Molecular characteristics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug-resistant isolates from HIV- and HIV+ tuberculosis patients in Russia.

Background: High burden of drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis (TB) is a significant threat to national TB control programs all over the world and in the Russian Federation. Different Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) genotypes are hypothesized to have specific characteristics affecting TB control programs. For example, Beijing strains are supposed to have higher mutation rates compared to strains of other genotypes and subsequently higher capability to develop drug-resistance.

Isolation, characterization, and ecotoxicological application of marine mammal skin fibroblast cultures.

Marine mammal cell cultures are a multifunctional instrument for acquiring knowledge about life in the world's oceans in physiological, biochemical, genetic, and ecotoxicological aspects. We succeeded in isolation, cultivation, and characterization of skin fibroblast cultures from five marine mammal species. The cells of the spotted seal (Phoca largha), the sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), and the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) are unpretentious to the isolation procedure.

Construction and analysis of the transcription factor-microRNA co-regulatory network response to : a view from the blood.

() infection has been regional outbreak, recently. The traditional focus on the patterns of "reductionism" which was associated with single molecular changes has been unable to meet the demand of early diagnosis and clinical application when current tuberculosis infection happened. In this study, we employed a systems biology approach to collect large microarray data sets including mRNAs and microRNAs (miRNAs) to identify the differentially expressed mRNAs and miRNAs in the whole blood of TB patients.

Tuberculosis in Russia. Its history and its status today.

The history of the Russian tuberculosis (TB) program, dating from the second part of the 19th century until today, is presented, and its achievements and failures are analyzed. The epidemiology of TB is described, and the effects of the TB program initiatives are described and analyzed. Multidrug-resistant TB and HIV coinfection represent severe threats to TB control effectiveness in Russia.

[The effectiveness of BACTEC MGIT 960 system hit analysis of surgery material of patients with tubercular spondylitis].

The article considers the comparison of effectiveness of cultivation of 290 surgery samples from focus of destruction in patients with tubercular spondylitis in liquid medium Middlebrook 7119 with fluorescent detection of growth and two dense egg medium -Levenschtein-Yensen and Finn-II. The sensitivity of methods of inoculation in liquid medium Middlebrook 7H9 and in dense egg mediums has no difference (38.2% and 43.

[Equipping the bacteriological laboratories of a tuberculosis service as the most important element of assurance of the quality and safety of their work].

By taking into account the present requirements for the equipping of the laboratories, the authors have drawn up the minimum standard list of equipment, as well as a list of additional equipment for the specialized bacteriological laboratory of a tuberculosis-controlling institution, which performs microbiological studies for the diagnosis and control of chemotherapy for tuberculosis. The specifications and characteristics of the baric types of equipment used to fit out the laboratories under the present conditions are described. Equipping the laboratories in accordance with the draw-up lists is shown to ensure a qualitative, effective, and safe work.

Results of the external quality assessment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility testing in Russia, 2005-2007.

Setting: External quality assessment (EQA) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility testing (DST) in bacteriological tuberculosis (TB) laboratories in the Russian Federation.

Objective: To improve the EQA of DST of first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs using proficiency testing in the Russian Federation.

Method: Three rounds of DST proficiency testing using Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates provided by the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, a World Health Organization Supranational Reference Laboratory (SRL).

[Polymerase chain reaction to determine and control drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains].

Real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to develop a one-stage procedure for molecular genetic analysis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) DNA in order to determine mutations associated with drug resistance to the antituberculous agents: isoniazid and rifampicin. To analyze the spread of drug-resistance of the causative agent of tuberculosis in Russia, two thousand MBT strains were studied in 24 regions of all the federal districts. Testing 1406 MBT strains isolated by first detected and untreated patients revealed multidrug resistance (MDR) in 21.

[Ways of enhancing the effectiveness of bacterioscopic diagnosis of tuberculosis in general health care facilities in case of pilot areas of Russia].

The experience of researchers of the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, in the pilot areas of Russia has made it possible to perfect approaches to improving a bacteriological diagnosis of tuberculosis in general health care facilities. A decisive role in enhancing the effectiveness of detection of patients with tuberculosis by the Ziel-Nielsen test is played by the following factors: training of laboratory personnel; provision of laboratories with high-grade equipment and reagents; introduction of the methods and techniques unified and approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation; regular supervision of jurisdictional laboratories; outside control of the quality of studies. Proper organization of examination of patients, including an effectual selection of patients to be examined, the observance of the established frequency of their examination, and provision of the required quality of a taken sample greatly affect the efficiency of a microscopic diagnosis of bacillary patients.

Encouraging outcomes in the first year of a TB control demonstration program: Orel Oblast, Russia.

Setting: Orel, Russia.

Objective: To evaluate outcomes of tuberculosis (TB) patients treated in the first year of a TB control demonstration project using a revised strategy of directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS). Standard methods recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) were adapted to include mycobacterial cultures.

[Analyzing the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Russia's experimental areas introducing the WHO tuberculosis control programme].

The authentic data on the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be obtained only provided that standard laboratory procedures and the unified standardized method for determining the resistance are used along with a compulsory outside quality control over the performance of this test. The supervisory activities of the researchers of the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis (CRIT), Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, made in some regions of Russia included standardization of methods and their implementation quality control allowed them to reveal and to correct main errors in drug resistance testing. In this connection, this made it to record the true level of M.

[Organizational and methodological approaches to improving the microbiological diagnosis of tuberculosis in Russia].

The practice of the researchers of the Central Research Institute of Tuberculosis in Russia's experimental areas yielded approaches to improving the microbiological diagnosis of tuberculosis in both specialized and general health care facilities. A decisive role in enhancing the efficiency of microbiological identification of patients with tuberculosis is played by the following factors: laboratory staff training, provision of laboratories with qualitative equipment and reagents, introduction of unified methods and those approved by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, regular supervision of jurisdictional laboratories, and outside test quality control. The efficiency of microbiological diagnosis of bacillary patients primarily depends on the expediency of formation of groups of patients under study, the observance of the frequency of examinations, and the assurance of the quality of collected materials.

Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in community and prison patients, Orel Oblast, Russian Federation.

Setting: Orel Oblast, Russian Federation.

Objectives: To determine baseline levels of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in Orel Oblast.

Design: Drug susceptibility testing (DST) records from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2000 for patients with sputum acid-fast bacilli smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis were reviewed.

TNF alpha-induced aerobic synthesis of ATP on plasma membranes of target cells. The relation to the expression of the nuclear oncogene c-myc.

The accumulation of ATP by preparations of plasma membranes enriched particles (PMEP) isolated from rat hepatocytes, murine splenocytes and human T-lymphocytes has been investigated after the binding of human and murine tumour necrosis factors (TNF alpha) to their specific receptors. The TNF alpha-induced expression of the nuclear oncogene c-myc in intact hepatocytes has been also studied. TNF alpha induced the marked biosynthesis of ATP on PMEP of hepatocytes and splenocytes within the first minute of incubation.

[L-arabinose control of the formation of heliomycin complex synthesized by Streptomyces olivocinereus].

The unfavourable effect of arabinose on biosynthesis of heliomycin resembled by its outer appearance the "glucose effect", a well known phenomenon relevant to glucose inhibition of the synthesis of catabolic enzymes of other sugars. Arabinose inhibited glycerol utilization by the cells of S. olivocinereus preadapted to it.

Low-molecular-weight trypsin inhibitors of microbial origin.

Three hundred actinomyces cultures newly isolated from the soil of different regions of the Soviet Union were tested for their ability to produce inhibitors of trypsin-like proteases. Seven previously not known to produce trypsin inhibitors (Streptomyces bikiniensis 17-5, S. sporoclivatus 28-1, S.

[Actinomycetes producing trypsin inhibitors].

The ability to produce inhibitors of trypsin-like proteases was tested in 300 cultures of actinomycetes freshly isolated from different soils of the USSR. A high antitrypsin activity was found in seven cultures which had not been known before as those producing trypsin inhibitors: Streptomyces sporoclivatus 28 (1), S. lavendulae 29 (4), S.

[The alpha-methylglucoside transport in Escherichia coli K12 cells].

The transport of alpha-methylglucoside (MG) in the wild type cells of Escherichia coli K12 and the isogenic mutant strains, defective in the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate: sugar phosphotransferase system components was studied. It was shown that the enzyme IIB' in the absence of enzyme I and HPr is able to transport MG into the cells by a "facilitated" diffusion mechanism. Compounds which dissipate the energy of membrane protone potential such as NaN3, carbonylcyanide-m-chlorophenylhydrasone, dicyclohexylcarbodiimide, enhance the utilization of MG by the wild-type cells.

Glucose effect in tgl mutant of Escherichia col K12 defective in methyl-alpha-D-glucoside transport.

1. The dependence of the rate of accumulation of methyl-alpha-D-glucoside on its extracellular concentration was studied in the tgl mutant of Escherichia coli K12, isolated earlier. It has been shown that the kinetics of methyl-alpha-D-glucoside transport differ sharply from those in wild-type bacteria.