In the present context of health care reform, functional diagnostics is one of the most demanded areas. Nurses, who are actively involved in the diagnostic process, play an important role in the implementation of a diagnostic care to the population in the departments (offices) of functional diagnostics. Objective. To study the features of professional nursing practice in the departments of functional diagnostics and to develop proposals aimed at optimizing the nurses’ work, their health preservation and improving the quality of diagnostic care to population. Materials and Methods. The study included the analysis of functional diagnostic service’ activity in St. Petersburg from 2010 to 2015, the normative legal documents, the conducting of medical and sociological studies of the nursing practice, the adverse working conditions available, the physical condition (health status) of nurses working in the departments of functional diagnostics (n = 293), as well as the assessment of professional deformation at nurses (n = 293) with the use of a special questionnaire « The Maslach Job Burnout Inventory" for health care workers adapted by N.V. Vodopyanova (2001). Results. Annually the number of studies carried out in the departments of functional diagnostics is increasing, while the number of nurses is decreasing. Shortcomings of legal regulation of their professional activities are revealed. These factors can have a significant impact on the organization of nursing practice and professional functioning. Conclusions. There is a need for a comprehensive approach to the organization of nursing practice in the departments of functional diagnostics, aimed at the preservation of nurses’ health, their labor capacity and providing the quality of diagnostic care to population.

The article deals with the organization of work of nurses in the departments and cabinets of functional diagnostics. The issues of education of nurses are considered, essential documents regulating the work of nurses of departments (cabinets) of functional diagnostics are given.

The review presents the role of ambulatory ECG monitoring systems in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing catheter ablation. It also provides data on predictors of recurrence of atrial fibrillation before and after ablative treatment and their prognostic significance.

The basics of the navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) and the algorithm for motor cortex mapping in particular have been described in the present article. nTMS clinical application and own experience of its use in the department of neurorehabilitation and physiotherapy of Research center of neurology have been discussed. nTMC is used for presurgical mapping in patients with brain tumors in order to determine the functional involvement of the motor cortex. Moreover, the method can be used to evaluate neuroplastic changes and prognosis in poststroke patients during motor function recovery. Finally, changes in cortical maps are characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), due to this they may shed light on the pathophysiology and be of interest for the development of diagnostic and prognostic markers in ALS.

The issues of choosing criteria for evaluating the results of pulmonary function tests and the effectiveness of existing approaches to the interpretation of the data are examined in the literature review. The controversial issues related to functional studies of pulmonary mechanics and gas exchange such as spirometry, body plethysmography, diffusing capacity and lung compliance tests are covered as well.

To study the characteristics of the wall motion of the suprarenal abdominal aorta and common carotid arteries in patients with arterial hypertension using the pulsed-wave tissue Doppler imaging. The study involved 140 patients (64 men and 76 women aged from 35 to 68 years) who were divided into 2 groups. The first group (n=72) consisted of patients with arterial hypertension of the 2 and 3 degrees. In the second (control) group (n=68) were included almost healthy volunteers. By means of the pulsed-wave tissue Doppler among the surveyed patients was evaluated the phase structure of the motion of the front and rear walls of the suprarenal abdominal aorta and common carotid artery were obtained the differences of phase structure of motion of the front and rear walls of the suprarenal abdominal aorta and common carotid arteries in healthy persons and patients with arterial hypertension. These results allow us to conclude that during the remodeling of arteries in hypertension appear some peculiarities of the motion of their walls.

In hemodynamically significant heart valve defects protezirovarie currently maintains a leading position among all surgical interventions. Despite the fact that since the first successful replacement of the native diseased valve artificial passed more than 50 years, there is still not ideal prosthetic valve. Problems arising in patients late after valve replacement surgery are the most important and, unfortunately, unresolved problems of modern cardiology.

This paper is dedicated to the analysis and review of the of the literature data about studying of the left ventricular strain in top-level athletes using echocardiography. The article presents literature data, which compares indicators of LV strain in athletes, in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and abnormal LV hypertrophy. Analyzed changes in LV strain parameters in athletes of different skills, as well as engaged in various kinds of sports. Particular attention is paid to changes in LV myocardial deformation parameters during the training process in the dynamics. The hypothesis about the possibility of the use of indicators of systolic longitudinal strain of the left ventricle for the differential diagnosis of a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Optical tissue oximetry is a prospective non-invasive method for the oxygenation estimation of peripheral tissues. The method is based on the technology of Near-infrared spectroscopy. There are fairly large number of papers presenting a successful application of the method in neurology, neonatology and other areas of medicine. In spite of clear advantages, the method has series of limitations. Some of them are presented here. In addition, the results of the mathematical simulations of the photons optical path distribution for the case of tissue oximeter application are shown. These results also confirm the limitations of the method.

The article describes the purpose and main operational characteristics of contact gels for ultrasound examinations, consider some verificated cases of their irritating effects, as well as known incidents of nosocomial infections caused by ultrasound gels. In conclusion, the main rules for the selection and application of contact gels for routine ultrasound examinations are formulated.