[Integral tests of the hemostasis system in assessing the efficiency of acetylsalicylic acid in patients with ischemic heart disease]. / Integral'nye testy sistemy gemostaza v otsenke éffektivnosti atsetilsalitsilovoi kisloty u bol'nykh ishemicheskoi bolezn'iu serdtsa.

Despite the fact that acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) is the "gold" standard for the prevention of cardiovascular complications in patients with coronary heart disease (CAD), a number of patients still have risks of atherothrombosis. In the present study, the antithrombotic effect of ASA in patients with CAD was assessed in platelet-rich plasma (PRP) using integral tests of the hemostasis study: the T-TAS system (Total Thrombus-formation Analysis System) and the thrombin generation test (TGT). The study involved 34 patients with stable CAD (11 women, 23 men) and people (15 women, 18 men) in the control group. As a result of assessing the activity of thrombus formation using the T-TAS system, a significant decrease in the area under the curve (AUC10) was found in the group with CAD patients compared with the control (135.6 [88.0-222.3] and 260.5 [217.3-301.9], respectively, p.

Effect of ionic carbohydrate-containing biopolymers on complement activation.

We studied in vitro effects of charged polysaccharides on the classic and alternative pathways of complement activation. The complement system was affected by substances having different charges. Our findings suggest that the conformation of polysaccharide molecules, but not their charge, plays a primary role in the interaction with C1 and C3 complement components followed by initiation of cascade enzymatic reactions.

[Characteristics of drug resistance of tumor plasmocytes in vitro in patients with multiple myeloma differently responsive to chemotherapy]. / Kharakteristika lekarstvennoi ustoichivosti opukholevykh plazmotsitov in vitro u bol'nykh mnozhestvennoi mielomoi s razlichnym otvetom na khimioterapiiu.

AIM: To determine sensitivity of tumor plasmocytes in vitro to cytostatic drugs (prednisolone, alkeran belustin, vincristine, rubomycin, doxorubicin, cytarabin, methotrexate, cysplatin, etoposide). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The sensitivity was measured with DISC method in 12 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) in two groups: resistant and responsive to induction polychemotherapy (PCT). RESULTS: The groups appeared significantly different by lowering of pathological paraprotein concentration (PIg): by 7.4 +/- 2.5% and 32.5 +/- 3.7%, respectively (p < 0.05). The resistance to the drugs was higher in the resistant patients than in the responders (0.7 +/- 0.28 versus 0.4 +/- 0.02, p < 0.05). PCT schemes of resistant patients contained 65.0 +/- 2.3% of ineffective drugs. In the responders the percentage was 35.7 +/- 5.3% (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The relationship exists between resistance of tumor plasmocytes to drugs in vitro and clinical findings.

Self-rated health and occupational conditions in Russia.

A low level of health promotion and disease prevention awareness in Russia, such as disregard for personal health during periods of well-being or illness, have contributed to a decline in general population health over the past decade. The relationship of working conditions and health awareness was explored among a sample of adults in Russia. This research project was conducted, July-August, 1998, in the city of Kazan. Data was collected by probability sampling of addresses and personal interview. Working conditions influence general public and family health. The occupation of the spouse contributed significantly to family conflicts, and financial problems ranked first as the cause of marital conflict. Due to lack of material resources, one-third of respondents, even though employed, reported being dissatisfied with the quality of their nutritional status and one-fifth with the lack of leisure time. Although more than two-thirds were satisfied with their work, every fifth did not consider their wages sufficient, every fourth wanted to change occupations, and every third was afraid of being fired. The majority of employed respondents reported low salaries, worked a full 8-hour day at their primary occupations and one-fifth had a second job. Younger people were especially prone to disregard their health with intensive work schedules. About half of respondents reported being exposed to toxic health hazards in their past or current jobs. Almost one-fifth agreed to work at hazardous occupations because of higher salaries. Social status, indicated by a higher education, was associated with having the opportunity to chose work in more favourable circumstances, and consequently with less health risks. In summary, the research demonstrated that health was an instrumental value in Russia, exploited as a economic resource not only during periods of well-being but also during illness, by individuals not seeking preventive or timely health care because of the fear of losing their jobs.

Inhibition of complement activation by water-soluble polysaccharides of some far-eastern brown seaweeds.

Fucoidans and laminarans from Laminaria cichorioides, Laminaria japonica, Fucus evanescens, laminaran from Laminaria gurjanovae, other beta-D-glucans (translam, pustulan and zymosan) and lambda-carrageenan from Chondrus armatus were used to study the effect of water-soluble polysaccharides from seaweeds on the alternative pathway of complement (APC). beta-D-Glucans and fucoidans under study differed appreciably from each other by structural characteristics, and also by degree of purification. beta-D-glucans, on ability to bind complement, ranked in a line according to a degree of their purification. Highly purified beta-D-glucans under study did not reveal an ability to bind complement. The fucoidans were divided conventionally into three groups according to their action on APC. Highly sulfated alpha-L-fucan from L. cichorioides with the greatest activity toward APC and caused 50% inhibition of reaction of activation (RA) of APC in a concentration of 0.5-0.7 mg/ml. Opposite 50% of inhibition of lysis of erythrocytes by sulfated heterogeneous fucoidan from L. japonica was achieved with 20 mg/ml. All other fucoidans and lambda-carrageenan have activity at 6-10 mg/ml concentration. Decreasing the sulfate content from 36% up to 9% in sample fucoidans under study was not reflected practically in the 50% inhibition concentration. Apparently, the degree of sulfating of fucoidans did not influence their action on APC. But the positive influence of fucose in structure of polysaccharide was obvious.

[A modification of lactoferrin isolation method]. / Modifikatsiia metoda vydeleniia laktoferrina.

A modified method was developed to isolate lactoferrin from women's colostrum by means of ion-exchange chromatography on a Servacel CM-52 column and gel filtration on a Toyoperal HW-52 column. These changes simplified the basic method and decreased the length of the procedure without affecting the biological activity and purity of the preparation. The modified method can be recommended to produce lactoferrin suitable for the use as a pharmaceutical preparation and nutritional additive to milk substitutes.

[Methods of in vitro assessment of the degree of complement activation by the classical pathway]. / Metodika opredeleniia in vitro stepeni aktivirovaniia komplementa po klassicheskomu puti.

A sensitive a simple method is proposed for assessing the complement activation degree by the monospecific classical route. The alternative pathway of the complement activation proposed by Adachi et al. in 1990 is taken account of. The specific features of the proposed method are 1) use of commercial dry complement of guinea pigs with the regulatory protein defect needed for the alternative pathway of complement activation; 2) absence of EGTA in GVB and presence of Ca2+; 3) use of sensitized sheep red blood cells as the target cells. These conditions prevent the alternative pathway of complement activation and permit only the classical pathway. Effects of some drugs on the classical pathway of complement activation by the new method and on Adachi's alternative method are investigated. Estradurin and fosfestrol affect the complement activation by both pathways.

[Fluorometric determination of amide protein groups]. / Fliuorometricheskii metod opredeleniia amidnykh grupp belkov.

A new fluorometric method for detection of amide protein groups is proposed. The method has a number of advantages over the routine phenol hypochlorite method, this permitting its wider application in clinical and laboratory practice. The suggested method may be used for direct detection of ammonium in biological samples.

[The distribution of class-I HLA antigens in patients with multiple myeloma]. / Raspredelenie HLA-antigenov I klassa u bol'nykh mnozhestvennoi mielomoi.

HLA antigens class 1 have been investigated in Russian patients with multiple myeloma. Compared to controls, myeloma patients demonstrated more frequent occurrence of antigens A11 and B7. Antigen A11 was more common for males and subjects with early response to treatment. Antigen B7 was more frequent in females with the slow response. These correlations are significant without correction on the number of the antigens studied. Association heterogeneity in males and females, in different therapy responders gives grounds for a differential approach to myeloma pathogenesis, choice of drugs, prognosis of survival.

[The immunological phenotype and proliferative activity of the tumor lymphocytes in multiple myeloma]. / Immunologicheskii fenotip i proliferativnaia aktivnost' opukholevykh limfotsitov pri mnozhestvennoi mielome.

An immunological phenotype of blood lymphocytes and proliferative activity of tumor cells were studied using a panel of monoclonal antibodies to lymphocyte differential antigens and tracer 3H-thymidine, respectively, in 84 patients with multiple myeloma. CD-19 and CD38 antigens were identified as markers for circulating tumor lymphocytes. The count of CD38+ and CD71+lymphocytes correlated with the count of marrow plasmocytes including 3H-thymidine in the disease recurrence. Proliferative parameters of blood lymphocytes, plasmocytes and lymphocytes of the bone marrow were identical being, consequently, elements of the same tumor clone.

[Comparison of proliferative and immunoglobulin-secreting capacity of peripheral blood lymphocytes of healthy persons and patients with B-cell immunoproliferative diseases]. / Sravnenie proliferativnoi i immunoglobulin sekretiruiushchei sposobnosti limfotsitov perifericheskoi krovi zdorovykh liudei i bol'nykh s B-kletochnym immunoproliferativnym zabolevaniem.

The proliferative response and in vitro immunoglobulin production induced polyclonal activators were studied in 12 patients with multiple myeloma (MM) and in 15 healthy individuals. The spontaneous production of IgM was decreased. PWM-induced immunoglobulin production of the peripheral blood lymphocytes was the same.

[The ultrasonic detection of the metastatic involvement of the intra-abdominal and retroperitoneal lymph nodes in esophageal cancer]. / Ul'trazvukovoe vyiavlenie metastaticheskogo porazheniia vnutribriushnykh i zabriushinnykh limfaticheskikh uzlov pri rake pishchevoda.

The paper is based on analysis of the results of ultrasound investigation of 67 patients with esophageal cancer with metastatic involvement of abdominal and retroperitoneal lymph nodes verified at operation. For effective diagnosis of these changes during ultrasound scanning one should observe the main methodological principles and methods including polyprojection, polyposition and staging of investigation. It should be noted that unchanged lymph nodes cannot be visualized.

[Ultrasonic diagnosis of tumors]. / Ul'trazvukovaia diagnostika opukholevykh zabolevanii.

In clinical oncology, outpatient ultrasonic investigation helps to assess the nature of the tumor and the spread of malignancy with a high degree of accuracy, so that an adequate treatment could be chosen and initiated as early as possible, and monitored echographically, which is expected to improve its long-term results.