[Acupuncture in the prevention and treatment of stroke: a review of foreign studies].

Acupuncture has been recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an alternative and complementary method for treating stroke and a way to increase the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The data available in the literature suggest that acupuncture has a beneficial effect on the status of patients with stroke. The mechanism of action of acupuncture for stroke includes the following components: 1) stimulation of neurogenesis and cell proliferation in the CNS; 2) regulation of cerebral blood flow; 3) antiapoptosis; 4) regulation of neurotransmitters; 5) improvement of the neuronal synaptic function, stimulation of long-term potentiation; 6) stimulation of neuroplasticity; and 7) decrease in blood-brain barrier permeability.

['Point of no return' in diabetic neuropathies: a dangerous delusion].

Polyneuropathy in patients with diabetes mellitus is manifested by a lesion of peripheral sensory, motor and autonomic nervous system. Different severity of damage of sensory, motor and autonomic fibers in typical and atypical forms of diabetic polyneuropathy, requires a differentiated approach to therapy, but not the rejection of its implementation. In an interdisciplinary consensus, consultations are held with physicians from different regions of the Russian Federation, and modern methods of diagnosing and assessing the severity of diabetic polyneuropathies, which determine the algorithm for treating patients, are discussed.

[Bronchial asthma: characteristics of modern diagnostics].

Bronchial asthma, including its not severe forms, is chronic inflammatory disease of bronchial tubes, requiring application of anti-inflammatory therapy, foremost the use corticosteroids, which are capable to improve considerably prognosis for such patients. At the same to diagnose bronchial asthma is not easy task and presents some difficulty. The questions of correct diagnostics and treatment of this disease, its aspirin-sensitive form, and also such associated with bronchial asthma illnesses as bronchopulmonary aspergillosis, Churg-Strauss syndrome are discussed in the article.