[Assessment of interleukin-1 beta mRNA expression in the norm and pathology]

We investigated cytoplasmic RNA from the peripheral blood cells of pollinosis patients. Increased levels of IL-I mRNA were registered in neutrophils of patients suffering from pollinosis for a long time. Neutrophils from patients at the time of exacerbation of pollinosis responded to stimuli less than the cells from healthy donors. During remission the activated neutrophils from pollinosis patients and those from healthy donors had same levels of IL-I mRNA.

[Immunogenesis and axoplasmic transport in Wistar rats]

Immunization of Wistar rats with thymus dependent antigens (sheep red blood cells-SRBC) is accompanied by a reliable increase in the synthesis of RNA and proteins in thalamic cerebral cortex and spinal marrow (48 hrs after antigen injection) and also in an increase in the intensity of rapid axoplasmic transport (RAT) along motor fibers of sciatic nerve (5,48,72 hrs following the beginning of immunization). There was a consecutive augmentation in AFC number in mesenteric and partly in inguinal lymph nodes (96 hrs after SRBC injection). Thus, time dependence between immunogenesis and axoplasmic transport in experimental animals (Wistar rats) was determined for the first time. It identifies another, previously unstudied, channel in interactions of immune and nervous systems.

[The effect of increased levels of chronic UVB-radiation on the functional state of the body in sheep]

The effect of increased doses of UV-B-radiation produced by LER-40 lamps (with an intensity of 5.5 W/m2 at a daily dose of 20 kJ/m2 and a total dose for 15 days of 300 kJ/m2) on the cardiovascular function, biochemical, biophysical and structural parameters of blood plasma and cells of sheep was investigated. It was found that increased UV-B-radiation produced functional changes in different physiological systems of animals: arrhythmias, diastole shortening, increase of the systole-diastole index; decrease of platelet count, shortening of blood coagulation time; increase of calcium, iron and copper and decrease of zinc in plasma; conformational changes in cytoplasmic membranes of platelets and lymphocytes. The changes that occurred in the sheep at an early stage of exposure can be viewed as adaptive. However, functional changes that were seen at remote stages suggested that the sensitivity of various systems of the body to UV-B-radiation was different.

[The treatment of infectious-inflammatory urologic diseases and their complications by efferent detoxication methods]

This is an account of experience with extracorporeal detoxication techniques in 238 patients with urologic conditions who underwent 305 hemosorption (HS), 30 plasma sorption (PS) and 171 plasmapheresis (PA) sessions. Clinical and laboratory criteria are presented for employing an extracorporeal detoxication technique depending on predominance of suppurative septic or azotemic intoxication, and contraindications for HS, PS and PA. Absolute indications for these techniques were suppurative septic intoxication secondary to acute and chronic urologic inflammatory diseases, including septic shock, and acute renal failure. An emphasis is placed on the need for utilization of this therapy after urine flow recovery and drainage of all suppurative foci. An overview of mechanisms of different extracorporeal detoxication techniques showed them to share detoxifying and immunostimulating effects and improvement of blood rheology, renal and hepatic function. Application of the extracorporeal techniques reversed 84.4% of acute pyelonephritis, 61% of acute renal failure (without resorting to hemodialysis) and 65.4% of septic shock. This therapy was less efficient in patients with multiple organ failure. Good efficacy of xenogenic-spleen or splenocyte-suspension hemoperfusion was shown in patients with urosepsis.

[Vagotomy in the treatment of perforated duodenal ulcers]

Results of using vagotomy with draining operations in 201 patients with perforating ulcers of the duodenum are described. The authors have developed indications to using one or another kind of vagotomy and draining operations depending on the arising surgical situation. The observation of the sequence of operative measures, certain technical methods of vagotomy, sanitation of the abdominal cavity depending on the degree of peritonitis using continuous peridural morphine anesthesia in the complex treatment makes it possible to use vagotomy even for spreaded forms of peritonitis. As compared with the analogous group of patients after resection of the stomach or suture of the perforated ulcers, the lethality was reduced from 9.4% to 2%.

[Benz(a)anthracene and 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzo(p)dioxin modulate mitogen-stimulated proliferation of lymphocytes]

The influence of benzo(a)anthracene (BA) and 2, 3, 7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) on functional properties of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBC) has been investigated. Incubation of mitogen-stimulated cells in the presence of xenobiotics induced high activity of benzo(a) pyrene-hydroxylase (BH) and suppressed lymphocyte blast transformation. Preincubation of unstimulated PBC with BA and TCDD caused insignificant increase of BH activity. The results show modulated effect of xenobiotics on functional properties of PBC.

[Embedding of the deep dorsal vein into the duplication of the tunica albuginea--a new method for the surgical treatment of venous insufficiency of the corpora cavernosa penis]

The methods to block the venous drainage of the spongy bodies (ligation, arterialization and embolization of the venous system in the penis) used in the treatment of vascular erectile impotence lead to spongy tissue sclerosis. The pathogenetic unfoundedness of the above methods prompted the authors to develop better methods for treating the venous insufficiency of the spongy bodies. Nineteen patients with erectile impotence were examined by using drug (papaverin), induced erection, dynamic spongiography, cavernography, and spongiobiopsy. The examination provided a classification of venous insufficiency in the spongy bodies, which included 3 types of the disease: distal, proximal, and mixed. For the treatment of the distal pattern, a new surgical method was developed, namely, immersion of the deep dorsal vein of the penis into the duplication of the tunica albuginea in the spongy bodies. The method partially blocks the venous drainage only in the erected penis, thus avoiding persistent venous hypertension in the erected penis, thus avoiding persistent venous hypertension in the spongy bodies. Five patients were operated on. The follow-up of 3 months to 1 year showed an improvement of penis erectility. Lower venous drainage in the spongy bodies was evidenced by Doppler sonography and perfusion artificial erection. Thus, the proposed operation is an effective tool to correct venous drainage in the spongy bodies.

["Circular bands" on the casts of the microcirculatory bed of the human heart in ontogenesis (data from scanning electron microscopy of corrosive casts)]

By means of scanning electron microscopy of corrosive casts, applied to the human cardiac hemomicrocirculatory bed vessels, beginning from 6-9-month-old fetuses up to persons of elderly and old age, peculiarities in form, dimensions and distribution have been revealed in the wall of the arterial part of the vessels of the hemomicrocirculatory bed of so called circular strips. They are inevitable structural components in the wall of the vessels mentioned and correspond to smooth myocytes, shifted at methylmetacrilate injection.

[Reorganization of the lymphomicrocirculatory bed of human myocardium in ontogenesis]

By means of Gerota mass and silver nitrate solution, injected into the myocardium and its vessels, as well as using the scanning electron microscopy technique for corrosive casts, links of the human myocardial lymphomicrocirculatory bed have been studied, beginning from 6-9-month-old fetuses up to elderly and old age persons. Changes in form, dimensions and amount per a volumetric unit have been stated in myocardial capillaries and postcapillaries. These signs demonstrate that the myocardial lymphatic system has different importance for each stage of individual development of the human heart.

[The blood rheological properties in suppurative-septic urologic diseases and their correction by plasmapheresis]

A total of 18 patients with pyoseptic urological diseases (the main group) treated with plasmapheresis and 18 patients who were not (the control group) were studied for certain rheological parameters: platelet and red cell aggregation, number of platelets, hematocrit, ESR, viscosity values of the blood with a shift rate of 9 and 105 s-1 and osmotic resistance of red cells. 18 patients were exposed to 26 plasmapheresis sessions with a plasma removal of 3-3.2% of the body weight. Significant disorders of blood rheology: higher platelet ad red cell aggregation, lower erythrocyte osmotic resistance and increased blood viscosity were revealed in patients with pyoseptic urological diseases. In case plasmapheresis was included into the complex treatment, in line with the clinical efficacy of the latter a rapid normalization of the aforementioned parameters was documented by the 3-7th day of the treatment. Uroseptic patients who were exposed to plasmapheresis demonstrated improved microcirculation confirmed by isotope renography and Bengal rose which identified the improved performance of the kidneys and the liver. With account for the beneficial effect of plasmapheresis on hemorheological values in uroseptic patients, the authors suggested that for septic patients plasmapheresis substitution type should be changed.

[The interleukin-1 activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients]

In 25 healthy subjects and 47 patients with RA production of interleukin-1 was studied. Increase in the production of interleukin-1 in the supernatants of nonstimulated monocyte cultures was observed in RA patients and more frequently in patients with high activity of the inflammatory process.

[The AGAT-R2, a gamma therapeutic apparatus with programmed control]

The paper is concerned with analysis of a new programmed-control gamma-therapeutic apparatus AGAT-P2 for gamma-beam therapy of cancer patients.

[A method for the surgical treatment of extended strictures of the anterior urethra]

The original one-staged technique was reported a success in two patients with long (8 and 10 cm) strictures of anterior urethra. In line with the dissection of stenosed parts and the following ureteroureteral anastomosis, a circular reduplication of tunica albuginea penis was made and invaginated in presence of intact spongy bodies. The given technique of urethroplasty (in patients with urethral stenosis from 3 to 10 cm) prevented penile distortion and anastomosis tension, and therefore the relapse of strictures and obliteration of urethra, as well as urinary fistula development. The advantages of the method are a 2-3-fold decrease in the treatment duration and the preservation of the copulative function despite the shortening of the penile body.

[Plasmapheresis in the combined therapy of the acute rejection reaction and of suppurative-septic complications in the pretransplantation period]

To define the efficacy of plasmapheresis performed as part of combined treatment for steroid-resistant patterns of acute rejection of a renal transplant, the results of the treatment were analysed in 11 patients. The analysis also involved the results of plasmapheresis treatment of 3 patients with terminal renal failure complicated with septic conditions and 1 patient with stenosed artery of the transplanted kidney and irreversible arterial hypertension. Plasmapheresis was used in various terms of rejection after a 3-4-day prednisolone pulsatile therapy. The effect of the procedure was recorded in 7 out of 13 patients, i. e. in 50 per cent of those treated. The necessity of applying early plasmapheresis (immediately after methylprednisolone pulsatile therapy in case of its failure) was demonstrated as were the methods of intensive plasmapheresis performance (daily within 4-5 days). The technique permitted to eliminate septic conditions before and after the period of transplantation, to decrease blood pressure in the patients with stenosed arteries of transplanted kidney. The authors considered the mechanism of the curative effect of plasmapheresis in the patients with acute rejection and the criteria for its efficiency.

[The effect of surface active substances on the barrier properties of the skin]

It was established in experiments conducted on white rats that application to the skin of sulphonol and cintamide--5 for a period of three months result in morphological disorders of the ultrastructural organization of the epidermis, especially of the structure of intercellular contacts. A mixture of these substances produces a more severe noxious effect on the structures. These substances produced also a local effect on the skin microcirculation. The authors propose a scheme for explanation of the mechanism of structural-functional changes of the skin in local applications of surface-active substances.

[Morphologic characteristics of the parotid glands in monkeys in the late period following mumps]

Three monkeys of "Macaca iris" species were examined twice: 3 months and 1 year after having mumps. Morphological data of both parotid glands biopsy are presented. Macrophage lymphocytes and plasmatic cells infiltration around the widened ducts as well as between the acini, growth of fibrosis and lipomatosis, and secretory stasis in glandular cells were observed long time after the disease. These changes are typical of Sjögren disease. This fact allows the authors to consider that virus affection may also be important in the aetiology of parotid glands autoimmune processes.

[Selection of the method of drainage of the urinary tract in patients with advanced-stage adenoma of the prostate]

An original method is proposed for urine collection in patients with prostatic adenoma (PA), complicated by chronic renal failure (CRF) and marked upper urinary retentive changes. The techniques of the operation, which is called longitudinal myotomy and epicystostomy, are described. The anterior wall of the bladder was longitudinally dissected through all layers in 2 patients, and leaving the mucosal layer untouched, in 4 patients. Follow-up investigation, including the measurement of serum urea and creatinine, endogenic creatinine clearance and ultrasonography of the kidneys and the bladder, demonstrated similar postoperative results: retention regressed, while serum urea and creatinine levels decreased or even returned to normal in all patients. Within 1 to 1.5 months, adenomectomy was performed successfully in 5 patients. In a control group of 9 PA patients with similar complications, trocar cystostomy (4) and conventional epicystostomy (5) were performed. Upper urinary retention disorders were only improved in 2 of 9 patients, and at later dates (within 4 to 6 months). Therefore, longitudinal myotomy and epicystostomy should be regarded as a successful method of urine collection for the cases of advanced prostatic adenoma, which sometimes may be an alternative to transcutaneous puncture nephrostomy where there are marked upper urinary retentive changes. It can also be a method of choice in those cases where radical surgery is not possible because of terminal chronic renal failure in the presence of a severe attendant disease.

[Morphologic mechanisms of blood flow regulation in the hemomicrocirculatory system of the human heart during ontogenesis]

Hearts of 220 human corpses, who had not any cardiovascular system disease during their life, have been distributed into age groups, beginning from fetuses up to old age. By means of injection, silver nitrate impregnation and scanning electron microscopy methods, applied to corrosive preparations, morphological mechanisms of the blood stream regulation in the hemomicrocirculatory bed of the human heart have been revealed in ontogenesis. The first group of the regulation mechanisms includes proper mechanisms inherent in the links of the microbed: spatial orientation of microvessels, precapillary sphincters, anastomoses between these vessels, sequence in arrangement of the endothelial cell nuclei, length, diameter and number of links in the microcirculatory bed. The second group embraces those mechanisms, that depend on structure of the myocardial wall, influencing the microcirculatory bed.