[Fibronectin--an important factor of nonspecific body defense]. / Fibronektyn--vazhlyvnyi faktor nespetsyfichnoho zakhystu orhanizmu.

The paper shows chief properties of fibronectin and its significance in formation of unspecific bodily defence. Data are submitted on the role fibronectin plays both in the organism of a child and in that of an adult person in different morbid conditions.

[The immunological reactivity of children living under conditions of the action of low doses of ionizing radiation and of industrial waste]. / Imunolohichna reaktyvnist' u ditei, iaki prozhyvaiut' v umovakh diï malykh doz ionizuiuchoho vyprominiuvannia ta promyslovykh vykydiv.

We undertook the present studies to gain insights into the immunological reactivity of children exposed to small doses of ionizing radiation and salts of heavy metals. A total of 1500 children were examined who live in Sumy Province areas affected by varying levels of radioactive contamination. Increased morbidity, with thyroid hyperplasia being noted more often than not, has come to be recorded among children residing in the territories contaminated with discharges of salts of heavy metals and small doses of ionizing radiation. Imbalance of the thyroid and immune systems has been disclosed. The degree of immunological disorders was found to be related to specificities of activity of the hypophysis-and-thyroid system. Those children who are permanent residents in health-hazard localities exhibit a significant rise in blood level of interferones. Doing away with thyroid insufficiency will, we believe, help in returning the immune disorders in children to normal.

[The function of the hypophyseal-thyroid system in the children of Zhitomir Province living in areas polluted by the radionuclides resulting from the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Funktsional'nyi stan hipofizarno-tyreoïdnoï systemy u ditei Zhytomyrs'koï oblasti, shcho prozhyvaiut' v raionakh, zabrudnenykh radionuklidamy vnaslidok avariï na Chornobyl's'kii AES.

A study of 1167 children (age: 7-15 years) inhabiting districts contaminated with radionuclide due to Chernobyl atomic station accident indicates that children with thyroid hyperplasia revealed high requirement and intensity of the peripheral metabolism of thyroid hormones that results finally in relative hormonal deficit (subclinical hypothyroidism) and thyroid hyperplasia. This is a sequel of maximum functional tension of the thyroid with impending breakdown of adaptation and this should be considered as a pathological process requiring correction, i.e. presence of subclinical hypothyroidism in children with thyroid hyperplasia requires substitution therapy with thyroid hormones.