The effect of the Russian inhalant glucocorticosteroid budesonide on bronchial inflammation and hyperreactivity during the long-term treatment of bronchial asthma patients

11 patients with severe bronchial asthma entered a randomized trial of glucocorticosteroid budesonide of Russian produce. Of them 6 patients received inhalations of budesonide (800 micrograms/day for 6 months), 5 control patients did not receive the drug. As shown by investigations of external respiration and bronchoalveolar lavage with estimation of cytogram, metacholine provocative tests, fiber bronchoscopy, budesonide inhalations relieved clinical symptoms of asthma, bronchial hyperreactivity and inflammation.     

Exercise-induced analgesia and the role of reactivity in pain sensitivity

The present study was designed to evaluate whether pain perception and pain tolerance are altered by submaximal aerobic exercise. Sixty male volunteers were randomly assigned to one of two control or experimental groups in the first of two sessions. In session 1, baseline measures of pain tolerance and pain perception were obtained for half of the subjects in each of the experimental and control groups, respectively. In addition, all subjects completed the Reactivity Scale, followed by estimation of their maximum aerobic power (VO2 max) using the Canadian Home Fitness Test. In session 2, the subjects in the two experimental groups exercised for 12 min by climbing a double step to pre-recorded musical cadences, working on average at 63% VO2 max, whereas the subjects in the two control groups spent approximately 12 min completing two short unrelated questionnaires. Measures of pain tolerance and pain perception were obtained from all subjects after exercising or completing questionnaires. Pain tolerance was assessed by the amount of time (up to 10 min) that subjects could voluntarily endure a 2300 g pressure to the index finger of their dominant hand. Pain perception was defined by participants' intensity ratings on an 11-point scale, made at 30 and 60 s. The results showed that reactivity and exercise were significant predictors of pain tolerance, together accounting for approximately 22% of the variance. The finding that submaximal workloads produce analgesia supports the potential usefulness of exercise in therapeutic intervention.     

Intravenous immunoglobulin in combined therapy for children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (evaluation of therapeutical efficiency and factors that influence them)

Method of somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEP) was applied for examination of 36 patients in early restorative period of ischemic stroke located in internal capsule, in cortical-subcortical area of parieto-temporal cerebral regions or in cortical-subcortical areas of frontal areas. 15 healthy individuals formed a control group. Electrophysiologic SSEP pattern was not homogeneous and depended on the location of a damage focus in cerebral hemispheres. Peculiarities of generatory mechanisms of SSEP components' forming in ischemic stroke, are presented.     

The genetic sequelae for plant populations of radioactive environmental pollution in connection with the Chernobyl accident

Populations of Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., and Pinus sylvestris L., growing within 30 km of Chernobyl and Bryansk region have been analyzed for the frequency of embryonic lethal mutations on Arabidopsis and frequency of chlorophyll mutations and chromosome aberrations by pine. On pine also have been analyzed rate of mutations at enzyme loci in endosperms of seeds. Dose dependence of the value genetic damage on level of radioactive pollution was observed.     

A Ser315Thr substitution in KatG is predominant in genetically heterogeneous multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates originating from the St. Petersburg area in Russia

Parts of katG and rpoB from 27 Russian Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were sequenced to detect mutations causing resistance to isoniazid (INH) and rifampin (RMP), respectively. All 24 INH-resistant isolates had a mutated katG, and 22 of them (91.7%) carried a mutation coding for a Ser315Thr shift. An rpoB mutation was noted for each of the 21 RMP-resistant isolates, with Ser531Leu being the most prevalent change encoded. Only two isolates had identical IS6110 fingerprints.