[The use of the medicine Ophtalmoferon for the treatment of conjunctivitis in patients with HIV-infection and tuberculosis]. / Opyt primeneniya preparata Oftal'moferon pri kon"yunktivitakh, assotsiirovannykh s VICh-infektsiei i tuberkulezom.

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of the medicine Ophtalmoferon (eye drops) in the treatment of conjunctivitis of mixed aetiology in patients with first-time tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, who have been treated at the Clinical Anti-tuberculosis Hospital No. 4. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 60 patients (42 men and 18 women with mean age of 41.48±1.34 years), who had consulted the ophthalmologist for conjunctivitis. The patients were divided into two groups: the first group - main one (n=32) - received complex local therapy with the medicine Ophtalmoferon; the second group (n=28) - control one - did not receive Ophtalmoferon as a part of complex local treatment. The treatment involved assessment of the effectiveness, tolerability and safety of the examined medicine. RESULTS: Patient examinations were conducted on the first visit, then on the third, fifth and seventh day of treatment. On the third day of treatment as compared to the baseline the burning sensation and pain in the eyes were less severe; in the main group that received the medicine Ophtalmoferon (group 1) the number of patients describing these symptoms as mild (1 point) were 15.6% (pain) and 18.8% (burning), respectively (W=2.15; p=0.03). Severe lacrimation (3 points) remained in 5 (15.6%) patients. On the fifth day there were no main group patients with severe (3 points) or moderate (2 points) lacrimation. On the seventh day complete resolution of subjective symptoms was noted in 71.9% (group 1) and 42.9% (group 2) of patients (χ2=1.39; p=0.238), respectively. There was no lacrimation in 71.9% (group 1) and 35.7% (group 2) of patients (χ2=2.36; p=0.125), no eye redness was noted in 78.1% (group 1) and 28.6% (group 2) of patients (χ2=4.51; p=0.034), respectively. CONCLUSION: The use of the combined medicine Ophtalmoferon in the complex local treatment of conjunctivitis of mixed aetiology in patients with tuberculosis and HIV infection helps to achieve a rapid relief of subjective and objective symptoms with good tolerability of the medicine.

The Effects of Repeated Administration of the Micellar Complex of Methylprednisolone on the Locomotor Activity of a Terrestrial Snails.

We studied the effects of repeated injections of methylprednisolone and its micellar complex with block-copolymer on locomotor activity of a terrestrial snail. It was shown that methylprednisolone solution injected into the hemolymph of the animal produced a direct effect on the muscle system of the animal as soon as 1 h after administration: it slowed down snail locomotion and reduced contractile activity of the foot muscles. The micellar complex of methylprednisolone with block-copolymer prevented this effect during the first 2 days of injection and negatively affected locomotion only in 2 days after injection, the decrease in locomotion in this case was not accompanied by a decrease in contractile activity of the foot muscle.

[Questionnaire survey of patients with tuberculosis: bioethical aspects]. / Bioéticheskie aspekty po anketnomu oprosu bol'nykh tuberkulezom.

An anonymous questionnaire was filled by 129 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis to study bioethical aspects. It contained questions concerning a patient's attitude to obtaining full information on his/her disease, treatments, and physician-patient relations, keeping his/her disease confidential from the relatives, controlled and obligatory treatments.

[Study of some properties of rat myocardial pyruvate kinase in adrenaline myocarditis]. / Issledovanie nekotorykh svoistv piruvatkinazy iz serdechnogo myshtsy krys pri adrenalinovom miokardite

Adrenaline myocarditis in rats was accompanied by a decrease in relative activity of pyruvate kinase from hyaloplasm of heart muscle, especially pronounced within 6-13 hrs after adrenaline administration. This phenomenon was probably due to an increase in content of protein in hyaloplasm, but not to an alteration in the enzyme activity. This conclusion was confirmed by studies of some properties of pyruvate kinase. Under these pathological conditions the Km of phosphoenol pyruvate was of the same order of magnitude as in normal state; 1-phenylalanine was characterized as an inhibitor of non-competitive type tomards phosphoenol pyruvate, and palmitate did not exhibit the inhibitory effect on pyruvate kinase as it was found in normal state. The effectiveness of the enzyme inhibition by L-phenylalanine, protection of the enzyme against this amino acid effect by L-alpha-alanine, L-serine and L-cysteine, and also the degree of activation of pyruvate kinase by the amino acids under adrenaline myocarditis were similar to those phenomena observed in normal state.