Aneurysm of internal carotid artery, which simulated paratonsillary abscess (clinical case)

This article describes a rare case of paratonsillar abscess imitation among the patients with the aneurysm of ICA. The purpose of the study is to describe the methods of this disease diagnosing using the example of a clinical case, to give a general description of this nosology occurrence frequency, and to recommend a detailed approach to the differential diagnosis among this category of patient

Therapy of Schizoaffective Disorder and Paranoid Schizophrenia with Episodic Course

Background. The use of atypical antipsychotics in schizophrenia contributes to the reduction of psychotic, affective, negative and cognitive disorders.Aims. To evaluate the effectiveness of ziprasidone therapy in patients with schizoaffective disorder and paranoid schizophrenia with episodic course.Materials and methods. In accordance with ICD-10 there were 14 (63.6 %) people with schizoaffective disorder (F25), 8 (36.4 %) people with paranoid schizophrenia, episodic course (F20.x1). Treatment with ziprasidone lasted 42 days. The dose of ziprasidone in 6 patients (27.3 %) was 80 mg, in 10 patients (45.5 %) – 120 mg, in 6 patients (27.3 %) – 160 mg. Evaluation of the effectiveness of ziprasidone therapy was carried out using psychometric scales (PANSS, General clinical impression scale to assess the effectiveness of therapy – CGI-S, CGI-I), adverse events were registered with the UKU scale.Results. The number of respondents was 19 (86.3 %) (reduction of the total score on the PANSS scale > 20 % of the pre-treatment level). Ziprasidone was effective in patients with schizoaffective disorder with a significant decrease in total score on PANSS subscales to the 14 th day of therapy (p < 0.05), with paranoid schizophrenia with episodic course – by the 21st day (p < 0.01). According to the CGI-S scale at the end of therapy, “borderline condition” was observed in 10 patients (52.6 %), mild severity – in 3 (15.8 %), normal condition – in 6 (31.6 %). CGI-I scale showed a significant improvement in 10 patients (52.6 %), marked improvement – in 9 patients (47.4 %). Among the mild adverse events that do not require discontinuation of the drug, we noted: weakness – in 3 patients (15.8 %), drowsiness – in 3 (15.8 %), impaired concentration – in 2 (10.5 %), orthostatic dizziness – in 2 (10.5 %), galactorrhea – in 1 (5.3 %).Conclusions. Ziprasidone is an effective antipsychotic drug that has a safe tolerability profile. It can be used in patients with schizoaffective disorders and paranoid schizophrenia with episodic course

Tolerance to uncertainty and the choice of coping strategies in the professional activities of lawyers

The article examines the personality traits characteristic of people involved in advocacy, namely the level of tolerance to uncertainty and preferred coping strategies. It was revealed that lawyers are able to accept the tension that arises in a situation of contradictions, to resist the incoherence of information, to accept the unknown. The most common coping strategies among lawyers are considered, the connection between the acceptance of situations of uncertainty and coping is revealedВ статье рассматриваются личностные особенности, характерные для людей, занимающихся адвокатской деятельностью, а именно уровень толерантности к неопределенности и предпочтительные копинг-стратегии. Выявлено, что адвокаты способны принимать напряжение, что возникает в ситуации противоречий, противостоять несвязанности информации, принимать неизвестное. Рассмотрены наиболее часто встречающиеся среди адвокатов копинг-стратегии, выявлена связь между принятием ситуаций неопределенности и копингам

Transcriptome profile of yeast reveals the essential role of PMA2 and uncharacterized gene YBR056W-A (MNC1) in adaptation to toxic manganese concentration

© The Royal Society of Chemistry.Adaptation of S. cerevisiae to toxic concentrations of manganese provides a physiological model of heavy metal homeostasis. Transcriptome analysis of adapted yeast cells reveals upregulation of cell wall and plasma membrane proteins including membrane transporters. The gene expression in adapted cells differs from that of cells under short-term toxic metal stress. Among the most significantly upregulated genes are PMA2, encoding an ortholog of Pma1 H+-ATPase of the plasma membrane, and YBR056W-A, encoding a putative membrane protein Mnc1 that belongs to the CYSTM family and presumably chelates manganese at the cell surface. We demonstrate that these genes are essential for the adaptation to toxic manganese concentration and propose an extended scheme of manganese detoxification in yeast

Relationship of the Content of Systemic and Endobronchial Soluble Molecules of CD25, CD38, CD8, and HLA-I-CD8 and Lung Function Parameters in COPD Patients

© 2017 Nailya Kubysheva et al. The definition of new markers of local and systemic inflammation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the priority directions in the study of pathogenesis and diagnostic methods improvement for this disease. We investigated 91 patients with COPD and 21 healthy nonsmokers. The levels of soluble CD25, CD38, CD8, and HLA-I-CD8 molecules in the blood serum and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in moderate-to-severe COPD patients during exacerbation and stable phase were studied. An unidirectional change in the content of sCD25, sCD38, and sCD8 molecules with increasing severity of COPD was detected. The correlations between the parameters of lung function and sCD8, sCD25, and sHLA-I-CD8 levels in the blood serum and EBC were discovered in patients with severe COPD. The findings suggest a pathogenetic role of the investigated soluble molecules of the COPD development and allow considering the content of sCD8, sCD25, and sHLA-I-CD8 molecules as additional novel systemic and endobronchial markers of the progression of chronic inflammation of this disease

Endonasal infrared thermometry for the diagnosis of allergic inflammation of the nasal mucosa in patients with bronchial asthma

© 2017, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy. All rights reserved. Bronchial asthma (BA) is often associated with chronic inflammatory processes in the nasal mucosa; these processes give rise to allergic rhinitis, chronic rhinosinusitis, adenoiditis, and polypous rhinosinusitis. Due to their multiple symptoms, these diseases of the upper respiratory tract, especially allergic rhinitis, are often difficult to verify in patients with asthma. The aim of the study was to evaluate the diagnostic potential of endonasal IR thermometry in BA patients suspected of allergic rhinitis. Materials and Methods. Fifty children diagnosed with both BA and allergic rhinitis and 15 healthy children, matched by gender and age, participated in the study. The endonasal temperature determined with contactless IR thermometry was confronted with the symptoms of allergic rhinitis and sinusitis assessed with the TNSS and SNOT-20 questionnaires. The results were compared with the severity of nasal obstruction as determined through the anterior active rhinomanometry. Results. The nasal temperature in patients with asthma and allergic rhinitis was 33.77 [33.37; 34.17]°С, which was significantly lower than that in the group of healthy children (34.98 [34.57; 35.39] °С; p=0.0006); the body temperature did not differ between the groups (36.55 [36.45; 36.65] and 36.58 [36.40; 36.76] °С, respectively; p=0.5). We found a negative correlation between the values of nasal temperature and the sinusitis symptom scores in patients with BA and allergic rhinitis (R=–0.32; p=0.02). Conclusion. Patients with both BA and allergic rhinitis showed a decreased endonasal temperature in comparison with healthy children; the endonasal temperature can serve an indicator of allergic inflammation of the nasal mucosa

Relative body mass index as a new tool for nutritional status assessment in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma

© 2017, Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy. All rights reserved.The aim of the investigation was to estimate the possibilities of using relative body mass index (RBMI) for determining age- and gender-specific aspects of nutritional status in children and adolescents with bronchial asthma (BA) of different severity degrees. Materials and Methods. The study involved 887 children and adolescents with BA of different severities, aged 5–17 years (61– 215 months), of them 655 were boys. Their body mass index (BMI) was evaluated based on the Z-score criterion and nutritional status was determined as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). To unify nutritional status assessment in patients of different age and gender groups, there was introduced RBMI representing the ratio of the patient’s BMI to gender- and age-specific median BMI value presented in the WHO reference data. Results. Nutritional status and its relation to BA were studied in children and adolescents using two parameters: the standard nutritional status indicator based on BMI Z-scores as recommended by WHO, and a new parameter, RBMI, representing the ratio of the patient’s BMI to gender- and age-specific median BMI value recommended by WHO. No significant nutritional status differences were found in the studied sample of patients with various degrees of BA severity. There was revealed a tendency to a decrease in the proportion of children with normal body weight and an increase in the proportion of overweight children as BA severity increased, χ2=26.82; р=0.08. Conclusion. Using RBMI for assessment of BA patients makes it possible to significantly facilitate clinical data analysis and obtain new data unavailable when standard parameters are applied

Комплексная оценка уровня контроля над бронхиальной астмой у детей на основе определения содержания метаболитов оксида азота в конденсате выдыхаемого воздуха и спирографических параметров

Summary. The aim of this study was to estimate a prognostic value of nitric oxide metabolites (NOM) in exhaled breath condensate (EBC) as a marker of asthma control level. We examined 243 patients (of them, 162 males) aged 5 to 17 yrs with atopic asthma. Some of the patients were treated with corticosteroids (CS), others had not been never treated with CS (steroid-naive patients). Asthma control was assessed using the ACQ-5 questionnaire, the EBC NOM total concentration was measured with the Griess-Ilosvay's method modified by S.Soodaeva. In patients with good asthma control, EBC NOM concentration was 6.41 Ѓ} 2.33 μmol / L compared to 8.40 Ѓ} 2.59 μmol / L in patients with partial control and 8.47 Ѓ} 2.77 μmol / L in patients with poor control (р < 0.00001 for both). The EBC NOM concentration from the steroid-naive patients was significantly higher than that from the patients treated with CS. A correlation was found between ACQ-5 score and the total EBC NOM concentration in the whole cohort of patients (r = 0.30, p < 0.00001), in steroid-naive patients (r = 0.42, p < 0.00001), and in patients treated with CS (r = 0.43; p < 0.00001). Discriminant analysis was performed in patients with well controlled asthma and in a combined group of patients with partial and poor asthma control to estimate a prognostic value of EBC NOM and FEV1 as markers of asthma control level. The EBC NOM total concentration predicted asthma control in 63 % of the whole cohort, 75 % of the steroid-naive patients and in 70 % of the patients treated with CS. FEV1 predicted asthma control in 77.3 %, 75% and 74.75% of patients, respectively. Combination of EBC NOM total concentration and FEV1 predicted asthma control in 78.92 %, 79.44 % and 82.83 % of patients, respectively. Therefore, combination of EBC NOM total concentration and FEV1 is predictive for asthma control in 80 % of children with atopic asthma

Prokaryotic expression, purification and immunogenicity in rabbits of the small antigen of hepatitis delta virus

Funding Information: Expression and purification of HDV antigen was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (grant 16-04-01490a). Evaluation of serum by Western blot and confocal microscopy was supported by Russian Science Foundation (grant 14-14-01021). Experiments in rabbits were supported by the Swedish Institute grants 09272_2013 and 19806_2016. Cross-border collaboration of the partners, exchange of the materials and standard operation procedures used in the study, and dissemination of the data were supported by the EU Twinning project VACTRAIN, contract nr 692293. Publisher Copyright: © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Hepatitis delta virus (HDV) is a viroid-like blood-borne human pathogen that accompanies hepatitis B virus infection in 5% patients. HDV has been studied for four decades; however, the knowledge on its life-cycle and pathogenesis is still sparse. The studies are hampered by the absence of the commercially-available HDV-specific antibodies. Here, we describe a set of reproducible methods for the expression in E. coli of His-tagged small antigen of HDV (S-HDAg), its purification, and production of polyclonal anti-S-HDAg antibodies in rabbits. S-HDAg was cloned into a commercial vector guiding expression of the recombinant proteins with the C-terminal His-tag. We optimized S-HDAg protein purification procedure circumventing a low affinity of the His-tagged S-HDAg to the Ni-nitrilotriacetyl agarose (Ni-NTA-agarose) resin. Optimization allowed us to obtain S-HDAg with >90% purity. S-HDAg was used to immunize Shinchilla grey rabbits which received 80 µg of S-HDAg in two subcutaneous primes in the complete, followed by four 40 µg boosts in incomplete Freunds adjuvant. Rabbits were bled two weeks post each boost. Antibody titers determined by indirect ELISA exceeded 107. Anti-S-HDAg antibodies detected the antigen on Western blots in the amounts of up-to 100 pg. They were also successfully used to characterize the expression of S-HDAg in the eukaryotic cells by immunofluorescent staining/confocal microscopy.publishersversionPeer reviewe