Convergence of corporate governance models in the context of globalization

The article examines the impact of globalization on the development of corporate governance. The basic concepts of globalization and the factors influencing the development of the modern world economy are analyzed. The process of liberalization of the business environment, development of scientific-technologocal progress and the development of global financial markets have a decisive influence on the activities of transnational corporations, turning them into global companies. These companies operate worldwide and the scope of their operations exceeds the size of the national income of many countries. Global business structure and international nature of the operations determine the need to develop harmonized standards for the implementation of the activities of large companies. Special attention in the paper is paid to the problems of corporate governance, which mostly determines the important corporate decisions and therefore the effectiveness of business development. The article presents the analysis of the main stages in the development of international regulation in this area and trends of improvement in theis area. The study examines the basic models of corporate governance, explains the process of convergence under the influence of contemporary processes of globalization, highlights the main factors of harmonization of corporate governance systems. Special attention is paid to the state of the Russian corporate sector and areas of improvement of corporate governance in Russian companies taking into account the contemporary processes of convergence of the models. The present study allows to conclude that there is an active process of harmonization of corporate governance systems, and to maintain the competitiveness and efficiency the large corporations are to improve the system and practice of corporate governance taking into account modern trends. There is a constant search for new forms of governance, management and leadership in big business, and the Russian public companies have to take into account the best practices of leading corporations and harmonised standards of international organizations in the field of corporate governance in order to maintain and improve competitiveness on the national and international markets

Hepcidin as a Regulator of Iron Metabolism and Mediator of Inflammation in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure and Anemia of Chronic Diseases of the Elderly and Senile Age

Aim. To study the role of hepcidin as a regulator of iron metabolism and a mediator of inflammation in elderly and senile patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) with anemia of chronic diseases (ACD).Material and methods. The levels of hemogram parameters, ferrokinetics (serum iron, ferritin, transferrin, erythropoietin, hepcidin), inflammation [C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6)], as well as correlations between hepcidin and these parameters were studied in patients with CHF with ACD (n=35), with CHF without anemia (n=35) and in elderly and senile patients without CHF and anemia (control group; n=20).Results. Normal levels of hepcidin (9.17±0.97 ng/ml) and the only significant correlation of hepcidin with the ferrokinetic parameter – serum iron [r(S)=0.480, p<0.05] were found in the control group. Normal levels of hepcidin (12.01±1.19 ng/ml) and two significant correlations of hepcidin with the ferrokinetic parameter – ferritin [r(S)=0.525, p<0.05] and transferrin [r(S)=-0.343, p<0.05] were found in the CHF without anemia group. Significantly elevated levels of hepcidin (23.81±3.63 ng/ml) were found in the CHF with ACD group compared to the CHF without anemia group (p=0.008) and the control group (p=0.003). Also, five significant correlations of hepcidin with hemogram parameters – hemoglobin [r(S)=-0.461, p<0.05] and the average concentration of hemoglobin in the erythrocyte [r(S)=-0.437, p<0.05]; with ferrokinetic parameters – ferritin [r(S)=0.596,p<0.05] and transferrin [r(S)=-0.474, p<0.05]; with inflammation parameters – CRP [r(S)=0.561, p<0.05] were found in the CHF with ACD group.Conclusion. The increased level of hepcidin in CHF patients with ACD and the formation of links of hepcidin with indicators of inflammation reflect its role as a mediator of inflammation, and the formation of connections with indicators of hemogram and ferrokinetics – its role as a regulator of iron metabolism involved in the development of ACD in elderly and senile CHF patients

Peculiar effects of muscarinic M1, M2, and M 3 receptor blockers on cardiac chronotropic function in neonatal rats

Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Human Health Protection, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Russia The effects of muscarinic M 1, M2, and M3 cholinergic receptor blockade on the regulation of chronotropic function of the heart were studied in vivo in 7-day-old rat pups. Intravenous injection of M2 receptor blocker gallamine produced no changes in cardiac chronotropy. In contrast, M1 receptor blocker pirenzepine and M3 receptor blocker 4DAMP provoked bradycardia. These data attest to the involvement of M1 and especially M3 cholinergic receptors in the regulation of cardiac chronotropy in rat pups, which confirms the view on pronounced species-specific and age-related peculiarities in the heart control mechanisms. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Peculiar effects of muscarinic M1, M2, and M3 receptor blockers on cardiac chronotropic function in neonatal rats.

The effects of muscarinic M(1), M(2), and M(3) cholinergic receptor blockade on the regulation of chronotropic function of the heart were studied in vivo in 7-day-old rat pups. Intravenous injection of M(2) receptor blocker gallamine produced no changes in cardiac chronotropy. In contrast, M(1) receptor blocker pirenzepine and M(3) receptor blocker 4DAMP provoked bradycardia. These data attest to the involvement of M(1) and especially M(3) cholinergic receptors in the regulation of cardiac chronotropy in rat pups, which confirms the view on pronounced species-specific and age-related peculiarities in the heart control mechanisms

RENAL FUNCTION IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS

The review provides basic information to evaluation of renal function in children. Consider the formula calculation of glomerular filtration rate based on creatinine, cystatin C, β2-microglobulin. Particular attention is paid to renal function in children after renal transplantation

MAD data collection – current trends

The multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction, or MAD, method of determining protein structure is becoming routine in protein crystallography. An increase in the number of tuneable synchrotrons beamlines coupled with the widespread availability position-sensitive X-ray detectors based on charged-coupled devices and having fast readout raised MAD structure determination to a new and exciting level. Ultra-fast MAD data collection is now possible. Recognition of the value of selenium for phasing protein structures and improvement of methods for incorporating selenium into proteins in the form of selenomethionine have attracted greater interest in the MAD method. Recent developments in crystallographic software are complimenting the above advances, paving the way for rapid protein structure determination. An overview of a typical MAD experiment is described here, with emphasis on the rates and quality of data acquisition now achievable at beamlines developed at third-generation synchrotrons sources

Genetic variability in local and imported germplasm chicken populations as revealed by analyzing runs of homozygosity

Simple Summary To maintain the uniqueness of conserved chicken populations of local and imported breeds is of great importance. In this study, we genotyped small populations belonging to 14 breeds and 7 crossbreds using an Illumina Chicken 60K SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) BeadChip and looked for appropriate methods to characterize their purity/variability. It was not straightforward to identify crossbred individuals, and the best approach was based on calculating the length and number of homozygous regions, or runs of homozygosity (ROH), in the populations studied. The latter enabled most accurate identification of crossbreds and can be served as an effective tool in testing genome-wide purity of chicken breeds. Abstract Preserving breed uniqueness and purity is vitally important in developing conservation/breeding programs for a germplasm collection of rare and endangered chicken breeds. The present study was aimed at analyzing SNP genetic variability of 21 small local and imported purebred and F1 crossbred populations and identifying crossbreeding events via whole-genome evaluation of runs of homozygosity (ROH). The admixture models more efficiently reflected population structure, pinpointing crossbreeding events in the presence of ancestral populations but not in their absence. Multidimensional scaling and FST-based analyses did not discriminate properly between purebred populations and F1 crossbreds, especially when comparing related breeds. When applying the ROH-based approach, more and longer ROHs were revealed in purebred individuals/populations, suggesting this as an effective implement in genome-wide analysis of germplasm breed purity

Transient amplifiers of selection and reducers of fixation for death-Birth updating on graphs

The spatial structure of an evolving population affects which mutations become fixed. Some structures amplify selection, increasing the likelihood that beneficial mutations become fixed while deleterious mutations do not. Other structures suppress selection, reducing the effect of fitness differences and increasing the role of random chance. This phenomenon can be modeled by representing spatial structure as a graph, with individuals occupying vertices. Births and deaths occur stochastically, according to a specified update rule. We study death-Birth updating: An individual is chosen to die and then its neighbors compete to reproduce into the vacant spot. Previous numerical experiments suggested that amplifiers of selection for this process are either rare or nonexistent. We introduce a perturbative method for this problem for weak selection regime, meaning that mutations have small fitness effects. We show that fixation probability under weak selection can be calculated in terms of the coalescence times of random walks. This result leads naturally to a new definition of effective population size. Using this and other methods, we uncover the first known examples of transient amplifiers of selection (graphs that amplify selection for a particular range of fitness values) for the death-Birth process. We also exhibit new families of "reducers of fixation", which decrease the fixation probability of all mutations, whether beneficial or deleterious.Comment: 51 pages, 5 figure

Евгений Наркисович Добржинский (1864-1938). Незаурядный талант библиотекаря

E.N. Dobrzhinsky (1864-938) stood at the origins of library education in Russia; he developed the system of implementation of the Universal Decimal Classification in the library practice, and he was an active member of the First All-Russian Congress of Libraries. Numerous works of E.N. Dobrzhinsky on establishing the librarianship for a long time were the main guidance for the majority of library institutions in our country. There are considered the circumstances contributed to discover the talents of one of the brightest representatives of the library community at the crucial point in the Russian history. On January 21 we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of E.N. Dobrzhinsky. The article shows the close relationship of the life of the first director of the Fundamental Library of the St. Petersburg State Polytechnic Institute with the history of this institution (nowadays - St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University).21 января исполняется 150 лет со дня рождения Е.Н. Добржинского. Он стоял у истоков библиотечного образования в России, разработал сиcтему внедрения в библиотечную практику универсальной десятичной классификации, был активным участником Первого Всероссийского съезда по библиотечному делу. Труды Е.Н. Добржинского по вопросам постановки библиотечного дела долгое время являлись основным руководством для большинства библиотечных учреждений нашей страны. Рассмотрены обстоятельства, способствовавшие раскрытию дарований одного из ярких представителей библиотечного сообщества в переломный момент российской истории. Показана тесная связь его жизненного пути с историей Фундаментальной библиотеки Санкт-Петербургского политехнического института (ныне - Санкт-Петербургский государственный политехнический университет)

Genome-wide association studies targeting the yield of extraembryonic fluid and production traits in Russian White chickens

Background: The Russian White is a gene pool breed, registered in 1953 after crossing White Leghorns with local populations and, for 50 years, selected for cold tolerance and high egg production (EL). The breed has great potential in meeting demands of local food producers, commercial farmers and biotechnology sector of specific pathogen-free (SPF) eggs, the former valuing the breed for its egg weight (EW), EL, age at first egg (AFE), body weight (BW), and the latter for its yield of extraembryonic fluid (YEF) in 12.5-day embryos, ratio of extraembryonic fluid to egg weight, and embryo mass. Moreover, its cold tolerance has been presumably associated with day-old chick down colour (DOCDC) white rather than yellow, the genetic basis of these traits being however poorly understood. Results: We undertook genome-wide association studies (GWASs) for eight performance traits using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping of 146 birds and an Illumina 60KBeadChip. Several suggestive associations (p <5.16*10(-5)) were found for YEF, AFE, BW and EW. Moreover, on chromosome 2, an association with the white DOCDC was found where there is an linkage disequilibrium block of SNPs including genes that are responsible not for colour, but for immune resistance. Conclusions: The obtained GWAS data can be used to explore the genetics of immunity and carry out selection for increasing YEF for SPF eggs production.Peer reviewe