Qualitative real-time RT-PCR assay for nOPV2 poliovirus detection.

Based on the success of the Sabin2-based vaccine, a next-generation nOPV2 poliovirus vaccine has been developed. For epidemic monitoring and conducting epidemiological investigations, it is necessary to have a diagnostic assay with the ability to differentiate this variant from others. Here we describe such a real-time RT-PCR assay. The region with the cre insertion in the 5'-UTR was chosen as the target, and the limit of detection was 103 copies/mL (2.5×103 copies/mL using Probit analysis) determined using armored RNA particles. Sensitivity and specificity were 86.28 - 100 % and 76.84 - 100 %, respectively (with 95 % CI). Thus, this method can be effectively used when it is necessary to make a differential diagnosis of poliovirus strains.

Antibiotic resistance in Vibrio cholerae El Tor strains isolated during cholera complications in Siberia and the Far East of Russia.

Currently, the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global trend and poses a severe threat to public health. The causative agent of cholera, a severe infectious disease with pandemic expansion, becomes more and more resistant to a wider range of drugs with every coming year. The Vibrio cholerae genome is highly flexible and adaptive; the acquisition of the SXT mobile element with a cluster of antibiotic resistance genes on it has marked a new stage in the adaptive evolution of the pathogen. The territory of Siberia and the Russian Far East is free of cholera; however, in the 1970s and 1990s a number of infection importation cases and acute outbreaks associated with the cholera importation were reported. The aim of this study was to describe the phenotypic characteristics and genetic determinants of AMR in V. cholerae strains isolated during epidemic complications in Siberia and the Far East of Russia, as well as to clarify the origin of the strains. The present research comprises analysis of nine V. cholerae El Tor strains isolated from patients and water sources during epidemic complications in Siberia and the Russian Far East in the 1990s. Here, we compared the phenotypic manifestations of antibiotic resistance among strains, harbored the resistance patterns in genomes; we also determined the structure, the type of SXT elements, and the mobilome profile based on the accepted classification. We identified that strains that caused outbreaks in Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 1999 had ICEVchCHN4210 type SXT element with deletion of some loci. The research shows that the integration of the genome, SNP and the mobilome, associated with antibiotic resistance, analyses is necessary to understand the cholera epidemiology, it also helps to establish the origin of strains. The study of resistance determinants features allowed to make a conclusion about the heterogeneity of V. cholerae strains that were isolated during outbreaks in Vladivostok and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in 1999.

Identification of toxic Cyanobacteria in Lake Baikal.

Cyanobacteria of the genera Anabaena and Microcystis, containing genes for the synthesis of-microcystins (hepatotoxic cyanotoxins) were found for the first time in the coastal zone of Lake Baikal near-the village of Turka, where a tourism and recreational complex were constructed. According to the enzyme-immunoassay, microcystin concentration in water was 0.17 ± 0.01 µg/L. Using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, we found 3936 sequences in the eubacterial community of central basin of Lake Baikal. The summer bacterioplankton in both littoral and pelagic areas of the lake was dominated by the phylum Cyanobacteria, whereas a higher diversity of cyanobacteria was recorded in the plankton of the littoral zone. Moreover, the-potentially toxic Anabaena and Microcystis were detected in this area.

Whole-Genome Sequencing of a Vibrio cholerae El Tor Strain Isolated in the Imported Cholera Focus in Siberia.

The draft genome sequence of Vibrio cholerae O1 strain I-1263, isolated from a patient in the imported focus in Siberia, was determined. The established structural features of the mobile genetic elements indicate stage-by-stage formation of a highly pathogenic V. cholerae clone and promote understanding of the mechanisms of evolutionary pathogen transformations.

[Analysis of bacterial communities of two Lake Baikal endemic sponge species].

Bacterial diversity of two Lake Baikal endemic sponges characterized by different life forms, branching Lubomirskia baicalensis and cortical Baikalospongia sp., was studied using the method of 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene fragments. In the communities associated with L. baicalensis and Baikalospongia sp., 426 and 428 OTUs, respectively, were identified. In microbial associations of these spong- es, 24 bacterial phyla were identified, with predominance of Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Analysis of the taxonomic composition of bacterial communities of the sponges was carried out by search of the dominant phylotypes within the phylum level cluster. Comparison of bacterial associations of the sponges with Lake Baikal bacterioplankton revealed both the shared OTUs and the unique ones characteristic of the studied species.

[Repetitive hospitalizations of patients with chronic heart failure according to data of one year follow-up study].

Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) represent a group with high risk of repetitive hospitalizations. In order to assess frequency of repetitive hospitalizations and elucidate their risk factors we included in this study 962 patients with stage IIA-III and functional class II-IV CHF hospitalized in a multiprofile hospital once or repeatedly during 1 year. Rate of rehospitalizations during 1 year was 59%. The following factors of risk of rehospitalizations were revealed: admission because of progression of CHF, history of myocardial infarction, atrial fibrillation, systolic left ventricular dysfunction, hyperuricemia, and hyperglycemia.

[Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Trichormus variabilis of the lake Baikal phytoplankton].

A new filamentous cyanobacterial strain BAC 9610 was isolated from the lake Baikal pelagial. Data obtained by light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy, along with 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, allowed the bacterium identification as Trichormus variabilis, previously known as Anabaena variabilis. Trichormus is a cyanobacterial genus not presented in the list of Baikal plankton algae; A. variabilis also has not been previously detected in Baikal phytoplankton. T. variabilis nitrogen fixation ability was demonstrated. The gene responsible for nitrogen fixation, nifH, was identified by PCR and was partially sequenced. No hepatotoxin synthesis genes were revealed in the strain.

[The study of aerobic bacterial background and antibiotic-sensitive isolated strains in the ENT department]. / Issledovanie aérobnogo mikrobnogo fona i antibiotikochuvstvitel'nosti vydelennykh shtammov v otorinolaringologicheskom otdelenii.

Aerobic microbes in ENT departments were studied. The following strains were isolated: Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Acinetobacter, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Flavobacter, Citrobacter, Enterobacter, Escherichia, Aspergillus, Candida. 54.5% of the isolated strains were of hospital origin. Comparative evaluation of antibiotic resistance has shown a wide spectrum of resistance of the isolated microorganisms to antimicrobial drugs, among those to the drugs used in the ENT departments.