Results of the study of the vestibular apparatus and the functions of the perception of space in cosmonauts (pre- and post-flight observations)

The effect of the set of space flight factors caused a change in the activity of the vestibular apparatus and the spatial perception function. More significant and longer shifts were observed during expeditions of great duration. The detected disorders (increase in reactivity of the otolithic apparatus, decrease in sensitivity of the cupula receptor, deterioration in the perception accuracy, etc.) had a definite tendency to be restored. The primary damage to the otolithic reflex (changes were found in practically all the subjects) is probably caused by the specific effect of zero gravitation, and apparently, may be one of the trigger mechanisms for discrepancy in the activity of the sensory systems, disorders in the correcting function of the cerebellum, and central vestibular formations

On the number of two-dimensional threshold functions

A two-dimensional threshold function of k-valued logic can be viewed as coloring of the points of a k x k square lattice into two colors such that there exists a straight line separating points of different colors. For the number of such functions only asymptotic bounds are known. We give an exact formula for the number of two-dimensional threshold functions and derive more accurate asymptotics.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure

ETEKOS experimental ecological system

The problem of changes in the ecology resulting, for example, in increases in water temperature because of discharges from large thermal power plants is considered. An experiment creating a model of such an ecological system is described

Towards the electron EDM search: Theoretical study of HfF+

We report first ab initio relativistic correlation calculations of potential curves for ten low-lying electronic states, effective electric field on the electron and hyperfine constants for the ^3\Delta_1 state of cation of a heavy transition metal fluoride, HfF^+, that is suggested to be used as the working state in experiments to search for the electric dipole moment of the electron. It is shown that HfF^+ has deeply bound ^1\Sigma^+ ground state, its dissociation energy is D_e=6.4 eV. The ^3\Delta_1 state is obtained to be the relatively long-lived first excited state lying about 0.2 eV higher. The calculated effective electric field E_eff=W_d|\Omega| acting on an electron in this state is 5.84*10^{24}Hz/(e*cm)Comment: 4 page

Configuration interaction calculation of hyperfine and P,T-odd constants on ^{207}PbO excited states for the electron EDM experiments

We report first configuration interaction calculations of hyperfine constants A_\parallel and the effective electric field W_d acting on the electric dipole moment of the electron, in two excited electronic states of ^{207}PbO. The obtained hyperfine constants, A_\parallel = -3826 MHz for the a(1) state and A_\parallel = 4887 MHz for the B(1) state, are in very good agreement with the experimental data, -4113 MHz and 5000 \pm 200 MHz, respectively. We find W_d = -(6.1 ^{+1.8}_{-0.6}) 10^{24} Hz/(e cm) for a(1), and W_d = (8.0 \pm 1.6) 10^{24} Hz/(e cm) for B(1). The obtained values are analyzed and compared to recent relativistic coupled cluster results and a semiempirical estimate of W_d for the a(1) state.Comment: 6 pages, REVTeX4 style, submitted to Pthys.Rev.

Comparative Analysis of Peculiarities of Thinking of Urban and Rural Schoolchildren

The results of the comparative analysis of the peculiarities of thinking of urban and rural schoolchildren of primary and senior levels of education are presented. In order to identify differences in the levels of formation of individual characteristics of thinking linked, inter alia, with the characteristics of social, physical and physiological development of students in urban and rural schools, a number of works were studied on the comparison of functional indicators of hemodynamics, psycho-emotional stability, verbal and logical thinking and characteristics of educational and cognitive activity among urban and rural schoolchildren. The results of the interpretation of the data obtained during the experiment conducted by the authors (54 respondents, 27 rural and urban high school students) are presented. It is concluded that rural pupils are characterized by higher level of development of abilities and qualities of the personality, providing them successful performance of the main types of mathematical activity: low level of psychoemotional tension, qualitative analysis of visual and visually-spatial information, logical conclusions, generalization of information, interest in the correct solution of a problem, etc. In the future, it is expected to find out possible reasons for “lagging” of urban schoolchildren from rural ones in terms of individual indicators of formation of mathematical thinking operations

Drug Agranulocytosis

The paper covers the problem associated with the wide availability and uncontrolled use of over-the-counter medicines, particularly analgesics, antipyretics, and anticatarrhal agents, which lead to the occurrence of adverse drug reactions and poisonings and to considerable economic and human losses. The mechanisms of the pathogenesis of drug agranu-locytosis due to the intake of nonsteroidal analgesics and the diagnosis and treatment of this disease are described in detail. The case presented by the authors clearly demonstrates that the possible development of life-threatening complications due to the use of even submaximal permitted doses of widely spread and available anticatarrhal drugs. Key words: antipyretics, analgesics, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, drug agranulocytosis, trepanobiopsy, myelo-gram, intensive care unit