Regional Aspects of Nosocomial Infection As a Medical and Social Problem

Prevention of nosocomial infection (NI) is an important medical and socioeconomic problem. And though certain organizational and practical measures are implemented in Russia every year to reduce NIs, the problem is still relevant from medical and social points of view. The risk of infection are both for patients and medical workers. In Russia, the minimum economic damage caused by NIs is 2.5–5 billion rubles annually. According to the Office of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare in the Republic of Mordovia, the total incidence of NI in the region is at a low level. The incidence rate was 0.01 per 1000 patients in hospitals. The dynamics of the last five years demonstrates a decrease in hospital-acquired infections. In the dynamics of the last five years, incidence rates of purulent-septic infections of newborns and postpartum women, postoperative purulent-septic complications and post-injection complications had an unstable downward trend. Thus, purulent-septic infections of newborns and postpartum women and postoperative infections are dominated in the structure of nosocomial infections. Analysis of dynamics of morbidity in recent years in the Republic of Mordovia suggests that the measures taken to prevent NI are quite effective and are manifested with consistently low rates

Space weather and space anomalies

A large database of anomalies, registered by 220 satellites in different orbits over the period 1971-1994 has been compiled. For the first time, data from 49 Russian Kosmos satellites have been included in a statistical analysis. The database also contains a large set of daily and hourly space weather parameters. A series of statistical analyses made it possible to quantify, for different satellite orbits, space weather conditions on the days characterized by anomaly occurrences. In particular, very intense fluxes (>1000 pfu at energy >10 MeV) of solar protons are linked to anomalies registered by satellites in high-altitude (>15000 km), near-polar (inclination >55°) orbits typical for navigation satellites, such as those used in the GPS network, NAVSTAR, etc. (the rate of anomalies increases by a factor ~20), and to a much smaller extent to anomalies in geostationary orbits, (they increase by a factor ~4). Direct and indirect connections between anomaly occurrence and geomagnetic perturbations are also discussed

Hyperexpression of TLR2 and TLR4 in patients with ischemic stroke in acute period of the disease

Pathogenesis of ischemic stroke  is actively  involved  in the  system  of innate immunity. Under conditions of cerebral  ischemia, a number of biologically  active  substances are  released  that  interact with innate immunity receptors, in particular TLR2  and  TLR4, which  exacerbate inflammation in brain  tissue. Identification of predictor markers  at the level of the innate immunity system may foresee the clinical course of ischemic stroke and ensure timely treatment. Our objective was to study expression of TLR2 and TLR4 receptors in peripheral blood leukocytes  in patients with ischemic stroke in the dynamics of the disease. 27 people  were included in the study. The main  group consisted of patients with ischemic stroke of varying severity (n = 19). Patients of the main  group were divided into two subgroups:  with an NIHSS index value of < 10 (n = 10) and > 10 (n = 9). The control group included healthy  donors  with no history  of acute  and chronic inflammatory diseases (n = 8). Peripheral blood  leukocytes  were used as the  test material. To determine expression  of the TLR2  and TLR4  genes, RT-PCR in real time was used. Surface  expression  of TLRs was determined by flow cytometry. A study of the TLR2 and TLR4 gene expression showed that on the 1st, 3rd  and 7th  day post-stroke, the TLR4 gene expression  in patients was significantly  increased, when compared to the control group (p < 0.01), whereas TLR2 gene expression on the 3rd  day of the disease was not statistically different from the control group. A study of surface expression  of receptors showed that the average TLR2 fluorescence intensity on the patients’ peripheral blood monocytes was significantly  increased on the 1st  and 3rd  day of disease when compared to the control group.  The  surface  expression  of TLR4  on monocytes has a statistically significant  increase  only on day 7. Assessment  of surface expression  of TLRs in subgroups  with different  severity values by NIHSS showed that  patients with a NIHSS index > 10 had a significantly  higher  level of surface of TLR2  expression  over the observation period, while the largest difference in TLR4  expression  in the subgroups  was observed  on the 1st day of the disease (p < 0.05). Patients with ischemic stroke showed an increase  in TLR2 and TLR4 expression at the gene and protein level, compared to healthy  donors. These indices can be considered possible predictors for clinical  prognosis  of ischemic stroke

Epizootic Activity of Natural and Anthropourgic Tularemia Foci in the Territory of the Jewish Autonomous Region and the Khabarovsk City Outskirts during the Amur River Flood

Widespread epizootiological investigations were performed to estimate the influence of the Amur River flood on the epizootic activity of tularemia in small rodent populations within natural and anthropourgic foci. Determined were the numbers of the rodent-carriers and epizootic activity of tularemia infection in the forest type, lowland, flood-swamped as well as anthropourgic foci. The capture and enumeration of the rodents was conducted using Gero rat traps. Tested were water and silt samples, rodent nests, pellets and excrements of carnivorous mammals. Blood sera of healthy persons living within the focal territory were examined to reveal the immune-competent cohort. Collected materials were analyzed using bacteriological, genetic diagnostic and serological methods. Extremely high numbers of the carriers were registered in the lowland meadow-field and anthropourgic foci adjacent to the flooded areas. The signs of tularemia epizootic process were observed in the meadow-field and flood-swamped foci. Failed to reveal during the period of high water were the epizooties in the forest foci

Evidence for dynamics in proteins as a mechanism for ligand dissociation

Signal transduction, regulatory processes, and pharmaceutical responses are highly dependent upon ligand residence times. Gaining insight into how physical factors influence residence times, or koff, should enhance our ability to manipulate biological interactions. We report experiments that yield structural insight into koff for a series of eight 2,4-diaminopyrimidine inhibitors of dihydrofolate reductase that vary by six orders of magnitude in binding affinity. NMR relaxation dispersion experiments revealed a common set of residues near the binding site that undergo a concerted, millisecond-timescale switching event to a previously unidentified conformation. The rate of switching from ground to excited conformations correlates exponentially with Ki and koff, suggesting that protein dynamics serves as a mechanical initiator of ligand dissociation within this series and potentially for other macromolecule-ligand systems. Although kconf,forward is faster than koff, use of the ligand series allowed for connections to be drawn between kinetic events on different timescales

Experimental Substantiation of the Possibility to Use Finite Cell Line CHO-K1 for Determination of Specific Activity of Components of Chemical Cholera Vaccine

Objective was to experimentally substantiate the possibility to use the finite cell line CHO-K1 for measuring specific activity of cholera toxin and component of the vaccine choleragen-anatoxin in the process of chemical cholera vaccine manufacturing. Materials and methods. The studies involved the finite cell line CHO-K. The registration of results of bio-indication method was performed visually with the help of inverted microscope and photometrically - in colorimetric test for the assessment of metabolic activity of the cells at the wave length of 595 nm. Results and discussion. The proposed method allows for determining the toxin-production activity of Vibrio cholerae 569B strain during submerged cultivation in bioreactor and specific activity of choleragen-anatoxin by anatoxin binding measuring using cell cultures. The results correlate with the data obtained using intradermal Craig’s technique, GM1-ELISA and radial passive immune hemolysis (RPIH). Introduction of cell culture method into practice will provide for significant decrease in the volumes of usage of animals at the stages of manufacturing of chemical bivalent cholera vaccine

Development and Main Stages of Introduction of the Preparation “Cholera O139 Diagnostic Fluorescent Immunoglobulins”

– for environmental objects. Application of the preparation for practical purposes was considered to be promising, and it was recommended for State registration as a product of medical application

15-year risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and its relationship with personal anxiety, sleep disturbance among men 45-69 years old in Russia /Siberia (international epidemiological study “HAPIEE”)

BACKGROUND: Determine the effect of personal anxiety, sleep disorders on the 15-year risk of developing (RR) diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2 among men (M) 45-69 years in Russia / Siberia (Novosibirsk). METHODS: In 2003–2005 As part of the IV screening of the international epidemiological study “HAPIEE”, a representative sample of m 45–69 years was examined (n=781 M, mean age-56.48±0.20 years, response – 61.00%). The level of personal anxiety (PA) was assessed using the Spielberger scale (HPA – high, MPA – medium, LPA – low). With the help of the scale “Knowledge and attitude to one’s health”, the level of sleep disorders (SD) was assessed. The period of observation of the cohort was 15 years. To check the statistical significance of the differences between the groups, the Pearson χ2 test was used. For risk assessment, Cox-regression single-factor and multivariate regression proportional hazards model was used (Cox-­regression). RESULTS: Among persons with the first occurrence of DM type 2, HPA at the screening was 59.50%, and 63.30% had SD. The combination of HPA and SD was significant among M with the first-onset diabetes mellitus. During the 15-year period, among M with HLA, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 1.60 times higher than without. Among people with SD, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes was 2.40 times higher than without. In Cox – the proportional multifactor model, each variable had its own independent influence. HPA increased the RR DM of the 2nd type by 1.90 times, and SD – by 2.80 times. CONCLUSION: It was established that a high level of PA and SD are independent predictors of type 2 diabetes, moreover, with SD, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes is higher than with a high level of PA