Effect of the Entomopathogenic Fungus Beauveria bassiana on the Development of Faba Bean (Vicia faba) Diseases in the Field Conditions.

Several ascomycetous entomopathogenic fungi, including species in the genera Beauveria, are plant symbionts/endophytes and are termed as endophytic insect-pathogenic fungi. It was shown that the fungus Beauveria bassiana (BBK-1 strain) successfully colonized Vicia faba bean plants in laboratory and field conditions of Western Siberia. The B. bassiana reisolate passed through the plants had significantly higher antagonistic activity against phytopathogens in comparison with the primary stem of entomopahogenic fungi. Pre-sowing faba bean seeds treatment reduced the level of infection of the seed material with phytopathogens, significantly decrease the development and prevalence of root rot disease. A decrease in the disease development index (chocolate spot, powdery mildew, fusariosis and other spots diseases) was found as a result of the use of B. bassiana. The effectiveness and prolonged action of B. bassiana on plants opens up new opportunities both in the creation of biological products and in molecular-genetic research and selection of certain pairs of plants and fungi based on the principle of the greatest synergy.

[Use of polymerase chain reaction for the diagnosis and evaluation of chemotherapy for pulmonary tuberculosis].

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a new procedure for preparing sputum samples for DNA isolation on the basis of immunomagnetic separation of mycobacteria was employed to examine sputum samples from 141 patients with first diagnosed pulmonary tuberculosis and 510 diagnostic materials from patients with nonspecific lung disease. In 47 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, sputum bacterial isolation was followed up, by using PCR and conventional microbiological studies during regular, every 6-7-week, examination. The sensitivity of PCR employing the above procedure for preparing the samples averaged 66% versus 48% when a cultural study was applied. Its specificity was 99.4%. Bacterial isolation cessation with the use of PCR well correlated with the clinical and X-ray trends in the disappearance of the signs of a tuberculous process.

[The effectiveness of Mycobacteria tuberculosis isolation by polymerase chain reaction: results of a randomized trial]. / Effektivnost' obnaruzheniia mikobakterii tuberkuleza legkikh metodom polimeraznoi tsepnoi reaktsii (rezul'taty randomizirovannogo issledovaniia).

The results of testing sputum for Mycobacterium tuberculosis by different methods: polymerase chain reaction (PCR), luminescence microscopy, and culture tests were compared. Clinical sputum samples were studied in 62 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 72 patients with non-specific diseases of the lung. The specificity of PCR was 98.7%. The sensitivity of PCR was 59.6%; that of cultural tests was 43.8%.

[The personality characteristics of patients with duodenal peptic ulcer]. / Lichnostnye osobennosti bol'nykh iazvennoi bolezn'iu dvenadtsatiperstnoi kishki.

Using MMPI test, 196 patients with duodenal ulcer were studied for their personal traits. The patients' personality was characterized by a high level of anxiety, mental tension, emotional immaturity, affective rigidity, suppressed aggression. The most apparent in the young adults were deviations from the norm of psychopathic nature; as patients grew older, their illness of longer duration, their personal profile tended to be dominated by a problem of suppressed aggression and emotional immaturity, with hypochondriac and depressive tendencies to be on the increase. The personal traits did not appear to be dependent upon severity of the disease course or much affected by the treatments administered that incorporated tranquilizers, antidepressants and a novel synthetic opioid hexapeptide dalargin.