Demonstration of clinical effectivity of six months’ N-acetylcysteine treatment of Chernobyl nuclear station rescuers affected with chronic bronchitis in various forms.

Saltos, a pioneer Russian-manufactured β₂ agonist of prolonged effect, was used on 45 COB patients, with broncholithic activity and effects on the vegetative nervous system under study. The experiment demonstrated the highest activity for mild forms of the disease and smaller for more pronounced forms. The broncholithic effect was negligible with extreme forms. Saltos improved the state of the vegetative nervous system by leveling sympathetic prevalence characteristic of COB.

The influence of natural concentrations of particular essential oils on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant activity was studied on 150 CB patients to reveal antioxidant effects of the essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis, Eucalyptus globulus, Ocimum gratissimum and Abies sibirica, as manifest in the decreasing concentration of primary lipid peroxidation products (diene conjugates and ketones) in blood plasma, and an increased catalase activity.

The immunomodulating effects of diucifon were studied on 29 chronic lympholeucotic patients at acute stages of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, with results compared to tests of 27 patients who were not receiving immunocorrective medication at acute COPD stages accompanied by CLL. Immunotherapy was combined with cytoxan, chlorambucil and prednisolone chemotherapy on universally accepted hematological patterns, and with permanently monitored clinical symptoms, expectoration time according to the amount of inhaled inulin excretion, and tussal clearance, studied by tussography for immunographic characteristics I and II.
Diucifon treatment removed COPD symptoms sooner than with controls. Same about inhaled inulin excretion, and numerical reduction of general and maximum tussal beats. The number of T and В lymphocytes remained unchanged, against an improved helper/suppressor ratio and a tangible im provement of phagocytic characteristics.

We studied membranopathological processes in the alveolar macrophages (AM) of bronchial asthmatic patients in various phases of the disease: 59 affected with infection-dependent BA and 24 with atopic. Subject to monitoring were the activities of antioxidant AM compound system (superoxide dismutase, catalase, etc.), the contents of malonic dialdehyde (MDA), diene conjugates (DC) and hydrogen peroxide, and the levels of membrane phospholipids. The AM in acute BA demonstrated hyperactive lipid peroxidation, suppressed antioxidant potentials of lipids, and intense hydrogen peroxide generation processes. MDA and DC concentrations were reduced, though not to a normal level, during remissions, to reveal a trend toward higher AM antioxidant activity than in acute phases.

Morbidity analyses of pulmonary diseases among Moscow adolescents of 15— 17 years of age, proceeding from official municipal statistics for 1991— 1994, revealed growing incidence of bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic diseases of upper respiratory tracts (p<0.001), and reverse trends for pneumonia (p<0.05). Our studies specified the incidence geography for preventive efforts as several districts demonstrated peak morbidity of chronic pulmonary diseases: bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis for the city north; chronic pharyngitis and sinusitis for the northeast; allergic rhinitis for the west and southwest; bronchial asthma for satellite town Zelenograd; and bronchial asthma, and chronic pharyngitis, sinuitis, adenoiditis and tonsillitis for the city centre. Figures for the other parts of the city were within the average, while differences between the districts for pneumonia morbidity 1 were statistically negligible.

An epidemiological survey on the ISAAC protocol involved 7,168 schoolchildren, 3,584 aged 13— 14 and 3,584 aged 7—8. Medical histories reported wheeze and rale in 25.6% of cases, and 10.4% in the 12 months preceding the survey. 2% had wheezes more than 4 times a year. The junior group revealed a spectacularly higher occurrence of nocturnal wheezes. Exercise-induced wheezes were much more frequent in the 13— 14 age group. Bronchial asthma had been diagnosed prior to the survey in 1.6% and 3.3% of cases in the 7—8 and 13— 14 age groups, respectively, to reveal BA morbidity drastically understated by the health service, especially with junior children.

Meronem (Zeneca Co.), a new Carbapenem antibiotic, was used for monotherapy of adults affected with mucoviscidosis. This antibacterial therapy was evaluated on the following criteria: the dynamics of clinical manifestations on the Schwachmann scale; X-ray studies of thoracic organs in their dynamics; and determination of the external respiratory function with the use of general bodyplethysmography and bacteriological studies of mucus. Meronem # sensitivity was measured by agar diffusion with standard disks provided by the Zeneca.
Meronem was administered in intravenous infusions at 60 mg/kg of body weight every 24 hrs during 10 days. 'Positive clinical effects were observed with 3 patients. One achieved clinical stability. We attained bacteriological confirm ation of a spectacular titer reduction to occasional colonies: Ps.aeruginosa with 2 patients, and Ps.aeruginosa mucosa with 3 women patients. The doses we were using revealed good tolerance and an absence of side effects. The studies showed Meronem monotherapy at a daily 60 m g/kg to be effective and recommendable for adult m ucoviscidotic patients.

103 male Chernobyl rescuers and 52 control persons were observed in epidemiological studies of bronchopulmonary pathologies. The control group revealed a spectacularly lower morbidity of chronic non-specific lung diseases. Questionnaires filled in by rescuers employed in the nuclear station area demonstrated a muchhigher incidence of bronchopulmonary pathologies, in particular, chronic bronchitis and bronchial asthma.

Detensor elastic therapeutic mats provide mild vertebral traction as patients lie relaxed, without strapping, to unload the kinematic system of the spinal column with optimum lines of traction force.
The present study demonstrates Detensor effects on the functional state of respiratory muscles of chronic obstructive pulmonary patients. The characteristics dependent on efforts during treatment (VC, PIF, PEF, FIF₁ and MW) reveal a major increase after ten sessions in the experimental group, while staying unchanged in the control group.
Detensor treatment as part of all-round rehabilitation of COP patients spectacularly increases respiratory muscular strength and endurance.
Simplicity of this treatment makes it applicable not only in hospital but in outpatient clinics and at home.

Lung or heart-lung transplantations provide the only effective cure of many pulmonary diseases which result in bad respiratory failures at the end stage. Great surgical risks and acute donor lung shortages necessitate a thorough search of recipients, limited to patients with whom transplantation is the only way to prolong life and improve its quality. The study specifies basic indications and counterindications for lung and heart-lung transplantations, and the principles of timing lung transplantation surgery for a number of diseases.

This study introduces pioneer evaluation methods of acute toxic effects of chlorine proceeding from a comparison of clinical toxicological characteristics of many forms of bad chlorine poisonings with estimated chlorine concentration in the air.

Based in Saratov, a major industrial city, the present study compares the number of ambulance calls by bronchial asthmatic patients in cold and warm seasons, and estimates respective peak and daily average concentrations of dust, nitrogen and sulphur dioxides, carbon monoxide, ammonia, phenol and formaldehyde in the city atmosphere to evaluate the pathogenic role of air pollution.
Sulphur dioxide and phenol in industrial smog were established as the main BA pathogenes in wintertime, with their concentration and the number of ambulance calls correlated as 0.4069 and 0.3648.
Summer revealed the strongest pathogenic influence of nitrogen dioxide (r=0.5810) as principal componentof photochemical smog.
Emphasis must be laid on monitoring the concentrations of sulphur dioxide and phenol in winter, and nitrogen dioxide in summer to improve preventive treatment of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases. Health services, ambulance stations included, need exhaustive and regular information on environmental situations and the impact and concentrations of air pollutants.