Cardiac MRI in Congenital Heart Disease – Our Experience

A significant recent advance that has occurred world over in the continuously evolving field of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) practice is the introduction of Cardiac applications. Cardiac MRI has moved to the centre stage of clinical management strategy by non-invasively imaging the structure as well as function of the heart. It has a wide range of specific applications such as delineation of morphological anatomy, quantification of flow and pressure across cardiac valve dysfunction, evaluation of myocardial function, assessment of infarcts, mapping coronary arteries and so on. Evaluation of congenital heart disease (CHD) is an important application of Cardiac MRI since the morphological details of chambers, septum, defects and anomalous connections are depicted accurately. Besides, flow information across valves, chambers, outflow tracts and shunts are also provided. This article describes our experience in the use of cardiac MRI in congenital heart disease.Key Words: Cardiac MRI, Congenital heart disease, Cyanotic and Acyanotic heart disease     

Alternative methods for prevention and treatment of dental caries using laser and magnetic laser exposure

Alternative methods for prevention and treatment of dental caries are presented, based on the use of laser and magnetic laser exposure (patent No. 2053818, in Russia) with a new generation laser device with Optodan microprocessor monitoring (patent No. 2014107, Russia). The methods are intended for wide clinical application in children and adolescents in pedodontic departments and outpatient centers and particularly for group and individual use in dental rooms at school.     

The balance of driving forces during genome evolution in prokaryotes

Genomes are shaped by evolutionary processes such as gene genesis, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), and gene loss. To quantify the relative contributions of these processes, we analyze the distribution of 12,762 protein families on a phylogenetic tree, derived from entire genomes of 41 Bacteria and 10 Archaea. We show that gene loss is the most important factor in shaping genome content, being up to three times more frequent than HGT, followed by gene genesis, which may contribute up to twice as many genes as HGT. We suggest that gene gain and gene loss in prokaryotes are balanced; thus, on average, prokaryotic genome size is kept constant. Despite the importance of HGT, our results indicate that the majority of protein families have only been transmitted by vertical inheritance. To test our method, we present a study of strain-specific genes of Helicobacter pylori, and demonstrate correct predictions of gene loss and HGT for at least 81% of validated cases. This approach indicates that it is possible to trace genome content history and quantify the factors that shape contemporary prokaryotic genomes.     

Clinical histochemistry of the barrier function of gingival mucosa in periodontitis

Parodontium was investigated in 111 persons. The components of gingiva mucosa tissue barrier are presented. The biopolymers dynamics is revealed in periodontosis in its aggravation. The research, allowing to judge the resistance of parodontium, is recommended.     

Vaccination with a CDR2 BV6S2/6S5 peptide in adjuvant induces peptide-specific T-cell responses in patients with multiple sclerosis

Earlier studies from several groups including ours have documented that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have over-expression of activated T-cells from specific TCR V beta families, including BV6S2/S5 (Kotzin et al. [1991] Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88:9161--9165; Gold et al. [1997] J. Neuroimmunol. 76:29--38). It has also been established in the rat EAE model that peptide vaccines to the over-expressed V beta 8.2 TCR can prevent MBP induced disease (Vandenbark et al. [1989] Nature 341:541--544). In the current clinical study, 10 patients were vaccinated with 300 microg of BV6S2/6S5 peptide emulsified in incomplete Freund's adjuvant (IFA) and monitored for safety and immunogenicity in a 48-week multicenter, open-label trial. The peptide vaccine was well tolerated and no serious adverse events were observed. Vaccinations induced cell-mediated immunity to the immunizing peptide in eight of 10 patients as demonstrated by lymphocyte proliferation assay (LPA) and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin test responses. In summary, these results demonstrate that immunization with TCR BV6S2/6S5 peptide vaccine in MS patients is safe and immunogenic, and supports a larger double-blind placebo controlled trial to determine the clinical efficacy of this approach.     

Precise intraoperative location of gastrointestinal bleeding with a hand-held counter. Work in progress

The nuclear medicine bleeding scan is frequently insufficient to locate sites of bleeding precisely, in spite of its great sensitivity. A small, hand-held Geiger-Müller counter, placed directly on exposed intestine in the operating room, enables precise location of the probable bleeding site. In three patients, the technique allowed a minimal amount of intestine to be resected, distinguished between large- and small-intestinal hemorrhage, and eliminated other foci as sites of bleeding.