[Immunotropic effects of probiotic complex bactistatin used simultaneously with antibiotics].

The immunotropic effects of the probiotic complex Bactistatin (the complex contains metabolites of Bacillus subtilis) used simultaneously with oral doxycycline during different periods of time (1, 5, 10 and 20 days) were estimated. The dynamics of the changes in the nonspecific immunity factors under the effect of the above mentioned products or their combination (bactistatin + doxycycline) during the treatment of different duration was demonstrated. It was found that the oral administration of the metabolic probiotic bactistatin to experimental animals during 1-10 days increased the activity of the nonspecific resistance factors. The immunotropic effects of the product were evident at the level of the cells of the blood phagocytic system and the processes related to synthesis of such enzymes as lysozyme and myeloperoxidase and their release into the blood stream. Comparatively rapid increase of the functional activity of the factors was registered even after a single administration of the product. When the combination of the products (bactistatin + doxycycline) was administered to the animals during a fixed period of time (10 days) significant activation of the nonspecific immunity factors was observed. In perspective the findings will allow to optimize the basic regimens of antibacterial therapy and urgent (postcontact) prevention of infectious diseases.

[Some aspects of medical and social care for Great Patriotic War veterans].

The athours substantiated necessity of foundation of institutions for providing stationary medical care and social protection for Great Patriotic War members. The technique of medical and social research has been used in studing medical workers and war veterans to find main activities of such institutions. Principle approaches have been developed to found them functional.

[A concept of the public health service development--strategy for the development of the branch reformation]. / Kontseptsiia rozvytku okhorony zdorov'ia--stratehiia reformuvannia haluzi.

A consideration is given to the issue of adoption of the conception of the health service development; its objectives are highlighted together with strategic lines of activity and tasks in the field of State policy, economics, organization and management of the branch, the decisions on which items are to be made on the programme basis. Main achievements at the routes of reforming the branch are described.

[An epidemiological analysis of the health status of the participants in the cleanup of the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Epidemiolohichnyi analiz stanu zdovor'ia uchasnykiv likvidatsiï naslidkiv avariï na ChAES.

A comparative analysis has been carried out of indices for health status in 137,072 persons who took part in the elimination of the aftermath of the Chernobyl accident, using records of the National Register of Ukraine. The above-mentioned indices were for time-related general morbidity, mortality, disability during the period of 1988-1996. There has been revealed yearly increase in morbidity rates in all classes of diseases, in particular those of the circulatory system, nervous system, and sense organs, digestive, and respiratory systems. High morbidity rates are recordable with respect to that class of diseases afflicting the endocrine system, blood, and hemopoietic organs, neoplasms including malignant tumours. The disability rates tended to increase above average statistical ones for Ukraine.

Health telematics in Ukraine: problems and prospects.

The state of medical telecommunication networks in Ukraine is described. The concepts of creating and architecture of the National Direct Access Computer Network 'UkrMedNet' are given.

[The megakaryocyte-thrombocyte system]. / Sistema megakariotsit-trombotsit.

The megakaryocytic apparatus of bone marrow and platelets are discussed as a common system whose physiological purpose is to ensure hemostasis when the integrity of the vascular wall is impaired. The principle of operation of the megakaryocyte-platelet system is synthesis, accumulation, and organization of a potent hemostatic potential, its distribution and dispersal along the vascular bed, if inactive, and its new formation at the moment of and at the site of required hemostasis. At the same time in its early and late major functional performance, the elements of the system are stable-at the early stages of megakaryocytopoiesis to the extent to the appearance of a promegakaryocyte and at the stage of platelet hemostatic cork. At the intermediate stages-that of the mature megakaryocyte divided by demarcation membranes and that of reversible aggregation of platelets which have not lost their individuality, the elements of the system are in an unstable state that is ready for disintegration or in a state that does not exclude its possibilities. In the central phase of its existence, the system is in a disintegrated state and appears as proplatelets and platelets. The mechanism of the dispersal and combination of elements and hemostatic potential of the megakaryocyte platelet system serves the apparatus of structural and contractile proteins, which acts as its system-forming factor.

[The health status of children up to 14 years old living in an area of long-term post-accident exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation]. / Sostoianie zdorov'ia detei do 14 let, prozhivaiushchikh v zone dlitel'nogo postavariinogo vozdeistviia malykh doz ioniziruiushchego izlucheniia.

An assessment is submitted of morbidity rates and physical development of children aged under 14, residing in the territories being monitored after the Chernobyl Power Plant accident. A high level of disharmony in physical development of the children examined was recordable, as was an excess in morbidity of both general and separate classes of disease entities among the pediatric population having been victims of the Chernobyl accident, as compared to that in relatively "clean" areas and in Ukraine as a whole.

[Morphologic features of bone marrow in myelodysplastic states]. / Morphologicheskie osobennosti stromy kostnogo mozga pri mielodisplasticheskikh sostoianniiakh.

The results of histological and ultrastructural studies of bone marrow hemopoietic microenvironment carried out in 27 patients with different myelodisplasias are presented. The following morphological peculiarities of bone marrow stromal tissue have been identified: abnormal localisation of immature hemopoietic cells, reticuline fibrosis, disorganized erythroid islands, and intranuclear virus-like pathologic inclusions in all stromal cells. The structure of nucleoli in endosteal and perivascular cells was changed. It was shown that morphofunctional changes in hemopoietic environment may lead to hemopoietic disorders.

[Enhanced osteogenesis in severe aplastic anemia]. / Usilenie osteoobrazovaniia pri tiazeloi aplasticheskoi anemii.

Histologic specimens of the bone marrow were obtained from healthy subjects and aplastic anemia (AA) ones. Comparison of the histomorphometry was indicative of an increase in spongy bone tissue and in the number of osteoid cells in AA. This indirectly suggested enhanced proliferative activity of osteogenic precursors and osteosynthesis in AA. Interrelationship is probable between osteogenesis and hemopoiesis.

[The morbidity in preschool children living on the territory of Rovno Province subjected to radioactive contamination as a result of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Zabolevaemost' detei doshkol'nogo vozrasta, prozhivaiushchikh na territorii Rivnenskoi oblasti, podvergsheisia radioaktivnomu zagriazneniiu v rezul'tate avarii na Chernobyl'skoi AES.

The morbidity was studied of 3000 preschool children born and inhabiting the territory of six Rovno Province districts belonging to the "Western trail" of the Chernobyl accident. It was found that the children born in 1986-1987 showed a 1.5-3 times increase of the morbidity as compared with the pre-accident period.

[New ultrastructural characteristics of the bone marrow stromal cells in patients with aplastic anemia]. / Novye ul'trastrukturnye osobennosti stromal'nykh kletok kostnogo mozga bol'nykh s aplasticheskoi anemiei.

Unlike hemopoietic cell, stromal cells of aplastic anemia patients' bone marrow undergo pathological shifts. This has been proved by ultrastructural investigations which showed intranuclear inclusions structurally similar to virus bodies. The latter are divided into three types this allowing follow-up of the inclusions to mature forms seen in the stromal cells cytoplasm. The findings suggest primary viral affection of stromal cellular elements of aplastic anemia patients' bone marrow. The attention is also drawn to ultrastructural shifts recorded in adipose cells in aplastic anemia.

[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.

[Iridodiagnosis in the system of the follow-up of the health status of the population living in an area contaminated by radioactive substances]. / Iridodiagnostika v sisteme kontrolia za sostoianiem zdorov'ia naseleniia, prozhivaiushchego na territorii, zagriaznennoi radioaktivnymi veshchestvami.

The authors substantiate the practical employment of the iridodiagnosis screening-test using a system of archiving and visualization of the iris at the first stage of prophylactic medical examination and management. The economical and medical efficacy of the method has been established. Use of iridodiagnosis improved the detectability of pathologic conditions as compared with complex medical examination. Many specialists were freed from mass medical screening. The expenses for prophylactic medical examination became ten times less.

[Ultrastructural organization of the hematopoietic microenvironment of human bone marrow]. / Ul'trastrukturnaia organizatsiia krovetvornogo mikrookruzheniia kostnogo mozga cheloveka.

The results have been presented of electron-microscopic and ultracytochemical investigations of sinusoidal vessels, fat, reticular and endosteal cells of the bone marrow from the iliac bone fragments of 30 normal subjects. Close morphological and functional relationships have been established between the structures of the hemopoietic microenvironment and hemopoietic cells, and the role of certain stromal elements in the maintenance of the hemopoietic function has been specified.