The study concentrates on housing vulnerability during the post-crisis period in Latvia and how it has impacted vulnerable groups, particularly seniors. Housing vulnerability includes objective and subjective factors. Seniors 65+, especially those seniors who live alone are one of the vulnerable groups in sense of housing security. It could be characterized by parameters of housing quality and housing expenses adequacy. The EU policy examines perceptions of insecurity in few areas, including housing security and old-age income insecurity – of not having an adequate income in old age. The number of single senior 65+ households is increasing in both rural and urban areas. The study explores housing vulnerability for older persons – seniors 65+, one of social groups in disadvantageous economic situation. Authors explore how housing vulnerability affects seniors, especially those who are over the age of 65+ and are living alone. The challenging issues were construction of theoretical background integrating housing security during social changes in the post-crisis period with disadvantageous situation of seniors 65+. The comparative quantitative approach is based on data from descriptive statistics. The research design is quantitative comparative analysis. To make a comparison, there were selected two groups: single seniors 65+ and all households. The proposition is that in the post-crisis period housing vulnerability for seniors 65+ was decreasing, but differs from average parameters of housing vulnerability for total population. The restriction of current study is analyses that cover only single seniors 65+. The results show significant differences in housing quality and proportional housing maintenance expenditures between single seniors 65+ and all households.

This article describes the results of a pre-clinical study of immunogenicity and effectiveness of an inactivated pandemic vaccine (Refluvac®) on model mice. Mice received two 0.5 ml intraperitoneal inoculations with an interval of 14 days in three doses: containing 10.0, 5.0 and 2.5 μg HA (hemagglutinin) per animal. As a comparator preparation, the study used a semi-finished product (SP) vaccine diluted with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to obtain HA concentrations of 5 μg and 10 μg. For a control group, the study used PBS as the negative control. We determined the vaccine’s protective effectiveness level by analysing its response in animals challenged with a pandemic А/California/7/09 (Н1N1) pdm09 virus. We assessed the immunogenicity of the vaccine by examining the mean geometric titre (GMT) of antibodies against the influenza virus as measured by hemagglutination-inhibition test (HAI). In the course of testing the GMT, we noted a dependence of the concentration of antibodies in serum on the vaccine’s antigen load. The highest GMT was observed in the group of mice vaccinated with a HA load of 10.0 μg – it amounted to 278.6 (95% CI, 135.6 to 572.4). We established a high tolerability of the vaccine tested. Our study shows that Refluvac® yields a high degree of protectivity against influenza A/H1N1 and prevents clinical signs, death or accumulation of influenza virus in the organs of vaccinated animals. There were deaths and clinical signs including general depression, hypodynamia and anorexia in the negative control group. The results of our study were used for the clinical study of the first Kazakhstan produced Refluvac® vaccine against pandemic A/H1N1 influenza virus.

Engineering structures such as bridges, overpasses, and viaducts constitute a crucial component of the infrastructure of any industrial city. The wide-scale industrialisation of the twentieth century transformed the urban landscape. Many designs and solutions have become morally and physically outdated since those times, yet their usage continues, which is not always safe. With the aging of infrastructure, the issue of their further safe use inevitably arises. Geodetic monitoring of structural deformations can provide control and safety, as well as gather data for designers and engineers. The data collected by deformation monitoring systems should form the basis for the reconstruction and maintenance project of infrastructural facilities. Deformation monitoring systems are designed for each object based on the parameters of the structure, taking into account the constructive features, materials, and the importance of the infrastructural object to the city traffic. It is not always possible to completely close an overpass during reconstruction, as this would affect the transport flow in a specific district of the city. Monitoring of recently put into operation structures will ensure the collection of deformation data for the survival analysis. Once the structural health is defined, the period of service life until scheduled maintenance will be determined. As a result of our research on the Brasa overpass in Riga, we developed a scheme for swift response to signals from the monitoring systemʼs sensors. Additionally, we ensured the safe operation of the old overpass during the construction of the new one by promptly utilising data obtained from the deformation monitoring system.