[The mitral valve dysplasia in adults: the choice of surgical tactics].

Early and long-term results of hereditary mitral valve dysplasia surgical treatment were obtained in 203 patients. All patients were divided in 2 groups: 73 (36%) patients after valve-preserving operations and 130 patients after universal chorda-preserving valve prosthetics. The choice of treatment modality depended on the type of anatomical changes and overall surgical volume. Hospital lethality rate was 2.46%. Surgery led to satisfactory functional results, thus, 83.3% of the operated patients have I-II NYHA functional class. Analysis of the own experience allowed to mark out factors, contraindicating the durable plastic mitral valve.

[Diagnostic and treatment patterns in management of male patients with nongonococcal urethritis: results of Russian multicentral cross-sectional study].

The aim of the study was to estimate the diagnostic and treatment patterns in the management of acute nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) in males in some cities of Russia. Retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in 2009 in 5 centers of 4 cities in the Central Part of Russia (Kaluga, Pskov, Smolensk - 2 centres and Tula). The data on the diagnostic and treatment approaches to the management of NGU in male subjects >16 years old were collected and analyzed with the use of specially designed case report forms. 556 cases of acute urethritis were analyzed during the study. The diagnosis of NGU was confirmed in 401 cases. The average age of the patients was 29.8 years (16-68 years). The following diagnostic methods were used in 95% of the cases: urethral smear microscopy (314/82.4%), C. trachomatis - PCR (113/29.7%), ELISA (155/40.7%); T. vaginalis - PCR (106/27.8%); U. urealyricum and M. hominis, respectively - bacteriology (140/36.7% and 126/33.1%), PCR (110/28.9% and 108/28.3%); M. genitalium - PCR (110/28.9%). The treatment patterns included antimicrobials AMs alone in 60.3, and AMs + non-AMs in 37.8% of the cases. The most frequently prescribed AMs were azithromycin (27.5%), fluconazole (16.4%), doxycycline (13.6%), metronidazole (11.2%), ofloxacine (7.3%), ceftriaxone (4.4%), josamycin (4.2). According to the results use of the standard methods for NGU diagnosis was rather rare. The use of PCR for atypical pathogens was the following: C. trachomatis 29.7%, U. urealyticum 36.7%, M. hominis 28.9%, M. genitalium 28.3%. Doubtful culture methods were used for detection of U. urealyticum and M. hominis (36.7% and 33.1%). The AMs treatment in some cases was not in compliance with the up-to-date practical guidelines for STD and NGU.

[The postoperative pancreatitis after the pancreatic surgery].

The results of 302 operations on the pancreas were analyzed: of them 107 were pancreatoduodenal resections; 67 were distal resections of the pancreas; 74 were various resections of the head of the pancreas and middle resections and 54 other operations. The postoperative pancreatitis was registered in 178 patients. The preventive use of the octreotide intraoperatively and in early postoperative period showed no influence on the frequency and severity of the postoperative pancreatitis. The ultrasound was the optimal screening diagnostig method, whereas the computed tomography was the best in pancreonecrosis diagnostics and the volume of the pancreatic tissue damaged. Of 178 patients with the postoperative pancreatitis 17 died, the lethality rate was 9.5%.

[The resection of the head of the pancreas with longitudinal pancreatojejunostomy (Frey procedure)].

The indications to Frey operation are severe pain syndrome and pancreatic hypertension, caused by concrements and strictures of the main pancreatic duct and/or postnecrotic pancreatic cysts. The pancreaticojejunoanastomosis is performed on the isolated by Roux intestinal loop. The average operating time was 4.62±1.39 hours. 28,3% of the operated patients developed various postoperative complications. 2 (6.7%) patients had the anastomosis insufficiency; the 2 patients had intraanastomotic bleeding and 1 patient had the arrosive bleeding caused by pancreonecrosis. 2 patients had external pancreatic fistulae. 1 patient died. The average hospital stay after the operation was 12±4 days.

[The enteral tube feeding and selective intestinal decontamination for the treatment of the acute pancreatitis].

The treatment results of 174 patients with the acute pancreatitis were analyzed. 51 (29.5%) patients were on total parenteral feeding (the 1st group); 93 (53%) patients received the early enteral feeding through the nasoenteral tube (the 2nd group); 30 (17.5%) patients received the enteral feeding together with the selective intestinal decontamination ( the 3rd group). The combination of enteral feeding together with the selective intestinal decontamination proved to have the positive influence and prevent the infectious complications of the acute pancreatits. Therefore, they should be used in the treatment of such patients.

[Surgical treatment of the unformed intestinal fistulae].

Treatment results of 5 patients with unformed intestinal fistulae are represented. High unformed intestinal fistulae are acknowledged to be completely unsuitable for conservative treatment and should be operated on. Complex treatment should include complete parenteral feeding, adequate fecal diversion with the use of aspirational drainage. Surgical treatment must be y the increase of fistula discharge or absence of fistula formation. Low intestinal fistulae should better be surgically dissected after their organization, otherwise urgent surgery is to be performed by complications development, such as purulent leakage into the abdominal cavity or severe wound infection.

[Treatment of patients with chronic pancreatitis complicated by pseudoaneurysms of the celiac trunk basin arteries].

The authors have analyzed results of treatment of 26 patients with chronic pancreatitis complicated by pseudoaneurysms. Hospitalization and treatment of such patients should be performed in specialized hospitals which can fulfill special examination in detail and carry out roentgen-endovascular operations. Intraintestinal bleeding is an absolute indication for emergent surgery for performing hemostasis. Conservative treatment is indicated for intestinal bleedings and after arrest of bleeding the patients should be transported to specialized institutions. Two types of the appearance of pseudoaneurysms were established depending on the pathological mechanism: when there was a relationship of the pseudocyst with the main pancreatic duct (I type) and when there was not (II type). For the I type roentgen-endovascular treatment (RET) followed by operation is indicated, for the II type RET is thought to be enough.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA): ringmaster of the genome.

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein is one of the central molecules responsible for decisions of life and death of the cell. The PCNA gene is induced by p53, while PCNA protein interacts with p53-controlled proteins Gadd45, MyD118, CR6 and, most importantly, p21, in the process of deciding cell fate. If PCNA protein is present in abundance in the cell in the absence of p53, DNA replication occurs. On the other hand, if PCNA protein levels are high in the cell in the presence of p53, DNA repair takes place. If PCNA is rendered non-functional or is absent or present in low quantities in the cell, apoptosis occurs. The evolution from prokaryotes to eukaryotes involved a change of function of PCNA from a 'simple' sliding clamp protein of the DNA polymerase complex to an executive molecule controlling critical cellular decision pathways. The evolution of multicellular organisms led to the development of multicellular processes such as differentiation, senescence and apoptosis. PCNA, already an essential molecule in the life of single cellular organisms, then became a protein critical for the survival of multicellular organisms.

[Isolation and specificity of novel restriction endonucleases Bsp40091 and AsiI, isoschizomers of BamHI]. / Vydelenie i opredelenie spetsifichnosti novykh éndonukleaz restriktsii Bsp40091 i AsiI izoshizomerov BamHI.

New type II restriction endonucleases AsiI and Bsp40091 are detected in Azotobacter species N55 and Bacillus species 4009, respectively. Purified preparations of the restriction enzymes free from interfering nucleases and phosphatases were obtained by column chromatography on phosphocellulose and heparin-sepharose (Asil) and phosphocellulose and DEAE-cellulose (Bsp40091). The yield of purified AsiI and Bsp40091 was 16 x 10(3) and 8 x 10(3) units per g of wet cells, respectively. The above restriction endonucleases recognize the 5'-G decreases GATCC-3' sequence on double-stranded DNA and cleave it as shown, thus being true isoschizomers of BamHI restriction endonuclease.

[Novel site-specific endonucleases from Brevibacterium species]. / Novye sait-spetsificheskie éndonukleazy Brevibacterium species.

New site-specific endonucleases BecAI and BecAII have been detected in Brevibacterium species A. Endonuclease BecAII free from contaminating nonspecific endonucleases, exonucleases, and phosphatases was isolated by column chromatography on phosphocellulose, heparin sepharose, and DNA cellulose. It recognizes and cleaves the 5'-GG decreases CC-3' sequence and is a true isoschizomer of HaeIII restriction enzyme. The other restriction endonuclease, BecAI, cleaves Ad2 DNA at least by 2 sites but not the DNA of phage lambda, T7, SV40, phiX174, and plasmides pBR322 and pUC19. The substrate specificity of BecAI indicates its appurtenance to the super rare restriction endonucleases.

Isolation and characterization of CspBI, a novel NotI isoschizomer from Corynebacterium species B recognizing 5'-GC/GGCCGC-3'.

Sixty-seven bacterial strains were surveyed for the presence of type II restriction endonucleases, especially concerning super-rare-cutting enzymes. Fourteen strains were found to contain specific enzymes. One of them CspBI from Corynebacterium species B was purified and characterized as an isoschizomer of NotI, which recognizes the palindromic octanucleotide sequence 5'-GC/GGCCGC-3' and cleaves at the position shown by the arrow. A comparison between the cleavage patterns on different DNAs, obtained with partially purified endonucleases from other detected producents including some strains of Corynebacterium, Cellulomonas and Rhizobium has shown that these enzymes do not belong to super-rare-cutting restriction endonucleases.

[Site-specific BcuAI endonuclease from Bacillus cereus A]. / Sait-spetsificheskaia éndonuleaza BcuAI iz Bacillus cereus A.

A new restriction endonuclease was isolated from the Bacillus cereus BKM B-814 by means of the cell disruption with ultrasonication, ammonium sulfate fractionation of the cell-free extract, and chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose to give about 1400 U of the enzyme per gram of cells. The enzyme revealed the maximum activity at 30-37 degrees C, pH 7.6-8.2, and 5-10 mM MgCl2 under a high ionic strength (50 mM Tris-HCl, 100 mM NaCl). The site-specific endonuclease BcuAI was found to recognize the 5' G decreases G(A/T)CC sequence in double-stranded DNA and cleave it as shown with the arrow, thus being a true isoschisomer of the AvaII restriction endonuclease.

[Bsp153AI and BspM39I--new isoschizomers of PvuII restriction enzyme]. / Bsp153AI i BspM39I--novye izoshizomery restriktazy PvuII.

New restriction endonucleases, Bsp153AI and BspM39I, were isolated from Bacillus species strains 153A and M39, respectively. The enzymes recognize and cleave the nucleotide sequence [sequence: see text] and are true isoschizomers of restriction endonuclease PvuII.

5' contexts of Escherichia coli and human termination codons are similar.

The nearest 5' context of 2559 human stop codons was analysed in comparison with the same context of stop-like codons (UGG, UGC, UGU, CGA for UGA; CAA, UAU, UAC for UAA; and UGG, UAU, UAC, CAG for UAG). The non-random distribution of some nucleotides upstream of the stop codons was observed. For instance, uridine is over-represented in position -3 upstream of UAG. Several codons were shown to be over-represented immediately upstream of the stop codons: UUU(Phe), AGC(Ser), and the Lys and Ala codon families before UGA; AAG(Lys), GCG(Ala), and the Ser and Leu codon families before UAA; and UCA(Ser), AUG(Met), and the Phe codon family before UAG. In contrast, the Thr and Gly codon families were under-represented before UGA, while ACC(Thr) and the Gly codon family were under-represented before UAG and UAA respectively. In an earlier study, uridine was shown to be over-represented in position -3 before UGA in Escherichia coli [Arkov,A.L., Korolev,S.V. and Kisselev,L.L. (1993) Nucleic Acids Res., 21,2891-2897]. In that study, the codons for Lys, Phe and Ser were shown to be over-represented immediately upstream of E. coli stop codons. Consequently, E. coli and human termination codons have similar 5' contexts. The present study suggests that the 5' context of stop codons may modulate the efficiency of peptide chain termination and (or) stop codon readthrough in higher eukaryotes, and that the mechanisms of such a modulation in prokaryotes and higher eukaryotes may be very similar.

[A prosegment of the yeast alpha-factor controls a heterologous protein (human growth factor) in Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture media]. / Prosegment drozhzhevogo alpha-faktora napravliaet geterolgichnyi belok (gormon rosta cheloveka) v kul'tural'nuiu sredu Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The role of the yeast pheromone prosegment--alpha-factor--in the export of the heterologous protein, the human growth hormone (hGH), in the culture medium of S. cerevisiae has been studied. Using genetic engineering constructions, it has been shown that different N-terminal signal peptides (SP) are not able to provide the hGH export. Transformant cells carrying the plasmid with a hybrid sequence encoding the prosegment-hGH (without SP) accumulate non-glycosylated pro-hGH in the cytosol. Only the combination of SP and the prosegment as the N-terminal fragment of the hGH precursor results in the processing and export of the mature form of the hormone. The origin (or type) of SP is of no significance. The glycosylation inhibitors--2-deoxy-D-glucose and tunicamycin--suppress the export but not the entry of hGH into the periplasm, thus indicating a critical role of the intactness of the prosegment polymannose chains for the efficient export of heterologous protein. A conclusion is drawn that the two preprosegment parts play different roles. The SP constituent of prepro-hGH introduces pro-GH into the general secretory pathway, while the prosegment resulting from the SP cleavage directs hGH from the cell into the culture medium.