[Role of vascular endothelial growth factor in the development of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus].

The influence of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) on the course of diabetic retinopathy (DR) was studied in 35 patients, including 11 males and 24 females, aged 21 to 56 years (mean 37 +/- 2.6 years) who had type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) whose history was 14 to 40 years (mean 21.4 +/- 2.7 years). Tear and serum VEGF was examined by solid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), by using diagnostic Bender MedSystems (Austria) on a Stat Fax-2100 (USA). In the active phase of proliferative DR, the patients with type 1 DM were found to have the highest level of tear VEGF; when the process changed to a inactive phase, the content of this factor significantly reduced. There was a relationship between the tear level of VEGF and the degree of various manifestations of DR. There is an agreement of the tear and serum levels of VEGF in patients with different stages and manifestations of DR, which may be evidence for the single mechanism responsible for vascular endothelial damage in DM. There is a relationship between the presence of VEGF, the proliferative stage of DR, and diabetic nephropathy.

[The effect of pharmacopuncture on the blood biochemical indices of patients with tunnel syndromes of the hands]. / Vliianie farmakopunktury na biokhimicheskie pokazateli krovi bol'nykh s tunnel'nymi sindromami ruk.

Concentrations of serotonin, beta-endorphine, myoglobin, basic myelin protein were measured in blood of patients with tunnel hand syndromes treated by actovegin or physiological solution pharmacopuncture and acupuncture to the same acupuncture points (AP). The above biochemical indices showed similar changes in pharmacopuncture with actovegin and the solution. These changes were different in acupuncture. This indicates specificity of AP stimulation by introduction of fluid, but not specificity of drug effects.

[The effect of scalp acupuncture on the blood biochemical indices of healthy volunteers]. / Vliianie skal'popunktury na biokhimicheskie pokazateli krovi zdorovykh dobrovol'tsev.

Scalp acupuncture effects on blood biochemistry were investigated in 10 healthy volunteers. The results provided evidence for the absence of negative changes in function of neurohumoral systems of the body which may become factors of risk for patients with thrombogenic disturbances of cerebral circulation.

[Effect of reflex regulation of premature labor on the status of the cholinergic system in the mother and newborn infant]. / Vliianie reflektornoi reguliatsii prezhdevremennykh rodov na sostoianie kholinergicheskoi sistemy materi i novorozhden- nogo.

The cholinergic system (CS) has been assessed in 60 women with a premature onset of labor and their newborns. Labor was regulated using transcutaneous electroneurostimulation (TENS) in 40 of them. High-frequency TENS (100-120 Hz) was used for uterine contractility stimulation and low-frequency (30 Hz) was used for relaxation. A pattern of contractile uterine activity was elucidated which indicated beneficial effects of TENS on abnormal conditions in premature labor. A correlation was found out between the maternal and neonatal SC status.

[Status of the pituitary-adrenal and cholinergic system of patients with a pain syndrome in spinal osteochondrosis before and after a course of reflexotherapy]. / Sostoianie gipofizarno-nadpochechnikovoi i kholinergicheskoi sistemy u bol'nykh s bolevym sindromom pri osteokhondroze pozvonochnika do i posle kursa refleksoterapii.

The pituitary-adrenal and cholinergic systems were studied in 57 patients with chronic pain related to vertebral osteochondrosis before and after an acupuncture course. The degree of the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture (EAP) was found to correlate with the nature of changes in the level of the spontaneous secretion of aldosterone and intensity of the process of acetylcholine (AC) release. Most patients in whom the treatment was followed by the recovery of the physiologic level of the initially depressed secretion of aldosterone and a clear-cut decrease in the initially elevated AC concentrations showed good clinical response. In patients in whom the initially elevated levels of aldosterone and AC failed to decline or in whom there was an even greater increase in AC concentrations, the therapeutic effect of EAP procedures was insignificant and short-lived.