Pediatric splenic infarction: Assessment of associated clinical conditions and outcome.

Pediatric splenic infarction (SI) is rare yet clinically significant. Publications regarding this complication are mostly limited to case reports. This is a retrospective study examining SI etiology, clinical presentation, management, and outcomes among children. Twenty-two patients (median age: 7.9 years) were included, mostly with pre-existing hematological diseases. Splenomegaly (72%), thrombocytopenia, and anemia were common. Most of the patients did not receive antithrombotic therapy yet only two patients experienced recurrences. During follow up 36% of patients died, however no fatalities were attributed to thrombotic or bleeding complications.

Risk assessment of change in respiratory gas concentrations by native culturable bacteria in the air of sulfide ore mines.

Sulfide ores are extracted from mines at considerable depths, that having unique a physical and chemical environment. On the one hand, physical, chemical, and biological processes taken place in the rocks produce this environment; on the other hand, they form unique bacterial communities. The aim of this study was to study the native culturable aerobic bacteria present in the sulfide ores of the deposits located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (Russia) and evaluate their activity in relation to respiratory gases (oxygen and carbon dioxide) present in air. The results of the study established that the culturable bacteria present in the sulfide ore of the N1 deposit were related to genera Bacillus and Paenibacillus (class Bacilli), genera Citricoccus, Micrococcus, Brachybacterium, Microcella, Dietzia, and Rhodococcus (class Actinomycetia) and genera Paracoccus and Pseudomonas (class Proteobacteria). The culturable bacteria of the N2 sulfide ore deposit were represented by genera Bacillus, Oceanobacillus, Alicyclobacillus (class Bacilli) and genera Micrococcus and Agromyces (class Actinomycetia). The N2 deposit community contained the strain Nor9-1, which showed a high level of similarity with the Alicyclobacillus aeris ZJ-6 iron-/sulfur-oxidizing bacterium. The model systems showed a strong correlation (r2 = 0.91-0.97) between the growth of the bacterial communities of the studied ores and changes in the concentrations of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the model atmosphere. Under the ecological optimum (specific growth rate of the culture constituting 0.519 d-1) in 7 d, oxygen decreased to 0.34-1.48% and carbon dioxide increased to 7.44-14.88%. Under the ecological pessimum (restricted available organic carbon), given the predominant development of the chemolithotrophic group of bacteria (specific growth rate of 0.045 d-1), changes in the respiratory gas concentrations constituted 0.9-2.7% of O2 and 0.06-0.16% of CO2. A relationship was established between the specific rate of O2/CO2 loss and specific growth rate of the bacterial communities. Thus, for the first time, indigenous cultivated aerobic bacteria of sulfide ores collected from the deposits of the Krasnoyarsk Territory were studied, and their effects on oxygen and carbon dioxide contents in the atmosphere of closed model systems were examined.

Pilot production of the recombinant peptide toxin of Heteractis crispa as a potential analgesic by intein-mediated technology.

APHC3 is an analgesic polypeptide that was found in the sea anemone (Heteractis crispa), and contains 56 amino acid residues. This polypeptide is of interest for the development of medications for diseases, associated with inflammatory or neuropathological processes, as well as its use as an analgesic. This work presents an innovative biotechnological method for APHC3 production. We have constructed a recombinant plasmid intended for biosynthesizing the fusion protein consisting of a chitin-binding domain, DnaB mini-intein from Synechocystis sp. capable of undergoing pH-dependent self-cleavage, and the target peptide. In the process of biosynthesis the fusion protein aggregates and forms the inclusion bodies that are welcomed since APHC3 is a cytotoxic peptide. The target peptide recovery process developed by us involves 3 chromatographic steps. The method developed by us enables to produce 940 mg of the recombinant APHC3 from 100 g of the inclusion bodies. The method is straightforward to implement and scale up. The recombinant APHC3 activity and effectiveness as an analgesic was proved by animal testing.

Magnetic immunoassay for detection of staphylococcal toxins in complex media.

Method of highly sensitive registration of magnetic nanoparticles by their nonlinear magnetization is used in a novel sandwich-type immunoassay for detection of staphylococcal toxins in complex media of virtually any volume, with increasing sensitivity at higher sample volume. The signal is read out from the entire volume of a nontransparent 3D fiber structure employed as a solid phase, which provides large reaction surface, quick reagent mixing, as well as antigen immunofiltration directly in the course of the assay. The method has demonstrated near-linear dose-response curves within a wide range of ~3 decades, while detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) and toxic shock syndrome toxin (TSST) in neat milk without sample preparation. The limits of detection (LOD) as low as 4 and 10 pg/mL for TSST and SEA, respectively, were obtained in 2-h format using 30-mL samples. The second, 25-min format, showed the LOD of 0.1 and 0.3 ng/mL for the same toxins in a 150 µL sample. The developed immunoassay can be applied in food safety control, in vitro diagnostics, and veterinary for a variety of research from express tests in the field to highly sensitive laboratory tests.

Generation of scFv phages specific to Staphylococcus enterotoxin C1 by panning on related antigens.

A method for generation of highly specific miniantibodies within the phage particle has been developed, and used to produce antibodies against Staphylococcus enterotoxin type C1. Under successive panning of the non-immune phage miniantibody (scFv) library with enterotoxins SE (types A, B, C1, D, E, G, and I) adsorbed on the plate surface, we generated 11 individual phage clones to Staphylococcus enterotoxin type C1. Five of them interacted specifically only with SEC1 and had no cross-reactions with the other enterotoxins.