Comparative effectiveness of immunomodulators in the therapy of rheumatic heart defects

A total of 166 patients with rheumatic heart diseases were examined. It was shown that the patients had secondary immune deficiency mainly with respect to the T-cells, which could not be eliminated with the routine therapeutic agents. The use of hemodes, decaris or sodium nucleinate in the combined therapy of such patients promoted correction of the immune deficiency and increased the treatment efficacy. Sodium nucleinate proved to be the most active.     

Qantitative description of mammalian cell recovery after combined exposure to ionizing radiation with chemical agents

The parameters of recovery of mammalian cells after exposure to ionizing radiation combined with chemical agents were calculated based on a mathematical model of post-radiation recovery. The data presented, in contrast to the previously published results, indicate that the inhibition of the recovery may be due either to the damage or disruption of the process of recovery or the increase in the part of irreversible damages from which the cells are incapable to recover; or both of these processes can be realized simultaneously. It is concluded that the combination of ionizing radiation with chemical agents that inhibit the recovery processes through the formation of irreversible damages or affect the probability of recovery can be a perspective way in terms of finding the most effective means to increase radiosensitivity.     

Monocyte-Macrophage Differentiation Suppresses the Expression of Proapoptotic Receptors to Apo2L/TRAIL and Increases Resistance to TRAIL-Induced Apoptosis

Biophysics - Abstract—A comparative study of the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic receptors to cytokine TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) on immature blast cells of acute...     

Structural-functional status of the cardiomyocyte cell membrane under experimental pathology

The results of research conducted on the cardiomyocytes plasma membranes structural and functional state under the experimental stress and atherosclerosis are displayed in this article. These experimental pathology is determined to be accompanied by some stereotypic quantitative and qualitative modifications occurred in the lipid matrix of the cardiomyocytes plasma membranes--increase of cholesterol content, decrease of phospholipids, accumulation of lisophospholipids and fatty acid. There are demonstrated results that the experimental stress has an atherogenic effect on the plasma membranes of cells by imputting the cholesterol into the membrane even in the intact animals with normal lipid metabolism. All these modifications are also accompanied by the activation of free-radical oxidation. All these changes are capable to lie in the basis of physical and chemical properties mechanism modification of membranes: modification of lipid matrix, change of viscosity, ion-transport properties of cardiomyocytes membranes, oppression of Na+, K(+)-ATPase activity.     

Delayed Colony Formation in Diploid Cells of Various Genotypes after UV Light Irradiation

Russian Journal of Genetics - Experimental curves of the dependence of survival and delayed colony formation on UV light (254 nm) fluence for two wild-type strains of diploid yeast Saccharomyces...     

Biophysical Interpretation of the Dependence of Synergy on the Intensity of Applied Agents

Biophysics - This review analyzes the general patterns of synergism, whose manifestation under the simultaneous actions of various agents does not depend on the biological objects and the effect...     

FLASH-PCR diagnostics of toxigenic fungi of the genus <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium</Emphasis>

A test system for the diagnostics and identification of seven toxigenic fungi causing Fusarium head blight (Fusarium graminearum, F. culmorum, F. poae, F. sporotrichioides, F. langsethiae, F. avenaceum, and F. tricinctum) was developed using PCR. The identification of pathogen is based on the specific amplification of a DNA fragment of the gene of translation elongation factor 1 alpha (tef-1α) and subsequent detection of the results by the fluorescent amplification-based specific hybridization method. The system was tested on 38 isolates of different fungi of the genus Fusarium.     

Apoptosis and its receptor selective pathways during neurotoxic action of glutamate

A contribution of necrosis and apoptotis as well as the particular apoptosis pathways in neuro-degeneration induced by glutamate and selective glutamate receptor agonists, NMDA and kainate, were studied. In experiments on primary neuron cultures of 7 days in vitro from embryonic rat cortex, the necrosis and apoptosis were recognized using vital fluorescence acridine orange and ethidium bromide staining. Immunostaining was used to visualize apoptotic peptides such as P53, Cas-3 and AIF. Death of neurons occurred by both necrosis and apoptosis following 240 min 3 mM glutamate, 30 microM NMDA and 30 microM kainate exposure. Quantities of necrotic neurons in the presence of NMDA and kainate were substantially reduced when compared to the glutamate action. The glutamate effects were realized through predominant activation of AMPA- and kainate receptors, since it could be greatly suppressed by 30 microM CNQX. AIF but not Cas-3, was found in a large amount of neurons when apoptosis was evoked by the selective NMDA receptor activation. On the contrary, during apoptosis induced by glutamate and kainate, many cells contained Cas-3 in nuclei rather than the AIF. The data suggest that apoptosis induced by the NMDA receptor activation develops through the caspase-3-independent pathway that involves direct AIF accumulation in nuclei. The AMPA/kainate receptor mediated apoptosis includes the caspase-3-dependent mechanism.     

Involvement of Recovery Processes in the Effects of Radioprotectors at the Cellular and Organismal Levels

Biology Bulletin - A correlation between the effectiveness of the radioprotective action of cysteamine with the radiosensitivity of cells and their ability to recover from radiation damage was...