[The development of the method for the determination of the low-molecular weight alcohol content in the specimens of the biological materials]. / Razrabotka metodiki opredeleniia soderzhaniia nizkomolekuliarnykh spirtov i atsetona v obraztsakh biomaterialov.

The objective of the present study was the development and metrological attestation of the method for the determination of concentrations of low-molecular weight (C1-C4) alcohols and acetone in the biological materials, such as urine and blood including partially dehydrated blood. The method is based on the chromatographic analysis of the equilibrium vapour phase with the use of the static headspace autosampler. The calculations were carried out making use of the results obtained with the application of propanol-1 as the internal standard. In order to enhance the reliability of the identification of the analytes in the complex blood matrix, the two-channel configuration was employed that consisted of a single evaporator, passive flow division, two capillary columns of different polarity, and two flame ionization detectors. The proposed technique provided for the first time the unique possibility to perform the quantitative measurement of the internal standard in the starting specimen before the main analysis. The validated procedure for the quantitative determination of the alcohol concentration of blood samples with the reduced water content has been described. The present study made it possible to collect the total amount of relevant statistical data necessary to calculate the metrological characteristics of the method in question. The method was certified based at D.I. Mendeleev All-Russian Research Institute of Metrology under No 754/242-(01.00250)-2016.

[Detection of BCR-ABL gene mutations in chronic myeloid leukemia using biochips].

A biochip-based method was developed to identify the BCR-ABL mutations that affect the thyrosine kinase domain and determine resistance to targeted therapy with thyrosine kinase inhibitors. The method is based on RT-PCR followed by allele-specific hybridization on a biochip with immobilized oligonucleotide probes. The biochip addresses 11 mutations, which are responsible for up to 85% of imatinib resistance cases. A method to decect the clinically significant mutation T315I was designed on the basis of LNA-clamped PCR and proved highly sensitive, detecting the mutation in clinical samples with a leukemic cell content of 5% or higher. The method was validated using clinical samples from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with acquired resistance to imatinib. The results of hybridization on biochip were verified by Sanger sequencing.

[ANCA-associated vasculitis affecting lungs and kidneys: clinical and morphological characteristic, treatment, outcomes].

Up to 80% of all cases of pulmonary-renal syndrome are due to systemic vasculitis associated with antibodies to neutrophil cytoplasm (ANCA). Most patients die within the first year after the onset of the disease but adequate immunosuppressive therapy ensures the 5-year survival rate of 65-75%. We obtained clinical and morphological data for 34 patients with ANCA-associated vasculitis affecting lungs and kidneys treated at S. P. Botkin Hospital in 1994-2012. 16 patients presented with granulomatous polyangiitis (Wegener 's granulomatosis), 11 with microscopic polyangiitis, and 7 with eosinophilicpolyangiitis (Churg-Strauss syndrome). We made the definitive diagnosis in 79% of the cases. Pulmonary lesions were largely in the form offocal, nodular and infiltrative changes, one third of the patients suffered blood spitting/pulmonary hemorrhage and 15% respiratory distress. Most patients had renal dysfunction (16% required emergency hemodialysis), lesions of ENT skin, joints, peripheral nervous system, and eyes. Therapy with corticosteroids and cytostatics increased the total and renal survival rate up to 91 and 82% respectively despite unfavourable prognostic factors in most patients. Duration of observation was 32.5 [0.1;129] months, the survival rate depended on the severity of lung lesions whereas renal problems had no appreciable effect on life prognosis.

[The sociological monitoring as a tool to evaluate preventive activities].

The monitoring of conditions of HIV-infection spreading includes qualitative research methods to reveal specified information from people relating immediately to the problem of HIV-infection prevalence. The acquired information can be used both for monitoring of the conditions of HIV-infection spreading (morbidity, prevalence, mortality) and adjustment of preventive activities at the level of specific administrative territory.

[Roentgenosurgery for aortic coarctation and open arterial duct with intravascular ultrasonic examination]. / Rentgenokhirurgicheskie operatsii po povodu koarktatsii aorty i otkrytogo arterial'nogo protoka s ispol'zovaniem vnutrisosudistogo ul'trazvukovogo issledovaniia.

Forty-five patients (32 with open arterial duct and 13 with aortic coarctation) were examined. Forty-nine intravascular ultrasonic examinations were performed, qualitative and quantitative analysis of 139 vascular segments was carried out. Despite the fact that mean morphometric indices of open arterial duct and aorta in angiography and intravascular ultrasonic examination had no significant difference, real confidence of the o data was seen only in 13.3% cases for open arterial duct an in 16.7% cases--for aortic coarctation. In 37.5 and 50% patients, respectively, difference in the dimensions was so significant that dictated choice of instruments with difference size. Roentgenoendovascular surgeries were performed in 23 patients with open arterial duct and in 12--with aortic coarctation. Choice of instruments parameters based on data of intravascular ultrasonic examination provided safer and more efficient procedures.

[Errors in the microbiologic diagnosis of shigellosis]. / Nekotorye oshibki mikrobiologicheskoi diagnostiki shigellezov.

The authors analyze the diagnostic errors that occurred at bacteriologic laboratories of one of the districts of Russia and that led to misrepresentation of the true etiologic structure of acute enteric infections and therefore to useless ineffective antiepidemic measures. They emphasize strict adherance to a certain order of stages of laboratory diagnosis and to methodologic recommendations on microbiologic diagnosis of diseases induced by enterobacteria.

[The epidemiological characteristics of the spread of Grigor'ev-Shiga dysentery in the territories of the former USSR in recent years]. / Epidemiologicheskie osobennosti rasprostraneniia dizenterii Grigor'eva--Shiga na territoriiakh byvshego SSSR v poslednie gody.

On the basis of special data on the registered cases of Grigor'ev-Shiga dysentery on the territory of the former USSR the spread of this nosological form of Shigella infections since 1980 until the present moment has been analyzed. As shown by this analysis, Grigor'ev-Shiga dysentery is not widely spread on the whole territory of the former USSR, the cases of this disease being mostly registered in Namangan (the Uzbek Republic). The study has shown that the area of the circulation of Shigella dysenteriae 1 is not completely determined. This disease is quite widely spread in some areas of Central Asia, penetrating from these areas to other regions. Everyday contacts have shown to play the main role in the transmission of S. dysenteriae 1 due to poor municipal sanitation facilities and pronounced deficiency in the level of general and sanitary education. The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan has led to the rapid improvement of the epidemiological situation on the territory of the former USSR as the result of a sharp decline in the "import" of Shigella dysenteriae 1.

[The characteristics of the biological properties of Shigella dysenteriae 1 circulating in the USSR and India: its biochemical activity and agglutinability]. / Kharakteristika biologicheskikh svoistv Shigella dysenteriae 1, tsirkuliruiushchikh v SSSR i Indii: biokhimicheskaia aktivnost' i aggliutinabel'nost'.

The properties of 71 S. dysenteriae 1 strains isolated from patients in the USSR and India in 1986-1988 were studied. The cultures possessed typical biochemical and serological properties. As revealed in this investigation, high fastidiousness of this infective agent to the quality of synthetic nutrient could become the cause of false negative reactions in different substrates used for the identification of enterobacteria, thus leading to diagnostic mistakes. The variability of the biochemical activity of different strains with respect to arginine, glycerol, maltose and trehalose (as well as the stability of these signs) was regarded as the theoretical substantiation of the possibility, in principle, to work out the scheme for the subdivision of S. dysenteriae 1 into independent biochemical variants.