Cranial electrostimulation--a new nondrug method of treating the initial stage of hypertension]

The authors relate the data on the hypotensive effect and procedure of cranial electric stimulation (CES). The method was applied to the treatment of 66 patients aged 20-40 years suffering from stage I essential hypertension (EH) (WHO classification). To provide clinical and physiological evidence for CES, the EEG and ECG were recorded. In addition, computer was employed to average out and to design the histograms of the R-R intervals as was echocardiography to examine central hemodynamics. Before the treatment of SAP (179.2 +/- 4.3 mm Hg), DAP (104.2 +/- 2.6 mm Hg) the patients manifested cephalgia, cardialgia, pronounced vegetative dysfunction. The EEG showed phenomena of irritation in the upper stem structures of the brain. The histograms of R-R intervals distribution demonstrated the signs of a decrease of the tonic influence of the parasympathetic nervous system. The hyperkinetic type of hemodynamics was revealed. After CES the patients manifested an improvement of subjective symptomatology: headache attacks ceased in 85% of the patients, heart pains in 76%; AP got stabilized within normal, which correlated with normalization of central hemodynamics. The histograms of R-R intervals distribution demonstrated an increase of the model value, a decline of the mode, and a rise of the variation range, attesting to the changes in vegetative regulation of heart activity, with a reduction of sympathetic regulation and a simultaneous increment of parasympathetic effects. The authors hold that CES is an effective and prospective method of the treatment of the initial stage of EH.     

Assessment of patients' condition by noninvasive methods of examination in the follow-up after Fontan's operation in atresia of the right atrioventricular ostium

The article discusses the results of using noninvasive methods to study the condition of patients (20) in late-term periods after Fonten's operation in atresia of the right atrioventricular orifice. All patients were subjected to physical examination, electro-, phono- and echocardiography, radiological examination, radioisotope scintigraphy, and left ventriculography. Most patients change to functional class I in the late-term periods after the operation. Though the patients have a sense of well being, the left-ventricular pumping and contractile functions remain disturbed. A tendency towards gradual improvement of these parameters is noted, however. The right atrium is enlarged and its myocardium hypertrophied. Its overexertion increases significantly in physical loading. The blood flow in the lungs becomes normal gradually. The results of various noninvasive methods correlate with one another and with the results of angiocardiography. This allows in some cases to avoid intracardiac examination which presents a certain risk, especially in the first one-two years after Fonten's operation when the mechanisms of cardiac activity compensation are still weak.     

Surgical treatment of traumatic heart defects

Data on surgical treatment of 6 patients with traumatic heart disease are reported. Accurate topical diagnosis is based on echocardiography, the catheterization of cardiac cavities and angiocardiography. The clinical course of the disease is dependent on the markedness of acute cardiac developments. Surgical strategy should be adjusted to each individual case, yet simultaneous correction of all heart defects must be sought in all cases. Where cardiac valves are damaged, valvular prostheses are the method of choice. Early and adequate surgical intervention results in rapid and complete recovery of the patient.     

Evaluation of stimulus-induced acrosome reaction by two-colour flow cytometric analysis

Acrosome status in human spermatozoa from 20 normozoospermic men was evaluated by flow cytometry following the induction of the acrosome reaction with the ionophore A23187. Dual fluorescence staining of methanol fixed spermatozoa incubated with and without (control) the ionophore A23187 was performed with probes which targeted the outer acrosomal membrane (OAM) (rhodamine-labelled Arachis hypogaea agglutinin) or constituents of the acrosomal vesicle (fluorescein- labelled Pisum sativum agglutinin). Flow cytometry analysis revealed two major subpopulations of cells: acrosome-intact and acrosome-reacted spermatozoa after induction of the acrosome reaction. The intensity of green and red fluorescence in acrosome-reacted spermatozoa was significantly lower than that of the acrosome-intact control spermatozoa (P < 0.0001). The intensity of green fluorescence in the acrosome-intact subpopulation of spermatozoa was significantly higher than that of the control population (P < 0.002). Exposure of spermatozoa to the ionophore A23187 resulted in reliable enhancement of the number of spermatozoa with very high intensity of green and/or red fluorescence compared with the control (P < 0.03). An inverse correlation between the number of acrosome-reacted spermatozoa and spermatozoa with a very high intensity of green and/or red fluorescence was demonstrated (r = -0.631, P < 0.01). This method provides an objective and efficient procedure for quantitative estimation of the acrosomal status of human spermatozoa.      

Correction of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary trunk

The article describes a successful operation for hemodynamic correction of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary trunk which was carried out for the first time in the Soviet Union. Experience in such operations according to the data in world literature is analysed. The authors point out the peculiarities of recognizing anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary trunk in "asymptomatic" patients with no classical manifestations of the anomaly.     

Neutron- and photon-activation detection limits in breast milk analysis for prospective dose evaluation of the suckling infant

Complex situations related to the environment, as in the regions affected by the Chernobyl accident and regions in which nuclear weapons testing were undertaken, as in Semipalatinsk, could be reflected in the trace element content in mothers' milk. The evaluation of fractional transfer to milk of ingested or inhaled activity and of the corresponding dose coefficients for the infant, following a mothers' radioactive intake, can take advantage from wide-ranging studies of elemental and radionuclide contents in mothers' milk. In this work the possibility to determine elements, such as Ru, Zr, Nb, Te, Ce, Th, U, in milk powder has been investigated. Although results from elemental analyses of breast milk are to be found in the literature, the determination of the identified elements has attracted poor attention since they are not considered essential elements from a biological point of view. Nevertheless, in the case of radioactive releases to the environment, such data could be of interest in evaluation of dose to the breast-fed infant.