[COVID-19-associated mucormycosis in ophthalmological practice in the Volgograd region]. / COVID-19-assotsiirovannyi mukormikoz v oftal'mologicheskoi praktike Volgogradskogo regiona.

The problem of fungal infections in the era of COVID-19 has acquired special significance. This infection, directly or indirectly, through the use of glucocorticoids and antibiotics in its treatment, as well as poorer self-management of chronic diseases, has led to a wide spread of risk factors for fungal diseases among people who have had a novel coronavirus infection. The article presents two cases of COVID-19-associated mycosis, more related to mucormycosis, which were diagnosed by ophthalmologists in the Volgograd region. In the first case, the severe course of rhino-orbito-cerebral form of mucormycosis required a number of surgical interventions and prolonged treatment in the intensive care unit. In the second case, the patient asked for help without signs of aggravation of the general condition, but with irreversible local manifestations. In both cases, the eyeball was removed. Morphological examination revealed aseptal ribbon hyphae of different diameters, branching mainly at right angles, more typical for fungi of the Mucorales family. Due to the severe consequences of the disease, clinicians, including ophthalmologists, need to be especially alertness in patients with the described symptoms and risk factors in the post-COVID period.

[CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RETINA IN CHRONIC STRESS IN LABORATORY RATS OF DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS].

The retina was studied in albino laboratory male rats of two age groups (12 and 24 months), 10 animals in each subjected to chronic combined stress. The stress was caused in animals by simultaneous exposure to pulsed light, loud sound, swinging and restriction of mobility for 7 days, 30 mm daily. The retina of intact rats of the corresponding age groups (n = 20) served as control. Enucleated eyes of stressed and control animals were processed with standard histological technique and stained with Nissl's method and hematoxylin-eosin. The retina of the stressed animals of both age groups showed the decrease in the number of cells and the disarrangement of its layers, most pronounced in the layers of photoreceptor neurons and ganglion cells. The comparative morphometric analysis demonstrated a reduction of the layer thickness and cell numerical density in the retina of stressed animals, both young (12 months) and old (24 months), as compared to that of control animals.

[The rationale for the conservative treatment of chronic tonsillitis in the patients of the older age groups by the «soft¼ therapy methods]. / Obosnovanie konservativnogo lecheniya khronicheskogo tonzillita u lits starshikh vozrastnykh grupp metodami «myagkoi¼ terapii.

The objective of the present study was to develop an efficient system for the treatment of chronic tonsillitis in the patients of advanced and middle age based on the application of polyvalent bacteriophages in the combination with the physical factors and herbal medicines. The study involved 65 patients (39 women and 276 men) at the age from 65 to 73 years presenting with chronic tonsillitis. The treatment included washing the tonsillar lacunae with herbal infusion consisting of a tetterwort (Choledoniummajus) extract. This procedure was followed by phonophoresiswith the use of the combined polyvalent bacteriophage preparation in the non-liquid formulation during 7-10 days. The effectiveness of such treatment was evaluated based on the results of clinical examination and the analysis of the subjective feelings reported by the patients. In addition, the rosette-forming function of lymphocytes was estimated and palatine tonsil microbiotas in different patients were compared. The effectiveness of therapy was estimated at 89.2%. The positive outcome of the proposed treatment was documented in 78.6% of the cases within 6 months after the onset of therapy. It is concluded that the treatment of chronic tonsillitis with bacteriophagal preparations and herbal infusions in combination with thetraditionallow-frequency ultrasound treatment is highly efficacious (favourable outcome in 78.6% of the patients of middle and advanced age) without the use of antibiotic medications.

[IS AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION A MANIFESTATION OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE?].

The review conducts clinical morphological and pathogenetic parallels between Alzheimer's disease and age-related macular degeneration. The common embryology, anatomy and physiology of the brain and eye create the preconditions for the emergence of the friendly processes, including pathological aggregation of ß-amyloid and neurodegeneration. Based upon the data the authors justify the need for a thorough ophthalmic status study in the daily practice of an ophthalmologist. According to the authors this is promising for the early diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer's disease.

[Beta-amyloidopathy as a manifestation of proteinopathy in age-related macular degeneration].

AIM: To investigate clinical and morphological features of amyloidogenesis in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which is thought to be associated with proteinopathy, namely beta-amyloidopathy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 111 eyes with morphological signs of AMD as well as brain samples from 56 cadavers (aged at death 60 and over) were assessed with selective methods of amyloid detection. RESULTS: Amyloid deposits were present in 39% of eyes with dry AMD and 80% of eyes with wet AMD. Combined accumulation of amyloid (that is both in eyes and the brain) was found in 50.6% of cases. CONCLUSION: The results allow to suggest that common etiopathogenetic and morphological features of AMD and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are due to the same metabolic pathway of the transmembrane amyloid precursor protein (APP) responsible for aggregation of beta-amyloid (Aß), an abnormal fibrillar protein, and the development of beta-amyloidopathy in eyes and brains. It has been demonstrated that beta-amyloidopathy is the keynote of both AMD and AD pathogenesis leading to cytotoxicity, neurodegeneration and pathological apoptosis. Such views on the problem may promote the development of neuroprotective and ophthalmic geriatric medications effective at all stages of pathogenesis, including beta-amyloid formation and aggregation.

[The analysis of the influence of the adenoiditis treatment by different methods on the nasopharyngeal microbiocenosis in the children]. / Analiz vliianiia metoda lecheniia adenoidita na mikrobiotsenoz nosoglotki u deteĭ.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the quality of nasopharyngeal sanation during the treatment of the children presenting with exacerbations of chronic adenoiditis with the use of different methods. Another objective was to estimate the influence of individual methods on the indigenous microflora. The study has revealed the prevailing groups of microflora in the nasopharynx, nasal cavity, and palatine tonsils of 2.228 patients. The clinical examination and comparative analysis of the results of the bacteriological study of nasopharyngeal discharge involved 170 children at the mean age of 5.06±2.6 years presenting with exacerbations of chronic adenoiditis. The patients of group 1 (n=60, control group) underwent nasopharyngeal sanation by means of the low-frequency ultrasound treatment, those of group 2 (n=53) were given an oral antibiotics (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid) at an age-based dose during 7-10 days. The patients of group 3 (n=57) were treated with bacterial lysate OM-85 BV (Broncho-Vaxom) (a 3.5 mg capsule once daily in the morning hours under the fasting condition for 3 months (during 10 days of every month). The amount of anaerobic bacteria in the control cultures from the patients of group 1decreased six-fold and that of pneumococci by 3 times. In the children comprising group 2 all pathogenic species persisted despite the treatment whereas in group 3 the number of those species largely decreased whose lysates were contained in the medication. In the patients treated with Broncho-Vaxom the beneficial results of therapy 1 and 3 months after its onset were more apparent than in the children of two other groups. Moreover, this preparation did not affect the indigenous microflora.

[The effectiveness of topical antihistamine monotherapy in the patients presenting with the manifestations of seasonal allergic rhinitis]. / Éffektivnost' topicheskoĭ antigistaminnoĭ monoterapii pri manifestatsii sezonnogo allergicheskogo rinita.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of monotherapy with the use of allergoferon gel composed of topical recombinant human interferon-α-2ß and loratadine. A total of 105 patients at the age varying from 18 to 55 years presenting with the manifest form of seasonal allergic rhinitis were available for the examination. They were given the topical treatment in the recommended standard doses. The patients included in group 1 (n=65) were treated with allergoferon while those comprising group 3 (n=40) received mometasonefuorate (nasonex). Changes in the clinical symptoms were recorded on days 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28. The best results of the treatment were documented in the patients of group 1 on day 3 afterthe onset of therapy; this effect was attributed to the rapid beginning of the drug action that was apparent within15 minutes after the topical application of the medication. There were no significant difference between the manifestations of the symptoms on days 7 and 14 in the patients of both groups. None of the patients in group 1 refused to continue therapy up to day 28. Two patients in group 2 (5%) wished to discontinue the treatment due to side effects. It is concluded that the treatment with the allergoferon gel for the topical and external applications extends the possibilities for efficacious and safe therapy of the clinical manifestations of seasonal allergic rhinitis.

[Alzheimer's disease and geriatric eye diseases in the aspect of amyloid genesis].

Geriatric eye diseases (age-related macular regeneration, pseudoexfoliation syndrome, pseudoexfoliative glaucoma, senile cataract) are one of the most important problems of modern ophthalmology. Meanwhile, the treatment of these diseases continues to be primarily empirically based for lack of not only valid data on their etiology, but even consensus of opinion on their pathogenesis. This review gives the current views on the commonness of the etiopathogenetic and morphological manifestations of Alzheimer's disease and age-related eye diseases in the aspect of amyloid genesis. This approach is a promising attempt to specify the mechanisms responsible for the occurrence and development of neurodegenerative diseases, their markers, and new perspectives in their treatment.

[Immunohistochemical characteristics of the spleen under the effect of various types of stressors].

The effect of different types of stressors (physical and psychoemotional) on the splenic immunoarchitecture in prepubertal Sprague-Dawley rats was evaluated using the quantitative immunohistochemical methods. Rats aged 1 month were exposed to chronic stress for 5 hours daily during 7 consecutive days. After the last stress session, animals were sacrificed, spleen was obtained for weighing and processed for routine histology and immunohistochemistry (CD3, CD8, CD90, CD20, ED1, PCNA, caspase-3) with subsequent computer image analysis. The results obtained demonstrated that the range of stress-induced immunosuppressive changes in the splenic compartments was associated with the type of stressor. Chronic exposure to purely psychological stress resulted in the decreased volume of the splenic white pulp associated mainly with the reduction of T-cell subcompartments with the decrease in their cellularity and the reduction of volume density of CD90+ and CD8+ cells in them compared to those in age-matched control animals, while the physical stressor affected both T- and B-subcompartments of the white pulp causing the reduction of lymphoid nodule volume, marginal zone width and volume density of CD20+ cells. Hypoplasia of the splenic B-zones was mainly associated with increased splenocyte apoptotic rate while that of the T-zones--with decreased proliferation rate and attenuated traffic of the recent thymic immigrants into the spleen.

[Disorders of intraventricular conductivity in primary myocardial infarct]. / Narusheniia vnutrizheludochkovoi provodimosti pri pervichnykh infarktakh miokarda.

Recent knowledge of the system of intraventricular conductivity permits to diagnose much more often the different variants of blocks of the main branches of the bundle of His that develop in acute primary myocardial infarction (41.42%). Clinical and electrocardiographic examinations of 239 patients with acute primary myocardial infarction revealed unilateral conductivity disorders in the right ventricle in 19.24% of the cases, in the left ventricle -- in 13.39%, and bilateral conductivity disorders -- in 8.79%. The main branches of the bundle of His blocks were combined with atrioventricular conductivity disorders in 19 patients (20.21%), in 12 of them the atrioventricular block being a manifestation of bilateral intraventricular conductivity disorders. Patients with various conductivity disorders developed with significantly higher incidence other rhythm disorders (atrial flutter and fibrillation, paroxysmal tachycardia), which indicates to a close relationship between the functions of conductivity and excitation of the heart.

[Dynamics of lysozyme levels in the blood serum and milk of puerperae with various functional activities of the breasts]. / Dinamika urovnia lizotsima v syvorotke krovi i moloke rodil'nits s razlichnoi funktsional'noi aktivnost'iu molochnykh zhelez.

The morbidity rates, ++features of lactation formation, and serum and breast milk lysozyme levels were studied in 91 parturients who showed various breast functional activity in the early postpartum period. The highest frequency of postpartum ++pyo-septic diseases was found in females with hyperlactation. There was earlier appearance of foremilk and milk in these females. Healthy mothers with higher breast functional activity exhibited the greatest levels of lysozyme in the milk and marked decreases in its levels in the blood within the first 3 days as compared to those observed in females who had normal or insufficient quantities of milk.