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Strenuous exercise is characterized by increased oxygen consumption and the disturbance between intracellular pro-oxidant and antioxidant homeostasis. Although there are several studies related to an increase in antioxidant enzyme activity in adults doing exercise, the effect of regular exercise on antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxidation levels has not been examined in children. In our study, the effects of a four week regular swimming exercise on antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase) activities in erythrocytes and plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels, an indicator of lipid peroxidation, were investigated in previously untrained healthy children. We found that superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was increased significantly following a four week swimming course (from 581.1 +/- 146.2 to 791.1 +/- 221.9 U/gHb, P < 0.01). Conversly, plasma TBARS levels were decreased from 1.1 +/- 0.4 to 0.9 +/- 0.3 nmol/ml (P < 0.05). Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity appeared to increase following swimming course, albeit not statistically significant (from 45.5 +/- 16.5 to 50.3 +/- 14.8 U/gHb). According to these findings, regular swimming exercise has beneficial effects on antioxidant defence in healthy children.

Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and HDL-C/TC levels are important in determining the risk of coronary heart disease. The serum lipids and lipoprotein levels of regularly training sportspersons and non-sporting controls were determined and compared with each other to investigate the effects of exercise and sex on these factors. HDL-C levels of male and female training groups were higher than those of corresponding non-sporting groups (respectively P < 0.01, P < 0.001). The sportswomen's HDL-C levels were higher (P < 0.05); and TC, TG, and LDL-C levels were lower. (P < 0.001) than those of sportsmen's levels. The non-sporting women's TC and TG levels were lower than those of non-sporting men's levels (P < 0.001). HDL-C/TC ratio of active females was higher than that of control females (P < 0.01). The corresponding difference in males was also significant. We conclude that physical activity and sex have effects on risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

The authors analyze the destiny of 289 patients with associated schizophrenia and alcoholism. For the first time they were admitted to the psychiatric hospital in 1948-1951 (period I); 1959-1961 (period II); 1969-1971 (period III), and in 1979-1981 (period IV). The five-year catamnesis has demonstrated that schizophrenic patients abusing alcohol are often admitted to the hospital with paranoid symptomatology, retaining, however, a high enough level of social and labour adaptation, emotions, communicability for a long time. In the course of transition from the first to the fourth period, this group patients demonstrated an increase of the crime rate.

A clinico-epidemiological analysis was performed with respect to the primary hospitalization of schizophrenic patients in the Tomsk Mental hospital from 1948--1951 (the I period), 1959--1961 (the II period), 1969--1971 (the III period). The study demonstrated a statistically significant increase in the level of primary hospitalization (per 10000 population) from 0.77 in the I period, 1.4 in the II period to 2.29 in the III one. An increase in the amount of hospitalizations was mainly due to patients with a slowly progress development of the disease. An extensive use of aminazin treatment in 1959--1961 did not lead to a drop in the mean duration of primary hospitalization of schizophrenic patients or their chronification, compared to the period of shock therapy. A statistically significant decrease in these indices was seen only in 1969--1971 during the period of an implementation of comprehensive rehabilitation progress.

Schizophrenic patients residents of the city of Tomsk and Tomsk Province were studied at first admittance to the Tomsk Psychiatric Clinic in 1948 to 1951 (1st period), 1959 to 1961 (2nd period), 1969 to 1971 (3rd period), 1979 to 1981 (4th period). In each of the 4 periods cases were detected with apparent alcoholization preceding or coinciding with the onset of schizophrenic signs. Intensive indices (per 10,000 population) of the 1st hospitalization of patients with schizophrenic signs. Intensive indices (per 10,000 population) of the 1st hospitalization of patients with schizophrenia and alcoholism were significantly different for the 1st and 4th periods (0.026 and 0.51 respectively). Clinical analysis revealed the hallucinatory-paranoid symptoms to be most common for these patients.

The effectiveness of rehabilitation of all the schizophrenic patients hospitalized for the first time to the Tomsk Psychiatric Hospital in 1948 to 1951 (the period of shock therapy), 1959 to 1961 (the period of one-way psychopharmacotherapy) and in 1969 to 1971 (the period of realization of comprehensive rehabilitation programs) was evaluated. High-quality remissions (A and B) comprised 36.7% in the first, 47.9% of the second, and 75.5% in the third period. The percentage of cases where the therapy was ineffective was almost five times less in the third period, as compared with the first one. The characteristics of the patients' working capacity improved from the first to the third period, this improvement being statistically significant. The clinical characteristics of the rehabilitation efficacy in patients with "nuclear" schizophrenia hospitalized for the first time did not practically change in all the three periods. The level of the social and working adaptation of the patients with the "nuclear" schizophrenia estimated in accordance with the quantitative scale was significantly higher in the third period owing to the realization of the comprehensive rehabilitation programs.

A total of 798 patients who were first hospitalized 6 years before were subjected to a follow-up study. The patients were distributed in 3 groups screened depending on the initial prognosis. In the course of the follow-up studies that corresponded with the realization of the rehabilitation programs, there was a change in the ratio of the number of patients in the first screened groups at the expense of a greater number of patients with a favourable disease progress (remissions A and B), as well as of patients whose condition and disease progress proved more favourable as compared with the expected ones. It was ascertained that labour therapy exercised under individually selected conditions plays an important role for this group of patients. The least changes in the patients' status were recorded in the group of patients suffering from nuclear schizophrenia, despite the fact that the level of these patients' social adaptation also increased.