[Comprehensive approach to decrease of neonatal mortality]. / Kompleksnyi podkhod k snizheniiu mladencheskoi smertnosti.

Due to united efforts of public health at many levels neonatal mortality in Samara decreased from 17.3 to 7.1% during 5 years. Irish program "Positive Maternity" and outpatient perinatology programs helped decrease the incidence of severe gestosis to 15.9 per 10,000 deliveries. Services engaged in family planning, andrological care, and treatment of couples have been created. Resuscitation of newborns is realized in accordance with the Swiss Government Program on Maternity and Childhood Protection and the USA Protocol of Newborn Resuscitation. Introduction of the Placenta-Fetus-Newborn program is in progress. Six-year activities of a visiting neonatological team decreased neonatal mortality from respiratory distress syndrome almost 3-fold. Activities of Center for Surgical Correction of Congenital Defects are constantly updated. The rate of detection of congenital defects by ultrasonic examination is now as high as 75%. The realization of programs and activities of institutions are financed through obligatory medical insurance, public health budget, and purposeful programs.

[Radiation protective effect of low molecular weight thymus preparations]. / Protivoluchevoe deistvie nizkomolekuliarnykh preparatov vilochkovoi zhelezy.

The antiradiation efficiency of low molecular thymic preparations (vilosen, thymogen) was determined. The therapeutic activity of thymic preparations is due to their influence on basic radiation injury syndromes (hemopoietic, gastrointestinal, immunodepressive). The protective mechanisms and perspectives of thymic preparations using in pathogenic therapy of radiation diseases are discussed.

[Changes in the levels of tumor markers in those working with different chemically active substances]. / Izmenenie urovnei opukholevykh markerov u rabotaiushchikh s razlichnymi khimicheski aktivnymi veshchestvami.

Groups at risk for malignant neoplasia were identified among workmen occupationally exposed to different chemical substances, using immunoradiometric and enzyme immunoassays of tumor-associated antigens. Exposure to the above occupational hazard was found to affect the workmen and cause certain chronic illness accompanied by some increase in concentration of a number of tumoral markers. Increase in tumour antigens suggests indirectly that the chemical substances may have carcinogenic activity. We have every reason to recommend these tests as an additional method for identification of groups at high risk for subsequent development of tumours in the digestive system and reproductive organs of persons occupationally exposed to chemical substances.

[Experience with the use of a low-calorie diet in breast cancer patients to prevent metastasis]. / Opyt primeneniia nizkokaloriinoi diety u bol'nykh rakom molochnoi zhelezy s tsel'iu profilaktiki metastazirovaniia.

The paper discusses results of three-year follow-up of breast cancer patients keeping to a low-calorie diet after radical mastectomy and chemotherapy. The diet was planned according to age, energy expenditures and body weight and was aimed at a 15% decrease in the total caloricity as compared to corresponding individually-tailored norms for healthy people. This was achieved by reduction in fat (by 30%) and carbohydrates (by 9%). To assure the diet on the domiciliary basis, patients were provided with a table of nutrients for all food products available. Regular examination failed to show any adverse effects of the dietary restrictions on the general status of patients. However, an inhibiting effect of the diet on progression of disease was established, with recurrence being registered in 25% of controls (in 13 out of 52 patients) and only 7% of the study group (in 4 out of 56 cases).

[Possibilities of preclinical and differential diagnosis of malignant neoformations according to the percentage of large granular lymphocytes]. / Vozhmosnosti doklinicheskoi i differentsial'noi diagnostiki zlokachestvennykh novoobrazovanii po soderzhaniiu bol'shikh granulosoderzhashchikh limfotsitov.

The paper discusses the results of application of a simple and easily available method of measuring levels of large granule-containing lymphocytes for identification of risk for cancer during mass screenings and differential diagnosis of benign and malignant tumor before morphological examination.

[Behavioral reactions of the clawed toad Xenopus laevis to L- and D-isomers of amino acids]. / Povedencheskie reaktsii shportsevykh liagushek Xenopus laevis na L- i D-izomery aminokislot.

Studies on the action of L- and D-isomers of amino acids upon motor activity in the clawed toad revealed that most effective among them are basic amino acids (all of them being essential) and hydrophobic amino acids (mainly essential ones). Positive correlation was found between the effectiveness of hydrophobic amino acids on the motor activity of animals and their effectiveness with respect to taste receptors. The data obtained indicate the role of the olfactory receptors in realization of the behavioural reactions of the clawed toads to amino acids.