Aggregation of Influenza A Virus Nuclear Export Protein.

Influenza A virus nuclear export protein (NEP) plays an important role in the viral life cycle. Recombinant NEP proteins containing (His)6-tag at either N- or C-terminus were obtained by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli cells and their high propensity for aggregation was demonstrated. Dynamic light scattering technique was used to study the kinetics and properties of NEP aggregation in solutions under different conditions (pH, ionic strength, presence of low-molecular-weight additives and organic solvents). Using atomic force microscopy, the predominance of spherical aggregates in all examined NEP preparations was shown, with some amyloid-like structures being observed in the case of NEP-C protein. A number of structure prediction programs were used to identify aggregation-prone regions in the NEP structure. All-atom molecular dynamics simulations indicate a high rate of NEP molecule aggregation and reveal the regions preferentially involved in the intermolecular contacts that are located at the edges of the rod-like protein molecule. Our results suggest that NEP aggregation is determined by different types of interactions and represents an intrinsic property of the protein that appears to be necessary for its functioning in vivo.

[The course and treatment and efficiency of surgical treatment for disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis].

Chemotherapy for disseminated tuberculosis by the schemes regulated by the Order "On Improvement of Tuberculosis-Controlling Measures in the Russian Federation" issued by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation under No. 109 on March 21, 2003, leads to the regression of intoxication syndrome and the normalization of general blood analysis parameters in most patients, provides bacterial excretion cessation in 72.7% of the patients and decay cavity closure in 53.8%. The extent of the process, the presence of multiple decay cavities, and the detection of drug resistance are the main causes of ineffective treatment in patients with disseminated tuberculosis.

[The course of generalized tuberculosis in a northern region].

The course of generalized tuberculosis in a northern region is mainly characterized by its subacute onset; moreover, the symptoms of intoxication and the bronchopulmonary manifestations of the disease are observed practically in all patients. Socially dysadapted individuals are most susceptible to this disease. Even if patients with generalized tuberculosis have significant symptoms of the diseases, only a few of them resort to a health care facility within a month after their occurrence. Hematological changes suggest the implication of suppressed immunity in the development of this form of tuberculosis and support the intensiveness of the disease. Bacterial discharge is noted in all virtually patients (80%). However, the Mantoux test is frequently of no informative value in diagnosing generalized tuberculosis. X-ray is always widely used; decay cavities are encountered in most patients. In addition to lung lesions, generalization of a tuberculous process is attended by the appearance of specific changes in the liver, spleen, kidneys, serous membranes, and peripheral lymph nodes.

[Association of pulmonary tuberculosis morbidity with local earth's crustal fractures on the territory of a contemporary industrial town]. / Sviaz' zabolevaemosti legochnym tuberkulezom s lokal'nymi razlomami zemnoi kory na territorii sovremennogo promyshlennogo goroda.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the association of the incidence and severity of primary pulmonary tuberculosis with the anomalies of physical factors (geomagnetic field, gamma-radiation, radon emanation) above the local earth's crustal fractures (LECF) on the territory of Surgut. Analyzing the findings indicated the significant prevalence of both the rates of total primary morbidity of pulmonary tuberculosis and its exudative forms and the predominance of bacterial isolating patients among the residents in the area of LECF versus the continuum. Antituberculosis therapeutic-and-prophylactic measures should be planned, by taking into account the regional features of the state of anomalous physical fields.

[X-ray characteristics of disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Rentgenologicheskaia kharakteristika disseminirovannogo tuberkuleza legkikh.

The X-ray pattern of disseminated pulmonary tuberculosis is considered in terms of examination findings in 98 patients. Under the present-day conditions, the X-ray pattern of disseminated tuberculosis is more commonly characterized by a combination of focal shadows of varying diameters with a prevalence of foci of this or that size. Symmetrical areas of infiltration (14.3%) and relatively symmetrical systems of decay cavities (6%) were a major abnormal shadow. A total of 76% had a destructive process. There was a predominance of generalized processes with medium and large cavities.

[Frequency, pattern, and diagnosis of adverse reactions in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis during chemotherapy with leading drugs]. / Chastota, kharakter i diagnostika pobochnykh reaktsii u bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh pri khimioterapii osnovnymi preparatami.

The frequency and pattern of adverse reactions to essential antituberculous agents were studied in 480 patients with first diagnosed and recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis. Adverse reactions were found to occur in 16.9% of cases and to be mainly associated with concomitant diseases of different organs and systems wherein they occurred 15.6 times more frequently, rather than with the number (3-4-5) of used drugs. Adverse reactions were generally caused by an individual drug and predominantly streptomycin. At the same time no significant difference was established in the frequency of toxic (45.5%) and allergic (37%) reactions, but with a rather low frequency of mixed reactions (17.3%). The firstly performed cytochemical and immunological studies of lymphocytes and eosinophils provided new evidence for the pathogenesis of different patterns of adverse reactions. Lymphocytes from patients with toxic reactions showed significant intracellular structural and metabolic disturbances that led to a higher apoptosis of these cells. In patients with lymphocytic allergic reactions, on the contrary, displayed activated processes of anaerobic oxidation and their cytotoxic activity. In both types of adverse reactions, eosinophils exhibited severe intracellular metabolic disturbances that result in destruction and increased apoptosis, which determined the allergic component in virtually all types of side effects. Rational pathogenetic therapy using hormonal, vitamin, and metabolic agents and plasmapheresis could show a 2-fold reduction in the number of patients with adverse reactions without changing the routine chemotherapy regimen and only in 5.6% of cases, the reactions were intractable, which made a specific drug be discontinued and therapy used on an individual basis.

Influence of the nature of the pasting liquid on the accumulation of nitroanilines at carbon paste electrode during determination by absorptive stripping voltammetry.

ABSTRACT. The accumulation of ortho-, para-nitroanilines, 2,4-dimetyl-6-nitroaniline, and meta-nitrobenzoic acid at carbon paste electrode (CPE) has been studied. For the preparation of CPE different pasting liquids have been used: esters, aromatic hydrocarbons, saturated hydrocarbons, and polymethylsiloxane. Distribution ratios of o- and p-nitroanilines between the pasting liquid and water have been determined. Correlation between peak current constants and distribution ratios has been found. It has been demonstrated that during the determination of analyte on the CPE with aromatic hydrocarbons, the main influence on nitro-compound accumulation is executed by the extraction into the pasting liquids, and on the CPE with saturated hydrocarbons - by the process of depolarizer sorption onto the graphite. The selective determination of nitroanilines in the presence of hindering compounds with adsorptive stripping voltammetry has been carried out.

[The study of influence of acoustic oscillations on the immunogenesis]. / Issledovanie immunogenesa pri vozdeistvii akusticheskikh kolebanii.

It was found out, that immunomodulative action of low frequency acoustic oscillations (LFAO) is mediated in mice by enhancement or decreasing of distinct stages of immunogenesis. Exposure to this factor at intensity of 80 dB varied number of cells in lymphoid organs, enhanced cell proliferation, improved cooperative interaction of thymocytes and bone marrow cells in immune response, caused increase of allogenic stem cells inactivation. On the contrary, exposure to LFAO at the acoustic pressure of 130 dB caused alternative effects, as inhibition of immunocompetent cells in interaction.

[Immunological indicators in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the presence of drug-resistant Mycobacteria]. / Immunologicheskie pokazateli u bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh pri lekarstvennoi ustoichivosti mikobakterii.

Immunological indices for 121 pulmonary tuberculosis (PT) patients discharging drug-resistant M. tuberculosis were compared to those for 87 PT patients with M. tuberculosis sensitive to antibacterial drugs. The patients with drug-resistant bacteria before hospitalization had lower count of T-lymphocytes, altered proportion T-helpers/T-suppressors, reduced ability of T-lymphocytes for blast transformation in the presence of PHA and PPD. T-lymphocyte functional activity remained inhibited as compared to those patients discharging drug-sensitive mycobacteria.

[The immunity status of pulmonary tuberculosis patients excreting drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis]. / Sostoianie immuniteta u bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh, vydeliaiushchikh lekarstvenno-ustoichivye mikobakterii tuberkuleza.

Spontaneous rosette formation with sheep red cells, lymphocyte blast-transformation in the presence of PHA and PPD, estimation of cells carrying CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, EKK-antigens were studied in 208 HIV-negative adult patients with destructive tuberculosis of the lungs. The sputum from 87 of them contained M. tuberculosis sensitive to antituberculous drugs. M. tuberculosis from 121 of them were resistant to drugs. It was found that patients discharging drug-resistant M. tuberculosis had significantly more frequent suppression of T-cell immunity than patients whose M. tuberculosis were sensitive to chemotherapy.

[Tuberculin-BCG therapy in combined treatment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Tuberkulin-BTsZh-terapiia v kompleksnom lechenii bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh.

The efficacy of combined use of tuberculin and BCG vaccine (tuberculin-BCG-therapy) given to 70 patients with new-onset and recurrent pulmonary tuberculosis was compared to that of BCG treatment only received by 24 patients. Bacterial discharge and caverns were registered in 80 and 78 patients, respectively. 25 patients underwent stimulating, 37, 8 paradoxical tuberculin-BCG-therapy. BCG vaccine (1-4 injections) was given 2 weeks after the course of individual tuberculin therapy with the low efficacy of the latter. Tuberculin-BCG-therapy produced marked response in 52 patients against 11 responses on BCG only, increased the number of T-lymphocytes and T-helpers. It is concluded that the above combination improves regulation of an immune response by cellular mechanisms.

[Immunological bases of tuberculin therapy in combined treatment of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Immunologicheskoe obsledovanie tuberkulinoterapii v kompleksnom lechenii bol'nykh tuberkulezom legkikh.

Mantoux test with 2 TU and tuberculin test results gave evidence for the pattern of body responses. A form of tuberculin therapy is suggested. The latter is shown to stimulate a spontaneous and BCG-enhanced NBT test (p < 0.05) and specific desensitization in the absence of humoral immunity changes (IgM, IgG, IgA and titers of circulating antituberculous antibodies).

[The effect of cooling using ice on the impulse activity of the skin cold thermoreceptors in the rabbit]. / Vliianie okhlazhdeniia s pomoshch'iu l'da na impul'snuiu aktivnost' kholodovykh termoretseptorov kozhi krolika.

The temperature of the rabbit skin was reduced from 32.8 +/- 0.5 degrees C to 4.8 +/- 0.6 degrees C. The majority of the thermoreceptors responded to the cooling with an initial increase of the firing rate up to the maximum and its subsequent decrease up to its complete cessation. The lower temperature limits varied from 15 to 4 degrees C in different skin cold thermoreceptors. Some thermoreceptors retained high firing rate even at the temperature 6-8 degrees C. After removing the ice and warming up of the skin, the firing rate increased again up to the maximum and decreased subsequently to the minimum. Thermosensitive structures seem to exist in the skin transmitting the information on low values of the skin temperature to the centres of thermoregulation.

[The dependence of the blood pH, PCO2 and PO2 values measured on the microanalyzer on the hematocrit index during hemodilution and hemoconcentration]. / Zavisimost' izmeriaemykh na mikroanalizatore velichin pH, PCO2 i PO2 krovi ot pokazatelia gematokrita pri gemodiliutsii i gemokontsentratsii.

The arterial blood's pH, PCO2 and PO2 were shown to depend on the value of hematocrit in erythrocyte suspension in rats. The dependence can be described by the equation of linear regression except the oxygen tension value within its physiological range. A table of corrections is presented for the values of the blood's pH, PCO2 and PO2 for taking into consideration the factor of altered hematocrit in studies of acute anemias.