[Use of metaiodobenzylguanidine for assessing status of ends of myocardial sympathetic nerves in myocardium of patients with bronchial asthma]. / Ispol'zovanie metaiobenzilguanidina dlia otsenki sostoianiia okonchanii simpaticheskikh volokon v miokarde bol'nykh bronkhial'noi astmoi.

AIM: To evaluate sympathetic nervous system activity of the heart in patients with bronchial asthma (BA) given beta-adrenomimetics (BAM). MATERIAL AND METHODS: 27 patients with moderate BA (13 patients in an acute phase and 14 patients in remission) treated with BAM and 13 healthy people were examined by using 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) myocardial planar scintigraphy and estimating the washout rate, early (15-min) and late (240-min) uptake; single-photon emission computed tomography; assessment of MIBG distribution in the left ventricular myocardium, catecholamine excretion with urine. RESULTS: It was found that the MIBG washout rate was significantly higher in asthmatic patients especially in the acute period. The cardiac MIBG uptake was significantly lower in the group of patients with impaired cardiac sympathetic activity. More inhomogeneous myocardial MIBG uptake also occurred in the asthmatic group. Norepinephrine and epinephrine excretion was significantly higher in patients with bronchial asthma and cathecholamine and MIBG excretions correlated. CONCLUSION: Cardiac functional sympathetic activity impairment in asthmatic patients was shown by increased MIBG washout rate and reduced myocardial MIBG uptake, more inhomogeneous substance distribution in the left ventricular myocardium and higher catecholamine excretion levels reflecting sympathetic nervous activity intensification.

[Diagnostic significance of beta 2-microglobulin after allotransplantation of cultured pancreatic islet cells of human fetus]. / Diagnosticheskoe znachenie beta 2-mikroglobulina posle allotransplantatsii kul'tury ostrovkovykh kletok podzheludochnoi zhelezy ploda cheloveka.

Twenty-nine patients with type I diabetes mellitus were followed up for at least a year after intramuscular allotransplantation of cultured fetal pancreatic islet cells. The patients were divided into 2 groups with different types of proteinuria. Group 1 (prenephritic stage) consisted of 16 patients with transitory proteinuria and group 2 (nephritic stage)-of 13 with constant proteinuria. Serum beta 2-microglobulin (beta 2 mg) was radioimmunoassayed before transplantation and 7 weeks, 1, 3 to 6 months, and over a year after it. The levels of beta 2 mg appreciably varied in the two groups. In group 2 they were increased on day 7 but later virtually did not differ from the control. In group 1 one patient developed a decreased beta 2 mg level starting from the first up to the sixth months after allotransplantation. The results indicate that diabetic nephropathy may be partially reversed by allotransplantation and hence, this method is recommended for patients with transitory proteinuria.