Non-Pharmacological Correction of Impaired Microcirculation in Children with Diabetic Polyneuropathy

A total of 25 boys and 20 girls aged 5–17 years with type I diabetes mellitus and disease durations of 2–10 years were studied. All had diabetic polyneuropathy. The microcirculation was studied by laser Doppler flowmetry. Treatment consisted of using a running impulse magnetic field. This method was found to be effective in diabetic polyneuropathy with the running field along the limb towards the periphery at a run velocity (field modulation frequency) being a multiple of the nerve fiber spike conduction velocity.     

Patterns of neuronal functioning in the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex of rats in different motivational/emotional states

Firing activity of the same neurons and neuronal pairs in the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex is analyzed in rats during four consecutive motivational/emotional states controlled at the behavioral level (states of motivation, removed motivation, predominantly positive emotions, and predominantly negative emotions). Generalized characteristics of neuronal activity are identified that reflect the four states. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 123, No. 5, pp. 501–505, May, 1997     

Features of the coordinated activity functionally identified neurons in the hypothalamus in different motivational-emotional states

Coordinated activity of hypothalamic neurons associated with motivational and reinforcing systems were studied in functional states arising from hunger, satiation following food deprivation, “victim” cries, and electrical stimulation of the emotionally positive (lateral hypothalamus, lateral preoptic region) and negative (dorsomedial tegmentum) reinforcing structures of the hypothalamus. Activity characteristics were reflected in the magnitude, sign, and dynamics of correlations, and depended on the ratio of motivational and emotional components of behavior. The reciprocal nature of the statistical significance of the activity of these neurons in conditions in which motivation and emotion dominated indicates that that differentiated motivational and emotional hypothalamic influences in cortical processes during learning are mediated via the coordinated activity of neurons in the motivational and reinforcing systems of the hypothalamus. Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow. Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel'nosti, Vol. 46, No. 1, pp. 146–156, January–February, 1996.     

Neuron Activity in the Prefrontal Cortex of the Brain in Rats with Different Typological Characteristics in Conditions of Emotional Stimulation

Male Wistar rats were separated according to the emotional resonance method (groups of animals avoiding (altruists) and not avoiding (egotists) the pain cries of partner rats) and neuron activity in the prefrontal areas of the cortex was studied in the right and left hemispheres. Assessments were made of changes in the frequency of nerve cell spike activity (in relation to the baseline activity of neurons in sated animals) in rats subjected to one day of food deprivation and after electrical stimulation of emotionally positive (lateral hypothalamus) and negative (tegmentum of the midbrain) brain structures and after exposure to the pain cries of partner rats. The results of these experiments revealed a series of differences in the cell activities of the two groups of rats. In conditions of hunger, the discharge frequency in the altruists was higher than that in egotists. Cortical neuron responses to positive stimulation were greater than those to negative stimulation in rats of both groups. Intracerebral stimulation produced significantly greater increases in discharge frequency in neurons of both prefrontal areas of the cortex in altruists than in egotists. In both groups of rats, neurons in the right hemisphere responded to emotionally negative stimulation with significantly greater activation than cells in the left hemisphere, while activity in the left hemisphere was greater in conditions of emotionally positive stimulation. Altruists showed significantly greater neuron responses during exposure to pain cries from victim rats in both the right and left hemispheres. The responses of egotists to victim cries were not significantly different from baseline activity levels.     

Transcranial Magnetotherapy in the Complex Treatment of Affective Disorders in Patients with Alcoholism

Transcranial magnetotherapy (TMT) was used in 32 patients with alcoholism (study group) on the background of basal treatment (nootropes, hepatoprotectors, vitamin/mineral formulations, etc.). The influence of this treatment was compared with a control group (30 subjects), in which TMT was replaced with an appropriate _placebo procedure. All patients, who were aged from 35 to 64 years, had second-degree alcoholism with disease durations of 4–12 years. Patients were in a post-abstinence state during the treatment period. Courses of TMT consisted of 10 daily procedures with exposures of 10–20 min. Somatic, neurological, and laboratory studies were performed before and after treatment and included cardiointervalography, electroencephalography, assessments of the state of the autonomic nervous system, and use of psychometric scales to evaluate levels of anxiety and depression. TMT was followed by improvements in wellbeing, mood, and sleep, with increases in physical exercise tolerance and decreases in alcohol craving in 75% of patients in the study group and 30% of patients in the control group. Improvements in patients’ status were supported by paraclinical investigations (electrophysiological, measures of the state of the autonomic nervous system, etc.) and psychometric scales. Translated from Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii imeni S. S. Korsakova, Vol. 108, No. 4, pp. 33–37, April, 2008.     

A comprehensive approach to the development of magnetotherapeutic devices exemplified by the atos apparatus

State Scientific-Manufacturing Association Almaz, Saratov. Translated from Meditsinskaya Tekhnika, No. 4, pp. 32–35, July–August, 1995.     

Medical gels for ultrasonic diagnosis,therapy, and electrocardiography

All-Russian Scientific-Research Institute for Medical Polymers, Moscow. Translated from Meditsinskaya Tekhnika, No. 1, pp. 44–45, January–February, 1994.     

The Potential of Transcranial Magnetotherapy in Color and Rhythm Therapy in the Rehabilitation of Ischemic Stroke

A total of 116 patients with ischemic stroke were studied during the early recovery period. The patients were divided into four groups – three experimental groups and one control group. Of these, 87 patients in the first three groups received transcranial magneto- and/or color and rhythm therapy (TcMT, CRT) along with traditional treatment, while the 29 patients of the control group received basal treatment only. TcMT was performed using a bitemporal method, with a running field regime with a modulation frequency of 1–10 Hz. CRT consisted of an alternating scheme of stimulation of the left and right eyes with green and/or blue light with a period of 2–4 sec and an on time of 1 sec. Each of the three experimental groups (group 1 received TcMT, group 2 received CRT, and group 3 received TcMT + CRT) received two courses of treatment separated by 1.5 months. After treatment, all experimental groups, particularly group 3, showed more marked improvements than the control group. Regression of neurological symptomatology on the Lindmark scale in group 3 was 9.5% greater than that in controls; improvements in impairments to activity and self-care ability on the Barthel scale were greater by 8.8%; memory and intellectual changes were also seen on the MMSE and the Luriya and Schulte tests. Rheography and electroencephalography demonstrated significant improvements in hemodynamics and α-rhythm differentiation and a 14.6% reduction in the proportion of patients with dysrhythmia in group 3 compared with the control group. The best result on all measures were obtained in patients given the combination of TcMT and CRT; TcMT had the greater influence on hemodynamics, while CRT had the greater effect on psychoemotional status. Both treatments were well tolerated and produced no side effects.