[Radioprotective effect of "light" water: doubtful validity].

Several publications have reported a radioprotective and immunopotentiating action of "light" water with low content of such stable isotopes as deuterium and 18O. Validity of these statements is the subject of the Letter to editors. Investigations of "light" water compare with that of water purified of a microelement. Prolonged consumption of this water may result in deficiency of the microelement, whereas the positive effect of absence in water of a natural microcomponent is impossible or very unlikely.

[Stem cells and cell therapy: on the eve of scientific approach].

Cell therapy and the stem cells (SC) have become a popular topic during last time. The theme is cluttered with numerous publications of questionable reliability. Not all methods applied in praxis are founded on evidence-based research. In the abundant literature, there is a gap between the supposed SC's healing properties associated with their capability to migrate to and engraft in injured tissue, and lack of clear morphological evidence thereof. Accordingly, there is a gap between advertizing and the better part of professional literature: the former speaks about rejuvenation of tissues, and the latter explains sometimes questionable therapeutic effects by paracrine or immunomodulating mechanisms, secretion of cytokines and growth factors. However, a SC is an undifferentiated cell, and a specific and efficient paracrine function can hardly be awaited from it as compared to others, more differentiated cells. It should be noted in conclusion that the main problem with the SC and cell therapy is commercial influence. Probably, experience of some foreign countries should be studied, where moves have been made to stop the use of unproven treatments, including some stem cell therapy.

[Mathematical modeling of the degree of nephroarteriolosclerosis in vasorenal hypertension]. / Matematicheskoe modelirovanie vyrazhennosti nefroarteriolo- skleroza pri vazorena'lnoi gipertenzii.

Comparison of the findings of clinical, instrumental, and laboratory examination of patients with vasorenal hypertension with the results of morphological analysis of renal bioptic material showed that multivariate regression analysis of the parameters of examination of the patients provides for authentic calculation of the quantitative index of nephroarteriolosclerosis--the vascular index of the afferent arterioles of the renal glomeruli. The calculated values of the vascular index for both kidneys are criteria for choosing the method of operative intervention in vasorenal hypertension.

[Relation of the effectiveness of surgical treatment of vasorenal hypertension and morphologic changes of the kidneys]. / Zavisimost' éffektivnosti khirurgicheskogo lecheniia vazorenal'noi gipertenzii ot morfologicheskikh izmenenii pochek.

Renal puncture and incision biopsy specimens were investigated, using light and electron microscopic techniques, in 34 patients with vasorenal hypertension. The magnitude of the hypotensive effect of reconstructive surgery on renal arteries is shown to be largely dependent on the severity of arteriolosclerosis in the ischemized kidney rather than the contralateral one. Quantitative assessment of the severity of renal arteriolar sclerosis has established a critical vascular index (the ratio of arteriolar wall thickness to lumen diameter) above which the probability of reconstructive surgery producing a hypotensive effect becomes rather low.

[Angiographic and morphologic criteria of the manifestation of arteriolonephrosclerosis in vasorenal hypertension]. / Angiograficheskie i morfologicheskie kriterii vyrazhennosti arteriolonefroskleroza pri vazorenal'noi gipertenzii.

Parallel comparison of angiographic and morphologic indices of arterial nephrosclerosis levels was performed in 34 patients with vasorenal hypertension secondary to unilateral lesion of renal arteries. Coefficient of vascular picture absence zone in the kidney (30) presenting a percentage ratio of a vascular zone of kidney cortical layer and the total area of its section was employed. Amount of vascular index (ratio between the wall density of afferent glomerular arteriole and its lumen diameter) was used to assess arteriolosclerosis in morphologic examination of renal biopsy specimens. High level of reliable coefficient 30 in the evaluation of arteriolar nephrosclerosis degree was substantiated morphologically. Critical level of coefficient 30 was stated for the affected and contralateral kidneys, and its increase was suggestive of irreversible sclerosis of renal microvascular bed.

[Background and precancerous processes in renal cell carcinoma]. / Fonovye i predrakovye protsessy pri pochechnokletochnom rake.

150 patients dying from renal cell carcinoma are studied in order to reveal the background disease, incidence and character of the nephrosclerosis and the possible morphogenetic link between nephrosclerosis and carcinoma. Renal cell carcinoma is found to develop in 82.7% of cases in the kidneys with signs of nephrosclerosis. The diffuse nephrosclerosis developing in connection with the hypertension disease, atherosclerosis, diabetes mellitus, chronic pyelonephritis, nephrolithiasis is the most important. Proliferation of the canaliculi epithelium with the appearance of undifferentiated cells are regularly found in the nephrosclerotic areas. The disturbance of the epithelium differentiation is followed by the development of dysplasia the phenotypical variants of which are similar to those of renal cell carcinoma. Adenomas are found in 11.3% of cases of renal cell carcinoma which may originate from the adenomas developing against the background of nephrosclerosis.

[Oncocytoma of the kidneys]. / Onkotsitomy pochek.

Fourteen cases (4%) of renal oncocytoma have been detected in a retrospective and current analysis of 350 operative observations of renal carcinoma. Clinical and morphologic (macro-, microscopic, electron microscopic, and angiographic) characteristics of this tumor are described, the differential diagnostic criteria of oncocytoma and renal-cell carcinoma are discussed, as is the prognosis of this condition. The authors point to the possibility of oncocytoma growth into the renal capsule, of invasion into the intra- and extratumor veins, of metastases to the lymph nodes. They recommend distinguishing between well- and intermediately differentiated oncocytomas, for this factor determines the course and prognosis of the disease.

[Arterial hypertension in renal amyloidosis (a clinico-morphological analysis)]. / Arterial'naia gipertenziia pri amiloidoze pochek (kliniko-morfologicheskii analiz).

The incidence of arterial hypertension (AH) in patients with renal amyloidosis varied with its stage. Thus, AH was encountered in 13% of cases with renal amyloidosis at the proteinuric stage, 15% of those at the nephrotic stage, and 53% of those at the azotemic stage. One determinant of AH at the first two of these stages appears to have been damage to the antihypertensive system of the renal medulla, while the increased rate of AH at the azotemic stage was found to be associated with sodium retention in the body. AH in renal amyloidosis is an unfavorable prognostic factor, for it is conducive to amyloid shrinkage of the kidneys and to chronic renal failure.

[Nosological characteristics of the morphogenesis of nephrosclerosis]. / Nozologicheskie osobennosti morfogeneza nefroskleroza.

Morphology of nephrosclerosis at its early stage is characterized by nosologic specificity. Morphogenetic mechanisms of glomerulosclerosis vary greatly and depend on the specific feature of the disease pathogenesis, underlying nephrosclerosis. Stromal sclerosis of renal cortex stroma is associated with the increase in collagen-synthesizing function of interstitial fibroblasts. At the late stages of nephrosclerosis all renal tissue structures are equally affected with sclerosis, resulting in loss of nosologic specificity of the process. Arterial hypertension favours the progression of nephrosclerosis.

[Morpho- and pathogenesis of nephrosclerosis: a clinico-morphological analysis]. / Morfo- i patogenez nefroskleroza: kliniko-morfologicheskii analiz.

The authors have defined 2 phases in morphogenesis of nephrosclerosis: "nosological" and "syndrome". In the first phase the development of nephrosclerosis is determined by the peculiarities of pathogenesis of the main disease and associated with a certain structural element of the kidney (arterioles, glomerula, stroma). The second phase occurs after the formation of block of the renal blood flow at one or another structural level (arteriolar, glomerular, capillary-parenchymatous) including the hypoxic factor which determines subsequent progression of nephrosclerosis. The nosological signs of nephrosclerosis in this phase are leveled down, replaced by the signs of the syndrome of chronic renal failure. Arterial hypertension is a factor contributing to the progression of nephrosclerosis irrespective of nosological entity.

[Importance of morphologic examination of the kidneys of patients with vasorenal hypertension for predicting the results of surgical treatment]. / Znachenie morfologicheskogo issledovaniia pochek bol'nykh vazorenal'noi gipertenziei dlia prognoza rezul'tatov khirurgicheskogo lecheniia.

Light-optical, electron microscopic and morphometric studies of biopsy material from kidneys of 24 patients with vasorenal hypertension were performed. It was determined that sclerosis of the arteries and arterioles on the side of the lesion was more marked, than in the contralateral kidney. At a later stage of the disease (more than 3 yr.) there were occasional signs of increased renin-synthesizing activity of the juxtaglomerular apparatus (JGA) with its simultaneous decrease at the stenotic side. JGA activation in the contralateral kidney can be one of the mechanisms supporting hyperrenin arterial hypertension and can prevent the decrease of the blood pressure after surgery. Studying of the biopsy material with the estimation of the sclerosis degree of the arterial tree vessels, as well as JGA activity, is important for prognosing the results of surgical treatment of vasorenal hypertension.

[Morphological characteristics of nephrosclerosis of different etiologies]. / Morfologicheskaia kharakteristika nefroskleroza razlichnoi étiologii.

Morphology of nephrosclerosis at the early stage of its development is characterized by its nosological specificity which is determined by qualitative alterations and by the degree of renal structural components involvement into the sclerotic process. Complex morphometric assessment allows one to reveal and make it objective the morphological differences between nosological variants of nephrosclerosis. All the structural renal components equally undergo sclerosis at the late stages of nephrosclerosis and this leads to the leveling off the nosological specificity in the majority of cases. Arterial hypertension in chronic glomerulonephritis and chronic pyelonephritis favours the progressing of the nephrosclerosis and leveling off its nosological differences.