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A clinical case of late neurosyphilis with prominent cognitive function failure developed in a young male patient is presented. Atypical disease development and negative laboratory tests required to perform the differential diagnosis with inflammatory and degenerative brain diseases, extended blood and CSF tests for syphilis. During the diagnostic procedures the patient received complex therapy with neurotropic, antioxidant, and anti-dementia drugs. The treatment improved cognitive function and increased the efficacy of further treatment.

A technique for coating the wells of microtiter-plates with polyaniline layers and with polyaniline/enzyme layers is presented. The resulting wells are shown to be useful for assaying enzyme substrates (as exemplified for glucose via pH) and hydrogen peroxide (via the redox properties of the film). Analyte detection is based on monitoring the absorption spectra of the polyaniline, which turn purple as a result of redox processes, or green on formation of acids by enzymatic reactions. Hydrogen peroxide (a species produced by all oxidases) and glucose (which yields protons on enzymatic oxidation) have been determined in the millimolar to micromolar concentration range. High sensitivity, film stability and good reproducibility of the measurements make the system an attractive alternative to existing biosensing schemes.

Sixty-five coronary patients were subjected to aortocoronary bypass surgery. Three groups were distinguished: 1) controls-no filters; 2) patients in whom hemotransfusion (40 mu) and infusion filters were used during and on day 1 after surgery; and 3) in whom leukocyte filters for filtering residual perfusate from artificial circulation device were used in addition to the filters used in group 2. In the controls plasma level of leukocytic alpha-glycoprotein after artificial circulation increased 22 to 36 times, whereas in groups 2 and 3 it did not increase at all. After surgery the severity of leukocytosis, hyperthermia, and hyperenzymia assessed from the level of SGOT was reliably lower in patients in whom the filters were used. The time course of the oxygenation index (PaO2/FiO2) indicated an improvement of gas exchange due to filtration of infusion-transfusion media. The minimal values of PaO2/FiO2) and plasma content of C-reactive protein were observed in group 3. The mechanisms of systemic inflammatory reaction and organ dysfunction and some aspects of the protective effect of filters are discussed.

A study was made of the influence of high radiation contamination within the ten-kilometer zone of Chernobyl disaster on the structure and function of the immune system of (DBA x C57B1)F1 and DBA mice. The cumulative radiation doses with respect to gamma-radiation, were 0.024, 0.168 and 0.336 Gy. T-lymphocyte proliferation was shown the be activated with all radiation doses mentioned above but with doses of 0.024 and 0.168 Gy, helper T lymphocytes, and with 0.336 Gy, suppressor N-lymphocytes were primarily activated. So, in the former case, some effector functions of the immunity were activated, and in the latter, inhibited. It is concluded that certain hyperstimulation of the lymphoid cell formation (including the increase in T-suppressors), that is induced by long-term exposure to low-level radiation, triggers the mechanisms of autonomous regulation of the system that suppress the radiation-induced lymphocyte proliferation and inhibit the effector functions of the immunity.

On the basis of the literature a postulate is proposed that the immune system contributes to regulating the intensity and direction of endocrine and nervous system functions in normal conditions and after the effect of ionizing radiation. The role of neuroimmunoendocrine interactions and their impairment in the realization of stochastic and nonstochastic sequelae of irradiation at various levels of radiation affecting the organism under normal conditions and in a combination with other unfavourable factors.