The HERC1 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase is essential for normal development and for neurotransmission at the mouse neuromuscular junction.

The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) plays a fundamental role in protein degradation in neurons, and there is strong evidence that it fulfills a key role in synaptic transmission. The aim of the present work was to study the implication of one component of the UPS, the HERC1 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, in motor function and neuromuscular transmission. The tambaleante (tbl) mutant mouse carries a spontaneous mutation in HERC1 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, provoking an ataxic phenotype that develops in the second month of life. Our results show that motor performance in mutant mice is altered at postnatal day 30, before the cerebellar neurodegeneration takes place. This defect is associated with by: (a) a reduction of the motor end-plate area, (b) less efficient neuromuscular activity in vivo, and (c) an impaired evoked neurotransmitter release. Together, these data suggest that the HERC1 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase is fundamental for normal muscle function and that it is essential for neurotransmitter release at the mouse neuromuscular junction.

[Use of phisiotens for the treatment of arterial hypertension in elderly patients]. / Opyt pimeneniia fiziotenza dlia lecheniia arterial'noi gipertonii u pozhilykh.

AIM: To study effectiveness and safety of physiotens in elderly patients with essential hypertension (degree 1-2). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The trial enrolled 10 patients (6 males and 4 females) at the age of 60 to 75 years (mean age 66.4 +/- 3.7 years) with untreated or ineffectively treated essential hypertension (degree I-II by WHO classification). The disease stood for 17 +/- 5.3 years. Physiotens was given for 2 weeks in a single daily dose 0.2-0.4 mg. 24-h blood pressure monitoring, standard neuropsychological examination, echoCG, assessment of quality of life (Visual Analog Scale, Disability Scale) were performed before and after the treatment. RESULTS: Physiotens significantly reduced systolic and insignificantly diastolic pressure in daytime and at night; improved memory and thinking; 24 weeks of the treatment led to a decrease in left ventricular myocardium mass (by 13%, on the average) and in the thickness of left ventricular walls (by 7% on the average) as well as in life quality. CONCLUSION: Long-term physiotens treatment of elderly patients with mild and moderate hypertension provides a fall in day and night arterial pressure, regression of left ventricular myocardium mass, improves quality of life, memory and thinking.

[Diastolic function of the right ventricle in patients with lung diseases as evidenced by Doppler echocardiography]. / Diastolicheskaia funktsiia pravogo zheludochka serdtsa u pul'monologicheskikh bol'nykh po dannym impul'snoi ekhodoppler-kardiografii.

The study was undertaken to examine the most informative Doppler echocardiographic parameters to determine right ventricular diastolic function in 46 pulmonological patients with pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure and 11 healthy individuals. The patients exhibited the highest blood velocity in the rapid filling phase, as compared to the healthy persons. They also demonstrated increased maximum blood velocities in the rapid filling phase on atrial systole and prolonged late blood flow in the rapid filling phase. Thus, Doppler echocardiography may be useful in the non-invasive diagnosis of right ventricular diastolic dysfunctions.

[The structure of newly detected tuberculosis in persons confined to correctional work institutions]. / Struktura vpervye vyiavlennogo tuberkuleza u lits, nakhodiashchikhsia v ispravitel'no-trudovykh uchrezhdeniiakh.

Tuberculosis morbidity in penitentiary-labour establishments (PLE) is scores of times higher than that among the population on the formation of which it has an influence. Study of the epidemiologic process patterns in PLE and specific features of tuberculosis in convicts is a necessary condition for the development of effective antituberculous measures. Analysis of the structure of newly-diagnosed tuberculosis in convicts has demonstrated that tuberculosis prevailed among subjects aged 30 years (49.2%) and in those at the age of 30-39 years (38.4%). The clinical structure is predominated by infiltrative (57.4%) and focal (36.4%) forms, while fibrocavernous and cirrhotic forms are absent. The organization of measures aimed at the timely detection of tuberculosis in convicts was found to have a number of defects, which contribute to tuberculous infection spread among subjects staying in PLE.

[The effect of tuberculosis patients from correction-labor establishments on the number and structure of contingents of antituberculosis ambulatory care clinics]. / Vliianie bol'nykh tuberkulezom iz ispravitel'no-trudovykh uchrezhdenii na chislennost' i strukturu kontingentov protivotuberkuleznykh dispanserov.

The need for the elaboration of individual antituberculous measures in the correction-labour establishments (CLE) has been substantiated. Data are given on the influence of CLE contingents on the formation of epidemiologic parameters with respect to tuberculosis among the population of the Russian Federation and on the low antituberculosis care rendered to CLE contingents; the results of a statistical analysis with respect to tuberculosis in CLE are presented.

[The hemodynamic status of patients with chronic obstructive bronchitis and different degrees of respiratory failure]. / Sostoianie gemodinamiki u bol'nykh khronicheskim obstruktivnym bronkhitom s razlichnoi stepen'iu dykhatel'noi nedostatochnosti.

Changes in myocardial function of the right ventricle depending on oxygen tension in arterial blood were studied in 95 patients suffering from chronic obstructive bronchitis (COB) characterized by dramatic bronchial patency impairment and varying degree of respiratory insufficiency. Central hemodynamics was examined by echo-Doppler-cardiography and integral rheography. It has been established that in COB patients, the status of hemodynamics agrees well with the grade of respiratory insufficiency. As hypoxia increases, systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery rises; the size of the right ventricle and the width of its anterior wall increase; contractile function of the right ventricle does not depend on changes in oxygen tension in arterial blood; the compensatory increase of the cardiac and stroke indices is accompanied, as hypoxia rises, by diminution of pulmonary vascular resistance.

[Formation of population groups with a higher risk of tuberculosis]. / Formirovanie grupp naseleniia s povyshennym riskom zabolevaniia tuberkulezom.

During the years when tuberculosis was diagnosed among all age, sex, social and occupational groups of the population, methodological approaches to the organization of antituberculosis care based on annual antituberculosis preventive activities and covering practically all populations were the only proper measures bringing about their own positive results. Nowadays the annual preventive activities should be launched in those population groups where cases of tuberculosis are detected most frequently. To classify risk factors directly responsible for tuberculosis endemia, questionnaires were sent to 477 newly diagnosed adult patients. The obtained data were computer processed. Unfavourable social and biomedical factors, including alcoholism, unsatisfactory economic, working and living conditions, contact with tuberculosis patients, concurrent diseases and other social factors, have a decisive effect on the tuberculosis morbidity.