The heterogeneity of an influenza virus A population due to differences at individual hemagglutinin H3 sites]

Using monoclonal antibodies to hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein of various influenza virus strains, the populations of long-passaged strain A/Hong Kong/1/68 and of recently isolated strain A/sparrow/Ukraine/83 belonging to the H3N2 serovariant were shown to have subpopulations of virions differing in the structure of antigenic sites of hemagglutinin and in nucleoprotein domain which correlated with the degree of electrostatic interaction of virions with an ion-exchanger. The results of the study indicate a possibility of separation in the course of stepwise ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50 of antigenic variants of influenza virus strains which is very important for the understanding of the mechanisms of population variability as well as for investigation of individual epitopes of hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein domains of influenza virus in evaluation of antigenic relationships of virions belonging to the same strain of a certain serotype.     

The significance of the structural characteristics of the sphenoid sinuses in the development of sphenoiditis]

Medicolegal autopsies show a great incidence of sphenoiditides (63.3%) with a prevalent chronic atrophy (48%). Frontal and asymmetric presentation of the posterior cribrate cells about the sphenoid sinuses proved an unfavorable regional anatomic factor underlying dysfunction of the shunt drainage. Sphenoiditides are also promoted by digestions of the Vidian nerve canal producing harbours at the base of the sphenoid pterygoid process. Identification of anatomical factors of risk and characterization of the mucosal defects can be conducted at additional x-ray examination.     

Combination of ABO blood group incompatibility and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency: effect on hemolysis and neonatal hyperbilirubinemia

The incidence (%) of hyperbilirubinemia (serum bilirubin ≥257 μmol/l) was similar in neonates with a combination of ABO incompatibility and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PD) deficiency (45%), with ABO incompatibility (54%) or G-6-PD deficiency (37%), alone (ns). Carboxyhemoglobin values, corrected for inspired CO, were similarly elevated in all three groups (0.87 ± 0.32%, 0.82 ± 0.29%, 0.76 ± 0.18%, respectively, ns), but correlated with bilirubin only in those with ABO incompatibility alone. ABO-incompatible/G-6-PD-deficient neonates, compared with those with either condition alone, are not at increased risk for hemolysis or hyperbilirubinemia.     

Detection of the circulation of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus

The laboratory verified cases of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) in the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus (Malgobeksky District, Republic of Ingushetia) are first described. The source of the first infection was Ixodidae ticks; three subsequent sources were contacts with the bloody discharges from patients. CCHF virus genome was detected in the blood of the cattle from an epidemic focus and in the pools of the Ixodes ticks Haemaphysalis parva Neum., 1897 and Boophilus annulatus Say, 1821, taken from cattle. The problem of including the piedmont steppes of the North Caucasus into the CCHF nosological area is discussed.