Analysis of common oral and topical dermatologic medication price variation by source

Online coupon retailers and pharmacies are popular sites that patients can access discounted medications when compared to cash prices. These sources are especially important for those patients without insurance. In our study, we analyzed commonly prescribed topical and oral medications and compared the cash prices to the discounted medications based on a typical month of usage. We found savings in every one of the medications that we analyzed, some with savings up to hundreds of dollars. Savings were present in all the sources analyzed, with the coupon-based programs often having the lowest price. We suggest certain alternative prescribing guidelines when considering patients who may not be able to afford cash prices of medications. Our hopes with this study are to quantify savings for discounted medications as well as to help physicians target more affordable medications for their patients

Analysis of the use of industrial crossbreeding to improve the profitability of the pig industry

The aim of the research was to conduct an economic assessment of the use of industrial crossbreeding in the pig industry. The study was carried out in LLC "Mayak-Agro" (Ukraine) and in the laboratories of the Cherkasy National University named after Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the Cherkasy Experimental Station of Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Ukrainian breeds of pigs were used: (Ukrainian BigWhite-1 (UBW-1), Red White-Belt (RWB) and Duroc of the Ukrainian selection "Steppe" (DUSS)). Breeds of English origin: (Big White (EBW), Landrace (L), Pietrain (P)). Crossbreeds, obtained by crossing the breeds, mentioned above. A comprehensive assessment of the reproductive capacity of a sow was carried out taking into account multiple births, the number of piglets at one month of age and the average daily gain during this period. Growth and development were monitored in terms of changes in live weight by individual weighing at birth and every month to a live weight of 100 and 120 kg. Regardless of maternal form, in the groups where boars of the breeds Red White-Belt and Pietrain were used, higher indicators of comprehensive assessment of reproductive capacity were obtained. The best fattening qualities characterized piglets, obtained from a combination of sows (1/2UBW-1+1/2L) with boars of the Pietrain breed (P). In comparison with other variants of crosses, in this group the animals reached a live weight of 100 kg 7.6 days earlier. Their feed costs per 1 kg of live weight gain were 3.33 feed units, which corresponds to the expected figure of 3.34 feed units when fattening up to 100 kg in 170 days. In terms of industrial pork production, breeding of animals of the group (1/4UBW-1+1/4L+1/2P) was more profitable, in which the highest level of profitability was obtained - 22.3 % for fattening up to 100 kg and 12.5 % for fattening up to 120 kg. Cultivation of three-breed hybrids to a live weight of over 100 kg led to a decrease in profitability among all research groups. The use of the genotype 1/4UBW-1+1/4L+1/2P in industrial production makes it possible to obtain animals of various weight conditions without significant additional costs and profitability level reduction. In the course of the research, it was found, that the best option for three-breed crossing is the use of boars of the Pietrain and Red White-Belt breeds. The use of boars of these breeds is ideal for producers looking for bacon pork. The use of boars of the Duroc breed of the Ukrainian selection "Steppe" (DUSS) makes it possible to obtain fatty pork with the possibility of fattening to different weight categories

Programming-by-demonstration of reaching motions for robot grasping

Proceedings of: 14th International Conference on Advanced Robotics (ICAR 2009), 22-26 June 2009, Munich (Germany)This paper presents a novel approach to skill modeling acquired from human demonstration. The approach is based on fuzzy modeling and is using a planner for generating corresponding robot trajectories. One of the main challenges stems from the morphological differences between human and robot hand/arm structure, which makes direct copying of human motions impossible in the general case. Thus, the planner works in hand state space, which is defined such that it is perception-invariant and valid for both human and robot hand. We show that this representation simplifies task reconstruction and preserves the essential parts of the task as well as the coordination between reaching and grasping motion. We also show how our approach can generalize observed trajectories based on multiple demonstrations and that the robot can match a demonstrated behavoir, despite morphological differences. To validate our approach we use a general-purpose robot manipulator equipped with an anthropomorphic three-fingered robot hand.European Community's Seventh Framework Progra

Transgenerational changes in the genome stability and methylation in pathogen-infected plants: (Virus-induced plant genome instability)

Previously, we reported the generation of a virus-induced systemic signal that increased the somatic and meiotic recombination rates in tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-infected tobacco plants. Here, we analyzed the progeny of plants that received the signal and found that these plants also have a higher frequency of rearrangements in the loci carrying the homology to LRR region of the gene of resistance to TMV (N-gene). Analysis of the stability of repetitive elements from Nicotiana tabacum loci and 5.8S ribosomal RNA loci did not show any changes. Further analysis of the changes in the progeny of infected plants revealed that they had substantially hypermethylated genomes. At the same time, loci-specific methylation analysis showed: (1) profound hypomethylation in several LRR-containing loci; (2) substantial hypermethylation of actin loci and (3) no change in methylation in the loci of repetitive elements from N. tabacum or 5.8S ribosomal RNA. Global genome hypermethylation of the progeny is believed to be part of a general protection mechanism against stress, whereas locus-specific hypomethylation is associated with a higher frequency of rearrangements. Increased recombination events combined with the specific methylation pattern induced by pathogen attack could be a sign of an adaptive response by plants

Land plot data usage for urban transect zones delimitation in case of Tula

The development of metropolitan areas in Russia for urban morphologists is either one of the thematic "white spots" or is interpreted as a set of post-Soviet stereotypes. Meanwhile, the resource base for studies of the urban form in Russia is being replenished with new data, which makes it possible to more accurately assess the measure of compliance of the urban tissue with the criteria of sustainability and resilience. One of such information resources containing information about land plots and buildings, the filling and updating of which since 2008 allows us to talk on the sufficiency and reliability, is the Unified State Register of Real Estate. Our study aimed to develop methods for the analysis of urbanized areas at the level of land plots, based on the methodology of the rural-urban transect. A set of parameters was developed that quantify the geometry, accessibility and diversity of land plots, on the basis of which individual plots using GIS were combined into clusters corresponding to transect zones. These methods were tested on the example of the territory of the city of Tula, established in the 12th century, having ca. 500.000 inhabitants and an area of 145,8 square kilometres. As a result of the study, we came to the conclusion that the share of the suburban transect zone in Tula is one of the largest. At the same time, the suburban area is characterized by a low degree of functional diversity, regardless of its genesis from rural settlement or agricultural land. To a certain extent, parallels can be drawn here with the American suburbia. The developed methods have shown some universality in the Russian context, which will allow them to be applied to the analysis of other metropolitan areas

Protective Allele for Multiple Sclerosis HLA-DRB1*01:01 Provides Kinetic Discrimination of Myelin and Exogenous Antigenic Peptides.

Risk of the development of multiple sclerosis (MS) is known to be increased in individuals bearing distinct class II human leukocyte antigen (HLA) variants, whereas some of them may have a protective effect. Here we analyzed distribution of a highly polymorphous HLA-DRB1 locus in more than one thousand relapsing-remitting MS patients and healthy individuals of Russian ethnicity. Carriage of HLA-DRB1*15 and HLA-DRB1*03 alleles was associated with MS risk, whereas carriage of HLA-DRB1*01 and HLA-DRB1*11 was found to be protective. Analysis of genotypes revealed the compensatory effect of risk and resistance alleles in trans. We have identified previously unknown MBP153−161 peptide located at the C-terminus of MBP protein and MBP90−98 peptide that bound to recombinant HLA-DRB1*01:01 protein with affinity comparable to that of classical antigenic peptide 306-318 from the hemagglutinin (HA) of the influenza virus demonstrating the ability of HLA-DRB1*01:01 to present newly identified MBP153−161 and MBP90−98 peptides. Measurements of kinetic parameters of MBP and HA peptides binding to HLA-DRB1*01:01 catalyzed by HLA-DM revealed a significantly lower rate of CLIP exchange for MBP153−161 and MBP90−98 peptides as opposed to HA peptide. Analysis of the binding of chimeric MBP-HA peptides demonstrated that the observed difference between MBP153−161, MBP90−98, and HA peptide epitopes is caused by the lack of anchor residues in the C-terminal part of the MBP peptides resulting in a moderate occupation of P6/7 and P9 pockets of HLA-DRB1*01:01 by MBP153−161 and MBP90−98 peptides in contrast to HA308−316 peptide. This leads to the P1 and P4 docking failure and rapid peptide dissociation and release of empty HLA-DM–HLA-DR complex. We would like to propose that protective properties of the HLA-DRB1*01 allele could be directly linked to the ability of HLA-DRB1*01:01 to kinetically discriminate between antigenic exogenous peptides and endogenous MBP derived peptides

Effects of Acute Lithium Treatment on Brain Levels of Inflammatory Mediators in Poststroke Rats

Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Few therapeutic options with proven efficacy are available for the treatment of this disabling disease. Lithium is the gold standard treatment for bipolar disorder. Moreover, lithium has been shown to exhibit neuroprotective effects and therapeutic efficacy as a treatment of other neurological disorders. This study was undertaken to examine the effects of lithium on brain inflammatory mediators levels, fever, and mortality in postischemic stroke rats. Ischemic stroke was induced by occlusion of the mid cerebral artery (MCAO). Pretreatment with a single dose of lithium at 2 hours before MCAO induction significantly reduced the elevation in interleukin- (IL-) 6 and prostaglandin E2 levels in brain of post-MCAO rats, as compared to vehicle-treated animals. On the other hand, lithium did not affect the elevation in IL-1α, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor-α levels in brain of post-MCAO rats. Moreover, pretreatment with lithium did not alter post-MCAO fever and mortality. These results suggest that acute pretreatment with a single dose of lithium did not markedly affect post-MCAO morbidity and mortality in rats

Poly[di-μ2-aqua-μ5-(pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyl­ato)-μ3-(pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyl­ato)-cobalt(II)disodium]

In the title compound, [CoNa2(C7H3NO4)2(H2O)2]n, the CoII atom is coordinated by two pyridine N atoms and four carboxyl­ate O atoms from two doubly deprotonated pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyl­ate ligands in a distorted octa­hedral geometry. One Na+ cation is coordinated by three carboxyl­ate O atoms and two water mol­ecules and the other is coordinated by five carboxyl­ate O atoms and two water mol­ecules in an irregular geometry. The bis­(pyridine-2,6-dicarboxyl­ato)cobalt complex units are connected by Na+ cations and bridging water mol­ecules into a three-dimensional coordination network. O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are formed between the water mol­ecules and the carboxyl­ate O atoms

Creation of Supply Chain Management Aimed At Improving the Quality and Accessibility of Municipal Services

Abstract— Supply chain management of regulation are mainly used in the field of municipal services management. Coordination between local governments and other organizations that control the provision of municipal services is poorly developed on the territory of municipal entities. The solution to this problem becomes particularly relevant in the context of creating the supply chain system for the management.  It is quite obvious that a review of approaches and methods in organizing the provision of municipal services is necessary under supply chain strategy. First of all, we implemented the effective supply chain for allocation of resources in the context of the transition to medium-term budget planning, and also to the integration of supply chain mechanism for organizing the provision of municipal services in the existing territorial development management system. This article provides an insight into supply chain management practices in a municipal context. It highlights the status, challenges and way forward for the implementation of supply chain management in a municipal environment