[CRITICAL FACTORS OF THE LIFE QUALITY OF ADOLESCENTS].

There was performed the discussion of the shaping of the quality of life of adolescents. There are considered possibilities and problems of the determination of the quality of life. There are presented data of their own studies of adolescents with the use of anthropometric, psychometric and sociometric methods. It is proposed to consider the priority critical factors of life quality of adolescents the level of material well-being and psychological climate in the school, physical and social activity, behavioral risk factors.

[Immunological mechanisms of the radioprotective effects of ceruloplasmin]. / Immunologicheskie mekhanizmy radioprotektornogo deistviia tseruloplazma.

The aim of the work was to examine immunotropic features of celluroplasmine++ (Cp) and estimate its capacity as radioprotector. The pulse radiolysis method was used to set the mechanism of elementary reactions, which were responsible for antioxidant activity, and to demonstrate a particular role of reversible oxycomplexis, Cp...O2. Within in vitro test-systems the effects of Cp were examined on the model of interaction between lymphocytes from Shelter staff which constantly contacts with ionizing irradiation, and autologous erythrocytes in rosset-forming phenomenon (223 Shelter employees in comparison with 253 donors of Kyiv blood transfucion station). Expression of this Index in the presence of antigens with known poly-specificity was determined (antigens were taken from cortical and pyramid sections of kidney, liver, lungs, myocard, pancreatic gland, grey matter and aorta). Simultaneously the presence of analogous autoantibodies was determined (ELISA). It has been shown that Cp can reprogram the level of expression of immunovaluable receptors towards to norm. It has been also defined that Cp presence in blood irradiated in vitro (1-15 rem) promotes the masking of active centers of autoantibodies of different tissue specificity.

TQI in the Albuquerque Veterans Affairs Medical Center's long-term oxygen therapy program.

BACKGROUND: Long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is the only treatment demonstrated to prolong the life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In November 1994, a multidisciplinary total quality improvement (TQI) team composed of the involved hospital services was established to reorganize and improve the LTOT program at the Albuquerque Veterans Affairs Medical Center (AVAMC), Albuquerque. FROM THE OLD TO THE NEW PROCESS: The LTOT team used a process map to analyze the current process and gather information from patients and staff regarding their satisfaction with the program. It then began working on the identified problems and streamlining the LTOT referral process. A respiratory therapy position with the specific responsibility of serving as the home oxygen (O2) coordinator (HOC) was established and filled. The evaluation process was to be initiated by the AVAMC physicians, following which the HOC would perform a newly standardized evaluation that would establish the patient's need for O2 and result in a specific prescription. RESULTS: Quality indicators were selected to monitor changes in the program. Data from chart reviews, the Veterans Affairs National Cost Containment Center, and patient surveys were used to evaluate the indicators. Timeliness of referral to the program before inpatient discharge improved, O2 prescriptions in the new program more frequently addressed activity, and the cost per patient was reduced by 37.1%. Patient satisfaction rates also improved. DISCUSSION: A motivated team with representatives of the services involved was able to analyze and dramatically improve an important but complicated program.

[The effect of 2',5'-oligoadenylates on the expression of the cellular proto-oncogene c-myc during the development of Svec's leukemia in rats]. / Vliianie 2',5'-oligoadenilatov na ékspressiiu kletochnogo protoonkogena c-myc pri razvitii leikoza Shvetsa u krys.

The effects of 2',5'-oligoadenilates (2,5A) on the survival of Wistar rats inoculated with Svec leukemia cells and the proliferation of tumoral cells were investigated. An agreement between the expression of c-myc protooncogene and inhibition of leukemic cell proliferation by 2,5A was found.

[Study of physiological functions of human ceruloplasmin. The effect of ceruloplasmin on immunocytes in a normal state and in pathology]. / Issledovanie fiziologicheskikh funktsii tseruloplazmina cheloveka. Vliianie tseruloplazmina na immunotsity v norme i pri patologii.

The immunomodulating effect of ceruloplasmin (CP) on the major components of the immunocompetent system of the organism--the natural resistance system and the specific immune response--has been established. CP can exert various influences on the level of expression of specific markers of T- and B-lymphocytes (as determined by various modifications of the rosette-forming test), on the phagocytic activity of neutrophils and monocytes as well as on the activity of "respiratory burst" enzymes. CP modulation was found to depend predominantly on the initial level of the immunological parameters to be determined, i. e., on the extent of immune inflammation in human patients. Thus, it was found that CP not only plays the roles of an antioxidant and a copper-transporting protein, but is also capable to interact with immunocytes, altering their biological activities. The observed immunotropicity of CP, its ability to directly interact with immunocytes and to model the immune function at the cell level provides evidence for the existence of a universal molecular language of information exchange between the macroorganism cells of various nature and origin.

Modulatory effects of ceruloplasmin on lymphocytes, neutrophils and monocytes of patients with altered immune status.

We investigated the effect of plasma ceruloplasmin (Cp) on the different types of lymphocyte rosetting, and phagocytosis of polystyrene particles and culture Candida albicans by peripheral blood neutrophils and monocytes. Lymphocytes, neutrophils, and monocytes were isolated from the blood of patients with elevated immuno-status (n = 9), healthy donors (n = 21), and patients with reduced immuno-status (n = 21). The ability of Cp to decrease the number of lymphocytes forming E- and EAC-rosettes and rosettes with auto-erythrocytes was shown for both patients and healthy donors. The maximal decrease of the number of E-rosettes (by 35%) and EAC-rosettes (by 57%) was shown for lymphocytes of the patients with elevated immuno-status. Cp had an effect on rosetting only when lymphocytes were preincubated with it, suggesting that Cp binding to lymphocytes was responsible for these effects. The decrease in all types of rosetting caused by Cp was dose-related, with a maximum effect at physiological concentration of Cp (300 micrograms/ml). We demonstrated an enhancing effect of Cp on phagocytosis of Candida albicans and polystyrene particles by neutrophils (with a maximum enhancement by 180% for neutrophils of the patients with decreased immuno-status) and monocytes (with a maximum of 89% for monocytes of healthy donors). Cp enhances phagocytosis of neutrophils and monocytes by binding these cells, not by opsonizing ingested particles as a conventional opsonin (ie. lipopolysaccharide from E.coli). The stimulating effect of Cp on phagocytosis was three times higher than that of LPS from E.coli.

[Antisilicotic properties of polyethylene-piperazine N-oxide--a new polymeric compound]. / O protivosilikoticheskikh svoistvakh novogo polimernogo soedineniia N-okisi polietilenpiperazina.

A high antisilicotic activity of a new polymeric compound--polyethylene-piperazine N-oxide (molecular mass 5000--8000, degree of exidation--80 per cent), synthetized on the basis of aliphatic amine, was shown as against polyvinylpyridine-N-oxide in experiments conducted on albino rats with silicosis.