[The effect of surgical treatment of tuberculous abscesses and tuberculoma of the brain on the dynamics of neurological symptoms]

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the efficacy of surgery in reducing neurological symptoms in patients with focal brain tuberculosis.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Seventy-four patients with tuberculosis meningoencephalitis were studied. Among them, 20 people with a life expectancy of at least 6 months were identified, in whom foci with a ring-shaped accumulation of contrast along the periphery were determined during MSCT of the brain. Formed tuberculomas and abscesses were removed from 7 patients (group 1) under neuronavigation control. Indications for the operation were: the absence of a reduction in size for 3-4 months, the limitation of the lesion to 1-2 foci with reduction of perifocal edema according to MSCT and normalization of cerebrospinal fluid. Six patients had contraindications or refusals from operations (group 2). In 7 patients, there was a decrease in formations by the control period (group 3). Neurological symptoms in the groups at the beginning of the observation were similar. The duration of observation was 6-8 months.

RESULTS

In group 1, patients were discharged with improvement, postoperative cysts were determined in all of them at discharge. In group 2, 67% died. In group 3, 43% of patients had a complete reduction of foci during conservative treatment, in 57% cysts formed in place of foci. Neurological symptoms decreased in all groups, with the most decrease in group 1. However, statistical analysis did not show significant differences between the groups regarding the reduction of neurological symptoms. A significant difference in the mortality criterion between groups 1 and 2 was obtained.

CONCLUSION

Despite the absence of a significant effect on the reduction of neurological symptoms, the high survival rate of operated patients shows the need to remove tuberculosis formations in all the cases.

[Differentiated complex treatment of Parkinson's disease considering atrophic changes of the brain]

OBJECTIVE

To develop and implement the tactics of the differentiated complex (medication in combination with surgery) treatment of the form of Parkinson's disease (PD) associated with dyskinesias, according to the severity of atrophic changes in the brain.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The study included 40 patients with PD associated with dyskinesias and motor fluctuations. Patients of the main group received medication and surgical treatment, patients of the comparison group received only medication. The patient's health was assessed every 3 months during 1.5 years. Three atrophy indices were proposed to describe atrophic changes in the brain.

RESULTS

We have determined the values of the indices when the complex treatment was optimal for patients.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study are supposed to be used in the practice of neurologists and neurosurgeons.

[Effects of chemo-, physiohemotherapy, and medicines on the parameters of oxidative stress in the somatogenic stage of acute poisonings]

To determine the effects of chemo-, physiohemotherapy, and the medicines mexidol and acysole on the blood parameters of oxidative stress, 279 patients were examined in the somatogenic stage of acute poisoning by psychopharmacological agents and cauterants. The time course of changes in individual indices and resultant imbalance was analyzed during various therapeutic options versus traditional treatment. Drug therapy was shown to have a good impact on the parameters of oxidative stress in the somatogenic stage of acute intoxications.

[Oxidative activity of electrochemically synthesized sodium persulfate solutions against some psychotropic agents]

By using some psychotropic agents as an example, investigations of the oxidative activity of electrochemically synthesized sodium persulfate solutions were continued. The derivatives of phenothiazines, xanthene, and dibenzazepines were shown to be oxidized by synthesized sodium persulfate solution to low-toxic products. Oxidation products were ascertained to coincide with the known products of their biotransformation in the body.

[Effect of sodium hypochlorite on the biotransformation of toxicants in acute poisoning by psychotropic agents]

In acute poisoning by amitriptyline, carbazepine, barbiturates, and ethanol, the effect of sodium hypochlorite on the metabolism of toxicants is manifested as a considerable reduction in their high blood concentrations through oxidative transformation to inactive water-soluble derivatives and as the enhanced urinary elimination of the latter. The rate of the above process depends on the used dose of sodium hypochlorite.

[Use of sodium hypochlorite in therapy for acute intoxications with methemoglobin formers]

The study of these intoxications has demonstrated that the blood level of methemoglobin (MH) is in conformity with the severity of intoxication. The pathospecific therapeutic effect of sodium hypochlorite (SHC) in acute intoxications of varying severity has been found to appear as a significant intensification of demethemoglobinization and as a three-fold reduction in the half-life of MH. The nonspecific effect of SHC manifests itself in correcting metabolic acidosis and in improving blood oxygenation. The use of SHC accelerates the regression of clinical manifestations of disease and reduces the length of inpatient treatment.

Effect of potentiated solutions on mercury(II) signal in inversion voltammetry

We studied the effects of homeopathically potentiated substances in ultralow doses on physicochemical properties of solutions. Inverse voltammetric signals during Hg(II) oxidation-reduction in the presence of potentiated water, lithium chloride, and mercury nitrate were studied by alternating-current inversion voltammetry. Potentiated substances modified oxidation-reduction processes in the electrochemical system. Potentiated solutions of Hg(II) increased the effective concentration (activity) of mercury ions. The effect was most significant in the presence of mercury nitrate in homeopathic dilutions C6+C12+C24. Our results indicate that potentiated substances specifically modulate kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of solutions containing the same compounds.

[Effect of sodium hypochlorite on neuroregulatory systems in acute psychotropic drug poisoning]

The effect of sodium hypochlorite (SHC) on neuroregulatory systems was studied in patients with acute poisoning with psychotropic drugs infused intravenously as components of infusion therapy. Infusion therapy alone or in complex with SHC does not affect the cholinergic system of the organism. The corrective effect of SHC on the sympathetic, serotonin- and histaminergic systems was more pronounced in comparison with infusion therapy and was the most expressed on day 2 after the treatment.

[Use of serotonin adipinate in combined therapy of hemodynamic disorders in acute poisoning by psychopharmacological preparations]

Serotonin adipinate in a dose of 40-60 mg was injected by drip infusion to 30 patients with acute poisoning by psychotropic drugs for correcting circulatory disorders. The drug corrected hemodynamic disorders in the lesser and greater circulation by increasing the stroke volume and normalizing total peripheral vascular resistance and central blood volume.

[Use of sodium hypochlorite in the multimodal treatment of alcoholic delirium as a complication of acute poisoning]

Use of sodium hypochlorite in combined therapy of patients with alcoholic delirium complicating acute poisoning with psychotropic drugs, caustic poisons, alcohol and its surrogates resulted in an appreciable decrease in the duration of alcoholic delirium.

The cleavage sites and localization of genes encoding the restriction endonucleases Eco1831I and EcoHI

The restriction endonucleases Eco1831I and EcoHI cleave before the first 5'-cytosine in the recognition sequence 5'-decreases CCSGG--3'/3'--GGSCC increases-5' (where S = G or C), generate 5-base 5' cohesive ends, and are encoded by homologous plasmids that are restricted in McrA+ hosts. Thus, they differ in their cleavage specificity from that of the BcnI isoschizomer, which cleaves after the second 5' cytosine.

Eco29kI, a novel plasmid encoded restriction endonuclease from Escherichia coli

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[DNA-synthesizing activity of the nucleoid protein core in Escherichia coli]

Nucleoids obtained from E. coli cells by extraction with 1 M NaCl and detergents containing solution were further extracted with 2 M NaCl. From these samples, that contain only tightly bound proteins, fractions of protein core and peripheral nucleoprotein were obtained. It is shown that DNA synthesis proceeds mainly in the core structures. We have found that DNA polymerase I, which is bound with DNA nucleoid loops and with the above mentioned core structures, is not dissociating in 2M NaCl solution.

Proteins tightly bound to DNA and DNA-synthesizing activity of nucleoids from Escherichia coli

Membrane-attached nucleoids were isolated from E. coli and separated from proteins by 2 M NaCl. Disintegration of such nucleoids by ultrasound and subsequent centrifugation resulted in the formation of two fractions: a sediment (fraction I) and a supernatant (fraction II). The protein:DNA ratio of fraction I was equal to 27 and was different from that to fraction II (2.6). More than 70% of the proteins not dissociating at 2 M NaCl and bound to DNA of both fractions were polypeptides with molecular weights (Mw) of 31,000-23,000 daltons (31-23 Kdal). After pulse labelling of the cells with [3H]-thymidine, the specific radioactivity of newly synthesized DNA associated with fraction I was shown to be considerably higher than that of fraction II. The analysis of DNA-synthesizing activities in fractions I and II showed that both nucleoid fractions contained DNA polymerase I. After dissolving the two fractions in 8 M urea - 0.15% sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) they were chromatographed on hydroxyapatite. DNA-protein complexes were obtained that did not dissociate at 4 M guanidine X HCl - 5 M urea and 1% SDS. The main protein of the complexes was a 31 Kdal polypeptide tightly bound to DNA.

[Degradation and repair of rat hepatoma cell DNA following exposure to gamma rays and methylnitrosourea]

Single-strand breaks induced in DNA of ascitic hepatoma cells by gamma-rays and N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), resp., may be effectively repaired. Double-strand breaks of DNA from MNU-treated hepatoma cells are also effectively repairable in vivo. Only a small part of double-strand breaks induced by gamma-rays in DNA of these cells is repaired in the postradiation period. The combined action of gamma-rays and MNU on the hepatoma cells causes a complete inhibition of repair of DNA and its further degradation. Under these conditions, inhibition of the repair of DNA synthesis and repression of DNA polymerase I activity is observed.