Melatonin level as a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration

Background. The current trend towards an increase in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) incidence rate in the population, including the working-age population, with a possible loss of professional activity, indicates the need for early preclinical identification of risk groups, timely prevention and treatment. In the prevention and treatment of AMD, the prospect of using melatonin is being actively discussed.Aim: to analyze serum and tear fluid levels of melatonin in patients with AMD and study their correlation with risk factors.Materials and methods. In the course of the study, two groups were formed: the main group - patients with non-exudative AMD and senile cataract (n = 40) and the reference group - conditionally healthy patients without AMD and cataract (n = 20). Patients of both groups were surveyed to identify risk factors for AMD. The content of melatonin in blood serum and lacrimal fluid was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using the Melatonin ELISA Kit (USA).Results. In the course of the study, it was found that the concentration of melatonin in blood serum and tear fluid in patients with AMD was significantly lower than in patients of the reference group (p <0.05). Serum and tear fluid melatonin levels depend on the following factors: age, body mass index (BMI), arterial hypertension, eye color, insomnia, and night work. It is possible that the local determination of melatonin in the lacrimal fluid can be a biomarker in the determination of ophthalmic pathological conditions.Conclusion. The obtained results can be used as recommendations for clarifying individual regimens for the use of melatonin, especially in the treatment of patients with AMD

On whether azimuthal isotropy and alongshelf translational invariance are present in low-frequency acoustic propagation along the New Jersey shelfbreak

Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 131 (2012): 1762-1781, doi:10.1121/1.3672644.To understand the issues associated with the presence (or lack) of azimuthal isotropy and horizontal (along isobath) invariance of low-frequency (center frequencies of 600 Hz and 900 Hz) acoustic propagation in a shelfbreak environment, a series of experiments were conducted under the Autonomous Wide-Aperture Cluster for Surveillance component of the Shallow Water 2006 experiment. Transmission loss data reported here were from two mobile acoustic sources executing (nearly) circular tracks transmitting to sonobuoy receivers in the circle centers, and from one 12.5 km alongshelf acoustic track. The circle radii were 7.5 km. Data are from September 8, 2006. Details of the acoustic and environmental measurements are presented. Simple analytic and computer models are used to assess the variability expected due to the ocean and seabed conditions encountered. A comparison of model results and data is made, which shows preliminary consistency between the data and the models, but also points towards further work that should be undertaken specifically in enlarging the range and frequency parameter space, and in looking at integrated transmission loss.Office of Naval Research Code 32

Риск-ориентированный метод оценки стоимости хирургического лечения глаукомы

Purpose: To find out the need for various health services repeated delivery on the previously operated eye and evaluate their total cost in the surgical treatment of glaucoma.Methods: The material for the study was taken from the database of the medical information system of the Orenburg branch of S. Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Federal State Institution for the period of 2014-2017. Assessment of the change in the cost of medical services was carried out using automated process lists of surgical and laser treatment of glaucoma used in the Orenburg branch of S. Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery FSI by estimating the ratio of prevailing unit cost and the cost due to the application of the risk-oriented method.Results: There is a significant amount of patients who need to undergo surgery of the previously operated eye — 12.75%. However, the number of re-surgery is uneven for various operations: laser glaucoma surgery — 8.55%, nonpenetrating glaucoma surgery — 17.60%, penetrating glaucoma surgery — 12.78%.Conclusion: The use of the risk-based method of estimating the cost of medical care allows the medical institution to have a reserve of funds for re-intervention (1 time) at the presence of medical indications, but this increases the cost of initial medical intervention by 1.69% for penetrating surgery, by 8.47% — for non-penetrating surgery, by 21.18% — for antiglaucoma laser surgery.Цель. Выявить потребности повторного оказания различных медицинских услуг на ранее оперированном глазу и оценка их совокупной стоимости при хирургическом лечении глаукомы.Методы. Материалом исследования послужила база данных медицинской информационной системы Оренбургского филиала ФГАУ «МНТК «Микрохирургия глаза» им. акад. С.Н. Федорова за 2014-2017 гг. Оценка изменения стоимости медицинской услуги происходила с использованием автоматизированных технологических карт хирургического и лазерного лечения глауко- мы, применяемых в ОФ ФГАУ «МНТК «Микрохирургия глаза» при помощи оценки отношения сложившейся стоимости к стоимости с учетом применения риск- ориентированного метода.Результаты. Имеется значительная доля пациентов, нуждающихся в проведении повторного лечения ранее оперированного глаза — 12,75%. При этом при проведении различных операций число повторной хирургии неравномерно: при лазерных антиглаукомных операциях — 8,55%, при непроникающей хирургии глаукомы — 17,60%, при проникающей хирургии глаукомы — 12,78%.Заключение. Применение риск-ориентированного метода оценки стоимости медицинской помощи позволяет медицинскому учреждению иметь запас денежных средств для проведения повторного вмешательства (1 раз) при наличии медицинских показаний, однако это увеличивает стоимость первоначального медицинского вмешательства на 1,69% при проникающей хирургии, на 8,47% — при непроникающей хирургии, на 21,18% — при лазерных антиглаукомных операциях

DISSEMINATED CUTANEOUS TUBERCULOSIS

Cutaneous tuberculosis is a clinically and morphologically heterogeneous group of skin diseases directly or indirectly caused by mycobacteria of the tuberculosis complex, occupying the 5th place among all localizations of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. Manifestations of cutaneous tuberculosis are extremely diverse and depend on the immune status and ways of penetration of mycobacteria into the skin. Skin involvement can occur as a result of exogenous inoculation, contiguous spread from an adjacent focus, or hematogenous spread from other foci. Family cases of disseminated cutaneous tuberculosis are described. A combination of several clinical forms of cutaneous tuberculosis — scrofuloderma, tuberculosis cutis lichenoides (moniliformis scrophulosorum) and lupus — are observed in a 5 year old child with a family history of tuberculosis. The issues of pathogenesis and advanced methods of diagnosis of cutaneous tuberculosis are also discussed

Passive estimation of the waveguide invariant per pair of modes

WOSInternational audienceIn many oceanic waveguides, acoustic propagation is characterized by a parameter called waveguide invariant. This property is used in many passive and active sonar applications where knowledge of the waveguide invariant value is required. The waveguide invariant is classically considered as scalar but several studies show that it is better modeled by a distribution because of its dependence on frequency and mode pairs. This paper presents a new method for estimating the waveguide invariant distribution. Using the noise radiated by a distant ship and a single hydrophone, the proposed methodology allows estimating the waveguide invariant for each pair of modes in shallow water. Performance is evaluated on simulated data

Modern composition and distribution of alien fish species in the water bodies of the Krasnoyarsk Territory

Текст статьи не публикуется в открытом доступе в соответствии с политикой журнала.This paper presents the information on the history of appearance, modern composition, and distribution of fish species that have been introduced by man or have settled independently in the water bodies of the Krasnoyarsk Territory since the early 20th century. It is shown that the fish fauna composition has expanded mainly in the basin of the upper and middle Yenisei as well as in the basin of the Chulym that is a right tributary of the Ob; the fish fauna of the Pyasina and Khatanga rivers that are beyond the Arctic Circle has remained unchanged. Eleven fish species and two subspecies are new for the region; among them, common bream and sunbleak have largely expanded their range in the Yenisei and Chulym basins; pike perch, Amur sleeper, and bleak have enlarged their range only in the Chulym basin. The spread of other species is limited by the regions of their artificial stocking. Peled that is common for the northern regions of the territory was resettled in the Krasnoyarsk Reservoir; the status of Prussian carp that was introduced from the Amur River and degree of its assimilation with the local populations of this species are not clear