[Non-esterified fatty acids of blood serum in type 1 diabetic women during late pregnancy].

Using gas chromatography a comparative study of the range and content of individual non-esterified fatty acids in serum of patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 in the third trimester of pregnancy, and healthy pregnant and non-pregnant women has been carried out. In groups of pregnant women there was activation of lipid metabolism, confirmed by corresponding changes in serum biochemical parameters, as well as in the content of non-esterified fatty acids. Intergroup differences in the non-esterified fatty acids were not found. However, there were significant differences between the examined groups in the quantitative content of non-esterified fatty acids.

[Results of combined treatment of patients with metastatic gastric cancer. Case study].

We present the clinical observation of combined treatment of a patient with metastatic gastric cancer. The patient underwent combined chemotherapy for initially inoperable gastric cancer with metastases to the liver, paragastric lymph nodes, and peritoneal carcinomatosis with complete regression of distant metastases, which allowed radical surgery. The patient is currently under regular team observation without signs of disease. His present survival is 44 months.

[Study on efficacy and toxicity of new combined regimen "taxoter + cisplatin + 5-fluorouracil" in disseminated and locally-spread stomach cancer. Comparative analysis of tolerance and efficacy in patients younger and older than 65 years].

The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of 3-drugs regimen: T 75 mg/m2 d2 + P 75 mg/m2 d2 + F 500 mg/m2 x 3h d 1-3 every 28 days. 31 patients (pts) with morphologically proven advanced gastric cancer of the age 29-77 years (median 61.0) have been treated with this regimen. They received 138 cycles (1-10, median 4.0 cycles per pt). The response rate was evaluated in pts received > or =2 cycles: CR 1/27 (3.7%), PR 12/27 (44.4%), SD 7/27 (25.9%), PD 7/27 (25.9%). The median duration of CR+PR--4.5 mon (1.1-9.9), of SD--6.8 mon (3.0-10.7). Median TTP--5.5 mon. Overall survival: median--11.5 mon, 1-year--46.6%. PS improvement was observed in 54.8%pts, symptomatic improvement--in 71% pts. Toxicity per pt (per cycle) was moderate. There were 11 elderly among these pts. We didn't receive any significant differences in efficacy and severe toxicity in this group compared to non-elderly pts. We observed 55.6% PR, 33.3% SD, 11.1% PD, TTP--4.6 mon, median OS-7.5 mon. in elderly and 5.6% CR, 38.9% PR, 22.2% SD, 33.3 % PD, TTP--6.1 mon, median OS-12.3 mon for non-elderly pts. But dose reduction was performed more frequently in the elderly then non-elderly: 63.6% vs 30.0% pts (p = 0.07) in 64.8% vs 19.1% cycles (p < 0.0001). We consider this regimen to be effective and well tolerated both for elderly and for non-elderly patients.

[Experience in treating elderly patients with disseminated stomach and colon cancer]. / Opyt lecheniia pozhilykh bol'nykh disseminirovannym rakom zheludka i tol'stoi kishki.

Colorectal and gastric cancer in usually diagnosed in elderly patients. In metastatic disease systemic chemotherapy has been shown to be of clinical benefit for patients in term of prolongation of survival, symptomatic improvement and quality of life. Compared to its younger counterparts 5-FU-based treatment appears to be equally effective and more toxic according to some reports. Data regarding raltitrexed, oral fluoropyprimidines, Campto or oxaliplatin are limited but suggest no age-specific differences in activity or toxicity. Our experience of using chemotherapy with 5-FU-based combinations, oxaliplatin, Campto, raltitrexed in limited groups of elderly patients confirms this opinion.

[Features of chemotherapy of malignant tumors in elderly patients]. / Osobennosti khimioterapii zlokachestvennykh opukholei u patsientov pozhilogo vozrasta.

Elderly patients as a rule have modifications related to age (physiologic changes) and to other concomitant diseases (comorbidity). The glomerular filtration rate decreases with age. Before any chemotherapy is started creatinine clearance should be performed, and the doses of cytotoxic agents with active renal excretion should be modified according to creatinine clearance. Decreased liver blood flow may influence drug disposition. Some changes in liver function do occur with advanced age and may form the basis of some drug toxicities. The lean body mass in elderly people is characterized by an increase in fat, with a decrease in intracellular water, and this change, along with a decrease in serum albumin, can considerably modify drug pharmacokinetics. Decreasing in bone marrow reserve related to age increases the risk of myelotoxicity after cytotoxic therapy. Nevertheless chemotherapy may be tolerable and successful in elderly patients carefully selected. This article contains information about elderly cancer patients treated with cisplatin-based combinations (cisplatin + Vepesid + Nitrullyn, cisplatin + taxotere). There were no serious side effects.

[Nitrullin -- a new original Russian drug of the nitrosomethylurea group]. / Nitrullin -- novyi original'nyi otechestvennyi preparat iz gruppy nitrozomocheviny.

Hematologic thrombopenia and leukopenia formation limits use of nitrullin as a toxic hazard. The drug showed moderate effect in treating inoperable non-small cell cancer of the lung and satisfactory end results. The treatment had marked symptomatic effect in patients with this cancer and, as a consequence, improved the quality of life. Nutrullin had immuno-modulating effect. Its application alone or in combination with VPN showed good results in the management of small-cell cancer of the lung.

Morphogenesis of asymmetry of rat brain nuclei under normal conditions and during exposure to microgravitation.

Histological and morphometrical analysis of the brain and peripheral analyzers revealed proliferative migration abnormalities of brain development and neuron differentiation in mammals during a space flight, which can limit space exploration.

Asymmetry of human brain in early embryogenesis under normal and pathological conditions.

The effect of some developmental abnormalities on the morphogenesis of human brain asymmetry during early embryonic stages was studied. Insignificant predominance of the left hemisphere (1-3%) was revealed in human embryos.

[The influence of hypokinesia on the mother-fetus system]. / Vliianie gipokinezii na sistemy "mat'-plod".

In experiments with rats effects of hypokinesia on the course of pregnancy and the mother-fetus system were investigated. Immobilization in penal-type cages of female rats on days 8 through to 19 of pregnancy gave rise to significant shifts in mother's organism, i.e. retarded body mass gain, mass reductions in thymus, spleen, liver, some other organs, and adipose tissue. Rates of prenatal fatality in the experimental group were not changed; yet, fetuses were behind the control by the values of body mass, ossification ranges, development of analyzers and other parameters. Quantities of liquid, sodium, magnesium and calcium per one gram of dry tissue were equal in the experimental and control fetuses. Comparison of the data with results of the embryological experiment with rats aboard the space "shuttle" suggests that immobilization is more baneful for the mother-fetus system than microgravity of the same length.

[Effect of weightlessness on rats endocrine system development]. / Vliianie nevesomosti na razvitie neiroéndokrinnoi sistemy u krys.

The histological structure of the brain and spinal cord, visual, olfactory, auditory and vestibular analysers, and endocrine organs (epiphysis, hypophysis, thyroid and parathyroid glands) were investigated in newborn rats delivered by females who had been exposed to weightlessness a half of the pregnancy period. Analysers of the flight animals did not have any marked deviations from the norm. Loci of neurone degeneration resembling porencephaly but less massive were revealed in various brain portions (cortex, hypocampus, metencephalon, spinal cord) of the infant rats developed in space flight. Endocrine studies showed accelerated differentiation of the thyroid cells secreting thyroid hormones, C-cells, and parathyroid cells in most of the infant rats of the flight group. The test animals reduced the size of epiphysis and the number of pinealocytes. Adenohypophysis was found to be smaller with altered spatial distribution of the trabecular system. The changes look quite impressive but do not threaten viability of the animals.