HOMEOSTATIC ROLE OF GLUCOCORTICOIDS IN THE TREATMENT OF PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS.

Objective: The aim: To establish the clinical and pathogenetic role of glucocorticoid imbalance as an important link of impairment of the adaptive system homeostasis and to determine ways of its correction as a way to increase the effectiveness of the pulmonary tuberculosis treatment.

Patients And Methods: Materials and methods: The effectiveness of glucocorticoids in the pulmonary tuberculosis treatment was studied in 304 patients, of which 134 patients (group 1) received only antibacterial therapy, 67 patients (group 2) were supplemented with glucocorticoids (20-30 mg of prednisolone, daily, in 3 doses, with their cessation by gradual reduction of dose). 103 patients (group 3) also received antibacterial therapy in combination with glucocorticoids (20-30 mg of prednisolone, in the morning, in a daily dose every other day, cessation was carried out simultaneously without reducing the dose).

Coagulation of Metals in Superfluid and Normal Liquid Helium.

The thermal emission study in this work has shown that coagulation of metals in liquid helium is accompanied by enormous local overheating of several thousand degrees. Direct experiments demonstrated, for the first time, that condensation of metals in superfluid helium occurs via the specific mechanism which is substantially faster than that in normal liquid helium. It has been stated that coagulation of metals in superfluid helium indeed occurs in two stages, a "hot" one of nanoparticles coalescence with the formation of molten nanospheres and the subsequent stage of their sticking together into nanowires.

[Influence of mediator diffusion on trigger mode of a synapse].

The model of postsynaptic membrane activation, is proposed in the paper. This model takes into account inhomogeneity of mediator's space distribution in the region of the synaptic cleft as well as nonlinear nature of interaction between the mediator and receptors on the postsynaptic membrane. Based on equations of this model stationary solutions are calculated for mediator distribution in the synaptic cleft and the number of activated receptors.

Excimer laser pumped by an intense, high-energy heavy-ion beam.

High-energy heavy ions are an ideal tool to generate homogeneously excited, extended volumes of nonthermal plasmas. Here, the high-energy loss (dE/dx) and absolute power deposition of heavy ions interacting with matter has been used to pump an ultraviolet laser. A pulsed 70 MeV/u 238U beam with up to 2.

Proposal for the study of thermophysical properties of high-energy-density matter using current and future heavy-ion accelerator facilities at GSI Darmstadt.

The subject of high-energy-density (HED) states in matter is of considerable importance to numerous branches of basic as well as applied physics. Intense heavy-ion beams are an excellent tool to create large samples of HED matter in the laboratory with fairly uniform physical conditions. Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, is a unique worldwide laboratory that has a heavy-ion synchrotron, SIS18, that delivers intense beams of energetic heavy ions.

[Precipitation of cytochromes c with complex cadmium iodide].

Using cytochrome c from horse heart and the yeast candida valida as examples, it was shown that a complex anion, cadmium tetraiodide (CdI42-), precipitated proteins from aqueous solutions at the reagent concentrations below 50 mM. The composition and pH value of the solution, as well as the starting protein concentration, considerably influenced the precipitation. The results suggest that this reagent acts on the protein by a mechanism similar to the salting-out process.

[Plasma-desorption mass spectrometry of natural compounds. 1. Basic properties of the method and its use for analyzing proteins and peptides].

Applications of plasma desorption mass spectrometry (PD MS) to the analysis of natural substances are reviewed with the special emphasis on its use in peptide and protein chemistry (Part I). PD MS of nucleotides, carbohydrates, lipids, and pigments will be reviewed in Part II (see the following issue of this journal). The review covers the literature from 1982 to 1994.

[A tryptic heme peptide of cytochrome c from Candida valida].

Method for direct isolation of heme peptide from enriched yeast biomass have been developed. This method makes it possible to eliminate the process of cytochrome c purification. Amino acid sequence for the Candida valida heme peptide is proposed.

[Spatial organization of cytochrome oxidase subunit II].

We have studied the tryptic digestion and cyanogen bromide cleavage of the tritium-labelled subunit II from bovine cytochrome oxidase. Basing on the radioactivity distribution in the peptides obtained we suggest a model for the spatial structure of the title subunit.

[Isolation of the tritium labeled subunit II of cytochrome oxidase].

Radioactively labelled subunit II of cytochrome oxidase is isolated after irradiation of molecular crystals of the enzyme with thermally activated tritium.

[Structure and properties of cytochrome oxidase].

Recent data on the isolation and purification methods of cytochrome oxidase and its subunits are reviewed. Data are discussed on the enzyme's arrangement in the membrane, on the subunit composition and topology, localization of prosthetic groups, interaction of cytochrome oxidase with cytochrome c.

[Study of the interaction between cytochrome c and cytochrome oxidase by tritium planigraphy].

Treatment of molecular crystals of the bovine cytochrome oxidase and the cytochrome oxidase-cytochrome c complex with thermally activated tritium leads to highly labelled cytochrome oxidase preparations. HPLC separation of its subunits and measurements of radioactivity of each polypeptide allow to determine the shielding of cytochrome oxidase surface sites by cytochrome c in the complex.

[Protective effect of alpha-tocopherol on the Ca2+-transport system of the sarcoplasmic reticulum membranes in hypercholesterolemia].

The effect of antioxidant--alpha-tocopherol--on Ca2+-transporting system in sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) of the rabbit skeletal muscles was studied in hypercholesterolemia (HC). alpha-tocopherol administration to animals with HC produced a break on the curve of temperature dependence of Ca-ATPase activity at about 20 degrees C, that disappeared in HC, increased the rate of "rapid" SH-group binding by thiol reagents, and normalized the level of unsaturated fatty acids in SR membranes without altering phospholipid content. It is suggested that the damage of Ca-ATPase in HC is mainly due to activation of lipid peroxidation.

[Highly effective liquid chromatography of cytochrome oxidase polypeptides].

HPLC of the beef heart cytochrome oxidase subunits on TSKgel-column has been studied. It was found that the resolution of the subunits depends on the sodium dodecyl sulphate and buffer concentration. Strong interaction of subunits Va, VIc and VIIb with hydrophobic polypeptide chains was observed.

[The polypeptide composition of cytochrome oxidase from the bovine heart muscle].

The beef heart cytochrome oxidase (EC 1.9.3.