Introduction. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that leads to disability due to articular and extra-articular damage. RA prevalence is variable. The disease is most common among females with a 3:1 ratio. The interaction of environmental and host factors contributes to RA development. Currently, the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) give the opportunity to uncover the RA genetic background. Anticitrullinated peptide antibody (ACPA) is a highly specific RA antibody, associated with poor prognosis and severe course of RA, and regulated by numerous genes. Our study is aimed at investigating whether there are any clinical and genetic aspects correlate with ACPA presence in Kazakhstani patients with RA. Indeed, the available studies on this subject are focused on Caucasian and East Asian populations (mainly Japanese and Chinese), and there are scarce data from Central Asia. Methods. Our study included 70 RA patients. Patients blood samples were collected and genotyped for 14 SNPs by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). General examination, anamnestic, and clinical and laboratory data collection were carried out. Statistical analysis was performed using R statistics. Results and Conclusion. Our study revealed a significant association of ACPA positivity with Fc receptor-like 3 (FCRL3) and ACPA negativity with signal transducer and activator of transcription 4 (STAT4) genes, but not with T cell activation Rho GTPase activating protein (TAGAP). In addition, ACPA positivity was associated with radiographic progression, rheumatoid factor (RF), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), age of RA onset, the patient global assessment, body mass index (BMI), and Gamma globulin. Conclusion. Remained 11 earlier identified significantly associated in Caucasian and Asian population SNPs were not replicated in our cohort. Further studies on larger cohorts are needed to confirm our findings with higher confidence levels and stronger statistical power.

Deleterious effect of cold on overall mortality is well-established. We studied associations between the air temperature and the number f ambulance calls for asthma in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan – the second coldest capital in the world. Daily counts of ambulance calls for asthma in Nur-Sultan for the cold seasons (October-March) 2006–2010 were obtained from the Municipal Ambulance Station. Associations between the number of calls and mean and minimum apparent temperatures (average for lags 0–15) were studied using first-order Poisson auto-regression models controlling for wind speed and effects of month, year, weekends and holidays. Altogether, there were 7373 ambulance calls for asthma during the study period. An inverse association between minimum apparent temperature and the number of calls was observed for the age-group 60 years and older. A decrease of the minimum apparent temperature by 1°C was associated with an increase in the number of calls by 1.7% (95% CI: 0.1%-3.3%) across the whole temperature spectrum. No associations in other age groups were found. Our results suggest an inverse association between the average 15-day lag minimum apparent temperature and the number of ambulance calls during the cold season in Nur-Sultan, but this is limited to the oldest age-group.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is 1% in the global population. The lack of epidemiological studies in developing countries makes it difficult to obtain a complete global epidemiological picture of RA. RA develops due to the interaction of multiple genetic and environmental factors, though the contribution of these factors to the various disease occurrence seen in different populations is unclear. AIM: The aim of our study was to analyze the dynamics of the general prevalence and incidence of RA among the population of Kazakhstan in 2017–2019 as well as to investigate the three most common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of RA in the Kazakhstan population. METHODS: The analysis of statistical data on Form 12 “On the health of the people and the health care system” was carried out. Prevalence and incidence rates were calculated according to generally accepted rules. Demographic data for the Republic of Kazakhstan were obtained from the official website stat.gov.kz. Our study included 70 RA patients and 113 control subjects. Blood samples were collected and genotyped for peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PADI4), protein tyrosine phosphatase 22, and human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DRB9 SNPs by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: The prevalence of RA in Kazakhstan in 2017–2019 was 0.36–0.38%, with an incidence rate of 0.085–0.087%, which can be comparable to data of other countries in Central Asia. The allele and genotypes frequency analyses were carried out between patients and controls. The HLA-DRB9 showed significant association of the G allele odds ratio (OR) 1.96 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.252–3.081), p= 0.0025 and G/G genotype OR = 3.67 (95% CI: 1.58–8.54), p = 0.00162 with RA in our sample. Strong association between anti-citrullinated protein antibody (ACPA) profile and PADI4 (OR 12.19 [95% CI: 2.19–67.94], p = 0.00115) was found. CONCLUSION: There was an increase in RA prevalence with age among females and a higher crude prevalence and incidence of RA in the southern regions of Kazakhstan. HLA-DRB9 prevailed in Kazakhstani patients with RA, PADI4 showed association with ACPA-positive RA. Further studies on larger samples are required to confirm our obtained results.

Background/Objectives: Prolonged and persistent migraine aura may mimic cerebral ischemia, but its clinical course and neuroimaging features are poorly characterized. We synthesized episode-level evidence on non-motor aura lasting more than 60 min without reported established infarction. Methods: This systematic review (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews [PROSPERO] CRD420261461238) followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2020 guidelines. PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to August 2026 and the searches were rerun with an extended strategy on 5 October 2026, supplemented by backward and forward citation searching. Eligible reports provided individual-episode clinical data and temporally related neuroimaging. Owing to publication selection, heterogeneous reporting, and clustering, the synthesis was descriptive. Results: Forty-eight studies described 80 episodes in 79 individuals (49 prolonged; 31 persistent). Visual aura occurred in 63/80 episodes. Although magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 77/80 episodes, patient-level informative diffusion imaging was available in only 28/80 and imaging-based perfusion data in 28/80. Five of the 28 episodes with informative diffusion imaging were diffusion-positive (17.9%); the acute apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was reduced in 3, non-restricted in 1, and unreported in 1, and all diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) abnormalities resolved on follow-up. Unusual imaging findings are more likely to be published; this proportion is therefore hypothesis-generating rather than a frequency estimate. In the longer-follow-up stratum, aura improvement was reported in 36/36 prolonged and 18/22 persistent episodes, with complete resolution in 35/35 and 15/22, respectively; a nerve-block series with a fixed 24-h assessment (14 episodes) was analyzed separately. Conclusions: Published cases show heterogeneous phenotypes and cannot support estimates of prognosis or treatment effectiveness. Standardized prospective data collection should incorporate symptom-level duration, imaging timing, DWI/ADC reporting, treatment timing, and protocol-defined follow-up.

Relevance. Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease of the axial skeleton and iliosacral joints, which is predominantly detected in males. AS affects people of different races and geographic areas, but there is a high disease incidence in certain populations. People suffering from AS experience not only an increased fatality rate compared to the general population, but also a high invalidity level, which leads to a large number of disabilities. Thus, the study of AS peculiarities is an urgent problem of modern medicine. Aim: To identify the features of the AS epidemiology at the present stage. Search strategy: A search for scientific publications was carried out in the following databases of scientific publications and specialized search engines: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Cyberleninka. Records’ number identified from databases, publicly available on the study topic, various in the design amounted to 352. 316 publications were excluded from the analysis according to the exclusion criteria. Only original publications were analyzed, including meta-analyses, systematic reviews, cohort and cross-sectional studies. The initial search depth was 7 years. 36 publications were selected. Due to the insufficient number of scientific papers and the not so significant prevalence of this disease, the group of authors decided to increase the search depth to 15 years according to the same criteria. 71 scientific papers were selected, which are presented in this literary review. Results and conclusions: review revealed that the AS prevalence fluctuates in different world regions and depends on the frequency of the HLAB27 gene presence. Literature analysis demonstrates a tendency to increase and more frequent AS detection among the female population in recent decades. At the same time, there is a significant delay in diagnosis in women compared to men, which leads to a significant deterioration in the quality of life due to the late start of treatment. Актуальность.Анкилозирующий спондилоартрит (АС) является хроническим системнымвоспалительным заболеванием осевого скелета и илеосакральных сочленений, которое преимущественно выявляется у лиц мужского пола. АС поражает людей, относящихся к различным расам и в разных географических территориях, но отмечается высокая распространенность болезни в отдельных популяциях. У людей, страдающих АС наблюдается не только повышенный уровень смертности по сравнению с общей популяцией, но так же высокий уровень инвалидизации, что приводит к высокому уровню нетрудоспособности. Учитывая вышеизложенное, изучение особенностей течения АС является актуальной проблемой современной медицины. Цель: выявить особенности эпидемиологии АС на современном этапе. Стратегия поиска: Проведен поиск научных публикаций в области изучения эпидемиологии АС в следующих базах данных научных публикаций и специализированных поисковых систем: PubMed, GoogleScholar, WebofScience, Сyberleninka в количестве 352 публикации, находящихся в открытом доступе по теме исследования, различных по дизайну исследования. 316 публикаций были исключены из анализа согласно критериям исключения: краткие отчеты, описание случая и серии случаев, газетные статьи и мнение экспертов в виде коротких сообщений. Анализу подверглись только оригинальные публикации, включающие в себя, мета-анализы, систематические обзоры, когортные и поперечные исследования. Первичная глубина поиска составила 7 лет. Было отобрано 36 публикаций. Ввиду недостаточного количества научных работ и не столь значительной распространенности данного заболевания группой авторов было решено увеличить глубину поиска до 15 лет по тем же критериям. Таким образом, было отобрано 71 научных работ, которые представлены в данном литературном обзоре. Результаты и выводы: По результатам обзора выявлено, что распространенность АС колеблется в различных регионах мира и зависит от частоты наличия гена HLA B27. Проведенный нами анализ литературы демонстрирует тенденцию к увеличению и более частую выявляемость АС среди женского населения в последние десятилетия. При этом отмечается значительная задержка в постановке диагноза у женщин по сравнению с...