Plasma-coagulation hemostasis in physically active subjects during adaptation to physical exercise

Basic hemorheological and pro-and anticoagulatory characteristics were studied in athletes practicing cyclic sports and patients with venous thrombosis and arterial atherosclerosis. The results of factor analysis of the entire sample indicated that changes in the procoagulatory components of the plasma-coagulation hemostasis in athletes tend to decrease the coagulatory potential of the blood. The athletes displayed a decrease in the activity of natural anticoagulants (protein C and antithrombin III). A significant decrease in the parameters of blood viscosity mainly caused by a better red cell deformability was correlated with the changes in the procoagulatory and anticoagulatory components of the hemostasis; these changes were well balanced and may be considered predominant. Damage to the vascular endothelium and disturbances in the red cell microrheology were found to be the most important factors in the patients with peripheral arterial disease. Acute deep vein thrombosis was associated with a strong activation of procoagulatory components and dysfunction of natural anticoagulants.     

Enzymatic properties of immobilized beta-galactosidase from Curvularia inaequalis]

beta-Galactosidase (EC 3.2.1.23) from fungus Curvularia inaequalis was modified by active brilliant orange KH and adsorbed on DEAE-Sephadex A-50. The lactose hydrolysis was studied in a continous flow on the column packed with the immobilized enzyme. The pH and temperatures optima for the substrate hydrolysis by the immobilized enzyme were shown to remain unchanged. A certain destabilizing effect of the matrix on the enzyme resistance to hear denaturation was observed. The activation parameters of denaturation of the native enzyme as well as those of the dye-modified and immobilized preparations were determined.     

Function of external respiration in patients with systemic scleroderma (according to roentgenopneumopolygraphic data)

External respiratory function was investigated in 33 patients with systemic scleroderma+ using roentgenopneumopolygraphy (RPPG). Respiratory changes consisted in diffuse and regional ventilation disturbance (after emphysematous, hypoventilation or mixed type), disorders of respiratory kinetics of the diaphragm, ribs and mediastinum. External respiratory functional disturbance showed direct correlation with the patients' age, period of disease and a degree of pathological activity. The type of external respiratory functional disturbance was unchanged during observation over time. The use of exercise testing showed the presence of signs of latent ventilation insufficiency in most of the patients.     

Molecular Hazard Identification of Non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC)

The complexity regarding Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in food safety enforcement as well as clinical care primarily relates to the current inability of an accurate risk assessment of individual strains due to the large variety in serotype and genetic content associated with (severe) disease. In order to classify the clinical and/or epidemic potential of a STEC isolate at an early stage it is crucial to identify virulence characteristics of putative pathogens from genomic information, which is referred to as ‘predictive hazard identification’. This study aimed at identifying associations between virulence factors, phylogenetic groups, isolation sources and seropathotypes. Most non-O157 STEC in the Netherlands belong to phylogroup B1 and are characterized by the presence of ehxA, iha and stx ₂, but absence of eae. The large variability in the number of virulence factors present among serogroups and seropathotypes demonstrated that this was merely indicative for the virulence potential. While all the virulence gene associations have been worked out, it appeared that there is no specific pattern that would unambiguously enable hazard identification for an STEC strain. However, the strong correlations between virulence factors indicate that these arrays are not a random collection but are rather specific sets. Especially the presence of eae was strongly correlated to the presence of many of the other virulence genes, including all non-LEE encoded effectors. Different stx-subtypes were associated with different virulence profiles. The factors ehxA and ureC were significantly associated with HUS-associated strains (HAS) and not correlated to the presence of eae. This indicates their candidacy as important pathogenicity markers next to eae and stx _2a.     

Production of Stable Cell Lines on the Basis of the Cultured RPMI 8866 B-Cells with Constant and Inducible Expression of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Tat Protein

Russian Journal of Developmental Biology - Highly-efficient antiretroviral therapy allows controlling human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and preventing the development of immunodeficiency. However,...