The synthesis and biological evaluation of a novel series of dimeric camphor derivatives are described. The resulting compounds were studied for their antiviral activity, cyto- and genotoxicity. Compounds 3a and 3d in which the quaternary nitrogen atoms are separated by the C5H10 and С9H18 aliphatic chain, exhibited the highest efficiency as an agent inhibiting the reproduction of the influenza virus A(H1N1)pdm09. The cytotoxicity data of compounds 3 and 4 revealed their moderate activity against malignant cell lines; compound 3f had the highest activity for the CEM-13 cells. These results show close agreement with the data of independent studies on toxicity of these compounds, in particular that the toxicity of compounds strongly depends on spacer length.

Analysis of 505 cases history of patients among men with viral hepatitis demonstrates that HBV infected patients represent 68.9% of the total and that a non-parenteral rate of transmission is the most likely means of hepatitis B infection. Saliva and serum testing for the presence of specific HBV markers (HBsAg, HBeAg and HBV DNA) at different phases of the infection process were carried out to review the diagnostic and epidemiological value of saliva samples from patients with acute viral hepatitis B. The frequency of HBsAg detection by Enzyme Immune Assay (EIA) in saliva of patients in acute period was found to correlate with the frequency of its detection in serum. In early convalescence the frequency of detection of that antigen in serum (59.5% of patients) was significantly higher than in saliva (23.8%) (P < 0.001). The frequencies of HBeAg detection by EIA in saliva samples was significantly higher than that in serum samples in both acute phase (84.3% and 28.1% of patients, respectively) and in early convalescence (56.2% and 3.1% of patients, respectively). The study of frequencies of detection of these antigens in the dynamics of the disease up to the total recovery of patients (observations were carried out for the period of 60 days and longer) showed that in most patients there was a faster disappearance HBsAg from saliva than from serum. By the end of second month this antigen was detected in saliva of only 8.3% of patients whereas in serum in the same period HBsAg was detected in 33.3% of patients. HBeAg became undetectable in blood whereas HBs-antigenemia was still pronounced, and a month after the beginning of the disease it was not found in serum specimens. In saliva, HBeAg was detected in 95.8% of patients observed directly after admission. A month after the beginning of the disease it was detected in saliva of 66.7% of patients and, by the end of observation period, in 12.5% of patients recovered from viral hepatitis. HBV DNA revealed by PCR in saliva and serum of HBV-infected patients was detected in acute period not only in serum (84.6% of cases) but also in saliva (46.2% of cases). The data illustrate the diagnostic value of saliva and point to the possible role of saliva as a source of HBV infection.

PCR assays were used to test adult Ixodes persulcatus ticks from Western Siberia, Russia, for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), and the human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE) agent. Of the 150 ticks that were studied, 38% were infected with B. burgdorferi, 46% were infected with TBEV, and 8% were infected with the HGE agent. These three pathogens were distributed in the ticks independently of one another.

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A series of secondary amines combining monoterpenoid and aminoadamantane moieties have been synthesized. Their cytotoxic activity against human cancer cells CEM-13, MT-4, and U-937 has been studied for the first time. Most of the obtained compounds exhibited a significant cytotoxic activity with the median cytotoxic dose (CTD50) ranging from 6 to 84 µM. The most promising results were obtained for compound 2b which was synthesized from 1-aminoadamantane and (-)-myrtenal and revealed a high activity against all tumor lines used (CTD50 = 12 ÷ 21 µM) along with low toxicity with respect to MDCK cells (CTD50 = 1500 µM). The synthesized amines do not exert the genotoxic effect on cells of the biosensor strain based on recombinant E. coli cells bearing the pRAC-gfp plasmid.