[Glaucoma dynamics in patients who followed monitoring and treatment instructions and in those who didn't].

Clinical course of different stages of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is studied in 216 patients (432 eyes) who followed monitoring and treatment instructions during 13 years and in those who didn't. In patients who did not follow recommendations glaucoma progression was found in 99,4% of patients with initial disease, in 48,7% of cases with advanced stage and in 50% of patients with the end stage of the disease. Patients who followed recommendations of general ophthalmologists and glaucomatologists showed stable course of glaucoma process in 1 patient (0,6%) with initial stage, in 51,3% of patients with advanced stage and in 50% of patients with the end stage of the disease.

Genomic analysis of "Elusimicrobium minutum," the first cultivated representative of the phylum "Elusimicrobia" (formerly termite group 1).

Organisms of the candidate phylum termite group 1 (TG1) are regularly encountered in termite hindguts but are present also in many other habitats. Here, we report the complete genome sequence (1.64 Mbp) of "Elusimicrobium minutum" strain Pei191(T), the first cultured representative of the TG1 phylum. We reconstructed the metabolism of this strictly anaerobic bacterium isolated from a beetle larva gut, and we discuss the findings in light of physiological data. E. minutum has all genes required for uptake and fermentation of sugars via the Embden-Meyerhof pathway, including several hydrogenases, and an unusual peptide degradation pathway comprising transamination reactions and leading to the formation of alanine, which is excreted in substantial amounts. The presence of genes encoding lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis and the presence of a pathway for peptidoglycan formation are consistent with ultrastructural evidence of a gram-negative cell envelope. Even though electron micrographs showed no cell appendages, the genome encodes many genes putatively involved in pilus assembly. We assigned some to a type II secretion system, but the function of 60 pilE-like genes remains unknown. Numerous genes with hypothetical functions, e.g., polyketide synthesis, nonribosomal peptide synthesis, antibiotic transport, and oxygen stress protection, indicate the presence of hitherto undiscovered physiological traits. Comparative analysis of 22 concatenated single-copy marker genes corroborated the status of "Elusimicrobia" (formerly TG1) as a separate phylum in the bacterial domain, which was so far based only on 16S rRNA sequence analysis.

[Condition of ocular blood supply in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma with normal pressure]. / Sostoianie krovosnabzheniia glaz u bol'nykh pervichnoi otkrytougol'noi glaukomoi s normal'nym davleniem.

The condition of discharge of intraocular fluid (IOF), the value of systemic arterial pressure (AP), the condition of mean dynamic arterial pressure in the ocular artery (Pm.ophth.) an the perfusion ocular pressure (Pperf.) were examined in patients with normal pressure glaucoma (NPG). A decrease in the IOF discharge from 0.16 +/- 0.02 cu mm per 1 mm Hg at the NPG initial stage to 0.11 +/- 0.01 cu mm per 1 mm Hg at the NPG deteriorated stage was established. The value of decrease of the systemic AP within an interval of 100 to 116 mm Hg is observed in patients with NPG by 6.9 times more often as compared to the controls (in 42.2% and 6.1% of cases, respectively). A reliable reduction of Pm.ophth. by 4.0 mm Hg and of Pperf.--by 4.9 mm Hg was found in patients with NPG as compared with Pm.ophth. and Pperf. in the controls with the same systemic AP values; the deficit of the ocular volumetric blood flow reached 10.9%. The treatment of NPG patients must be related with improving the IOF discharge, with reducing the genuine intraocular pressure (Po) to a tolerable level, and with increasing the systemic AP, Pm.ophth. and Pperf. to the mean statistically normal level.

[Arterial pressure in the orbital artery and eye perfusion in patients with different stages of primary open-angle glaucoma]. / Arterial'noe davlenie v glaznichnoi arterii i perfuziia glaza u bol'nykh s razlichnymi stadiiami pervichnoi otkrytougol'noi glaukomy.

A total of 902 patients aged 40-82 years (1804 eyes) with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) with different stages of the disease and different intraocular pressure (IOP) and systemic arterial pressure (AP) 105-170 mm Hg were examined. Control group consisted of 340 age-matched normal subjects (680 eyes) with the same values of AP. Systemic AP affected the mean dynamic and perfusion pressure (Pm.ophth. and Pperf.) in both normal subjects and patients with POAG. In addition, both parameters in POAG patients depended on IOP and duration of the glaucomatous process. An increase of IOP was paralleled by a compensatory increase of Pm.ophth., but the higher IOP (an increase within the b-c interval), the less pronounced the increase of Pm.ophth., particularly in patients with well-developed and advanced stages. A progressive decrease of Pperf. was observed, which was related to high IOP and duration of the glaucomatous process.

Organization and functional analysis of the mouse transporter associated with antigen processing 2 promoter.

In accordance with the key role of MHC class I molecules in the adaptive immune response against viruses, they are expressed by most cells, and their expression can be enhanced by cytokines. The assembly and cell surface expression of class I complexes depend on a continuous peptide supply. The peptides are generated mainly by the proteasome and are transported to the endoplasmic reticulum by a peptide transport pump consisting of two subunits, TAP1 and TAP2. The proteasome low molecular weight polypeptide (2 and 7), as well as TAP (1 and 2) genes, are coordinately regulated and are induced by IFNs. Despite this coordinate regulation, examination of tumors shows that these genes can be discordantly down-regulated. In pursuing a molecular explanation for these observations, we have characterized the mouse TAP2 promoter region and 5'-flanking sequence. We show that the 5' untranslated regions of TAP2 genes have a characteristic genomic organization that is conserved in both the mouse and the human. The mouse TAP2 promoter belongs to a class of promoters that lack TATA boxes but contain a MED1 (multiple start site element downstream) sequence. Accordingly, transcription is initiated from multiple sites within a 100-nucleotide window. An IFN regulatory factor 1 (IRF1)/IRF2 binding site is located in this region and is involved in both basal and IRF1-induced TAP2 promoter activity. The implication of the extensive differences found among the promoters of class I heavy chain, low molecular weight polypeptide, and TAP genes, all encoding proteins involved in Ag presentation, is discussed.

Consistency analysis of similarity between multiple alignments: prediction of protein function and fold structure from analysis of local sequence motifs.

A new method to analyze the similarity between multiply aligned protein motifs (blocks) was developed. It identifies sets of consistently aligned blocks. These are found to be protein regions of similar function and structure that appear in different contexts. For example, the Rossmann fold ligand-binding region is found similar to TIM barrel and methylase regions, various protein families are predicted to have a TIM-barrel fold and the structural relation between the ClpP protease and crotonase folds is identified from their sequence. Besides identifying local structure features, sequence similarity across short sequence-regions (less than 20 amino acid regions) also predicts structure similarity of whole domains (folds) a few hundred amino acid residues long. Most of these relations could not be identified by other advanced sequence-to-sequence or sequence-to-multiple alignments comparisons. We describe the method (termed CYRCA), present examples of our findings, and discuss their implications.

[Status of blood supply to the eye in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma depending on the value of systemic arterial pressure and level of ophthalmic tone]. / Sostoianie krovosnabzheniia glaz u bol'nykh pervichnoi otkrytougol'noi glaukomoi v zavisimosti ot velichiny sistemnogo arterial'nogo davleniia i urovnia oftal'motonusa.

Blood supply to the eye was studied in 756 patients aged 40-82 years (1339 eyes) with primary open-angle glaucoma, systemic arterial pressure (AP) 105-170 mm Hg, and various level of intraocular pressure (IOP). Control group consisted of 340 healthy subjects (680 eyes) aged 28-80 years without ophthalmic diseases with the same AP values. Blood supply values in the controls were taken for the norm. They were in high correlation with systemic AP. Ocular blood supply in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma depends on systemic AP and IOP, particularly perfusion pressure (Pperf) which decreases by 3.1 mm Hg in patients with systemic AP of 126-139 mm Hg and moderately (from normal to moderate) increased IOP. If IOP increases in the interval from moderate to high in patients with the same AP, Pperf drops by 12.5 mm Hg. Pperf values indicate deterioration of ocular blood supply in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and different levels of IOP.

A system of two polymerases--a model for the origin of life.

What was the first living molecule--RNA or protein? This question embodies the major disagreement in studies on the origin of life. The fact that in contemporary cells RNA polymerase is a protein and peptidyl transferase consists of RNA suggests the existence of a mutual catalytic dependence between these two kinds of biopolymers. I suggest that this dependence is a 'frozen accident', a remnant from the first living system. This system is proposed to be a combination of an RNA molecule capable of catalyzing amino acid polymerization and the resulting protein functioning as an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. The specificity of the protein synthesis is thought to be achieved by the composition of the surrounding medium and the specificity of the RNA synthesis--by Watson-Crick base pairing. Despite its apparent simplicity, the system possesses a great potential to evolve into a primitive ribosome and further to life, as it is seen today. This model provides a possible explanation for the origin of the interaction between nucleic acids and protein. Based on the suggested system, I propose a new definition of life as a system of nucleic acid and protein polymerases with a constant supply of monomers, energy and protection.

[Ophthalmodynamography in studies of ocular hemodynamics in normal subjects of different age with different arterial pressure]. / Oftal'modinamografiia v izuchenii gemodinamiki glaz u zdorovykh lits v zavisimosti ot vozrasta i urovnia arterial'nogo davleniia.

Computer-aided ophthalmodynamographer for studies of hemodynamics in the orbital artery has been elaborated at research and production firm All-Russian Institute of Medical Engineering--Optimed. A total of 292 healthy subjects (542 eyes) aged 28-77 years with systolic pressure 100-170 mm Hg were examined. Main hemodynamic parameters in the orbital artery were determined: systolic, diastolic, mean ophthalmic, perfusion pressure, and systolic increment in pulse volume. Ocular hemodynamic parameters, except systolic increment in pulse volume, directly depend on systemic arterial pressure but not on age. Normal parameters of systolic, diastolic, mean ophthalmic, and perfusion pressure in the orbital artery at certain levels of systemic arterial pressure were determined.

[The dynamics of the glaucoma process based on data from prolonged ambulatory care of patients]. / Dinamika glaukomnogo protsessa po dannym dlitel'noi dispanserizatsii bol'nykh.

On the basis of a prolonged dispensary observation (from 14 to 27 years) over 107 patients, the authors have studied timeliness of therapeutic and surgical treatment, dynamics of glaucomatous process after 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21-27 years. In the beginning of the observation, initial and advanced stages (88.5%) with a moderate rise of intraocular pressure (69%) prevailed. With prolongation of observation, initial stages regularly turn into subsequent ones, sometimes in the presence of normal values of intraocular pressure. Stabilization of glaucomatous process was most frequently observed in patients who had underwent regular complex medicamentous therapy and timely surgical treatment. Glaucoma of stage I most frequently turns into more advanced stages with decreased visual functions within first three years. Therefore, it is in this period when patients should be subjected to thorough dispensary observation, timely refer to in-patient's treatment, and the question about surgical treatment be decided in early terms.