Vol 27, No 5 (2021)

BACKGROUND: Emotional burnout syndrome is described in the historical literature. According to various authors, the syndrome develops on average in 50% of contemporary teachers. However, the influence of the syndrome on the health of university teachers and its risk factors have not been sufficiently investigated.

AIM: This study aimed to identify and analyze the specific of risk factors influencing the health of university teachers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: An anonymous survey of 1,417 teachers was conducted at humanities institutions of higher education in Moscow, and the results of medical examinations were studied.

RESULTS: The prevalence of health disorders and associated risk factors among teachers were studied. The socio-hygienic characteristics of the surveyed teachers were analyzed based on a comprehensive assessment of their emotional state, according to individual diseases. In addition, the methods of improving their health status were determined.

CONCLUSIONS: More than half of university teachers have health disorders associated with adverse occupational factors and the moral and psychological climate at work and at home, combined with poor health and socio-hygienic activity indicators. Their management should include health-improving technologies and ensure optimal conditions for professional activity.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint is a common disease and a significant medical, social, and economic problem. Synovitis can be revealed at all stages of ОА, contributing to the progression of cartilage damage, increased pain, and impaired joint function. In patients with OA, the morphological pattern of the synovial membrane structure has characteristic features, such as hyperplasia, sublimating fibrosis, and stromal vascularization. Laser radiation is widely used in medicine. Exposure of two working wavelengths (0.97 μm and 1.56 μm) to the synovial membrane may lead to good results in the treatment of synovitis.

AIM: This study aimed to improve treatment outcomes in patients with chronic synovitis of the knee joint by applying radiation of two different wavelengths.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Treatment outcomes of 50 patients with chronic synovitis of the knee joint, aged 23 to 67 years, with stages II–IV gonarthrosis according to the Kellgren–Lawrence classification, were prospectively analyzed. All patients underwent arthroscopic sanation and laser partial synovectomy using LSP-IRE-Polus apparatus (OOO NTO “IRE-Polus,” Russia), with a wavelength of 0.97 μm (pulse 100 ms, pause 50 ms) in a pulsed-periodic mode and 1.56 μm with a power of 5 W in a continuous mode. Surveys were conducted preoperatively and at 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively using the following scales and questionnaires: Visual Analog Pain Scale (VAS), Lequesne index, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC), and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS).

RESULTS: The mean age (M±s) of the study subjects, body mass index, and the duration of synovitis were 45.32±13.1, 28.63±4.72 kg/m², and 2.26±1.91 years, respectively. Statistically significant improvements in the VAS, WOMAC, Lequesne, and KOOS scales were observed three months after surgery, whereas much more better results were obtained at six months and remained the same within 12 months after surgery (p <0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the proposed technique could be introduced into clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: In patients who have undergone retrograde endoscopic choledocholithoextraction, technical difficulties are frequently encountered when performing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, which is associated with the development of destructive changes in the gallbladder wall. However, no studies on the assessment of morphological changes occurring in the gallbladder wall at different terms after endoscopic retrograde bile duct interventions are currently available in the literature. The relevance and insufficient knowledge of the research area prompted this study.

AIM: This study aimed to determine the optimal terms of laparoscopic cholecystectomy after endoscopic bile duct decompression performed for cholelithiasis complicated by choledocholithiasis based on morphological changes in the gallbladder wall.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A comparative analysis of the pathological examination of 198 gallbladders removed surgically on different days after endoscopic bile duct decompression performed for cholelithiasis complicated by choledocholithiasis is presented.

RESULTS: In group 1, cholecystectomy after endoscopic bile duct decompression was performed on days 1–3. Gallbladder wall changes were observed in 10 (12.8%) patients. In group 2, cholecystectomy was performed on days 4–7. Inflammatory changes were revealed in 13 (37.1%) preparations. Pathological examination of the surgical specimens of the patients in group 3 who underwent cholecystectomy on days 14–30 revealed changes in the gallbladder wall in 48 (56.4%) cases.

CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy after endoscopic bile duct decompression within the first 72 h is the most optimal.

BACKGROUND: Bell’s Palsy (BP), accepted as an idiopathic condition and for which inflammation is believed to have a role in the pathogenesis, is a disease characterized by acute unilateral weakness in facial muscles innervated by the facial nerve.

AIM: This study aimed to examine the relationship between the C-reactive protein/albumin ratio (CAR) and hematological parameters including the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) in children with BP.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 65 children diagnosed with idiopathic peripheral facial paralysis and a control group of 49 healthy children. The patients were classified into two groups according to the House-Brackmann (HB) grade at the time of diagnosis, as mild (HB grade 2–3) and severe (HB grade 4–5). Patients evaluated as HB grade 1 with normal, healthy, and symmetrical muscle function were not included in the study. The children in the patient group were classified into three groups at the end of a six-month follow-up period as full recovery, partial recovery, and no recovery. The patient and control groups were compared according to the CAR, NLR, PLR, MPV, and RDW values. After treatment, the full recovery and no recovery groups were compared based on the CAR, NLR, PLR, MPV, and RDW values.

RESULTS: The NLR was found to be significantly higher in the BP patient group than in the control group (p <0.001). There was also a significant difference in the NLR value between the full recovery and no recovery groups. No statistically significant difference was found between the patient and control groups or between the full recovery and no recovery groups in terms of the CAR, PLR, MPV and RDW values.

CONCLUSIONS: NLR, an easily accessed hematological parameter, may be used as a marker of poor prognosis in pediatric patients with BP. CAR was of no prognostic value in pediatric BP patients.

The epidemiological surveillance of listeriosis remains an urgent problem for Russia, especially in the metropolitan areas. The Gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, which causes the infectious disease listeriosis, is a foodborne pathogen and widespread in nature. Ready-to-eat foods are particularly dangerous because no heat treatment or other antimicrobial action is performed between their production and consumption. Newborns, pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people are highly susceptible to listeriosis. The timely detection of L. monocytogenes in foodstuffs during the manufacturing and storage phases is important both for food processing and catering companies and for public health.

There is currently an acute lack of information on the activities of Japanese doctors during World War II. Being a country with limited natural, financial, and human resources, Imperial Japan considered biological and chemical weapons one of the most promising and effective means of warfare in its quest to dominate Southeast Asia. In the mid 1920s, the Japanese leadership approved biological and chemical warfare research. The implementation of the biological weapons project, including human testing, was entrusted to Shiro Ishii and a group of Japanese scientists under his leadership, as well as to military and civilian experts. These studies examined the effectiveness of plague, gas gangrene, cholera, anthrax, and other pathogens. Experiments, including detailed descriptions of the subjects’ suffering and the results of autopsies/vivisections, were carefully documented. Field tests involved the distribution of contaminated food and crops to the Chinese population, as well as the contamination of water supplies. Similarly, in keeping with military interests, the effectiveness of munitions and the effects of decompression, hypothermia, and electric current were investigated on prisoners. After the end of World War II and the surrender of Imperial Japan, large-scale buried victims of experiments were found on the territory of the People’s Republic of China, including the borders of the USSR. The paper focuses on the ethical component of the studies conducted, based on the dominant view in the Japanese society that all actions for the glory of the country and the emperor are justified and the absence of any ethical considerations due to the prejudice of the Japanese against foreigners in general and the Chinese in particular.