No abstract

BackgroundWith HIV prevalence estimated at 20% among female injecting drug users (IDUs) in St. Petersburg, Russia, there is a critical need to address the HIV risks of this at-risk population. This study characterized HIV risks associated with injecting drug use and sex behaviors and assessed the initial feasibility and efficacy of an adapted Woman-Focused intervention, the Women's CoOp, relative to a Nutrition control to reduce HIV risk behaviors among female IDUs in an inpatient detoxification drug treatment setting.MethodWomen (N = 100) were randomized into one of two one-hour long intervention conditions--the Woman-Focused intervention (n = 51) or a time and attention-matched Nutrition control condition (n = 49).ResultsThe results showed that 57% of the participants had been told that they were HIV-positive. At 3-month follow-up, both groups showed reduced levels of injecting frequency. However, participants in the Woman-Focused intervention reported, on average, a lower frequency of partner impairment at last sex act and a lower average number of unprotected vaginal sex acts with their main sex partner than the Nutrition condition.ConclusionThe findings suggest that improvements in sexual risk reduction are possible for these at-risk women and that more comprehensive treatment is needed to address HIV and drug risks in this vulnerable population.

The last decade saw extensive studies of the human gut microbiome and its relationship to specific diseases, including gallstone disease (GSD). The information about the gut microbiome in GSD-afflicted Russian patients is scarce, despite the increasing GSD incidence worldwide. Although the gut microbiota was described in some GSD cohorts, little is known regarding the gut microbiome before and after cholecystectomy (CCE). By using Illumina MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, we inventoried the fecal bacteriobiome composition and structure in GSD-afflicted females, seeking to reveal associations with age, BMI and some blood biochemistry. Overall, 11 bacterial phyla were identified, containing 916 operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The fecal bacteriobiome was dominated by Firmicutes (66% relative abundance), followed by Bacteroidetes (19%), Actinobacteria (8%) and Proteobacteria (4%) phyla. Most (97%) of the OTUs were minor or rare species with ≤1% relative abundance. Prevotella and Enterocossus were linked to blood bilirubin. Some taxa had differential pre- and post-CCE abundance, despite the very short time (1–3 days) elapsed after CCE. The detailed description of the bacteriobiome in pre-CCE female patients suggests bacterial foci for further research to elucidate the gut microbiota and GSD relationship and has potentially important biological and medical implications regarding gut bacteria involvement in the increased GSD incidence rate in females.

No abstract

No abstract

A case of successful treatment for epilepsy and myasthenia in a young female patient Romanova T.V., Yakunina A.V.

No abstract

The morning glory (MG) syndrome is a rare, sporadic and commonly unilateral anomaly. The MG and persistent fetal vasculature (PVF) syndromes are generally considered as isolated ocular manifestations of failures in various stages of embryogenesis of the eye. Purpose: To describe the clinical manifestations of a bilateral combined ocular pathology, the MG syndrome and PVF syndrome, associated with congenital central nervous system (CNS) and bone anomalies. Material and Methods: We described a rare variant of binocular manifestation of the MG syndrome associated both with the PVF syndrome and CNS involvement in a 7-month infant. Results: In the pediatric case reported here, the bilateral combination of MG syndrome and PVF syndrome is accompanied by congenital CNS anomalies, corpus callosum agenesis and vicarious ventriculomegaly. To the best of our knowledge, this congenital association has been not reported previously, which made us to report this case. Conclusion: Morning glory syndrome is a rare congenital disorder whose pathogenesis is still not fully understood. The rare infant case reported here demonstrates an association of the MG syndrome with another congenital anomaly of the eye (the persistent fetal vasculature syndrome) and a major congenital anomaly of the CNS, corpus callosum agenesis, which requires not only detailed and comprehensive medical evaluation, but also longitudinal patient surveillance in cooperation with allied specialties like neuropathology, pediatrics, etc.