[Biological functions of allantoin].

A historical review of allantoin research is presented. An increased allantoin level in the trophoblast and serum of pregnant women has been demonstrated. Allantoin concentration decreased in placental tissues and increased in the serum in developing placental insufficiency.

[Clinical polymorphism of Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome in Rostov region and Northern Caucasus in 1978-1998]. / Klinicheskii polimorfizm sindroma Shereshevskogo-Ternera u zhitelei Rostovskoi oblasti i Severnogo Kavkaza (1978-1998 gg).

Polymorphism of Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome (STS) was studied in 233 patients who were examined at medical genetic services of the Research Institute of Obstetrics and Pediatrics (Rostov-on-Don) and Rostov Regional Hospital from 1978 to 1998. The subjects examined were residents of the Rostov oblast (administrative region) (RO) and some settlements in the northern Caucasus (NC). The mean incidence rate of STS was 3.8 per 10,000 newborns in this region in the period studied. Most STS cases were accounted for by the X trisomy (60 and 66.6% in the RO and NC, respectively). The mosaic form of STS was found in 25% of cases in both RO and NC. Other cytogenetic forms were found in 13.5 and 8.33% of patients from the RO and NC, respectively. The clinical polymorphism of STS, dynamics of its manifestation during ontogeny, and anthropometric parameters of the patients were studied. The effects of the age of parents, the season and month of conception, occupational hazards at the parents' workplaces, and the place of residence on the risk of STS were analyzed. Factor analysis was used to determine the sets of the main clinical signs characteristic of different STS cytogenetic forms in the RO and NC populations.