Том 8, № 3 (2018)

The article presents the results of an analysis of the epidemiology of primary disability among adults in the Russian Federation for 12 years (2005–2016). During this period, 6.6 million elderly people (56.8% of the total number of people with disabilities) were reported as having primary disability status. Circulatory system diseases are the main cause of disability in the primary disablement structure of elderly people (68.5%), and hypertensive disease retains the leading position as the most important disability factor in the Russian Federation. The negative tendencies of primary disability due to this socially significant pathology are associated with the demographic situation of population aging. In the contingent of people with disabilities due to hypertension, the proportion of elderly disabled is 43.4%, while the proportion of disabled people of middle and young age is lower and amounts to 29.1 and 27.4%, respectively. Medical institutions should be prepared to work with a growing contingent of the elderly population and to enhance the availability and quality of medical care for patients and people with disabilities due to hypertensive disease, one of the most common and prognostically unfavorable pathologies that impose a limitation on vital activity.

Controversial issues of pathological processes associated with the elderly and senile age, along with several aspects of the organization of geriatric services that require discussion, are examined by a clinician based on his long-term experience in geriatrics. This paper is presented for public debate in this journal.

In addition to transcription factors, epigenetic factors, which control the release of genetic information in each cell division, play an important role in the regulation of gene expression in the ontogenesis of multicellular eukaryotes. Many binding sites for transcription factors were derived from transposon sequences. Mobile elements are also important sources of noncoding RNA. Thus, transposons have an indirect effect on gene expression and genome methylation. In evolution transposons serve as important sources for the origin of new protein and proteins domains. A number of studies have determined that long noncoding RNAs and microRNAs can be translated into functional peptides. At the same time, transposons are expressed in embryogenesis and remain active in the stem cells of adult humans, which is consistent with the transcription of noncoding RNAs. The study of these processes may be the key to the determination of aging mechanisms due to the role of mobile elements as sources of noncoding RNAs translated into functional peptides.

Published data suggest that thyroid hormones play a role in the regulation of dermal fibroblasts during aging. This goal of this work was to study the levels of thyroid hormone receptors in human dermal fibroblasts, from embryonic development to extreme old age. Skin specimens from human fetuses that died antenatally from 20 to 40 weeks of pregnancy and humans who died from different causes from birth to age 85 years were used for the study. The total number of fibroblasts, the percentage of dermal fibroblasts positive for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and the expression of thyroid hormone receptors α and β in dermal fibroblasts were examined. PCNA and thyroid hormone receptors were viewed immunohistochemically. The total fibroblast number in the dermis was counted in sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The results showed that the maximal levels of thyroid hormone receptors α and β were observed from the 20th to 40th weeks of pregnancy. The levels of thyroid hormone receptors α and β were decreased from birth to age 40 years. From 41 to 85 years, the levels of thyroid hormone receptors were approximately the same. The total number and percentage of PCNA-positive fibroblasts in the dermis were decreased with progression of age. The most significant age-dependent reduction in the total and PCNA-positive number of dermal fibroblasts was observed from the antenatal period to the age of 40. Correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA showed that age-dependent decrease in the number of fibroblasts and the retardation of their proliferation in the human dermis is significantly associated with an age-related decrease in the level of thyroid hormone receptors α and β in dermal fibroblasts. The results suggest that thyroid hormone receptors are involved in an age-dependent decrease in the number and proliferation of fibroblasts in human dermis.

Metformin (MF), a first-line drug in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, has been used in recent years to treat obesity. Its therapeutic effect is due not only to the influence on the peripheral tissues but also on the hypothalamus, which controls food behavior and energy metabolism. The goal was to study the effect of MF therapy (200 mg/kg/day, 8 weeks) in rats with obesity caused by a high-carbohydrate and high-fat diet on metabolic and hormonal parameters and the functional state of the hypothalamic signaling systems. MF treatment of obese rats (the group ObM) normalized food behavior; reduced the body weight and fat weight and the glucose, insulin, and leptin levels; increased sensitivity to glucose and insulin; improved the lipid metabolism; and restored Ser⁴⁷³ phosphorylation of Akt kinase in the liver. In the hypothalamus, the stimulating effects of agonists of type-4 melanocortin receptor and type-1 dopamine receptor on adenylyl cyclase (AC) were partially restored, the inhibitory effect on AC of agonists of subtype-1B serotonin receptor (5-HT_1BR) increased (which was associated with an increase in Htr1b gene expression), and the stimulating effect of the 5-HT₆R agonist EMD-386088 normalized. At the same time, the differences in the activity of the leptin and insulin systems and the ratio of anorexigenic and orexigenic factors in the hypothalamus of the rat groups Ob and ObM were insignificant. Thus, MF treatment changes the functional activity of the hypothalamic melanocortin, dopamine, and serotonin systems in obese rats, which is one way to decrease their food intake and to restore the metabolic parameters and insulin sensitivity.

The frequency of cells with cytogenetic disorders in the synovial fluid cells of the knee joints was studied in patients of different age groups with chronic arthritis associated with Lyme borreliosis (CAALB) or posttraumatic arthritis (PTA) with respect to polymorphism in the glutathione S-transferase gene GSTM1. One hundred thirty five residents of the north of Tomsk and Tyumen oblasts were included in the study; 68 of them suffered from CAALB, while PTA was detected in the remaining 67 patients comprising the control group. Our results indicate the presence of significant age-related differences in the frequency of cytogenetic disorders in the synovial fluid cells of the knee joints between the groups of young and elderly CAALB patients. An integrative estimation of clinical and cytogenetic indices in the group of elderly CAALB patients (carriers of the mutant GSTM1 (0/0) allele) as compared with other groups allows the conclusion that there are significant positive correlations between the severity of violation of the locomotor function of the joints and the number of the synovial fluid cells with chromosome 7 trisomy.

The purpose of the study is to psychophysiologically monitor elderly female teachers during the dynamics of the school year. The study was conducted with the participation of 30 female teachers aged 60–61 at the beginning of the year (the background level) and after 5 and 9 months of teaching at the school. Five-minute ECG recording sections were studied with the Poly-Spectrum-Rhythm program (Neurosoft LLC). The parameters of external respiration function were studied with a Spirosoft-5000 device. The psychoemotional state of the teachers during the school year was studied with SAM methodology (state of health, activity, and mood). By the end of the school year, sympathetic influences from the autonomic nervous system on the organism of elderly female teachers increased, which was associated with a certain disorder in the rhythmic activity of the heart against the background of destabilization of the sinus rhythm and the vegetative balance of the body, and their psychoemotional state began to deteriorate. Consequently, it is advisable to monitor the activity of the cardiovascular system in female teachers during the school year for the possible prevention of various diseases and abnormalities in health status.