Hospital-based surveillance of rotavirus and other viral agents of diarrhea in children and adults in Russia, 2005-2007.

During a 2-year period in 2005-2007, we conducted surveillance of group A rotaviruses and other enteric agents among patients hospitalized with acute gastroenteritis in 8 different cities of the Russian Federation. Fecal specimens were gathered from 3208 children (including 2848 children aged <5 years) and 1354 adults who were admitted to hospitals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Nizhnii Novgorod, Tyumen, Khabarovsk, Makhachkala, and Yakutsk. Polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect rotaviruses of groups A and C, noroviruses of genogroups I and II, astrovirus, sapovirus, and enteric adenoviruses (group F). Group A rotavirus was the most common viral pathogen detected among children aged <5 years (43.6%), followed by norovirus (12.5%), whereas norovirus was the pathogen most commonly detected in adults (11.9%). P and G genotypes were determined for 515 rotavirus specimens, and the most prevalent genotypes were G1P[8] (44.9%), G4P[8] (40.0%), G2P[4] (8.5%), and G3P[8] (6.6%). This study is the first multicenter study of rotaviruses in the Russian Federation and documents the important burden of disease caused by this pathogen, which soon may be preventable by vaccination.

[Evaluation of morbidity and etiological structure of acute and chronic viral hepatitis in the Sakha Republic (Yakutiia)]. / Otsenka zabolevaemosti i étiologicheskoi struktury ostrykh i khronicheskikh virusnykh gepatitov na territorii Respubliki Sakha (Iakutiia).

The morbidity of viral hepatitis was epidemiologically analyzed and the etiological structure of severe and chronic viral hepatitis was studied in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Acute viral hepatitis B, whose portion is 43.5%, was found to be of the key significance within the structure of acute viral hepatitis (AVH). Acute viral hepatitis C (with 4.7% in the AVH structure) is by far more rare. The latter is close to the value registered in other Russia's regions. Apart from the prevalence of viral hepatitis B (32.4%) an exceptionally high share of chronic hepatitis delta (24.5%) was established for the etiological structure of chronic viral hepatitis, which is a specificity of the discussed region. The epidemic situation in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was stated to be linked with the mentioned extra dangerous diseases, which requires appropriate emergency measures with the prevention vaccination program against hepatitis B being a priority.

[The elimination of stress-related changes in the thymus with the action of laser radiation on the endocrine glands]. / Ustranenie stressornykh izmenenii v timuse pri deistvii lazernogo izlucheniia na éndokrinnye zhelezy.

Experiments were carried out on male rats to study the stress-limiting effect of impulse infrared laser radiation (0.89 micron). The thymus and thyroid gland were subjected to 2 W localized impulse laser radiation with an impulse length of 7 x 10(-8) sec. and 3.000 Hz frequency. The following data were estimated: thymus weight, thymocyte population, acridine orange binding by thymocyte nucleus, protein content in thymocytes, the level of peroxide oxidation of lipids in thymocytes. It was revealed that the effect of laser radiation depends on the sequence of its application to stress animals rather than on its localization: its stress-limiting features were more effective when applied to stress animals rather than as a prophylactic measure.