[Comorbidity of epilepsy and chronic disorders in children and adolescents with the assessment of the effectiveness of therapy]. / Komorbidnost' épilepsii i khronicheskikh tikoznykh rasstroistv u detei i podrostkov s otsenkoi éffektivnosti terapii.

AIM: To determine the comorbidity of epilepsy and chronic tic disorders (HTR) in children and adolescents based on the results of video-EEG monitoring and treatment efficacy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One hundred and sixteen patients diagnosed with HTR, 83 boys and 33 girls, aged from 3 to 15 years, were studied. Clinical psychoneurological examination, psychological testing and video-EEG monitoring were performed at the first stage of the study. An effect of treatment was assessed at the second stage. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of epileptiform activity was observed in 46.6% of patients with HTR, comorbidity of epilepsy and chronic tic disorders in 16.4%. Antiepileptic drugs, in particular extended release valproate (depakine chronosphere), are most effective for both epilepsy and tic disorders.

[Focal characteristics in the clinical examination and EEG in children with idiopathic generalized epilepsy].

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of focal characteristics in the clinical symptoms of seizures and in EEG in children with different clinical variants of generalized idiopathic epilepsy. We studied 71 patients, 29 boys and 42 girls, aged from 2 to 18 years. Video-EEG-monitoring and MRI were performed in all cases. The results provided further evidence fort the continuum between focal and generalized epilepsy supported by the presence of focal characteristics in the semiology of seizures and in EEG as well.

[Epilepsies with electric status epilepticus in sleep: peculiarities of clinical course and rational approaches to treatment].

We studied 52 patients with electric status epilepticus in slow sleep (EESSS) during 3-5 years. Age-dependent peculiarities of clinical course of the disease, risk factors for EESSS and rational approaches to antiepileptic treatment for these cases were singled out. Symptomatic and idiopathic EESSS variants were revealed. Combinations of valproates, levetiracetam and ethosuximidum were the most effective antiepileptic drugs in the treatment of EESSS.

[Idiopathic focal epilepsies of infancy and childhood].

We studied 1036 children with epileptic seizures, aged from 1 to 18 years, during 2004-2008. One hundred and six patients were diagnosed with idiopathic focal epilepsy (IFE). The following forms of IFE were singled out: benign seizures of infancy (familial and non-familial) - Watanabe--Vigevano syndrome - 5,7%, occipital epilepsy of childhood with early manifestation (Panayiotopoulos syndrome) -26,4%, occipital epilepsy of childhood with late manifestation (Gastaut syndrome) - 12,3%, benign epilepsy of childhood with central-temporal spikes (rolandic epilepsy) - 51%, benign focal epilepsy with affective symptoms - 4,7%. The efficacy of the first monotherapy was significantly worse in rolandic epilepsy compared to the other IFE forms. Prescription of valproate or the combination of valproate, ethosuximidum and levetiracetam, in case of resistant course, as a starting therapy was found optimal.

Effects of preconditioning on the resistance to acute hypobaric hypoxia and their correction with selective antagonists of nicotinic receptors.

Hypobaric hypoxic preconditioning increased the resistance of low resistant and highly resistant rats to acute hypobaric hypoxia at a critical height. Intergroup differences in the resistance of rats to acute hypobaric hypoxia were not observed after hypobaric hypoxia and one variational series with a wide range of resistance (4.5-24.5 min) appeared. Methyllycaconitine, an antagonist of subtype α(7) nicotinic cholinergic receptors, abolished the influence of hypobaric hypoxia on low resistant rats, but had no effect on highly resistant animals. Mecamylamine, a preferential antagonist of subtype α(4)ß(2) and α(3)-containing cholinergic receptors, did not modulate the effect of hypobaric hypoxia. By contrast, hypobaric hypoxia abolished the effect of mecamylamine on the resistance of rats that were not trained under conditions of hypobaric hypoxia (low resistant and highly resistant animals with low sensitivity to hypobaric hypoxia). We conclude that the same effect of hypobaric hypoxia is mediated by various mechanisms, which involve different nicotinic cholinergic receptors. They differ from the resistance mechanisms in non-trained rats.

Chronic cerebral ischaemia forms new cholinergic mechanisms of learning and memory.

The purpose of this research was a comparative analysis of cholinergic synaptic organization following learning and memory in normal and chronic cerebral ischaemic rats in the Morris water maze model. Choline acetyltransferase and protein content were determined in subpopulations of presynapses of "light" and "heavy" synaptosomal fractions of the cortex and the hippocampus, and the cholinergic projective and intrinsic systems of the brain structures were taken into consideration. We found a strong involvement of cholinergic systems, both projective and intrinsic, in all forms of cognition. Each form of cognition had an individual cholinergic molecular profile and the cholinergic synaptic compositions in the ischaemic rat brains differed significantly from normal ones. Our data demonstrated that under ischaemic conditions, instead of damaged connections new key synaptic relationships, which were stable against pathological influences and able to restore damaged cognitive functions, arose. The plasticity of neurochemical links in the individual organization of certain types of cognition gave a new input into brain pathology and can be used in the future for alternative corrections of vascular and other degenerative dementias.

[Epilepsy with prolonged epileptiform activity during sleep in children and adolescents].

Benign epileptic discharges of childhood (BEDC) are typical age-related EEG patterns associated with idiopathic benign focal epilepsy (BFE). The study of BFE revealed the symptomatic phenocopies in patients with structural brain lesions in infantile cerebral paralysis and malformations. The authors discuss the question of "benignity" of BEDC that may lead to various disturbances of cognitive functions and behavior, i.e. to signs of epileptic encephalopathy. Based on the examination of 1862 children, including 840 patients with epileptic seizures and 1022 neurologic patients, clinical and neurophysiological features of epileptic syndromes associated with prolonged epileptiform EEG activity in children were found. The most rational antiepileptic therapy was determined.

Comparison of the cholinergic system in neocortical field Ep in cats with strong and weak cognitive abilities.

Comparative analysis of the cholinergic system of the neocortex, consisting of the terminals of neurons from the magnocellular basal nuclei and intracortical neurons, in cats with strong and weak abilities to solve abstraction and generalization tasks was performed by isolating subfractions of synaptic membranes and synaptoplasm from "light" (C) and "heavy" (D) synaptosomes from associative field Ep and measuring choline acetyltransferase and acetylcholinesterase activities, protein content, and sulfhydryl group concentrations. These experiments showed that all measures were significantly lower in subfractions from C synaptosomes from cats with strong cognitive abilities. This leads to the conclusion that relatively small numbers of cholinergic synapses form in field Ep of the brains of cats with strong cognitive abilities, while their location in the C fraction demonstrates that they correspond to neurons of the magnocellular basal nuclei. The possible physiological significance of the "deficiency" of cholinergic inputs in field Ep from these nuclei as a correlate of the animal's cognitive ability is discussed. The D subfractions from able cats had significantly higher acetylcholinesterase activity, while choline acetyltransferase activity was not different; this identifies differences between groups of animals in the organization of non-cholinergic acetylcholinesterase-containing synapses in field Ep.

[Comparison of cholinergic systems in Ep neocortical regions of cats with high and low cognitive ability]. / Sootnoshenie kholinergicheskikh sistem v poliakh Ep neokorteksa koshek s razvitymi i slabymi kognitivnymi sposobnostiami.

Cats were behaviorally tested for the ability to solve the abstraction and generalization tasks. Fractions of light (C) and heavy (D) synaptosomes of the associative temporal (Ep) areas were prepared, and subfractions of synaptic membranes and synaptoplasm were isolated. Choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity and the content of protein and protein sulphydric (SH-) groups were measured in synaptic subfractions. All the studied characteristics were lower in subfractions C of cats with higher cognitive abilities. In subfractions D, the ChAT activity was correlated neither with ChAT activity in the respective C fraction, nor with cognitive abilities of cats. It is suggested that cholinergic terminals originating from neurons of the basal magnocellular nuclei are concentrated in the C fractions, and those from the cortical cholinergic neurons are concentrated in the D fractions. Physiological significance of the "deficiency" of cholinergic inputs of the Ep areas from the basal magnocellular nuclei in animals with higher cognitive abilities is discussed.

Ultrastructure of synapses in cerebral cortex layer i in rats with low and high resistance to hypoxia.

Quantitative analysis of synapses in layer I of the sensorimotor cortex in rats with low resistance to hypoxia revealed pronounced changes in the number of synaptic vesicles docked at the presynaptic membrane in active synaptic zones under conditions of acute hypobaric hypoxia. In high-resistant animals the number of docked synaptic vesicles under these conditions remained unchanged. In was hypothesized that high sensitivity to hypoxia in low-resistant rats is determined by high reactivity of the synaptic transmission system.

[The entomological and acarological situation in Nizhegorod Province]. / Entomologicheskaia i akarologicheskaia situatsiia v Nizhnegorodskoi oblasti.

Ixodes, persulcatus, I. ricinus, D. reticulatus, D. marginatus, H. concinna were recorded in different regional environmental regions. The northern districts of the region are endemic for tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and Ixodes tick-borne borreliosis (ITBB). The infection of ticks with TBE virus is 0.25%, that with Borrelia is 10.3% of the total number of the examinees. In 1997 TBE and TTBB morbidity rates were 1.91 and 2.0 per 100,000, respectively. Data on the phenology of prevailing Anopheles messeae are given. Human malaria contamination may take 99-102 days (the first ten days of June to the second ten days of September). The large size of malaria mosquitoes and the presence of imported cases of malaria make it possible to deteriorate the malaria epidemiological situation. The larvicidal activity of a preparation derived from shepherd's-purse (Capsella bursa pastoris) [correction of caseweed (Bursae pastoris)] was tested. 80-85% deaths of larvae of second-third ages occurred 48 hours after treatment with the preparation, 1 kg/ha.

[The effect of dimethyl sulfoxide on the changes in the lymph microcirculation induced by staphylococcal toxin]. / Vliianie dimetilsul'foksida na izmeneniia limfomikrotsirkuliatsii, vyzvannye stafilokokkovym toksinom.

The effect of dimethyl sulfoxide (dimexid, DMSO) on the lymph microvessels of the rat mesentery was studied by vital biomicroscopy. It was found that 30% DMSO increases the tonus of intact lymph microvessels and stimulates their phase contractions. Action of the agent for more than 15 min leads to the development of lymphostasis. DMSO has a pronounced corrective effect on disorders of lymph microcirculation caused by the staphylococcal toxin. It removes the main lymphopathogenic effects of the poison and normalizes the drainage function of the lymphangions. The correcting effect of DMSO on lymph circulation is attended with attenuation of the fatal effect of the toxin.

[Use of spiramycin in the treatment of inflammatory diseases ot the respiratory tract in children in ambulatory conditions]. / Primenenie spiramitsina pri lechenii vospalitel'nykh zabolevanii dykhatel'nykh putei u detei v ambulatornykh usloviiakh.

Comparative efficacy of oral spiramycin and ampicillin was estimated in the treatment of 65 children at the age of 5 to 12 years with infectious inflammatory diseases of the respiratory tract, tonsils and middle ear. By the 7th day of the treatment with spiramycin the cure was stated in 97.7 per cent of the patients and 2.3 per cent of the patients showed the improvement. With the use of ampicillin the cure was recorded only by the 12th day. Marked advantages of spiramycin were observed as well with respect to the time course of the improvement of the disease main signs such as fever, pain in the throat on swallowing, intoxication and others.

Synaptic proteins of the temporal associative area of the neocortex of cats (field Ep) with normal and reduced cognitive capacities.

The upper, middle, and lower subfractions of the synaptic membranes and subfractions of the total synaptoplasm were isolated from fractions of light and heavy synaptosomes of the Ep fields of the cat brain. The content of protein and protein sulfhydryl (SH-) groups was determined spectrophotometrically in the subsynaptic fractions. The maximal content of the reactive SH-groups was detected in the upper membrane subfractions; this characterizes the structure of the membranes of cholinergic synapses that are primarily concentrated in them, and the minimal content was detected in the lower subfractions, primarily noncholinergic. The brain of cats with well-developed and low capacities for the solution of problems involving generalization, gnosis, and abstraction was compared. A substantially lower content of protein in the upper and middle subfractions of the light synaptosomes and an increased reactivity of SH-groups in the membrane-bound proteins of the upper and middle subfractions of the light and heavy synaptosomes were found in animals with well-developed cognitive capacities. The hypothesis that the synaptic architectonics of the Ep fields in cats with strong cognitive capacities are distinguished by an increased relative proportion of the cholinergic structures is discussed.

[Lipid peroxidation and mechanism of antioxidant effect of vitamin E]. / Perekisnoe okislenie lipidov i mekhanizm antioksidantnogo deistviia vitamina E.

Data concerning lipid peroxidation and mechanism of the vitamin E inhibiting action are reviewed. Steps of initiated lipid autooxidation, formation of primary and secondary oxidation products, destabilizing the membrane structure and possessing cytotoxic effects are described. The mechanism of the antioxidant action of alpha-tocopherol, dependence of its activity on the structure and composition of the products of cooxidation of lipids and alpha-tocopherol in biological and model systems are also discussed.

[Participation of tocopherol and its analogs in lipid peroxidation processes and electron transport in rat liver mitochondria in vivo]. / Uchastie tokoferola i ego analogov v protsessakh perekisnogo okisleniialipidov i transporta élektronov v mitokhondriiakh pecheni krys in vivo.

The effects of vitamin E and its analogs--alpha-tocopheryl acetate with a shortened up to six carbon atoms side chain carrying a saturated and an unsaturated bonds at the chain terminus, alpha-tocopherol and alpha-tocopheryl quinone devoid of the side chain--on the rate of malonic dialdehyde formation, the diene conjugate and total lipid content in the liver as well as the activity of the respiratory chain enzymes--succinate--and NADH-dehydrogenase, succinate- and NADH-ubiquinone reductase, as well as the vitamin E and ubiquinone content in the liver mitochondria of vitamin E-deficient rats in vivo have been investigated. It has been found that alpha-tocopheryl acetate with a shortened (up to C6) side chain carrying a saturated bond at the chain terminus is the most effective analog of tocopherol. Further reduction of the tocopherol side chain or tocopherol conversion into quinone causes a decrease in their tocopherol activity.

[Interaction of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) with oxygenated fatty acid derivatives]. / Vzaimodeistvie vitamina E (alpha-tokoferola) s oksigenirovannymi proizvodnymi zhirnykh kislot.

Fluorescence spectra of alpha-tocopherol and its mixtures with oxygenated derivatives of fatty acids--linoleic acid hydroperoxide, hydroxylinoleic and ricinoleic acids--were investigated in terms of the excitation and emission dependence on the concentration of components in acetonitrile solution. In accordance with our results, formation of the alpha-tocopherol excimer and exciplex with the oxygen-containing derivatives of polyunsaturated fatty acids was suggested. The character of the interaction between components of the excited complexes and their possible role in peroxidation of lipids are discussed.

[Study of the interaction of alpha-tocopherol with phospholipids, fatty acids, and their oxygenated derivatives by (31)P-NMR spectroscopy]. / Izuchenie vzaimodeistviia alpha-tokoferola s fosfolipidami, zhirnymi kislotami i ikh oksigenirovannymi proizvodnymi metodom (31)P-IaMR- spektroskopii.

Interaction of alpha-tocopherol with phospholipids, oleic, ricinoleic acids and linoleic acid hydroperoxides was investigated by means of 31P NMR spectroscopy on a model artificial membranes containing egg phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine. alpha-Tocopherol was shown to support the bilayer organization of lysophospholipids, whereas its introduction into the lecithin-water system stimulated the hexagonal phase formation. Free fatty acids exhibited a synergism to alpha-tocopherol, the effect of the hexagonal phase formation being at most increased by oxygenated acids--ricinoleic acid and linoleic acid hydroperoxides. In accordance with the experimental data, a conclusion about modifying and structuring action of alpha-tocopherol was made. Origin of the alpha-tocopherol's modulating effect on the membrane structure and a possible role of hexagonal phase forming upon its action in the course of peroxidation of lipids was discussed.

[Mechanism of action of vitamin E. Study of the interaction of vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) and its analogs with fatty acids and their derivatives by fluorimetry]. / K mekhanizmu deistviia vitamina E. Izuchenie vzaimodeistviia vitamina E (alpha-tocoferola) i ego analogov s zhirnymi kislotami i ikh proizvodnymi metodom fluorimetrii.

Formation of a complex between alpha-tocopherol or its analogues in the excited state and fatty acids or their hydroperoxides has been suggested basing on the fluorescence quenching experimental data. The possible mechanism of the complex formation, its nature and role in the fatty acid peroxidation is discussed.