The morphogenesis and histogenesis of an experimental malignant fibrous histiocytoma]

Light and electron microscopy, histochemistry, histoautoradiography and vital staining were used to assess changes occurring in subcutaneous connective tissue surrounding a DMBA-containing pill in rats, samples being obtained at 2-week intervals until malignant fibrous histiocytoma became apparent. Initial tumor lesions developing against the background of alterative-inflammatory and reparative changes included apparently atypical pleomorphic cells showing cytologic signs of malignant transformation which remained virtually unchanged in developed sarcoma. The study, therefore, failed to identify the stage of "presarcoma". A complex of morphologic and functional characteristics of the atypical cells revealed their fibroblastic nature. Progression of tumor was associated with appearance of cells of histiocytic pattern (as evidenced by high activity of acid phosphatase and non-specific esterases, thin villus-like outgrowths of cellular membrane and well-developed Golgi complex) which pointed to pronounced structural and functional variability of poorly-differentiated neoplastic fibroblasts. Tumor revealed xanthomatous and multinuclear giant cells, too. Malignant fibrous histiocytoma is, therefore, poorly-differentiated polymorphocellular sarcoma of fibroblastic origin.     

The rapid determination of the hemagglutinating and the blood coagulating activity of staphylococci]

A solid-phase preparation, designated by the authors "plasma pencil", has been developed for rapid measurements of plasma-agglutinating and plasma-coagulating activities of microorganisms. Plasma pencil employed instead of liquid plasma is economic, ready-to-use, may be stored for a long time, makes the procedure more rapid and simple. Measurements of the aforesaid activities in 388 staphylococcal clinical strains, carried out with the use of this pencil, have demonstrated a high efficacy of the preparation; the results coincided with those obtained by the routine methods.     

Early mutation of the neu (erbB-2) gene during ethylnitrosourea-induced oncogenesis in the rat Schwann cell lineage.

The development of malignant tumors of the peripheral nervous system (schwannomas) within a defined intracranial section of the rat trigeminal nerve ("trigeminal box") was used as a model to identify genetic alterations typically associated with the process of cell-lineage-specific oncogenesis induced by exposure to N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea on postnatal day 1. All 47 trigeminal schwannomas (and 12 extracranial neurinomas) investigated carried a T.A----A.T transversion mutation at nucleotide 2012 of the neu (erbB-2) gene sequence encoding the transmembrane domain of pg185neu. This mutation was absent in all 18 tumors in the brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) isolated from the same animals. Identical observations were made in cell lines derived from N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced rat schwannomas vs. brain tumors. By asymmetric PCR and mutant-specific Mnl I restriction fragment length analyses, cells carrying the mutant neu allele became detectable and could be localized within the trigeminal box as early as 7 days after the carcinogen pulse. The proliferation rate of the mutant cells strongly exceeded that of the wild-type cells up to the time of maturation of the trigeminal nerve around postnatal day 30 and thereafter to a lesser extent until the appearance of schwannomas. A specific mutation of the neu gene thus represents a very early, probably the first, step in the malignant conversion of immature rat Schwann cells exposed to N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea in vivo and is diagnostic for a subset of proliferative cells at high risk of progressing toward the expression of fully malignant phenotypes. Loss of heterozygosity for the mutant neu allele is a candidate event for a critical second step in the process.     

Longitudinal variations of characteristic frequencies of skeletal muscle fibre potentials detected by a bipolar electrode or multi-electrode

We aimed to reveal reasons for longitudinal variations of characteristic frequencies of electromyographic signals detected by surface longitudinal multi-electrodes. Since the terminal phases were reduced in bipolar recordings, wetested whether the frequency variations reflected the effects of the excitation origin and extinction as in monopolar recordings. A precise and fast convolution method to calculate the signals detected by a multielectrode was suggested. The contribution of different electrode poles was introduced in the impulse response. When a longitudinal multi-electrode with an even number of poles was positioned above the end-plate of asymmetrical fibres, the signal mainly reflected the processes of the excitation extinction. This increased the signal mean and median frequencies. Although the effects of origin and extinction of the excitation were significantly reduced in the spatially filtered signals, the frequency variations along the fibre reflected these intrinsic features of any skeletal muscle fibre of finite length.     

Clinico-instrumental characteristics of the state of the myocardium of patients with long Q-T interval syndrome detected during a population survey

A comprehensive clinical and instrumental study involving the collection of complaints, resting ECG records, bicycler ergometry, Holter monitoring, echocardiography was performed in 80 Novosibirsk's residents (66 males and 14 females) aged 25-64 years who had the prolonged Q-T interval syndrome detected during a population survey. ECG frequently showed the early ventricular repolarization syndrome (23%) in males and left ventricular hypertrophy (36%) in females. Bicycle ergometry increased Q-T interval in 11% of males and decreased or unchanged it in the remaining cases. Holter monitoring revealed cardiac arrhythmias in 39% of males and 64% of females, supraventricular and monotopic ventricular premature beats being prevalent. The method was found to have advantages in detecting arrhythmias. Echocardiography performed in males made it possible to identify ventricular septum hypertrophy (40%) and mitral valve prolapse (20%). The examinees with the prolonged Q-T interval syndrome mostly had arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, and alcoholic cardiomyopathy.