[Influence of perlite sand on the skin in experiment].

In the present work influence of perlite sand has been studied on a skin of Sprague-Dawley male rat (300-350 g). The biopsy of intact rat skin has been used as control. Contact of the perlite sand with animals' skin causes the reaction of an inflammation amplifying with increase of duration of the influence of substance. Therefore, despite an inert chemical compound, long contact with perlite sand in conditions of production can promote development of skin diseases. From the result of this investigation it is concluded that perlite sand causes irritating action on the skin and it is necessary to apply additional protective means to workers contacting to this substance.

[Assessment of sensitivity of commercial test-systems for HBsAg immunodetection according to their ability to detect HBsAg-mutants of hepatitis B virus].

Comparative study of widely distributed on Russian market commercial test-systems for HBsAg detection by enzyme immunoassay was performed. Panel of serum samples containing mutant forms of HBsAg was developed for the study. It showed that only 2 out of 7 studied test-systems are able to detect mutant forms of HBsAg with the same sensitivity as "wild-type" forms of HBsAg. Test-systems based only on monoclonal antibodies did not detect HBsAg with G145R substitution in concentration 5 ng/ml. The study confirms the relevance of problem of HBsAg-mutants detection for hepatitis B immunodiagnostics.