Infectious diseases are a global health problem affecting billions of people. Developing rapid and sensitive diagnostic tools is key for successful patient management and curbing disease spread. Currently available diagnostics are very specific and sensitive but time-consuming and require expensive laboratory settings and well-trained personnel; thus, they are not available in resource-limited areas, for the purposes of large-scale screenings and in case of outbreaks and epidemics. Developing new, rapid, and affordable point-of-care diagnostic assays is urgently needed. This review focuses on CRISPR-based technologies and their perspectives to become platforms for point-of-care nucleic acid detection methods and as deployable diagnostic platforms that could help to identify and curb outbreaks and emerging epidemics. We describe the mechanisms and function of different classes and types of CRISPR-Cas systems, including pros and cons for developing molecular diagnostic tests and applications of each type to detect a wide range of infectious agents. Many Cas proteins (Cas3, Cas9, Cas12, Cas13, Cas14 etc.) have been leveraged to create highly accurate and sensitive diagnostic tools combined with technologies of signal amplification and fluorescent, potentiometric, colorimetric, lateral flow assay detection and other. In particular, the most advanced platforms -- SHERLOCK/v2, DETECTR, CARMEN or CRISPR-Chip -- enable detection of attomolar amounts of pathogenic nucleic acids with specificity comparable to that of PCR but with minimal technical settings. Further developing CRISPR-based diagnostic tools promises to dramatically transform molecular diagnostics, making them easily affordable and accessible virtually anywhere in the world. The burden of socially significant diseases, frequent outbreaks, recent epidemics (MERS, SARS and the ongoing COVID-19) and outbreaks of zoonotic viruses (African Swine Fever Virus etc.) urgently need the developing and distribution of express-diagnostic tools. Recently devised CRISPR-technologies represent the unprecedented opportunity to reshape epidemiological surveillance and molecular diagnostics.

Among elderly users of antipsychotic medications, the risk of cerebrovascular events, cardiac arrhythmia, and congestive heart failure was similar in FGA and SGA users. Whereas SGA users were at a higher risk of nonfatal myocardial infarction, the use of FGAs was associated with an increased risk of death. Antipsychotic pharmacotherapy in older persons needs to be chosen with careful consideration of all risks and benefits.

2 ГБУЗ «Московский научно-практический центр борьбы с туберкулезом ДЗМ», Москва, Россия 3 ФГБУ «ЦНИИОИЗ», Москва, Россия В статье представлены сведения об одних из основных эпидемиологических показателей, определяющих понятие «бремя туберкулеза» в системе мировой статистики ВОЗ -заболеваемости и распространенности туберкулеза.Рассмотрены вопросы формирования оценки ВОЗ заболеваемости туберкулезом, и приведены основные сведения по оценке и регистрации новых случаев заболевания в отдельных странах мира, регионах ВОЗ и в мире в целом.Данные, приведенные в статье, включают сравнение значений оценки заболеваемости и значений регистрируемой заболеваемости туберку-лезом, полученных в РФ, странах мира и странах Европейского региона ВОЗ.Отдельный раздел статьи посвящен вопросам организации выявления туберкулеза в понимании ВОЗ, в частности применения системати-ческого скрининга.Дано разъяснение причин ограниченного использования показателя распространенности туберкулеза в последних изданиях ВОЗ. The article presents data on two of the main epidemiological rates defining the burden of tuberculosis in the system of WHO global statisticstuberculosis incidence and mortality.The article specifies the formation of WHO assessment of tuberculosis incidence and provides main data on the evaluation and notification of new cases in certain countries, WHO regions and worldwide.Data presented in the article include the comparison of definitions of incidence and values of registered incidence of tuberculosis, obtained in Russia, worldwide and countries of WHO European Region.The article speculates on the tuberculosis detection in WHO understanding, in particular on the use of systematic screening.The explanation is given why the rate of prevalence is not commonly used in the latest WHO publications.Key words: tuberculosis, tuberculosis burden, tuberculosis incidence, tuberculosis prevalence, WHO global report, WHO assessment of epidemiological rates ОРИГИНАЛЬНЫЕ СТАТЬИ

Low-molecular-weight DNA (180 bp) appears in blood plasma of irradiated rats. Its amount correlates directly with the irradiation dose. The cloned low-molecular-weight DNA is enriched with G/C pairs (48% compared with 40% in the rodent genome). Computer search against EMBL data showed that the sequence of these clones is homologous to various genomic repetitive elements. The program for identification of nucleosome-positioning sequences in eukaryotic nuclear DNA has shown that low-molecular-weight DNA fragments are able to form rather sustainable nucleosomes and have some peculiarity. The difference in the composition of low-molecular-weight DNA isolated from blood plasma of rats after irradiation at doses of 8 and 100 Gy consisted of the change in the levels of two dinucleotides (CpG and CpT). The DNA in question originates from different types of cells.

BACKGROUND The five BRICS (Brazil, Russian, Indian, China, and South Africa) countries bear 49% of the world's tuberculosis (TB) burden and they are committed to ending tuberculosis. OBJECTIVES The aim of this paper is to map the scientific landscape related to TB research in BRICS countries. METHODS Were combined bibliometrics and social network analysis techniques to map the scientific publications related to TB produced by the BRICS. Was made a descriptive statistical data covering the full period of analysis (1993-2016) and the research networks were made for 2007-2016 (8,366 records). The bubble charts were generated by VantagePoint and the networks by the Gephi 0.9.1 software (Gephi Consortium 2010) from co-occurrence matrices produced in VantagePoint. The Fruchterman-Reingold algorithm provided the networks' layout. FINDINGS During the period 1993-2016, there were 38,315 peer-reviewed, among them, there were 11,018 (28.7%) articles related by one or more authors in a BRICS: India 38.7%; China 23.8%; South Africa 21.1%; Brazil 13.0%; and Russia 4.5% (The total was greater than 100% because our criterion was all papers with at least one author in a BRICS). Among the BRICS, there was greater interaction between India and South Africa and organisations in India and China had the highest productivity; however, South African organisations had more interaction with countries outside the BRICS. Publications by and about BRICS generally covered all research areas, especially those in India and China covered all research areas, although Brazil and South Africa prioritised infectious diseases, microbiology, and the respiratory system. MAIN CONCLUSIONS An overview of BRICS scientific publications and interactions highlighted the necessity to develop a BRICS TB research plan to increase efforts and funding to ensure that basic science research successfully translates into products and policies to help end the TB epidemic.