Psoas Muscle Index and Density as Prognostic Predictors in Patients Hospitalized with Acute Pancreatitis.

: Early prognostication of acute pancreatitis (AP) patients for those at high risk of complications during hospitalization can facilitate clinical decision-making. Sarcopenia has been proven to be a risk factor for poor prognosis in patients with AP. We aimed to evaluate the association between the muscle parameters measured in computed tomography (CT) and the clinical outcomes of hospitalized patients with AP.

[Means and methods of acoustic protection in aviation: current status and outlook for development].

Analysis of the current status of acoustic protection in aviation shows that despite the material progress in the field, risk of professional pathologies in flying and technical personnel is still high. The situation is dramatized by the lack of effective personal and crew acoustic protectors. The authors speculate on applicability of innovative materials and technologies, ingenious designs of earphones and modular prefabricated demountable structures.

[Criteria of noise pathologies in aviation specialists and their prognostic implications].

The paper outlines the criteria of noise pathologies in aviation specialists after extended period of exposure to high-intensity noise and infrared sound. Analysis of morbidity and clinical researches shows prevalence of such pathologies as neurosensory deafness, hypertension and discirculatory encephalopathy. These disorders were correlated with career length.

[Current problems of nuclear medicine in immunology].

The authors describe in a systemic order the potentialities of the use of nuclear medicine methods in immunology. Two fields of their application were singled out: experimental and clinical immunology, each one including in vivo and in vitro methods. The authors cited examples of their use, emphasizing the importance and prospects of radioimmunoassays for determination of the level of hormones in patients with various immunological pathology.

Modelling of type 1 diabetes with monoclonal antibody ICA-1.

In order to investigate the possible role of pancreatic beta-cell p(64-69) antigens in the development of diabetes type 1, a monoclonal antibody (ICA-1) to the 64-69 kDa antigen family was produced and characterized. Short-term (0.25 mg per rat, intraperitoneally, daily for 9 days) and prolonged (0.

[Study of cellular immunity and the opioid peptide system in patients with multiple sclerosis].

Twenty-five patients with chronic progressing multiple sclerosis were examined for the content of beta-endorphin in blood serum, supernatants of activated lymphocytes and CSF by RIA. At the same time the parameters of cellular immunity were appraised. Different relations were discovered between cellular immunity and the content of beta-endorphin in biological fluids which may play a material part in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.

Pancreatic islet cells in tissue culture: function and immunoreactivity with serum autoantibodies from diabetes type-1 patients and monoclonal antibodies ICA-1.

The purpose of this study was the generation of monoclonal antibodies (MoAB) ICA-1 to p64 antigen of pancreatic beta cells and the comparative analysis of MoAB and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) patients' serum reactivity with cultivated islet cells. It was found that MoAB ICA-1 reacted with the surface of beta cells in suspension but with cytoplasm in frozen pancreatic sections. That MoAB ICA-1 and ICSA- or ICA-positive IDDM serum on insulin release in islet cell cultures produce similar effects was established.

[Blood hormones in chronic ischemic heart disease and acute myocardial infarct].

The activity of some blood hormones was determined by radioimmune analysis in 58 patients with chronic ischemic heart disease (CIHD), 60 patients with myocardial infarction (MI) and in 24 practically healthy individuals. Increased activity of pituitary hormones (ACTH and TTH) with simultaneous increase in the blood STH content in the absence of essential changes in the FSH and LH content was established. These shifts in the production of pituitary hormones are evidently due both to disorders in the hypothalamo-hypophyseal area and to changes in the activity of systems coordinated to the pituitary gland in patients with CIHD.

[Use of the aldosterone antagonist, canrenoate potassium for treating chronic circulatory insufficiency].

The results of studying the clinical effect of the diuretic soldacton and its effect on a number of indices of water-electrolyte metabolism are discussed. The drug was used in 16 patients with IIB--III stage of circulatory insufficiency. It was found that soldacton possesses a moderate diuretic and natriuretic effect and produces a potassium-preserving effect.

[Hormones in ischemic heart disease with the presence of coronary atherosclerosis].

The activity of the pituitary hormones (ACTH, STH, TTH, FSH, LH), the adrenal hormones (cortisol, aldosterone), the kidney hormone (renin), and the thyroid hormones (thyroxine tri-iodthyronine), the thyroxine binding capacity of blood proteins and the activity of the hormones of the pancreas (insulin) and the sex glands (testosterone, estradiol) were studied in 26 males suffering from ischemic heart disease verified by means of selective coronarography and in 20 healthy males with no atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries of the heart. Patients with ischemic heart disease were found to be marked by increased activity in the blood of ACTH, TTH, cortisol, aldosterone, insulin, and estradiol and reduced concentration of STH, thyroxine, and testosterone. These shifts in the activity of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal system and in its subordinate hormonal systems play an important role in the origin of the atherosclerotic process and assosiated ischemic heart disease.

[Renin and various factors of its regulation in acute myocardial infarct].

The activity of blood plasma renin and the content of aldosterone were studied in dynamics in 55 patients with acute myocardial infarction following a different course. The dependence of renin activity and potassium content is analysed. The authors did not find any dependence between the degree of growth of blood plasma renin activity and the course of the disease; exception to this were patients with disorders of rhythm and conductivity.

[Clinical value of determination of digoxin concentration in blood during treatment of cardiac insufficiency].

The concentration of digoxin in blood was determined by the radio-immunologic method in 41 patients with circulatory insufficiency and permanent form of auricular fibrillation who were treated with the drug. In 85.5% of cases the therapeutic digoxin concentrations did not exceed 2 ng/ml.