[Nitric oxide and electrogenic metals (Ca, Na, K) in epidermal cells].

Using atomic emission spectrometry and EPR analysis metal-ligand homeostasis (MLH) has been studied in epidermal cells of 954 liquidators of the Chernobyl accident and 947 healthy individuals. A possible association of the redox status with the quantitative changes in the MLH, which could be used as discriminators of oxidative/nitrosative stress, attracts special interest. Characteristic features of oxidative stress mainly related to electrogenic metals (Ca, K, Na), were found not only among the liquidators examined, but also in some healthy individuals (18.1%); this suggests the presence of oxidative/nitrosative stress of non-radiation origin. Correlation between intracellular production of nitric oxide (NO) with quantitative changes in the electrogenic metals may indicate the possible involvement of NO in the generation of an electric potential of the cell.

Diagnosis of nitrosative stress by quantitative EPR-spectroscopy of epidermal cells.

Quantitative assay of nitric oxide (NO) and iron (Fe) was carried out by the electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method in epidermal derivative (hair) of 45 liquidators of the Chernobyl accident, 30 employees of radiological institutions having contact with radiation, and 50 students of Vladimir State University, most of which were diagnosed with iron deficiency, namely iron deficiency anemia (4 persons) and latent iron deficiency (34 persons). Measurements were performed on a Radiopan EPR-spectrometer. It was found that the method of quantitative EPR-spectroscopy using diethyldithiocarbamate as a trap in vitro could be successfully used to measure NO-radical activity in such a biological substrate as hair. It was found that the intensity of NO-radical signal in the spectrogram depends on the Fe level (not only in the analyzed substrate, but also in the whole organism).

Chronic hepatitis C: quantitative EPR analysis of nitrogen oxide and copper in patients' blood.

Measurements of nitrogen oxide and copper in the blood of 57 patients with chronic viral hepatitis C was carried out before antiviral therapy by electron paramagnetic resonance on a Radiopan EPR spectrometer. The results indicate elevated levels of nitrogen oxide and copper in the blood of these patients in comparison with normal subjects. Comparison of these findings with the results of a previous analysis of redox status of patients with chronic viral hepatitis C indicate that this disease is characterized by a significant pro-oxidant shift in the realization of redox processes and disorders in the metal ligand homeostasis (at least as regards copper).

Plasma NO-binding activity in patients with hematological malignancies: suppressive effect of glucocorticoids.

Plasma NO-binding activity was studied in patients with various forms of hematological malignancies. The method used in the study quantitatively evaluated the plasma capacity to bind NO, which reflects the intensity of NO production and the degree of patient's stress resistance. Plasma NO-binding activity significantly decreases in patients with hematological malignancies. Glucocorticoid treatment promotes the decrease in plasma NO-binding activity, which was dose-dependent.

[The effect of treatment with superoxide dismutase and selenium on blood ferritin and transferrin level in patients with hemoblastosis]. / Vliianie terapii superoksiddismutazol i selenom na uroven' ferritina i transferrina v krovi bol'nykh gemoblastozami.

The effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and selenium on the blood level of ferritin and transferrin in patients with hemoblastosis was studied. Two-month treatment with SOD and selenium had no effect on the level of ferritin but reduced the concentration of malonic dialdehyde (MDA) in the native erythrocytes in patients with chronic lymphoid leukemia practically to that in healthy individuals. In erythrocytes which formed from cells of the leukemic clone (chronic myelocytic leukemia and erythremia) treatment with SOD and selenium reduced the pathologically high level of ferritin, but at the same time increased the concentration of MDA in the erythrocytes. In erythremia in the group with a low level of ferritin SOD and selenium caused no statistically significant increase in its level in blood.

[Erythremia: the activity of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes and the association with iron deficiency]. / Eritremiia: aktivnost' antioksidantnykh fermentov éritrotsitov, sviaz' s defitsitom zheleza.

Concentration of malonic dialdehyde (MDA) and activity of antioxidant enzymes G-6-PD, glutation peroxidase (GP), glutation reductase, catalase, superoxide dismutase were measured in red cells of patients with polycythemia vera. Plasmic ions Fe3+ were estimated by means of electron-paramagnetic resonance. MDA concentration and antioxidant enzymes (except GP) in polycythemia red cells were found increased, while the activity of selenium-dependent GP was reduced, the inhibition being greatest in severe iron deficiency. It is suggested that GP activity in red cells depends on both selenium levels in the body and concentrations of non-hematic iron.

[Possible use of erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes as markers of the course of disease in patients with hemoblastoses]. / Vozmozhnost' ispol'zovaniia antioksidantnykh fermentov éritrotsitov v kachestve indikatorov, kharakterizuiushchikh techenie bolezni u bol'nykh gemoblastozami.

Blood and erythrocytes of 50 healthy volunteers and 105 patients with different forms of hemoblastoses were investigated. 54 patients had acute phase, 51 patients--remission stage of disease. Essential differences in the activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GSH-Px) were detected and compared with content of MDA and degree of anaemia. Acute phase had more significantly alteration of antioxidant defence: diverse changes of the activity of SOD and CAT, significantly inhibition of GSH-Px, the high level of MDA and increased degree of anaemia.

[Use of recombinant alpha2-interferon in combination with myelosan for the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia]. / Primenenie rekombinantnogo alpha2-interferona v sochetanii s mielosanom dlia lecheniia bol'nykh khronicheskim mieloleikozom.

The authors present results of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treatment with recombinant and leukocytic interferon in monotherapy and in combination with myelosan. The best responses (72% of complete hematological remissions) were obtained in patients pretreated with myelosan (one course of 1-1.5 months) in combination with natural antioxidants.

[Stereometric model of respiration with diaphragm electrostimulation]. / Stereometricheskaia model dykhaniia pri électrostimuliatsii diafragmy.

A stereometric model of respiration has been proposed, which is based on the approximation of the surface of the chest and that of the diaphragm by the well-known mathematical functions, which generally calculates the value of respiratory volume as a function of geometric parameters such as the circumference of the chest and torso, the distance between the thoracic vertebrae. The derived formulas may be used as a background material for designing the feedback systems by the respiratory volume in order to maximally approach the electrically stimulated respiration to physiological respiration.

[Choice of parameters of primary transformers of body surface fluctuations]. / Vybor parametrov pervichnykh preobrazovatelei kolebanii poverkhnosti tela.

The authors review distortions of body surface fluctuations provoked by the action of primary transformers (PT). It is suggested that conditions of PT contact with the body surface may be standardized. As far as transformers measuring the kinematic parameter of fluctuations are concerned, those existing in the absence of any action on the surface should be regarded as undistorted. As for PTs that transform the power parameter, the conditions for undistorted reception involve complete inhibition of the surface under study. It is proposed that the degree of distortions may be estimated in the form of the "measurement method error". It is shown that error of the method can be restricted at the present level, if the design parameters of PT that determine the conditions of contact are chosen in terms of the correlations provided in the paper.

[The prognostic assessment of patient survival in chronic myeloleukemia]. / Prognosticheskaia otsenka vyzhivaemosti bol'nykh khronicheskim mieloleikozom.

The prognostic significance of the clinicohematological and kinetic characteristics was analyzed in patients suffering from chronic myeloleukemia with the aid of computerized methods of linear and nonlinear regression (Cox's model). New predictors not previously used in patients with chronic myeloleukemia are offered: the ratio of variation of the integral optic density of mature neutrophil nuclei stained with methylene blue and the general marker index (GMI) of circulating granulocytes with 3H-thymidine in vitro. The relationship between the GMI and the survival when estimated according to chi 2 in Cox's model surpassed 3-11-fold that for the clinicohematological characteristics. A regression equation was derived, allowing the probable patient's survival (in months) to be predicted.

[A method for predicting the course of chronic myeloleukemia]. / Sposob prognozirovaniia techeniia khronicheskogo mieloleikoza.

The effects of a synthetic prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) analog on colony-forming activity in agar cultures of peripheral blood and bone marrow was studied in 28 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia and 9 hematologically healthy subjects. Addition of PGE1 to normal bone marrow culture was followed by a significant drop in the number of colonies per dish in 8 out of the 9 subjects. In leukemic patients, the effect was bizarre. It proved to be in correlation with survival thus suggesting that the effect of PGE1 on colony-forming activity of granulocyte-macrophage precursors be used in predicting survival in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia.