Bulletin of RSMU

ISSN Print 2500–1094 ISSN Online 2542–1204

Bulletin of RSMU

BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL OF PIROGOV UNIVERSITY (MOSCOW, RUSSIA)

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Moskalenko AN, Filatov AS, Fedotova EYu, Konovalov RN, Illarioshkin SN

Differentiation between Parkinson’s disease, especially in its early stages, and essential tremor, which is a phenotypically similar movement disorder, still remains an unsolved challenge for neurology. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic significance of nigrosome imaging (nigrosomes are dopaminergic neuron clusters in the substantia nigra of the midbrain) using 3T high-resolution SW-MRI. The study was conducted in 20 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 10 patients with essential tremor. Visual analysis of the acquired nigrosome-1 images was performed using a 4-point ordinal rating scale. Differences in sex, age and duration of the disease were calculated using the Fisher exact test and the Mann–Whitney U test. The diagnostic value of the method was assessed using Pearson’s chisquared test. Nigrosome-1 was bilaterally or unilaterally absent in 70% of parkinsonian patients. Less specific changes to the substantia nigra (SN) were observed in two more parkinsonian patients (10%), whose nigrosome-1 appeared reduced in size. By contrast, nigrosome-1 was bilaterally intact in all patients (100%) with essential tremor (p < 0.001). Our preliminary findings demonstrate the high potential of noninvasive nigrosome-1 imaging in the differential diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor.

Received: 2021-12-22

Published online: 2022-01-31

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2022.002

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Savinova TA, Bocharova YuA, Chaplin AV, Korostin DO, Shamina OV, Mayanskiy NA, Chebotar IV

Antibiotic-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa are a global threat to public health. The knowledge of mechanisms underlying antibiotic resistance is essential to counter P. aeruginosa infections. This study describes the phenomenon of meropenem-induced cross-resistance to colistin in the ATCC 27853 strain of P. aeruginosa. The study was conducted in the specimens of P. aeruginosa grown from the reference ATCC 27853 strain in the medium containing meropenem gradients. Susceptibility of the isolates to carbapenems and colistin was assessed using the agar dilution method; susceptibly to colistin was assessed using the broth microdilution method. A total of 93 P. Aeruginosa isolates were analyzed; of them two demonstrated reduced susceptibility to carbapenems (meropenem, imipenem) and colistin. Whole-genome sequencing of the isolates was performed on a MGISEQ-2000 platform. Missense mutations in the oprD and mexD genes and a nonsense mutation in the phoQ gene were detected. We conclude that exposure of P. aeruginosa to meropenem can lead to cross-resistance to colistin, a last resort drug for P. aeruginosa infections.

Received: 2021-12-27

Published online: 2022-01-19

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2022.001

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VIEWS 3146

Nikishina VB, Petrash EA, Kuznetsova AA, Shuteeva TV, Zakharova IA

Cognitive and mnestic impairments have a significant negative impact on the quality of parkinsonian patients’ life. Memory impairment causes changes in the mechanisms of information processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of transformations undergone by memorized visual and semantic content during memory consolidation and reconsolidation in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The study was conducted on 32 male patients with PD (ICD code: G20). Among the patients, 9 had rigidity/bradykinesia-d ominant PD, 11 had tremor-dominant PD, and 12 suffered from a mixed type of PD. Short-term memory span was assessed using the 10 words and the visual memory tests proposed by Luria. As stimulus materials we used a symbolic representation of the old Greek letter resembling an owl and a translated excerpt from a Canadian aboriginal epic. Regardless of the PD form, the quality of the memorized information was either altered or completely lost. The mechanisms underlying such transformations differed quantitively depending on the PD form. Transformation of the memorized information occurred in the conditions of both incidental and deliberate memorization and was represented by distortions (substitution of the original content with confabulations) and simplifications of the structural and semantic organization. We consolidated significantly lesser amount of auditory verbal (р = 0.018) and visual (p = 0.029) information. This trend was consistent with the pronounced distortion of content during its retrieval.

Received: 2021-12-02

Published online: 2021-12-31

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.069

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VIEWS 2755

Gil AU, Demin AK

The significant proportion of the Russian population are active online social media users. Changes in alcohol consumption in this target group during the COVID-19 pandemic remain understudied. The aim of this survey was to investigate changes in alcohol consumption and factors associated with the increase in alcohol use among online social media users in Russia during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted among 1,518 users of online social networking services popular in Russia from June to September 2020. The survey revealed that 35.4% of men and 25.6% of women started drinking more frequently during the first months of the pandemic; 24.9% of men and 17.7% of women increased their usual consumption (volume) of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion, whereas 28.5% of men and 27.9% of women increased the frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Adjusted binary logistic regression analysis revealed a positive association between the increase in the frequency of alcohol consumption and the following factors: age from 18 to 29 years (OR: 1.710; 95% CI: 1.002–2.917), severe restrictions in everyday private life (OR: 3.127; 95% CI: 1.011–9.675) and severe negative professional or financial consequences due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (OR: 2.247; 95% CI: 1.131–4.465). The odds of an increase in the frequency of heavy episodic drinking were more than twice higher (OR: 2.329; 95% CI: 1.001–5.428) among those who had experienced severe negative consequences of the pandemic to their professional and financial situation. Higher typical frequency and usual consumption (volume) of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion and higher typical frequency of heavy episodic drinking before the pandemic were positively significantly associated with the increase in these parameters of alcohol consumption during the first months of the pandemic. In times of large-scale epidemics and public health crises, it is advisable to consider the possibility of implementing screening and brief interventions, including via online social media, to prevent problems associated with alcohol use.

Received: 2021-11-21

Published online: 2021-12-30

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.064

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VIEWS 3088

Evseev PV, Shneider MM, Mikhailova YuV, Shelenkov AA, Yanushevich YuG, Karlova MG, Moiseenko AV, Sokolova OS, Shagin DA

Multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae strains are one of the major causes of nosocomial infections caused by the antibiotic-resistant bacteria. There are different options for dealing with this threat, among which is the clinical application of bacteriophages. The study was aimed to isolate and describe a virulent bactriophage, having the potential for therapeutic use. The standard phage biology and bioinformatic methods were used, which included the advanced techniques for protein structure prediction (AlphaFold software), and electron microscopy. The virulent podovirus KPPK108.1, being the member of genus Drulisvirus, which is able to specifically infect the K. pneumoniae strains with the KL108 type capsular polysaccharide, has been isolated from the wastewater. The sequence of the bactriophage genome has been defined, the biological properties have been investigated, and the genetic features have been described.

Received: 2021-12-08

Published online: 2021-12-30

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.068

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VIEWS 3432

Lomova NA, Chagovets VV, Tokareva AO, Dolgopolova EL, Karapetyan TE, Magomedova AP, Shmakov RG

Omics technologies hold great potential as the basis for development of the new diagnostic approaches in obstetrics. Cervicovaginal fluid (CVF) as part of the mother-placenta-fetus system can be used to diagnose obstetric complications. This study aimed to identify the features of lipid composition of the cervical canal secretion peculiar to Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and preeclampsia (PE). We took CVF samples from 57 pregnant women and subjected them to an in-depth clinical-anamnestic and mass-spectrometric analysis. Lipid extracts of CVF were analyzed with a liquid chromatography system coupled with a mass analyzer. As a result, we identified 239 lipid compounds. In case of 17 lipids, mathematical analysis revealed significant differences between samples from women with normal pregnancy indicator values (normal group) and patients from the IUGR group (p < 0.05). As for the normal group and PE group patients, there were significant differences identified for 3 lipids (p < 0.05). Comparison of samples from the PE and IUGR groups yielded statistically significant differences in levels of two lipids (p < 0.05). Mainly, the lipids were oxylipins, sphingomyelins, triglycerides, and cardiolipins. The developed diagnostic model had the sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.91 (cut-off level — 0.50; AUC — 0.85). The data obtained are valuable in the context of development of the new methods of diagnosing placentaassociated complications of pregnancy and for understanding new mechanisms of pathogenesis of these complications.

Received: 2021-11-23

Published online: 2021-12-29

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.066

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VIEWS 2753

Chagovets VV, Vasil'ev VG, Iurova MV, Khabas GN, Pavlovich SV, Starodubtseva NL, Mayboroda OA

Mucins are large glycoproteins characterized by the abundant O-linked oligosaccharides (O-glycans) clustered on a protein backbone. Most of the circulating mucins are rapidly cleared by glycan-recognizing hepatic clearance receptors in the liver. Those mucins that remain in the bloodstream are most commonly used as markers in clinical diagnostics. One of such circulating mucins is MUC16; a peptide epitope of which is known as CA125 antigen — a marker for ovarian cancer. Here, using a targeted 1H-NMR profiling of plasma we are exploring a link between the measured CA125 values and the systemic metabolism of the patients within a group with confirmed high-grade ovarian cancer. The study allowed identifying statistically significant associations between the measured values of CA125 epitope and the plasma concentrations of glucose, glutamine, alanine, betaine and serine. The significance of the identified associations for the listed compounds is below 0.01. This, in turn, enables us to hypothesize about a possibility of including the metabolic measures into a composite score of the ovarian cancer based on the CA125 epitope of MUC16.

Received: 2021-12-01

Published online: 2021-12-29

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.065

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VIEWS 2898

Takhchidi KhP, Takhchidi NKh, Kasmynina TA, Mahno NA

Drusenoid pigment epithelial detachment is a condition characterized by separation of the retinal pigment epithelium from the underlying Bruch’s membrane due to formation of drusenoid deposits. The disorder represents the intermediate stage of the age-related macular degeneration, and is a risk factor for the age-related macular degeneration progression to late stage characterized by geographic atrophy, which results in the irreversible central vision loss. Management of patients with this disorder is in most cases limited to follow-up. The feasibility of using the multimodality low power mode laser therapy for treatment of drusenoid pigment epithelial detachment is reported. The results of laser photocoagulation of the retina demonstrate the morphological and functional recovery: retinal pigment epithelial detachment sealing, improvement of visual function, and restored retinal architecture.

Received: 2021-11-24

Published online: 2021-12-29

DOI: 10.24075/brsmu.2021.067

Comments 0

VIEWS 2986