[Sex differences in the consequences of the hormonal treatment of male rats for their progeny].

The effects on male rats of single injections of androgens have been shown; this paper considers the responses of the immune and genital systems. The consequences for the progeny, with special reference to their sex and age, of androgenization of the father are considered in a comparative aspect. Deviations have been recorded in physical and sexual development, as well as in the genital system, in the progeny of both sexes.

[The efficacy of replacement therapy in hypothyroidism].

The use of L-thyroxin in the substitution therapy for hypothyrosis is, in our judgement, a most pathogenetically well-grounded option. In the early period of the treatment of hypothyrosis with L-thyroxin the total clearance of thyroxin is accelerated and is in inverse relationship to the initial blood hormone level. From the results of pharmacokinetic studies a specific individualized regimen is proposed of thyroxin administration in the early period of the treatment of hypothyrosis, which allows the thyroxin concentrations to be achieved within the range of 120-150 micrograms.

[Lateral modulation of the hypoglycemic action of insulin].

The results of the experimental investigation on 15 rabbits are presented here. Hypoglycemic action of the standard exogenic insulin dose strengthened after performing transcerebral lateral electrostimulation on the right side with the weak current impulse.

[Characteristics of the clinical picture, hormonal status and humoral immunity in older patients with diffuse toxic goiter].

Radioimmunoassays, immunological and radioreceptor methods were used for a study of the levels of T3, T4, TSH, thyroglobulin, antibodies to thyroglobulin and microsomal antigen, immunoglobulins suppressing thyrotropin binding in 92 patients with diffuse toxic goiter aged over 50. There was discrepancy between the prevalence of severe types of disease in this group of patients and an insignificant rise of T3 and T4 levels. Changes in the immune status pointed to an increase in immunodeficiency which became progressive with aging of the organism, and increasing sensitivity to damaging agents.

[Status of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal system in patients with diffuse toxic goiter].

Disorder of function of the hypothalamus-thyroid system in patients with diffuse toxic goiter is accompanied by change of the hormonal activity of the hypothalamohypophyseal-adrenocortical and hypothalamohypophyseal-ovarian systems. It is particularly marked in persons with heredity aggravated by thyroid diseases or/and diabetes mellitus.

[Modulation of the hypoglycemic effect of insulin during lateral transcerebral electrostimulation].

Experiments on rabbits have studied the effect of lateral transcerebral electrical modulations with weak impulse current on hypoglycemic insulin effect. Two series of experiments were performed on 15 intact animals each. Right-sided electrical stimulation in the first series of experiments produced a trend toward a decrease in fasting blood sugar concentration.

[Use of levamisole in the complex treatment of patients with thyrotoxicosis].

The immune status was studied in patients with a familial nature of thyrotoxicosis and without complicated heredity. Disorders in the immune homeostasis, mostly expressed in thyrotoxicosis of familial nature, were revealed. Proceeding from the above the authors proposed a method of multimodality therapy of thyrotoxicosis with antithyroid drugs and immunomodulator levamisole causing a fast disappearance of the clinical signs of thyrotoxicosis, a decrease in thyroid activity and density and the reduction of the number of surgical interventions.

[Diffuse toxic goiter associated with autoimmune thyroiditis].

A study of 190 patients with diffuse toxic goiter combined with autoimmune thyroiditis has revealed some clinical features: a torpid course and a solid-elastic consistency of the thyroid. In 37.4% of the cases autoimmune thyroiditis was combined with a severe form of thyrotoxicosis.

[Regulation of aldosterone secretion in patients with thyrotoxicosis. I. Role of the renin-angiotensin system and corticotropin in the development of secondary hyperaldosteronism in patients with thyrotoxicosis].

The response of the adrenocortical glomerular zones to different aldosterone-stimulating and aldosterone-inhibiting effects was analyzed in 178 patients with pronounced thyrotoxicosis. Basal indices of aldosteronemia in the patients under examination did not differ from those of the controls, whereas the plasma renin activity, hormone and its 3-hydroxy metabolite excretion with the urine significantly increased. Obsidan blocked renin secretion and lowered the blood plasma aldosterone content.

[Effect of the male sex hormone and its 5 alpha-reduced metabolites on the function of the thyroid in vivo and in vitro].

The administration of testosterone propionate, dihydrotestosterone and androstandiol to male rats was followed by different changes in thyroid function. Testosterone propionate exerted a stimulating effect, whereas its metabolites induced marked depression of thyroid functional activity in the experiments in vivo. In vitro both sex hormones and 5-alpha-reduced metabolites inhibited radioactive iodine absorption by rat thyroid slices and human thyrotoxic struma.

[Characteristics of the clinical aspects, and hormonal and immunological status of thyrotoxicosis patients with a hereditary predisposition to endocrine diseases].

The levels of triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), TTH, STH, free triiodothyronine index T3F/T3/T4, as well as the titers of antibodies to microsome-membranous antigen and thyroglobulin, were studied in thyrotoxic patients with hereditary predisposition to endocrine diseases (thyrotoxicosis, goiter, diabetes mellitus) and in subjects without such heredity. Peculiarities of the disease development and endocrinopathy distribution among their relatives were investigated. More pronounced disorders in thyroid hormone metabolism and humoral immunity state were seen in thyrotoxic patients with hereditary predisposition to endocrine diseases.

[Prolactinemia in thyrotoxicosis].

Prolactin, triiodothyronine, thyroxin and thyrostimulating hormone content was determined in juvenile and middle-aged females with preserved menstrual cycles by radioimmunoassay. The indices studied were shown not to be dependent on the menstrual cycle phase (P greater than 0.05).

[Various aspects of serotonin metabolism in thyrotoxicosis].

Serotonin content in the blood and its main metabolite 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid concentration in the urine were studied in 65 patients suffering from thyrotoxicosis of different severity and duration. The serotonin level was significantly lower in comparison with that of the control group (36 healthy subjects) while the daily excretion of 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid with the urine in comparable groups had no considerable differences. On this basis it was concluded that serotonin metabolism is accelerated under conditions of thyroid hormone excess in the organism.

[Clinical characteristics of thyrotoxicosis in juvenile patients].

As a result of thorough examination of patients with juvenile and young thyrotoxicosis (14--18, and 19--25 years old, respectively) peculiarities of the clinical picture of this disease were revealed. The onset of the pathological process and of its course at the early developmental stages, and stability of a number of symptoms were characteristic of the disease. Functional disturbances of the cardiovascular system activity were leading in the clinical picture of juvenile thyrotoxicosis.

[Reactivity of the sympathetic-adrenal system in juvenile thyrotoxicosis].

In examination of patients with thyrotoxicosis, aged from 14 to 24 years, there was revealed a reduction of the activity of the mediatory link of the sympathico-adrenal ssystem without any connection with age, the severity and duration of the disease, and also with the efficacy of drug therapy. The functional test with insulin in patients with thyrotoxicosis permitted to detect definite reserve possibilities of the adrenergic regulation intensified with increased duration of the disease and with advance of the patient's age, but not with increased severity of the disease. The insulin test offered a possibility of assessing the sympathico-adrenal system reactivity in cases of different degree of the disease compensation.

[Mineralocorticoid function of the adrenal cortex in adolescent girls with thyrotoxicosis].

As a result of clinical examination of patients with juvenile thyrotoxicosis there was revealed an increase of the blood plasma renin and a derangement of mineralocorticoid function of the adrenal cortex expressed in increased aldosterone excretion, retention of sodium in the organism and reduction of potassium excretion. Normalization of aldosterone excretion in thyrotoxicosis compensation and after the surgical intervention can indicate the influence of increased amount of thyroid hormones on the mineralocorticoid function of the adrenal cortex.

[Current problems of pathogenesis of thyrotoxicosis].

According to current concepts, thyrotoxicosis should be regarded as an autoimmune disease in which signs of a delayed type of hypersensitivity are found. The functional excitation of the thyroid gland is caused and maintained by the appearance of lymphocytes sensitized for responding to autoantigens of thyrocytes and for production of thyrostimulating autoantibodies. The course of thyrotoxicosis is aggravated by the disorder of homeostatic mechanisms which normally oppose the hyperfunction of the thyroid gland and the effect of the excess of thyroid hormones.