The effectiveness and safety of different methods of radioimmunoassay to determine the thyroid function were studied in 298 patients: 172 with nodose toxic goiter and 116 with nodose euthyroid goiter. A "warm","hot","cold" and "autonomic" nodes, respectively, prevailed in nodose goiter, on skanning. Free triiodothyronine index and elevated serum triiodothyronine index (EST3I) were calculated to determine the effect of thyroxin-binding ability of globulin on the total triiodothyronine level. Three types of thyrotoxicosis (T3/4-, T3- and T4-thyrotoxicosis) were found as a result of using complex methods to record the tests, showing a functional state of the hypophyseal-thyroid system. A high informativeness of the main thyroid tests was detected, i.e. determination of the total thyroxin, serum triiodothyronine and thyroxin efficiency coefficient. EST3I has the most diagnostic significance, being especially valuable in T3-thyrotoxicosis detection.

A study was made of the importance of various radioimmunoassays and their reliability in the diagnosis of functional activity of the thyroid parenchyma in patients with nodular goiter. A total of 298 patients were examined, of them 172 with nodular toxic goiter and 116 with nodular euthyroid goiter. During scanning the most frequent variant of nodular goiter was a "warm" or "hot" node, then a "cold" and "autonomous" one. To define the effect of the globulin thyroxine binding ability on the level of general serum triiodothyronine (T3), the index of triiodothyronine and the index of elevated serum triiodothyronine (IEST3) were calculated. A comprehensive procedure of test registration reflecting hypophyseal-thyroid function was used to reveal 3 types of thyrotoxicoses: T3/4-thyrotoxicosis, T3-thyrotoxicosis and T4-thyrotoxicosis. A high informative value of the main tests--the determination of the content of general thyroxine (T4), T3 and effective thyroxine factor--was established. The IEST3 is of the utmost diagnostic value, particularly in diagnosing T3-thyrotoxicosis.

The authors studied the effect of the diets differing in macroelements and trace elements (excess silicon in association with moderate deficiency of iodine and cobalt) on thyroid function in normal people living in the endemic regions with regard to goiter. The shifts in thyroid function were found to correlate with the increased content of silicon and some other trace elements in the diets. The silicon subregion is marked by the incidence of dysthyrosis of the thyroid gland.

The most frequent prerequisites of high production of the thyroid hormones leading to hyperthyroidism in the areas of endemic goiter are thyroid autonomous tissues. The problems were to investigate the influence of iodine prophylaxis on the state of one of the "main" risk factors of hyperthyroidism (thyroid autonomous tissue), to study the level of hyperthyroidism risk with relation to the amount of autonomous tissue, and to study the safety of prolonged iodine prophylaxis. A total of 864 patients with thyroid autonomy were investigated. The main group included 40 patients who received iodinated potassium prophylaxis at a daily dose of 130 micrograms for 6 mos. The evaluation of function of the hypothalamo-hypophyseal-thyroid system included visualization of the thyroid, RIA for the determination of the thyroid hormones and TSH using the TRH test. Iodine prophylaxis in patients with autonomous tissue below the "critical" volume did not cause hyperthyroidism.

Estradiol levels were radioimmunoassayed and histamine levels histochemically measured by Cross', Ewen's, and Rost's methods in intact rats. Estradiol was shown to increase sharply the absorption of exogenous histamine by uterine structures. Estradiol effects were interpreted by the authors as activation of the histamine receptors in uterine structures by the hormone, and an estradiol-induced decrease in a histamine level in macrophages was explained by histamine release from macrophages for passing to other structures.