Application of Laser Correlation Spectroscopy for Measuring Virus Size.

Dynamic light scattering method or laser correlation spectroscopy was applied to evaluation of the size of viruses. We measured correlation functions of the light scattered by human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) and hepatitis A viruses (HAV) and found that size of HIV-1 (subtype A and B) and HAV virions were 104 nm and 28 nm, respectively. Comparison of these findings with electron microscopy data for fixed samples of the same viruses showed good agreement of the results.

Silicon Nanoparticles as Amplifiers of the Ultrasonic Effect in Sonodynamic Therapy.

The possibility of using mesoporous silicon nanoparticles as amplifiers (sensitizers) of therapeutic ultrasonic exposure were studied experimentally in vitro and in vivo. The combination of nanoparticles and ultrasound led to a significant inhibition of Hep-2 cancer cell proliferation and Lewis lung carcinoma growth in mice. These results indicated good prospects of using silicon nanoparticles as sensitizers for sonodynamic therapy of tumors.

[On a Possible Mechanism of the Effect of Microwave Radiation on Biological Macromolecules].

A model describing the process of dissociation of hydrogen bonding in water clusters when irradiated by electromagnetic field in the microwave range is suggested. The model is also applicable for the case of rupture of the covalent bond of the water molecule cluster. If the energy absorption occurs at the interface of water and polymer clusters (e.g., DNA, chitosan), degradation of the polymer chain is possible.

[Toxoplasmosis and the epidemiological status of the population. II. The determination of the intensity of toxoplasmosis transmission]. / Toksoplazmoz i épidemiologicheskoe sostoianie naseleniia. Soobshchenie II. Opredelenie intensivnosti peredachi toksoplazmoza.

The possibility of using the primary epidemiological unit, force of infection, as a criterion for evaluating the intensity of the transfer of toxoplasmosis among the population at the focus of infection has been established. The comparison of data obtained in different regions indicates that the level of the force of infection is, in general, low, but it can vary within a wide range. The problem of the suitability of using the force of infection as a criterion for dividing territories into zones with respect to toxoplasmosis is discussed.

[Toxoplasmosis and the epidemiological status of the population. I. The general characteristics of the basic epidemetrons]. / Toksoplazmoz i épidemiologicheskoe sostoianie naseleniia. Soobshchenie I. Obshchaia kharakteristika osnovnykh épidemetronov.

The general characteristic of the main indices, or epidemic values (epidemetrons) is presented and the possibility of their use for characterizing the epidemiological state of the population in the foci of toxoplasmosis is evaluated.

[Electromyographic characteristics of the neuromuscular disorders in botulism]. / Nekotorye élektromiograficheskie kharakteristiki nervno-myshechnykh narushenii u bol'nykh botulizmom.

The total bioelectrical activity of the muscles of the upper extremities as well as the neuromuscular transmission were examined in 30 patients with botulism at various stages of the disease. A picture of low-amplitude interference electromyogram was revealed. The results of stimulation electromyography pointed to a peculiar disorder of the neuromuscular transmission associated with a defect in the mediator release. Dynamic clinical and electromyographic observations pointed to a long period of the motor function restoration in convalescents.

[Aspartate aminotransferase activity as dependent on the degree of serum dilution]. / Issledovanie aktivnosti aspartataminotransferazy v zavisimosti ot stepeni razbavleniia syvorotki krovi.

Dependence of the enzymatic reaction rate V. catalyzed by aspartate aminotransferase, on concentration of standard human blood serum Moni-trol I ("Dade", Switzerland) was studied. In the range of moderate dilutions, which did not exceed 1.3-times, the V value altered in accordance with the blood serum concentration C. Under conditions of extensive dilutions dependence of V on blood serum concentration became complicated. The non-linear type of V dependence on blood serum concentration appears to be due to deaggregation of the enzyme molecules with formation of more active fragments as a result of blood serum dilution. Two parameters should be used for characteristics of blood serum aspartate aminotransferase activity: the enzymatic activity of undiluted blood serum as well as the ratio between specific activities of the enzyme in an associated from and the products of its dissociation, i.e. when C-1 and C-0, respectively.

[The clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of diphtheria in adults]. / Klinicheskie proiavleniia, diagnostika i lechenie difterii u vzroslykh.

Diphtheria morbidity among adult population of Moscow is growing. The tests of different modes and schemes of heterogeneous antidiphtheria serum administration have found out that the highest efficacy of serotherapy was achieved with a single intravenous dose. Another treatment of diphtheria is hemosorption. Widely used in present-day clinical practice hemosorbents provide adequate elimination of the toxin from plasma. The authors analyse the present situation in clinical symptoms, complications, lethality of diphtheria basing on the data provided by S. P. Botkin's Hospital.

Clinical studies of the use of bacteriophage in the treatment of cholera.

This study reports the use of bacteriophage prepared in the USSR in the treatment of cholera. Patients with acute cholera were rehydrated with a standard intravenous solution and were then given a bacteriophage preparation in addition to maintenance intravenous therapy. The titre of the phage preparations was between 10(8) and 10(9) pfu/ml. Bacteriophage was given by mouth (25 ml for adults and 20 ml for children) for 3 days; in addition, some patients were also given an intramuscular injection (20 ml) of phage on the first day in hospital. For comparison, other groups of patients were given a standard tetracycline regimen or a placebo preparation. Daily vibrio and phage counts were made on stool samples from all patients and the vibrio strains isolated from each patient were tested for sensitivity to the phage preparation.The criteria used to evaluate the various therapies were duration of diarrhoea, volume of stool, and duration of vibrio excretion.The results of the study demonstrate that, in the doses used, the therapeutic effect of bacteriophage, if any, was markedly inferior to that of tetracycline and that in the current state of our knowledge bacteriophage, as used in this study, has no place in the treatment of cholera.