Social and humanitarian expert assessment of biomedical innovations

Nowadays the necessity of introducing effective constituents of ethical and humanitarian comprehension of innovations to science, especially in the field of biomedicine, is becoming increasingly apparent. In this regard, it is of particular interest to compare the opinions of student-age youth and the experts - well-known Russian scientists on the use of new converging technologies and their impact on an individual and societ

Converting the sociotechnical convergence hazards into the risks of digitalisation

The creation of digital network platforms is accompanied by an ambiguous process of sociotechnical convergence, during which certain hazards arise as factors that destabilize the functioning of a digital platform, and risks as an expectation of the occurrence of these events.   The purpose of the study is to assess the level of conversion of the sociotechnical convergence hazards into the corresponding risks.   The research methodology is based on the ecosystem approach and the concept of platform research, supplemented by the authors with the ideas of sociotechnical convergence.   To study the conversion of the sociotechnical convergence hazards into the risks of digitalization, the method of empirical verification based on a representative sociological survey was applied. Theresult of the taxonomic division was the classification of hazards in such subject areas as (hazard of failure); digital surveillance (hazard of excessive digital surveillance); digital morality (hazard of decision-making by artificial intelligence); digital identification (hazard of identification error); digital privacy (hazard of unauthorized use of personal data); digital communication (hazard of virtualization of social contacts); digital accessibility (hazard of digital inequality); digital clusters (hazard of social network segmentation); digital competence (hazard of digital outsider). The authors come to the conclusion that not all hazards are converted into risks in the same way. Strongly expressed explicit risks are observed as a result of converting the hazard of unauthorized use of personal data. Medium-expressed explicit risks appear in case of hazard of failure of digital platforms, hazard of decision-making by artificial intelligence, hazard of identification error, hazard of digital inequality. Weakly expressed explicit risks are typical for the conversion of the hazard of excessive digital surveillance and the hazard of virtualization of social contacts. The hazard of social network segmentation and the hazard of digital outsider are converted into implicit risks

COMPARATIVE EFFICACY OF EXTRACORPOREAL SHOCKWAVE LITHOTRIPSY AND RETROGRADE INTRARENAL SURGERY IN THE TREATMENT OF CALCIUM OXALATE NEPHROLITHIASIS

Objective To evaluate the results of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) versus retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) for the treatment of calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis, as well as the damaging effects on renal function, taking into account the dynamics of blood cystatin C and urine beta2-microglobulin.Material and Methods Of 94 patients with calcium oxalate nephrolithiasis aged 23–78 included in the study,  42 patients were classified as having undergone ESWL (group I) and 52 patients as having undergone RIRS (group II). Group II patients were then stratified into subset 2A (n = 32) as having undergone RIRS through rigid ureteroscope and subset 2B (n = 20) as having undergone RIRS through flexible ureteroscope. We performed plain urography and nephrosonography at 24–48 hours postoperatively and unenhanced computed tomography 4–6 weeks after surgery. We measured concentrations of serum cystatin C and urinary beta2-microglobulin as a marker for kidney damage. In group I, samples of peripheral blood andurine were taken before and after the first, third sessions and 30 days after the last ESWL session. In group  II, samples were analyzed before surgery, on the first and 30th postoperative days.Results The average size of calculi in the group with RIRS was 16.91 ± 2.79 mm, in the group with ESWL  12.31 ± 2.27 mm. The need for reoperation after RIRS was 19.2%, which was lower than after ESWL. Stone-free effect (no stones, or residual stones less than 3 mm) was observed in 95% of cases in patients with RIRS, and in 78% with ESWL. Group I patients demonstrated an increase in the blood leukocytes total number more often than subsets 2A (rigid RIRS) and 2B (flexible RIRS) patients. Leukocyturia was also a more common complication in group I. In the RIRS group, there was no statistically significant change in the level of blood cystatin C and urine beta2-microglobulin, on the contrary, a moderate increase in the endogenous marker of cystatin C was noted after one ESWL session. The increase in urine beta2-microglobulin levels in patients after the first and third ESWL sessions was significantly higher than after RIRS.Conclusion Flexible RIRS may be suggested as the preferred procedure for patients requiring additional protection of renal function in the treatment of renal stones less than 20 mm. ESWL of stones less than 20 mm can be used as an alternative treatment, since it is characterized by a rather long period of stone eradication from the urinary tract, a high frequency of residual calculi after the procedure, and also has a damaging effect on the renal tissue

Parathyroid hormone-related protein as predictor of urolithiasis disease development

Background. The present article studies a possible role of parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP) in urolithiasis pathogenesis.Aim. To consider PTHrP level as a predictor of the urolithiasis development.Material and Methods. We presented an analysis of treatment in 79 patients with primary and recurrent nephrolithiasis that had underwent surgical treatment in the Uronephrological Center of Scientific Research Institute – Ochapovsky Regional Clinical Hospital no. 1, Krasnodar from 2017 to 2019. All observed patients were divided in two groups: patients with primary and recurrent nephrolithiasis. A group of 10 relatively healthy people was included in the study as well. All patients and conditionally healthy people had a test for blood parameters; in particular, the level of parathyroid hormone-related protein was assessed in order to compare the indicators in all three groups.Conclusions. The PTHrP level was showed to be statistically significantly different in patients with urolithiasis from the group with relatively healthy people. Groups with primary and recurrent nephrolithiasis show not difference in the level of PTHrP. Further studies are necessary to consider this protein as one of the predictors of urolithiasis and study its role in the pathogenesis of nephrolithiasis

Endothelin receptor B antagonists decrease glioma cell viability independently of their cognate receptor

Background: Endothelin receptor antagonists inhibit the progression of many cancers, but research into their influence on glioma has been limited. Methods: We treated glioma cell lines, LN-229 and SW1088, and melanoma cell lines, A375 and WM35, with two endothelin receptor type B (ETRB)-specific antagonists, A-192621 and BQ788, and quantified viable cells by the capacity of their intracellular esterases to convert non-fluorescent calcein AM into green-fluorescent calcein. We assessed cell proliferation by labeling cells with carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester and quantifying the fluorescence by FACS analysis. We also examined the cell cycle status using BrdU/propidium iodide double staining and FACS analysis. We evaluated changes in gene expression by microarray analysis following treatment with A-192621 in glioma cells. We examined the role of ETRB by reducing its expression level using small interfering RNA (siRNA). Results: We report that two ETRB-specific antagonists, A-192621 and BQ788, reduce the number of viable cells in two glioma cell lines in a dose- and time-dependent manner. We describe similar results for two melanoma cell lines. The more potent of the two antagonists, A-192621, decreases the mean number of cell divisions at least in part by inducing a G2/M arrest and apoptosis. Microarray analysis of the effects of A-192621 treatment reveals up-regulation of several DNA damage-inducible genes. These results were confirmed by real-time RT-PCR. Importantly, reducing expression of ETRB with siRNAs does not abrogate the effects of either A-192621 or BQ788 in glioma or melanoma cells. Furthermore, BQ123, an endothelin receptor type A (ETRA)-specific antagonist, has no effect on cell viability in any of these cell lines, indicating that the ETRB-independent effects on cell viability exhibited by A-192621 and BQ788 are not a result of ETRA inhibition. Conclusion: While ETRB antagonists reduce the viability of glioma cells in vitro, it appears unlikely that this effect is mediated by ETRB inhibition or cross-reaction with ETRA. Instead, we present evidence that A-192621 affects glioma and melanoma viability by activating stress/DNA damage response pathways, which leads to cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. This is the first evidence linking ETRB antagonist treatment to enhanced expression of DNA damage-inducible genes

mTOR: from growth signal integration to cancer, diabetes and ageing

In all eukaryotes, the target of rapamycin (TOR) signalling pathway couples energy and nutrient abundance to the execution of cell growth and division, owing to the ability of TOR protein kinase to simultaneously sense energy, nutrients and stress and, in metazoans, growth factors. Mammalian TOR complex 1 (mTORC1) and mTORC2 exert their actions by regulating other important kinases, such as S6 kinase (S6K) and Akt. In the past few years, a significant advance in our understanding of the regulation and functions of mTOR has revealed the crucial involvement of this signalling pathway in the onset and progression of diabetes, cancer and ageing.National Institutes of Health (U.S.)Howard Hughes Medical InstituteWhitehead Institute for Biomedical ResearchJane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research (Postdoctoral Fellowship)Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg, France

Synergetic Methodology of Strategical Projection and Prognostication

The article deals with application of synergetic methodology to strategic projection, forecasting, foresight and model operation. Problems of collective examination of developing systems are also considered. In the light of synergetic principles the basic scenarios of development and management for self-organizing systems are given. The work contains the classification of strategies of overcoming and management of social chaos and interdisciplinary model operations