ID3 Prescribing Patterns for Treatment of Upper Respiratory Infections

OBJECTIVE: This purpose of this study was to estimate the value of HIV prevention using the contingent valuation methodology.
METHODS: Two convenience samples of 452 high-risk individuals (homosexual) and 155 low-risk individuals (heterosexual) were collected from selected sites across the state of Missouri. Subjects completed a 60 item questionnaire on their knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and sexual behaviors. A series of willingness to pay (WTP) questions were asked to estimate the value of 98% protection (i.e., condom use) and 100% protection (i.e., abstinence) from HIV infection. Additionally, two willingness to be paid (WTBP) questions were asked to estimate the cost of behavior change.
RESULTS: The results of the study showed high-risk individuals placed a greater value on the benefits of HIV prevention than did individuals at low-risk of HIV infection. The benefits of condom use against infection from HIV were valued at $261/month for subjects in the high-risk sample and $238/month for individuals in the low-risk sample. The average monetary benefits of abstinence against HIV infection were estimated at $305/month for high-risk individuals, compared to $249/month among individuals in the low-risk sample. Utility for each preventive behavior (condom use and abstinence) was calculated using a cost-to-benefit ratio (WTBP/WTP). Utilities were regressed on demographic and risk variables. a high-risk individual's utility for 98% protection was associated with greater exposure risk to HIV and knowledge of an AIDS-related death. The low-risk sample was not statistically significant, and no statistical relationships were found between independent variables.
CONCLUSIONS: While subject to methodological limitations, the results from this research provide estimates of the value of HIV prevention strategies. Further research in the area of WTP and HIV prevention is advocated.     

Artificial anti-HIV immunogens and methods of their delivery

Elaboration of an anti-HIV vaccine is a highly important task because there is a need to arrest or at least to slow-down the rapid spread of AIDS throughout the world. Regrettably, no attempts to create an effective vaccine resulted in success. Nonetheless, the available data contribute to building up the confidence in that the set purpose can be achieved provided extra resources are found for working out a potential anti-HIV vaccine. The paper contains some results of research conducted by the "Vector" Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology in the field of artificial polyepitope immunogens, which could be potential anti-HIV vaccines, and in the field of creating various system for their delivery. The immunogenic properties of the thus obtained vaccine structures were tested on mice BALB/c. The delivery systems were experimentally demonstrated to ensure the induction of specific antibodies against HIV-1, with such anti-bodies having a virus-neutralizing activity; the above systems also induce the cellular immunity.     

Neurological Deficit and Disturbances in Higher Nervous Activity during Modeling of Perinatal Hypoxic-Ischemic Damage to the Central Nervous System in Rat Pups

Seven-day-old Wistar rat pups were subjected to unilateral occlusion of the common cerebral artery and maintained in oxygen-low atmosphere. Neurological and behavioral changes were monitored for 12 weeks. The survival rate of treated animals was 90%. Body weight gain in these rats was lower than in the control. Neurological deficit was maximum 1 week after treatment and slightly regressed by the 12th week. Locomotor activity in treated rats was higher than in controls. Administration of ketamine in subanesthetic doses caused permanent ipsilateral rotational asymmetry in animals. Spatial disorientation and cognitive deficit in rats with hypoxic-ischemic damage to the central nervous system were revealed in passive avoidance, Y-maze, and rotarod tests. The total area of the hemisphere decreased, while the area of the lateral cerebral ventricle increased at the side of occlusion over the first 4-5 weeks of postnatal development. The size of the ipsilateral hemisphere remained low in adult animals.     

Detection of herpesvirus markers in patients with precancerous lesions of the lungs and stomach

Blood-serum concentrations of antibodies to such viruses as herpes simplex virus, cytomegalovirus and Epstein--Barr virus have been assayed versus frequency of viral DNA detection in blood and saliva suspensions from patients with lung and stomach pre-cancers. Condition of local immunity of oral mucosa was assessed on the basis of saliva levels of secretory IgA and lysozyme. It was found that as local immunity of oral mucosa deteriorated, irrespective of pre-cancer localization, high titers of antiviral antibodies (class G) were established. The frequency of herpes DNA was much higher in lymphocytes and cellular sediment from saliva of patients with gastric pre-cancers. The role of herpes viruses in the pathogenesis of precancerous diseases and malignances is discussed.     

PEGylated immunoliposomes directed against brain astrocytes

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)ylated (stealth) immunoliposomes directed against human gliofibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) were prepared by coupling the thiolated monoclonal anti-GFAP antibodies with a maleimide derivative of phosphatidyl ethanolamine of the liposomal membrane. Experiments with cell cultures demonstrated specific and competitive binding of these immunoliposomes to embryonic rat brain astrocytes. Administered intravenously into rats, the immunoliposomes displayed typical kinetics with elimination half-lives of 8-15 hr. Being incapable of penetrating the unimpaired blood-brain barrier (BBB), these immunoliposomes, nevertheless, may be useful in delivering drugs to glial brain tumors (which continue to express GFAP) or to other pathological loci in the brain with a partially disintegrated BBB.     

Principles in the organization and surgical treatment of patients with non-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage

By taking into consideration the frequency of different forms of cerebral circulatory disorders, the authors determined the number of operations required to be performed for cerebral bleeding of various etiology in localities with different numbers of populations. The paper presents some results of treatment of patients with aneurysmal ruptures and hemorrhagic stroke at the Department of Neurosurgery, N. V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute of Emergency Care. The ways of improving the quality of care to patients with non-traumatic intracranial hemorrhage are outlined.     

Immunopathogenesis of severe wounds and traumas: possibilities of immune correction

The authors describe the present-day views on the nature of immune dysfunctions in severe traumas. Based on personal clinical experiences and literature data the authors discuss the role of immune dysfunctions in pathogenesis of the traumatic disease. Special attention is given to the role of the immune system in the development of the life-threatening condition: polyorganic insufficiency whose formation mainly results from disorganization and functional failure of the system of immune reactivity. Clinical investigations have shown high effectiveness of early administration for severe wounds and traumas of a new means of immunocorrection--yeast recombinant interleukin-2 of man (preparation Roncoleukin). The administration of this immunocorrector in complex schemes of intensive therapy of the victims was shown to prevent the development of severe pyo-septic pathology and perfectly change the course of the traumatic disease.