[Adaptive reserves of the myocardium in patients with ischemic heart disease]. / Adaptatsionnye rezervy miokarda u bol'nykh ishemicheskoi bolezn'iu serdtsa.

Myocardial adaptive reserves and their relation to the function of the adrenocorticohypophyseal system were examined in 69 patients with coronary heart disease. To define the adaptation of the myocardium during exercise, the index of myocardial adaptation was used. The function of the adrenocorticohypophyseal system was judged from blood levels of somatotropic hormone and cortisol before, at the peak, and 2 hours after exercise testing. A substantial decrease in myocardial adaptive capacity was found in CHD patients as compared with healthy subjects. These abnormalities proved to be more marked in patients with clinical signs of severe coronary failure than in those with moderate coronary circulatory failure. It was concluded that the function of the adrenocorticohypophyseal system was one of the factors determining myocardial adaptation during exercise in patients with coronary heart disease.

[Determination of antibodies to Streptococcus group A polysaccharide by an immunodiffusion method in human sera in various pathological processes of streptococcal etiology]. / Opredelenie antitel k polisakharidu streptokokka gruppy A metodom immunodiffuzii v syvorotkakh cheloveka pri razlichnykh patologicheskikh protsessakh streptokokkovoi étiologii.

A method for the assay of antibodies to the specific antigenic determinant of group A streptococcal polysaccharide (A-polysaccharide) in human sera was developed. The sera were tested in the precipitation test in agar gel with different doses of A-polysaccharide. The presence of a high level of the above-mentioned antibodies is indicative of infection caused by group A streptococcus, but not streptococci of other groups or by the L-forms of streptococci. In 87.5% of patients with primary rheumatism a high level of antibodies to the specific antigenic determinant of A-polysaccharide was detected during the first day of the disease, which confirms most convincingly the etiological role of group A streptococcus in rheumatism. Considerable differences in the level of antibodies to A-polysaccharide in the active and non-active phases of rheumatism have been established, which makes it possible to use the presence of a high level of these antibodies as an indicator of the rheumatic process activity. A considerable percentage of sera with a high level of antibodies to A-polysaccharide was also detected in erysipelas and acute glomerulonephritis patients.

[Use of tindurine for treating toxoplasmic myocarditis in adults]. / Primenenie tindurina dlia lecheniia toksoplazmoznogo miokardita u vzroslykh bol'nykh.

To treat 50 patients with toxoplasmosis myocarditis the authors used tindurine (pyrimethamine). The drug was given in doses of 50 mg, twice, daily, for 5 days. The course of treatment consisted of 3-5 such cycles, with intervals of 7-10 days. The drug tolerance, side effects and efficacy of the first course of treatment were studied.

[Antibodies to polysaccharides of group A Streptococcus in the sera of patients with myocarditis]. / Antitela k polisakharidu streptokokka gruppy A v syvorotkakh bol'nykh miokarditami.

Antibodies to polysaccharide of streptococcus of group A (A-polysaccharide) were studied in the sera of 95 patients with myocarditis and 105 patients of the control group (congenital heart disease, angina pectoris of effort). In myocarditis patients were found in 51 (52.7%) out of 95 cases (group I); antibodies to A-polysaccharide were absent in 44 (46.3%) of cases (group II). In the control group antibodies were found in 32 (30.4%) out of 105 patients. The number of sera with high level of antibodies to A-polysaccharide is greater in the group of patients with myocarditis, than in the control group (50,98 and 37.5%, respectively). Determination of antibodies to A-polysaccharide can be used as one of the methods for aetiological diagnosis of myocarditis.

[Antibodies to non-type-specific group A streptococcal cell wall antigens in human sera]. / Antitela k netipospetsificheskim belkovym antigenam kletochnoi stenki streptokokka gruppa A v syvorotkakh cheloveka.

The use of gel immunodiffusion for the determination of antibodies to nontype-specific cell-wall protein antigens of group A streptococcus allowed to eliminate reactions caused by antibodies to type-specific antigens, group polysaccharide and teichoic acid. Antibodies to nontype-specific antigens, and particularly to two such antigens, occurred more frequently in the blood sera of patients with rheumatism in the active phase than in patients with rheumatism in the inactive phase, erysipelas and with non-rheumatic cardiac diseases, and in donors. Antibodies to nontype-specific antigens occurred in the blood sera of patients with rheumatism in the inactive phase and with non-rheumatic cardiac diseases as frequently as in donors. The occurrence of these antibodies in the blood sera of erysipelas patients was significantly more frequent than in donors; but antibodies to two nontype-specific antigens occurred in erysipelas patients, in contrast to patients with rheumatism in the active phase, not more frequently than in donors. Patients with rheumatism and erysipelas seem to differ in their immune response to certain nontype-specific streptococcal antigens.

[Toxoplasmosis-induced myocarditis]. / Toksoplazmoznye miokardity.

The clinical picture of myocarditis was studied in 72 patients with toxoplasmic infection and in 44 patients not suffering from this infection. Comparison of the clinical signs of myocarditis in these two groups showed that myocarditis of toxoplasmic etiology has no characteristic features. The only distinction between these two groups was the different frequency of various symptoms. In view of this, methods of laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasmosis acquire much significance.