The mitochondrial genome of Dendrobaena tellermanica Perel, 1966 (Annelida: Lumbricidae) and its phylogenetic position.

Earthworms are an important ecological group that has a significant impact on soil fauna as well as plant communities. Despite their importance, genetic diversity and phylogeny of earthworms are still insufficiently studied. Most studies on earthworm genetic diversity are currently based on a few mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Mitochondrial genomes are becoming a promising target for phylogeny reconstruction in earthworms. However, most studies on earthworm mitochondrial genomes were made on West European and East Asian species, with much less sampling from other regions. In this study, we performed sequencing, assembly, and analysis of the mitochondrial genome of Dendrobaena tellermanica Perel, 1966 from the Northern Caucasus. This species was earlier included into D. schmidti (Michaelsen, 1907), a polytypic species with many subspecies. The genome was assembled as a single contig 15,298 bp long which contained a typical gene set: 13 protein-coding genes (three subunits of cytochrome c oxidase, seven subunits of NADH dehydrogenase, two subunits of ATP synthetase, and cytochrome b), 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. All genes were located on one DNA strand. The assembled part of the control region, located between the tRNA-Arg and tRNA-His genes, was 727 bp long. The control region contained multiple hairpins, as well as tandem repeats of the AACGCTT monomer. Phylogenetic analysis based on the complete mitochondrial genomes indicated that the genus Dendrobaena occupied the basal position within Lumbricidae. D. tellermanica was a rather distant relative of the cosmopolitan D. octaedra, suggesting high genetic diversity in this genus. D. schmidti turned out to be paraphyletic with respect to D. tellermanica. Since D. schmidti is known to contain very high genetic diversity, these results may indicate that it may be split into several species.

Morphotypes and genetic diversity of Dendrobaena schmidti (Lumbricidae, Annelida).

Dendrobaena schmidti (Michaelsen, 1907) is a polymorphic earthworm species from the Caucasus and adjacent regions. Adult D. schmidti individuals have highly variable body size (from 1.5 to well over 10 cm) and color (from dark purple to total lack of pigmentation), so a lot of subspecies of D. schmidti have been described; however, the existence of most of them is currently under dispute. We studied the genetic diversity of D. schmidti from seven locations from the Western Caucasus using mitochondrial (a fragment of the cytochrome oxidase I gene) and nuclear (internal ribosomal transcribed spacer 2) DNA. For both genes studied, we found that our sample was split into two groups. The first group included somewhat bigger (3-7.5 cm) individuals that were only slightly pigmented or totally unpigmented (when fixed by ethanol). The second group contained small (1.7-3.5 cm) specimens with dark purple pigmentation. In one of the studied locations these two groups were found in sympatry. However, there were no absolute differences either in general appearance (pigmented/unpigmented, small/big) or among diagnostic characters. Although the two groups differed in size (the majority of individuals from the first group were 5-6 cm long, and of the second one, 2-3 cm), the studied samples overlapped to a certain degree. Pigmentation, despite apparent differences, was also unreliable, since it was heavily affected by fixation of the specimens. Thus, based on the obtained data we can conclude that D. schmidti consists of at least two species that have identical states of diagnostic characters, but differ in general appearance.

[The organization of the preventive work in educational institutions: problems and solutions].

Prevention measures are relevant for children and adolescents as among them there is the high prevalence of leading risk factors for chronic diseases. For the improvement of the preventive work it is necessary the introduction of amendments into the legislative documents and orders of the Ministry of Health, governing health care for children and adolescents in educational organizations. The consistent methodology for primary health care must be provided with the appropriate protocols. It is necessary to perform the systematic work on the reduction of the prevalence of risk factors for children's health and a healthy lifestyle. The number of doctors and nurses in the preschool and educational institutions is insufficient, and in organizations of primary and secondary vocational education is disastrous. Medical personnel departments of medical assistance to students due to the excessive load is not capable to fufill all of their functional responsibilities. Due to the low wages there is a constant reduction of health workers in schools and kindergartens. In the paper there are proposed measures aimed at improving the quality of preventive work in educational organizations.

[Morbidity rate and mental capacity of Moscow schoolchildren (longitudinal study)].

In the article there are presented data of longitudinal study of the health of Moscow schoolchildren (426 children), followed throughout from the 1st to 9th class, inclusively. Students were annually clinically examined in the school. There was performed a comprehensive study of mental health and functional state of the organism in the process of education students in high school (over 2700 pupils of 5-9th classes). The health status of students was shown to deteriorate due to the increase of the prevalence of chronic disease, the rise in occupancy of the III-IV health groups, the decrease of the number of children referred to I and II health groups. Unfavorable trends in the health state among boys are more pronounced than in girls, while they are also characterized by lower functional capabilities of the CNS and lower resistance to the development of training fatigue. Relatively favorable stage of school ontogeny is characterized by period with reduced morbidity in children studying in 4th-6th classes. Deterioration in the health of students as a significant rate of the rise of chronic diseases morbidity is observed in 7-9th classes. Along with this, in the 7th and 9th classes there is revealed the deterioration of mental capacity and high frequency of the pronounced signs of fatigue among schoolchildren.

[Hygienic evaluation of educational conditions and health status in junior pupils from rural schools].

Clinical and epidemiological examinations were made in rural junior (8-10-year-old) schoolchildren from the Vyazma District, Smolensk Region. The clinical findings were compared with the results of evaluation of sanitary-and-hygienic school welfare (SGW), made by the regional branch of the Russian Inspectorate for the Protection of Consumer Rights and Human Welfare, and with those of a sociological survey of school directors and teachers. In the rural schools referred to as Group III morbidity, the incidence of diseases was ascertained to be significantly higher and their patterns had its peculiarities as compared to good hygienic and social educational institutions. There was evidence that the worse schooling conditions, the more children suffered from chronic diseases, chronic mental diseases and physical malformations in particular.

[Scientific-and-methodic bases of adolescents' health protection and promotion in Russia].

The problems that have a considerable impact on health in population groups of all ages but on that of adolescents in particular, have been formed during the complex and unstable situation in Russia and with high morbidity rates among the children, adolescents, and young people. Power bodies, concerned ministries, agencies, and nongovernmental organizations show no consistency of actions in elaborating and implementing programs and measures to prevent and correct adolescents' health and developmental disorders. The foregoing suggests that the "dolescents' Health and Development in Russia" strategy that considers Russian and international experience with the rising generation's health care is urgent. The paper presents basic principles, study areas, and indicators of the expected efficiency of the complex activities of ministries, agencies, governmental and public organizations, medical and pedagogical communities for ensuring normal development and health promotion for the adolescents.

[Magnetic resonance imaging of the hand as an early diagnostic method for rheumatoid arthritis].

AIM: To provide the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of changes revealed by the data of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the hand and by those of X-ray study of the hand and foot in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (ERA). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study enrolled 110 patients (90 females, 20 males; age 49.6 +/- 12.2 years) examined in the framework of the RADICAL program at the Research Institute of Rheumatology, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The mean duration of the disease was 5.61 +/- 3.17 months. The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis was established by the 1987 ARA criteria in all the patients on primary standard examination comprising X-ray study of the hand and feet and evaluation by the modified Sharp method. MRI of the hand was performed in all the patients, by assessing the result by the OMERACT-RAMRIS procedure. RESULTS: Destructive changes (cysts and erosions) evidenced by X-ray study were found in the wrists, metacarpophalangeal articulations (MPA), and foot in 7.27, 8.2, and 13.64%, respectively. MRI revealed destructions in the wrist, MPA, and metacarpal bone base in 50, 60, and 16.36%, respectively. Overall, erosions could be seen on X-ray films and MRI scans in 20.91 and 67.27%, respectively (p < 0.0001). MRI revealed bone edema (osteitis) in 46.4% of the patients; there was no difference in the detection rate between the extremities. MRI synovitis was found in 99% of the patients, the right hand being significantly more commonly affected. Detailed characterization of the changes revealed by MRI and Xray was obtained in patients with ERA. CONCLUSION: MRI detected erosions significantly more frequently than did X-ray (p < 0.001), which confirms the high value of low-field MRI diagnosis on primary examination of patients with ERA and supports the opinion that the results of this study should be included into the diagnostic criteria of ERA.

[Hygienic assessment of projects on better organization of pupils' nutrition].

The paper deals with the hygienic bases of experimental projects for improving the organization of school nutrition. The purpose of the designs was to make a systematic monitoring of the successive implementation of all stages of regional integrated programs on healthy school nutrition. Today's school nutrition problems and ways of their resolution are outlined. A concept of schoolchildren's health monitoring in the implementation of experimental projects is presented. Methods and groups of parameters on which schoolchildren's health monitoring will be based are described.

[Morbidity and problems in medical provision of vocational school pupils].

The medical provision system for vocational college (VC) pupils was apparently destroyed at the turn of the 20th century, causing their health to become worse. In the past 10-12 years, there has been an appreciable increase in the rates of functional impairments and chronic diseases. Cases of profession-related diseases have been revealed in some VCs. Examination of the negative impact of vocational work-related and psychological factors on adolescents' health could substantiate general and differential recommendations to optimize a training process, to prevent diseases, and to improve the health status of pupils from VCs of different profile.

[Moscow schoolchildren's morbidity in the past 50 years].

The paper analyzes morbidity among Moscow schoolchildren in the past 50 years on the basis of the results of in-depth studies of pupils by the researchers of the Research Institute for the Hygiene and Health Care of Children and Adolescents. There is a significant reduction in the number of absolutely healthy children, the proportion of which is 2-4%. There is a considerable increase in the prevalence of dysfunctions and chronic diseases among schoolchildren. Particularly high increment rates of morbidity were observed in the 1990s. The morbidity structure has changed in the past 50 years. Both biomedical and psychosocial factors are responsible for changes in the morbidity levels and structure of children and adolescents.

[Schoolchildren's health status and problems in the choice of professions].

Poor trends in the health status of children and adolescents were responsible for as high as 80% of the number of young men and girls with health limitations to have vocational training and labor activity. Medical professional advice is a system of measures to assist young men and girls with health abnormalities in choosing professions or specialties that would promote their health and favor their successful adaptation to the conditions of obtaining vocational training and further work. Qualified medical professional advice should be based on the new science-based lists of medical contraindications, which are to be commissioned by the joint orders of the Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

[First-form children's health status and mental development].

The task of the study was to comparatively analyze neuropsychic features in first-form children at the end of the first school year depending on the results of a medical examination and the opinions as to the appropriateness of each child's entering a school. The cognitive functions, psychomotor system, functional visual analyzer lability, that reflected nervous system fatigue in a schoolchild, and psychosocial adaptation measures were studied. The findings indicated that there were no differences between first-form children with debilitated health and their schoolmates in the performance of cognitive functions and schooling achievement. However, they showed decreased functional lability of the visual analyzer, difficulties in taking and carrying out rapid decisions, and lowered psychosocial adaptability. The specific features of mental development of first-form children with poor health set them under special conditions of an educational process, which are not conductive to better health.

[Methodological approaches to the assessment of pathological processes dynamics in schoolchildren based on the results of preventive examination].

Analysis of prevalence of various functional disorders and chronic diseases diagnosed in children and adolescents during comprehensive prophylactic examination in educational institutions does not provide complete information about health tendencies because the same statistical data may reflect both favourable development of a pathological process and its deterioration. Such information can be obtained by thorough analysis of complaints, medical histories and catamnestic observations, fulfillment of the complete range of regimented clinical examinations. An algorithm and criteria for characterization of a pathological process as "improving", "worsening" or "unaltered" were developed for different nosological forms and classes of diseases in 2006. It was shown that stage by stage differential assessment of pathological processes and functional disorders in junior and senior schoolchildren in different periods of their development during school years yields new data on different phases of adaptation, occurrence of its favourable and unfavourable outcomes; also, it permits to identify schoolchildren in need of urgent curative and preventive aid.

[Anticitrulline antibodies and wrist joint MRI parameters in patients with early arthritis].

AIM: To examine correlations between immunological markers, clinical parameters and MRI data in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and undifferentiated arthritis (UDA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study was made of 211 patients with early RA (43 males, 168 females) and 47 patients with early UDA (mean age 48.6 +/- 13.4 years), duration of the symptoms 5.5 +/- 4.5 months). RF-positive were 136 (64.5%) patients. X-ray erosions were detected in 45 (21.3%) patients. RA activity was estimated by the integral DAS28 index (by 3 parameters), function--by HAO questionnaire (Russian version). The immunonephelometric analyzer (BN-100, Dade Behring, Germany) determined concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP), IgM. Anticitrulline antibodies (ACAB) were estimated by enzyme immunoassay, the upper limit of the norm was 5.0 U/ml. MR imaging (MRI) of both the wrists in RA patients was made on the 0.2 T Artoscan unit, the assessment was made with the reference atlas OMERACT-RAMRIS. RESULTS: IgM and ACAB levels were much higher in RA than in UDA. Among the patients positive by both tests (RF+ACAB) 95.2% had a typical clinical picture and RA diagnosis while 60% patients negative by RF and ACAB had UDA (p < 0.001); among patients positive by one of the tests the ratio UDA to RA was 1:2 (32.6 and 67.4%). In RA patients with very high ACAB (> 100 U/ml) CRP reached 38.10 +/- 48.29 mg/l while in negative ACAB--17.07 +/- 19.34 mg/l (p = 0.016). Wrist MRI detected synovitis and bone erosions in 93 and 66% cases, respectively. High ACAB level (> 100 U/ml) and CRP levels were associated with high DAS28, RF IgM and MRI erosions number. CONCLUSION: RF and ACAB patients are characterized by a typical RA picture in the disease onset (specificity 93.6%). MRI detects synovitis in the wrist joints in 93 and erosions in 66% early RA patients. Combination of high ACAB and CRP levels is associated with high RA activity, RF IgM and great number of erosions according to MRI and may serve a marker of a severe disease course.

[Morbidity among schoolchildren and vocational college students upon completion of education].

The health status of adolescent schoolchildren and vocational college (VC) students aged 15-18 years was monitored for 3 years. It was found that morbidity rates increased from the 9th to 11th forms in the schoolchildren and from the 1st to 3rd courses in the VC students, pathology and functional disorders most intensively developed in VC girls. On completion of school education, there was an increase in the prevalence of mainly functional disorders among the girls and in that of chronic diseases among young men. The course of nervous and mental disorders was found to become worse in most VC students. The specific features of the formation and development of pathological processes were identified in relation to the profile of VC and the influence of professional and occupational factors. The results of the study provide a means of developing differential health-promotion measures for pupils and students with consideration of gender, age, the type of an educational establishment, and the profile of a vocational college.

[Health status of adolescents and modern approaches to holding medical professional consultations]. / Sostoianie zdorov'ia podrostkov i sovremennye podkhody k provedeniiu vrachebnykh professional'nykh konsul'tatsii.

Due to unfavorable trends in the health state of contemporary children and teenagers, the total number of young males and females, who have health-related limitations in educational and occupational spheres, went up to 80%. A medical professional consultation belongs to a system of measures, whose purpose is to assist the young males and females with impaired health to choose professions or occupations, which would maintain their health intact and promote successfully their adaptation to professional training conditions and subsequently to actual occupational conditions. A timely and high-skilled implementation of medical professional consultations with a subsequent rational employment of teenagers and youth with impaired health should be regarded as a secondary prevention of pathologies. The holding of such medical professional consultations for teenagers is reasonable both at the stage, when a teenager makes his or her choice of a job (i.e. at school), and at the stage of receiving a professional education, so that the schoolchildren and students could get a job in line with their health status and that they could be employed with respect to doctor's recommendations. The Research Institute for Children's Health elaborated a number of methodological and regulating documents to promote the efficiency of the medical professional consultations; an automated assessment system is in the process of construction at the above institution.