[Allergic rhinitis in the pregnant women]. / Allergicheskii rinit u beremennykh.

The objective of the present work was to elucidate the specific features of the clinical picture of allergic rhinitis in the pregnant women. The study included 156 pregnant women presenting with the persisting form of the disease and 63 patients having its intermitting form. The character of the endoscopic manifestations of rhinitis, chronic tonsillitis, and gastroesophageal reflux was evaluated with the use of a scoring system. The progressive development of the clinical symptoms of allergic rhinitis during pregnancy related neither to the contacts with allergens nor to the discontinuation of pharmacotherapy was documented in 33 and 23% of the patients presenting with the persistent and intermitting forms of the disease, respectively. The symptoms of rhinitis in the pregnant women may be influenced by the presence of gastroesophageal reflux (the endoscopic evidence of this condition was documented in 84.6% of the examined patients with persisting form of the disease and in 40.3% of those having intermitting form) and chronic tonsillitis (purulent contents in the palatine tonsil lacunes were found in 46.8 and 40.3% of the women presenting with the persisting and intermitting forms of allergic rhinitis respectively). In 42% of the cases, the cause behind the negative dynamics or the absence of any dynamics during the treatment of allergic rhinitis was the withdrawal of the prescribed pharmacotherapy by the patients themselves. This observation gives evidence of the importance of explaining to the pregnant women suffering from allergic rhinitis the necessity of compliance with the prescribed treatment modalities in order to reduce the probability of development of complications of this condition.

[Differential diagnostics of the causes responsible for a cough in the pregnant women]. / Differentsial'naya diagnostika prichin kashlya u beremennykh.

The objective of the present study was to elucidate the causes responsible for a cough in the pregnant women. It involved 92 patients including 23 ones presenting with bronchial asthma and 69 having no manifestations of asthma in their medical histories but suffering from dry cough that started after the beginning of pregnancy. All the patients were given counseling by the otorhinolaryngology and pulmonology specialists. The degree of endoscopic manifestations of gastroesophageal reflux was estimated based on a scoring scale. The study revealed the correlation between cough duration and gestational age. The signs of reflux-induced changes in the larynx were documented in 91% cases among the patients with bronchial asthma and in 97% cases in the pregnant women having no bronchial pathology in their medical histories. The main cause behind the cough during pregnancy in women without bronchial pathology was sluggish bronchitis (7%), arising asthma (12%), gastroesophageal reflux (77%), and allergic rhinitis (4%). This conclusion was confirmed by the results of therapy.

[Placenta of normal women and of patients with bronchial asthma of various degrees of severity (immunohistochemical and histological study)].

The aim of the study was to examine the immunomorphological features and expression of immunohistochemical markers that indicate the presence of immune inflammation in the placenta in normal pregnancy and in pregnancy complicated by bronchial asthma (BA) of varying degrees of severity. The of 80 samples of placenta from patients with BA were studied immunohistochemically and histologically to demonstrate the fixation of C3 fraction of complement, fibrinogen, IL-4, IL-6, IgA, IgM, IgG, and the expression of CD31, CD35, CD57 and CD83 molecules. The largest number of immune deposits fixed in the placenta and damaging the structures of the placental barrier (vascular endothelium and syncytiotrophoblast membranes) was found in women with moderate to severe BA. Their precipitation lead to the development of immunopathological process in the placenta and could result in placental insufficiency, adversely affecting the course of pregnancy and childbirth. The presence of pathogenic immune complexes in the placenta and the detection of antigen-presenting cells in areas of immunological inflammation in the placenta of women with BA are associated with the unfavorable course of pregnancy, parturition and could be a predictor of the possible development of allergic diseases in children.

[Bronchial nonspecific reactivity in patients with bronchial asthma and in the preasthmatic state and its alteration under the influence of acupuncture]. / Nespetsificheskaia reaktivnost' bronkhov u bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi i v sostoianii predastmy i ee izmenenie pod vliianiem akupunktury.

The development of nonspecific bronchial hypersensitivity and hyperreactivity in bronchial asthma and effectiveness of its correction with acupuncture were investigated in 152 patients with asthma and preasthma. 94 of them were subjected to acupuncture. The authors employed a complex of diagnostic methods with determination of 241 parameters processed later with the use of systemic modelling. Bronchial hypersensitivity as indicated by the response to acetylcholine was related to impaired coordination of bronchomotor tone regulating systems: parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system, eosinophilic and monocytic bronchial inflammation, glucocorticoid homeostatic alterations. The corrective role of acupuncture consists in reduction of nonspecific bronchial hyperreactivity, normalization of blood acetylcholine, resensitization of cell beta-adrenergic receptors, elevation of mean concentrations of 11-OCS and T-lymphocytes.

[Disorders in mineral metabolism at different stages of the development of bronchial asthma]. / Narusheniia mineral'nogo metabolizma na razlichnykh étapakh razvitiia bronkhial'noi astmy.

Magnesium and calcium concentrations were measured by nuclear-absorption spectrometry (AAC-508, Hitachi, Japan) and selective ionometry (Microlyte, Kone, Finland) in the serum, red cells, lymphocytes, 24-h urine and exhaled air humor condensate in 23, 31 and 23 sibs (parents and their children) with preasthma, atopic bronchial asthma, free of these diseases, respectively. All the patients had magnesium deficiency and calcium hyperconcentrations in the blood cells, low urine excretion of magnesium. Parathormone and calcitonin serum concentrations underwent no changes. It is suggested that in contrast to changes of endobronchial homeostasis of bivalent cations, those of electrolyte cell composition are primary and appear prior to clinical manifestations of bronchial asthma.