Combined prime-boost vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) using a recombinant vaccinia virus and a bacterial plasmid both expressing TBE virus non-structural NS1 protein

Background  

Heterologous prime-boost immunization protocols using different gene expression systems have proven to be successful tools in protecting against various diseases in experimental animal models. The main reason for using this approach is to exploit the ability of expression cassettes to prime or boost the immune system in different ways during vaccination procedures. The purpose of the project was to study the ability of recombinant vaccinia virus (VV) and bacterial plasmid, both carrying the NS1 gene from tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus under the control of different promoters, to protect mice against lethal challenge using a heterologous prime-boost vaccination protocol.     

Some inhibitors of purine nucleoside phosphorylase

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) catalyzes reversible phosphorolysis of purine deoxy- and ribonucleosides with formation (d)Rib-1-P and corresponding bases. PNP plays a leading role in the cell metabolism of nucleosides and nucleotides, as well as in maintaining the immune status of an organism. The major aim of the majority of studies on the PNP is the detection of highly effective inhibitors of this enzyme, derivatives of purine nucleosides used in medicine as immunosuppressors, which are essential for creating selective T-cell immunodeficiency in a human body for organ and tissue transplantation. The present work is devoted to the study of the effects of some synthetic derivatives of purine nucleosides on activity of highly purified PNP from rabbit spleen and also from human healthy and tumor tissues of lung and kidneys. Purine nucleoside analogues modified at various positions of both the heterocyclic base and carbohydrate residues have been investigated. Several compounds, including 8-mercapto-acyclovir, 8-bromo-9-(3,4-hydroxybutyl)guanine, which demonstrated potent PNP inhibition, could be offered for subsequent study as immunosuppressors during organ and tissue transplantation.     

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the accident on the Chernobyl NPP: medical consequences in Armenia

The aim of this work is the analysis of the indices of the health and of the structure of the sicknesses of the inhabitants of Armenia who took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident. Also it is the determination of possible dependence of the frequency of diseases for the most widespread classes of sicknesses on the received dose of the irradiation, according to the data of the clinical examination and dispensarysation; and also it is the revelation of the role of other factors influenced on the health indexes.     

Isolation of (ADP-ribose)polymerases from the calf testis and thymus and comparison of their basic physico-chemical properties

Highly purified preparations of (ADP-ribose) polymerase were obtained from calf testis and thymus by chromatography on DNA-cellulose, hydroxyapatite and gel filtration. It was shown that the enzymes isolated from both sources under identical conditions have similar values of Mr, Vmax and Km in the reactions of autoribosylation and poly(ADP-ribosylation) of histone H1 as well as similar pH-dependencies of the catalyzed reactions.     

Genetic determination of the neurophysiological mechanisms of the cortico-subcortical integration of bioelectrical activity of the brain

Contribution of genetical factors to neurophysiological mechanisms of cortico-subcortical integration was investigated in 12 pairs of the monozygotic and 5 pairs of dizygotic twins (aged from 18 to 25). In each pair of twins as well as in all 544 unrelated pairs of subjects from both groups, interpairs similarity of the character of the spatial interaction of bioelectrical activity of the neocortex for different combinations of statistical correlations of EEG (from 16 monopolar electrodes) was estimated. The data obtained allow to suggest a higher common population invariance and a relatively small hereditary and phenotypic variability of morphofunctional systems, which underlie neurophysiological mechanisms of the brain integration in general. Apparently, the formation of the brain stem and subcortical regulatory structures in the ontogenesis, the structures that play the main role in the realization of system combination of different parts of the brain into united formation, occurs to all individuals according to a single principle since its disturbance can probably affect the fundamental monomorphal features of the species. In turn, one can expect a great interindividual variability of establishing of the intraregional connections of neocortex, the role of genetic and environmental factors in the formation of short and relatively long interactions being complex.     

An integrated Bayesian analysis of LOH and copy number data

Background  

Cancer and other disorders are due to genomic lesions. SNP-microarrays are able to measure simultaneously both genotype and copy number (CN) at several Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) along the genome. CN is defined as the number of DNA copies, and the normal is two, since we have two copies of each chromosome. The genotype of a SNP is the status given by the nucleotides (alleles) which are present on the two copies of DNA. It is defined homozygous or heterozygous if the two alleles are the same or if they differ, respectively. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is the loss of the heterozygous status due to genomic events.