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We studied the effect of Vilon in rats 2, 4, and 6 months after the onset of chronic renal failure. Subcutaneous injection of Vilon significantly decreased serum concentration of transforming growth factor-beta(1) and permeability of mesenteric microvessels in rats 2 months after the onset of chronic renal failure. Our results indicate that the preparation produces a potent homeostatic effect in the early period of chronic renal failure.

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OBJECTIVES: To characterize dynamics of changes of serum levels of TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha in rats with cardiac fibrosis (CF) occurring during chronic renal failure (CRF), and to reveal the character pf correlations of these factors with amounts of cardiac collagen. DESIGN AND METHODS: CRF was induced by unilateral nephrectomy and by electrocoagulation of 25% of the cortex of remnant kidney. Post-operative checkpoints were 2, 4, and 6 months. Serum TGF-beta1 and TNF-alpha levels were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: CF became pronounced only at 6 months of CRF, while serum TGF-beta1 concentrations reached maximum at 4 months, i.e., at the checkpoint preceding the development of CF. Multiple regression showed cardiac collagen to correlate with both serum TGF-beta1 levels and time from the onset of CRF. Sensitivity and specificity of TGF-beta1 as serum marker of CF were 86% and 75%.

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The activity of neutrophilic elastase and the level of its major inhibitor--an alpha 1-inhibitor of proteinases were studied to evaluate the protease-antiprotease system in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) of patients with chronic dust-induced bronchitis (CDB) and pneumoconiosis (PC). It was found that CDB, as compared with PC, was characterized by a higher elastase activity in the BALF (70%) and that there were a larger number of patients with elastase activity (40%), which correlated with the detection rate of emphysema. Free elastase activity and relative proteinase alpha 1-inhibitor deficiency suggest that the BALF protease-antiprotease system is impaired in patients with CDB and PC, which is more pronounced in patients with CDB.

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Chronic obliterating bronchiolitis in children is characterized by the presence of chronic multifactor inflammatory infectious process with Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae being the leading causative agents. The inflammatory process is induced and maintained by S. pneumoniae and H. influenzae or by the association of these two pathogens, but the severity of the clinical course of obliterating bronchiolitis is determined by H. influenzae, which is confirmed by its high detection rate at the phase of exacerbation in patients with pronounced bronchial obstruction.

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The study was undertaken to obtain additional data on the role of neutrophils in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Various functional parameters of neutrophilic functional activity, i.e. phagocytosis, chemotaxis, random migration, oxidative metabolism (3 types of chemiluminescence: spontaneous formylmethionyl peptide-stimulated, and prodigiosan-stimulated), and the level of circulating immune complexes of different size were determined in patients with IPF and healthy individuals. The patients showed a decrease in phagocytosis and an increase in neutrophilic chemotaxis and oxidative metabolism, which was related to the output of toxic oxygen forms. The changes revealed were found to be associated with the activity of an pathological process. The findings suggest that neutrophils can be involved both in the development of and in the occurrence of a pathological process in IPF.

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The paper deals with the examination of the role of phagocytes--alveolar macrophages and neutrophils--and peripheral monocytes, in the pathogenesis of idiopathic fibrosing alveolitis (IFA). As the disease aggravates, activation of the absorbing capacity of monocyte-macrophagal cells corresponds to a sharp rise in the level of circulating immune complexes in the blood of IFA patients. Higher activities of elastase and collagenase are observed in the IFA patients' bronchial lavage fluid.

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Activity of natural killer cells in blood of 47 new cases of limited tuberculosis of the lung was studied during their complex examination. There was a significant decrease in the activity of the natural killer cells in tuberculous patients which could be used as an additional criterion of the specific process activity.

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Isolated feline gastroduodenal junction was incubated in oxygenated Krebs solution maintained at 37 degrees C. Three types of spontaneous contractile activity were observed in the experiments. Acetylcholine and serotonin, 1.10(-11)-1.10(-5) mol/l, elicited contractile response of the pyloric sphincter consisting of tonic and rhythmic components. Acetylcholine, 1.10(-10)-1.10(-11) nmol/l, while being unable to induce contractile activity of the preparation, potentiated the contractile response of the pyloric sphincter elicited by serotonin.

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