[The membrane pathochemical mechanisms of the thermal dependence of the neurological deficiency in multiple sclerosis]. / Membranopatokhimicheskie mekhanizmy termozavisimosti nevrologicheskogo defitsita pri rasseiannom skleroze.

The authors studied acetylcholine esterase (ACE) activity, that of red cell membranes in the range of physiological temperatures 34-41 degrees C interferometrically in 47 patients with multiple sclerosis. Michaelis constant (CM) and maximal rate of substrate saturation (Vmax) were assumed criteria of the above activity. Two abnormal peaks of thermodependent ACE activity at 35 and 40 degrees C were observed. At 35 degrees C ACE activity was low and fluctuated with severity of MS. At 40 degrees C ACE activity proved universally maximal. Abnormal ACE activity peaks coincide with unusual rises in red cell density at the same temperatures detected by capillary viscosimetry, and with maximal activity of red cell Na+, K(+)-ATPase. The authors give their version of pathogenetic origin of reversible thermodependent deficiency which is characteristic of MS clinical picture.

[Water-electrolyte balance in patients with cerebral arachnoiditis]. / Osobennosti vodno-élektrolitnogo obmena u bol'nykh tserebral'nym arakhnoiditom.

The paper discusses the results of studying the water-electrolyte exchange in patients with cerebral arachnoiditis. Basically new evidence has been obtained for the mechanisms of interaction of the liquor-circulating and osmoregulating systems of the body. There is a more intensive excretion of sodium and H2O during load sodium and water tests and a decrease in antidiuretic effects on hyperosmotic exposures in patients than in healthy individuals. It is suggested that these changes are compensatory and caused by the lowered sensitivity of neurons in the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, the decreased secretion of vasopressin and the functional rearrangement of mechanisms responsible for natriuretic regulation.

[Evaluation of the effectiveness of various methods of the treatment of tick-borne encephalitis in the acute period]. / Otsenka éffektivnosti primeneniia razlichnykh metodov lecheniia kleshchevogo éntsefalita v ostrom periode.

To reveal the dependence of the efficacy of the treatment of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) on the patient's HLA phenotype and to elaborate recommendations for individual treatment, 98 subjects who suffered TBE and who received different types of therapy in the acute period (isolated or combined use of specific homologous immunoglobulin and RNase) were subjected to immunogenetic examinations. The clinical follow-up and immunological examination of the subjects indicated made it possible to distinguish groups with a favorable and unfavourable outcome due to the treatment carried out in the acute period. Computer processing of the immunogenetic data on the patients with TBE allowed the deriving of individual predictors of the efficacy of the symptomatic and etiotropic therapy of TBE. The final effect due to the application of agents possessing an immunomodulating effect on specific humoral immune response is determined not only by the gravity of viral infection but is also associated with a number of allele variants of HLA complex genes which the patient has.

[The efficacy of lincomycin in tick-borne encephalitis]. / Ob éffektivnosti linkomitsina pri kleshevom éntsefalite.

Lincomycin was found to inhibit tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus. To test antiviral potential of this drug, a clinical trial was initiated entering TBE patients from known focuses of the disease (Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Perm and Irkutsk Provinces). The drug was given to 23 patients with meningeal and meningoencephalitic TBE. A control group of 22 matched subjects received specific immunoglobulin. Resultant efficacy of lincomycin appeared not inferior to that of anti-TBE immunoglobulin. Lincomycin can be successfully introduced in the treatment of meningeal and meningoencephalitic TBE.

[Functional activity of cell membranes in multiple sclerosis]. / Funktsional'naia aktivnost' kletochnykh membran pri rasseiannom skleroze.

A study was made of the activity of the marker enzymes of plasma membranes Na+,K(+)-ATPase and AChE comparatively to the changes in red blood cell suspension viscosity. Interferometry and capillary viscosimetry were employed to examine red cell membranes of 100 patients suffering from multiple sclerosis. In the interval of physiological temperatures, the two temperatures areas -35 degrees and 40 degrees C characterized by specific behavior of the enzymes and viscosity changes were discovered. These temperature areas are viewed from the standpoints of temperature-induced structural transformations. Each of them has a definite clinical importance for the estimation of the activity of the underlying process. The fact of the existence of the complexly organized system of abnormal structural transformations attests to gross imbalance of red cell membranes. This phenomenon may also be observed as regards other membranes including the membrane of the oligodendrocyte. In addition to the evidence for the membrano-patho-chemical component in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, the temperature-induced structural transformations play the role of diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis.

[Prognostic value of NA K ATPase activity in multiple sclerosis]. / Prognosticheskoe znachenie aktivnosti Na+, K+ ATFazy v techenii rasseiannogo skleroza.

The paper is concerned with the results of measuring the activity of Na+, K+, ATPase in red blood cell suspension in patients with different courses of multiple sclerosis (MS) within the range of physiological temperatures (34 to 42 degrees C). Account was taken of the interrelation of structural phasic transitions in cell membranes to the changes in enzymatic activity. There was a spasmodic increase of the activity of Na+, K+, ATPase at 35 degrees C and 40 degrees C at the moment of the clinical signs of disease exacerbation together with a twofold lowering of the enzymatic activity at a temperature of 35 degrees C during remission. The rise of the enzymatic activity at a temperature of 35 degrees C anticipates clinical exacerbation and thus may be of prognostic importance in the determination of the type of the disease course.

[Immunogenetic methods for predicting the clinical course of tick-borne encephalitis]. / Immunogeneticheskie metody v prognoze klinicheskogo techeniia kleshchevogo éntsefalita.

Distribution of HLA antigens, haplotypes and phenotypes of the histocompatibility complex was studied and compared in 110 patients with tick borne encephalitis, living in Novosibirsk. The disease patterns and varieties were many and varied. Distribution of HLA antigens in 140 healthy subjects also living in Novosibirsk served as control. Based on the results of the immunogenetic examination of patients with tick borne encephalitis, the methods were elaborated, enabling one to predict with a high accuracy of probability the development of the feverish, meningeal or focal forms of tick borne encephalitis, one- or two-wave disease variety within the first days of disease. Concurrent analysis of the sex of the person bitten by the virulent tick and combination in one genotype of several allelic forms of the main histocompatibility complex genes allows one to raise appreciably the prognostic significance of the immunogenetic examination and to elaborate high-informative individual diagnostic criteria.

[A clinico-immunogenetic method of prognosis in retrobulbar neuritis as an initial manifestation of multiple sclerosis]. / Kliniko-immunogeneticheskii metod prognoza retrobul'barnogo nevrita kak debiuta rasseiannogo skleroza.

Examination of 166 patients with optic neuritis revealed that 65 of them developed multiple sclerosis (MS) at different times after optic neuritis. The observation period was 9.4 years on the average. Using the clinical, laboratory, immunogenetic methods the clinico-immunogenetic heterogeneity of optic neuritis was discovered, the highly informative specific clinical signs and immunogenetic markers suitable as criteria for predicting different variants of optic neuritis outcomes were defined. Using a heterogeneous successive procedure a method of individual ++pre-nosological prediction of MS in persons with a history of optic neuritis was devised.

[Functional properties of T-lymphocytes in patients with multiple sclerosis]. / Funktsiona'lnye svoistva T-limfotsitov u bo'lnykh rasseiannym sklerozom.

The cellular immunity was investigated in 218 patients with disseminated sclerosis at its exacerbation and remission, and in its two course types. Considerable quantitative and functional changes were detected in the T-cell system. The T-lymphocyte count did not correlated with their proliferative activity, and reduction in their suppressive activity was not correlated with their helper action. Cellular immunity was especially suppressed in activation of the disease and its progredient course. The authors conclude that the results of some immunological tests can provide additional diagnostic criteria for the disease detection and assessment of its activity, severity and prognosis.

[A rheological method of diagnosis of multiple sclerosis]. / Reologicheskii sposob diagnostiki rasseiannogo skleroza.

A new method for the diagnosis of disseminated sclerosis is suggested, based on the determination of the red cell suspension viscosity within the range of physiologic temperatures. Three viscosity peaks (maxima): at 35, 37-38 (the physiologic), and at 40 degrees C have been detected, probably corresponding to thermotropic phase transitions in red cell membranes. The curves reflecting the eta (t degrees C) dependence in disseminated sclerosis are characteristic of this disease and may be used as a test for the laboratory diagnosis of disseminated sclerosis.

[Reactions of the connective-tissue components of the skin of rats to electrostatic fields]. / Reaktsii soedinitel'notkannykh komponentov kozhi krys na deistvie élektrostaticheskikh polei.

The skin connective tissue of rats exposed to a 60 kV/m or 90 kV/m electrostatic field for 3, 14 or 30 days was investigated biochemically and histochemically. The experiments were carried out on 60 male Wistar rats in a condensation-type chamber. This exposure produced certain biochemical changes in the skin. The exposure to a 60 kV/m field was accompanied by a rapid adaptation: minor biochemical changes in the skin returned to normal by the end of the experiment. The exposure to a 90 kV/m field produced biochemical changes that were initially transient and later transformed to distinct shifts in the concentrations of carbohydrate-containing biopolymers. This was indicative of a mismatch in their synthesis and degradation and dysfunction of skin connective tissue structures.

[Experience of prognosis and the risk factors of stroke in Novosibirsk]. / Opyt prognozirovaniia i faktory riska mozgovogo insul'ta v Novosibirske.

On the basis of the data from the registry of cerebral stroke (CS) cases in Novosibirsk (covering 937 patients and 314 healthy control subjects) the authors have made a mathematical analysis of 19 factors of the risk of disease development. Nine factors have been isolated whose varying combinations were most contributory to the risk of the development of CS in the studied population: cardiac diseases, transient disorder of the cerebral circulation, arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, aggravated heredity for cardiovascular diseases, intermittent claudication, diabetes mellitus, systematic alcohol abuse, and hypodynamia. The authors have developed a practicable and reliable system for predicting the development of cerebral stroke in apparently healthy subjects (the accuracy of prediction is 86%).

[Determination of a factor inhibiting migration of leukocytes to brain antigens, its concentration in serum and spontaneous leukocyte migration in multiple sclerosis]. / Opredelenie faktora tormozheniia migratsii leikotsitov k tkanevym antigenam mozga, soderzhanie ego v syvorotke krovi i spontannaia migratsiia leikotsitov pri rasseiannom skleroze.

The authors examined 58 patients with multiple sclerosis and 56 healthy donors. The patients presented elevated production of the migration inhibition factor (MIF) by lymphoid cells to cerebral tissue antigens, most expressed in the acute period of the disease. The blood serum of patients with multiple sclerosis showed inhibitory activity, lymphocytes spontaneously produced the MIF in vitro. Hyperproduction of lymphokins may serve as one of the pathogenetic factors of generalization of the inflammatory process in the central nervous system in patients with multiple sclerosis and indicates impaired regulation of immunity.