Contemporary foreign language teachers training

The article deals with contemporary foreign language teacher’s training. Based on experience it is analyzed foreign language teacher’s training system in Russia and noted specific tendencies in teacher’s training and his/her personal qualities. The authors consider innovative approaches directed to contemporary teacher of the 21-st century who is a central facilitator of a foreign language educational process. Due to the research there were established the most effective learning techniques for development of teacher’s methodological thinking and his/her personal qualities formation (communication skills, empathy, creativity, reflexivity etc.

Forming and developing students’ communicative competence: from reading to speaking

The goal of the research is to define the effective ways of students’ foreign language communicative competence formation by means of reading and speaking activities within the university English course. The article focuses on the concept of communicative competence and the ways to form i

Thrombotic storm, hemostasis disorders and thromboinflammation in COVID-19

The rate of thrombosis and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) has been increasing in COVID-19 patients. Key features related to such condition include minimal or no risk of bleeding, moderate thrombocytopenia, high plasma fibrinogen as well as complement components level in the areas of thrombotic microangiopathy. The clinical picture is not typical for classic DIC. This review systematizes the pathogenetic mechanisms of hypercoagulation in sepsis and its extreme forms in patients with COVID-19. The latter consist of the thrombosis-related immune mechanisms, the complement activation, the macrophage activation syndrome, the formation of antiphospholipid antibodies, the hyperferritinemia, and the dysregulation of the renin-angiotensin system. Taking into consideration the pathogenetic mechanisms, the biomarkers had been identified related to the prognosis of the disease development. Patients with pre-existing cardiovascular disease and other risk factors, including obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and aging pose the peak risk of dying from COVID-19. We also summarize new data on platelet and endothelial dysfunction, immunothrombosis, and, as a result, thrombotic storm as essential components of COVID-19 severe features

Self-consistent field theory for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments

Background: Keratins are important structural proteins found in skin, hair and nails. Keratin Intermediate Filaments are major components of corneocytes, nonviable horny cells of the Stratum Corneum, the outermost layer of skin. It is considered that interactions between unstructured domains of Keratin Intermediate Filaments are the key factor in maintaining the elasticity of the skin. Results: We have developed a model for the interactions between keratin intermediate filaments based on self-consistent field theory. The intermediate filaments are represented by charged surfaces, and the disordered terminal domains of the keratins are represented by charged heteropolymers grafted to these surfaces. We estimate the system is close to a charge compensation point where the heteropolymer grafting density is matched to the surface charge density. Using a protein model with amino acid resolution for the terminal domains, we find that the terminal chains can mediate a weak attraction between the keratin surfaces. The origin of the attraction is a combination of bridging and electrostatics. The attraction disappears when the system moves away from the charge compensation point, or when excess small ions and/or NMF-representing free amino acids are added. Conclusions: These results are in concordance with experimental observations, and support the idea that the interaction between keratin filaments, and ultimately in part the elastic properties of the keratin-containing tissue, is controlled by a combination of the physico-chemical properties of the disordered terminal domains and the composition of the medium in the inter-filament region. Keywords: Stratum corneum, Skin keratins, Intermediate filaments, Unstructured terminal domains, Bridging attractio

Association of polymorphism of some candidate genes with the development of non-infectious and infectious endocarditis

Aim. To study association between polymorphisms of candidate genes and the development of non-infectious and infectious endocarditis (IE).Material and methods. During the study 175 patients were examined. They were divided into two groups: the first group — 81 patients with non-infectious endocarditis and the second one — 94 patients with IE. We present a comparative analysis of the genotype frequencies of the five genes polymorphisms: rs11697325 (-8202 A/G) of the MMP9 gene, 4a/4b of the NOS3 gene, rs4340 of the ACE gene, rs2476601 (С1858Т) of the PTPN22 gene, rs231775 (49 A/G) of the CTLA4 gene in groups of patients with endocarditis and healthy individuals.Results. We found association between endocarditis and rs11697325 (-8202 A/G) of the MMP9 gene, 4a/4b of the NOS3 gene, as well as rs2476601 (C1858T) of the PTPN22 gene with IE.Conclusion. Thus, association between three of the five polymorphisms and vegetations on the valvular heart apparatus was revealed

Hypophosphatemic osteomalacia induced by FGF23-secreting tumor of the left femur

Tumor-induced hypophosphatemic osteomalacia is a rare disease and its diagnosis presents certain difficulties. This is primarily due to small tumor size and to the absence of local clinical symptoms. Adult-onset newly diagnosed hypophosphatemia concurrent with hyperphosphaturia is a sign of tumor-induced hypophosphatemic osteomalacia. The paper describes a female patient with fibroblast growth factor 23-secreting tumor of the upper third of the femur. After tumor removal, pharmacological treatment involves prescribing calcium supplements and active vitamin D metabolite until normal bone mineral density is restored

Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia: definition, risks with different vaccines, and regulatory responses

After the vaccination campaign initiation in Europe and the UK, reports of rare cases of atypical thrombosis, including sinus vein thrombosis and splanchnic venous thrombosis, began to appear in association with the use of vector vaccines AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1) and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. The syndrome called VITT (vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia) manifested as thrombosis simultaneously with a decrease in platelet count, a significant increase in D-dimer levels and a detection of factor 4 platelet (PF4) antibodies. We present a detailed review of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, clinical presentation, diagnostics and treatment of VITT, which is by its nature an immune complication, similar to the processes occurring in heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT). All international and national organizations and regulatory authorities, including experts in the field of thrombosis and hemostasis and the VITT expert council recommend continuing the prompt mass vaccination against COVID-19 as the only method that can reduce the incidence of severe cases, stop the spread of COVID-19 infection and the emergence of new dangerous mutations in the viral genome. Failure to vaccinate poses an incomparably greater risk of fatal thrombotic and inflammatory complications associated with infections, compared with the risks of extremely rare adverse events that can occur after vaccination. It should be noted that information on VITT, described as a sporadic phenomenon of an abnormal immune response to some variants of vaccines against COVID-19, cannot be translated to other vaccines (including registered in the Russian Federation) and even more cannot be a reason for refusal to use them