[Primary respiratory tuberculosis in children: Hyperdiagnosis or hypodiagnosis].

The diagnosis of bacteriologically negative tuberculosis (TB) in children is traditionally based on clinical criteria, such as a history of contact with a patient with TB, a positive tuberculin test suggesting TB infection and radiological TB changes. To improve the early diagnosis of TB, the authors applied computed tomography (CT) to 284 children with suspected TB (a study group) who had negative bacterial tests and normal chest X-ray films. To identify individual diagnostic criteria, the study group was divided into 4 subgroups: 1) 119 patients with positive tuberculin tests (> or = 10 mm induration) and a known contact with a TB patient; 2) 100 patients with positive tuberculin tests (> or = 10 mm induration) without known contact with a TB patient; 3) 33 patients with negative tuberculin tests (> or = 10 mm induration) and a known contact with a TB patient; 4) 32 patients with negative tuberculin tests (> or = 10 mm induration) without known contact with a TB patient. A control comprised 29 children with bacteriologically verified TB and normal chest X-ray films. Conventionally radiological studies revealed undiagnosed lung parenchymal abnormalities in 35 (29.4%), 16 (16.0%), 4 (12.1%), and 5 (15.6%) children in Subgroups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and in 11 (37.9%) children in the control group. Intrathoracic lymph nodes of > or = 5 mm were rarely diagnosed in all the groups of patients, including children with bacteriologically verified TB. Calcified lymph nodes were visualized in 62 (52.1%), 40 (40.0%), 18 (54.5%), and 7 (21.9%) children in Subgroups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and in 15 (51.7%) children in the control group. CT revealed an active TB process in 49 (41.2%), 23 (23.0%), 12 (35.4%) and 1 (3.1%) children in Subgroups 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The findings demonstrated the hypodiagnosis of active TB in the infected children contacting a TB patient when CT is not applied.

[Correlation between the changes in the functional state of enzyme and hormonal systems of the mature rat]. / Issledovanie korreliatsionnoi vzaimosviazi mezhdu izmeneniiami funktsional'nogo sostoianiia nekotorykh fermentnykh i gormonal'nykh sistem u polovozrelykh krys.

Content of progesterone and cortisol was studied in blood plasma. Activities of organelle-specific enzymes were estimated in mitochondria (malate dehydrogenase, glutamate dehydrogenase, H + ATPase) and in endoplasmic reticulum (inosine-5-diphosphatase) of liver, kidney tissues and blood serum of rats, which were born after the influence of embryotoxic effectors. Correlation was found in alterations of the patterns studied. The steroid hormonal systems appear to affect the stability of mitochondrial and microsomal membranes in liver and kidney tissues of experimental animals.

[Experimental study on the effect of 11-deoxyprostaglandin E1 on hormonal balance in animals]. / Eksperimental'noe issledovanie vliianiia 11-dezoksiprostaglandina El na gormonal'nyi balans zhivotnykh.

The effects of prostaglandin F2 alpha and (+/-) 11-deoxyprostaglandin E1 (DPGE) on the levels of progesterone and estradiol in the blood plasma or serum of experimental animals were studied and compared. It was found for the first time that the synthetic analog of natural PGE1, DPGE, is capable to substantially reduce the progesterone level in the blood (rats and cows) and to induce the luteolysis of yellow bodies in the cow ovaries. It was demonstrated that DPGE promotes the resolution of both cyclic and persistent yellow bodies. The pattern of the drug action on rat blood steroid hormones depends on the time of pregnancy and is most pronounced in the last trimester of pregnancy.