[(IMPACT OF LUNGWORM INFESTATION ON THE BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF ANIMALS DURING COMBINATION TREATMENT WITH ALBENDAZOLE AND T- AND B-ACTIVIN)].

Lungworm infection is caused by a Dictyocaulus filaria nematode parasitizing the bronchi and bronchioles of sheep and goats. Various anthelmintics, including albendazole, levamisole, fenbendazole, ivermectins, and others, are used to treat the animals. The aim of this investigation was to study the impact of lungworm infestation on the biochemical parameters of animals during combination treatment with albendazole and T- and B-activin. Experiments were carried out in 20 uninfected mongrel lambs aged 4-5 months. Infectious D.filaria larvae were given with water to 15 lambs once orally at a dose of 1000 larvae per head. 5 uninfected lambs served as a control group. The time course of changes in serum bio- chemical parameters was studied in animals. Treatment with Albena in combination with T- and B-activin in lambs ex- perimentally infested with lungworm was found to restore their biochemical reactivity. After sheep treatment with Albena alone, biochemical parameters were noted to tend to normalize, but their normal full recovery did not take place.

[Pulmonary paecilomycosis: Diagnosis and treatment].

AIM: To represent the advances of Russia and Uzbekistan in studying the problem of paecilomycosis. The goal of the investigation was to develop the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary paecilomycosis (PP). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Two hundred and twenty-five people, including 200 patients with bronchopulmonary infection with fungi of the Paecilomyces genus and 25 clinically healthy individuals (a control group), were examined. Clinico-anamnestic, laboratory diagnostic, mycological, and immunological studies were conducted; a lymphocyte antigen-binding test was used for differential diagnosis. Paecilomyces infection was diagnosed by microscopically examining the morphology of the fungi in the pathological material (blood, sputum) and by isolating the cultured fungi in the media (Sabouraud's and Czapek's ones). The severe complication of PP - atypical paecilomycosis-associated myocarditis (APAM) - was studied in 112 patients with helminthiasis-complicated paecilomycosis. These patients underwent using the conventional echocardiography. RESULTS: Bronchopulmonary paecilomycosis resulting from primary and secondary infection with fungi of the Paecilomyces genus was clinically manifested as chronic obstructive bronchitis (11.5%), recurrent pneumonia (13.5%), exogenous allergic alveolitis (37%), and asthma (26%) complicated by helminthiasis (12%). Iodine deficiency promotes the prevalence of paecilomycosis and echinococcosis favors Paecilomycosis infection; moreover, the helminth capsule itself serves as a nutrient medium for the development of the mycelial form of the fungus. APAM is a severe complication of PP. Almost 50% of the patients with PP presented with carditis. The patients with APAM occasionally experienced fear and the most severe intermittent pain. The latter first occurred in the chest.and irradiated to the axilla, left hand, and its fingertips, paralyzing the arm. In some patients, the pain manifested itself in both arms with abdominal irradiation, by being accompanied by faints. Current analgesics (meloxicam, tizanidine, nimesulide, morphine, promedole) in combination with fluconazole provided a temporary positive effect. CONCLUSION: Further investigations that must also include neurologists and anesthetists are required to work out effective pain relief regimens for APAM in patients with PP.

[Procedure for Latrodectus reproduction in the laboratory setting and the preparation of the first Russian matrix from its venom to manufacture homeopathic remedies with antiparasitic activity].

The investigation was undertaken to study the biology and ecology of Latrodectus, the possibilities of its importation to Russia from other countries, to breed Latrodectus in the laboratory setting, and to design the first homeopathic matrix of Latrodectus to manufacture homeopathic remedies. The authors were the first to devise a method for Latrodectus breeding in the laboratory setting of Moscow and its vicinities. The Latrodectus bred in the laboratory is suitable to manufacture drugs and in captivity they do not lose its biological activity. The authors were the first to prepare a homeopathic Latrodectus matrix for homeopathic medicines, by using the new Russian extragent petroleum. Chromatography mass spectrometry was used to identify more than a hundred chemical compounds in the Russian petroleum. The biological activity of the petroleum Latrodectus matrix for the manufacture of homeopathic remedies was highly competitive with that of the traditional Latrodectus venom matrix made using ethyl alcohol. The homeopathic Latrodectus matrix made using glycerol lost its biological activity because of glycerol. The biological activity of homeopathic matrixes made from Latrodectus inhabiting the USA, Uzbekistan, and the south of Russia and from that bred in the laboratory was studied. The homeopathic matrix made from the Latrodectus living in the Samarkand Region, Republic of Uzbekistan, has the highest biological activity.

[The agent Latrodectus and canine paecilomycotic eclampsia as a laboratory model in the survey of treatment for mycoses and parasitic diseases].

The extragent used to prepare a Latrodectus mactans hydrocarbon extract is a multicomponent system composed of alkanes, alkenes, and arenes. More than 100 compounds were identified in the hydrocarbon extract (petroleum). The petroleum matrix of Latrodectus mactans was first obtained to manufacture homeopathic remedies. The authors could prepare the first Russian homeopathic medicine from Latrodectus mactans, which proved to be effective in treating canine eclampsia. Canine experiments provide a rationale for the authors' choice as the only homeopathic remedy among thousand known drugs to treat female eclampsia. It is Latrodectus mactans that is in the list of homeopathic medicines permitted for use in accordance with Order No. 335 (Supplement 2) of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry of Russia, issued on November 29, 1995. It is manufactured from Latrodectus mactans living in the USA.

[Development of a new hydrocarbon extract from the medicinal raw material of Circassian walnut (Juglans regia) and study of its antiparasitic activity].

The authors developed a technology for preparing a hydrocarbon extract from the medicinal raw material of Circassian walnut (Juglans regia), including its green fruits, green leaves, and fresh roots. To prepare the preparation, they obtained for the first time a new extragent called petroleum Russia that was found to contain more than hundred chemical compounds by chromatography mass spectrometry. The new agent was named irillen. Experiments on albino mice and albino rats established that the new agent was low toxic. The lethal doses of irillen were calculated: LD50 was 16377 +/- 457.5 mg/kg; LD16 = 12986.4 mg/kg; LD84 was 18976.6 mg/kg for albino mice; LD50 was 16998.0 +/- 535.4 mg/kg; LD16 = 12875.3 mg/ kg; LD84 = 18583.4 mg/kg for albino rats. The irillen prepared by the authors should be referred to as a low toxic and practically nontoxic agent (Toxicity Class IV and V). Irillen has a broad spectrum of antiparasitic activity. It is effective in treating toxocariasis in dogs, larval alveolar echinococcosis, ascaridiasis, and eimeriasis in chickens, and siphachiasis.

[Transformation of the fungus Paecilomyces variotii and the causes of host cell lysis at the boundary with a fungal mycelium-containing Echinococcus capsule].

Experiments were carried out on animal species. The experiments used 30-day chicks, 80 rats, and 70 rabbits. Three hundred and twenty-nine patients with echinococcus complicated by paecilomycosis were meticulously examined. The fungi of the genus Paecilomyces undergo two transformation directions: the saprotrophic mycelial form of the fungus Paecilomyces variotii transforms to the tissue parasitic one as a globular form of spherules that transforms to the mycelial form in larval Echinococcus infection because the cyst capsule is a favorable environment for growth of fungal mycelia. The growth and aggressiveness of larval Echinococcus in the human lung are associated with the fact that fungal mycelial fibrous tunic contains Paecilomyces that have been first used to isolate active hyaluronidase that lyses host cells. Pulmonary echinococcosis complicated by the tissue form of paecilomycosis can be complicated by the mycelial form of the fungus of the genus Paecilomyces, by afflicting the nails and skin of patients, which requires particular treatment after surgery for hydatid disease. The chicks that had been brooded in an incubator and grown under special conditions to rule out fungal infection were first contaminated with the fungal mycelium labeled with methionine, sodium sulfate, sodium phosphate, or iodine. Each chick received 0.5 g of the labeled fungal mycelium. Regardless of the contamination mode, all the chicks from 3 groups were infected with Paecilomyces; the spherules exhibited labeled isotopes. Thus, it has been first conclusively proven that the diagnosis of paecilomycosis based on the blood detection of fungal globular spherules is valid and easy-to-use in any health care facility.

[Immunorehabilitation in patients with paecilomycosis-complicated echinococcosis and asthma].

Paecilomycosis is a new type of systemic mycosis caused by different species of fungi of the genus Paecilomyces. Paecilomycosis-complicated echinococcosis and asthma run a severe course. A complication of mycosis is accompanied by secondary immunodeficiency. A good result was obtained in the treatment of ill children by using the fungicide diflucan and the immunomodulator polyoxidonium. In the examinees with paecilomycosis-complicated echinococcosis, secondary immunodeficiency was characterized by a statistical significant reduction in the blood levels of the lymphoid cells CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD16+, CD21+, by phagocytosis, a decrease in its quantitative parameters, and an increase in the counts of immunoglobulins and circulating immunocomplexes. To normalize the immune status in patients with paecilomycosis-complicated echinococcosis, it is expedient to postsurgicallyuse fungicides, such as nizoral, diflucan, orungal, mycosyst, and the immunomodulators polyoxidonium and irillen.

[Amino acid exchange in paeci lomycosis-complicated echinococcosis].

The authors have detected atypical paecilomycosis-associated myocarditis with impaired amino acid exchange and pain syndrome for the first time. At first, pain occurs in the chest and radiates into the axilla, to the left arm to the finger tips, by paralyzing the arm. In some patients, pain manifests itself in both arms with radiation to the belly, by accompanying by fainting. The skin is wet, cold; the pulse is frequent and of poor volume and difficult-to-count. Heart pain spreads into the armpit and down the arm, by making the fingers numb. Attempts to use current analgesics (movalis, sirdalud, nimesil, morphine) in combination with fungicides (diflucan, mycosist, orungal) have failed to yield positive results. The homeopathic drug Latrodectus mactans, prepared from caracurt venom, in combination with the authors' designed diet and other homeopathic agents have relieved pain syndrome and normalized amino acid exchange, which offered possibilities for successful surgical treatment for echinococcosis with later recovery.

[Echinococcosis complicated by paecilomycosis].

Two hundred and thirty-six echinococcosis patients aged 17 to 70 years were examined for paecilomycosis. Seventy-five subjects of different ages who were considered to be clinically healthy were prepared as a control. Of them who had physiological parameters of blood fungi, 24 subjects, including 9 subjects aged 17 to 23 years and 15 subjects aged 15 to 30 years, were eligible. The other examinees were patients with paecilomycosis of varying stages. Nizoral, fluconazole, diflucan, orungal, mycosyst, and teknazol, which have been tested by the authors, are proposed for use in paecilomycosis-complicated echinococcosis prior to and after surgery. It is advisable to use one fungicide. In this respect, the authors have conducted clinical trials that have yielded positive results.

[Experimental rationale for a procedure for correction of the residual cavity in hydatidectomy].

Thirty-six piglets (15 days old) were inoculated with Echinococcus according to the authors' procedure. Hepatic hydatid cyst growth in the piglets was ultrasonographically monitored 3 months after inoculation. In 15 piglets, the size of hepatic hydatid cysts was as high as 6.5 x 8.5 cm 5 months after infection. The cavity of larvocystic fibrous capsule was eliminated, by inverting the resection margins inward with interrupted catgut sutures. For content aspiration, the cystic bed was occasionally drained by a polyvinyl chloride tube with two side holes, which was brought outward through an individual incision. Thesubhepatic area was also drained by a "cigar" tampon through an individual incision. The wound healed in layers, tightly. Marginal resection of the liver was performed to stimulate regenerative processes in the resected area.

[Modulation of nuclear receptor action and regulation of medicines biotransformation].

Nuclear receptors are transcription factors that are essential in embryonic development, cellular differentiation, metabolism. Ligand-regulated nuclear PXR receptor responds to diverse arrays of chemically distinct ligands, xenobiotics, drugs and regulates expression of the genes involved in xenobiotic and drug metabolism. The structural basis of the receptor provides interaction with a variety of ligands which are agonists or antagonists. Nuclear receptors researches are important for design of metabolism regulating drugs and in drug interaction studies.

[Genetic resistance to malaria].

Genetic resistance to malaria is associated with various genetic factors, including erythrocytic variability and variability of the genes involved into the pathogenetic process. Some genetic anomalies resulted from selective malaria pressure, which brought into existence different forms of hemoglobinopathies, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and no Duffy antigens, and ovalocytosis, etc., which ensured varying malaria resistance. Cell adhesion is a major factor in the pathogenesis of malaria. Adhesion molecules express on the cellular membranes of the endothelium, platelets, macrophages, red blood cells and serve as binding receptors for membrane proteins PFRMP-1 of P. falciparum. Polymorphism of the CD36, ICAM-1, and PECAM1 genes can lower binding to blood vessel endothelial cells, which reduces the number of clinical forms of malaria. The high serum TNF-alpha level that is caused by mutation in the promoter of the TNF-alpha gene is associated with cerebral malaria. TNF-alpha enhances the endothelial expression of adhesion molecules, by increasing the adhesion of infected erythrocytes, including that in cerebral capillaries, by inducing in patients local thrombosis and inflammation with release of the cytokines--TNF-alpha. The products of inflammatory infiltrates attack the endothelium, by leading to the imbibition of plasma and erythrocytes in brain tissue and causing a cerebral form of malaria.

[Protective properties of the cavitary fluid antigens of Ascaris suum]. / Protektivnye svoistva antigenov polostnoi zhidkosti Ascaris suum.

Fractions of cavitary fluid of Ascaris (CFA) containing antigens were obtained on membranous filters. Being administered to mice they provide the development of protective immunity of animals to their subsequent infection with invasional eggs of A. suum. In mice immunized with fraction CFA XM-50 the number of A. suum larvae obtained from the lungs on the 7th day of invasion was confidentially lower than in control animals (15.277) +/- 1.825 on the 7th day of invasion was confidentially lower than in control animals (15.277 +/- 1.825 and 58.10 +/- 1.588, respectively, p less than 0.001). Immunisation of mice with fraction XM-300 caused less pronounced protective effect. Low-molecular antigens of the fraction UM-05 possess tolerant properties. In mice immunized with fraction UM-05 the number of A. suum larvae obtained from the lungs on the 7th day after invasion was greater than in control ones (68.22 +/- 6.24 and 49.39 +/- 4.13, respectively, p less than 0.001).

[Morphofunctional changes in the digestive system of the nematode Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819) after use of the anthelmintics albendazole, fenbendazole, and ivermectin]. / Morfofunktsional'nye izmeneniia v pishchevaritel'noi sisteme nematody Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819) posle primeneniia antigel'mintikov albendazola, fenbendazola i ivermektina.

The paper presents the results of histological and electron microscopic studies of the tissues of the digestive system of the nematode Passalurus ambiguus (Rudolphi, 1819) after use of the anthelminthics albendazole, fenbendazole, and ivermectine. They demonstrate that albendazole and fenbendazole cause irreversible structural changes. Less pronounced destruction of different parts of the digestive system occurs after the use of ivermectine. All the drugs affect the mid-gut of Passalurus.

[The pathomorphological changes in the kidneys of white mice with experimental trichocephaliasis and after the use of anthelmintic preparations]. / Patomorfologicheskie izmeneniia v pochkakh belykh myshei pri éksperimental'nom trikhotsefaleze i posle primeneniia antigel'mintnykh preparatov.

The experiments were carried out with 170 white mice divided into 4 groups. The first group consisted on 72 intact animals, administered subcutaneous ivomek (0.01 ml/kg) and oxfendasole (10 mg/kg) per os; Group 2 consisted of 15 animals with induced trichocephaliasis, administered no anthelmintics. The third group, 72 animals, were infected with Trichocephalus muris invasion eggs and administered anthelminthic agents on day 46 postinfection. The fourth group consisted of 11 intact animals, neither infected, nor treated (reference group). The animals were decapitated 3, 12, 24 and 72 h after the drug administration and histologic examination of the kidneys was carried out. The findings evidence that the morphologic changes in the kidneys of mice with trichocephaliasis are characterized by alternating proliferative processes. Both the drugs used were found characterized by a more or less pronounced nephrotoxicity. Ivomek induced the most marked structural changes in the kidneys of intact animals. The changes in the kidneys of intact mice were more manifest after the drugs administration than in intact animals.

[Testing CK group preparations in hymenolepiasis in white mice]. / Ispytanie preparatov gruppy CK pri gimenolipidoze belykh myshei.

The drugs CK-1 and CK-2 are a kerosene milky-stage walnut (Juglans spp.) extract. The drugs CK-3, CK-4, and CK-5 are derived from monkshood (Aconitum) roots, garlic (Allium sativum), and Ferula, respectively. Albino mice were infected with hymenolepiasis by the procedure of B.A. Astafyev et al. (1989). The mice were aged 3 weeks, weighed 7-8 g, and spontaneous invasion-free. The doses of 25 to 100 mg/kg were tested. The antihelminthic effects of the extragent of the drugs--aircraft kerosine purified by the authors' procedure--were additionally examined. The purified aircraft kerosine was found to have moderate antihelminthic effects, but failed to provide 100% antihelminthic activity when given even in very high doses (500 mg/kg or more). The drug CK-1, 100 mg/kg, completely eliminated hymenolepiasis in the experimental animals. Other drugs CK-3, CK-4, and CK-5 used in doses of 100 mg/kg body weight failed to provide 100% antihelminthic efficiency.

[A histological and electron microscopic study of the kidneys in migrating ascariasis]. / Gistologicheskoe i élektronno-mikroskopicheskoe issledovanie pochek pri migratsionnom askaridoze.

Histological and electron microscopic techniques were used to study the structure of the kidney in migration ascariasis caused by the single or double infection of white mice with Ascaris at an interval of 14 days. The animals were autopsied on days 5-7 after single or double infection. It was found that double infection changes occur earlier (on day 2). The kidneys were ascertained to restore their structure by day 21, suggesting the reversibility of the detected changes. Such regularity has been defined before while examining the structure of the liver in ascariasis.

[Experimental echinococcosis in piglets infected by the inoculation of the embryonic elements of the cysts from human patients]. / Eksperimental'nyi ékhinokokkoz porosiat, zarazhennykh implantatsiei zarodyshevykh élementov kist cheloveka ot bol'nykh.

Twenty six piglets aged 25 days divided into 4 groups (Groups 1 and 4 included 5 piglets and Groups 2 and 3 comprised 8 ones) were selected. The piglets from Groups 1, 2, and 3 were peritoneally inoculated with 5000 protoscolices and acephalocysts from the cyst of human Echinococcus granulosus by the procedure [4]. Group 4 piglets were not inoculated they served as a control group. Prior to infection, the animals were weighed and their blood was analyzed by the conventional procedure. On day 90 following inoculation, the piglets were killed. All the infected piglets developed Echinococci which grew rapidly, some larvocysts measured as high as 34 mm in diameter and contained alive protoscolices. The Echinococcus-infected animals were found to have changes in blood composition, impaired protein-amino acid metabolism, lower living mass as compared to the controls. The inoculation of embryonic elements of echinococcosis from ill humans to pigs is a model of this disease, which is promising for medical studies.