This paper reports the results of a comprehensive survey of the effects of the accidental release of radiation caused by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in April 1986. The accident and the resulting release of radiation and radioactive products into the atmosphere produced the most serious environmental contamination so far recorded. We have concentrated on evaluating the outcomes and health risks to women, their reproductive situation, and consequences for their progeny. We have concentrated on two well-defined areas: the Chechersky district of the Gomel region in Belorussia and the Polessky district of the Kiev region in the Ukraine. A number of investigations were carried out on 688 pregnant women and their babies, and data were obtained from 7000 labor histories of the development of newborns for a period of 8 years (3 years before the accident and 5 years after it). Parameters examined included birth rate, thyroid pathology, extragenital pathology such as anemias, renal disorders, hypertension, and abnormalities in the metabolism of fats, complications of gestation, spontaneous abortions, premature deliveries, perinatal morbidity and mortality, stillbirths and early neonatal mortality, infections and inflammatory diseases, neurological symptoms and hemic disturbances in both mothers and infants, trophic anomalies, and biochemical and structural changes in the placenta. Several exogenous, complicating influences were also considered such as psycho-emotional factors, stress, lifestyle changes, and others caused directly by the hazardous situation and by its consequences such as treatment, removal from affected areas, etc. The results allow us to conclude that health of mothers, fetuses, and children were significantly influenced by the radiation, with adaptational and pathological abnormalities of various organs and body systems of pregnant women and children. Although the female reproductive system itself remains relatively intact, the decrease in compensatory-adaptive mechanisms of mothers and fetoplacental disorders cause long-term or chronic diseases in the newborns. It is suggested that special attention is paid to possible prophylaxis and to treatment of groups at risk in order to reduce hazardous consequences of such accidents and to preserve the health of future generations.

Progress in high energy physics requires the design of detectors of elementary particles to be updated continuously. Presently available detectors of elementary particles are equipped with from tens to hundreds of thousands of channels for detection and identification of particles and radiation modes. The experimental methods of nuclear physics that provide a basis for detection technology have been actively developed over recent decades. Therefore, it is quite attractive to apply the achievements in detection technology to medical X-ray diagnosis; for the last 100 years medical X-ray diagnosis has been almost exclusively based on X-ray photography alone.Recent progress in computer tomography and methods of mathematical processing of digital images gave rise to digital radiography. Methods of digital radiography can be substantially improved ff indirect methods of digital imaging (sampling of Xray photographs, video signal, eta) are replaced by direct detection of X-ray radiation with detectors on-line connected to computers.In the early 1980's, most appropriate devices of that type were so-called multiwire proportional chambers; these were developed by Prof. Sharpack in the 1970's and widely used in high energy physics. It should be noted that Prof. Sharpack was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1992 for the invention of proportional chambers.As expected, if X-ray film is replaced by a proportional chamber modified for the purpose of radiography (photon counting mode, high quantum efficiency, etc.) this allows the radiation load on patients to be significantly reduced, digital images to be obtained, computer technologies to be easily adapted, and X-ray imaging quality to be improved significantly.The first digital X-ray diagnostic device was developed and tested at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences in 1984 [2]. This device was purchased by the All-Union Center for Maternity and Child Health (Moscow) in 1984. The device was updated in 1987 [3]. The second device for examining patients in lying position was purchased by the Center in 1990. The device design and performance were improved significantly in the following years: spatial resolution was increased, the size of the frame was expanded, and efficiency of detection of X-ray radiation was improved [1]. Four similar devices were manufactured in 1994-95. These devices presently work in Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Paris clinics.The MTsRU Sibir low-dose digital (filmless) X-ray diagnostic device consists of a standard source of X-ray radiation, a high-voltage power source, a support with mechanical scanning system, an X-ray detector, and a control unit (Fig. 1). Radiation distribution along the horizontal axis is measured with a proportional chamber and in the vertical direction by mechanical scanning. To implement this, an X-ray tube, a slit collimator, and a chamber are synchronously and uniformly moved in the

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In patients with congenital ovarian insufficiency, particularly with gonadal dysgenesis, the retarded bone remodelingprevents the bone tissue from achieving its final, peak density and leads to the lagging of skeletal system maturation. This may result in high risk of limb and backbone fractures.The article analyzes the results of the examination of 142 patients with different forms of gonadal dysgenesis. The treatment included the preparations containing estrogens, which were identical with natural ones (Divina, Divitren, Divigel). The data received substantiate the necessity of eliminating the estrogenic deficit in patients with gonadal dysgenesis earlier than it is usually done.