Adrenal function recovery after durable oral corticosteroid sparing with benralizumab in the PONENTE study

Background Oral corticosteroid (OCS) dependence among patients with severe eosinophilic asthma can cause adverse outcomes, including adrenal insufficiency. PONENTE's OCS reduction phase showed that, following benralizumab initiation, 91.5% of patients eliminated corticosteroids or achieved a final dosage ≤5 mg·day-1 (median (range) 0.0 (0.0-40.0) mg). Methods The maintenance phase assessed the durability of corticosteroid reduction and further adrenal function recovery. For ~6 months, patients continued benralizumab 30 mg every 8 weeks without corticosteroids or with the final dosage achieved during the reduction phase. Investigators could prescribe corticosteroids for asthma exacerbations or increase daily dosages for asthma control deteriorations. Outcomes included changes in daily OCS dosage, Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ)-6 and St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), as well as adrenal status, asthma exacerbations and adverse events. Results 598 patients entered PONENTE; 563 (94.1%) completed the reduction phase and entered the maintenance phase. From the end of reduction to the end of maintenance, the median (range) OCS dosage was unchanged (0.0 (0.0-40.0) mg), 3.2% (n=18/563) of patients experienced daily dosage increases, the mean ACQ-6 score decreased from 1.26 to 1.18 and 84.5% (n=476/563) of patients were exacerbation free. The mean SGRQ improvement (-19.65 points) from baseline to the end of maintenance indicated substantial quality-of-life improvements. Of patients entering the maintenance phase with adrenal insufficiency, 32.4% (n=104/321) demonstrated an improvement in adrenal function. Adverse events were consistent with previous reports. Conclusions Most patients successfully maintained maximal OCS reduction while achieving improved asthma control with few exacerbations and maintaining or recovering adrenal function

Decreasing the uncertainty of gas chromatographic quantification using the solvent’s signal in the method of external standard

Погрешности результатов количественных газохроматографических определений способами, предполагающими использование абсолютных площадей хроматографических пиков, в том числе внешнего стандарта, «чувствительны» к воспроизводимости дозирования проб. Эффективным приемом компенсации таких погрешностей является введение в анализируемые образцы дополнительных стандартов и замена абсолютных площадей пиков их отношениями к площадям пиков стандартов. Важно, что в качестве дополнительных стандартов можно использовать любые компоненты образцов, в том числе входящие в их состав растворители. В модифицированном варианте количественного анализа способом внешнего стандарта растворитель можно использовать, даже если его пики регистрируются в «усеченном» виде в результате ограничения выходных сигналов усилителя. Использование относительных площадей пиков не требует никаких дополнительных операций с образцами, кроме регистрации площадей пиков растворителя. Сравнение обычного и модифицированного вариантов способа внешнего стандарта показывает, что замена абсолютных значений площадей пиков отношениями площадей пиков целевого аналита и растворителя не влияет на характеристики точности определений по критерию «введено-найдено», но уменьшает случайную составляющую погрешности определений в 2-3 раза. Обсуждается проблема повышения достоверности подобных статистических оценок, для чего представляется целесообразным изменение «дизайна» экспериментальных операций. Вместо последовательных анализов однотипных образцов предпочтительнее использовать параллельные определения, что можно достичь, например, при выполнении практических работ студентами.Uncertainties of the results of quantitative determinations in gas chromatography using the methods based on the absolute peak areas (including the external standard method) are rather “sensitive” to the reproducibility of injections. The effective way to compensate for such errors is to introduce the additional standards into the samples, followed by replacing the absolute peak areas by their ratios to peak areas of the standards. It is important to underline that any constituents of the samples can be used as additional standards, including the solvents. Solvents can be used for these purposes even if the heights of their peaks are restricted when the analytical signals exceed the amplifier limits. Using the relative peak areas does not require any extra sample processing besides the registration of peak areas for solvents. Comparing the commonly known and modified methods of external standard demonstrates that using the relative peak areas instead of the absolute ones does not influence the overall precision of determinations (according to the criterion “introduced-determined”) but improve the reproducibility by 2-3 times. The problem of increasing the reliability of such statistical evaluations of results is discussed and to solve it, it is proposed to change the “design” of the experiments. Instead of series of successive analyses of similar origin samples, the use of parallel determinations is preferable. This can be realized, for example, during the fulfillment of student’s practical works.Студенческая практическая работа, результаты которой составили предмет настоящего сообщения, выполнена с использованием оборудования Ресурсного Центра «Методы анализа состава вещества» Санкт-Петербургского государственного университета. Авторы благодарят сотрудников Центра за содействие.The students’ work, the results of which are discussed in this paper, was carried out using the equipment of the “Methods of analysis of substance’s composition” Resource Centre at St. Petersburg State University. The authors are grateful to the staff of this Center for their assistance

Clinical features of post-COVID-19 period. Results of the international register “Dynamic analysis of comorbidities in SARS-CoV-2 survivors (AKTIV SARS-CoV-2)”. Data from 6-month follow-up

Aim. To study the clinical course specifics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and comorbid conditions in COVID-19 survivors 3, 6, 12 months after recovery in the Eurasian region according to the AKTIV register. Material and methods.The AKTIV register was created at the initiative of the Eurasian Association of Therapists. The AKTIV register is divided into 2 parts: AKTIV 1 and AKTIV 2. The AKTIV 1 register currently includes 6300 patients, while in AKTIV 2 — 2770. Patients diagnosed with COVID-19 receiving in- and outpatient treatment have been anonymously included on the registry. The following 7 countries participated in the register: Russian Federation, Republic of Armenia, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Moldova, Republic of Uzbekistan. This closed multicenter register with two nonoverlapping branches (in- and outpatient branch) provides 6 visits: 3 in-person visits during the acute period and 3 telephone calls after 3, 6, 12 months. Subject recruitment lasted from June 29, 2020 to October 29, 2020. Register will end on October 29, 2022. A total of 9 fragmentary analyzes of the registry data are planned. This fragment of the study presents the results of the post-hospitalization period in COVID-19 survivors after 3 and 6 months. Results. According to the AKTIV register, patients after COVID-19 are characterized by long-term persistent symptoms and frequent seeking for unscheduled medical care, including rehospitalizations. The most common causes of unplanned medical care are uncontrolled hypertension (HTN) and chronic coronary artery disease (CAD) and/or decompensated type 2 diabetes (T2D). During 3- and 6-month follow-up after hospitalization, 5,6% and 6,4% of patients were diagnosed with other diseases, which were more often presented by HTN, T2D, and CAD. The mortality rate of patients in the post-hospitalization period was 1,9% in the first 3 months and 0,2% for 4-6 months. The highest mortality rate was observed in the first 3 months in the group of patients with class II-IV heart failure, as well as in patients with cardiovascular diseases and cancer. In the pattern of death causes in the post-hospitalization period, following cardiovascular causes prevailed (31,8%): acute coronary syndrome, stroke, acute heart failure. Conclusion. According to the AKTIV register, the health status of patients after COVID-19 in a serious challenge for healthcare system, which requires planning adequate health system capacity to provide care to patients with COVID-19 in both acute and post-hospitalization period

New Solvent-Free Melting-Assisted Preparation of Energetic Compound of Nickel with Imidazole for Combustion Synthesis of Ni-Based Materials

In this work two approaches to the synthesis of energetic complex compound Ni(Im)6(NO3)2 from imidazole and nicklel (II) nitrate were applied: a traditional synthesis from solution and a solvent-free melting-assisted method. According to infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, elemental and thermal analysis data, it was shown that the solvent-free melt synthesis is a faster, simpler and environmentally friendly method of Ni(Im)6(NO3)2 preparation. The results show that this compound is a promising precursor for the production of nanocrystalline Ni-NiO materials by air-assisted combustion method. The combustion of this complex together with inorganic supports makes it possible to synthesize supported nickel catalysts for different catalytic processes

Natural IgG against S-Protein and RBD of SARS-CoV-2 Do Not Bind and Hydrolyze DNA and Are Not Autoimmune

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous publications have appeared describing autoimmune pathologies developing after a coronavirus infection, with several papers reporting autoantibody production during the acute period of the disease. Several viral diseases are known to trigger autoimmune processes, and the appearance of catalytic antibodies with DNase activity is one of the earliest markers of several autoimmune pathologies. Therefore, we analyzed whether IgG antibodies from blood plasma of SARS-CoV-2 patients after recovery could bind and hydrolyze DNA. We analyzed how vaccination of patients with adenovirus Sputnik V vaccine influences the production of abzymes with DNase activity. Four groups were selected for the analysis, each containing 25 patients according to their relative titers of antibodies to S-protein: with high and median titers, vaccinated with Sputnik V with high titers, and a control group of donors with negative titers. The relative titers of antibodies against DNA and the relative DNase activity of IgGs depended very much on the individual patient and the donor, and no significant correlation was found between the relative values of antibodies titers and their DNase activity. Our results indicate that COVID-19 disease and vaccination with adenoviral Sputnik V vaccine do not result in the development or enhancement of strong autoimmune reactions as in the typical autoimmune diseases associated with the production of anti-DNA and DNA hydrolyzing antibodies

Catalytic Behavior of Iron-Containing Cubic Spinel in the Hydrolysis and Hydrothermolysis of Ammonia Borane

The paper presents a comparative study of the activity of magnetite (Fe3O4) and copper and cobalt ferrites with the structure of a cubic spinel synthesized by combustion of glycine-nitrate precursors in the reactions of ammonia borane (NH3BH3) hydrolysis and hydrothermolysis. It was shown that the use of copper ferrite in the studied reactions of NH3BH3 dehydrogenation has the advantages of a high catalytic activity and the absence of an induction period in the H2 generation curve due to the activating action of copper on the reduction of iron. Two methods have been proposed to improve catalytic activity of Fe3O4-based systems: (1) replacement of a portion of Fe2+ cations in the spinel by active cations including Cu2+ and (2) preparation of highly dispersed multiphase oxide systems, involving oxide of copper