Evaluation of Near Infrared Dyes as Markers of P-Glycoprotein Activity in Tumors.

The multidrug resistance protein 1 (MDR1; P-glycoprotein) has been associated with efflux of chemotherapeutic agents from tumor cells and with poor patient prognosis. This study evaluated the feasibility of non-invasive, non-radioactive near infrared (NIR) imaging methodology for detection of MDR1 functional activity in tumors. Initial accumulation assays were conducted in MDR1-overexpressing MDCK cells (MDCK-MDR1) and control MDCK cells (MDCK-CT) using the NIR dyes indocyanine green (ICG), IR-783, IR-775, rhodamine 800, XenoLight DiR, and Genhance 750, at 0.

Prevalence of depressive symptoms in pregnant and postnatal HIV-positive women in Ukraine: a cross-sectional survey.

Background: Perinatal depression among HIV-positive women has negative implications for HIV-related and other maternal and infant outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the burden and correlates of perinatal depression among HIV-positive women in Ukraine, a lower middle income country with one of the largest HIV-positive populations in Europe.

Methods: Cross-sectional surveys nested within the Ukraine European Collaborative Study were conducted of HIV-positive women at delivery and between 1 and 12 months postpartum.

Molecular Imaging of Membrane Transporters' Activity in Cancer: a Picture is Worth a Thousand Tubes.

Molecular imaging allows the non-invasive assessment of membrane transporter expression and function in living subjects. Such technologies have the potential to become diagnostic and prognostic tools, allowing detection, localization, and prediction of response of tumors and their metastases to therapy. Beyond tumors, imaging can also help understand the role of transporters in adverse drug effects and drug clearance.

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy during pregnancy and the first year postpartum among HIV-positive women in Ukraine.

Background: Poor adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is associated with HIV disease progression and, during pregnancy, increased mother-to-child transmission risk. In Ukraine, access to combination ART is expanding but data on adherence are scarce.

Methods: Cross-sectional surveys of HIV-positive women were conducted i) at delivery (on antenatal ART adherence) and ii) during the first year postpartum (on ART adherence in the preceding four weeks).

Impact of expanded access to combination antiretroviral therapy in pregnancy: results from a cohort study in Ukraine.

Objective: To investigate the scale-up of antenatal combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in Ukraine since this became part of the national policy for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).

Methods: Data on 3535 HIV-positive pregnant women who were enrolled into the Ukraine European Collaborative Study in 2008-2010 were analysed. Factors associated with receipt of zidovudine monotherapy (AZTm) - rather than cART - and rates of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV were investigated.

Characterization of novel CD55 isoforms expression in normal and neoplastic tissues.

CD55 (decay-accelerating factor, DAF) is overexpressed in several types of cancer, including colorectal cancer. Because of its inhibitory effect on the complement system, it has been suggested as a possible target for cancer immunotherapy. However, CD55 is also expressed in normal tissues, body fluids and stroma, limiting the use of anti-CD55 therapeutic antibodies.

High percentage of recent HIV infection leading to onward transmission in Odessa, Ukraine associated with young adults.

The proportion of new HIV diagnoses between May and December 2009 across Odessa recently-infected was estimated using the BED-CEIA assay. Logistic regression models were used to explore factors associated with testing as recent. Of 1,313 newly-diagnosed individuals, 321 (24 %) were classified as recent.

Evaluating the systems used to monitor HIV populations accessing therapy and care in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.

Objectives: The scale-up of delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low-income and middle-income countries has been coupled with the collection of data aimed at monitoring the welfare of the HIV-positive and treated populations in those countries. We aimed to compare the data items collected and reported and the degree of harmonization achieved following the publication of WHO tools for collection and reporting of these data in 2006, and of two United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) indicators relating to the health of patients on ART in 2008.

Design: Retrospective examination of monitoring tools used in four countries in 2008 and 2010.

Cervical screening within HIV care: findings from an HIV-positive cohort in Ukraine.

Introduction: HIV-positive women have an increased risk of invasive cervical cancer but cytologic screening is effective in reducing incidence. Little is known about cervical screening coverage or the prevalence of abnormal cytology among HIV-positive women in Ukraine, which has the most severe HIV epidemic in Europe.

Methods: Poisson regression models were fitted to data from 1120 women enrolled at three sites of the Ukraine Cohort Study of HIV-infected Childbearing Women to investigate factors associated with receiving cervical screening as part of HIV care.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus among pregnant women using injecting drugs in Ukraine, 2000-10.

Aims: To compare clinical status, mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) rates, use of prevention of (PMTCT) interventions and pregnancy outcomes between HIV-infected injecting drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs.

Design And Setting: Prospective cohort study conducted in seven human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) Centres in Ukraine, 2000-10.

Participants: Pregnant HIV-infected women, identified before/during pregnancy or intrapartum, and their live-born infants (n = 6200); 1028 women followed post-partum.

Treatment and disease progression in a birth cohort of vertically HIV-1 infected children in Ukraine.

Background: Ukraine has the highest HIV prevalence (1.6%) and is facing the fastest growing epidemic in Europe. Our objective was to describe the clinical, immunological and virological characteristics, treatment and response in vertically HIV-infected children living in Ukraine and followed from birth.

Factors associated with abandonment of infants born to HIV-positive women: results from a Ukrainian birth cohort.

Social marginalisation and other challenges facing HIV-positive pregnant women in Ukraine may put them at increased risk of relinquishing their infants to the state. We described rates of infant abandonment (exclusive non-parental care to most recent follow-up, censored at two years of age) and investigated associated factors using logistic regression models, in 4759 mother-infant pairs enrolled across six Ukrainian sites in the European Collaborative Study from 2000 to May 2009. Median maternal age was 26.

Previous reproductive history and post-natal family planning among HIV-infected women in Ukraine.

Background: Ukraine has the highest antenatal HIV prevalence in Europe. The national prevention of mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) programme has reduced the MTCT rate, but less attention has been given to the prevention of unintended pregnancy among HIV-positive women. Our objectives were to describe the reproductive health, condom use and family planning (FP) practices of HIV-positive childbearing Ukrainian women and to identify factors associated with different methods of post-natal contraception.

Progress in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection in Ukraine: results from a birth cohort study.

Background: Ukraine was the epicentre of the HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe, which has the most rapidly accelerating HIV epidemic world-wide today; national HIV prevalence is currently estimated at 1.6%. Our objective was to evaluate the uptake and effectiveness of interventions for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) over an eight year period within operational settings in Ukraine, within the context of an ongoing birth cohort study.

Hepatitis B or hepatitis C coinfection in HIV-infected pregnant women in Europe.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of and risk factors for hepatitis C or B virus (HCV or HBV) coinfection among HIV-infected pregnant women, and to investigate their immunological and virological characteristics and antiretroviral therapy use.

Methods: Information on HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) positivity and HCV antibody (anti-HCV) was collected retrospectively from the antenatal records of HIV-infected women enrolled in the European Collaborative Study and linked to prospectively collected data.

Results: Of 1050 women, 4.

Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in HIV-1 infected pregnant women in Europe.

We investigated prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in a cohort of HIV-1-infected pregnant women and described factors associated with STI diagnosis, as a nested study within the European Collaborative Study (ECS). The ECS is a cohort study in which HIV-infected pregnant women are enrolled and their children followed from birth, according to standard clinical and laboratory protocols. Information on STIs diagnosed during pregnancy was collected retrospectively from the antenatal records of women enrolling between January 1999 and October 2005; other variables were obtained from the ECS prospective database.

[Prophylaxis of venous thromboembolic complications in patients with hematological diseases after laparoscopic splenectomy].

In 8 patients, to whom laparoscopic splenectomy was performed, the measures for venous thromboembolic complications (VTHEC) prophylaxis were done. The expediency of application of low molecular weight heparin clecsan was substantiated, its advantages over non-fractionized heparin were depicted. Laparoscopic splenectomy permits to minimize the risk of the VTHEC occurrence in hematological practice.

[The pharmacokinetic determinants of the analgesic effect of benzofurocaine in patients with burns and wounds of the joints].

The non-narcotic analgetic benzofurocaine in intravenous administration at the dose level of 300 mg exerts an apparent analgesic effect in those patients with various pathogenetic mechanisms of the pain syndrome. The pharmacologic effect of the drug depends upon its blood plasma content. The character of the interrelationship is described by hysteresis curve suggesting the pharmacologic effect to be behind the time of building up of maximum blood drug concentration.