The combined effect of work stress, fatigue and circadian rhythms on the efficiency of mental activity in operators

Using the multiple psychophysiological testing for 73 Chornobyl NPP control room operators (N = 1270 subject tests) there were revealed, that the information processing effectiveness significantly decreases during night shift, whereas during morning and evening shifts it is maintaining at the constant level practically. This is caused, on the one hand, by the circadian rhythms peculiarities of the different occupationally vital performance parameters (performance speed functions deteriorate under the absence of the improvement of others at night, while at the day time there are observed the different directioned changes for the different functions), on the other hand--by the more sensitivity of the body to the fatigue and work tension at night. The significant expression of the manifestation of natural circadian rhythms in the variations of the professionally important parameters of the operators' mental activity has been connected with the increased influence of the unfavourable factors on the workers' functional body state. There are revealed the more sensitivity of the information processing speed parameters to the fatigue in comparison with an accuracy, and the more sensitivity of the mental activity accuracy to the lengthy supported level of the nervous-emotional work tension in comparison with a speed.     

Serum concentrations and side effects in psychiatric patients during risperidone therapy

PURPOSE: Evaluation of fluoroscopic stent placement as an emergency therapeutical approach for treatment of acute large bowel obstruction due to colorectal neoplasm. METHODS AND MATERIAL: From January to December 1996 in 11 patients suffering from colorectal stenosis due to known or supposed malignancy the indication for the fluoroscopic placement of self-expanding metal stents was established. All patients showed clinical and radiological signs of an acute mechanical large bowel obstruction. Elective single-stage surgery was planned if the decompression had been carried out successfully. RESULTS: Stent placement was successful in 8 cases. Functional success in respect of resolving the acute large bowel obstruction was seen in 7 out of 11 patients. Elective surgery was possible in all 7 cases creating a primary end-to-end anastomosis without major complications during the perioperative period. CONCLUSION: Fluoroscopic placement of self-expanding metal stents in malignant colorectal stenosis is a promising method to avoid emergency surgery.     

Epitope mapping of anti-troponin I monoclonal antibodies

Two groups of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specific to human cardiac troponin I (cTnI) were generated by immunization of mice by isolated cTnI (group I, 16 MAbs) or by the whole troponin complex (group II, 15 MAbs). Two sets of overlapping decapeptides covering the complete sequence of cTnI were prepared and used for epitope mapping by SPOT technique. Majority of MAbs (28 out of 31) interacts with synthetic peptides thus indicating that they recognize liner epitopes. MAbs raised against isolated cTnI preferentially recognize epitopes located at the N- or C-terminal ends of cTnI. Nine out of fifteen MAbs raised against whole troponin complex interact with epitopes located in the N-terminal part of cTnI. Generation of MAbs recognizing both isolated cTnI and cTnI inside of troponin complex and mapping their epitopes provides reliable detection of TnI in serum of patients with acute myocardial infarction.     

Viral hepatitis delta in the republic of Belarus

26,740 blood donors and persons of high risk groups with respect to HBV infection, residing in different regions of Belarus, were examined for the presence of HBsAg in 1983-1997. Of these, 1372 persons (5.1%) were found to have HBsAg, and out of 1081 HBsAg-positive persons anti-HDV antibodies (Ab) were detected in 96 persons (8.9%). In spite of a decrease in acute virus hepatitis B morbidity and in HBsAg carriership, the occurrence of anti-HBV Ab remained stable during the period of 16 years and was equal, on the average, about 4% among asymptomatic HBsAg carriers. Patients having tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes mellitus, hematological diseases, chronic hepatitides and cirrhosis of the liver were an important reservoir of HBV and HDV infections for regions with the low level of the spread of HBV. A decrease in the detection rate of anti-HDV Ab in patients with cirrhosis of the liver from 47.6% to 15.4% was noted. In 1991-1997 a decrease in the detection rate of anti-HDV Ab in patients with chronic hepatic lesions in comparison with 1983-1990 was observed, and in the age group older than 50 years this decrease was from 33.3% to 8.3%. This difference was particularly pronounces in patients with cirrhosis of the liver: 53.9% and 7.7% respectively.     

The SURF-6 protein is a component of the nucleolar matrix and has a high binding capacity for nucleic acids in vitro

We reviewed the literature to determine the clinical outcomes of the treatment of closed fractures of the tibial shaft with immobilization in a cast, open reduction with internal fixation, or fixation with an intramedullary rod. We reviewed 2372 reports of comparative trials and uncontrolled studies of series of patients published between 1966 and 1993. Nineteen reports, involving six controlled trials and twenty-seven groups of patients, met our inclusion criteria. A structured questionnaire was used to assess the quality of the literature in terms of the experimental design and the method of assessment of outcome. Outcomes from controlled trials were summarized with odds ratios and risk differences, and outcomes from case series were summarized by the medians of the reported results. The studies that were reviewed generally had few subjects and were poorly designed. The comparative trials showed treatment with a cast to be associated with a lower rate of superficial infection than open reduction and internal fixation (mean difference, -5.81 per cent; p = 0.02) and open reduction and internal fixation to be associated with a higher rate of union by twenty weeks than treatment with a cast (mean difference, -18.07 per cent; p = 0.008). There were no other significant associations. There were insufficient data for us to evaluate any aspect of functional status, level of pain, or other patient-reported outcomes of any of the methods of treatment. The results of the present review suggest that the data from the published literature are inadequate for decision-making with regard to the treatment of closed fractures of the tibia.     

East European gene pool and diseases in the rural population of European Russia

New data on the association of the state of health and the disease incidence with the gene pool were obtained in the East European population. The second principal component (PC2.G, 11.4% of the total variance) of the geographic variation in the gene pool (100 alleles of 34 loci) showed a distinct latitudinal dependence corresponding to the natural zonality of Eastern Europe. This was also characteristic of the first principal component (PC1.M, 75.6% of the total variance) of the geographic variation in the disease incidence (i.e., the number of all new cases diagnosed in out-patient clinics per year) in the rural population. The disease incidence decreased from the south-southeast to the north-northwest in European Russia. The coefficient of the geographic pairwise correlation between PC2.G and PC1.M was r = 0.945; their specific correlation remained high (r = 0.864), even after a correction for the effects of age composition and heterozygosity. Thus, an insignificant variation in the gene pool was shown to significantly affect the geographic distribution of disease incidence in the East European population of Russia (eta 2 = 0.892). A correlation of mapped geographic distributions of PC1.M and PC2.G in the modern population with those of the principal components of the geographic variation of the late Paleolithic material culture in Eastern Europe was analyzed. The origin of the latitudinal zonality of the modern gene pool was dated back to the late Pleistocene-early Holocene. A conclusion was made that diseases that affected reproduction and lethality in the Paleolithic population still represent a mechanism of the gene pool's adaptation to the natural zonality of the environment. The latitudinal zonality of disease incidence, which was characteristic of the ancient population, is conserved in the today's population, owing to the gene pool.     

Endothelium-dependent regulation of the carotid artery diameter by the flow in rabbits of various age

Endothelium-dependent flow-induced regulation leads to a decrease in the flow-induced response of arteries in male rabbits from a newly-born period to one-month period of life.     

Monotonous and wave-form changes in the myelogram of rats over a 24-hour period

Circadian changes of the mean value of each component of rat myelogram and of the proliferative pool of bone marrow cells were obtained. These changes were imposed on a monotonous decrease in the case of subpopulations of granulocytes or on a monotonous increase in the case of subpopulations of the erythroid cells and lymphocytes (from 12.00 to 09.00 next day). This process was not influenced by the elimination of the lymphocytes from the individual myelograms. These myelogram changes appeared to be due to the circadian mature cell production rhythm and flows of the lymphocytes and of mature granulocytes between the bone marrow and the peripheral blood. These changes also suggest the antiphase monotonous correction of the erythrocytic and granulocytic precursors production during several days.     

Exocrine function of the pancreas in patients with chronic hepatitis and liver cirrhosis of various etiologies

Exocrinous performance of the pancreatic gland under secretin-pancreozymin stimulation was studied in 76 patients with chronic diffuse diseases of the liver who were distinguished into 6 groups: those who suffered from chronic persistent hepatitis of viral and alcohol origin, chronic active hepatitis of viral origin, cirrhosis of the liver of viral and alcohol origin, primary biliary hepatocirrhosis. The results obtained were correlated with those from 11 normal persons (controls). Out of 76 examinees the disorders of exocrinous performance of the pancreatic gland were revealed in 75 persons. The most characteristic features were: a decrease in the basal and an increase in the stimulated volume of the pancreatic juice; a reduction of both basal and stimulated production of bicarbonates; a decrease in the trypsin and amylase fasting levels and their increment in the stimulated juice of the pancreatic gland. Disorder in the production of bicarbonates was stated as a most characteristic feature in the patients both with viral and alcohol origin of the disease but it was mostly manifest in the patients with hepatocirrhosis. Pronounced elevation of the activity of amylase and trypsin in the pancreatic juice was observed in patients with very high activity of disease development and in the patients who continuously used large amounts of alcohol. The authors suspected that alcohol abuse and the effect of hepatitis virus had an equal pathogenic impact on the liver and pancreatic gland.