[Morphological and mechanical peculiarities of erythrocytes and neutrophils from patients of different age groups with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma].

Modern scanning probe microscopy methods make possible to study the peculiarities of the cell response in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma, as well as to diagnose the severity of the diseases which is important in senile age, particularly.

The history of neurology in St. Petersburg.

This article expounds the history of the formation and development of neurology in St. Petersburg and emphasizes the original character of St. Petersburg school of neurology.

Gene-gene interactions between glutathione-s transferase M1 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 in the formation of hereditary predisposition to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The incidence of allele variants of glutathione-S transferase M1 xenobiotic detoxification gene and matrix metalloproteinase 9 gene was analyzed in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A strict gene-gene interaction between these two genes in the formation of hereditary predisposition to this disease was first demonstrated. The combination of glutathione-S transferase M1 genotype 0/0 and matrix metalloproteinase 9 mutant allele (-15621) is a risk factor for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR-7.

[Surgical anatomy of superior and mid-thoracic areas of the thoracic duct].

To investigate the peculiarities of surgical anatomy of superior and mid-thoracic portions of the thoracic duct, 70 human corpses of adults of both sexes were studied using modern anatomical and experimental methods. Some regularities of the changes of syntopy of the mediastinal organs and vessels and the connection of these changes with the individual features of thoracic structure are described. The relation between these peculiarities with the quantitative parameters of surgical procedures performed in superior and mid-thoracic portions of the thoracic duct is demonstrated.

Effect of imbalance in plasma oxidant homeostasis on the choice of stromal differentiation of polypotent bone marrow stem cells in mice receiving estrone injection.

The choice of stromal differentiation by polypotent stem cells was studied by morphological and chemiluminescent methods. The differentiation pathway is selected on day 7 after heterotopic bone marrow transplantation and injection of estrone. The imbalance in plasma oxidant homeostasis in mice on day 7 after estrone injection is associated with drastic intensification of free-radical oxidation and blockade of antioxidant activity.

[Characteristics of the rat behavior following single and multiple exposures of the hypoglycemic insulin doses].

Rats behaviour in the "open field" changed in 2 hrs after a single episode of hypoglycaemia was abolished with glucose whereas no changes occurred in their stereotyped behaviour and intraspecies interaction. In 24 hrs quantitative parameters of the "open field" behaviour normalised although the behaviour still had an altered structure. At the same time, amphetamine-induced stereotyped behaviour's indices became reduced.

[Morphofunctional changes in the thyroid gland after cyclophosphamide administration and their reversibility].

By using histological morphometric stereological and quantitative enzyme histochemical methods, structural and metabolic changes in thyroid gland after short-term treatment with high doses of cyclophosphamide (GY) were studied. Mice were treated with 400 mg/kg of GY every 48 h for up to 7 days(1-4 i.p.

[Myocardial ischemic preconditioning: pathophysiological mechanisms and prospects of clinical application (a literature review)].

Ischemic preconditioning (IPC, i.e. increase in the organ resistance to a prolonged ischemia which occurs after a brief ischemic challenge) seems to be one of the most powerful endogenous cardioprotective mechanisms known to date.

[Effect of marinobufagenin on the primary reinforcing effect of ethanol].

Intraperitoneal administration of marinobufagenin resulted in a reliable and dose-dependent suppression of ethanol self-administration in drug- and experimentally naive DBA/2 mice. The findings suggest that Na/K-ATPase contributes to both mediation of the ethanol reinforcing properties and the mood regulation.

[Effect of He-Ne laser irradiation on the functional activity of smooth muscle cells in the portal vein].

Irradiation of the rat portal vein's fragments with the He-Ne laser for 3, 5 and 10 minutes reduced the fragments tone by half. Frequency of phasic and tonic contractions did not change, their amplitude, however, increased by neatly 40% as compared with the initial level. The NO synthase blocker N-nitro-L-arginine administered prior to the irradiation had no effect on the above parameters.

[I/D polymorphism in the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene in men with myocardial infarction at young age].

The rate of D allele did not differ between patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) who had myocardial infarction before the age 45, and healthy males. The DD genotype of the ACE gene was much more frequently encountered in the patients than in healthy males. The findings suggest that the DD genotype is an independent risk factor of the IHD and myocardial infarction in young patients.

[Analysis of the striato-pallidal interactions in regulation of avoidance behavior].

Impairment of avoidance conditioning in the shuttle box was found in rats with bicuculline intrapallidal administration, as well as activation of the conditioning and stereotyped movements during amphetamine intrastriatal administration. These neuropharmacological effects upon both ganglia areas induced dynamic behavioural changes in the avoidance conditioning and open-field locomotor activity. The findings suggest involvement of neostriatalpallidal relationship in control of avoidance conditioning and complex behavioural acts.

Formation and structure of mixed bacterial communities.

Mixed bacterial communities are formed by unrelated bacteria on solid media. Mixed bacterial communities on solid media are similar to "classical" colonies and are formed after the growth of a large number of unrelated bacteria simultaneously plated onto a limited area of agar. The morphology of the mixed bacterial communities was similar for different combinations of bacteria and did not change when the bacteria were plated on different media.

Ultrastructure of colony-like communities of bacteria.

Colony-like communities are poorly studied forms of bacterial growth on agar. These communities are formed after the growth of large amounts of bacteria simultaneously plated onto a limited area of agar, while "classical" colonies are formed as a result of single bacterial cell multiplication. Colony-like communities of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria differ from "classical" microbial colonies in their ultrastructural organization.