Insufficient sleep could severely impair both cognitive and learning skills. More prominent changes are found in children and adolescents. Tools used to estimate sleepiness in the adult population are commonly inappropriate for children. The objective of our study was to provide a reliable instrument to measure excessive sleepiness for upcoming studies in Russian-speaking children, applying the Russian version of Pediatric Daytime Sleepiness Scale (PDSS). The following tasks were resolved in our study: translation, validation, and analysis of psychometric properties of the Russian adaptation of the PDSS by standard tests. After the semantic validation of the instrument through a multi-stage translation process we checked its psychometric validation. A total of 552 students, consisting of N = 285 for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), N = 267 for the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and N = 204 for test-retest analysis of public elementary schools located in Northern Russia completed the PDSS and Munich Chronotype Questionnaire to estimate sleep parameters in the classroom during the lessons. Response rate was 90%; excluded cases contained no data. Further, 204 of our participants completed the PDSS in a 3 months interval to check the test-retest reliability. Internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's alpha coefficients and CFA was used to test factorial validity of the tool. Concurrent validity and test-retest reliability were assessed via intra-class coefficient. Internal consistency of the PDSS scale was high (Cronbach's α = 0.8). The construct validity of the PDSS was supported by CFA (factor loadings were from 0.438 to 0.727) and the test-retest reliability demonstrated by the intra-class coefficient was 0.70. The total PDSS score was independent of sex. The mean total value of PDSS was 11.95 ± 6.24. Higher scores on PDSS were negatively correlated with sleep duration. Thus, the construct validity of the instrument remains valid and could be used for Russian-speaking youth samples in the evaluation of daytime sleepiness. It could be useful in future applications by sleep scientists and health practitioners.

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Flavonoids represent a wide group of polyphenols involved in many key processes of plant growth and its can be successfully used in medical practice. In plants that are exposed to extreme factors of various nature, the flavonoids synthesis occurs more intensively compared with plants of the same species growing under more favorable conditions. Thus, it can be assumed that it is the Arctic plants that can be important sources of flavonoids. This paper presents the results of a search for flavonoid sources among herbaceous plants growing in the Arctic zone, in particular, the Murmansk region. The total flavonoid content in ethanol extracts of 24 plant species was estimated using the reaction of complexation with aluminum chloride. It was shown that Lathyrus pratensis L., Lupinus arcticus L., Hedysarum alpinum L., Chamaenerion angustifolium L., and Polygonum weyrichii species contain the highest amounts of flavonoids.

The Russian northern regions development is associated with the extraction and processing of natural resources, which leads to environmental pollution and makes the task of sanitary-hygienic monitoring relevant. Buccal micronucleus cytome assay is one of the toxicological methods for human population studies. Studies on the inter-latitudinal comparison of Buccal micronucleus cytome assay are lacking, therefore there are difficulties in comparing the results obtained in the Russian Arctic with data from more southern regions. The aim of this study is to compare cytogenetic abnormalities in the buccal epithelium in two groups of older schoolchildren living in high and middle latitudes. The study was conducted in the city of Apatity (Murmansk region, 67 ° 34′03 ″ N, 33 ° 23′36 ″ E) and the city of Serpukhov (Moscow region, 54 ° 54 ‘56 ″ N, 37 ° 24 ‘40 “E). A total of 61 children were examined: 41 children from the Apatity and 20 children from the Serpukhov (16-18 years old). The Buccal micronucleus cytome assay was carried out according to an international protocol. It was shown that the average frequency values of the cells with micronucleus in the comparison groups of schoolchildren living in high and middle latitudes did not significantly differ and did not exceed the values for the average population norm. The frequency of cells with nuclear buds and two nucleus was significantly higher in the group of schoolchildren living in middle latitudes, which, in turn, is compensated by a higher rate of elimination of cells with impaired. Therefore, when comparing Buccal micronucleus cytome assay data, it is quite possible not to take into account the breadth of the studied groups.

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