Effect of a complex system for controlling influenza on a city scale on population mortality

A decrease in mortality among the population, and primarily in mortality caused by the diseases of the respiratory tract, has been achieved in one of the northern cities of the USSR owing to a complex of prophylactic and antiepidemic measures, including the use of live inactivated vaccines, remantadin and other anti-influenza remedies, carried out on a city scale. This fact indicates that such measures have proved to be necessary and effective.     

Live enteroviral vaccines for the emergency nonspecific prevention of mass respiratory diseases during fall-winter epidemics of influenza and acute respiratory diseases]

The results of the 3-year controlled trials of a new method of nonspecific urgent prophylaxis of influenza and acute respiratory diseases (ADR) by immunization of healthy adults with standard live enterovirus oral vaccines, introduced in 2-3 administrations at intervals of 7-10 days, at the initial stages of autumn and winter epidemics are presented. Observations, carried out in three republics, covered more than 150,000 persons immunized with enterovirus interferonogenic vaccines. A considerable decrease in morbidity rate among the vaccinees was achieved (on the average, by 3.2 times) in comparison to that among nonimmunized subjects. The method of nonspecific prophylaxis with live enterovirus interferonogenic vaccines is recommended during outbreaks of diseases induced simultaneously by several causative agents of influenza and ARD, as well as by pathogenic enterovirus strains.     

Efficacy of a complex program for controlling influenza in a large industrial city

The epidemiological and economic effectiveness of the realization of the complex three-year (1980-1982) program for the control of influenza in Perm is shown. The coverage of 46-51% of the city population, including working people, pensioners and children, with immunization carried out with the use of live and inactivated vaccines made it possible to decrease morbidity rate 2.12 times in comparison with the average data for many years. The greatest effect was achieved at large industrial enterprises where, simultaneously with vaccination covering 90% of the employees, urgent prophylaxis with remantadin and the early treatment of influenza patients were carried out. Due to these measures the morbidity rate and the number of disability days per 100 employees decreased 3-6 times.     

The results of using the molecular hybridization of nucleic acids in the complex study of nasopharyngeal smears from patients with influenza and other acute respiratory diseases

A complex study of samples obtained from patients with influenza and other acute respiratory diseases has revealed that the laboratory methods used in this study can be rated in the following order according to their sensitivity: isolation of the virus in chick embryos, analysis of seroconversions in the hemagglutination inhibition test, immunofluorescent determination of viral antigens, determination of viral antigens by enzyme immunoassay (EIA), detection of RNA-containing viral structures by means of molecular hybridization. From the point of view of the possibility of documenting influenza A in patients, the best results are achieved by the combination of molecular hybridization and EIA techniques: 90% and more of all cases. A rational scheme for the examination of samples obtained from patients with a view to epidemiological study, including both traditional and new rapid diagnostic methods, is proposed.     

Epidemiological trial of the prophylactic effectiveness of the interferon inducer dipyridamole with respect to influenza and acute respiratory diseases

The epidemiological effectiveness of dipyridamol, an interferon-inducing agent used for the prevention of influenza and viral acute respiratory diseases, was tested in 4 epidemiological trials, 3 of them carried out as double blind trials. Observations were made in groups of adults (a research institute, a factory) and children (a kindergarten, a school), comprising 1040 subjects in the test groups and 771 subjects in the control groups. The drug was used during the whole epidemic period (January--March 1983) according to the following schedule: 1 oral administration in 8 days, in doses of 8 mg for adults, 50 mg for schoolchildren and 24 mg for children in the kindergarten. The epidemiological effectiveness of the drug was evaluated by comparing the total morbidity rates in influenza and acute respiratory diseases in the test and control groups. The results of 4 trials showed a pronounced epidemiological effectiveness of dipyridamol. The values of the epidemiological effectiveness index of the drug were 2.38 in the kindergarten, 1.55 at the school, 7.42 at the factory and 2.16 at the research institute. The results of the study of dipyridamol suggest that further investigations should be made with a view to use it for the mass prevention of influenza and acute respiratory diseases.     

The comprehensive differentiated protection against influenza and acute respiratory diseases of medical workers in industrial enterprises]

Acute diseases of the respiratory organs rank first among temporary invalidity causes (30.5%). For the first time workers of a health center of an industrial enterprise were protected from influenza and ARVI during an epidemic outbreak of influenza A by specific and nonspecific protection means with due consideration for the subject's health status and will. Comprehensive differentiated protection from influenza and ARVI proved highly effective, its index reaching 2.5 and the invalidity periods being shorter by 2.4-4 days.     

The gross structure of the respiratory complex I: a Lego System

The proton-pumping NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase, also called complex I, is the entry point for electrons into the respiratory chains of many bacteria and mitochondria of most eucaryotes. It couples electron transfer with the translocation of protons across the membrane, thus providing the proton motive force essential for energy-consuming processes. Electron microscopy revealed the ‘L’-shaped structure of the bacterial and mitochondrial complex with two arms arranged perpendicular to each other. Recently, we showed that the Escherichia coli complex I takes on another stable conformation with the two arms arranged side by side resulting in a horseshoe-shaped structure. This model reflects the evolution of complex I from pre-existing modules for electron transfer and proton translocation.     

The etiological structure of acute bacterial meningitis in different regions]

In 1985-1989 the etiological structure of acute bacterial meningitides (ABM) in children was studied in 4 largest industrial cities in different regions of the European part of the former USSR, as well as in 2 industrial cities of western Siberia. Due to the common methodological approach used in all investigations, comparable data were obtained in all cities. These investigations revealed that meningococci caused 53.0-86.7% of all cases of ABM in children, which corresponded to moderately increased morbidity rate in meningococcal infection (3.9-11.0 cases per 100,000 of the population, mostly 5.0-7.0 cases) in these cities with its progressive decrease during 3-4 years of observation. The gradual change of meningococci from group A, prevailing in the '70s and early '80s, to group B and in some cases the appearance of group C meningococci, accompanied by a decrease in morbidity rate, were noted. In St. Petersburg the indices of ABM morbidity in children aged up to 5 years for 1987 and 1988, caused by Haemophilus influenzae (0.74 and 4.13) and pneumococci (3.23 and 4.86), could be calculated. A great number of ABM cases of unclear etiology (15.9-33.3%) suggests that the number of ABM cases caused by these two infective agents was underestimated.     

Etiology of acute pneumonia occurring against a background of influenza and other acute respiratory viral infections

The etiology of acute pneumonia (AP) was studied in 229 patients who had the disease simultaneously with influenza (106 patients), other viral and mycoplasmal infections (48 patients), and without concomitant acute viral infections (75 patients). The use of the quantitative microbiological method and the indirect immunofluorescence test with autostrains or Streptococcus pneumoniae strains of serotypes 2, 3, and 6, prevailing in Leningrad in patients with acute inflammatory diseases of the lungs, made it possible to find out the pneumococcal etiology of AP in 95% of patients irrespective of the presence of acute respiratory viral infections. The etiological role of opportunistic bacteria was revealed in 13 AP patients (5.7%); in 2 of them the causative agent of AP was Staphylococcus aureus and in 11, various species of Gram-negative enterobacteria. The latter were the cause of complications in 8 cases of pneumococcal pneumonia.     

Basic types of respiratory system structure in insect egg envelopes, and genes controlling their formation

Insects is a taxon surprisingly rich with species and varieties, and its representatives are considered as the most fitted and "evolutionary successful" living things. Insects are distinguished by diversity and abundance of adaptations to environmental conditions, representatives of this class inhabit different ecological niches, they can be found practically in every corner of the Earth and, in particular, in close adjacency to man. Among them are those who man benefits from and those who man struggles against. This determines man's interest in studying peculiarities of their development as well as adaptations formed by them in the course of evolution to become more viable. In the paper, data are presented on morphological structure of respiratory systems in insect egg envelopes that ensure respiration process of developing embryo. Variability of these systems and their dependence on environmental conditions are demonstrated for different insect species. The information about genes controlling development of respiratory systems in fruit fly eggs is brought together, and occurrence of evolutionary conservative genes participating in development of such systems in other insect species is ascertained.     

HLA system antigens in persons with differing susceptibility to the causative agents of acute respiratory diseases

The relationship between the susceptibility of the body to infections caused by influenza A and B viruses, parainfluenza viruses, adenoviruses, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and antigens of the HLA system was studied on a group of 400 adolescents placed under clinico-epidemiological surveillance for two years. The relationship between histocompatibility antigens and acute respiratory diseases was manifested in a decrease or increase in the occurrence of recurrent diseases and infections or in the probability of the development of the diseases in infected persons. HLA B40 was associated with resistance to influenza A, B18 and B21 were associated with resistance to parainfluenza, B15 and B35 were associated with resistance to M. pneumoniae infection; susceptibility to influenza B was registered in persons with HLA B12 and to M. pneumoniae infection, in persons with HLA B16 and B18. With respect to different infective agents, the relative risk of infection varied within 1.7 and 5.0.     

Effect of microgravity on the respiratory system.

Because the pleural pressure gradient and regional distribution of pulmonary function are gravity dependent, substantial changes may be expected during weightlessness. Although very few measurements have been made during spaceflights, a number of observations during brief periods of weightlessness inside aircraft flying with parabolic trajectories confirm these predictions. Single-breath N2 washouts suggest a marked reduction in the inequality of ventilation distribution seen at 1 G. Similarly, inferences made from cardiogenic oscillations during single-breath washouts suggest a greater uniformity of perfusion during weightlessness. This is supported by changes seen on chest radiographs as well as by more direct measurements of regional blood flow distribution using radioactive iodine-labeled macroaggregates. Vital capacity is only slightly reduced, but functional residual capacity decreases by approximately 10% and maximum expiratory flow rates are slightly decreased, especially at low lung volumes. Weightlessness decreases abdominal girth, increases abdominal compliance, and substantially increases the abdominal contribution to tidal volume during resting breathing. Despite these changes, there does not appear to be any alteration in the temporal pattern of breathing. However, the deposition of inhaled medium-sized aerosol particles is substantially reduced, as predicted by model analyses of gravitational sedimentation. Virtually all these observations describe effects at the very onset of weightlessness. Practically nothing is known of slower functional changes and adaptations to prolonged weightlessness. Systematic repeated measurements during manned spaceflights will hopefully begin to provide some information on this subject in the near future.     

Effect of atmospheric pollution on the respiratory system

Santiago de Chile has a high level of air pollution with ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO) and particles equal or smaller than 10 microns (PM10) usually exceeding the accepted standards. This situation should be noxious for the exposed population and particularly--in the case of O3 and PM10--for the respiratory system. However, such an effect is rather difficult to demonstrate and it depends on the type of population under study.