There are actually по territories in Russia without risk of iodine deficiency diseases (IDD) for the population. Iodine deficit in nutrition is observed in all heretofore examined areas of the country, from central regions to Sakhalin. Actual mean daily consumption of iodine by a resident of Russia is 40-80 pg (1995-1999), which is 2-3-fold below the recommended norm. Iodine deficiency is particularly pronounced in the rural residents and population with low income. Iodine deficiency of extreme severity was detected in the Republic of Tuva. A threatening tendency to increase in the incidence and prevalence of IDD and unfavorable socioeconomic changes which tell on the nutrition of population make the problem of IDD one of priority problems of public health and necessitate urgent measures aimed at liquidation of conditions for development of these diseases. Today the problem of IDD liquidation in Russia acquired state significance. The Government of the Russian Federation adopted on October 5, 1999, a Decision signed by V. V. Putin "On Measures for Prevention of Iodine Deficiency Diseases". Minister of Health of the Russian Federation, Chief State Sanitary Physician, organs of legislative and administrative power in the Federation determined by their order and decisions the strategic trends in prevention of IDD. The most efficient strategy of liquidation of iodine deficit in Russia is overall iodination of table salt. WHO and UNISEF recommend total salt iodination as a universal highly economic method for global liquidation of IDD. Individual and group iodine prevention should be carried out with drugs containing physiological dose of iodine in accordance with age requirements. The efficiency of various methods of iodine deficiency compensation by different methods (making use of iodinated salt, iodinated bread, and treatment with iodine preparations, such as potassium iodide and lipiodol) was evaluated at Endocrinology Research Center of Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. A method of bread iodination is developed and introduced. Among the priority problems of IDD control are introduction of a system of biological monitoring of iodine supply, epidemiological studies at the population level, drug supply, improvement of higher and vocational medical training and upgrading of physicians with special emphasis on diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of IDD, and education of the population with instructions on measures of iodine deficiency prevention.

The article is presented in the form of comments on E. P. Kasatkina’s paper offered for discussion: "Diffuse Nontoxic Goiter. Problems in Classification and Taxonomy".

A total of 211418 (87.3%) neonates bom in the Moscow Region in 1991, 1995-1998 were examined for infantile hypothyroidism (111) using Delfia Finnish kits within the framework of the Federal program of mass-screening for 1H. Incidence of transitory hypothyroidism and /Н was 1:1699 and 1:5621, respectively. Mean frequency of retests was 2.98%>, 90% of them being cases of moderate hyperthyrotropinemia with the hormone level up to 50 microIU/ml. Epidemiological findings of mass screening provide evidence on moredate iodine deficiency in the Moscow region.

Time course of changes in the incidence of diffuse toxic goiter (DTG) in children aged 0-14years was studied in 1986-1999 at territories with slight iodine deficiency and normal radiation levels in the Central Federal Region of Russia (Belgorod, Voronezh, and Orel regions, a total of 45 territories, n = 665,987). The mean incidence of DTG over 14years in this cohort was 0.59per 100,000 children annually, which corresponds to the prevalence of this condition at a territory with slight and moderate iodine deficit. A notable increase in the incidence of DTG was observed during recent 5 years (1995-1999) in comparison with the beginning of observation (1986-1990): annual number of new cases and the morbidity level doubled (from 2.6+ 0.7 to 5.6+0.5, p - 0.01, and from 0.39 to 0.84, p < 0.03, respectively). The relative risk, of DTG in childhood increased to 2.15 (1.13-4.15, p < 0.029) in recent years; this is true mainly for pubertal girls. These negative shifts in DTG epidemiology among children in Central Russia were not caused by principal changes in the level of iodine consumption and were observed in the presence of persisting slight iodine deficiency under conditions of neglected overall iodine prevention.

A total of 105 children with neonatal transitory hypothyrosis were observed from birth till the age of 3-5 years. Control group consisted of 81 children with normal thyroid function during the neonatal period. Unfavorable perinatal factors (complications of pregnancy and labor, maternal chronic diseases) contributed to the development of transitory hypothyrosis. A history of neonatal transitory hypothyrosis has a negative impact on subsequent physical, nervous, mental, and speech development of children and their health status during the first year of life and in preschool age. An unfavorable individual prognosis as regards further nervous and mental development, made on the basis of an original table of prognostic coefficients, can be sufficient for prescribing thyroid hormone preparations to neonates with transitory hypothyrosis.

The aim of this study was detection of psychological features determining the ability of decision making on correct disease- related behavior and its realization in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The examined diabetics (n - 46) had decreased achievement motivation, more expressed "sticking" accentuation of temper, and lowered "planning" value as a component of self-regulation style in comparison with non-di- abetics (n = 48). Self-regulation parameters were significantly lowered in the patients with longer standing of diabetes.

The article is devoted to the study of the syndrome of euthyroid pathology phenomenon that is a kind of adaptive reaction of the body to changes in the level of thyroid hormones.

The article is devoted to the description of the urgent states during the early postoperative period in patients with thyroid diseases.

Complete or partial thyroidectomy, adapted to adult animals, resulted in a permissible mortality (less than 5%) during and after the intervention. Blood concentrations of thyroid hormones were compared in intact, sham-operated animals, and animals with 100, 75, 50, and 25%-removed thyroid in various periods after the operation. The results indicate high stability of thyroid function to mechanical injury and its high regeneration potential. A conclusion on the gland damage after exposure of the organism to pathogenetic factors can be made only after repeated measurements of blood concentrations of thyroid hormones if a typical time course of their changes is observed. The authors suggest that complete removal of visible part of the gland with subsequent thyrostatic therapy leading to athyroxinemia be called total thyroidectomy, complete removal of visible part of the gland associated with pronounced long hypothyroxinemia be called subtotal thyroidectomy, and removal of any fragment of the gland be called partial thyroidectomy.

The article is devoted to the review of the modern concepts on the molecular mechanisms of sulfonylurea effect on K_ITP channels.