The potential of vacuum therapy in the treatment of a newborn infant with severe thermal injury

The paper describes a clinical case of successful combination therapy in a newborn infant with severe thermal injury. When admitted to the hospital, the infant was diagnosed with third-degree flame burn covering 75% of the body surface and shock. Specialized emergency care involved antishock measures and replacement of vital functions, stepwise surgical interventions aimed to excise necrotic tissues and to restore lost skin tissue, and antimicrobial and symptomatic therapies. Topical treatment included the use of current wound coatings. Skin autocells were used for significant skin defect. Aacuum therapy was performed to stimulate repair processes and to prepare wounds for further skin plasty. The techniques of vacuum therapy included RENAS\S-GO and PICO apparatuses. Its efficiency was evaluated by microbiological, immunohistochemical, and planimetric examinations. Analysis of the decontaminating impact of a vacuum coating could establish its substantial effect in reducing wound bacterial contamination by 65% in the study group and by an average of 21% in the comparison group. That of immunohistochemical findings during vacuum therapy could reveal the high expression of two markers characterizing wound an-giogenesis. Comparative analysis of planimetric readings showed no significant differences in the use of vacuum therapy and current wound coatings. Thus, negative-pressure therapy creates favorable conditions for a wound healing process, providing effective wound decontamination and stimulating granulation tissue maturation as a factor to prepare for skin plasty

COMPARATIVE IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL EVALUATION OF E-CADHERIN AND Β-KATENIN EXPRESSION IN METASTATIC AND NON-METASTATIC BREAST CANCER OF NON-SPECIFIC TYPE

Objective: an immunohistochemical analysis of the features of expression, distribution and interaction of E-сadherin and β-сatenin proteins in primary mammary tumors. Materials and methods. The study group consisted of 148 relevant patients with breast cancer (BC), including patients with metastases in lymph nodes (n = 12) and liver (n = 45). E-сadherin and β-сatenin expression on BC cells was determined using immunohistochemical method with specific antibodies. Results. It was shown that the reduction and the total absence of E-сadherin expression was observed much more often in patients with BC with metastases in liver, than in patients without metastases (70 % of cases versus 30 % of cases respectively). An increase of cytoplasmic immune reactivity and a nuclear translocation of β-сatenin are found in more than 80 % cases of BC with metastases.Conclusion. The changes in the expression of E-сadherin and β-сatenin in tumor cell can be considered as factors of a non-favorable prognosis of BC. The emergence of β-сatenin expression indicates the activation of a signaling pathway which is triggered by the aberrant expression of epithelial cadherins leading to an increased mobility and invasion of tumor cells

GENETIC DIVERSITY AND POSSIBLE ORIGINS OF THE HEPATITIS B VIRUS IN SIBERIAN NATIVES

A total of 381 hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA sequences collected from nine groups of Siberian native populations were phylogenetically analyzed along with 179 HBV strains sampled in different urban populations of former western USSR republics and 50 strains from Central Asian republics and Mongolia. Different HBV subgenotypes predominated in various native Siberian populations. Subgenotype D1 was dominant in Altaian Kazakhs (100%), Tuvans (100%), and Teleuts (100%) of southern Siberia as well as in Dolgans and Nganasans (69%), who inhabit the polar Taimyr Peninsula. D2 was the most prevalent subgenotype in the combined group of Nenets, Komi, and Khants of the northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region (71%) and in Yakuts (36%) from northeastern Siberia. D3 was the main subgenotype in South Altaians (76%) and Buryats (40%) of southeastern Siberia, and in Chukchi (51%) of the Russian Far East. Subgenotype C2 was found in Taimyr (19%) and Chukchi (27%), while subgenotype A2 was common in Yakuts (33%). In contrast, D2 was dominant (56%) in urban populations of the former western USSR, and D1 (62%) in Central Asian republics and Mongolia. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the studied groups are epidemiologically isolated from each other and might have contracted HBV from different sources during the settlement of Siberia