Effect of PUVA and NB-UVB Therapy on the Skin Cytokine Profile in Patients with Mycosis Fungoides.

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common subtype of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. The aim of the present study was to produce up-to-date information on different phototherapy approaches on skin cytokines in patients with MF.

Methods: A total of 27 patients with mycosis fungoides were treated with phototherapy: NB-UVB (narrow-band ultraviolet B therapy) (10 patients) and PUVA (long-wavelength ultraviolet radiation of spectrum A with the use of skin-photosensitizing furocoumarins) therapy (17 patients).

The Effect of Janus Kinase Inhibitors and Phosphodiesterase-4 Inhibitors on Skin and Plasma Cytokine Levels in Patients with Psoriasis.

In patients with moderate-to-severe and severe psoriasis and high efficacy of therapy (PASI≥75) with signaling pathway inhibitors (apremilast, tofacitinib), cytokine spectra in the skin and blood plasma were studied using xMAP technology at baseline and on weeks 14 and 26 of treatment. Comparison of cytokine levels in psoriatic lesional skin and plasma samples of patients treated with apremilast or tofacitinib revealed statistical difference only for IFNγ level (р<0.05) at week 26.

Apremilast Pharmacogenomics in Russian Patients with Moderate-to-Severe and Severe Psoriasis.

One of the target drugs for plaque psoriasis treatment is apremilast, which is a selective phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor. In this study, 34 moderate-to-severe and severe plaque psoriasis patients from Russia were treated with apremilast for 26 weeks. This allowed us to observe the effectiveness of splitting patient cohorts based on clinical outcomes, which were assessed using the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI).

A Cross-sectional Study of Plasma Trace Elements and Vitamins Content in Androgenetic Alopecia in Men.

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) is the most common variant of male pattern baldness in which occurrence and development of multiple genetic, hormonal, and metabolic factors are involved. We aimed to estimate plasma element content (Mg, Ca, Zn, Cu, Se, Fe), vitamin status (B12, D, E, and folic acid) in patients with AGA using direct colorimetric tests or atomic absorption spectrometry, and the influence of these parameters in the formation of various hair loss patterns. The study included 50 patients with I-IV stages of AGA divided into two groups with normal and high levels of dihydrotestosterone compared with 25 healthy individuals.

Experimental Modeling of Leprosy in BALB/c, BALB/c Nude, CBA, and C57BL/6ТNF Mice.

Leprosy was modeled in an experiment on BALB/c, BALB/cNude, CBA, and C57BL/6ТNF mice using three Mycobacterium leprae strains obtained from patients with a diagnosis of A30 according to ICD-10 from different regions of the Russian Federation. Proliferation of M. leprae of the used strains showed a temporal-quantitative dependence on the used mouse line.

Plasma Zinc Levels in Males with Androgenetic Alopecia as Possible Predictors of the Subsequent Conservative Therapy's Effectiveness.

Androgenic alopecia (AGA) is the most common type of progressive hair loss in man. The search for reliable predictors of the conservative treatment's effectiveness is an urgent problem today. Forty-eight patients with AGA, stages I-IV by the Norwood-Hamilton scale, were treated for 4 months with 5% topical minoxidil joints with corrections for trace element and vitamin imbalances.

[The refinement of leprosy PCR diagnostics by the amplification of specie-specific repeated fragment of the Mycobacterium leprae genome.].

Certain level of new registered cases of leprosy in a number of endemic countries in the world, as well as growing rate of transboundary migratory flows, raise the issue of effective diagnosis of this disease in countries with sporadic incidence of leprosy, including the Russian Federation. The purpose of the study was to develop a highly sensitive PCR test for detecting the genetic material of Mycobacterium leprae and to compare the test robustness and sensitivity with the commercially available Leprosy Genesig Standard Kit (Primerdesign Ltd., UK).

Reconstructing genetic history of Siberian and Northeastern European populations.

Siberia and Northwestern Russia are home to over 40 culturally and linguistically diverse indigenous ethnic groups, yet genetic variation and histories of peoples from this region are largely uncharacterized. We present deep whole-genome sequencing data (∼38×) from 28 individuals belonging to 14 distinct indigenous populations from that region. We combined these data sets with additional 32 modern-day and 46 ancient human genomes to reconstruct genetic histories of several indigenous Northern Eurasian populations.

Specificity of genetic diversity in D1S80 revealed by SNP-VNTR haplotyping.

Background: The allele frequency patterns of the D1S80 variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) locus have been shown to be multimodal in many different human populations.

Aim: To explore the complex allele distribution of the D1S80 polymorphic locus in different populations comparing the derived single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs16824398-D1S80 haplotype frequencies in samples of European (Russians), Asian (Yakuts) and sub-Saharan African origin.

Subjects And Methods: The D1S80 locus together with its 5'-flanking region including SNP rs16824398 was amplified using allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

Y-chromosome distribution within the geo-linguistic landscape of northwestern Russia.

Populations of northeastern Europe and the Uralic mountain range are found in close geographic proximity, but they have been subject to different demographic histories. The current study attempts to better understand the genetic paternal relationships of ethnic groups residing in these regions. We have performed high-resolution haplotyping of 236 Y-chromosomes from populations in northwestern Russia and the Uralic mountains, and compared them to relevant previously published data.

[Human minisatellite markers: D1S80 locus in population studies].

Minisatellite loci are a part of the human genome, playing an important role in various genomic and population studies. The review describes characteristics of this group of hypervariable tandem repeats and models that explain the reasons for their high diversity. The use of this kind of markers in population genetics studies is demonstrated by an example of the D1S80 minisatellite locus.

Regional differences in the genetic variability of Finno-Ugric speaking Komi populations.

The Komi (Komi-Zyryan) people are one of the most numerous ethnic groups belonging to the Finno-Ugric linguistic community. They occupy an extensive territory in north Russia to the west of the Ural Mountains, in the northeast of the East European Plain. This is an area of long-term interactions between Europeans and North Asians.

Polymorphisms at locus D1S80 and other hypervariable regions in the analysis of Eastern European ethnic group relationships.

Background: It has been hypothesized that, whereas many loci are used to generate phylogenetic relationships, the utilization of those that yield the most information could increase the accuracy of any multilocus phylogenetic reconstruction. Among these is the D1S80 hypervariable minisatellite region, which has been shown to be highly polymorphic globally, and it was of interest to compare the nearest neighbours and distant populations of Eastern Europe using the D1S80 polymorphism.

Aim: The study evaluated the capacity of the D1S80 locus to discriminate between populations from different ethnic groups in Russia and the Republic of Belarus, revealing the polymorphism parameters of the populations studied.

Variability of the 3'APOB minisatellite locus in Eastern Slavonic populations.

Objective: To describe and compare the 3' apolipoprotein (Apo) B minisatellite allele frequency distributions of Eastern Slavonic populations and their Uralic, Altaic, and Caucasian speaking neighbors.

Methods: Healthy individuals of 10 populations among Russians, Byelorussians, Komis and Bashkirs were studied for variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) in the 3'ApoB minisatellite region. Data were analyzed with other results reported for this polymorphism in eastern Europeans and Siberians.

Apolipoprotein B 3'-VNTR polymorphism in Eastern European populations.

Apolipoprotein B 3' (3' ApoB) minisatellite polymorphism was studied in healthy unrelated individuals from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, in 10 populations from five ethnic groups: Russians, Byelorussians, Adygeis, Kalmyks and Yakuts. The analysis was carried out using PCR and electrophoresis followed by silver staining. Overall, 25 alleles of the 3' ApoB minisatellite, ranging from 25 to 55 repeats, were detected.