Effect of atorvastatin therapy on the level of secretory phospholipase A2 group IIA and on the modification of low density lipoproteins in patients with ischemic heart disease

We studied effect of atorvastatin on secretory phospholipase A2 group IIA (sPLA2-IIA) in blood serum of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD), lipid composition of low density lipoproteins (LDL) and process of modification of LDL induced by sPLA2-IIA in 20 patients taking 20 mg/day of atorvastatin for 3 months. In patients with initially high level of sPLA2-IIA ( > 8 mcg/l) its concentration significantly decreased. Amount of total cholesterol, triglyceride, lecithin, and lysolecithin remained unchanged, however in equimolar relations there occurred decrease of amount of total cholesterol and increase of cholesterol esters. At incubation of LDL, extracted from patient s plasma before initiation of the study, with human sPLA2-IIA from cardiac myxoma, 3.5 nmol of lysolecithin per 1 mg of LDL protein was formed while at incubation of LDL of same patients, extracted after 3 months of atorvastatin administration, amount of lysolecithin was 1.54 nmol/mg LDL protein. Thus atorvastatin therapy causes lowering of sPLA2-IIA in patients with initially high blood level of the enzyme and to a great extent precludes sPLA2-IIA induced LDL modification.     

Immediate and Remote Results of Endovascular Recanalization of Chronic Coronary Artery Occlusions

We compared early and long-term follow-up results of balloon angioplasty and stenting of chronic coronary occlusions. The initial success rate was 75% (82 of 109 patients). Proportion of patients free of angina was 57 and 69% after successful balloon angioplasty and stenting, respectively. Stenting of coronary occlusions yielded better immediate angiographic results than did balloon angioplasty: residual stenosis and minimal diameter of artery after stenting were 13.5-12.4% and 2.7-0.2 mm, respectively; those after balloon angioplasty were 23.2-15.6% and 2.3-0.2 mm, p<0,05, respectively. Four-year clinical outcome was better in stenting than in angioplasty group: free of angina were 52 and 22% of patients in stenting and angioplasty group, respectively (p<0,05). There was no difference at follow-up between two groups in the rate of myocardial infarction, death, repeat revascularization. Repeat coronary angiography was performed after 38-24 months in 44% of patients. The rate of 'late' restenosis was 32% in stenting and 73% in balloon angioplasty group (p<0,05); mean stenosis and minimal diameter of artery after stenting were 43.5-12.4% and 1.7-0.6 mm, respectively; those after balloon angioplasty were 67.5-15.6% and 0.72+0.5 mm, respectively (p<0,05).     

First-Phase Ejection Fraction Is a Powerful Predictor of Adverse Events in Asymptomatic Patients With Aortic Stenosis and Preserved Total Ejection Fraction

Objectives

This study investigated the prognostic value of first-phase ejection fraction (EF1) in patients with aortic stenosis (AS), a condition in which left ventricular dysfunction as measured by conventional indices is an indication for valve replacement.

A laboratory model of the parasitic system of Lyme disease

A laboratory model of the parasitic system of Lyme borreliosis (LB) with Ixodes persulcatus and Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. underwent 5 epizootic cycles (Cycle I transition of Borreliae by the scheme a tick-->a mouse-->a tick corresponds to the seasonal cycle). A group of 5-6 mice was inoculated with the suspension of infected nymphs by the intracutaneously route and 35-45 days later intact tick larvae or nymphs were fed on them. In the first three cycles, 40-100% of mice in a group (a total of 33 of 59) were susceptible, but 3 of 11 groups of mice were not inoculated. 20-50% of larvae and 75-92% of nymphs were susceptible on the infected mice. The mean geometric abundance of borreliae was 2.8-6.3 cells per 100 fields of vision in the nymphs infected in the larval phase and 16.1-29.5 cells in the image phase. In cycle IV, 2 of 6 groups of mice were unsusceptible to borreliae and 5 of the 17 mice from 4 groups got infected. One mouse died from Lyme borreliosis when larvae were fed on it. The nymphs remolted from underfed larvae were infected in 62.2% of cases, the mean geometric abundance in these nymphs was 5.7% per 100 fields of vision. A total of 3.2-14.7% of the ticks fed on the remaining 4 mice were infected and the abundance of boreliae was 1-2 per 100 fields of vision. In cycle V, one of 12 mice got infected, the infection rate in nymphs was 9.1%, the abundance of borreliae was 1 per 100 fields of vision. Thus, as the number of epizootic cycles increases, the proportion of infected mice, that of ticks infected on these mice on feeding, and the abundance of borreliae in the infected ticks decrease. Moreover, there was a reduction in the length of borreliae reduced from 17-18 mm to 10-11 mm and in the duration of multiplication and preservation of borreliae in the infected ticks and there was concurrently an increase in the duration of development of an infectious process in mice. It is suggested that the population of borreliae consists of 2 morphophysiological groups or more. During cultivation of the laboratory model of the parasitic system of Lyme borreliosis, a group of borrelia that are short and slightly pathogenic for mice had got many points in its favour. A five-fold procedure of artificial election of precisely defining this group set the model on the verge of disappearance. The capacity of the populations of borreliae to alter their properties rapidly and fundamentally suggests that there might be violent annual fluctuations in human morbidity.     

Some real problems of human opisthorchiasis

Forty six sera from residents of the Novosibirsk Region in whom the diagnosis of chronic opisthorchiasis had been helminthoovoscopically verified were examined. In the thin layer immunoassay, of them 14 (30.4%) sera were responsive to excretory O. felineus antigens, 3 (7.9%) were to M. bilis antigens, and 29 (63.2%) were to the above antigens simultaneously. The results of these studies determine it possible to regard M. bilis methorchiasis as a zooanthroponous disease and a human being as a final host of this helminth.     

Morphofunctional characteristics of erythrocytes in chronic kidney failure and purulent intoxication

The morphology of blood erythrocytes was examined under a scanning electron microscope and erythrocyte surface charge, lipid peroxidation on erythrocyte membranes, and blood viscosity were studied in 213 urological patients with chronic renal insufficiency (CRI) and purulent intoxication (PI) of different severity. CRI and PI were characterized by morphofunctional changes in erythrocytes, which depended on the type and severity of intoxication. Changes in erythrocyte morphology in CRI and PI were paralleled by a decrease in their negative surface charge and activation of lipid peroxidation. These parameters can serve as diagnostic tests for evaluation of the severity of intoxication.     

The oxidative metabolism of the blood neutrophilic granulocytes in precancer and cancer of the stomach]

The results of investigation of blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes oxidative metabolism by nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) test and luminol-dependent chemiluminescence in patients with gastric precancer and cancer are presented. Chemiluminescence was increased in the patients of both groups as compared with control. Disturbances in oxidative metabolism of neutrophils was detectable by NBT test when functional test was used.