Organic chemistry. History and mutual relations of universities of Russia

© 2017, Pleiades Publishing, Ltd. The review describes the history of development of organic chemistry in higher schools of Russia over a period of 170 years, since the emergence of organic chemistry in our country till now

FEMTOSECOND LASER-ASSISTED ANTERIOR LAMELLAR KERATOPLASTY: PILOT CLINICAL TRIAL

Purpose. To work out a technology of a femtosecond laser assisted anterior lamellar keratoplasty and evaluate its safety and clinical efficiency.Material and мethods. We report 13 cases of femtosecond laserassisted anterior lamellar keratoplasty. Both circular trepanation and lamellar dissection (80% of the corneal thickness) were performed with the IntraLase FS 60 kHz (AMO). Lamellar cut settings for the donor cornea were: spot/line separation 4/4μm, energy 1μJ; for the recipient 4/4μm and 2μJ, respectively. Eyes of 13 patients (11 with keratoconus, 2 with superficial corneal scarring) in the mean age 30.3±9.5 years were observed up to 2 year s after the surgery.Results. All corneal grafts were transparent, with the mean endothelial cell loss at 12 months equal to 3.5%. Evaluation of biomechanical properties of patients’ corneas 1 year after the surgery showed a reliable improvement of the CRF and CH meanings, comparable to preoperative data, from 5.7±1.28 and 6.92±1.32mmHg to 10.92±1 and 10.61±1.3mmHg (p<0.001), respectively, which correlates with the rates of normal cornea. Sutures were removed 6 months after surgery. The mean postoperative astigmatism at 12 months was 4.7±1.5 D. The mean UCVA at 12 months was 0.1±0.02 and the BCVA was 0.22±0.07. After 2 years the values were 0.2±0.03 and 0.3±0.05, respectively. The highest BCVA was achieved0.4 in 2 cases at 12 months.Conclusions. The obtained low postoperative visual acuity is explained, apparently, by irregularities of the donor-recipient interface and a pronounced light scattering occurred in it which leads to a reduction of the retinal image quality

The state of absorbed hydrogen in the structure of reduced copper chromite from the vibration spectra

Khassin, Alexander A. Kustova, Galina N. Jobic, Herve Yurieva, Tamara M. Chesalov, Yury A. Filonenko, Georgii A. Plyasova, Lyudmila M. Parmon, Valentin N.The reduction of copper chromite, CuCr2O4, is followed by means of thermogravimetric analysis. The reduced state is studied by means of FT IR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and inelastic neutron scattering. The reduction of copper occurs in two stages: absorption of hydrogen at 250-400 degrees C and dehydration of the reduced state at above 450 degrees C. The measured vibrational spectra prove that a considerable amount of hydrogen is absorbed by the oxide structure with absorbed protons stabilized in OH and HOH-groups (geminal protons). Three groups of vibration bands are observed in the INS spectra, which can be assigned to stretching, bending and libration vibrations. An increase in the reduction temperature of copper chromite results in softening of the stretching and hardening of the bending vibrations, what can be related to the strengthening of hydrogen bonding

Sputnik Light and Sputnik V Vaccination Is Effective at Protecting Medical Personnel from COVID-19 during the Period of Delta Variant Dominance

Medical personnel are a group of people that often encounter infectious agents, leading to greater risk of contracting infectious diseases. Specific prevention of diseases in this group is a priority. The epidemiological effectiveness of COVID-19 prevention in the group of medical workers due to the emergence of new variants of concern of the SARS-CoV-2 virus has not been studied in sufficient depth. We conducted a study of the effectiveness of vaccine use to protect medical workers at a large medical center for obstetrics and gynecology in Moscow. Sputnik V and Sputnik Light were the main vaccines used for the prevention of COVID-19. The vaccines are based on a variant of the S-protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, with adenovirus serotypes 5 and 26 as the vector for delivery. Vaccination of employees occurred during the period in which the Delta variant was spreading. The overall epidemiological effectiveness was 81.7% (73.1–87.6%) during the period in which the Delta variant was dominant. During the period from the beginning of vaccination (26 November 2020) until 8 February 2022, the overall effectiveness was 89.1% (86.9–91.0%). As expected, the highest effectiveness during this period was obtained in the group that received the third and fourth doses—96.5% (75.0–99.5%). The severity of COVID-19 in the vaccinated group was significantly lower than in the unvaccinated group

Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 Major Genetic Lineages in Moscow in the Context of Vaccine Prophylaxis

Findings collected over two and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that the level immunity resulting from vaccination and infection is insufficient to stop the circulation of new genetic variants. The short-term decline in morbidity was followed by a steady increase. The early identification of new genetic lineages that will require vaccine adaptation in the future is an important research target. In this study, we summarised data on the variability of genetic line composition throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in Moscow, Russia, and evaluated the virological and epidemiological features of dominant variants in the context of selected vaccine prophylaxes. The prevalence of the Omicron variant highlighted the low effectiveness of the existing immune layer in preventing infection, which points to the necessity of optimising the antigens used in vaccines in Moscow. Logistic growth curves showing the rate at which the new variant displaces the previously dominant variants may serve as early indicators for selecting candidates for updated vaccines, along with estimates of efficacy, reduced viral neutralising activity against the new strains, and viral load in previously vaccinated patients