Improvement of narcotic dependence care and prevention of alcoholism in seamen

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of narcological care provided to crewmen, to identify the trends in the improvement of narcological care for seamen and to work out suggestions for introducing new organizational forms of early diagnosis among contingents "at risk". It was shown that the increase in the efficiency of anti-alcoholic campaign in the marine should involve all sections of health service: ships medical and sanitary units out-patient and in-patient departments. Particular attention should be paid to the preventive activities aimed at the detection of "risk groups" for the development of the disease and patients with early symptoms of alcoholism.     

Dietary polyamines promote the growth of azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci in rat colon

We have examined whether dietary polyamines influence the formation and initial growth of azoxymethane (AOM)-induced aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in rat colon. Effects of a combination of dietary polyamines at three dose levels (putrescine: 50, 280, 740 nmol/g; spermidine: 10, 261, 763 nmol/g; spermine: 1, 31, 91 nmol/g) in the polyamine-poor AIN-76A diet were studied in animals in two different experimental situations: animals treated with AOM alone and animals treated with AOM + difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), a specific inhibitor of endogenous polyamine synthesis. In both experimental situations, dietary polyamines enhanced the growth of ACF, expressed as the number of large ACF (foci with three or more aberrant crypts, ACF > or = 3), whereas the formation of ACF, expressed as the number of ACF, was apparently not altered. In animals treated with AOM alone, maximal growth enhancing effect on ACF was nearly obtained with the median level of dietary polyamine. In rats fed a low polyamine diet, basic AIN-76A, DFMO reduced the growth of AOM-induced ACF by 83%. This inhibitory effect of DFMO was counteracted by dietary polyamines in a dose- dependent manner, and it was abolished at the highest level of polyamines. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that dietary polyamines are able to enhance the growth of AOM-induced ACF. Further, dietary polyamines reversed the DFMO-caused inhibition of ACF growth, probably by compensating for the DFMO-reduced endogenous polyamine synthesis.      

Possibilities of culturing mutant variants of Ade12 adenoviruses in 293 cell culture

The results of polymerase chain reaction and of DNA sequencing of the Adel2 mutant variant of adenovirus serotype 5, passaged 10 times and capable of selectively infecting and lysing the p53-deficient human tumor cells, are indicative of a high stability of its genotype and of the phenotypic properties acquired by it in successive passage on 293 cells. The absence of admixtures of wild-type adenovirus was clearly shown in the cultivation and passage processes. It was revealed in an experimental analysis of virus-productive properties of the studied continuous cell culture 293 by using the method of multilayer cultivation, that the maximal Adel2 yield is obtained at the 50% cytopathic effect. Virus doses, that are effective for cell-culture contamination, are within a range of 100-10 TCPE50 per cell. In order to spare the viral material, the infecting dose of 10 TCPE50 per cell was chosen to infect a cell monolayer.     

Sensitivity of white mice to influenza virus (A/Aichi/2/68) in aerogenic infection]

Polydispersed aerosols from allantoic fluid of chick embryos induced with influenza virus with different median weight aerodynamic diameters of corpuscles (0.5, 0.8, 1.1, 2.2, and 6.0 mu are effectively deposited in respiratory organs of mice weighing 18-19 g. The sensitivity of mice of different weight to aerogenic infection with influenza virus (strain A/Aichi/2/68) was virtually the same. The efficacies of aerogenic 50% infective and lethal doses (1.8-2.5 lg) for mice of the same weight were different. The sensitivity of mice to aerogenic infection and of developing chicken embryos to the virus (ID50 = EID50) is the same. Mice weighing 10-19 g can be infected via airways with adapted influenza virus in studies of therapeutic and prophylactic effects of drugs.     

Pulmonary cell susceptibility in mice and rats to influenza virus when infected in vivo and in vitro

The purpose of the case study was to evaluate comparatively the relative contribution of cell susceptibility and the inhibiting effect of factors of pulmonary epithelial lining in mice and rats to influenza virus A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) adapted to mice as related with the development of infection process in the lungs of experimental animals when infected in vivo and in vitro. Mice and rats were infected aerogenically with different doses of influenza virus. The primary cell-culture suspensions sampled from the lungs of mice and rats were used to study the adsorption and dynamics of influenza virus production in infection by different dose of influenza virus in vitro. The cell suspensions were shown to be able to produce the influenza virus for as long as 48 hours after infection. It was for the first time that the results denoted the identical susceptibility of primary pulmonary cells in mice and rats to influenza virus. A lower pulmonary susceptibility to influenza virus in rats versus mice could be indicative of that the surface factors of epithelial lining contribute essentially to shaping the pulmonary susceptibility to influenza virus since there is no difference of the susceptibility of pulmonary cells to influenza virus between the two above animals' species.     

Mechanisms of mice resistance to influenza virus A/AICHI/2/68 after preventive injection with polyprenols ]

Preventive effect in influenza can be attained by intramuscular injections of fir (Abies) polyprenols. One of 5 tested polyprenol preparations (No. 1), injected 2 days before aerogenic infection with influenza virus, reliably protected mice from disease. Mice pretreated with polyprenol preparations or Hanks' solution did not differ by accumulation of interferon in the lungs One day after aerogenic infection. Three days after injection of polyprenol preparation No. 1 the weights of the spleen and thymus significantly decreased. One day after injection cell count in the bronchoalveolar tract of mice was almost 2-fold higher than in the control at the expense of lymphocytes and macrophages. After 3 days the relative and absolute counts of macrophages decreased and those of lymphocytes decreased significantly. Three days after injection macrophages were 2-fold more active in absorption of zymosan granules. Preparation No. 1 affected the production of superoxide anion radicals, whose production by all macrophages in the bronchoalveolar tract of mice was significantly higher on day 1 postinjection than on day 3 and higher than on days 1 and 3 after injection of preparation No. 2.     

Evasin‐3‐like anti‐chemokine activity in salivary gland extracts of ixodid ticks during blood‐feeding: a new target for tick control

Ticks exploit many evasion mechanisms to circumvent the immune control of their hosts including subversion of the communication language between cells of the immune system provided by chemokines and other cytokines. One subversive molecule secreted in the saliva of Rhipicephalus sanguineus is Evasin‐3, a structurally unique 7 kDa protein that selectively binds the neutrophil chemoattractants, CXCL8 and (with lower affinity) CXCL1. We compared anti‐human CXCL8 and anti‐mouse CXCL1/KC activities in salivary gland extracts prepared from adult Amblyomma variegatum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Dermacentor reticulatus ticks during blood‐feeding. Both anti‐CXCL8 activity and anti‐CXCL1 activity were detected in all species and in both adult females and males, with consistently higher activity levels against CXCL8. These results suggest that Evasin‐3‐like activity is common amongst metastriate ixodid tick species, and provide further evidence of the importance to ticks in controlling neutrophils during blood‐feeding. As such, Evasin‐3 offers a new target for anti‐tick vaccine development.