This article reviews key experimental and clinical studies that have taken place in the field of cardiology.

Vagus nerve stimulation affects neuronal chains of extrinsic and intrinsic cardiac plexuses that enhance the parasimpatic influence. The positive therapeutic effect in the treatment of supraventricular and ventricular rhythm disorders, chronic cardiac failure and myocardial infarction has been achieved in different experimental and clinical trials.

It has been shown that vagus nerve stimulation reduces atrial fibrillation relapse, lowers the risk of ventricular fibrillation and reduces the risk of ventricular tachycardias. After successful pre-clinical studies in congestive heart failure treatment with vagus nerve stimulation, this method started to be investigated in multicenter trials. Their early results are given in the article.

The paper proposes the algorithm for the management of patients with stable coronary artery disease, preserved left ventricular ejection fraction and ventricular arrhythmias. Particular clinical case with the definition of arrhythmias nature is discussed in the algorithm based on international and national guidelines. In the algorithm underlined the importance to the involvement of autonomic regulation in the arrhythmogenesis, of topical diagnosis of ventricular arrhythmias and existence of anexity or distress. The key points of suggested algorithm is improve quality of life of the patient and the prevention of sudden cardiac death.

In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2), the thyroid dysfunctions are more common than in the rest of the population. This is based on the close functional relationship between thyrotoxicosis and hypothyroidism, on the one hand, and insulin resistance and DM2, on the other, as evidenced by the data of clinical investigations and the results obtained using experimental models of these diseases. The imbalance of thyroid hormones in hypothyroidism and thyrotoxicosis can be a starting point for the development of insulin resistance and subsequently, under the unfavorable scenario, leads to development of DM2. On the other hand, the metabolic and hormonal disturbances that occur in DM2 can lead to the diseases of thyroid system. The treatment with thyroid hormones of patients with combined DM2 and hypothyroidism leads to the restoration of insulin sensitivity and energy homeostasis. However, an excess of thyroid hormones leads to the decrease of insulin sensitivity, the disturbances of carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, which should be taken into account when developing a strategy to treat DM2 and thyroid dysfunctions. This review focuses on the current state of problem of the relationship between DM2 with insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia, characteristic for this disease, and different forms of thyroid pathology.

Most radiologists and clinicians stay skeptical about lung ultrasound (US) examination, since they are sure that US visualization of pathological changes in lungs is poor.

According to other authors, lung US is a reliable method in different acute and chronic pathologies assessment and for quick diagnostics of such an urgent pathology as acute respiratory failure. It also helps to differentiate cardiogenic pulmonary edema, acute lung trauma, pneumothorax and pneumonia, interstitial lung disease and lung contusion.

Lung US takes only several minutes to perform and ensues emergency treatment. It is important that lung US is technically simple, can be performed in any position of the patient, shows high tissue contrast and can evaluate structures in motion. And last, but not least for the dynamic screening method – lung US has no radiation exposure.

Introduction: Sepsis as a complication of chemotherapy has significant negative impact on life duration and cancer treatment cost. Immediate diagnostics is a key factor in reducing sepsis related mortality. Criteria based on systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) or sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) are used for sepsis diagnosis alternatively.

Objective: determination of the usefulness of SIRS and SOFA criteria as screening for sepsis in patients receiving antitumor therapy for advanced malignant tumors.

Materials and methods: A cohort retrospective study of the main operational characteristics of diagnostic methods for diagnosis of sepsis is based on the results of treatment of 102 cancer patients with infection and various chemotherapy-association complications.

Results: Sepsis was defined in 33% of patients with infectious complications. The sensitivity of SIRS criteria was 0.79 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.63-0.90), specificity 0.41 (CI 0.30-0.53), test accuracy 0.54 (CI 0.40- 0.68). The sensitivity of SOFA criteria was 0.85 (CI 0.70-0.94), specificity 0.68 (CI 0.56-0.76), test accuracy 0.74 (CI 0.60-0.85).

Conclusion: The sensitivity of the SOFA criteria for the detection of sepsis in patients receiving antitumor treatment is close to the sensitivity of the SIRS criteria with significantly higher specificity and predictive value. In this regard, the use of the SOFA criteria in such patients seems more useful.

Currently, laboratory animals are used in biomedical research to test hypotheses about the mechanisms of development and progression of the diseases, to search the new targets for pharmacotherapy, to test the safety and efficacy of new drugs. However, the results of experimental studies, with the established practice of their planning and performing, do not provide a sufficient level of evidence to go to performance of clinical trials. Key concepts, that allow the analysis of the current situation and outline the way out of the crisis, are the concepts of internal and external validity and bias. This review briefly describes the main types of systematic errors that reduce the validity of experimental research. Tools, that improve the translational potential of experimental studies, are systematic reviews and meta-analyzes, international guidelines and checklists, as well as the «reverse» translation of failed clinical trials. Guidelines and checklists that help researchers to assess the compliance of the planned and ongoing research to «gold standard», should be implemented at various levels, starting with the grantmaking organizations, bioethics committees and editorial boards of scientific journals. Pre-registration of experimental works and access of a wide range of researchers to the primary data after publication should make the research process more open and therefore objective. The above approaches might help to overcome the crisis of translatability of experimental results in practice and regain the trust of the general public to the results of biomedical experimental studies.

Background: Ventricular fibrillation within the first 5 min of reperfusion was observed in the animals with lengthening but not shortening of action potential duration (APD) in the border zone of ischemia. Objective: The objective of the study was to find the electrocardiographic manifestations of the APD changes in the border zone of ischemia as the markers of ventricular fibrillation. Design and methods: The simulations were carried out using the model of the cat heart ventricles. To simulate the ischemia, we decreased activation velocity and modified the durations and the amplitudes of action potentials. Results: The simulations showed that APD’s increase in the border zone of ischemia was detectable in the ECG leads most proximal to the heart (V2,V3). It was manifested by the T-wave lengthening and the change of its polarity in the terminal period of repolarization. The similar T-wave features were observed in the electrograms of cats with the reperfusion ventricular fibrillation Conclusion: The simulation data can be useful for the development of new methods of diagnostics of the most dangerous types of ischemia associated with ventricular fibrillation.

Background. Liver metastasis is an important but poorly studied problem. Aim. Study of metabolism of sex hormones, prolactin and sex steroid-binding globulin in the testes, prostate, tumor, metastases (MTS) and blood serum at the later stages of liver metastasis from sarcoma 45. Material and methods. The study included 23 white outbred male rats. Levels of estradiol (E2 ), total testosterone (T), prolactin (PRL) and progesterone (P4 ) were studied in the liver by radioimmunoassay, and free testosterone (fT), estrone (E1 ) and sex steroid-binding globulin (SSBG) were studied by ELISA in 5 weeks (before MTS occurrence in the liver) and in 7 weeks (at formed liver MTS) without/with distant metastases to the lungs. Results. The time of formed liver MTS was characterized by the accumulation of Е1 , especially in MTS (by more than 6.0 times), Р4 (more than twice), T (by more than 3 times), and lower levels of PRL (by more than 2.1 times) and fT (by more than 3.3 times) in MTS and surrounding tissues. Liver MTS with distant lung MTS were characterized by a higher (by 5.2 times) content of Р4 , higher (by 2.2 times) increase of Е1 in MTS and greater content (by almost 2 times) of fT. Conclusions. Sex steroid profile in the formed liver MTS depends on the presence or absence of distant MTS.