Vol 37, No 3 (1941)

The long and unusually purposeful scientific activity of Academician Ivan Petrovich Pavlov covered with its fruitful influence the main fields of physiological science. In each area, touched by his keen observation and skill of experimental virtuoso (digestive tract, cardiovascular system, etc.), he created something new and opened new prospects for further research.

The choice of treatment for sciatica is a difficult one for the physician because of the variety of etiopathogenesis of the disease. In the acute stage, heat, light therapy, aspirin, salicylic soda, antipyrine, and diaphoretics are used; potassium iodide is used if syphilis is suspected.

To study the effect of encephalography on the blood-brain barrier, we have carried out 48 studies. Our observations concern only some aspects of barrier function, mainly protective. Routine cerebrospinal fluid examination has also been carried out in order to ascertain changes in the barrier during meningeal reactions.

Military field surgery is essentially emergency surgery, or more accurately, emergency traumatology in a complex combat environment. Military field surgery differs from peacetime surgery not only in the nature of injuries, the nature of their localization and course, but also (and most importantly) in the environment, the conditions under which treatment has to be carried out. Treatment of injuries, trauma treatment has nowadays grown into a large independent specialty - traumatology, which requires serious study and thorough training. The quality of medical care for traumatologists in our country is increasing every year.

The bactericidal properties of the peritoneum have attracted the attention of many researchers. And we at one time paid tribute to the study of this question in clinic and experiment. We soon became convinced that the best way to study the bactericidal properties of the serous sheets was to turn to the omentum. The omentum is more accessible to experiment, is mobile, consists mainly of reticulo-endothelium, is covered entirely by peritoneum and is also richly supplied with blood. The problem of the serous leaflets and, in particular, the study of the properties of the omentum in the clinic and experiment has subsequently become a major topic for researchers in the clinic we supervise.

Ephedrine is still little known to the general medical community, so I will briefly describe its chemical structure, pharmacological and physiological properties.

The report of Prof. Prokopchuk (1940) about his successful treatment of lupus erythematosus with acrychin attracted general attention. At the same time, Prof. Olesov commissioned us to conduct a clinical trial of this method to determine its therapeutic value. The method proposed by Prof. Prokopchuk is very simple and consists in giving an adult patient 0.1-3 times a day, after meals, for 10 days.

The choice of method for treating carbuncles depends on the stage of the disease and the course of the process. The first requirement in the treatment of carbuncles is to prevent the development of venous thrombosis, which can lead to septic thrombophlebitis. This is especially important in facial carbuncles, where thrombosis of v. facialis is particularly rampant. Prophylaxis consists of complete rest of the affected area.

On April 21, 1936, patient F., aged 26, a railway worker, was brought to the clinic of the Tuberculosis Institute with profuse pulmonary haemorrhage. He had previously been on the dispensary's register for six years and had been treated in 1930 with bilateral artificial pneumothorax for chronic fibrous cavernous tuberculosis.

On 1/IX 1938, patient N., aged 17, Russian, was admitted to the clinic with complaints of pain in the lower third of the left shin and in the ankle joint. Pains were crushing and sometimes shooting and occurred for no apparent reason, more often at night. She considered herself ill since April 1938, after suffering from influenza.

A number of authors (Grigoriev, Jordan, Chernogubov, Geller, Saburo, etc.) propose different methods of onychomycosis treatment: mechanical, physical, biological and medicamentous. However, all authors, without exception, state great difficulties of nail treatment, its duration and frequent ineffectiveness. Therefore, the question of finding an effective method of onychomycosis treatment has occupied and continues to occupy the attention of our Soviet dermatologists (Chernogubov, Podvysotskaya, Kashkin, etc.).

Until recently, anatomical evidence of vascular wall lesions such as rupture of a secondary altered vessel wall, rupture of a miliary aneurysm, and necrosis of the vascular wall caused by anemia due to circulatory disturbances have dominated the explanation for cerebral haemorrhage. Recently this issue has been the subject of scientific discussion due to the work of Rosenblatt, Westphal and Behr. The issue is not only of theoretical but also of practical importance.

The vast majority of our health professionals, from doctors to junior staff, have very little understanding of the organisational side of health care. This is why every sensible paper on health care organisation is to be welcomed.

The thesis of Doctor V.M. Medvedev "On the Chemical Nature of the Active Substance Appearing in the Sympathetic Node during Irritation of its Preganglionic Pathways", PhD thesis, defended on February 27, 1941.

Based on his own experience and literature data, the author confirms the positive effect of radiotherapy for bronchial asthma. The best results are obtained with X-ray irradiation of the lungs (with the inclusion of gilus) and with the combined irradiation of the lungs and spleen.

Cold and heat have been used since time immemorial to influence gastrointestinal tone and secretion. However, there is still no physiological justification for these interventions. The authors attempted to resolve this issue by inserting rubber cylinders connected by tubes to a writing instrument into the stomach and intestine and recording the pressure changes in these organs on a kymograph. 

The characteristic pattern of sprue is often mixed with disorders of fat digestion having a completely different origin. For a differential diagnosis, a careful examination of the stool with the Schmidt-Strasburger test diet is necessary.

The administration of vitamins has a normalising effect on pathologically altered autonomic-hormonal regulation. In pituitary insufficiency with a tendency to spontaneous hypoglycaemia Diehl and Kirchmann managed to normalise the glycaemic curve after glucose load by administering a complex of vitamin B and vitamin C.

In 8000 burns deaths in the USA in 1937, 45% of deaths occur in children under 6 years of age. In treatment, the attending physician's serious attention must be fixed on the so-called toxic phase, i.e. in the first 18-24 hours.

The author first describes the methods by which vasomotor activity is clarified clinically and experimentally and what justifies surgical intervention.

Simple pyelography with the addition of intravenous or retrograde pyelography is in most cases sufficient for the topical diagnosis of renal stones. However, in those cases where this is insufficient, urinary tract gas is used.

The British Army uses both passive and active immunisation of each soldier to prevent and treat tetanus. For passive immunisation a prophylactic dose of antitoxin is administered as soon as possible after injury.

Chemotherapy is now generally accepted as the leading treatment for male gonorrhoea. The oral administration of sulfa drugs alone can cure between 25-40% of patients with gonorrhoea and 75-80% of those hospitalised.

The diagnosis of gonorrhoeal endocarditis, as indicated by the authors, must be confirmed by 1) a gonococcal culture from blood, 2) the presence of an on- and off-putting diastolic murmur at the base of the heart. The report concerns 4 patients with endocarditis treated with sulphonamide.

Taking a look at the old treatments for endocervicitis: electrocoagulation, fulguration and chemotherapy, the author concludes that the first two methods make it possible to destroy the infection in the deep-lying glands.

Dr. K.M. Okuntsov (seconded doctor of GIDUV) demonstrated the patient after removal of the wandering spleen, urgently operated on due to twisting of the leg.

Reports. Dr. Shalman. Brucellosis in the Tatar Republic (to be printed in Kazan Medical Journal No. 4, 1941).

Dr. Z.H. Karimova and Associate Professor G.G. Kondratyev. On isolation of pale spirochaete in pure culture from blood of patients.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR by the decree of March 13, 1941 had awarded the Stalin prizes for outstanding scientific works in the field of medical sciences: 5 prizes of the first degree in the amount of 100 thousand rubles, 3 prizes of the second degree in the amount of 50 thousand rubles.