[Ecopathology of the kidneys and individual sensitivity to heavy metal salts]. / Ekopatologiia pochek i individual'naia chuvstvitel'nost' k soliam tiazhelykh metallov.

Investigations performed in the region contaminated with heavy metal salts revealed high prevalence of renal diseases in children. The test for blood polymorphic proteins indicated signs of genetic predisposition to renal damage. Greater occurrence in the population with econephropathy of a rare allele of transferrin C3 may be the cause of enhanced oxidative-radical processes in renal cells. Individual sensitivity of children to heavy metal salts assessed by leukocytolysis and high incidence of somatic mutations to determine T-lymphocyte microclones deficient by HGPRT may help in specification of the affections detected in the regions contaminated with heavy metal salts.

[Nephropathies in a region contaminated by heavy metal salts and the possibilities for therapeutic and prophylactic measures]. / Nefropatii v regione, zagriaznennom soliami tiazhelykh metallov, i vozmozhnosti lechebno-profilakticheskikh meropriiatii.

The study of the population in the region contaminated with heavy metal salts has revealed high incidence of nephropathies even in preschool children manifesting initially in the majority of cases with hematuria. All the patients had the signs of urinary dysembryogenesis and marked membranopathological process. Long-term exposure to even small doses of heavy metals is supposed to cause nephropathy. Urinary disease arose more frequently in those genetically predisposed to renal and urinary tract affections. Because urolithiasis is a frequent result of dismetabolic nephropathy in endemic regions, it is advisable to perform active monitoring of children with environmental nephropathy using membrane-stabilizing measures. Optimal for these purpose could be xidifon. Further studies are needed to elucidate the problem of rapid elimination of heavy metals with chelating agents.

[Plasmapheresis in the combined therapy of progressive forms of glomerulonephritis]. / Plazmaferez v kompleksnoi terapii progressiruiushchikh form glomerulonefrita.

29 patients aged 6-16 with glomerulonephritis lasting 4-5 years received multimodality treatment with plasmapheresis as a component. The majority of the patients suffered from primary glomerulonephritis in mesangio- or membrano-proliferative morphological variants. Previous long-term conventional therapy (prednisolone, cytostatics, anticoagulants and antiaggregation drugs) failed. The test course comprised 1-3 plasmapheresis sessions (centrifuge method on [symbol: see text] apparatus), cyclophosphamide or maintenance methyl-prednisolone pulse therapy, heparin and curantil. One-third of the patients achieved remission lasting from 5 months to 3 years, in the other one-third the improvement was as short as 2-4 weeks, and the last one-third appeared non-responders. Improvement of clinical indices occurred in parallel with trends to reduction in the levels of CIC, IgG, B-lymphocytes, T-helpers, inhibition of lymphocyte succinate dehydrogenase activity, better phagocytosis. No complications which may prohibit plasmapheresis use in glomerulonephritis were observed. Adjuvant plasmapheresis use in glomerulonephritis treatment needs further studies.

[Current concepts of oxalate nephropathies (clinical and population studies)]. / Sovremennye predstavleniia ob oksalatnykh nefropatiiakh (klinicheskie i populiatsionnye issledovaniia).

The paper presents the results of clinical and laboratory examination made in 3 groups of children: populational, hospital and control (a total of 176 patients). The children were diagnosed to have variants of dysmetabolic nephropathy (DN) which had become a problem not only for urolithiasis-endemic regions, but also for the Middle Russia. The study involving characterization of cytomembranes, renal tissue biopsy allowed conclusion on nonspecific DN symptoms. Obligatory symptoms were those of OCC, microhematuria and/or mild proteinuria, changes in cytomembranes, weak tubular function, tubulo-interstitial changes. DN genesis is thought multifactorial, involving genetic predisposition, biochemical defects, ecological hazards.