[Composition of intestinal microflora in various kidney diseases].

The effect of intestinal microflora on the abdominal clinical signs was studied in patients with chronic diseases of the kidneys. Renal diseases are accompanied by morphological changes of digestive tract and by dysbacteriosis which may lead the clinical picture. The importance of these findings for the treatment of patients with renal diseases is emphasized.

[The level of immunoglobulins in the blood serum of patients with chronic diseases of the gastrointestinal system].

A clinical, laboratory, and immunological analysis of 253 cases with chronic gastrointestinal diseases has revealed changed levels and ratio of serum immunoglobulins of the three principal classes in 46.6% of patients. These changes have been the most marked in chronic hepatitides, the least so in chronic inflammatory diseases of the intestine, in peptic ulcer, and particularly in chronic gastritis.

[Quantitative determination of blood loss from the gastrointestinal tract using Metol in chronic diseases of the digestive organs].

The authors have developed a method for measuring the blood loss with feces using an available and inexpensive reagent--methyl-4-aminophenol sulphate (Metol). The diagnostic value of the method in ulcerative and hemorrhagic lesions of the alimentary tract is demonstrated, as well as its advantages over other techniques. The method helps choose a differentiated course of treatment with due regard for the hemorrhage severity.

[Catalytic properties of cathepsin D from the brains of normal and irradiated animals].

Biospecific sorbent, hemoglobin-biogel P-300, was used for purification of cathepsin D from the brain and spleen of a cat and from the brain of normal and irradiated rats. 800 R irradiation of rats in 7 days causes changes in the catalytic properties of cathepsin D: shift of the pH-optimum of the activity, increase in the enzyme affinity to the substrate (hemoglobin) and inhibitor (pepstatin), changes in the activation energy. These changes may be due to the destruction of the processes of posttranscriptional modification of the enzymes at the late stage of the radiation pathology.