[Experience with the use of 13C-breath test for the evaluation of the efficacy of enzyme substitution therapy with microencapsulated pancreatinin in patients with severe primary pancreatic insufficiency].

The aim of the study was to evaluate efficiency of creon substitution therapy of severe primary pancreatic insufficiency in the 13C-breath test. It included 32 patients (mean age 48.2 +/- 6.8 yr) with chronic pancreatitis and severe primary exocrine insufficiency. The patients ingested naturally enriched 13C-maize starch and creon (25000 U) before breakfast. Samples of exhaled air were taken before and every 30 min for 4 hours after intake (total: 9). Creon metabolic rate and capacity were measured. Creon accumulation (in %) was assessed by statistical analysis. It significantly decreased in patients with exocrine pancreatic insufficiency suggesting close relationship between clinical symptoms and results of the breath test. Symptom severity score positively correlated with dose accumulation. Only 8 patients showed satisfactory results of the breath test indicative of acceptable outcome of substitution therapy. 75% of the patients proved to receive inadequate treatment. Therefore, they were prescribed a 25 or 50% higher creon dose and the test was repeated. It revealed a dose-dependent rise in the accumulated dose compared with initial values. It is concluded that the lack of clinical markers of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency can not be regarded as a criterion for the efficiency of substitution enzyme therapy.

[Changes in the functional activity of neutrophils during their interaction with Yersinia pestis in vitro]. / Izmeneniia funktsional'noi aktivnosti neitrofil'nykh leikotsitov pri vzaimodeistvii s Yersinia pestic in vitro.

The functional state and electrochemical properties of human blood neutrophil leukocytes after their in vitro interaction with Y. pestis cells, strain EV, was analyzed. A considerable decrease in the electrophoretic mobility of neutrophil leukocytes and a considerable increase in their phagocytic indices was shown. At the same time the maximum phagocytic activity in the total pool of isolated neutrophil leukocytes was registered in fractions having higher electrophoretic mobility. The dependence of electrophoretic mobility on the state of neutrophil membranes, as well as the degree of their activation, is discussed.

[The effect of Yersinia pestis antigens and strains on the level of lymphocyte blast transformation]. / Vliianie antigenov i shtammov chumnogo mikroba na uroven' blasttransformatsii limfotsitov.

Lymphocytic blast-cell transformation (LBCT) is shown to be related both to the genotype of a macroorganism and to the genetically determined expression of individual antigens by the plague microbe. The correlation of LBCT with the level of antiinfectious resistance suggests that this index is of high informative value and that it can be effectively used for testing the cellular immunity and the characteristically biological properties of the plague causative agent and its antigens.

[A gene expression study and the isolation and immunobiological properties of the iron-regulated membrane proteins of the plague microbe]. / Izuchenie ékspressii genov, poluchenie i immunobiologicheskie svoistva zhelezoreguliruemykh membrannykh belkov chumnogo mikroba.

The study has examined how the plague bacillus expresses genes of two high-molecular weight (190 and 240 kD) iron-regulated membrane proteins (HMWP). The latter were purified and assayed for their immunobiological properties in vitro and in vivo. DNA-probing (at E.Carniel's Laboratory, Pasteur Institute, Paris) has indicated that Yersinia pestis strains having genes that code for HMWP synthesis circulate in the natural foci of plague which are situated in the former USSR. The use of HMWP in combination with live plague vaccine EV was found to greatly enhance its immunogenicity.

[Changes in the functional activity of oxygen-dependent bactericidal macrophage systems during interaction with Yersinia pestis]. / Izmeneniia funktsional'noi aktivnosti kislorodzavisimykh bakteritsidnykh sistem makrofagov pri vzaimodeistvii s Yersinia pestis.

In this work the capacity of Y. pestis, depending on their plasmid composition, for inhibiting the action of the main oxygen-dependent bactericidal systems of macrophages is shown. The data on the modulating influence of Y. pestis on the activity of superoxide dismutase, myeloperoxidase and catalase, the most important enzymes of the synthesis and transformation of cytocidal oxygen radicals, are presented.

[Effect of plague microbe fraction 1 protein-polysaccharide complex and pure protein on metabolic parameters of macrophages]. / Vliianie belkovopolisakharidnogo kompleksa i chistogo belka fraktsii 1 chumnogo mikroba na metabolicheskie pokazateli makrofagov.

The investigation reveals different influence of the plague microbe's fraction 1 polysaccharide-protein complex and of it's purified protein on the 5'-nucleotidase activity and on the chemiluminescence response of peritoneal macrophages. Both of these metabolic indexes were found to be dependent on the dose of fraction 1 and duration of time till examination.