[The level of the tumor necrosis factor in the blood serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis].

The contents of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) was measured by enzyme immunoassay in the serum from 43 healthy donors against 49 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In all the donors the cytokine did not reach 50 pg/ml, in SLE and RA running actively TNF alpha levels got elevated in the absence of previous long-term immunocorrection. Under the treatment effect blood levels of the cytokine fell in inhibition of the autoimmune process.

[Traumatic disease and metabolism].

The authors have established that the traumatic disease is accompanied by phasic nonspecific changes of metabolism correlating with the trauma severity as well as with its specific features and outcomes. Within the first 3-7 days catabolic processes are found to prevail and metabolic acidosis develop. Later, anabolic processes become activated in the non-complicated course of the disease.