[The use of highly dispersed iron particles for increasing the sensitivity of the luminescent microscopic method of determining Mycobacterium tuberculosis]. / Primenenie vysokodispersnykh ferrochastits dlia povysheniia chuvstvitel'nosti liuminestsentno-mikroskopicheskogo metoda opredeleniia mikobakterii tuberkuleza.

A highly dispersed ferromagnetic powder obtained by a plasmochemical method (particle size was 100-500 A) was treated by means of an ultrasonic disperser: suspension was added to the trisodium phosphate homogenized and neutralized sputum (0.3 mg of the initial powder per 1 ml of sputum) of patients with various forms of pulmonary tuberculosis. The sputum was then incubated at slight stirring for 40 min and centrifuged; the precipitate was used to prepare smears which were stained with auramine; mycobacteria were detected by luminescence microscopy. The ferromagnetic suspension was found to increase luminescence microscopy sensitivity to 85.4%. The efficacy of the method was 30.8% more than that in the cultivation of infectious material in solid nutrient media.

[Effect of low-energy helium-neon laser on the biological properties of Mycobacterium tuberculosis]. / Vliianie nizkoénergeticheskogo gelii-neonovogo lazera na biologicheskie svoistva mikobakterii tuberkuleza.

The results of experimental studies of M. tuberculosis biological properties tested in guinea pigs which were subjected to different doses of helium-neon laser radiation are given. The functional evidence is compared with the results of electron microscopic study of the irradiated culture. The investigation revealed that laser radiation caused changes in biological properties of M. tuberculosis. A decrease in growth properties and virulence was found to be related to a radiation dose. It is suggested that a drop in the biological activity of M. tuberculosis under laser radiation be associated with its influence on the Mycobacterium lipid layer which contains a cord-factor and responsible for their virulence.

[Status of bacteriological services in tuberculosis institutions of the RSFSR and prospects of their improvement]. / Sostoianie bakteriologicheskoi sluzhby v protivotuberkuleznykh uchrezhdeniiakh RSFSR i perspektivy ee sovershenstvovaniia.

Organization of the work of bacteriological laboratories in tuberculosis institutions of the RSFSR is discussed in regard to the aspects of their lawful status, functions and activity results. It was shown with extensive materials (from more than 30 administrative territories) that systemic bacteriological examination of the groups of high tuberculosis risk markedly lowered the number of the sources of tubercle bacilli isolation not registered in tuberculosis dispensaries. Patients with urogenital pathology were found to be frequent sources of tubercle bacilli isolation. It was recommended to decrease the number of assays for drug resistance of the isolates, to perform them only by clinical indications and to change the investigation procedure by testing mainly the resistance of tubercle bacilli.

[Importance of microbiological research in correcting the antibacterial therapy of tuberculosis]. / Znachenie mikrobiologicheskikh issledovanii v korrektsii antibakterial'noi terapii tuberkuleza.

Long-term observations showed the importance of the phenomenon of the drug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in phthisiological clinical practice and its tendency in recent years. Methods for individual selection of an optimum drug combination were developed and tested, its efficacy was shown.

[Multiplication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the organs of mice with a single exposure to cyclophosphamide]. / Razmnozhenie mikobakterii tuberkuleza v organakh myshei pri odnokratnom vozdeistvii tsiklofosfamidom.

The injection of cyclophosphamide, used as an immunomodulating agent in a dose of 100 mg/kg, into mice infected with M. tuberculosis induced an increase (a virulent culture) or a decrease (a culture with low virulence) in the multiplication of mycobacteria in the spleen. In mice infected with a virulent culture and protected from infection with streptomycin for 1 week cyclophosphamide induced a considerable decrease in the number of viable mycobacteria in the lungs by days 18-20 after infection.