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The effect of aging modes on the structure and thermomechanical behavior of alloys based on titanium nickelide and bearing the same content of nickel (55.7 wt.%) and different volume fractions of the Ti2Ni phase is studied. It is shown that the morphology of the Ti3Ni4 particles precipitated in the quenched alloy as a result of aging at 450 and 550°C and the characteristic temperatures of the martensitic transformation vary as a function of the initial content of the Ti2Ni phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibrinolytic system components are important in the regulation of thrombogenesis therefore the aim of the investigation was to compare the level of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in the monocytes of patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to reveal an association of the content of these proteins with the severity of disease, by applying two different techniques: immunocytochemistry and flow cytofluorimetry. The counts of uPA- and PAI-1-expressing monocytes were equal in each case and accounted for 81.9-99.9% in all groups. At the same time, the level of PAI-1 was higher than that of uPA and significantly higher in patients with ACS than in those without ACS and in the controls. No significant differences were found in uPA levels between the ACS and stable CHD groups; however, it was significantly higher in the patient groups than in the control one. The detection of the higher expression of PAI-1 in the peripheral blood monocytes of patients with ACS suggests that it can be used as a marker of disease severity.

Presently, atherosclerosis is considered to be not only a disease caused by dysmetabolism and lipid transport disturbances, but also a lingering chronic vascular wall inflammation. This causes researchers to carry out active studies of inflammation mediators, among which acute phase markers, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), serum fibrinogen, and leucocytes, form an individual group. The data from numerous epidemiologic studies evidence that some of the inflammation markers present additional and independent cardiovascular risk factors. However, considering possibilities provided by them, and possibilities of their routine use to detect lingering chronic vascular inflammation, CRP is the optimal marker. Presently, new techniques that allow detection of the so called high sensitive CRP (hsCRP) have been developed and are in use. Nowadays, detection of hsCRP, due to its high information value, plays a leading role in evaluation of the risk of future thrombovascular events.

There is now doubt today that inflammation plays one of the key roles in the development of atherosclerosis. Numerous data demonstrate a connection between acute cardiovascular complications and laboratory signs of inflammation. There is a connection between signs of inflammation and an unfavorable prognosis in cardiovascular patients. Proinflammatory cytokines are divided into several groups: interleukins, interferons, tumor necrosis factors, colony stimulating factors, and hemopoietic cytokines. All these groups of cytokines are involved in the immune inflammation process in atherosclerosis.

Aim: To elucidate associations between location and extent of lesions of arterial vascular bed in patients with nonspecific aortoarteritis and presence of various alleles of DRB1 gene of HLA class II in patients of Russian ethnicity., Material and Methods: Ultrasonography, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography were used for examination of arteries in 25 patients aged 22-69 years. Genotyping of HLA-DRB1 locus was carried out in all patients and in a group of practically healthy subjects of the same ethnic group (controls)., Results and Conclusion: Patients compared with controls had significantly higher frequency of class II alleles of HLA-DRB1 gene which corresponded to serological specificity DR1. Subgroup of patients carriers of DR1 allele had significantly less extensive involvement of arterial vasculature compared with subgroup of carriers of other alleles. The revealed clinical-genetic relationship reflects special features of aortoarteritis in Russian population and evidence for genetic heterogeneity of this disease.