Treatment of Raynaud's syndrome with calcium entry blockers

The authors have presented the results of a 14-day open randomized trial of the efficacy of 3 calcium inlet blocking agents: nifedipine, verapamil and phendilin in 61 patients with Raynaud's syndrome. In the group of patients receiving 30-80 mg of nifedipine (20) there was a significant decrease in the frequency and expression of Raynaud's syndrome attacks, a positive effect of varying degree was noted in 19 patients. The drug raised slightly the skin and muscular blood flow and skin temperature. The use of 120-360 mg of verapamil in 21 patients caused no significant inhibition of Raynaud's syndrome and rise of hemocirculation. Phendilin (150-300 mg) though being comparable with nifedipine in efficacy, often produced side-effects resulting in the drug cancellation (8 out of 20). The efficacy of the calcium inlet blocking agents, especially nifedipine, for therapy of Raynaud's syndrome was emphasized.     

Improving the system of preventing vibration and noise-induced pathology

Due to the long-term study of various machines under industrial and test conditions it became possible to determine the specific role of each chain of the man-machine system in the intensification of vibroacoustic effect on a worker and to develop a system of medical, technical and organizational preventive measures. Introduction of a set of such measures at one of the plants helped to reduce vibration disease rates by dozens of times. In order to control noise- and vibration-caused diseases it was necessary not only to improve machines' quality and service conditions but also to pay special attention to the choice of operators and to the quality of monitoring their adaptation process.     

Morphofunctional changes in the small intestine of children with food allergy

Children with food allergy underwent allergologic and gastroenterologic examinations using esophagogastroduodenojejunoscopy. Impairment of the jejunum in the form of jejunitis associated with function abnormality as shown by the loading tests was revealed. It is concluded that the given patients: group should be examined for the morphofunctional status of the upper gastrointestinal tract.     

The choice of a method of general anesthesia for patients with cancer of the abdominal cavity]

Two variants of anesthesiological management have been used in 135 patients with gastrointestinal tumors. The first variant was intubation anesthesia with N2O+O2, ketamine or sodium hydroxybutyrate combined with classical neuroleptanalgesia technique. Pentamine was used to potentiate protection. This anesthesia technique was used in patients under 50 who had no concomitant diseases. The second variant was used in patients over 50 with concomitant diseases. In these cases combined prolonged epidural anesthesia was accompanied in the intraoperative period with intubation anesthesia with controlled lung ventilation using N2O+O2 and additional administration of promedol and droperidol. The second variant of anesthesia not only ensured a safe intraoperative period but also optimized the management of patients in the postoperative period.     

Effect of Kupffer cell blockade at different times after partial hepatectomy on hepatocyte regeneration

The system of mononuclear phagocytes of the liver was blocked in male Wistar rats weighing 140–160 g by iron carbonyl (brand R-100 F) with a particle size of 1–1.5 . The blockade was carried out 2 h before partial hepatectomy and also 3 and 18 h after the operation. Injection of the iron compound before the operation and in the early prereplicative period of regeneration led to substantial delay of the peak of the index of labeled nuclei and mitotic index of the hepatocytes accompanied by a general reduction in proliferative power of the hepatocytes. Blockade of the system of mononuclear phagocytes in the period of intensive DNA synthesis by hepatocytes of the regenerating liver was less effective. The facts are evidence of the important role of the Kupffer cells in regulation of reparative regeneration of the liver.Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Department of General Pathology, Institute of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Siberian Branch, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Novosibirk. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR V. P. Kaznacheev.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 84, No. 11, pp. 616–618, November, 1977.     

The interferon status in helminthiases. 2. Alveolar hydatid disease

In 11 patients with Echinococcus multilocularis infection the blood levels of alpha-interferon (alpha-IF) and gamma-interferon (gamma-IF) were measured using vesical stomatitis virus culture. In patients with the disease the contents of alpha- and gamma-IF were significantly (p less than 0.01) lower than in healthy controls: 392 +/- 101.6 and 101.6 +/- 20.9 U/ml and 1024 +/- 83.2 and 187 +/- 16.9 U/ml, respectively. The lower levels of alpha- and gamma-IF were found in patients with multiorgan damages including the lungs, as compared with the liver and abdomen infestation: alpha-IF 160 +/- 56.6, gamma-IF 88 +/- 24.0 and 525.7 +/- 124.3 and 109 +/- 18.3 (p less than 0.01), respectively. The similar data have been found in patients with hydatid disease (S. N. Suntsov et al., 1990). After 5 to 6 courses of mebendazole therapy in a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight dai y for 30 days with 30-day intervals there was a tendency to a slight elevation of cytokines levels (S. N. Suntsov et al., 1990), as seen in hydatid disease. The estimation of IF levels in multilocular echinococcosis infection may be of prognostic value and perhaps for the evaluation of the efficacy of surgical and chemotherapeutic treatment.