Russia? сюрприз!

I recently found these new publications on PubMed.  Only the abstracts are available, as the articles are in Russian.


Multiple sclerosis and endothelial dysfunction (a review).
[Article in Russian]
Spirina NN, Spirin NN, Fadeeva OA, Shipova EG, Boĭko AN.
The endothelium plays an important role in the maintenance of vascular homeostasis, the tone and anatomical structure of the vascular wall. It is an essential component of the blood-brain barrier. In adverse conditions, damaged endothelium initiates many pathological processes in the human organism and plays a key role in the pathogenesis of a number of systemic diseases including multiple sclerosis. In this review, we discussed in detail the concepts of structural and functional features of a healthy endothelium and endothelial dysfunction, and present the basic theory of the damage mechanism of the blood-brain barrier and the role of endothelial cells, adhesion molecules, cerebral hypoperfusion in multiple sclerosis.


von Willebrand factor and adhesion molecules in patients with multiple sclerosis.
[Article in Russian]
Spirin NN1, Spirina NN, Boĭko AN
Based on a role of certain adhesion molecules and vascular endothelial damage in multiple sclerosis (MS), we explored C-reactive protein, von Willebrand factor, matrix metalloproteinase-9, sICAM-1, sPECAM-1, E-selectin and P-selectin in the blood of patients. One group of the patients received pathogenic therapy. There was the increase in the level of the von Willebrand factor in patients who did not receive the therapy. The levels MMP-9 and sE-selectin were correlated with the high activity of the disease. The authors suggest the presence of the endothelial dysfunction in some patients. MMP9 and sE-selectin may be considered as potential markers of the activity of multiple sclerosis.

I searched pubmed for Russian publications because this blog has been receiving an inordinate amount of traffic from Russia.  In the past several months, there have been hundreds of thousands of hits. I've now have more readers from Russia than the US or Canada.   I'm honestly not sure what this is all about, and whether these might be bots, or another variety of nefarious internet activity.

But I'm hoping it's more about actual Russians wanting to understand the vascular connection to MS, and being sent here by internet search engines.

So, if any of my Russian readers would like to pop on and say hi (or Здравствуйте) in the comments---I'd be honored. I first noticed endothelial dysfunction, high SED rate, C-reactive protein and hypercoagulation in my husband's serum results back in 2007, and created a lifestyle program to help address it.  link I keep writing all these years later, and my tracking results show that people all over the world are reading this blog.

Both sides of my father's family emigrated to America from Russia in the early 1900s.  They were escaping the pogroms and seeking religious tolerance and work opportunities.  I hope to visit their homeland under better circumstances, to honor my family's hard work and courage.  The world is much smaller today, thanks to our internet access.

I'd suggest that any interested researchers who visit this blog contact the ISNVD  www.isnvd.org  and submit your studies.  We're together in wanting to understand the vascular connection to MS--a disease which affects people all over the world.  Especially those of us in developed countries above and below the 40th parallel.

всего хорошего,

Joan