Experience with improving the system of postgraduate training of public health administrators in Moscow

Proceeding from the sample survey of the state of training Moscow health administrators, a functional model of continuous postgraduate education for the heads of health care facilities is proposed. The study tackles the problems of training of the manpower reserve. The problems of more effective training combined with the use of active instruction methods are discussed.     

The characteristics of the therapeutic measures in stomach cancer (based on data from the All-Union Center for the Study of Treatment Effectiveness in Patients with Malignant Tumors)

The paper deals with the analysis of methods used in oncological establishments of the USSR in 1968-1972 and 1974-1980 to treat 19,864 patients with gastric cancer. Stage I or II tumors were identified in 10%, stage III-38 and IV-in 52% of cases. Radical treatment was performed in 34% of hospitalized patients. Surgery remains the most frequent procedure to be used for the treatment of stomach cancer including stage IV. Higher rate of radical treatment can be assured if, on the one hand, fewer patients refuse from operation and, on the other, fewer refusals are justified by concomitant pathology and old age.     

Surgical correction of external nose deformities]

During surgical elimination of external nose deformation biologically inert prostheses were used. In the post-operative period low-intensity laser therapy was applied. No adverse effects of corundum ceramics were noted. The procedure of posterior tamponade was modified to ensure complete isolation of the nasopharynx during surgical manipulations on the external nose skeleton.     

Maternal hyperphenylalaninaemia as a cause of microcephaly and mental retardation

We attempted to evaluate the role of maternal hyperphenylalaninaemia (HPA) as an isolated cause of mental retardation and microcephaly in children. This transversal study observed the plasma phenylalanine from mothers of 161 children with mental retardation and/or microcephaly of unknown origin. In this sample, we found two women with previously undiagnosed HPA, a frequency (2/161) higher than expected for our general population (1:12 500) ( p < 0.001). We concluded that the plasma phenylalanine levels should be determined during preconceptional evaluation of every woman of reproductive age that already has had a child affected either by mental retardation or microcephaly of unknown cause. It is particularly significant where women currently having their pregnancies have not been screened for phenylketonuria as newborns, as happens in most developing countries.     

The role of various intermediate and definitive host species in the dissemination of Opisthorchis felineus from the Ob-Irtysh focus of opisthorchiasis

Opisthorchiasis irradiation from the Ob-Irtysh focus is possible at the social level only: migration of invaded humans, fish export. Invasion irradiation from the endemic area through intermediate hosts is practically impossible, while through the definite hosts, wild fish-eating mammals, it is limited.     

Lack of a co-promoting effect of a 60 Hz magnetic field on skin tumorigenesis in SENCAR mice

It has been proposed that extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields may enhance tumorigenesis through a co-promotional mechanism. This hypothesis has been further tested using the two-stage model of mouse skin carcinogenesis, i.e. 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)- induced promotion of skin tumors in mice initiated by a single subcarcinogenic dose of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene. Experimentation described herein utilized the SENCAR mouse and examined the effect of a magnetic field on skin tumor promotion induced by three different doses of TPA within its dose-response range, i.e. 0.85, 1.70 or 3.40 nmol, administered twice per week. SENCAR mice (56/treatment group) were exposed to a 60 Hz magnetic field having a flux density of 2 mT for 6 h/day for 5 days/week and compared with mice exposed to the ambient magnetic field. Tumor incidence and multiplicity were monitored weekly for 23 weeks of TPA promotion. Statistical evaluation of the effects of the magnetic field on tumor incidence and multiplicity did not reveal any statistically significant effects; thus, within the sensitivity limits imposed by the animal model and the exposure parameters employed, no promotional or co-promotional effect of a 2 mT magnetic field on skin tumor development in SENCAR mice could be demonstrated.