A Shigella flexneri 2a synthetic glycan-based vaccine induces a long-lasting immune response in adults.

Shigella is a leading cause of moderate to severe diarrhea worldwide and of diarrhea-associated deaths in children under 5 years of age in low-and middle-income countries. A vaccine against shigellosis is in high demand. SF2a-TT15, a synthetic carbohydrate-based conjugate vaccine candidate against Shigella flexneri 2a (SF2a) was found safe and strongly immunogenic in adult volunteers.

Pentraxin 3 and LPS and IpaB Antibodies Interplay to Defeat Shigellosis.

Shigella causes moderate to severe diarrhea or dysentery after invading the colon mucosa. Long Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is recognized as the humoral component of the innate immune response to bacterial pathogens. We examined the interplay between levels of PTX3 and levels of anti-Shigella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and anti-Shigella type 3 secretion system protein-IpaB antibodies in children during acute shigellosis and after recovery.

Safety and immunogenicity of a synthetic carbohydrate conjugate vaccine against Shigella flexneri 2a in healthy adult volunteers: a phase 1, dose-escalating, single-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled study.

Background: Shigella remains in the top four pathogens responsible for moderate to severe diarrhoea in children below 5 years of age. The shigella O-specific polysaccharide (O-SP) is a promising vaccine target. We developed a conjugate vaccine prototype incorporating a unique well defined synthetic oligosaccharide hapten, chemically designed for optimal antigenic, conformational, structural, and functional mimicry of the O-SP from Shigella flexneri 2a (SF2a).

Serum IgG antibodies to lipopolysaccharide antigens - a correlate of protection against shigellosis.

is a leading cause of diarrhea among children globally and of diarrheal deaths among children under 5 years of age in low- and middle-income countries. To date, no licensed vaccine exists. We review evidence that serum IgG antibodies to LPS represent a good correlate of protection against shigellosis; this could support the process of development and evaluation of vaccine candidates.

Plasmacytoid Dendritic cells (pDCs) in HIV-infected and HIV/HCV-co-infected patients receiving successful treatment.

Introduction: Depletion of cellular pool and constant activation of plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) in HIV-infected persons (HIV+) are associated with disease progression and manifestation of opportunistic infections. The influence of highly-active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) and suppressed HCV-co-infection (HIV+/HCV+) on the extent of these changes remains unknown.

Objective: To study parameters of pDCs in peripheral blood of HIV+ and HIV+/HCV+ patients on HAART.

[Viral and drug-induced liver damage in children with tuberculosis: prevalence, clinical features].

Unlabelled: THE AIM OF THE RESEARCH: Improving the effectiveness of diagnostics and treatment of viral and drug-induced lesions of the liver (DILL) at a tuberculosis in children by identifying the frequency of their distribution, peculiarities of diagnostics and clinics.

Materials And Methods: We examined 242 children in the age from 2 months to 17 years, the patients with different forms of tuberculosis.

Results: The prevalence of hepatitis in children with tuberculosis: B - 1,2%, C-0.

[Peripheral blood lymphocyte apoptosis in children with viral hepatites A, B, C and effect of ursodeoxycholic acid preparations].

Apoptosis plays an important role in the pathogenesis of viral hepatitis (VH), affecting not only hepatocytes but also immune cells. However, the occurrence of apoptosis in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) during the course of VH in children has not been described. The aim of this study was to measure the level of PBL apoptosis during VH in children, and to test its possible correction by ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA).

Regional and developmental variations of blood vessel morphometry in the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane.

Avian eggs contain all the necessary materials for embryonic development except for oxygen, which diffuses in from the environment via pores in the hard, calcified eggshell to the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM), the respiratory organ, which is rich in blood vessels. An air cell is formed at the blunt pole of the egg between the two membranes of the eggshell and enlarges during incubation due to water vapor loss. In this study of the CAM of chicken eggs, we compared blood vessel numerical density [N(A(v))], area fraction of blood vessels [A(A(v))], CAM thickness (D(CAM)), total length of blood vessels (L) and surface area of the CAM attached to the eggshell (CAMre) with those under the air cell (CAMac) during incubation.

[Heptral potentialities in the treatment of hepatic damage in children with malignant blood disease].

Aim: To assess benefit for children with malignant blood disease (MBD) of the hepatoprotector heptral.

Materials And Methods: 67 children with blood malignancy aged 3-14 years were examined (53 of them had acute lymphoblastic leukemia). 39 patients were in the study group (25 of them had hepatitis B or C), 28 were controls.

[An unusual course of viral hepatitis A in children].

To determine the present-day specific clinical features of viral hepatitis A (HA) in children, observation on 447 children aged 1 year and 10 months to 14 years with verified HA monoinfection was carried out. At the season of 1993 essential differences were observed in the clinical picture of HA: the disease took a more severe course with the prevalence of medium-severe (59.3%) and severe (3.

[Viral hepatitis markers in saliva specimens from patients with acute hepatitis A, B and C].

Anti-HVA IgM, HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM, anti-HVC were determined in the blood sera and saliva specimens obtained from patients with acute hepatitis A, B, C (HA, HB, HC) and from healthy persons of the control group. 37 HA patients, 27 HB patients and 24 HC patients, observed in the dynamics of the disease (for a period of 1 month and longer from the appearance of manifestations of the disease), as well as 30 practically healthy persons (the control group) were examined. Anti-HVA IgM could be found in saliva specimens taken from the HA patients 100% of cases, but could not be found in saliva specimens from the persons of the control group and HB patients.

[HB viral infection in kidney diseases in children].

A total of 142 children aged 2-15 years with different nephropathies, among them 94 children with glomerulonephritis (GN), 26 children with pyelonephritis and 22 children with oxalate nephropathy, were examined. The diagnosis was histologically confirmed in 36 children. Mesangial proliferative GN was detected in 22 patients and membrane proliferative GN, in 14 children.

[The incidence of detecting HB viral infection in the families of patients with kidney diseases].

A total of 33 families were surveyed with a view to determine the presence of viral hepatitis B markers in persons with diagnosed renal diseases. In all patients markers of hepatitis B virus infection (HBsAg, anti-HBs antibodies, anti-HBc total and IgM antibodies) were determined in the enzyme immunoassay. Those families in which examinees with renal pathology were found to have markers of hepatitis B virus infection exhibited a high level of contamination with hepatitis B virus.

[Effectiveness of using recombinant interferon alfa2 (reaferon) combined with antioxidants in children with acute hepatitis B].

The authors describe the results of the first experience gained with the use of recombinant alpha 2-interferon in children with acute viral hepatitis B. The drug was administered rectally in combination with antioxidants (tocopherol). The study was carried out by the double blind method with randomization and two control groups (given tocopherol alone or placebo alone).

[The results of a controlled field trial of a dried erythrocytic immunoglobulin diagnostic agent for detecting the hepatitis A virus antigen].

The results of the controlled field trial of lyophilized erythrocytic immunoglobulin diagnosticum for the detection of hepatitis A virus antigen in the urine and feces of patients are presented. This diagnosticum was used for the study of urine and fecal samples from 225 patients (of these, 176 had hepatitis A) and 54 healthy persons in the passive hemagglutination (PHA) test. Their blood sera were studied in the PHA test (to detect HBsAg) and the radioimmunoassay (to detect anti-HAV IgM).

[Presence of markers of hepatitis B in patients with nephrotic syndrome].

The purpose of the present work was to study the rate of HB viral infection from the standpoint of its pathogenetic importance in children with the nephrotic syndrome (NS). As many as 71 children aged 2 to 15 years with the NS were examined. 23 children with hematuric glomerulonephritic (GN) served as control.

[Functional-metabolic activity of the mononuclear phagocyte system of the blood, liver, spleen and skin in children with hepatitis B].

A total of 102 children aged 5 to 14 years with virus hepatitis B were examined for the status of the mononuclear phagocytic system in accordance with the absolute monocyte count in the circulating blood, esterase and acid phosphatase activity in the monocytes, for function of organ macrophages of the liver and spleen using dynamic scintigraphy with TC-colloid and for macrophages of the skin by the "skin window" method. The rise of the absolute count and lowering of the functional and metabolic activity of blood monocytes were directly proportional to the gravity of virus hepatitis B. The changes persisted for a long time, namely up to 1.

[Evaluation of the activity of liver and spleen macrophages in children with hepatitis A and B].

To form a judgement about function of liver and spleen macrophages (MP) in vivo, use was made of dynamic scintigraphy with Tc-colloid. Sixty-seven children aged 5 to 14 years were examined. Of these, 45 children were afflicted with virus hepatitis B (VHB), 16 with virus hepatitis A (VHA), and 6 children had VHA associated with asymptomatic HBsAg carriership.

[Viral hepatitis A and B as a mixed infection in children].

Serological examinations of 1,200 children, hospitalized at the viral hepatitis department over a year, for the presence of hepatitis A (HA) and hepatitis B (HB) markers have revealed a 7% incidence rate of mixed HA and HB infections. Three variants of mixed infection have been established (true mixed infection, HA combined with asymptomatic HBsAg carriership, cross superinfection) and the relative significance of each of them has been determined. Mixed infection took an unfavorable course with a tendency to the prolongation of the pathological process eventuating in chronic hepatitis, especially in cases of true mixed infections (15.

[Etiologic structure of viral hepatitis in children based on data from an comprehensive serologic study of hospitalized patients].

During a year an overall serological examination of 1,200 children hospitalized with the diagnosis of viral hepatitis was carried out with a view to establish the presence of hepatitis A and hepatitis B markers (anti-HAV IgM, HBsAg, anti-HBs, anti-HBc and anti-HBe IgM) by means of the enzyme immunoassay and radioimmunoassay. The average annual proportion of cases of hepatitis A (61.4%), hepatitis B (20.