[Nervous system involvement in hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome].

The authors of the article describe two cases of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) with prevalence of signs of nervous system involvement. The first case was a 40-year-old woman with moderate HFRS, who developed Guillain-Barre syndrome of axonal-demyelinating polyneuropathy. An important observation was the absence of hemorrhagic or renal syndrome; combined therapy including plasmapheresis was successful. The second case demonstrated polymorphism of HFRS clinical manifestations with prevalence of neurological symptoms, which consisted in encephalopathy and no renal failure signs; hemorrhagic syndrome was moderate. In both cases the diagnosis was confirmed by elevated titer of antibodies to HFRS virus, belonging to the group of hantaviruses.

[Comparative analysis of functional activity of peripheral blood phagocytes in HIV-infected patients and in those with recurrent herpes simplex]. / Sravnitel'nyi analiz funktsional'noi aktivnosti fagotsitiruiushchikh kletok perifericheskoi krovi u VICh-infitsirovannykh lits i u bol'nykh retsidiviruiushchei virusnoi infektsiei herpes simplex.

The functional activity of peripheral phagocytes were comparatively studied in 14 HIV-infected patients and 28 patients with chronic Herpes simplex viral infection. The two groups exhibited lowered adhesive capacity of phagocytes, impaired production and excretion of active oxygen metabolites. In addition, the patients with chronic Herpes simplex infection showed much elevated levels of myeloperoxidase and acid phosphatase, which indicated its compensatory pattern. The HIV infected had no enhanced enzymatic activity. One cannot rule out that these differences in the functional activity of phagocytes are associated with different effects of viral peptides on the cellular wall of phagocytes.

[The cytological characteristics of bronchoalveolar washings in chronic bronchitis]. / Tsitologicheskaia kharakteristika bronkhoal'veoliarnykh smyvov pri khronicheskom bronkhite.

Bronchoalveolar washings (BAWs) from 30 patients with nonobstructive chronic bronchitis (CB) were examined cytologically. On the basis of the taxonomic analysis of the data on the cytological examination of the BAWs, all the observations were classified as belonging to degrees I, II and III of the cytological activity of the inflammatory process in the lungs. It was revealed that the minimal degree of the activity of the inflammatory process was characterized by a marked increase in the relative numbers of the cells of the desquamated cylindrical epithelium and destroyed cells along with a significant decrease in the proportion of macrophages and an increase in the relative count of neutrophils. The increased activity of the inflammatory process in the lungs was accompanied by a progressing increase in the proportion of neutrophils and a decrease in the relative count of macrophages and the cells of the cylindrical epithelium. Clinico-cytological analysis of the observations was also performed. The most complete and objective estimation of the degree of the inflammatory process activity in the lungs in the patients with CB was provided by the cytological indices of the BAWs.