Ascorbic acid in blood serum of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and pneumonia.

Ascorbic acid plays a major role in pulmonary antioxidant defense. Sufficient amounts of ascorbic acid are necessary to maintain normal metabolic processes in the lung. We measured the levels of ascorbic, dehydroascorbic and diketogulonic acids in blood serum of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and pneumonia.

[Indices of mycobacterium tuberculosis growth in culture media and levels of active-phase proteins in different forms of pulmonary tuberculosis].

The relationship was examined between the bacteriological (growth time, the count of M. tuberculosis colonies) and biochemical (serum haptoglobin and ceruloplasmin levels) indices that characterize the magnitude of inflammation in 653 patients with different forms of pulmonary tuberculosis. Diagnostically, there was a dissimilarity in the biochemical indices studied and there was a stronger relationship between the bacteriological indices and haptoglobin levels.

[Mechanisms of endotoxicosis in pulmonary tuberculosis].

The intensity of a specific inflammatory process in pulmonary tuberculosis causes an increase the body's tissue proteolytic activity, which is followed by an elevation the blood levels of the toxic products of incomplete proteolysis (medium molecular-weight peptides) and induces the endogenous intoxication syndrome. The severity of endotoxicosis is also characterized by less life of paramecia and higher leukocytic intoxication index.

[The system of collection, processing, storage and retrieval of x-ray diagnostic images].

The paper describes a system able to combine conventional techniques of diagnostic x-ray imaging with direct digital imaging on the original receiver with a resolution of 1.2 lin/mm. Digital roentgenography may be introduced into medical practice basing on the system of computers at the working places of roentgenologist and his assistant.