The expediency of studying a direct marker of infection, caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV), Core antigen (Ag-Core), as well as the importance of only detecting antibodies to Ag-Core (Ab-Core) antigen, is just being studied at the present time. The aim of this study was to identify Ag-Core and HCV RNA in blood sera samples obtained from patients with Ab-Core which are found in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with different optical density (OD). Materials and methods. Separate and joint Ab-HCV and Ag-Core identification in patients’ blood sera samples was carried out with ELISA test systems. The positivity coefficient (PC), also known as S/Co, was calculated as the ratio of a sample OD to the cut-off OD. HCV RNA was determined by using PCR with both electrophoretic and real-time detection of reaction products. In some samples HCV genotype has been defined. Results and conclusions. In our study the joint research of Ag-Core and Ab-HCV hasn 't improved the laboratory diagnostics of HCV infection compared with ELISA screening intended only for Ab-HCV identification. Contrary to this, Ag-Core identification has proved to be expedient in sera samples groups with different Ab-Core HCV S/Co. In a group of samples with Ab-Core S/Co > 15 Ag-Core is found 7 times as often as in those with low (< 6.5) Ab-Core S/Co (66.6 and 8.82 % respectively; p < 0.005). HCV RNA with a concentration higher than 3.8 * 10⁵ ME/ml is found in 75 % of samples with high Ag-Core (> 11) and AT-Core (> 15) S/Co. HCV RNA with a low concentration (< 300 ME/ml) is found in 20 % of samples with low Ab-Core S/Co (< 6.5) which also contain Ag-Core with low S/Co (< 3). Apparently, patients with Ag-Core as the only marker of HCV infection need to be under dynamic laboratory and clinical observation.

Among the numerous genetic factors of Crohn s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), polymorphisms of the vitamin D receptor gene (VDR) associated with disorders of congenital and adaptive immunity, as well as the barrier function of the intestinal epithelium, are increasingly being addressed. Aim: to assess the prevalence, clinical, diagnostic and prognostic significance of BsmI polymorphism of the VDR gene in patients with CD and UC among the residents of the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation. Material and methods. The study included 60 patients with CD, 76 patients with UC and 85 controls. Genotyping was performed by allele-specific PCR with electrophoretic detection of amplification products. Results. We have found that the frequency of the allele B polymorphism of the VDR BsmI gene was higher among patients with UC than in patients with CD and controls (44 %, 38 % and 26 %, respectively, p = 0.02), which is two times increased the risk of developing UC (OR = 2.2; 95 % CI: 1.2-4.1). In the case of carriers of the b/b genotype the risk of UC decreased (OR = 0.4; 95 % CI: 0.2-0.7). It has been shown that in carriers of allele B, the clinical implementation of CD and UC develops later than in patients with the b/b genotype (31.0 vs. 28.5 years and 43.0 vs. 28.5 years, respectively; p = 0.04). It was shown that the carriage of allele B by 5.5 times increased the risk of colitis in CD (p = 0.03). Conclusions. The B allele of the BsmI polymorphism of the VDR gene is a predictor of elevated risk of UC and colitis in CD with an increase in the age of diagnoses. Genotype b/b has a protective effect in the development of UC among the residents of the Kemerovo region of the Russian Federation.

Urine analyzers on test strips have long been reliable helpers of a clinical laboratory diagnosis doctor. Today, it is hardly possible to find a laboratory not equipped with such type of instruments, which allows conducing a simultaneous urine study for 10-13 indicators within 1-2 minutes. The only drawback of these devices is the semiquantitative result of the analysis. Thus, in a large percentage of cases, in order to refine the results of the analysis, it is necessary to repeat the study using quantitative methods. Employees of LLC Ailiton set and completed the task of creating a device that operates on the base of "dry chemistry” method and allows receiving quantitative results of analyzes. The research results on characteristics of the analytical system of urine analyzer URiСКАН-strip (Ailiton LLC, Russia) + Uriscan 11 strip test strips (YD Diagnostics, South Korea) are presented in this article. On the example of the test zone "Protein', it is shown that this analytical system allows to obtain results corresponding to the quantitative methods requirements of measuring protein concentration in urine. The use of the URiScan-strip analyzer in the practice of laboratories will significantly improve the accuracy and reproducibility of urine tests, while maintaining the simplicity and convenience of operation characteristic of all urine express analyzers.

Quantitative fluorescent PCR is a quick method of determining aneuploidy of chromosomes 13, 18, 21, X and Y. This article presents the results of a survey of 1,480 pregnant women aged 19 to 49 years with various indications for conducting prenatal researches to identify the most common chromosomal abnormalities of the fetus using the QF-PCRmethod. The fetal material was obtained from extraembryonic cells of the fetus (amniocytes). As a result of the research, 49 samples with aneuploidy (3.31 %) of 1 480 samples were identified. 69.4 % (34/49) of all detected pathologies are trisomy on chromosome 21 (Down s syndrome). 12.2 % accounted for the trisomy of chromosome 18 (Edwards syndrome) (6/49). In one sample a triploid (2.0 %) was detected. 16,4 % of the detected pathologies made samples with numerical violations of sex chromosomes (Kleinfelter syndrome, Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome, triple-X). Based on the obtained data, it is obvious that the most common aneuploidy is the trisomy of chromosome 21 (Down s syndrome).

EKOlab Co. produces sterile defibrated sheep blood for the preparation of blood agar (RU № ФСР 2008/03081 from 30.07.2008) and has developed a technical regulation of a similar product from the blood of horses (now is registered in Russia). These products will completely exclude the misuse of human blood which is much inferior to them in terms of growth properties and is not so suitable for identification hemolytic bacteria by the type of hemolysis.