[Protease activity and the level of antibodies to connective tissue elements in various lung diseases]. / Aktivnost' proteaz i uroven' antitel k soedinitel'notkannym élementam pri nekotorykh zabolevaniiakh legkikh.

Altogether 274 patients with different pulmonary diseases were examined for the activity of trypsin and elastase of the blood and the level of their inhibitors. The concentration of antibodies to collagen and elastin was also measured. In acute chronic pneumonia or exacerbation, the activity of the enzymes increased, the concentration of antibodies to collagen and elastin rose. In acute pneumonia, the titer of antibodies to collagen and elastin persisted for 1-1.5 months, in CNPD and tuberculosis for 4-8 months.

[The diagnostic importance of determining tuberculosis antibodies by immunoenzyme analysis in exudative pleurisy]. / Diagnosticheskoe znachenie opredeleniia protivotuberkuleznykh antitel metodom immunofermentnogo analiza pri ékssudativnom plevrite.

High diagnostic value of EIA detection of antituberculous antibodies in recognition of tuberculous pleurisy was established after examination of 58 patients with pleural exudate of different origin (tuberculous, tumor, nonspecific). Tuberculous pleurisy was diagnosed using sonicate M. tuberculosis as the antigen. It is important to determine antituberculous antibodies simultaneously in blood serum and exudate because in such a way it becomes possible to raise the test specificity to 100% in high sensitivity (94.7%).

[Prospects of etiological diagnosis of bronchitis]. / Vozmozhnosti etiologicheskoi diagnostiki bronchita.

Serum antibodies to soft tissue elements, levels of elastase, trypsin, trypsin inhibitor, alpha(2)-macroglobulin were measured to make a differential diagnosis of dust with nonoccupational bronchitis. For dust and nondust bronchitis titers of antibodies to collagen and elastin were different, serum enzymatic activity changed as a result of reduced concentration of trypsin and high elastase in dust bronchitis patients. Using the above results facilitates etiological diagnosis of bronchitis in workers exposed to dust by immunological methods as well as expertise of occupational bronchopulmonary pathology.

[Influence of environmental factors on the epidemiology of tuberculosis in the Astrakhan region]. / Vliianie ékologicheskikh faktorov na épidemiologiiu tuberkuleza v Astrakhanskoi oblasti.

The epidemiology of tuberculosis in the Astrakhan Region depends on many causes among which environmental factors do not take last places; a significant positive correlation with which was observed in 41.5 and 52% cases in the rural areas of the Astrakhan Region and in Astrakhan, respectively. The proportion of environmental factors among the causes in noticeably higher in destructive pulmonary tuberculosis, in chronic destructive forms in particular, and in first detected bacillary patients.

[The impact of ecological pressing on tuberculosis and nonspecific lung diseases in the Astrakhan' region]. / Vliianie ekologicheskogo pressinga na tuberkulez i nespetsificheskie zabolevaniia legkikh v Astrakhanskoi oblasti.

The correlation analysis was used to examine the epidemiological indices of the morbidity of tuberculosis, pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, bronchial asthma, and lung cancer in the Astrakhan region in 1987-1994. The indices were compared with each other and with varying air, water, and soil levels of toxicants. The magnitude of the effects of pollutants on the incidence of respiratory diseases ranged from 61% (for tuberculosis) to 93.3% (for pneumonia). The effects of the water and soil concentrations of toxicants proved to be less insignificant, by varying from 28.7% in tuberculosis to 4.8% in lung cancer. The effects of toxicant levels on tuberculosis morbidity are 5 times less than those during fibrous-cavernous processes and twice less than in first detected tuberculosis at the stage of decay with bacterial isolation. The pollutants containing sulfur were found to adversely affect mainly patients with tuberculosis or lung cancer. The study makes it necessary to consider patients with the aforesaid diseases as the objects of ecological pressing that directly has impact on the course of diseases and their outcomes.

[Correlation between functional activity of lymphocytes and level of endogenous thyroid hormones in pulmonary tuberculosis]. / Zavisimost funktsionalnoi aktivnosti limfotsitov ot urovnia éndogennykh tireoidnykh gormonov pri tuberculëze lëgkikh.

Lymphocytic proliferation responses to PHA and purified protein derivative, T-suppressor activity and levels of triiodothyronine and thyroxin were studied in peripheral blood of 51 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. It was stated that the immunomodulating role of thyroid hormones depends on the disease form and phase, the degree of tuberculin sensitization of lymphocytes. An individual approach to usage of thyroid hormones in pathogenetic treatment of tuberculosis patients is considered.

[Angiotensin converting enzyme in the blood serum of patients with tuberculosis and leprosy]. / Angiotenzinprevrashchaiushchii ferment v syvorotke krovi bol'nykh tuberkulezom i leproi.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) levels in the serum of 15 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and 9 with leprosy were measured by means of a spectrophotometric method. The serum produced from 10 blood donors was used as a control. Leprosy is accompanied by a sharp drop of ACE levels, which is attributed by the authors to a cellular immunodeficiency. In case of tuberculosis, a higher ACE level in blood often follows fibrosis formed in the lung along with a tuberculin hyperergia. The opinion that the ACE level reflects the tuberculosis or leprosy activity as well as the granulomatous tissue extension in tuberculosis patients has not been confirmed.

[The skin tuberculin sensitivity of students at the Astrakhan Medical Institute and its dynamics over the course of 36 years (1957-1993)]. / Kozhnaia tuberkulinovaia chuvstvitel'nost' studentov Astrakhanskogo meditsinskogo instituta i ee dinamika na protiazhenii 36 let (1957--1993 gg.).

More than 10,000 first-to-sixth year students have undergone the Mantoux test (MT) for 36 years. Before 1980, the tuberculin sensitivity of the students declined rapidly (as high as 3% per year), then more slowly (1%), persons with tuberculin hypersensitivity reduced in number, and the previously observed rise in the proportion of tuberculin-positive persons among the first-to-second year students becoming fourth-to-sixth year ones. Recently, the number of MT-positive students has stopped increasing, but there has been a growth in the share of persons with an indurate of MT with 2 TE in 10-20 min (from 36.1e4.0 to 51.3e4.0%) with the still permanent proportion of tuberculin-hypersensitive students and without any increase in the incidence of tuberculosis among pupils. The authors hold that this phenomenon is the first sign of poor epidemiology. In this connection, they consider that mass MT with 2 TE performed in individuals with an indurate of above 10 mm is noteworthy as this is a growth index of the specific sensitization of the population and they are to be systematically tested.