[CLINICAL AND EPIDEMIOLOGICAL PECULIARITIES OF CYSTIC ECHINOCOCCOSIS IN CHILDREN].

The postoperative period of cystic echinococcosis was studied in 13 children. Demographic, epidemiological, clinical diagnosis, treatment, number location, and development of cysts and serologic data were analyzed. Age of children at diagnosis range 5 to 17 years. All patients with cystic echinococcosis had abdominal cysts. The liver was the main organ involved in ten patients (76,9%) - they had cysts located in the liver, two patients (15,4%) had lung cyst, one patient had concomitant lung and liver cysts. Twelve patients had single cysts and one had more than one abdominal cysts. Surgical treatment was performed in 23,1% cases. Ultrasound studies (US) were performed during the monitoring period. Evaluation of cysts was assessed by monitoring US changes. Positive dynamics was revealed in all patients; relapse of the disease was not noticed. Proceeding from the fact that in all patients echoarchitectonics of the hepatic tissue was lumped with a non-uniform structure and uneven ultrasound distribution, it is assumed that these changes are indicative of the development of connective tissue in the liver.

[ULTRASOUND MONITORING FEATURES OF POSTOPERATIVE HEPATIC ECHINOCOCCOSIS].

The aim of the study was to investigate ultrasound features (US) of liver after post operative anti-parasite recurrence treatment of patients with echinococcosis. The clinical analyses of 50 patients were carried out. It was concluded that the use of ultrasound can provide valuable data to the clinician to assess and monitor anti parasitic therapy echinococcosis of liver in post operative period. During the monitoring the positive dynamics of disease was observed in 94,5% of cases, in 5% оf cases toxic hepatites with septic complication was diagnosed, and in 0,5% of cases the disease recurrence was revealed. Ultrasound semiotics of liver after post operative anti-parasite recurrence treatment of patients with echinococcosis was presented. Control and monitoring of patients in the postoperative period echinococcosis with appropriate antirelapse antiparasitic therapy should be held not less than 1-5 years.

New data on epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis in Georgia.

Visceral leishmaniasis is spread as sporadic cases in eastern regions of Georgia. In Georgia as throughout the world steady increase of the disease incidence is observed. It is related to socio-economic crisis of population, increase in the number of invaded dogs and global warming processes. In west Georgia visceral leishmaniasis cases were never observed in the past. From 2004 to 2008 authors registered 10 local cases of visceral leishmaniasis in kutaisi (8 children and 2 adult patients). It should be noted that from these 10 patients eight resided in sapichkia area and two were from other areas of kutaisi. Authors consider that the detailed epidemiologic evaluation of the above mentioned cases should be carried out urgently to avoid the emergence of new endemic of visceral leishmaniasis in west Georgia.

Effects of caloric restriction on rodent drug and carcinogen metabolizing enzymes: implications for mutagenesis and cancer.

Caloric restriction in rodents results in increased longevity and a decreased rate of spontaneous and chemically induced neoplasia. The low rates of spontaneous neoplasia and other pathologies have made calorically restricted rodents attractive for use in chronic bioassays. However, caloric restriction also alters hepatic drug metabolizing enzyme (DME) expression and so may also alter the biotransformation rates of test chemicals. These alterations in DME expression may be divided into two types: (1) those that are the direct result of caloric restriction itself and are detectable from shortly after the restriction is initiated; (2) those which are the result of pathological conditions that are delayed by caloric restriction. These latter alterations do not usually become apparent until late in the life of the organism. In rats, the largest direct effect of caloric restriction on liver DMEs is an apparent de-differentiation of sex-specific enzyme expression. This includes a 40-70% decrease in cytochrome P450 2C11 (CYP2C11) expression in males and a 20-30% reduction of corticosterone sulfotransferase activity in females. Changes in DME activities that occur late in life in calorically restricted rats include a stimulation of CYP2E1-dependent 4-nitrophenol hydroxylase activity and a delay in the disappearance of male-specific enzyme activities in senescent males. It is probable that altered DME expression is associated with altered metabolic activation of chemical carcinogens. For example the relative expression of hepatic CYP2C11 in ad libitum-fed or calorically restricted rats of different ages is closely correlated with the amount of genetic damage in 2-acetylaminofluorene- or aflatoxin B1-pretreated hepatocytes isolated from rats of the same age and caloric intake. This suggests that altered hepatic drug and carcinogen metabolism in calorically restricted rats can influence the carcinogenicity of test chemicals.