The measles epidemic in northern Kosovo and Metohija, Serbia, October 2017-August 2019.

INTRODUCTION: Measles is among the most contagious and vaccine-preventable respiratory diseases. The aim of this research was to describe the socio-demographic profile, clinical manifestations and laboratory parameters of measles patients hospitalized at Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Centre during the 2017-2019 outbreak. METHODOLOGY: The prospective study included all patients that had contracted measles (107) who were hospitalized at Kosovska Mitrovica Clinical Centre during the outbreak. All complications that led to hospitalization were analyzed and the frequencies of complications with respect to patient age and vaccination status were recorded. RESULTS: More than half (51%) of the patients were unvaccinated. Patients' age varied statistically significantly with respect to vaccination status. Pneumonia was noted in 65% of the patients from the younger age group, compared to 32% of adults, and this difference was statistically significant. Hepatitis was a significantly more frequent complication in adults, affecting 36% of measles patients in this age group, compared to only 7% of those aged below 18 years. In the unvaccinated group, 71% pneumonia frequency was noted, compared to 11% and 35% in the vaccinated and unknown vaccination status groups, respectively. The differences in frequencies based on vaccination status were statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Most hospitalized patients were unvaccinated. Complications showed a significant difference with respect to the age and vaccination status of patients. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out continuous health promotion activities to raise awareness among the entire population of the importance and need for vaccination of children against measles, but also adults who have not been previously vaccinated.

Design and development of novel therapeutics for brucellosis treatment based on carbonic anhydrase inhibition.

Carbonic anhydrase is a metalloprotein, an enzyme with strong inhibition in antibacterial treatment. This study presents QSAR modeling for a series of 41 chemical compounds, 40 sulfonamides and one sulfamate, including 13 clinically tested drugs as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors based on the Monte Carlo optimization with molecular descriptors based on the SMILES notation and local invariants of the molecular graph, and field 3D based methods. Conformation independent QSAR models were developed for three random splits and a 3D QSAR model for one random split into the training and test sets. The statistical quality of the developed models, including robustness and predictability, was tested using various statistical approaches and the results that were obtained were very good. An excellent correlation between the results from the conformation independent and the 3D QSAR model was obtained. A novel statistical metric known as the index of ideality of correlation was used for the final assessment of the model, and the obtained results were good. Molecular fragments responsible for the increases and decreases of a studied activity were defined and further used for the computer-aided design of new compounds as potential carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. Molecular docking was applied for the final assessment of the developed QSAR model and designed inhibitors, and an excellent correlation between the results from QSAR modeling and molecular docking studies was obtained.Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Influence of vitamin C supplementation on oxidative stress and neutrophil inflammatory response in acute and regular exercise.

Exercise induces a multitude of physiological and biochemical changes in blood affecting its redox status. Tissue damage resulting from exercise induces activation of inflammatory cells followed by the increased activity of myeloperoxidase (MPO) in circulation. Vitamin C readily scavenges free radicals and may thereby prevent oxidative damage of important biological macromolecules. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of vitamin C supplementation on oxidative stress and neutrophil inflammatory response induced by acute and regular exercise. Experiment was conducted on acute exercise group (performing Bruce Treadmill Protocol (BTP)) and regular training group. Markers of lipid peroxidation, malondialdehyde (MDA), MPO activity, and vitamin C status were estimated at rest and after BTP (acute exercise group) and before and after vitamin C supplementation in both groups. Our results showed increased postexercise Asc in serum independently of vitamin supplementation. They also showed that vitamin C can significantly decrease postexercise MDA level in both experimental groups. Increased postexercise MPO activity has been found in both groups and was not affected by vitamin C supplementation. We concluded that vitamin C supplementation can suppress lipid peroxidation process during exercise but cannot affect neutrophil inflammatory response in either exercise group.

The effect of exhaustive exercise on oxidative stress generation and antioxidant defense in guinea pigs.

BACKGROUND: Exercise induces a multitude of physiological and biochemical changes in blood that can affect its redox status. Exercise causes an increase in oxygen consumption by the whole body and particularly by the exercising muscle. As a result of this process there is a rise in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are capable to trigger a chain of damaging biochemical and physiological changes known as lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress. Since the early work of Dillard et al. in 1978, and findings of increased lipid peroxidation following acute aerobic exercise, the topic of exercise-induced oxidative stress has received considerable attention. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to examine how swimming to the point of exhaustion affects oxidative stress generation and nonenzymatic antioxidant activity in an animal model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The experiments were conducted on 10 male Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs, and the swimming program used in the study, described as swimming to exhaustion, was defined by Dawson and Horvath. Peripheral blood samples were taken at rest and immediately after the exercise test, and the following parameters were evaluated: total plasma peroxide concentration (TPPC), total plasma thiols (TPT), plasma xanthine oxidase activity (XOD), plasma antioxidant capacity and total plasma proteins. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between TPPC measured at rest and immediately after exercise swimming test (p = 0.138). Two other parameters--TPT and XOD activity--showed significant differences before and after the swimming exercise test: After the test the TPT value decreased significantly (p = 0.022), while XOD activity increased significantly (p = 0.039). Comparing antioxidant activity in plasma before and after the exercise test, although the value decreased, the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.755). CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that exercise to exhaustion induces the generation of oxidative stress primarily by oxidative modification of protein molecules. The results also indicated that the prooxidative enzyme xanthine oxidase is an important source of ROS during exercise-induced oxidative injury.