Challenges of Post-Crisis Economic Policy in Russia

Though the global financial crisis hit Russia’s economy harder than many other emerging markets, the situation in both Russia’s real and financial sector stabilized as early as in the first half of 2009. However, the exit strategy chosen by the Russian authorities lacked any specific strategy or task-oriented exit policy.Economic crisis, economic recovery, Russia

Anthropological Characteristic of the Head and Face of the Native People from North Sulawesi

Introduction. The population of Indonesia is not well enough explored anthropologically. There are no reliable anthropometric data for some populations, living on Sulawesi Island. For the first time in scientific literature, a description of head and face traits of the indigenous populations of North Sulawesi, which remained completely anthropologically unexplored until now, is presented. Methods. The authors study the Minahasans (n = 96) and the Sangirese people (n = 76) using the classical anthropometrical programme, including metrical (n = 14) and nonmetrical (n = 29) features. Analysis. The sudy of the Minahasans and the Sangirese people shows that these ethnic groups are generally similar; significant differences were found in a small number of traits. The Sangirese people have darker pigmentation of the skin and the iris than the Minahasans. More frequently they are wavy or even curly heared. In general, the population of North Sulawesi can be described as belonging to the South Asian population. However, the review of some traits of the Sangirese people and the Minahasans (hyperbrachycephalia, epicanthus occurs rather rare, narrow nose) put them on the borderline of variability of the explored South, Southeast Asian and Oceanian population. Sulawesi peoples (comparatively dark-skinned, sometimes curly haired) can presumably have equatorial mixture. Results. The Minahasans are close to the Dayak people of Kalimantan. The Sangirese people can have insignificant melanesian mixture because of their kinship with the Philippines people, perhaps with the Negrito of the Philippines. This conclusion is preliminary and has to be substantiated

Altered Motoneuron Properties Contribute to Motor Deficits in a Rabbit Hypoxia-Ischemia Model of Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy (CP) is caused by a variety of factors attributed to early brain damage, resulting in permanently impaired motor control, marked by weakness and muscle stiffness. To find out if altered physiology of spinal motoneurons (MNs) could contribute to movement deficits, we performed whole-cell patch-clamp in neonatal rabbit spinal cord slices after developmental injury at 79% gestation. After preterm hypoxia-ischemia (HI), rabbits are born with motor deficits consistent with a spastic phenotype including hypertonia and hyperreflexia. There is a range in severity, thus kits are classified as severely affected, mildly affected, or unaffected based on modified Ashworth scores and other behavioral tests. At postnatal day (P)0–5, we recorded electrophysiological parameters of 40 MNs in transverse spinal cord slices using whole-cell patch-clamp. We found significant differences between groups (severe, mild, unaffected and sham control MNs). Severe HI MNs showed more sustained firing patterns, depolarized resting membrane potential, and fired action potentials at a higher frequency. These properties could contribute to muscle stiffness, a hallmark of spastic CP. Interestingly altered persistent inward currents (PICs) and morphology in severe HI MNs would dampen excitability (depolarized PIC onset and increased dendritic length). In summary, changes we observed in spinal MN physiology likely contribute to the severity of the phenotype, and therapeutic strategies for CP could target the excitability of spinal MNs

Factors of global inflation in 2021–2022

The paper examines the factors of global inflation acceleration in 2021–2022. We consider primarily the developed economies, where rates of inflation over the last two years have exceeded multi-year highs and have significantly exceeded target levels. We find that the cause of accelerating inflation was an imbalance between aggregate demand, which started to increase rapidly in the second half of 2020 as economies began to adapt to the circumstances of the pandemic, and aggregate supply, which encountered persistent constraints associated with interruptions in global supply chains. Significant support for demand was provided by fiscal stimulus that was unprecedented in scale and was accompanied by policy interest rates reaching extremely low levels, and by active injections of liquidity by central banks. The willingness of governments to implement ultra-expansionary monetary and fiscal policies can to a considerable degree be attributed to the fact that during the previous decade large budget deficits, zero interest rates, and programs of quantitative easing had not resulted in macroeconomic destabilization. We examine the view of many central banks that the inflationary wave would not be long-lasting, which was a crucial reason for delaying the interest rates increase. We consider the conditions in which the leading economies might fall into the stagflation trap

Spinal Hyper-Excitability and Altered Muscle Structure Contribute to Muscle Hypertonia in Newborns After Antenatal Hypoxia-Ischemia in a Rabbit Cerebral Palsy Model

Rabbit kits after global antenatal hypoxic-ischemic injury exhibit motor deficits similar to humans with cerebral palsy. We tested several mechanisms previously implicated in spinal hyper-excitability after perinatal brain injury that may explain muscle hypertonia in newborns. Stiffness of hind limb muscles during passive stretch, electromyogram, and spinal excitability by Hoffman reflex, were assessed in rabbit kits with muscle hypertonia after global hypoxic-ischemic brain injury and naïve controls. Affected muscle architecture, motoneuron morphology, primary afferents density, gliosis, and KCC2 expression transporter in the spinal cord were also examined. Decrease knee stiffness after anesthetic administration was larger, but residual stiffness was higher in hypertonic kits compared to controls. Hypertonic kits exhibited muscle shortening and atrophy, in both agonists and antagonists. Sarcomere length was longer in tibialis anterior in hypertonic kits than in controls. Hypertonic kits had decreased rate dependent depression and increased Hmax/Mmax in H-reflex. Motor neuron soma sizes, primary afferent density were not different between controls and hypertonic kits. Length of dendritic tree and ramification index were lower in hypertonic group. Gene expression of KCC2 was lower in hypertonic kits, but protein content was not different between the groups. In conclusion, while we found evidence of decreased supraspinal inhibitory control and increased excitability by H-reflex that may contribute to neuronal component in hypertonia, increased joint resistance to stretch was explained predominantly by changes in passive properties of muscles and joints. We did not find structural evidence of increased sensory afferent input or morphological changes in motoneurons that might explain increased excitability. Gliosis, observed in spinal gray matter, may contribute to muscle hypertonia

Political and Legal Knowledge and Attempts by People to Control the Unknown with the Help of Religion

Научное познание не может сократить сферу непознанных закономерностей вселенной, действие которых в состоянии в любой момент уничтожить человечество. В этой ситуации человеческие индивиды обращаются к религии, применяя для контроля непознанного политико-правовое знание. Например, люди объявляют вселенную политически организованным обществом. Суверена такой всеобъемлющей целостности они именуют Богом, заявляют о своем повиновении созданному им праву, воспринимают как должное божественные санкции за установленные Всевышним правонарушения, а также просят названного властителя помочь в удовлетворении людских потребностей. Для тех, кто не верит в религию, указанный способ контроля непознанного не позволяет познать неизвестную людям сферу мира и использовать соответствующие сведения для сохранения и прогресса человеческих индивидов. Верующие же придерживаются противоположного убеждения. Поэтому приверженцы религии спокойно воспринимают самих себя и окружающий мир как объекты, которые могут быть ими усовершенствованы, и с уверенностью на успех предпринимают многообразную созидательную деятельность в различных областях социальной жизни. Неверующие же, заинтересованные в выживании и прогрессе человеческих индивидов, не могут не быть довольными такими усилиями верующих, гармонирующими с их собственными стараниями для достижения отмеченных целей, и, как правило, предпринимают все возможное для поддержки указанных действий верующих. В итоге охарактеризованная религиозная практика способствует выживанию и прогрессу человечества. По-видимому, так объясняется ее присутствие во всех человеческих обществахScientific knowledge cannot reduce the scope of the unknown laws of the universe, the action of which can destroy humanity at any moment. In this situation human individuals turn to religion, using political and legal knowledge to control the unknown. For example, people declare the universe to be a politically organized society. They call the sovereign of such a comprehensive integrity God, declare their obedience to the law created by Him, take for granted divine sanctions for offenses established by the Almighty, and also ask the said ruler to help meet human needs. For those who do not believe in religion, this method of controlling the unknown does not allow to cognize the unknown sphere of the world and use the relevant information for the preservation and progress of human individuals. Believers hold the opposite belief. Therefore, adherents of religion calmly perceive themselves and the world around them as objects that can be improved by them, and with confidence in success undertake a variety of creative activities in various areas of social life. Non-believers, who are interested in the survival and progress of human individuals, cannot but be pleased with such efforts of believers, in harmony with their own efforts to achieve mentioned goals, and, as a rule, do everything possible to support these actions of believers. As a result, the described religious practice contributes to the survival and progress of mankind. Apparently, this explains its presence in all human societie

White Matter Injury and General Movements in High-Risk Preterm Infants

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Very preterm infants (birth weight, MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective study of 47 preterm infants of 24-30 weeks' gestation, brain MR imaging was performed at term-equivalent age. Infants underwent T1- and T2-weighted imaging for volumetric analysis and DTI. General movements were assessed at 10-15 weeks' postterm age, and neurodevelopmental outcomes were evaluated at 2 years by using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development Ill. RESULTS: Nine infants had aberrant general movements and were more likely to have adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes, compared with infants with normal movements. In infants with aberrant movements, Tract-Based Spatial Statistics analysis identified significantly lower fractional anisotropy in widespread white matter tracts, including the corpus callosum, inferior longitudinal and fronto-occipital fasciculi, internal capsule, and optic radiation. The subset of infants having both aberrant movements and abnormal neurodevelopmental outcomes in cognitive, language, and motor skills had significantly lower fractional anisotropy in specific brain regions. CONCLUSIONS: Aberrant general movements at 10-15 weeks' postterm are associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes and specific white matter microstructure abnormalities for cognitive, language, and motor delays

Altered Neurocircuitry in the Dopamine Transporter Knockout Mouse Brain

The plasma membrane transporters for the monoamine neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine modulate the dynamics of these monoamine neurotransmitters. Thus, activity of these transporters has significant consequences for monoamine activity throughout the brain and for a number of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Gene knockout (KO) mice that reduce or eliminate expression of each of these monoamine transporters have provided a wealth of new information about the function of these proteins at molecular, physiological and behavioral levels. In the present work we use the unique properties of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to probe the effects of altered dopaminergic dynamics on meso-scale neuronal circuitry and overall brain morphology, since changes at these levels of organization might help to account for some of the extensive pharmacological and behavioral differences observed in dopamine transporter (DAT) KO mice. Despite the smaller size of these animals, voxel-wise statistical comparison of high resolution structural MR images indicated little morphological change as a consequence of DAT KO. Likewise, proton magnetic resonance spectra recorded in the striatum indicated no significant changes in detectable metabolite concentrations between DAT KO and wild-type (WT) mice. In contrast, alterations in the circuitry from the prefrontal cortex to the mesocortical limbic system, an important brain component intimately tied to function of mesolimbic/mesocortical dopamine reward pathways, were revealed by manganese-enhanced MRI (MEMRI). Analysis of co-registered MEMRI images taken over the 26 hours after introduction of Mn^(2+) into the prefrontal cortex indicated that DAT KO mice have a truncated Mn^(2+) distribution within this circuitry with little accumulation beyond the thalamus or contralateral to the injection site. By contrast, WT littermates exhibit Mn^(2+) transport into more posterior midbrain nuclei and contralateral mesolimbic structures at 26 hr post-injection. Thus, DAT KO mice appear, at this level of anatomic resolution, to have preserved cortico-striatal-thalamic connectivity but diminished robustness of reward-modulating circuitry distal to the thalamus. This is in contradistinction to the state of this circuitry in serotonin transporter KO mice where we observed more robust connectivity in more posterior brain regions using methods identical to those employed here

Fast reproducible identification and large-scale databasing of individual functional cognitive networks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although cognitive processes such as reading and calculation are associated with reproducible cerebral networks, inter-individual variability is considerable. Understanding the origins of this variability will require the elaboration of large multimodal databases compiling behavioral, anatomical, genetic and functional neuroimaging data over hundreds of subjects. With this goal in mind, we designed a simple and fast acquisition procedure based on a 5-minute functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequence that can be run as easily and as systematically as an anatomical scan, and is therefore used in every subject undergoing fMRI in our laboratory. This protocol captures the cerebral bases of auditory and visual perception, motor actions, reading, language comprehension and mental calculation at an individual level.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>81 subjects were successfully scanned. Before describing inter-individual variability, we demonstrated in the present study the reliability of individual functional data obtained with this short protocol. Considering the anatomical variability, we then needed to correctly describe individual functional networks in a voxel-free space. We applied then non-voxel based methods that automatically extract main features of individual patterns of activation: group analyses performed on these individual data not only converge to those reported with a more conventional voxel-based random effect analysis, but also keep information concerning variance in location and degrees of activation across subjects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This collection of individual fMRI data will help to describe the cerebral inter-subject variability of the correlates of some language, calculation and sensorimotor tasks. In association with demographic, anatomical, behavioral and genetic data, this protocol will serve as the cornerstone to establish a hybrid database of hundreds of subjects suitable to study the range and causes of variation in the cerebral bases of numerous mental processes.</p