Epidemiological survey of the medical consequences of the Chernobyl accident in Ukraine.

The characteristics of the contamination resulting from the Chernobyl accident are defined, as a basis for epidemiological investigations. Due to loss of integrity of the nuclear fuel and thermal buoyancy from fire and nuclear heating, a large quantity of radioisotopes were released over a period of up to 16 days. The areas affected were very large, 37 million hectares in Ukraine alone. About 5 million persons were affected in one way or another, over 2 million of them in Ukraine. For registration and follow-up of health consequences from the accident, 4 main groups were distinguished, namely: (1) the participants in the containment of the accident and its cleanup ("liquidators"); (2) evacuees; (3) residents of contaminated areas; and (4) children born to parents with significant radiation exposure. Registration and epidemiological follow-up in the former USSR and the three republics afterwards are presented with an emphasis on Ukraine. Considering the long incubation times for some of the expected illnesses and relatively low average doses, the difficulties of confirming significant effects become evident. For example leucosis morbidity among cleanup personnel within a 30 km zone around the accident was 3.4 per 100,000 before the accident and 7 per 100,000 afterwards. The question of the statistical significance of such numbers is discussed by the authors, in the context of confounding factors. For some of the observed effects it has already been established that stress and anxiety caused by the accident and living conditions in the affected areas are the principal cause rather than radiation. According to the authors, more detailed retrospective and prospective epidemiological studies are needed in the future, in order to clarify the causes of observed health effects.

[Interrelation of cardiovascular function and the level of general physical work capacity in practically healthy men of different ages and the possibilities for their prediction]. / Vzaimosviaz' sostoianiia serdechno-sosudistoi sistemy s urovnem obshchei fizicheskoi rabotosposobnosti u prakticheski zdorovykh muzhchin razlichnogo vozrasta i vozmozhnosti ikh prognozirovaniia.

The relationship between the functional possibilities of the cardiovascular system and general work fitness has been analyzed in practically healthy males aged 20 to 60 years. The level of work fitness has been defined, corresponding to adequate and inadequate functioning of the circulatory apparatus. A method for predicting the possibilities of the above parameters is suggested.

The diagnostic significance of the correlation between the effectiveness of subendocardial perfusion and the energy output compatible with the coronary reserve.

The effectivity of subendocardial perfusion was investigated in 266 probands aged 40-68 years (112 patients with ischaemic heart disease, 116 patients with essential hypertension, and 38 practically healthy persons) by a noninvasive technique - the myocardial vitality index (MVI) or the quotient of the diastolic and systolic tension-time indexes (DTTI/STTI). The close and statistically significant correlation was found between the MVI, findings of selective coronarography, and total physical performance (exercise tolerance threshold) in per cent of the maximal oxygen consumption (MOC) adequate to the given subject's age, sex, and body mass. Attention is drawn to the diagnostic potential of the novel mode of a rapid assessment of the expected exercise tolerance threshold in per cent of the admissible MOC, determined by the magnitude of the coronary reserved of energy output (in kcal/min or kJ/min), and to the possibilities of predicting the maximal admissible heart rate during exercise on the basis of the myocardial oxygen supply/consumption quotient during a state of relative muscular rest, reflecting the MVI.