The Aesthetically Ideal Position of the Nipple-Areola Complex on the Breast.

Background: Several studies have attempted to identify an objective description of the aesthetically ideal breast, but they have all suffered in their reliability because of having several intrinsic limitations. It is therefore essential to design a template of ideal breast features in order to predict and evaluate aesthetic outcomes in both reconstructive and cosmetic breast surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the aesthetically preferred position of the nipple- areola complex on the breast.

Objective evaluation of nipple position after 336 breast reductions.

Throughout different eras and cultures what is considered the cosmetically ideal breast has varied greatly. There is no broadly accepted standardised method that objectively evaluates aesthetic outcome after breast reduction mammoplasty. The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the result of breast reduction regarding nipple position, comparing it to an objective previously described standard.

The Aesthetically Ideal Position of the Nipple-Areola Complex on the Breast.

Background: Several studies have attempted to identify an objective description of the aesthetically ideal breast, but they have all suffered in their reliability because of having several intrinsic limitations. It is therefore essential to design a template of ideal breast features in order to predict and evaluate aesthetic outcomes in both reconstructive and cosmetic breast surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the aesthetically preferred position of the nipple-areola complex on the breast.

[Oral insulin preparations for the regulation of the glucose level in the blood].

Oral administration of diluted solutions of insulin results in the absorption of the hormone into bloodstream. After oral administration of diluted insulin solutions to healthy volunteers and animals with experimental diabetes insulin does not undergo hydrolytic degradation under the action of proteolytic enzymes and its absorption is sufficient to produce the hypoglycemic effect. This approach gives a chance of creating of novel strategy for diabetes treatment.

[Biodegradable polymeric derivatives of polypeptide drugs for targeting].

Relatively short polymer chains with lower critical solution temperatures were immobilized on protein macromolecules to obtain biodegradable polymeric derivatives of proteins (including those for heat-inactivated targeting of polypeptide drugs). Addition of a derivative to a multicomponent biological system and heating of the target to a temperature in excess of the lower critical solution temperature was followed by the carrier release into a separate phase and the transportation of the bound protein to the target. The protein molecule served as a biodegradable region and was progressively hydrolyzed, with the formation of low-molecular-weight fragments.

[Oral administration of protein solutions].

Experiments on animals showed that native proteins may diffuse into the blood flow after oral administration of diluted protein solutions. An in vitro study led us to hypothesize that treatment with diluted solutions is accompanied by a decrease in the rate of protein proteolysis and accelerated protein diffusion through the intestinal mucosa.

[To the question of the possibility of oral insulin administration].

The influence of oral insulin upon carbohydrate exchange in healthy volunteers was evaluated. One of the two forms of insulin used in the study was insulin, immobilized in a volume of polyacrylamide gel, modified by ovomucoid (proteolytic enzyme inhibitor), isolated from duck eggs; the other form was enteric-coated tablets bases on hydrogel substance. The oral administration of the hydrogel substance or the tablets resulted in the fall of blood glucose concentration by 34.

Water-soluble polymers with low critical solution temperature (LCST) as carriers for protein drug delivery.

The copolymers of N,N-diethylacrylamide and ovomucoid from duck egg white (an inhibitor of proteolytic enzymes) with low critical solution temperature (LCST) have been synthesized. The behaviour of these copolymers at the point of phase transition was investigated. It was shown that the relation between LCST and physiological activity for these copolymers is a function of their composition.

[New prospects for a method of biospecific chromatography].

The polyacrylamide hydrogels with covalently immobilized ovomucoid from the duck's egg white were synthesized by radical copolymerization. These hydrogels can defend the immobilized insulin against the action of proteolytic enzymes. Biospecific interaction of the polysaccharide component of ovomucoid with lectins leads to the targeting transport of the hydrogel particles onto the small intestine wall.

[Polymeric systems with antithrombin activity for thermally activated targeting].

Copolymers of N,N-diethylacrylamide and N-acryloylphthalimide with lower critical solution temperature (LCST) were synthesized by radical copolymerization. Polymeric systems with antithrombin activity and LCST were prepared via a reaction of amino groups of hirudin with phthalimide groups of the copolymers. On increasing hirudin content, LCST of the polymeric systems increased.

[Stability of immobilized insulin preparation at various pH].

The stability of polyacrylamide hydrogel, modified by ovomucoid with immobilized insulin was studied at different pH of external medium. At 3.8 < pH < 5.

Mucoadhesive polymers with immobilized proteinase inhibitors for oral administration of protein drugs.

A new approach to overcome the degradation of protein drugs by proteolytic enzymes and their targeting to the blood through the digestive apparatus was developed. The approach is based on the immobilization of drugs into the polymeric hydrogel containing glycoprotein--ovomucoid from duck egg whites. This glycoprotein inhibits the activity of proteolytic enzymes and acts as a biospecific ligand to lectins on the walls of the gastrointestinal tract.

[Inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes in the treatment of diabetes mellitus].

A new approach to overcome the degradation of insulin by proteolytic enzymes and its targeting to the blood through the digestive apparatus was developed. The approach is based on the immobilization of insulin into the polymeric hydrogel which is modified by ovomucoid--glycoprotein, inhibitor of proteolytic enzymes. Oral administration of this system to rabbits and rats, (in contrast to the hydrogels modified by proteolytic enzymes inhibitors without polysaccharide part), statistically significantly lowered blood glucose level.

Modeling of the drug delivery from a hydrophilic transdermal therapeutic system across polymer membrane.

A mathematical simulation is presented which describes the in vitro drug delivery kinetics from hydrophilic adhesive water-soluble poly-N-vinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) matrices of transdermal therapeutic systems (TTS) across skin-imitating hydrophobic Carbosil membranes. Propranolol is employed as the test drug. The contributions of the following physicochemical determinants to drug delivery rate control have been estimated: the drug diffusion coefficients both in the matrix and the membrane; the membrane-matrix drug partition coefficient: the drug concentration in the matrix and the membrane thickness.

[Interaction between globular proteins and water-soluble carbodiimides].

Interactions of a number of globular proteins with 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide were studied. Under conditions of carbodiimide excess at a protein concentration lower than 88.5 x 10(-5) mol/l, the crosslinking reaction was found to proceed exclusively by an intramolecular mechanism.

[Preparation and characteristics of immobilized collagenase isolated from crab Paralithodes camtschatica].

Collagenolytic protease from hepatopancreas of king crab was immobilized on water-soluble reactive polymers containing N-succinimide units and possessing different hydrophobicity-hydrophilicity balance. The immobilized enzyme displayed higher heat stability, but its proteolytic activity decreased with the increase in the number of the copolymer hydrophobic groups. Highly active thermostable preparations of collagenolytic protease were obtained by copolymerization.

[Synthesis and study of immobilized insulin].

Conjugates of insulin with duck egg-white ovomucoid and soybean trypsin inhibitor were synthesized. The conjugates are highly stable to alpha-chymotrypsin treatment. Oral administration of insulin-ovomucoid conjugates in rabbits significantly lowered blood glucose level unlike administration of insulin-soybean trypsin conjugate.

Biospecific haemosorbents based on proteinase inhibitor. II. Efficiency of biospecific antiproteinase haemosorbent 'Ovosorb' in complex treatment of experimental generalized purulent peritonitis and acute destructive pancreatitis in dogs.

The biospecific antiproteinase haemosorbent (BAH) 'Ovosorb' containing, in the bulk of polyacryamide gel, the ovomucoid from whites of duck eggs, was used for a complex treatment of the experimental generalized purulent peritonitis and acute destructive pancreatitis in dogs. The efficiency of BAH was manifested in the significant reduction of lethality of the experimental animals, a more rapid liquidation of proteinasaemia, normalization in plasma of alpha 1-proteinase inhibitor and protein metabolism. Thus, by eliminating proteinases from circulation, Ovosorb contributes to the cessation of imbalance in the proteinase-inhibitor system and is efficient in the therapy of pathological states related to this imbalance.

Biospecific haemosorbents based on proteinase inhibitor. I. Synthesis and properties.

Sorbents for the removal of proteolytic enzymes from biological fluids were synthesized by immobilization of proteinase inhibitor, ovomucoid from duck egg white, in polymeric hydrogel matrix. The immobilization of the protein inhibitor modified by acryloyl chloride occurs during copolymerization of the unsaturated derivative of inhibitor with hydrophilic monomer and crosslinking agent. It was shown that the sorbent obtained possesses a high affinity for proteinases and is haemocompatible.

Covalent immobilization of microorganisms in polymeric hydrogels.

A method of covalent immobilization of microorganisms (marine luminescent bacteria and yeast) in polymeric hydrogels is described. It is shown that cell immobilization leads to the creation of materials having properties of both synthetic polymers and physiologically active systems. Application of systems containing covalent immobilized yeast and photobacteria in biotechnological and other processes is proposed.

[Interaction of ovomucoid from duck egg proteins with aldehydes-dextrans].

The interaction of ovomucoid proteinase inhibitor prepared from duck egg white with a dextran of a molecular weight of 70,000 preliminary treated with potassium periodate. Irrespective of the number of the sites of the ovomucoid binding to aldehyde-dextran the anti-chymotryptic activity is equal to that of the native inhibitor, while the antitryptic activity decreases proportionally to the number of ovomucoid amino groups involved in the reaction with dextran. When a few ovomucoid molecules are immobilized on the polysaccharide macromolecule the perturbing effect of the protein-protein interactions is minimal, as the rigid polymeric chain prevents from the formation of associates of proteins immobilized on this backbone.