The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of thyroid hyperplasia and iodine deficiency in children in the city of Novosibirsk. Children aged 7 to 10 and 13 to 16 years of both sexes were examined. The degree of thyroid hyperplasia was assessed by palpation and ultrasonic method, thyroid function was assessed clinically, and the level of urinary excretion of inorganic iodine was measured. Ultrasonography revealed enlargement of the thyroid in 20% of younger schoolchildren and in 47% of pubertal children. Slight or moderate iodine deficiency was revealed in half of all examinees; the condition was 1.5 times more frequent in younger children than in senior ones. Measurements of daily urinary excretion of iodine in children and adults indicate that iodine consumption is insufficient. The authors consider that high prevalence of thyroid hyperplasia in the children of Novosibirsk is a result of neglect of endemic goiter control in Russia and emphasize that the state program for salt iodination is to be resumed.

After the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986, information appeared in the press about a significant increase in thyroid neoplasms. We analyzed our own data on the features of thyroid pathology in individuals exposed to radioactive radiation.

The findings of five-year screening for hypothyrosis, carried out in 1242 newborns 6 to 10 years after the Chernobyl accident, are analyzed in order to assess the patterns of thyroid dysfunction in the neonatal period in regions endemic for goiter and evaluate the relationship between this condition and iodine deficiency and radiation contamination of the environment. The incidence of increased level of TTH in the blood (>5 iU/liter) is 3-4 times increased in two controlled districts contaminated with ¹³⁷Cs at a density of 1-5 and 5-15 Ci/km² in comparison with the reference (free from radiation) district. The incidence of neonatal thyroid hypofunction directly correlated with the radiation factor and its intensity and negatively with the severity of iodine deficiency. In addition, the mean TTH values (<5 iU/liter) in the newborns, although within the normal range, were 79 and 187%) higher, respectively, than in controls. Analysis of the results of screening for every year showed an outbreak of thyroid dysfunction in 1994, that is, 8 years after the atomic disaster. These data permit us to hypothesize that low-dose ionizing radiation is responsible for disorders of neonatal adaptation of the thyroid system to iodine deficit in the environment and hence, adequate iodine therapy is to be started from the earliest terms of gestation.

Three groups of premenopausal women with diffuse toxic goiter (DTG) of different duration and different activity of thyrotoxicosis were examined for assessing calcium-phosphorus metabolism, osseous metabolism, and mineral compactness of bone tissue by ultrasonic (US) densitometry and bienergetic x-ray absorptiometry. Manifest hypercalciuria and hyperphosphaturia with normal levels of Ca²⁺ and inorganic phosphorus in the blood were revealed in patients with newly detected and recurrent DTG. In patients with hyperthyrosis the blood alkaline phosphatase activity and hydroxyproline excretion with the urine on an empty stomach were increased, these changes being most of all expressed in the group with newly detected thyrotoxicosis; however, these shifts were liable to normalize when stable drug-induced euthyrosis was attained. A reliable correlation between free T4 in the blood serum and osseous metabolism was revealed, which may indicate a direct effect of TH excess on bone tissue metabolism. The osteopenic syndrome was detected primarily in the proximal portions of the femoral bone, the severity of osteopenia reliably correlating with the disease duration. The authors come to a conclusion about the informative value of US densitometry and bienergy x-ray absorptiometry for the diagnosis of early stages of the osteopenic syndrome in DTG.

Lipid peroxidation and status of the antioxidant defense were followed up in 24 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes over the course of treatment. Serum malonic dialdehyde was reliably (2.7 times) increased during the decompensation stage. Accumulation of conjugated dienes was not seen in all the patients; it depended on the content of free fatty acids. Their level decreased 1.1-1.3 times with depletion of the oxidation substrate. Variously directed changes of catalase activity were observed during the decompensation stage in the presence of a reliable (1.6 times) depression of ceruloplasmin, this reflecting various stages of adaptation of the antioxidant defense system. The level of malonic di aldehyde decreased after normalization of carbohydrate metabolism, but failed to reach the control values; a trend to recovery of the antioxidant composition was observed. The findings indicate disorders in the relationships between lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense. Approaches to development of individual treatments and methods of correction are discussed.

In order to study the efficacy of APP inhibitors in the treatment of diabetic nephropathy, 42 patients (13 men and 29 women) aged 11.6 to 20.9 years with diabetic nephropathy and normal arterial pressure were administered enalapril (“Renitek”) in a daily dose of 5 to 10 mg for 3 to 9 months. The treatment efficacy was assessed from the time course of albuminunuria and proteinuria, level of glycated hemoglobin HbAl, and arterial pressure values. Out of 35 patients with microalbuminuria treated for 3 to 9 months, albuminuria decreased in 32 (91.1%), and in 28 of these (80%) normalized. Out of 7 patients with proteinuria it notably decreased in 6, and in one patient albuminuria normalized. The results persisted for 9 months in the majority of cases after the drug was discontinued. Arterial pressure did not change much. Hence, enalapril is an effective drug for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy with microalbuminuria and proteinuria in normotensive patients.

Currently, more than 400 nuclear power plants (NPPs) are operating on the planet, more than 100 are under construction. In addition, a large number of individual nuclear reactors operate. By 1990, 46 power units at 15 nuclear power plants were operating in the territory of the former USSR, 111 reactors in the United States and another 12 are under construction.

Hundreds of tons of uranium oxide are loaded into nuclear reactors. Therefore, during the generation of atomic energy, they accumulate a huge amount of radioactive substances (RS), formed during the physical decay of the nuclei of fuel atoms. Reactors are primarily a potential source of radiation hazard and the release of radioactive substances contained in them into the environment and the human body.

ATP-dependent channels of pancreatic ft-cells functionally attenuated by streptosotocin and their reaction to hepoxylin HxB₃ are analyzed. Highly specific response of the above ionic channels to glucose and HxB₃ hepoxylin was observed. Analysis of the time course of electrophysiological processes in the channels showed appreciable changes in the time of their closure, which resulted in a slower secretion of insulin starting from the moment of glucose and hepoxylin exposure and till the moment of exocytosis of insulin quantum. Under experimental conditions hepoxylin was a more potent inductor of secretion than glucose.

The effect of repeated injections of gonadotropin releasing factor (LH-RF) on the functional activity of the pituitary-gonadal and pituitary-adrenal systems of young Papio hamadrias of different age was investigated. Blood levels of testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, hydrocortisone, 11-deoxycortisone, and luteinizing hormone were radioimmunoassayed in monkeys over the course of LH-RF injections (six injections every other day). The stimulating effect of the factor on the level of luteinizing hormone decreased after its repeated injections to male monkeys aged under 1 year. The simultaneous increase of testosterone level did not tend to decrease the stimulating effect of LH-RF. Injections of LH-RF did not change the level of hydrocortisone in animals aged 2 years and increased it in monkeys aged 1 year. Repeated injections of LH-RF to young male Papio hamadryas changed the adrenal steroidogenesis, which manifested by a decrease in the blood levels of corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisone, and dihydrotestosterone.

The oxytocin-producing system of the hypothalamus, represented by the supraoptic and posteromedial and anterior large-cell subnuclei of the hypothalamic paraventricular nuclei was studied in Wistar rats. Morphometric methods and detection of oxytocin-producing neurons by indirect immunofluorescence and measurements of immunoreactive oxytocin in the neurons and the median eminence of the hypothalamus were used in the study. Interval hypoxic training corrected the course of experimental diabetes mellitus. Increased production and secretion of oxytocin play an active role in this process. Interval hypoxic training led to an increase of the levels of immunoreactive oxytocin in the neurons of the supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei and in the median eminence of the hypothalamus, whereas the size of neuronal nucleoli remained unchanged. In diabetes mellitus the content of oxytocin in the neurons was less increased, whereas the nucleoli were notably enlarged. Interval hypoxic training caused the most expressed increase of oxytocin content in the neurons and the median eminence of the hypothalamus, which indicated a high level of synthetic and secretory activity of oxytocin-producing system of the hypothalamus.

Adrenal insufficiency (NN) is a clinical syndrome caused by insufficient secretion of hormones of the adrenal cortex, which is the result of a malfunction of one or more parts of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system (GGNS). With a broad interpretation of the concept of NN, this syndrome, in addition to hypocortisolism proper, can include congenital adrenal cortex dysfunction (VCD; congenital adrenogenital syndrome), isolated hypoaldosteronism, and some other even more rare diseases. However, as a rule, this term means variants of hypocortisolism that are different in etiology and pathogenesis. Primary NN (1-NN) autoimmune and tuberculous etiology is better known as Addison's disease.

Obesity is now the most common disease in the population of economically developed countries, where up to 25% of residents have a body weight that is more than 15% higher than normal [8]. An increase in the incidence rate of about 10% over 10 years is observed [33]. The causal relationship between obesity and arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, and type II diabetes mellitus is well known [6, 10]. At the same time, the current state of the problem of prevention, therapy and control of relapse of obesity is far from perfect. And this is primarily due to the fact that we do not fully know the pathogenesis of this disease.