[Hyper- and hypoaldosteronism].

The literature review devoted to pathogenesis of the development of hyper- and hypoaldosteronism is presented. Based on the analysis of Russian and English-written literature known and clinically significant diseases arising due to hyper- and hypoaldosteronism are presented. Pathogenetic mechanisms inducing the development of primary and secondary forms of hyper- and hypoaldosteronism were enlightened. Furthermore the data on mechanisms of formation of hyper- and hypoaldosteronism are given.

Vascular endothelium growth factor in the sera of patients with adrenal tumors.

Serum levels of vascular endothelium growth factor were measured in 43 patients with adrenal tumors and 25 healthy subjects. The mean blood levels of the factor in patients with adrenal tumors significantly surpassed the control. No correlations between the level of vascular endothelium growth factor, patients age and sex were detected. The levels of this factor were maximum in patients with adrenocortical cancer, but its mean level differed negligibly from that in other morphological variants of tumors. The level of vascular endothelium growth factor tended to increase with increasing the stage of adrenocortical cancer. A direct correlation was revealed between the level of vascular endothelium growth factor and tumor size in adrenocortical cancer and aldosterone-producing adenoma. Presumably, vascular endothelium growth factor is involved into mechanisms of growth, invasion, and metastatic growth of adrenocortical cancer.

[Adrenal gland surgery].

The authors of the article analyze more than 30-year experience of surgical treatment of adrenal gland diseases, offering a detailed description of clinical and morphological features of the main nosological forms such as Itsenko-Cushing disease and syndrome, primary hyperaldosteronism, pheochromocytoma, incidentaloma, and malignant adrenal tumors. The paper contains basic diagnostic criteria, indications to operative treatment, and extents of surgery for each of the diseases considered, as well as comparative analysis of peculiarities of conventional ("open"), and endoscopic adrenal gland surgeries. The article demonstrates significance of various immunohistochemical markers in differentiation between malignant and benign adrenal tumors.

Serum interleukin-6 in patients with adrenal tumors.

The mean blood content of interleukin-6 in patients with adrenal tumors was much higher than in healthy donors. No correlations were revealed between interleukin-6 level, patients sex and age, stage and duration of the disease. Interleukin-6 concentration was maximum in patients with adrenocortical cancer. A negative correlation was found between interleukin-6 level and blood cortisol concentration in patients with cortisol-producing adenoma. In patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma, interleukin-6 level tended to correlate negatively with plasma renin activity.

[Neurological masks of hypothyroidism in adults: Pathogenesis, clinical picture, and diagnosis]. / Nevrologicheskie maski gipotireoza u vzroslykh. Patogenez, klinika, diagnostika.

The lecture covers current concepts of the biochemical and pathophysiological mechanisms of nervous system lesions under hypothyroidism, presents a new classification and a detailed clinical picture of neurological manifestations of thyroid hypofunction. Some differential diagnostic aspects of neuromuscular, neuropsychic, and autonomic disorders in this pathology are given. Particular attention is given to the impact of myxedematous edema on the function of cranial nerves.

[Association of primary hyperparathyroidism and pathology of the thyroid gland]. / Sochetanie pervichnogo giperparatireoza i patologii shchitovidnoi zhelezy.

An analysis of 149 cases of primary hyperparathyroidism has shown that 83 (55.7%) patients had different kinds of pathology of the thyroid gland. The authors recommend to perform thorough revision and biopsy of the thyroid tissue in all the patients operated upon for primary hyperparathyroidism.

[Atrial natriuretic peptides reception and physiological effects]. / Predserdnye natriiureticheskie peptidy: osobennosti retseptsii i fiziologicheskie éffekty.

The review presents current data on production, release and reception of natriuretic peptides (NUP) with special focus on NUP effects on blood circulation, urination in arterial hypertension and cardiac failure; analyses interaction between NUP and renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, effects of new drugs influencing these systems.

Plasma content of soluble fas antigen in patients with adrenal tumors and tumor-like pathologies.

We compared plasma content of soluble Fas antigen (sFas) in 59 patients with tumors and tumor-like pathologies of the adrenal cortex and medulla and 60 healthy donors (control). The incidence and content of sFas in the plasma from patients with adrenal tumors was significantly higher than in healthy donors. A direct correlation was found between sFas content and patient's age. The maximum sFas concentrations were found in patients with pheochromocytoma and aldosterone-producing adenoma. In patients with adrenocortical cancer plasma content of sFas was lower than in patients with tumors of other morphological types. Plasma sFas content in patients with adrenocortical cancer directly correlated with the size of tumors. Our results suggest that sFas plays a role in the pathogenesis of primary adrenal tumors.

[Plasminogen activators of urokinase and tissue types and their inhibitor (PAI-1) in cytosol fraction in thyroid diseases]. / Aktivatory plazminogena urokinaznogo i tkanevogo tipov i ikh ingibitor (PAI-I) v tsitozol'noi fraktsii pri zabolevaniiakh shchitovidnoi zhelezy.

Enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) was used to estimate the levels of plasminogen activators of urokinase (uPA) and tissue (tPA) types and one of their inhibitors (PAI-I) in the cytosolic fraction of the thyroid in 129 patients with malignant and benign tumors and various non-cancer diseases of the gland. Tumors from patients with thyroid cancer displayed the lowest levels of tPA and the highest levels of uPA and PAI-I, while those from patients with benign thyroid diseases, including adenoma, had high concentrations of tPA and relatively low levels of uPA and PAI-I in the tissue of the diseased organ. At the same time, the lowest levels of uPA and PAI-I were found in patients suffering from toxic goiter with and without adenomatosis. In terms of uPA and PAI-I levels, patients with nodular colloidal goiter were intermediate between those with toxic goiter and adenoma, on the one hand, and those with thyroid cancer, on the other.

Soluble Fas antigen (sFAS) in the serum from patients with adrenal tumors.

Serum content of soluble Fas antigen was measured by enzyme immunoassay in 60 healthy donors, 31 patients with adrenal tumors, and 16 patients with diffuse-and-nodular hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex accompanying primary aldosteronism and Cushing's disease. sFas was more often detected in the serum from patients with tumors of the adrenal cortex and medulla and diffuse-and-nodular hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex and its content varied in a wider range in patients compared to healthy donors. No correlations were found between the incidence of sFas, its content, sex, and age of healthy donors and patients. The highest content of sFas was found in patients with pheochromocytoma and primary aldosteronism. sFas probably plays a role in the pathogenesis of adrenal tumors and hyperplasia.

[Adrenocortical tumors: mitotic index and nuclear size as criteria for differential diagnosis and prognosis]. / Adrenokortikal'nye opukholi: mitoticheskii indeks i velichina iader kak kriterii differentsial'noi diagnostiki i prognoza.

A comparative study of the mitotic index (MI) and karyometric indices in 15 adrenocortical tumors with clinical syndrome of hypercorticism allowed to distinguish between adenomas and carcinomas. Carcinomas with hypercorticoidism symptoms have common features with inactive carcinomas but are different by lower expression of malignancy criteria (polymorphism, atypia, necrotic foci, capsule and vessel invasion), higher MI, increasing deficiency of cell division and larger nuclear size of tumor cells. Such tumors may be included into the prognostic group of risk.

[Neuroendocrine tumors of pancreas (clinicomorphological, immunohistochemical and electron microscopic study)]. / Neiroéndokrinnye opukholi podzheludochnoi zhelezy (kliniko-morfologice, immunogistokhimicheskoei élektronno-m ikroskopicheskoe issledovanie)

Neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas were studied by histology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Tumors associated with organic hyperinsulinism showed heterogeneity in their ultrastructure, functional and proliferation activity. More than half of these tumors are multihormonal and 15% of them developed from polypotent cells which are capable for several types of differentiation.