Introduction. Employees of locomotive crews are one of the categorized professional groups, the stable performance of which largely depends on the state of working capacity, which determines the safety of movement and the efficiency of production activities of railway transport.

The study aims to conduct a comparative assessment of the functional state and operability of locomotive crews of railway transport of full and reduced composition, taking into account the specifics of the production load.

Materials and methods. The authors have conducted a comparative analysis of the results of comprehensive production studies to assess the functional condition of 70 freight train drivers in the operational locomotive depots of JSC Russian Railways when working in full complement (with an assistant) and reduced staff (without an assistant — "one person"). Physiological and hygienic methods were used: continuous timekeeping during various shift periods with recording of work operations and determination of the total number of work operations per shift and the proportion of complex (combined) work operations; physiological — continuous recording of heart rate in automatic mode throughout the entire work shift using heart rate variability indicators (variation range, mode, mode amplitude, number of cardio intervals, stress index of regulatory systems, stress index, index of vegetative equilibrium).

Results. The results obtained indicate the presence of both general patterns in the dynamics of working capacity and specific differences due to the peculiarities of the production process.

Limitations. The study was conducted with the participation of employees of locomotive crews who had no medical contraindications for their profession and were allowed to work based on the results of a pre-shift medical examination in accordance with orders from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport of Russia.

Conclusion. The production load of the locomotive crews of the reduced composition is fundamentally different from that of the locomotive crews of the full composition. In conditions of reduced physical activity of machinists working without an assistant, the level of nervous and emotional tension increases, primarily due to the high workload of the analyzer systems, which is confirmed by an increase in the central circuit of regulation and an increase in sympathetic activity (HR, respectively: 83,0–89,3/78,8–83,0). Despite the absence of factors of tension in the labor process due to the possibility of intra-team conflicts and responsibility for the result of collective labor, the work of machinists without an assistant is intellectually stressful, as evidenced by a higher proportion of complex operations — an average of 61.2%. The dynamics of the working capacity of machinists and locomotive crews of reduced composition, in comparison with full-time machinists, is characterized by a longer period of service life, a shorter period of sustained working capacity and a faster development of fatigue. These features of the work load of machinists working without an assistant necessitate the development of sound working conditions using physiological and hygienic criteria and updating the system of medical and preventive traffic safety, primarily in the organization and conduct of regulated medical examinations and dynamic monitoring throughout their professional activities.

Ethics. The study was conducted in accordance with the generally accepted scientific principles of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association (ed. 2013) and in accordance with the Program-methodology developed by FSUE VNIIZHG and coordinated with the structural unit of the employer, which is responsible for employees of locomotive crews. The employees of the locomotive crews were informed about the procedure for conducting production research in terms of a list of methods and principles of voluntariness and anonymity. Due to the absence of personal data in the research materials, informed voluntary consent of the staff is not required.

Contributions:
Wilk M.F. — the concept and design of the study, discussion of the results, conclusions;
Tulushev V.N. — collection of material, analysis of results, writing of text, formulation of conclusions;
Pankova V.B. — research concept and design, discussion of results, writing and editing of text, conclusions.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 27.11.2025 / Accepted: 25.12.2025 / Published: 15.02.2026

Objectives. Complementing the previously published cohort-internal comparison we hereby compare the cause-specific mortality in workers of the Asbest Chrysotile Cohort study (ACC) with the general population of Sverdlovsk Oblast where the mine and factories are located.

Methods. The ACC cohort database and the regional Federal State Statistic Service for the Sverdlovsk Oblast population were used. We calculated sex-specific standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the main ICD-10 disease groups and for selected cancer sites for the populations ≥15 years from 1980 to 2015. In relation to exposure, we applied the Sverdlovsk rates to the person-years in each exposure category to obtain expected numbers of lung cancer deaths. For comparing types of ACC workers (mine, enrichment factories, both), we calculated lung cancer SMRs in men by duration of employment (< 5 years, 5–14 years, and ≥ 15 years) and start of employment (before or after 1975) with miners as reference in each stratum.

Results. Overall mortality of men in the ACC was reduced by 14%, mainly because of the most common cause of death, circulatory disease; this effect was much weaker in women. Elevated mortality was observed for both sexes from diseases of the digestive system (10–30%) and blood and blood forming organs (121–181%). Lung cancer mortality in men was increased from the 3^rd quartile of chrysotile containing dust and in the highest quartile with SMR 1.30, 95% CI 1.07–1.57, while the increase in high exposed women was not reaching statistical significance (SMR 1.69, 95% CI 0.87–2.96). No increased SMRs were seen for laryngeal, stomach or ovarian cancers. Male factory workers first employed before 1975 had higher lung cancer mortality compared to miners, but not when employed after 1974.

Conclusions. The observed excess in lung cancer confirms previous observations in the ACC. Risk management measures in the enrichment factories may have reduced the lung cancer risk to the level of the miners in recent decades.

Ethics. The ACC was approved by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO) Ethics Committee (IEC No. 12–22, September 2012).

Contributions:
Ann Olsson — preparation of the manuscript, project administration, data processing, including quality control, interpretation of the received data;
Joachim Schüz — manuscript preparation, cohort formation, project administration, formal analysis, interpretation of the data obtained;
Hans Kromhout — preparation of the manuscript, evaluation of the exposition;
Evgeny Kovalevskiy — manuscript preparation, cohort formation, project administration, data processing, including quality control, interpretation of the received data;
Monika Moissonnier — preparation of tables and figures, data processing, including quality control, and formal analysis;
Igor Bukhtiyarov — cohort formation, project administration, and data interpretation;
Kurt Straif — cohort formation;
Eleonora Feletto — conducting an exposure assessment, data processing, including quality control, and conducting a formal analysis;
Iraklii Tskhomariia — project administration, data processing, including quality control, and data interpretation;
Tatiana Morozova — project administration and data interpretation;
Evgenia Ostroumova — data processing, including quality control and data interpretation;
Gilles Ferro — data processing, including quality control, formal analysis;
Graham Byrnes — conducting a formal analysis.

Acknowledgements. Dr Sergey Kashanskiy from the Yekaterinburg Medical Research Center for Prophylaxis and Health Protection in Industrial Workers, Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation was instrumental in the conduct of the study but died on February 9, 2023 and is deeply missed by the entire study team. We acknowledge the data entry team in Asbest town who rigorously entered written information into electronic format: the late Isolina Smirnova, Zoya Lapuhina, and Yulia Nurdinova; and Dr Sara J. Schonfeld for her valuable contribution to the ACC overall and the re-coding of the oblast data from ICD-9 to ICD-10. The authors also wish to acknowledge the independent Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The scientific advisory board members provided their reviews of this manuscript, but the integration of their comments remained at the discretion of the authors.

Funding. The work was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation in the framework of the Federal target program "National System of Chemical and Biological Safety of the Russian Federation" of 2009–2014 and of 2015–2020 under a general framework of action between the Federal state budgetary scientific institution “Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational Health” (IRIOH) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

Conflict of interest. Dr Kovalevskiy reported receiving, on behalf of their institutes and personally through consulting firms, payments from companies to evaluate exposure to asbestos and risk of asbestos-related disease in those workplaces. All other authors have no competing interests to declare. For full transparency, Dr Kovalevskiy reported participation as an occupational and environmental health expert as part of the delegation of the Russian Ministry of Health at multiple World Health Assembly meetings as well as at the Conference of the Parties to the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions. Dr Kovalevskiy reported attending meetings organized by the International Chrysotile Association and reported that all expenses for attendance were paid by their respective institutes.

Disclaimer. Where authors are identified as personnel of IARC/WHO, the authors alone are responsible for the views expressed in this article, and they do not necessarily represent the decisions, policy, or views of IARC/WHO.

Data availability. Raw data cannot be made publicly available according to the data confidentiality legislation of the Russian Federation.

A note from the publisher of the original article. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Received: 08.12.2025 / Accepted: 23.12.2025 / Published: 15.02.2026

Introduction. Working in the ferrous metallurgy industry is associated with harsh working conditions, which can increase the risk of workers developing chronic diseases, including obesity. One of the mechanisms of action of harmful substances contained in the air of the working area on the body is the increased formation of free radicals, leading to oxidative stress. In this work, we studied the effect of polymorphisms of the CAT (rs1001179 and rs7943316) and GPX4 (rs713041) genes, which encode enzymes of the antioxidant system, on body mass index in employees of the ferrous metallurgy enterprise.

The study aims to assess the genetic risk of obesity among employees of the metallurgical plant.

Materials and methods. The authors have examined male employees of the converter shop (151 people) and administrative and managerial staff (203 people). DNA isolation was performed with a LumiPure kit. Commercial kits and the Applied Biosystems QuantStudio 3 system were used to determine gene polymorphisms. To analyze the results, we used the STATISTICA software package (Mann–Whitney and Kraskel–Wallis criteria). Codominant and allelic genetic models of inheritance were used.

Results. We found statistically significant differences in the main group. Converter shop workers with a mutant T allele for the rs7943316 polymorphism of the CAT gene had higher BMI values (p=0.024). Similarly, the workers in the main group with the mutant T allele and the mutant homozygous TT genotype of the GPX4 gene had statistically higher BMI values (p=0.01 and p=0.015, respectively).

Limitations. The main occupational hazards have not been identified.

Conclusion. Polymorphisms rs7943316 of the CAT gene and rs713041 of the GPX4 gene reduce antioxidant protection and may be one of the risk factors for obesity in workers of the converter shop of the ferrous metallurgy enterprise.

Ethics. The ethical approval of the study was received from the local Ethics Committee of the Yekaterinburg Medical Scientific Center for Prevention and Health Protection of Industrial Workers of Rospotrebnadzor (Protocol No. 1 dated 02/26/2021). The work was carried out in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration of the World Medical Association (2013 edition).

Contributions:
Bereza I.A. — research concept and design, data collection and processing, text writing;
Polyanina D.D. — data collection and processing, writing text;
Shaikhova D.R. — research concept and design, data collection and processing;
Kikot A.M. — research concept and design, data collection and processing;
Sutunkova M.P. — research concept and design, editing;
Bokov V.D. — data collection and processing, editing;
All co-authors — approving the final version of the article and ensuring the integrity of all parts of the article.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 25.11.2025 / Accepted: 26.12.2025 / Published: 15.02.2026

The article is devoted to the problem of assessing cause-effect relationships in occupational health using methodological approaches of evidence-based medicine. Variants of epidemiological studies (cohort studies, case-control studies) are considered. The author has analyzed individual studies by domestic and foreign authors, which were conducted in various professional groups in order to assess the risk of morbidity and mortality. The integration of scientific data with clinical experience helps to increase the effectiveness of preventive measures, ensure more accurate diagnosis and improve the quality of medical care for occupational diseases.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The author declares no conflict of interest.

Received: 08.12.2025 / Accepted: 21.12.2026 / Published: 15.02.2026

The article presents a comprehensive overview of the toxicological characteristics of persulfate salts (ammonium, sodium and potassium), widely used in various industries. The study aims to systematize modern scientific data on the toxic effect of persulfates on the animal body at various routes of entry and levels of exposure.

The research methodology included an information and analytical approach using PubMed, Google Scholar, and eLibrary databases.RU and specialized toxicological registers.

The authors conducted an analysis of experimental studies of acute, subchronic toxicity, local irritant effect and sensitizing properties of persulfate salts.

The results of the study have showed that sulfate ion is the main toxicologically significant component of persulfate compounds. The main mechanisms of toxic action have been established: neurological disorders, systemic organ damage, respiratory disorders, local irritant effects on the skin and mucous membranes. Scientists have identified differences in the toxicity of salts depending on the cation: potassium persulfate is the safest, ammonium persulfate is the most toxic.

The scientific novelty of the work lies in the comprehensive assessment of the toxicological properties of persulfate salts and the identification of the need for further study, especially of sodium persulfate.

The practical significance of the study is to substantiate the need to develop a full-fledged regulatory framework for persulfate salts in order to ensure sanitary and epidemiological safety.

Contributions:
Fedotova L.A. — development of research design, writing the text of the manuscript, review of publications on the topic of the article, analysis of the data obtained, editing of the material, systematization of data, conceptualization, approval of the final version of the article;
Manaeva E.S. — development of the research design, writing the text of the manuscript, review of publications on the topic of the article, analysis of the data obtained, approval of the final version of the article;
Tonshin A.A. — editing of the material, systematization of data, conceptualization, approval of the final version of the article.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 30.10.2025 / Accepted: 14.12.2025 / Published: 15.02.2026

Introduction. The power frequency electric and magnetic fields in occupational conditions is characterized by widespread prevalence, according to relevant to study the possible negative power frequency biological effects in exceeding maximum permissible levels exposure with an assessment of the biological effect of such factor in conditions of ensuring human protection with personal protective equipment.

The study aims to power frequency biological effect experimental study of individual hematological parameters of the rats under shielding conditions with protective materials and without its use.

Materials and methods. Power frequency electric field biological effects investigation using shielding materials in personal protective equipment was on Wistar male rats. The electric field strength in the exposed groups was 50 kV/m. Induced currents simulated using Sim4Life v9.0 (SPEAG AG, Switzerland) by exposed numerical heterogeneous laboratory rat phantoms.

Results. The experimental results shown significant decrease number of erythrocytes and lymphocytes in the blood of animals in Group 3 (exposure) relative to Groups 1 (screen + exposure) and 2 (screen + control), but increase in the neutrophil content after 4 weeks exposure. An increased leukoerythroblastic ratio was observed against decreased eosinophil, basophilic, and oxyphilic erythroblast counts after the power frequency fourth week exposure for Group 3 compared to animals of Groups 1 and 2. The induced currents distribution in some organs and tissue rat phantom using low-frequency simulation revealed a relationship between power frequency electric field exposure and the observed biological effects.

Limitations of the study. The limitation in the number of rats studied is due to the difficulties of providing study.

Conclusions. Power frequency electric field biological effect experimental investigation showed that 50 kV/m power frequency electric field exposure activated adaptive-compensatory processes in the blood system. Shielding with protective material revealed the reducing effect exposure on the main hematological parameters of peripheral blood and bone marrow, which is confirmed by simulation.

Ethics. The experimental study on animals approved by the Local Ethics Committee of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational health" (No. 4 of the meeting of the Local Ethics Committee of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Izmerov Research Institute of Occupational health" dated April 17, 2024).

Contributions:
Perov S.Yu. — research concept and design, collection and processing of material, writing, editing;
Dremin A.I. — collecting and processing material, writing text;
Kalacheva A.E. — collection and processing of the material.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 15.12.2025 / Accepted: 23.12.2025 / Published: 15.02.2026

Introduction. The introduction of new approaches to the evaluation of the work of radiologists seems to be extremely important for the personalization of the results of the work of radiologists in budgetary medical institutions. The substantiation of objective indicators for assessing the volume and quality of the activities of radiologists remains an insufficiently developed area, which determines the relevance of the study.

The study aims to substantiate a new algorithm for quantifying the labor function of interpreting the results of MRI examinations by radiologists based on the complexity of the diagnostic conclusions performed.

Materials and methods. The author used the method of analyzing the structure of studies in the department of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the Center for Radiation Diagnostics and a calculation method to take into account the complexity of the main types of MRI studies when assessing the work function of radiologists. Two algorithms for calculating the labor function of a radiologist for performing MRI descriptions are analyzed. According to the first algorithm, the number of completed MRI descriptions per shift was estimated, according to the second algorithm, a score with a developed gradation of the complexity coefficient of the MRI description was used.

Results. The working conditions of the radiologist of the MRI department are analyzed. There are 4 gradations of complexity of MRI examination descriptions, depending on the anatomical area of the scan, the amount of research, the use of contrast, and the parameters of the MRI protocol. According to the results of the study, the average values of the labor function of one radiologist were estimated, calculated using the first and second algorithms for 6 months and a month of work, per shift and hour of work. The differences in these algorithms for assessing the labor function of a radiologist are analyzed.

Conclusion. The proposed second algorithm for evaluating the labor function of radiologists in interpreting MRI results more accurately reflects the amount of work performed, depending not only on the number but also on the complexity of the performed MRI descriptions, and can be the basis for automating the system for evaluating the work of radiologists.

Ethics. The study did not require the conclusion of an Ethics Committee.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. There is no conflict of interest.

Received: 17.11.2025 / Accepted: 14.01.2026 / Published: 15.02.2026