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The composition and content of necessary engineering-geological research providing accident-free operation of buildings and constructions in karst areas are considered. These studies include karst hazard assessment and rational selection of karst protection measures. The results of the prognostic assessment of karst sinkhole formation possibility on the territory of about 4 hectares, allocated for construction of the first stage of the complex of residential buildings of different numbers of floors in the northwest of Moscow, are presented. The basis was the results of site investigations, during which, in particular, several dozen boreholes were drilled to uncover soluble rocks. Karst hazard assessment included an in-depth analysis of engineering-geological conditions of the future construction site and adjacent territories and took into account the possibility of the occurrence of karst sinkholes of different genetic types in this city area. When building forecasts and karst risk assessment, calculated methods of probabilistic and deterministic character were used, allowing to determine the necessary conditions and parameters of karst sinkhole formation in quantitative terms. The results of the karst hazard assessment were considered when selecting karst protection methods.

In the paper a kind of sinkholes is considered, which is typical for areas where soluble rocks are covered by clay’s layer overlapped by saturated sands. The presence in soluble rocks of non-filled cavity contacting with covering clays is necessary to the sinkhole formation, however it can be provoked not only by cavity’s enlarging but else by changes of groundwater levels. The mechanism of this complex process has been researched by its in-laboratory simulation modelling, and its results can possibility to the author to name this phenomenon as “sagging-collapse sinkholes”, because it includes sagging and collapse of clays accompanied by downward moving of sands and sometimes by their liquefaction. Modelling technology is given in the paper in detail and the conception of investigated process is offered. Except experimental study of sagging-sinkhole formation the purposes of the work was quantitative forecasting of this geological phenomenon. Forecasts have been developed that allow calculating the diameter of the expected sinkhole, particularly. An assessment of their reliability is given.

The aim of the study is both an analysis of existing basic solutions and innovations in the field of municipal solid waste management and new developments by domestic authors. The main research method was environmental monitoring in the impact zone of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills. In the process of monitoring, the properties of the soils of the landfill bases were studied by testing them and further laboratory studies of lithological and mineral compositions, moisture and density, filtration and other characteristics. As a result, the following were established: the dependence of soil water permeability on particle size distribution, lithological, organ mineral compositions and the degree of their heterogeneity; maximum minimum-required thickness of screening soils at the base of MSW landfills in the Middle Urals. The established dependences of the engineering and geological characteristics of soils make it possible to use them as natural impervious screens, which can be successfully applied in other regions under similar conditions. Among the constructive solutions in the field of municipal solid waste management, the developments of domestic scientists, which were tested in the Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod and Sverdlovsk regions, are considered. Some of them relate to environmental protection in the area affected by landfills, while others are aimed at optimizing the operation of such landfills. The optimization technology consists in combining the operation and reconstruction cycles of municipal solid waste landfills within their land allotment. It allows involving previously unused materials into circulation and obtaining insulating material from “old-year” waste.

Objective to study the peculiarities of clinical characteristics and polymorphism of ABO and Rh blood group systemsin relation to the natural history of plasma cell myeloma in the ChNPP accident survivors., Materials and Methods: Peculiarities of the disease natural history were reviewed in the 111 plasma cell myeloma(PCM) patients receiving medical management at the Department of Radiation Oncohematology of the NRCRM dur-ing 2010-2017. Principal clinical and laboratory characteristics of PCM, namely the values/levels of LDH, β2-mic-roglobulin, albumin, serum calcium, urea, creatinine and hemoglobin were assessed, taking into account the gender,radiation history (ChNPP accident clean-up workers, evacuees from areas of obligatory resettlement, inhabitants ofcontaminated territories, and the comparison group) and the PCM stage codenamed by Durie-Salmon et al. (1975)and the ISS (1985) classifications. Distribution of polymorphic variants on ABO and Rh blood systems was studiedin the 106 PCM patients., Results: It was found that the level of β2-micro-globulin and calcium was increased significantly in male (p = 0.02and p = 0.04, respectively), whereas serum urea content was elevated in female (p = 0.04) PCM patients featuring acompromised radiation anamnesis in comparison to non-irradiated patients. Some probable differences were foundfor urea level (F = 3.58, p = 0.05) and serum albumin (F = 4.00, p = 0.05) in the examined group of PCM patients.Probable (p < 0.05) incidence increase of the B phenotype was established as a predictor of complicated natural his-tory of PCM with abnormal genetic equilibrium resulted from the increased incidence of IB allele in chronic renal fail-ure (CRF) patients. Significant (p < 0.05) prolongation of the remission period upon a standard PCT application wasfound in PCM patients being the A phenotype carriers having a preserved gene and phenotypic equilibrium comparedwith carriers of O and B phenotypes., Conclusions: Clinical and hematological parameters are different in PCM patients survived after the ChNPP accidentand those with favorable radiation history. Distribution of polymorphic variants of ABO antigenic structures inpatients with complicated natural history of the disease is also different, that can be a background for predictingthe effectiveness of treatment. Further research is required in this field., (T. F. Liubarets, Zh. M. Minchenko, O. O. Dmytrenko, V. I. Khomenko, L. S. Reznikova, T. Yu. Shlyahtichenko, A. O. Tovstogan, Yu. O. Silayev.)

Unlabelled: The objective was to study the immunogenetic component contribution to the formation of post-radiation effects in the long-term period after radiation exposure at the level of the human immune response as a prognostic criterion for risk assessment of radiation-associated somatic diseases. Study object was the convalescents of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) of the first grade of severity, 88 patients with a similar radiation history but with unconfirmed ARS, 73 patients being the liquidators of the Chornobyl accident consequences (LCAC) with chronic ischemic heart disease (HIHD), 65 patients LCAC without HIHD, 120 non-exposed patients with HIHD, 256 patients with oncohematological diseases and 500 healthy people - a population control., Results: Markers of risk of realization of genetic predisposition to oncohematological and cardiovascular disease in these groups were identified on the basis of study of immunological, hematological and molecular genetic disorders in relation to immunogenetic factors., Conclusion: These data indicate that realization of HLA-genetic predisposition to the disease is one of the radiation associated multifactorial pathology pathways, and presence of radiosensitivity markers in pheno/genotype enhances the realization risk of pathological process under irradiation., (Minchenko Zh. M., Djagil I. S., Dmytrenko O. O., Dmytrenko I. V., Shljahtichenko T. Ju., Gavrylenko T. I., Bilyj D. O., Homenko V. I., Bebeshko V. G., 2013.)

After the Chernobyl accident, the Research Center for Radiation Medicine (RCRM) was established in Kiev (Ukraine). Its main task was to maintain a high level of emergency preparedness and be ready to examine and treat patients who suffer as a result of hypothetical radiation accident. Based on the previous experience, this institution's specialists worked out new diagnostic criteria and drug treatment schemata for acute radiation sickness, created a database on 75 patients with this diagnosis and improved educational programmes for medical students and physicians working in the field of radiation medicine. RCRM collaborates fruitfully with western partners through the joint research projects and connects with the World Health Organization's Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network centre. Collaboration with Kiev Center for Bone Marrow Transplantation allows RCRM to use aseptic wards having highly filtered air for the treatment of most severely irradiated patients.