CLINICAL AND GENETIC PREDICTORS AND PROGNOSTIC MODEL OF RAPIDLY PROGRESSIVE HEPATIC FIBROSIS IN CHRONIC HEPATITIS C.

The search for risk factors for rapid progression of hepatic fibrosis (HF) in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is a topical scientific and practical task. The purpose of the study is to identify clinical and genetic predictors and create the prognostic model of rapidly progressive HF in CHC. A retrospective cohort study of 125 patients with CHC has been carried out.

Imaging Methods of Joint Damage in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune connective tissue disease of unknown etiology with development of persistent and erosive arthritis ultimately resulting in disability. The prevalence of RA is about 0.5-1% in adults worldwide.

Diagnostic value of antibodies to modified citrullinated vimentin in early rheumatoid arthritis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of antibodies to modified citrullinated vimentin (anti-MCV) for diagnosing early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to examine the correlations between anti-MCV and clinical parameters as well as radiographic and ultrasound data. Our results suggest that anti-MCV has a sensitivity and specificity of 53.3 and 83.

Treatment of early arthritis using arthrofoon (ultra-low doses of antibodies to tumor necrosis factor-α).

The main aim of treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) should be to achieve clinical remission to prevent structural damage and physical disability. Arthrofoon modifies production/activity of endogenous inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The sublingual rout is the most acceptable to ambulatory treatment because it does not produce the adverse reactions associated with intravenous therapy.

[Comparative analysis of effectiveness and safety of diclofenac and nimesulide in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis].

The aim of the work was to evaluate effectiveness and safety of diclofenac and nimesulide in patients with early RA. The open clinical study included 80 outpatients (mean age 49.0 +/- 11.

Validation of the Russian version of the Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA Scale).

Purpose: To translate the English version of the Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA Scale) into Russian, test the reliability and validity of the Russian version and compare the scaling assumptions, reliability, and validity of the English, Spanish and Russian versions.

Materials/methods: The development of a Russian version of the Quality of Life-Rheumatoid Arthritis Scale (QOL-RA Scale) involved translating the English version of the instrument into Russian, linguistic adaptation, 50 face-to-face interviews with outpatients with definite rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and testing the reliability and validity.

Results: The QOL-RA Scale, an 8-item scale, took about 3 minutes to administer.

Approaches to the treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.

This paper reviews recent approaches to treatment of early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). The literature on treatment the early RA published between 1995 and 2007 was accessed through the PubMed database from the National Library of Medicine. Keywords were 'early rheumatoid arthritis', 'disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs', 'biologic agents' and 'combination therapy'.

[Experimental study of therapeutical properties and safety of king crab collagenase-containing ointment].

The effects of ointment containing king crab (Paralithodes camtschatica) collagenase on intact skin, thermal, and pyonecrotic wounds were studied in rats by using hematological, biochemical, immunological, and morphological methods. The ointment for the skin and viscera was shown to be safe. It is highly effective in debriding the infected wounds.

[Toxic properties of recombinant tumor necrosis factor].

Toxic properties of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor (TNF-beta) were studied on noninbred albino mice. In the maximum tolerable doses the preparation induced a decrease in the body weight and temperature of the animals as well as development of glyco- and leukopenic reactions and damage of the internal organ structures. The preparation effects were observed early after the exposure and were mainly reversible.

[The genotoxic effect of ciprofloxacin on cultured cells from the kangaroo rat kidney and on skin fibroblasts from the Indian muntjac].

The genotoxicity of an antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CF) in doses of 10, 25, 50 and 100 mkg/ml under its short-term (6-48 h) and long-term (15-30 days) action on sublines of Rat kangaroo kidney, NBL-3-11, and Indian muntjak skin fibroblasts has been studied. The emergence of genotoxic effect depends on the dose and time of ciprofloxacin action on both the sublines, but the degree of this effect does not depend on these parameters directly. Ciprofloxacin exerts no influence on cell distribution for chromosome number in subline NBL-3-11, and increases heterogeneity of this parameter in the subline of Indian muntjac skin fibroblasts in 30 days after its addition in doses of 25 and 50 mkg/ml.

[A cytogenetic study of the Chinese hamster lung cell line V-79 infected with Mycoplasma arginini and decontaminated using ciprofloxacin].

Karyotypic variability has been studied in a line of the Chinese hamster cells artificially contaminated with Mycoplasma arginini. The contaminated cultures differed from mycoplasma-free cells in cell distribution for chromosome number. The frequency of cells with modal chromosome number 21 decreased, while that of cells with 20 chromosomes increased.

[The karyotypic characteristics of a skin fibroblast line from the Indian muntjac cultured with different sera].

The karyotypic structure of the Indian muntjak skin fibroblast cell line, with 7 chromosomes in modal class, was compared in the cells cultures, with 10 and 3% of fetal calf serum of two different lots. In addition, the effect of the same serum lot on chromosome variability in the two different Indian muntjac skin fibroblast sublines differing in the modal class stability was investigated. In both the cases, the serum affects the cell distribution for the chromosome number.