[Results of the multicenter controlled study of the hypolipidemic drug polycosanol in Russia]. / Rezul'taty rossiiskogo mnogotsentrovogo kontroliruemogo issledovaniia gipolipidemicheskogo preparata polikosanol.

AIM: To compare efficacy and tolerance of polycosanol vs besafibrate in patients with hypercholesterolemia (HCE). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multicenter controlled double blind randomised trial entered 113 patients with HCE. After 5 weeks of diet the patients were randomised into two groups. 59 patients of group 1 received polycosanol (10 mg/day), 54 patients of group 2 were given besafibrate (400 mg/day) for 8 weeks. RESULTS: The 8-week course of treatment was completed by 103 patients (91%): 57(97%) patients of group 1 and 46(85%) patients of group 2. In group 1 total cholesterol diminished by an average of 15%, LDLP cholesterol fell by 18%, triglycerides by 15%, while in group 2 a respective decrease was 8, 11 and 6%. Side effects in group 1 were mild. CONCLUSION: A hypolipidemic effect of polycosanol in a daily dose 10 mg is superior to that of besafibrate in a daily dose 400 mg.

[Evaluation of maximal Na K ATPase activity in the erythrocytes of patients with various types of arterial hypertension using the Na-23-NMR method]. / Otsenka maksimal'noi aktivnosti Na+, K+ ATFazy v éritrotsitakh u bol'nykh s razlichnymi formami arterial'noi gipertenzii metodom 23Na-IaMR.

The paper provides measurements of maximal Na+, K(+)-ATPase activity in 20 patients with hypertensive disease, 20 patients with secondary hypertension and 20 healthy donors. The investigation was made by high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance using sodium nuclei. A significant decrease was found in Na+, K(+)-ATPase activity in the patients with hypertensive disease (9.0 +/- 0.3 mg-equiv. per lites cells an hour) as compared with those with secondary hypertension (10.3 +/- 0.3 mg-equiv. per liter cells an hour) and the controls (10.5 +/- 0.3 mg-equiv. per liter cells an hour), which supports the findings of impaired membrane morphology in hypertensive disease.

23Na NMR measurement of the maximal rate of active sodium efflux from human red blood cells.

The method for 23Na NMR measurement of the maximal rate of active Na+ efflux from human red blood cells (RBC) is proposed. The nonpenetrating paramagnetic shift reagent (SR) bis(tripolyphosphate)dysprosium(III) complex is used to distinguish extracellular Na+ ions from intracellular. RBC are proved to retain their physiological activity in the presence of SR. Intracellular Na+ is shown to be 100% NMR visible. The levels of intracellular and extracellular Na+ and K+ ions are changed to decrease their concentration gradients across the erythrocyte membrane to make active Na+ efflux the only 23Na NMR measurable process; so the integrated areas of intra- and extracellular Na+ peaks remain invariant throughout the incubation period in the presence of 0.25 mM ouabain, a specific inhibitor of Na+, K+-ATPase. The accuracy of the proposed technique is evaluated to be 10%. The maximal Na+ efflux is determined to be 10.1 +/- 1.0 mM/h/liter of cells.