ISSN Print 2500–1094    ISSN Online 2542–1204
Bulletin of RSMU
BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL OF PIROGOV UNIVERSITY (MOSCOW, RUSSIA)

New articles

Severe complex deformities of the forefoot in elderly patients with no rheumatoid arthritis result in the pronounced decrease in quality of life, chronic pain, reduced mobility, failure to get shoes for everyday use, exacerbation of the concomitant somatic diseases. The use of conventional  joint preservation techniques in such patients often leads to the deformity relapse, persistent pain, and the need for revision surgery that is often impossible due to worsening of the patients' general somatic status and local functional status. The study was aimed to improve surgical outcomes in elderly patients with no rheumatoid arthritis who had severe forefoot deformities. The prospective cohort study that involved allocation to the retrospective group for comparison of surgical outcomes in 65 patients was carried out in 2016–2019. The results obtained before and after surgery were assessed using the FFI, AOFAS Hallux, and AOFAS Lesser Toes scores. The Maryland scores were used to assess the outcomes during the postoperative period. The study revealed significant differences in treatment outcomes based on the AOFAS Hallux (p = 0.0001), AOFAS Lesser Toes (p = 0.0001), FFI (p = 0.0001), and Maryland (p = 0.0001) scores. In view of the elderly patients' specific nature, the radical surgical techniques that do not ensure joint preservation may be considered as effective and predictable methods of correction aimed at reducing the rate of revision surgeries. These techniques represent a one-step method to improve the quality of life of elderly patients.
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Technological versatility and the humoral and cellular immune response induction capacity have conditioned wide spread of adenoviral vectors as vaccine and gene therapy drugs. However, vaccination with Sputnik V made a significant portion of the population immune to the types 5 and 26 (Ad5 and Ad26) recombinant human adenovirus vectors, which are some of the most frequently used bases for candidate vaccines. Today, vaccine designers tend to select alternative adenovirus serotypes as platforms to develop vaccines against new pathogens on. A good example is simian adenovirus type 25 (SAd25), which belongs to subgroup E. It is genetically distant from Ad5 and exhibits extremely low seroprevalence in human beings, which makes it an appealing alternative vaccine vector. The purpose of this work was to design and study a new vaccine platform based on simian adenovirus type 25. We relied on the advanced methods of molecular biology and virology to construct and make recombinant adenoviruses; the phylogenetic analysis in the context of this study was enabled with bioinformatic methods. The resulting recombinant adenoviral vector can effectively replicate itself in the HEK293 cell line (human embryonic kidney cells). This work substantiates the expediency of further investigation into the SAd25 vector as a platform for development of the prevention vaccines against various infectious diseases.
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Several COVID-19 vaccines have been developed in the last three years using various tecnhiques. Multiple virus-neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 have been also obtained to combat the pandemic. However, the use of these medications for prevention and potential treatment faces significant challenges due to the emergence of new mutant virus variants, both more contagious and escaping neutralization by the immune system, that is why it is necessary to continuously renew the vaccines and develop new therapeutic antibodies. The study was aimed to use the technology of generating single-domain antibodies (nanobodies) to target the surface spike (S) protein RBD conserved epitope of the broad spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Recombinant proteins that corresponded to RBDs of three important SARS-СoV-2 strains and the full-length S protein (Wuhan) were used as antigens for immunization of a camel in order to induce production of appropriate antibodies and/or as immobilized proteins for further cross selection of the nanobody clones with pre-set specificity by the phage display. A nanobody capable of effectively recognizing the conservative region in the S protein RBDs of the broad spectrum of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, was selected from the generated immune library. Along with conventional use in immunoassays and diagnosis, the generated nanobody can be potentially used as a module for target-specific binding used to trap coronavirus in human upper airways during the development of novel combination antiviral drugs.
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Popular articles

The peculiarity of the Russian North gene pool has long become scientific fact, but has yet to receive informative explanation. Genetic drift cannot be the only contributing factor in the striking genetic differences between not only northern Russian populations and the southern ones, but among individual northern populations as well. Studying Russian North gene pools previously underrepresented in scientific literature may help understand this phenomenon. The work aimed to perform a subtotal study of the gene pool of the Arkhangelsk Oblast Pomors (Onega Coast, Summer Coast, the western fragment of the Winter Coast; n = 130) using a panel of 60 Y-chromosome SNP markers through multidimensional scaling and mapping of genetic distances. The frequencies of 14 identified haplogroups differ drastically in Pomor populations: haplogroups I1, R1a, and N3 each comprise a quarter of the total Pomor gene pool, I2-P37.2, and R1b each comprise about 8%, and the rest of the haplogroups are rare. The Onega Coast Pomors showed genetic similarity to a wide range of North-Eastern Europe Finnic-speaking populations, as well as to Russian populations with a strong pre-Slavic substratum. The Summer Coast Pomors are close to the Scandinavian gene pools, and the Winter Coast Pomors are similar only to specific Finn and Swede populations. None of the Pomor populations demonstrate genetic similarity with the Novgorod Oblast Russian populations, with which the origin of the Pomors is traditionally associated. The genetic distances between Pomor populations are so great, they are comparable to the general range of variability between the Eastern Slavic, Baltic, and Finno-Ugric peoples of the region. The reasons for such pronounced originality of Pomor populations presumably include, along with genetic drift, the gene pool of each population being underlied by a different pre-Slavic substrate, with later gene flows as an additional factor.
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The correlation between the risk of death from COVID-19 and the patient's ethnogeographic origin has been previously detected. LZTFL1 gene was identified as a potential marker of a two times higher risk of severe COVID-19. The study was aimed to assess spatial variation in the LZTFL1 SNP markers in indigenous populations of Russia and the world. Spatial variation in the LZTFL1 polymorphic markers was analyzed in 28 metapopulations (97 ethnic groups) of North Eurasia (n = 1980) and 34 world's metapopulations (n = 3637) by bioinformatics, statistical and cartographic methods. In North Eurasia, the major geographic variation vectors, North–South and West–East, are generally in line with the Caucasoid–Mongoloid anthropological vector. Global variation also corresponds to anthropological features: each cluster of indigenous populations includes only those from the place where it originates: Africa, Asia, or America. Indo-European cluster integrates Caucasoid populations of Europe and Asia. All four clusters of the world's indigenous population are separated from each other. The huge genetic diversity of Russia peoples and neighboring countries forms a bridge between three continents: Europe, Asia and America. Cartographic atlas for spatial variation in 11 LZTFL1 markers in the populations has been created. The following major patterns have been revealed: а) the world's extrema fall on the indigenous populations of Africa and America; 2) Eurasia constitutes a transition zone between these two extrema, but has its own patterns and shows enormous scale of variation shows enormous variation on a global scale; 3) the genetic landscape of Russia tends to be seamlessly integrated into the Eurasian landscape.
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Dear researcher!
At the end of 2015, Bulletin of RSMU saw an important change in its typographic design and content. We formulated new editorial policies and established strict ethical standards for submitted manuscripts in accordance with the guidelines of reputable international bodies. As a result, about a quarter of the submitted works have been rejected, the primary reason being the author trying to submit a previously published article. Sometimes authors believe that by making slight changes to the introduction, excluding a few people from the study, performing a new statistical analysis, and thus obtaining totally new results they will turn their old manuscript into a novel work. That is why we would like to talk about scientific integrity, honesty, plagiarism, and self-plagiarism in our special project “Author’s work”.
Richard FEYNMAN Cargo cult science
American physicist Richard P. Feynman, a Nobel laureate, was always very scrupulous about the quality of a research study. During his commencement address at the California Institute of Technology in 1974, he talked about scientific integrity and honesty and warned young researchers “not to fool” themselves. A must-read for anyone who believes he/she is a true scientist.
Ivan PAVLOV On the Russian mind
In 1918, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov, a Nobel laureate, delivered two lectures: on the mind in general and the Russian mind in particular; on those mind qualities that determine the success of a research work and on how these qualities are present in the Russian mind. Pavlov's thoughts are an effective vaccine against poor intellectual work.