[APPLICATION OF MINIINVASIVE INTERVENTIONS UNDER ULTRASONOGRAPHIC CONTROL FOR NONPARASITIC HEPATIC CYSTS].

The results of treatment of 21 patients, suffering nonparasitic hepatic cysts, using laparoscopic draining and puncture under ultrasonographic control, were analyzed. Minimal traumaticity of the intervention, absence of necessity to apply general anesthesia, low rate of postoperative morbidity (7.1%), reduction of duration of the patients stationary treatment down to (3.3 ± 0.61) days, reduction of economic wastes on the treatment constitute the advantages of such method.

Optical Kerr phase shift in a nanostructured nickel-doped zinc oxide thin solid film.

The optical Kerr effect exhibited by a nickel doped zinc oxide thin solid film was explored with femto- and pico-second pulses using the z-scan method. The samples were prepared by the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique. Opposite signs for the value of the nonlinear refractive index were observed in the two experiments. Self-defocusing together with a two-photon absorption process was observed with 120 ps pulses at 1064 nm, while a dominantly self-focusing effect accompanied by saturated absorption was found for 80 fs pulses at 825 nm. Regarding the nanostructured morphology of the resulting film, we attribute the difference in the two ultrafast optical responses to the different physical mechanism responsible of energy transfer generated by multiphoton processes under electronic and thermal effects.

[Borderline personality disorder in clinical outpatient practice]. / Pogranichnoe rasstroistvo lichnosti v klinicheskoi vnebol'nichnoi praktike.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and associated psychiatric disorders in real clinical practice. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty patients (72% female; n=36; 28% male; n=14, aged 22.4±4.3 years) with ICD-10 diagnosis F60.31 «Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, Borderline Type¼ were examined. Research methods included a clinical follow-up method and psychometric assessment. RESULTS: The majority of patients were female (72%). Asocial environment and low social status were typical for the patients with BPD. The vast majority of patients (86%; n=43) were not diagnosed with BPD when they first consulted a psychiatrist. In 24% of patients comorbid psychiatric disorders were diagnosed, of which affective spectrum disorders were predominant. Depressive (94%) and anxiety (80%) syndromes were leading in the clinical presentation. BPD patients were characterized by the absence of somatic components of depression, vitality of affect. CONCLUSIONS: Women are predominant among patients with BPD in outpatient practice. Impairment of interpersonal interaction and antisocial environment were typical for them. Comorbidity of BPD and affective disorders, mostly anxious-depressive, was confirmed. Low diagnosability of BPD at the initial psychiatric examination was established.

Ultrafast nonlinear optical response of photoconductive ZnO films with fluorine nanoparticles.

The absorptive and refractive third order nonlinear optical properties exhibited by a ZnO thin solid film with fluorine nanoparticles were studied with picosecond and femtosecond pulses using different techniques. We were able to evaluate the photoconductivity of the material and the quenching of the induced birefringence observed in the presence of two-photon absorption. The samples were prepared by a chemical spray deposition technique. In order to investigate the different contributions of the third order nonlinearities of the film, we analyzed the vectorial self-diffraction effect and the optical Kerr transmittance observed in the sample. A dominantly absorptive nonlinearity was measured at a 532 nm wavelength with 50 ps pulses, while nonlinear refraction was found to be negligible in this regime. On the other side, a pure electronic refractive third order nonlinearity without the contribution of nonlinear absorption was detected at 830 nm with 80 fs pulse duration. A quasi-instantaneous optical response and a strong enhancement in the ultrafast nonlinear refraction with the inhibition of the picosecond two-photon absorption mechanism were measured for the case of the femtosecond excitation.

Absorptive and refractive nonlinearities by four-wave mixing for Au nanoparticles in ion-implanted silica.

We report a theoretical and experimental study on the real and imaginary part of the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility at 532 nm and 7 ns pulse for high-purity silica samples containing Au nanoparticles prepared by ion implantation. We present a method for measuring the magnitude and sign of refractive and absorptive nonlinearities based on four-wave mixing (FWM). This method is derived from a comparison of the light intensities of incident and self-diffracted polarized waves. In the nanosecond regime the samples exhibit saturable absorption and it seems that a thermal effect is the mechanism responsible of nonlinearity of index.

Prednisolone and vitamin D(3) modulate oxidative metabolism and cell death pathways in blood and bone marrow mononuclear cells.

The study was designed to evaluate reactive oxygen species (ROS)/nitric oxide (NO) formation and apoptotic/necrotic cell death elicited by prednisolone in peripheral blood and bone marrow mononuclear cells and to define the efficacy of vitamin D3 to counter glucocorticoid (GC)-induced changes. It was shown that prednisolone (5 mg per kg of female Wistar rat's body weight for 30 days) evoked ROS and NO overproduction by blood mononuclear cells (monocytes and lymphocytes) that correlated with increased cell apoptosis and necrosis. In contrast, prednisolone did not affect ROS/NO levels in bone marrow mononuclear cells that corresponded to lower level of cell death than in the control. Alterations of prooxidant processes revealed in mononuclear cells and associated with GC action were accompanied by vitamin D3 deficiency in animals, which was assessed by the decreased level of blood serum 25-hydroxivitamin D3 (25OHD3). Vitamin D3 administration (100 IU per rat daily for 30 days, concurrently with prednisolone administration) completely restored 25OHD3 content to the control values and significantly reversed ROS and NO formation in blood mononuclear cells, thus leading to decreased apoptosis. In bone marrow, vitamin D3 activated ROS/NO production and protein nitration that may play a role in prevention of prednisolone-elicited increase in bone resorption. We conclude that vitamin D3 shows a profound protection against GC-associated cellular damage through regulating intracellular ROS/NO formation and cell death pathways.

Vectorial two-beam coupling with arbitrary shifted photorefractive gratings: an analytical approach.

An analytical solution is presented to the vectorial coupled wave equations for the steady state amplitudes of two waves interacting in cubic photorefractive crystals. The solution accounts for pump depletion as well as an arbitrary phase shift between the interference pattern and photorefractive grating. It is shown that bidirectional vectorial amplification and polarization orthogonalization of the interacting beams take place in photorefractive crystal with diffusion, drift or mixed mechanism of space-charge formation.

Synergetic theory for a jamming transition in traffic flow.

The theory of a jamming transition is proposed for the homogeneous car-following model within the framework of the Lorenz scheme. We represent a jamming transition as a result of the spontaneous deviations of headway and velocity that is caused by the acceleration/braking rate to be higher than the critical value. The stationary values of headway and velocity deviations and time of acceleration/braking are derived as functions of control parameter (time needed for car to take the characteristic velocity).

[Ratio of polyamine synthesis and oxidation enzymes during cell proliferation and differentiation]. / Sootnoshenie fermentov sinteza i okisleniia poliaminov v protsesse proliferatsii i differentsirovki kletok.

Difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) was studied for its effect on the aminoxidase activity in the culture media during proliferation and differentiation of mouse fibroblasts. Single introduction of difluoromethylornithine into the culture medium increases the polyamine oxidase activity during 12 to 24 hours after the action. In the subsequent periods DFMO in 0.1 to 1 mM concentrations inhibits the proliferation and differentiation, but 0.01 mM concentration leads to their acceleration, which correlates with higher or lower aminoxidase activities respectively in the culture media.

[Effect of serum polyamine oxidase on normal and tumor cells]. / Vliianie syvorotochnoi poliaminoksidazy na normal'nye i opukholevye kletki.

Serum polyamine oxidase was studied for its effect on normal and transformed fibroblasts, Erlich carcinoma, Zaidela hepatoma and experimental Svec leukaemia cells as well as on K-562 human leukaemia cells. It is found that the cell death was induced by dialdehydes generated by polyamine deamination. Autoradiographically it was shown that dialdehydes cross-link the cell plasma membranes. It is suggested that serum polyamine oxidase is one of the factors responsible for the phenomenon of constitutional resistance which provides subsequent realization of the long-term immune defence.

[Antiproliferative activity of difluoromethylornithine and the factors decreasing its effectiveness in malignant growth]. / Izuchenie antiproliferativnoi aktivnosti diftormetilornitina i nekotorykh faktorov, snizhaiushchikh ego éffektivnost' pri zlokachestvennom roste.

The inhibitory effect of difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) synthesized by the authors on the activity of the ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and proliferation of microbial and mammalian cells in vitro was studied. The in vivo growth of ascite plasmocytoma of solid melanoma B-16 cells in mice was also effectively inhibited by DFMO. But the antiproliferative activity of DFMO in solid tumours was substantially lower. Such a decrease in the antitumour activity may be associated with polyamines released from necrotic areas of solid tumours. As the tumour cells "catch" the vitally important metabolites, their effect inside solid tumours is turned against the tumour cells themselves. The second reason of the decrease in the DFMO activity is adsorption of polyamines on the erythrocyte surface.

[Identification of tuberculosis pathogens in clinical material using the polymerase chain reaction]. / Identifikatsiia vozbuditelia tuberkuleza v klinicheskom materiale s pomoshch'iu metoda polimeraznoi tsepnoi reaktsii.

The authors examined the possibility of detecting M. tuberculosis cells in various types of diagnostic material (sputum, blood, bone marrow, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) from tuberculosis patients using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The developed PCR-based test systems helped detect M. tuberculosis in 48 (90.6%) out of 53 tuberculosis patients, in contrast to much slower microbiological methods which permitted detection of Mycobacteria in only 21 (39.6%) patients. High specificity and virtually no false-positive results of PCR were demonstrated in testing diagnostic material from patients with chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases and from children with lympholeukemia and anemia.

[Molecular characteristics of multiresistant clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated in Russia]. / Molekuliarnaia kharakteristika polirezistentnykh klinicheskikh shtammov Mycobacterium tuberculosis iz Rossii.

The efficiency of tuberculosis control programs is largely determined by methods for rapid diagnosis of the agent. In comparison with the traditional methods, new molecular technologies for characterization of mycobacteria appear to be more promising, because the result can be obtained in almost no time. Sixty-five strains of M. tuberculosis isolated in various regions of Russia were investigated. Drug resistance and strain appurtenance of this sample were determined by classical (absolute concentrations method, IS6110-RFLP) and modern molecular genetic methods (detection of mutations in rpo B gene, DRE-PCR). The spectrum of mutations of the rpoB gene associated with rifampicin resistance was evaluated by direct sequencing. Mutations involving codons 531 (62.7%), 526 (18.6%), and 516 (10.2%) of rpoB gene predominated in the studied sample. The studied strains were discriminated into 52 individual strains by IS6110-RFLP and DRE-PCR typing. Analysis of the resultant genetic variants showed the predominance of M. tuberculosis family W. The efficiency of combined approach to screening for M. tuberculosis is discussed.

[Effect of somatotropin on the course and result of combined radiation and mechanical injury]. / Vliianie somatotropina na techenie i iskhody kombinirovannogo radiatsionno-mekhanicheskogo porazheniia.

In the experiment on rats it was shown that injection of somatotropin (1 ED/kg, i.m. at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days) after combined irradiation and mechanical injury (4.5 Gy, LD50/30 and plural fractures) improved the overall condition of the rats and increased the survival. The drug accelerated the bone regeneration.

[Effect of cytoskeleton-disrupting on the redistribution of the surface receptors of cultured cells]. / Vliianie agentov, razrushaiushchikh tsitoskelet, na pereraspredelenie poverkhnostnykh retseptorov kul'tiviruemykh kletok.

The capacity of cap-formation in cultured cells was shown to increase from 2 to 20 fold upon treating them with ligands in the presence of a conditioned medium. This permitted us to compare the influence of cytoskeleton-disrupting agents on the process of cap-formation in cultured cells of different origin. Cytochalasin was shown to inhibit cap-formation, induced with concanavalin A or anti-H2-serum, both in cells of lymphoid and fibroblastic origin. In contrast, vinblastin did not inhibit cap-formation in cells of lymphoid origin, but caused inhibition in cells of fibroblastic origin twice as strong as did cytochalasin B.

[Ability to redistribute surface receptors in transplantable cell lines]. / Sposobnost' k pereraspredeleniiu poverkhnostnykh retseptorov u kletok perevivaemykh linii.

The ability of cultured lymphoid, erythroid and fibroblastic cells for ligand-induced redistribution of their surface receptors proved to be lower than that of lymphocytes. The process of surface receptors redistribution can be inhibited by low temperature and sodium azide in all the cells under study. Pretreatment with trypsin increased the ability for redistribution of surface receptors in some types of cultured cells, but had no such effect on lymphocytes. These differences between lymphocytes and cultured cells seem to be due to differences in organization of the surface and contractile systems of the respective cells.

[Changes in the cell cycle duration and karyotype of murine L cells with a shift in the mode of cultivation]. / Izmeneniia prodolzhitel'nosti kletochnogo tsikla i kariotipa Kletok L myshi pri smene sposoba kul'tivirovaniia.

A suspension subline LS of mouse fibroblasts L was adapted to the growth in monolayer (LSM subline). The duration of cell cycle and its phases was determined for both the sublines synchronized by a double thymidine block. The duration of cell cycle for LS cells is 17.0 hours, with G1, S and G2 + M being 8.8, 6.3 and 1.8 hours, resp., for LSM cells corresponding values being 31.6, 15.6, 11.0 and 4.8 hours. The karyotype of LSM cells differs from that of LS cells only slightly: there is a redistribution between the numbers of cells with 55 and 56 chromosomes, and a decrease in the number of polyploid cells from 2.0 till 0.2%. The data obtained indicate the heterogeneity of the L line culture which contains cells with long and short cycles. Depending on the mode of cultivation (suspension or monolayer), there is a certain predominance of population either with short or with long cell cycle.

[Dependence of the redistribution of ligand-receptor complexes in cultured cells on the type of growth and on the cell cycle phase]. / Zavisimost' pereraspredeleniia ligand-retseptornykh kompleksov u kul'tiviruemykh kletok ot tipa rosta i fazy kletochnogo tsikla.

The process of active redistribution of ligand-receptor complexes on the surface of both suspension (LS) and adapted for growing in monolayer (LMS) sublines of mouse fibroblasts L was studied. The binding of ligands to its specific receptors on the surface of the LS cells induced an accumulation of ligand-receptor complexes on one pole of a cell with the formation of a typical cap. Under the same conditions in the LSM cells the cleaning of processes and lamello-plasma surfaces from the ligand-receptor complexes was registered. The binding of ligands to the surface of the LSM cells, detached with EDTA, induced the same capping process, as in the case of the LS cells. No differences were found in the redistribution capacity of the ligand-receptor complexes in synchronized cultures of the LS and LSM cells in the G1 and S phase of the cycle. But such a redistribution was not registered on the surface of cells in metaphase and anaphase. The accumulation of ligand-receptor complexes was found in the region of cleavage between daughter cells in telophase. These results are in a good agreement with the well-known data on the changes in the cytoskeleton organization during transition from a monolayer to a suspension state and during mitosis.

[Characteristics of the structural organization of the cytoskeleton in suspension and monolayer sublines of mouse fibroblasts depending upon the type of growth in culture]. / Osobennosti strukturnoi organizatsii tsitoskeleta kletok suspenzionnoi i monosloinoi sublinii fibroblastov myshi v zavisimosti ot tipa rosta v kul'ture.

In attached cells, the main part of filaments is localized in submembrane area, whereas suspension fibroblasts are situated deeper in the cytoplasm. Another difference involves the form of filament gatherings. In the former these are bundles stretched parallel to the cell surface, whereas in the latter these gatherings are in the form of loose balls near the nucleus. According to their diameter and type of cell localization the latter filaments are similar to intermediate ones. In suspension cells with caps formed by ligand treatment, gatherings of fibrillar elements are observed within the cytoplasm but these filaments are shorter and looser, being located in disorder. In addition, the increase in the number of electron dense granules of unknown nature is observed between these filaments. The above observations suggest that the surface processes may be associated with the inner parts of cytoskeleton.

[Cytological and biochemical indices of induced sputum in patients with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive bronchitis]. / Nekotorye tsitologicheskie i biokhimicheskie pokazateli indutsirovannoi mokroty u bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi i chronicheskim obstruktivnym bronkhitom.

The aim of our research was to study the apoptotic index and the representativeness of CD95-receptor in the effector cells, in addition to estimation of the content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the induced sputum supernatant observed in patients with bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive bronchitis. These indices were evaluated in the disease dynamics and involves various treatment programs. The object of our research was induced sputum. The analysis has proven that apoptotic index of effector cell nuclei, representativeness of CD95-receptor and the content of tumor necrosis factor-alpha in the induced sputum differed, respectively, in patients with bronchial asthma and chronical obstructive bronchitis, and depended on the period of disease and employed treatment. The induced sputum analysis results can be used for the airway inflammation activity monitoring, with regard to these diseases and to treatment efficiency monitoring.