Vol 17, No 2 (2011)

Autopsy protocols and the microscope slides of liver tissue were analyzed to compare its postmortem morphological characteristics in 94 patients with different nosological entities of chronic viral hepatitis with clinical signs of cirrhosis. According to the nosology of hepatitis, the patients were divided into 3 groups: 1) 38 patients with hepatitis B; 2) 32 patients with hepatitis C; 3) 24 patients with mixed hepatitis B + C. The patients with hepatitis B and C alone in the cirrhotic transformation stage were shown to have similar morphological changes in liver tissue at the moment of death. Patients with cirrhosis of mixed viral etiology die at a younger age and differ from those with mono virus cirrhosis in the higher incidence of circulatory disorders and their considerable degree. According to morphological findings, no completed cirrhotic liver transformation was observed in some patients with clinical signs of cirrhosis.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common degenerative disease among the elderly, which mainly manifests as progressive dementia. In late-stage disease, a high proportion of patients also develop motor disorders, the syndromal characteristics and differential diagnostic value of which remain inadequately studied. The study was undertaken to evaluate motor disorders in patients with AD in its various stages versus those with vascular dementia (VD). Ninety patients with AD and 30 with VD were examined. The groups were matched for age and dementia severity. Neurological disorders were detectable in 79 (87.7%) and 30 (100%) patients with AD and VD, respectively. The most common conditions included akinetic-rigid syndrome (18.9% vs 6.7%), hypokinesia without rigidity (27.8% vs 46.7%), postural and kinetic tremor (8.9% vs 3.3%), primary walking and postural resistance disorders (12.2% vs 26.7%), pseudobulbar syndrome (76.6% vs 100%), stereotypy (45.6% vs 30%), and pyramidal syndrome (12.2% vs 66.7%). Seizures occurred only in AD (6.7%). Thus, akinetic-rigid syndrome, tremor, stereotypy, and seizures were more common in AD than in VD whereas hypokinesia without rigidity, primary walking and postural resistance disorders, pyramidal and pseudobulbar syndromes were significantly more frequently encountered in VD. In AD, neurological disorders manifested later (in the severer dementia stage) than those did in cerebrovascular disease.

The structural and functional state of the thyroid was studied from ultrasonographic findings, the levels of triiodothyronine, thyroxine and thyroid-stimulating hormone in 45 pregnant women in the second and three trimesters of pregnancy and in 25 non-pregnant women, whose age was 18-45 years. As compared to the controls, the group of pregnant women showed a significant increase in thyroid volume, an elevation of the levels of all the study thyroid hormones, and a reduction in thyroid-stimulating hormone, which did not exceed the reference limit. These thyroid structural and functional changes are regarded as metabolic rearrangement-induced physiological gestational ones in a pregnant woman.

The neuroprotective activity of nerve growth factor adsorbed on poly(butyl) cyanoacrylate nanoparticles was evaluated in rats with intracerebral posttraumatic hematoma - hemorrhagic stroke (HS) induced by brain tissue destruction in the internal capsular area. When re-administered intraperitoneally for 3 days, nerve growth factor (5 μ) adsorbed on poly(butyl) cyanoacrylate nanoparticles coated with polysorbate-80 attenuated HS-induced neurological deficit and coordination disorders, optimized rat orientative-exploratory behavior and motor activity, improved reproduction of a conditioned passive avoidance response, prevented the death of the animals, and diminished their weight loss. The findings suggest the potential neuroprotective effect of nerve growth factor (5 μ) adsorbed on polysorbate-80-coated poly(butyl) cyanoacrylate nanoparticles.