Prescribing frequency and adherence to statins in outpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and comorbid cardiovascular diseases

BACKGROUND: Due to the high rate of growth in the incidence and burden of cardiovascular complications, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a significant medical problem in the world. Even in the absence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), patients with T2DM are classified as high and very high risk. In addition to glycemic control, an extremely important aspect of managing this group of patients is prevention of cardiovascular complications. T2DM and hyperlipidemia determines the target group for statins. At the same time, little is known about the frequency of administration of this class of drugs among people with T2DM.AIM: To study prescribing frequency and adherence to statins in outpatients with T2DM and comorbid cardiovascular diseases.METHODS: 156 patients with type 2 diabetes (87.2% — women, average age — 65.2 years) were examined as part of an outpatient appointment with an endocrinologist at the city polyclinic ofTomsk. We used a standard questionnaire compiled on the basis of adapted international methods, including information on cardiac pathology, medications, income level, and Morisky-Green test. Anthropometric parameters, fasting plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, lipid spectrum parameters were measured. Methods of parametric and nonparametric statistics were used for comparisons.RESULTS: Statins were prescribed to 45.0% of the surveyed, and 47.0% of them were constantly taking statins. In 41 and 39% of cases, statins were prescribed by an endocrinologist and a cardiologist, respectively. Those taking statins were characterized by a more severe functional class of angina pectoris (p=0.03), a higher prior myocardial infarction rate (p=0.01). For other concomitant diseases, and also indicators of carbohydrate metabolism, differences between the groups were not revealed. One third of patients were adherent (3–4 points), 2/3 were not adherent to treatment (0–2 points), respectively. Patients with incomes between 1 and 2 cost of living took statins more often than the rest (p=0.021).CONCLUSION: An insufficient frequency of prescription and adherence to statin therapy in patients with T2DM was revealed. In most cases, statins were prescribed by an endocrinologist or cardiologist. Functional class of angina pectoris, prior myocardial infarction and moderate income were associated with more frequent use of statins. To increase the coverage of patients with T2DM with statin treatment, more attention needs to be paid to the issues of CVD prevention from both medical professionals and patients

Membrane chemical stability and seed longevity

Here, we investigate the relationships between the chemical stability of the membrane surface and seed longevity. Dry embryos of long-lived tomato and short-lived onion seeds were labeled with 5-doxyl-stearic acid (5-DS). Temperature-induced loss of the electron spin resonance signal caused by chemical conversion of 5-DS to nonparamagnetic species was used to characterize the membrane surface chemical stability. No difference was found between temperature plots of 5-DS signal intensity in dry onion and tomato below 345 K. Above this temperature, the 5-DS signal remained unchanged in tomato embryos and irreversibly disappeared in onion seeds. The role of the physical state and chemical status of the membrane environment in the chemical stability of membrane surfaces was estimated for model systems containing 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) dried alone or in the presence of trehalose or glucose. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to follow temperature-induced structural changes in dry POPC. Spin-label technique was used to relate the chemical stability of 5-DS with the dynamic properties of the bilayer and 5-DS motion behavior. In all the models, the decrease in 5-DS signal intensity was always observed above Tm for the membrane surface. The 5-DS signal was irreversibly lost at high temperature when dry POPC was embedded in a glucose matrix. The loss of 5-DS signal was moderate when POPC was dried alone or in the presence of trehalose. Comparison of model and in vivo data shows that the differences in longevity between onion and tomato seeds are caused by differences in the chemical status of the membrane surface rather than the degree of its immobilization

Fundamental social motives measured across forty-two cultures in two waves

How does psychology vary across human societies? The fundamental social motives framework adopts an evolutionary approach to capture the broad range of human social goals within a taxonomy of ancestrally recurring threats and opportunities. These motives—self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, status, mate acquisition, mate retention, and kin care—are high in fitness relevance and everyday salience, yet understudied cross-culturally. Here, we gathered data on these motives in 42 countries (N = 15,915) in two cross-sectional waves, including 19 countries (N = 10,907) for which datawere gathered in both waves. Wave 1 was collected from mid-2016 through late 2019 (32 countries, N = 8,998; 3,302 male, 5,585 female; Mage = 24.43, SD = 7.91). Wave 2 was collected from April through November 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic (29 countries, N = 6,917; 2,249 male, 4,218 female; Mage = 28.59, SD = 11.31). These data can be used to assess differences and similarities in people’s fundamental social motives both across and within cultures, at different time points, and in relation to other commonly studied cultural indicators and outcomes

Family Matters:Rethinking the Psychology of Human Social Motivation

What motives do people prioritize in their social lives? Historically, social psychologists, especially those adopting an evolutionary perspective, have devoted a great deal of research attention to sexual attraction and romantic-partner choice (mate seeking). Research on long-term familial bonds (mate retention and kin care) has been less thoroughly connected to relevant comparative and evolutionary work on other species, and in the case of kin care, these bonds have been less well researched. Examining varied sources of data from 27 societies around the world, we found that people generally view familial motives as primary in importance and mate-seeking motives as relatively low in importance. Compared with other groups, college students, single people, and men place relatively higher emphasis on mate seeking, but even those samples rated kin-care motives as more important. Furthermore, motives linked to long-term familial bonds are positively associated with psychological well-being, but mate-seeking motives are associated with anxiety and depression. We address theoretical and empirical reasons why there has been extensive research on mate seeking and why people prioritize goals related to long-term familial bonds over mating goals. Reallocating relatively greater research effort toward long-term familial relationships would likely yield many interesting new findings relevant to everyday people’s highest social priorities

Working area protection in foundry shops of machinery production

Introduction. The work objection is the investigation of the industrial safety of the foundry. The task to estimate a disperse composition of dust which determines the microclimate of the foundry working area is being solved. The dependence between the particle size and their motion speed under the gravitational or centrifugal forces is revealed. Materials and Methods. The granulometric composition analysis of a powder dust sample is carried out by the laser diffraction method implemented on the laser particle analyzer Fritsch NanoTec “ANALISETTE 22”. Research Results . The data analysis shows that all phases of the process determine the microclimate of the internal environment and, under the emission dispersion, the medium in the intercase zone. The impact degree depends on the dispersion and chemical composition of dust particles. The other harmful airborne substances deposited on dust particles make it more dangerous. For example, an increase in SiO2 content toughens the requirements for clean air in the working area. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account more rigorous values of maximum permissible concentrations (MPC). Discussion and Conclusions. The most dangerous areas of the foundry production in the eco-risk terms are identified; and proposals on the development of the dust-collecting system with water wash are made. The research results can be used in foundries of the machinery production

Membrane Fluidity Adjustments in Ethanol-Stressed Oenococcus oeni Cells

The effect of ethanol on the cytoplasmic membrane of Oenococcus oeni cells and the role of membrane changes in the acquired tolerance to ethanol were investigated. Membrane tolerance to ethanol was defined as the resistance to ethanol-induced leakage of preloaded carboxyfluorescein (cF) from cells. To probe the fluidity of the cytoplasmic membrane, intact cells were labeled with doxyl-stearic acids and analyzed by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. Although the effect of ethanol was noticeable across the width of the membrane, we focused on fluidity changes at the lipid-water interface. Fluidity increased with increasing concentrations of ethanol. Cells responded to growth in the presence of 8% (vol/vol) ethanol by decreasing fluidity. Upon exposure to a range of ethanol concentrations, these adapted cells had reduced fluidity and cF leakage compared with cells grown in the absence of ethanol. Analysis of the membrane composition revealed an increase in the degree of fatty acid unsaturation and a decrease in the total amount of lipids in the cells grown in the presence of 8% (vol/vol) ethanol. Preexposure for 2 h to 12% (vol/vol) ethanol also reduced membrane fluidity and cF leakage. This short-term adaptation was not prevented in the presence of chloramphenicol, suggesting that de novo protein synthesis was not involved. We found a strong correlation between fluidity and cF leakage for all treatments and alcohol concentrations tested. We propose that the protective effect of growth in the presence of ethanol is, to a large extent, based on modification of the physicochemical state of the membrane, i.e., cells adjust their membrane permeability by decreasing fluidity at the lipid-water interface