettsias R. slovaca and RpA4 co-exist in the ticks D. marginatus and D. reticulatus (the western part of a Dermacentor area in Eurasia) and DnS14 and R. sibirica do in D. nuttalli and D. silvarum (the eastern part of the area). D. marginatus and D. reticulatus in the areas characterized by the most specific saturation of a Dermacentor area (the south of West Siberia) are carriers and reservoir of R. sibirica. The rickettsial genotype DnS28 may be now considered to be environmentally associated with one species of ticks--D. nuttalli. At least 6 genotypes of STF rickettsias--R. sibirica, R. astrahan fever (R. conorii), R. slovaca, RpA4, DnS14, DnS28--has been currently identified in Russia and Kazakhstan.

Current contamination by 137Cs and 90Sr of the inhabited part of the Techa river basin in the Urals.

Previous discharges of radioactivity from the Mayak Production Association plant in the Urals have resulted in considerable radionuclide contamination of the Techa River, and consequent high radiation doses during the late 1940s and 1950s to residents of villages along the Techa river. The most contaminated villages close to the site were evacuated in the period 1954-1962. The objective of this recent study was to conduct a preliminary assessment of the current radioactive contamination of soil, vegetation and foodstuffs in the two remaining villages closest to the Mayak site, Muslyumovo and Brodokalmak. The highest contamination levels in soil were found in the floodplain at 5.5 MBq m(-2) for 137Cs and 1.0 MBq m(-2) for 90Sr. Radionuclide contamination in soil of the villages was much lower, but exceeded that expected from global fallout. Data from 1207 measurements of 137Cs in milk and 1180 for 90Sr in milk for the period 1992-1999 were collated. There was no change with time in the 90Sr or 137Cs activity concentration in milk over the measured period. There were significantly higher 137Cs activity concentrations in milk sampled during the housed winter period in Muslyumovo compared with the grazing summer period, but compared to that for Brodokalmak or for either settlement for 90Sr. The highest measured activity concentrations in food products of 137Cs and 90Sr were found in river fish, waterfowl, poultry and milk. The measured activity concentrations of 137Cs and 90Sr in some animal products were higher than that expected from soil and vegetation from fields and pasture in the villages (not including the floodplain) confirming that the highly contaminated floodplains are contributing to contamination of some animal products.