[Molecular-genetic characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with tuberculous spondylitis].

Aim: Molecular-genetic characteristic of M. tuberculosis strains isolated from operation material of patients with tuberculous spondylitis.

Materials And Methods: 107 strains of M.

[The genome polymorphism of the Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis strains].

The non-tuberculosis mycobacteria Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis (MAH) are able to cause human mycobacteriosis. In this work, the results of the first comprehensive study of the genome polymorphism of the clinical strains of MAH were reported using the typing scheme by 13 loci MATR-VNTR (TR292, TRX3, TR25, TR47, MATR-1, MATR-4, MATR-5, MATR-6, MATR-8, MATR-11, MATR-14, MATR-15, MATR-16) containing tandem nucleotide sites and IS1245-RFLP-typing sites.

[The identification of viruses of human papilloma of high carcinogenic risk and evaluation of physical status of viral DNA using technique of polymerase-chain reaction under affection of cervical epithelium].

The DNA of virus of human papilloma of high carcinogenic risk was detected in 116 cervical samples. At that, the morphological symptoms of background processes are detected in 19 samples, CIN 1 in 9, CIN 2 in 23, CIN 3 in 54 (and out of them carcinoma in situ in 13), epidermoid cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) in 11 cases. The viral load of human papilloma of high carcinogenic risk in all samples of DNA exceeded threshold of clinical value (3 lg copies of DNA of human papilloma/105 cells).

[Activity of proliferative and apoptotic processes in the integration of human papillomavirus type 16 DNA into the cervical epithelium].

Sixty 60 human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16-positive cervical epithelium biopsy specimens were studied by cytological, histological, immunomorphological, and PCR assays. No correlation was found between proliferation markers and the degree of integration of HPV 16 DNA integration into the cell genome. The number of cells with Ki-67 expression, mitoses, and their alteration was related to the grade of epithelial lesion.

[Genotypic characteristics of Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis strains].

Mycobacterium avium are typical environmental, non-tuberculosis microorganisms that occasionally cause mycotuberculosis, an infectious disease in wild and domestic animals, birds, and humans. Here, we report the results of the first study on the genetic diversity of the Russian population of M. avium.

[Characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains circulating in Pskov region].

Aim: Characteristics of drug resistance (DR) and population structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Pskov region.

Materials And Methods: In 90 strains of M. tuberculosis drug resistance was studied by culture method and by using "TB-BIOCHIP"; genotyping was determined by spoligotyping method.

[Biodiversity and evolution of circulating bacteria and virus populations. Novel problems of medical microbiology].

Biodiversity and evolution of circulating bacteria and virus populations is a serious scientific problem, solving this problem is necessary for effective prophylaxis of infectious diseases. Principal trends of development in this field of science are described. Results of studies that were carried out and investigated biodiversity of principal pathogens in Russia and St.

[Genotyping and molecular marking of bacteria and viruses in epidemiological surveillance of actual infections].

Aim: Determination of genetic and molecular features of pathogens circulating in Russia, in the northwest of the country and in St. Petersburg to resolve the problems of spread of diseases caused by these pathogens.

Materials And Methods: Complete and limited gene sequencing, DNA restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis, spoligotyping, VNTR-typing, resistotyping and other methods were used.

[Molecular genetic tools for etiologic diagnostics of disseminated lung tuberculosis].

Aim: Improvement of etiologic diagnostics of disseminated lung tuberculosis (DLT) and determination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) drug susceptibility on the basis of molecular genetic methods.

Materials And Methods: Samples from respiratory tract of patients with DLT were studied using real time polymerase chain reaction and the "TB-BIOCHIP" assay developed by Institute of Molecular Biology. Methods of spoligotyping and reverse hybridization were used for identification, genotyping and express-detection of drug resistance of MBT to rifampicin in sputum samples stained for bacterioscopy.

[Cytological criteria for human hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and hepatic cirrhosis].

Trepan biopsy specimens were studied in 12 patients with hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and in 22 patients with hepatic cirrhosis. Blood antibodies to hepatitis C virus (HCV) or HBsAg were detected in 50% of the patients with hepatic cirrhosis-cancer and in 18.1% of those with hepatic cirrhosis.

[Drug sensitivity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis versus its viability, cytotoxicity, genotype, and the course of the process in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis].

The authors studied drug sensitivity, mutations in the katG, in-hA, alpC, rpoB genes, virulence via the cytotoxicity test on THP-1 cells, and the viability and genetic affiliation of 53 clinical M. tuberculosis isolates versus data on the form and dynamics of a process. Sensitive and resistant strains did not significantly differ in viability and cytotoxicity.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex genetic diversity: mining the fourth international spoligotyping database (SpolDB4) for classification, population genetics and epidemiology.

Background: The Direct Repeat locus of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) is a member of the CRISPR (Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) sequences family. Spoligotyping is the widely used PCR-based reverse-hybridization blotting technique that assays the genetic diversity of this locus and is useful both for clinical laboratory, molecular epidemiology, evolutionary and population genetics. It is easy, robust, cheap, and produces highly diverse portable numerical results, as the result of the combination of (1) Unique Events Polymorphism (UEP) (2) Insertion-Sequence-mediated genetic recombination.

[Today's tuberculosis: the specific features of its pathogen, clinical picture, and treatment].

Clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) strains (their genotype, drug resistance, and virulence) and the characteristics of their caused processes were studied. More than a half the studied MBT isolates belonged to the genetic family Beijing. As compared with mycobacteria of individual genotypes, they showed a significantly higher rate of multidrug resistance, polyresistance, and a high virulescence and caused more common and frequently progressive pulmonary lesions requiring the use of large-dose isoniazid and second-line drugs and early surgical treatment.

[Differentiation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis W-Beijing family strains from the Russian Federation by the VNTR-typing].

Recent phylogenetic studies allowed the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex to be divided into a number of the strain families. The W-Beijing family is one of most widespread M. tuberculosis variants frequently causing epidemic outbreaks.

[Bacteriological diagnosis of mycobacteriosis: possibilities and prospects].

The results of identification of Mycobacterium non-tuberculosis isolated in the North-West Region of the Russian Federation, which have been obtained in the past 20 years, are presented. The identification was made by bacteriological and biochemical studies. M.

[Microbiological and molecular genetic characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with multiorgan and generalized tuberculosis].

The paper presents the microbiological and molecular genetic characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) isolated from multiple lesion foci in 26 patients with multiorgan and generalized tuberculosis. Cultures of MBT of the family Beijing were isolated from the pathological specimens taken from 17 (65.4%) patients; those with individual genotypes were in 9 (34.

[Pulmonary tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis of different genotypes].

A relationship of the clinical picture of destructive pulmonary tuberculosis to the genotype, drug resistance, and virulence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) strains was studied. As compared with the processes induced by individual genotypes, pulmonary tuberculosis caused by MBT from the family Beijing was found to be characterized by more marked clinical symptoms, multisegmental lung tissue lesions with multiple decay cavities, by low bacteriostatic blood activity, abundant bacterial isolation, and progression. MBT of the Beijing genotype were characterized by higher rates of resistance to antituberculous drugs and their combinations than were the strains of individual genotypes; they have a high virulence, which is likely to enhance their transmissibility and to determine the poor course of a specific process.

[Virulence of Mycobacteria tuberculosis].

The virulence of 43 Mycobacteria tuberculosis strains isolated from 21 patients with new cases of pulmonary tuberculosis and from 20 patients with chronic destructive pulmonary tuberculosis (CDPT) was studied in non-inbred albino mice. Twenty four (56%) and 19 (44%) M. tuberculosis strains belonged to the Beijing and individual genotypes, respectively.

[Sensitivity to levofloxacin of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains with various phenotype isolated from patients with newly diagnosed and chronic tuberculosis].

Susceptibility to levofloxacin of 56 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, isolated from 22 patients with first estimated and 84 patients with chronic tuberculosis was investigated. Ratio of multi-drug resistance achieved 54.5 per cent in first group and 94.

[Characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains prevalent in North-West of Russia by spoligotyping].

Spoligotyping was used for genotyping of 238 M. tuberculosis cultures isolated from 302 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis living in the north-west of Russia, including those in Saint Petersburg, in 1998-2001, and the M. tuberculosis strains H37Rv, M.

[Molecular genetic characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients operated on for pulmonary tuberculosis].

The RFLP-IS6110 assay was used to genotype 67 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from different specimens (including intraoperative ones) of 24 patients operated on for chronic progressive pulmonary tuberculosis who lived in north-western Russia. More than half (53%) of 17 types of RFLP profiles of isolates are identical and typical of M. tuberculosis of the Beijing family.

[Genetic marking of polyresistant mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in the north-west of Russia].

RFLP analysis using a IS6110 probe was used to genetically marked polyresistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis in the north-west of Russia in 1996-1997. Two groups of genetically closely related, but epidemiologically unrelated strains of different territorial origin were identified. The epidemiological value of and the origin of genetically identified and related strains are discussed.

[Genotyping of Shigella flexneri 2a strains isolated from patients with acute dysentery in St. Petersburg].

Polymerase chain reaction with universal primers (UP-PCR) was used for the genotyping of 76 S.flexneri 2a cultures isolated from patients with acute dysentery in infectious and psychoneurological hospitals of St. Petersburg.

[The genetic typing of Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains by the polymerase chain reaction with universal primers].

The use of polymerase chain reaction (UP-PCR with universal primers for the genetic typing of 85 C. diphtheriae strains, isolated from patients and carriers at the period of the epidemic, has shown that a single natural clone of biovar gravis seems to prevail in North Western Russia. UP-PCR is an effective too for the rapid intraspecific typing of strains on the molecular-genetic level and for the study of the circulation of C.

Heterogeneity of diphtheria toxin gene, tox, and its regulatory element, dtxR, in Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains causing epidemic diphtheria in Russia and Ukraine.

Diphtheria toxin (tox) and its regulatory element (dtxR) from 72 Corynebacterium diphtheriae strains isolated in Russia and Ukraine before and during the current diphtheria epidemic were studied by PCR-single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis (PCR-SSCP). Twelve sets of primers were constructed (eight for tox and four for dtxR), and three regions within tox and all four regions of dtxR showed significant variations in the number and/or sizes of the amplicons. Two to four different SSCP patterns were identified in each of the variable regions; subsequently, tox and dtxR could be classified into 6 and 12 different types, respectively.