[Problems of general surgery in clinical transplantology and cardiac surgery].

The authors have analyzed results of operative treatment of 128 patients with terminal chronic renal failure (59) and cardiac pathology (69) associated with general surgical diseases (cholelithiasis, abdominal hernias, ulcer disease, malignant tumors etc). The authors recommend the indications, terms and character of operative measures be defined individually.

The fine structure of X-ray diffuse scattering in the vicinity of high-angle superlattice Bragg reflections.

Triple-axis X-ray diffractometry was used to study diffuse scattering from an AlAs/GaAs superlattice grown on an [001]-oriented GaAs substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. Reciprocal-space maps were obtained around the 002 reflection from the superlattice and its low-angle first-order satellite. The data obtained reveal quasi-Bragg diffuse-scattering sheets caused by conformal behavior of interfacial roughness as well as amplification of diffuse scattering when the incoming or outgoing angle is nearly equal to the Bragg angle of the superlattice or substrate. The observed features of diffuse-scattering fine structure are explained within the framework of the distorted-wave Born approximation. Nevertheless, this approximation is shown to be incorrect for quantitative analysis of diffuse scattering. In particular, the observed domination in intensity of the incoming Bragg features over the outgoing ones is shown to reflect the decay rate of the coherent X-ray field through the diffuse-scattering channel, which is not negligible relative to the coherent diffraction.

[Rocuronium (esmerone) in anesthesia during surgery under extracorporeal circulation]. / Rokuronium (ésmeron) pri anesteziologicheskom obespechenii operatsii s iskusstvennym krovoobrashcheniem.

The study was undertaken to examine the myoplegic, hemodynamic, and histamine-releasing effects of the new aminosteroidal myorelaxant Rocuronium (esmerone, Organon firm) used to maintain anesthesia in cardiac surgical patients by orienting to early tracheal extubation. Twenty two patients aged 50 +/- 3 years operated on under extracorporeal circulation were examined. At the initial stage of maintenance, the agent in a dose of 0.6 mg/kg failed to affect cardiac pump function and to elevate plasma histamine levels. A moderate vagolytic effect was shown in 45% of cases. The incidence of myoplegia reduced in patients with significant circulatory insufficiency. In the preperfusion period, Rocuronium in a dose of 10.2 +/- 0.9 micrograms/kg/min blocked neuromuscular conduction (NMC) at a level of 5.1 +/- 1.8 to 19.2 +/- 3.5%. During hypothermic extracorporeal circulation and postperfusion period, the dosage of the myorelaxant substantially decreased. After termination of Rocuronium infusion, the time of up to 95%-recovery of NMC was 63 +/- 6 min. Early tracheal extubation was conducted in 68% of the patients 69 +/- 7.6 min after the end of the operation. Residual myoplegia was absent. The predictable recovery of NMC following the use of Rocuronium creates conditions for early activation of patients operated on under extracorporeal circulation.

Study of the inner structure of co/c and ni/c multilayers prepared by pulsed laser evaporation method.

In the present work we have used the EXAFS and SAXS methods to study the inner structure of "classical" Co/C and Ni/C multilayers. This enabled us to study in detail the structure of a multilayer as a function of the thickness of a metal layer within the multilayer. On the basis of these data a model for multilayer growth produced with pulsed laser evaporation technology is proposed.

Structural Changes Study of Co/C and Ni/C Multilayers upon Annealing.

A detailed study of structural changes occurring in films and on boundaries in multilayers upon annealing with EXAFS, WAXS, and SAXS methods was performed. The optimum temperature of annealing for the Ni/C and Co/C multilayers obtained by the pulsed laser evaporation method was found.

[The effect of spirobromin and prospidin on acute and chronic inflammation in rats]. / Vliianie spirobromina i prospidina na ostroe i khronicheskoe vospalenie u krys.

The effects of new antitumor drugs spirobromin and prospidin on acute (carraghenin-induced rat paw edema) and chronic ("pellet granuloma") inflammation in rats were studied. The drugs were found to exert the anti-inflammatory effect on the model of chronic proliferative inflammation but to produce no significant changes in the degree of the acute inflammatory reaction. Spirobromin is superior to prospidin by the power of the anti-inflammatory effect. The electron microscopic studies showed that spirobromin and prospidin decrease the activity of fibroblasts in the focus of chronic inflammation.

[Rational approaches to selective synthesis of antimetastatic agents]. / Ratsional'nye podkhody k napravlennomu sintezu protivometastaticheskikh agentov.

Some 3,3-dimethyltriazenes were shown to be capable of selective antimetastatic activity, i. e. preventing metastatic spreading of experimental tumors without affecting primary tumor or apparent metastases. The mechanism of antimetastatic effect of 3,3-dimethyltriazenes is discussed. The drugs represent a new promising pharmacological class of agents used for postsurgical adjuvant treatment of cancer. The effect of diazo derivatives produced in the course of disintegration of aromatic and heterocyclic 3,3-dimethyltriazenes on the in vitro activity of Ca-ATPase of the sarcoplasmic reticulum should be evaluated as a test-system for selecting new antimetastatic agents with cryptodiazonic properties.

[Mechanisms of the antitumor action of spirobromine in mice with leukemia P-388]. / Izuchgenie mekhanizma protivoopukholevogo deistviia spirobromina u myshei s leikozom P-388.

The influence of new antitumor drug, spirobromine, a derivative of dispirotripiperazine, on DNA synthesis in tumor cells and organs at different times after its injection into mice with P388 leukemia has been studied. The duration of DNA synthesis inhibition in tumor cells was found to correlate with spirobromine antitumor activity. A certain selectivity of action of the studied compound on DNA synthesis in P 388 leukemia cells as compared to the action on DNA synthesis in bone marrow, small intestine, spleen and liver of tumor animals was observed.

[Thermodynamic and spectral study of DNA-prospidin complex]. / Termodinamicheskoe i spektral'noe issledovanie kompleksa DNK s prospidinom.

By the methods of heat denaturation and luminescence the interaction between an antitumor drug prospidine and DNA in aqueous solutions at two ionic strengths (0.1 and 0.001 M NaCl) and at various prospidine concentrations was studied. For the first time it has been demonstrated that the interaction occurs at 0.1 M NaCl and therapeutic prospidine concentrations. In the framework of Frank-Kamenetsky's theory of melting of a polymer with stabilizing ligands the size of the binding site and binding constants (K) with the decrease of ionic strength, the lack of alterations in the DNA UV absorption spectrum on complex formation and the data on the competitive binding of ethydium bromide suggest that at the first stage of the reaction an external complex is formed due to electrostatic interactions between quaternary nitrogen atoms of prospidine and DNA phosphate groups. Incubation of the complex at 37 0 C leads to a decrease of the DNA melting temperature and hyperchromic effect. Presumably this is due to the relatively slow formation of chemical bonds between alkylating groups of prospidine and nucleophilic groups of DNA bases, which results in the destabilization and denaturation of DNA. It is concluded that the interaction between prospidine and DNA must be taken into consideration when studying the molecular mechanism of prospidine antitumour activity.

[Effects of prospidin on the development of pulmonary metastases of Lewis tumors in rats in regard to changes in the level of extracellular calcium]. / Vliianie prospidina na razvitie legochnykh metastazov opukholi L'iuis na fone izmeneniia urovnia vnekletochnogo kal'tsiia.

The effect of prospidin on Lewis lung carcinoma spreading under hyper- and hypocalcemia was studied. At early stages, increased extracellular calcium level was associated with inhibition of tumor dissemination to the lungs; however, later, colony growth was stimulated. Extracellular calcium level was shown to modulate the antitumor and antimetastatic effect of prospidin.

[Late thrombo-embolic complications after heart valve prosthesis]. / Pozdnie tromboembolicheskie oslozhneniia pri protezirovanii klapanov serdtsa.

A follow-up study of 444 patients with artificial heart valves of different makes demonstrated increased wear and thrombogenic properties of the hemispheric MKC-27 prosthesis, used in mitral position, over 5 years of follow-up. High risk of thrombo-embolic complications is related to interrupted anticoagulant treatment. Their rate could be reduced through improving the quality of anticoagulant treatment, i.e. continuous administration of anticoagulants under adequate monitoring.

[Study of the biotransformation of various antineoplastic agents using the Ames test]. / Issledovanie protsessov biotransformatsii nekotorykh protivoopukholevykh preparatov s pomoshch'iu testa Eimsa.

The Ames test on indicator bacteria S. typhimurium TA 1950 and TA 100 and the differential spectrophotometry have shown that cytochrome P-450-dependent monooxygenases of mammalian liver participate in the metabolism of antitumour drugs (cyclophosphamide, thiophosphamide) and of nitrosomorpholine (promutagen). Data concerning prospidin indicate that microsomal liver enzymes either induce no metabolic transformations of this preparation or the formed metabolites possess the mutagenic activity similar to that of the parent compound.

[In vitro systems for the primary search for biologically active substances with carcinostatic action]. / Sistemy in vitro dlia pervichnogo poiska biologicheski aktivnykh veshchestv s kantserostaticheskim deistviem.

Improvement and development of new methods for primary screening of antitumour drugs in vitro are based on the data on the points open to injury in the tumour cell metabolism and on the evidence of the known carcinostatic drug mechanism. Further development of the primary screening methods should proceed, probably, in two main directions. Further improvement of the methods for cloning tumour cells in the semifluid nutrient media is of great interest. On the whole the creation of new test systems is a significant trend of the scientific screening.

[Attenuation of protein-nuclein interactions induced by chemical mutagens in a human fibroblast culture]. / Oslablenie belkovo-nukleinovykh vzaimodeistvii, indutsirovannoe nekotorykh khimicheskimi mutagenami v kul'ture fibroblastov cheloveka.

Using nucleoprotein celite chromatography, it has been shown that DNA of human cultured fibroblasts was strongly bound to the proteins of the nuclear matrix. N-methyl-N-nitrosourea and prospidin-active antitumor agents with marked mutagenic action--were shown to attenuate the interactions, which appeared to be partially sensitive in cultured fibroblasts from patients with Down's syndrome.

[Study of promutagen biotransformation in the Ames test. IV. The effect of transplanted tumors on the biotransformation of various antineoplastic agents]. / Issledovanie protsessov biotransformatsii promutagenov s pomoshch'iu testa Eimsa. Soobshchenie IV. Vliianie perevivaemykh opukholei na protsessy biotransformatsii nekotorykh protivoopukholevykh preparatov.

The effect of transplantation of rat tumours Jensen sarcoma, sarcoma 45, sarcoma M-1, as well as of inoculation of rat normal connective tissue on the processes of biotransformation of antitumour preparations cyclophosphane (CP), thiophosphamide, prospidine and of model compound nitrosomorpholine (NM) was studied. The study was accomplished by means of the Ames test with indicator bacterial strain Salmonella typhimurium TA 1950 in relation to the reactions of the 1st and the 2nd phases of xenobiotics metabolism. It was shown that the presence of tumours leads to inhibition of both metabolic activation processes of the promutagens NM and CP and the conjugation reactions of genetically active metabolites of these compounds with reduced glutathione. Genetic danger is supposed to be increased during application of antitumour preparations, the mutagenic activity of which is due to the activity of their metabolites. It is noted that the most essential effect on biotransformation processes of NM and CP was exhibited by sarcoma M-1, the most important changes of the biotransformation processes of promutagens being observed in the initial period of pathologic process, i.e. on the 3rd day after inoculation. Transplantation of the normal connective tissue of rats had no effect on reactions of both the 1st and the 2nd phase of metabolism of the promutagens studied.

[Ultrasonic diagnosis of the function of heart valve prostheses]. / Ul'trazvukovaia diagnostika funktsii klpannykh protezov serdtsa.

Ninety-six patients with mitral, aortic and tricuspid valvular prostheses were investigated echocardiographically, with a total of 116 assessments of prosthetic function between 8 days and 20 years after surgery, using one-dimensional, two-dimensional and dopplerographic techniques. Possibilities of prosthetic dysfunction diagnosis by these techniques are discussed.