Pediatric hearing loss – causes and management

Introduction: Around 34 million children have disabling hearing loss. The causes leading to impairment in the hearing analyzer are classified as congenital and acquired.Purposes: Early diagnosis and hearing rehabilitation are essential for the child’s development. The purpose of this article is to assist the approach of detection and management of this condition, therefore to highlight the syndromes and diseases that lead to disturbance in hearing, making them more recognizable.Methods: The information in this article is based on our clinical experience with children with hearing disorders as well as on the literature review.Results: Children in whom diagnosis and rehabilitation were performedtimely show better development and more effective results than those where the delay has led to disabilities in linguistic and social abilities.Conclusions: The London Dysmorphology Database has listed 396 syndromes that include hearing disorders, with 30% of congenital deafness being part of syndrome complex. Screening programs in newborns allow early diagnosis and rapid intervention. Some of the causes that lead to hearing loss are treatable, while others are overcome by hearing aids

Multi-Parametric Rigid and Flexible, Low-Cost, Disposable Sensing Platforms for Biomedical Applications

The measurement of Na+, K+ and H+ is essential in medicine and plays an important role in the assessment of tissue ischemia. Microfabrication, inkjet- and screen-printing can be used for solid contact ion selective electrodes (ISE) realization; these, however, can be non-standardized, costly and time consuming processes. We present the realization of ISEs on post-processed electrodes fabricated via standardized printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing techniques. In vitro results are presented from two rigid platforms (32 ISEs) for liquid sample dip-stick measurements and two flexible platforms (6 and 32 ISEs) for post-surgical intestinal tissue monitoring, each with a common reference electrode (RE). These are combined with optimized tetrapolar bioimpedance sensors for tissue ischemia detection. Both electroless and hard gold PCB finishes are examined. Apart from the electroless rigid platform, the rest demonstrated comparable and superior performance, with the pH sensors demonstrating the greatest deviation; the flexible hard gold platform achieved a sensitivity 4.6 mV/pH and 49.2 mV/pH greater than the electroless flexible and rigid platforms, respectively. The best overall performance was achieved with the hard gold flexible platform with sensitivities as large as 73.4 mV/pH, 56.3 mV/log [Na+], and 57.4 mV/log [K+] vs. custom REs on the same substrate. Simultaneous measurements of target analytes is demonstrated with test solutions and saliva samples. The results exhibit superior performance to other PCB-based pH sensors, demonstration of Na+ and K+ PCB-based sensors with comparable performance to potentiometric sensors fabricated with other techniques, paving the way towards mass-produced, low-cost, disposable, multi-parametric chemical sensing diagnostic platforms

Preservation of the Language and Culture of a Small Ethnic Group (on the Example of the Veps)

The article is devoted to the problem of preserving the language and culture of the Vepsian people. The author proceeds from the fact that the situation with the languages of the small peoples of the Russian Federation is close to critical. Dependence of demographic and language situation in a small ethnic group on the state policy is shown. The author points out to the positive experience of the policy of indigenization, which was conducted by the Soviet state from the beginning of the 1920s to the end of the 1930s with the aim of political, cultural and economic development of national minorities. It is reported that as a result of this policy, the census of 1926 and 1939 showed the highest number of Vepsians: 32.8 and 29.7 thousand respectively. It is stated that with the deterioration of the national policy in late 1937 the degradation of the ethnos began, which continues nowadays. The author shows that the Veps are disunited, economically and politically unprotected in their original territories, there is a loss of carriers, the language environment disappears, the language loses the main function - to be a means of communication. Measures are proposed to prevent the further loss of the Vepsian population and the preservation of the language environment. The author emphasizes the decisive role of the state in the development, protection and strengthening of small ethnic groups and their languages

Using of high-speed mills for biomass disintegration

ArticleThe need for mechanical disintegration of biomass is very current topic with regard to the requirements of an agrarian sector, beside the importance of a material’s moisture content reduction to be used in further applications. The drawbacks of commonly applied devices are the limited use of moist biomass and high energy consumption for disintegration. In collaboration with LAVARIS company, there were tested two high-speed mills LAV 400/1R with single rotor (used for a first milling) and LAV 300/2R with double rotors (used for a second milling), which were primarily designed for crushing of concrete, rubber and construction waste. The goal of the new technical solution was a disintegration of biomass on example of pine sawdust and miscanthus together with examination of simultaneous drying in order to achieve a desired fraction (particle size) and moisture content of biomass material. Experimental tests on highspeed mills have shown the following results: in case of pine sawdust about 98% of output particle size after passing through the first and second milling was smaller than 1.5 mm, and smaller than 1 mm for miscanthus (sieve analysis method was used for determination), i.e. significant reduction was achieved comparing to initial particle size. Moisture content of the materials after disintegration (first and second) decreased from 37.08% to 8.55% for pine sawdust and from 24.43% to 7.19% for miscanthus. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the mechanical disintegration of biomass by high-speed mills has a great potential to become an effective part of raw materials’ pre-treatment technology, not only in agriculture, but also in production of different types of biofuels

Higher order Jordan Osserman Pseudo-Riemannian manifolds

We study the higher order Jacobi operator in pseudo-Riemannian geometry. We exhibit a family of manifolds so that this operator has constant Jordan normal form on the Grassmannian of subspaces of signature (r,s) for certain values of (r,s). These pseudo-Riemannian manifolds are new and non-trivial examples of higher order Osserman manifolds

Results of investigation of muon fluxes of superhigh energy cosmic rays with X-ray emulsion chambers

The overall data from the investigation of the cosmic ray muon flux in the range of zenith angles (0-90) deg within the energy range (3.5 to 5.0) TeV is presented. The exposure of large X-ray emulsion chambers underground was 1200 tons. year. The data were processe using the method which was applied in the experiment Pamir and differred from the earlier applied one. The obtained value of a slope power index of the differential energy spectrum of the global muon flux is =3.7 that corresponds to the slope of the pion generation differential spectrum, gamma sub PI = 2.75 + or - .04. The analysis of the muon zenith-angular distribution showed that the contribution of rapid generation muons in the total muon flux agree the best with the value .2% and less with .7% at a 90% reliability level

Khalkhal Khanate: Historical and Geographical Essay

The review of the book by Azerbaijani researcher Enver Chigisoglu (Ənvər Çingisoğlu) “Khalkhal Khanate,” edited in 2016, gives an idea of the content of the publication dedicated to one of the lesser-known states, existing on the territory of Iranian Azerbaijan in 18th-19th centuries. It is reported that the book based on numerous sources analyzes data about history, geography and culture of Khalkhal Khanate

BRAND JOURNALISM AS THE MAIN METHOD OF PROMOTING ONLINE MEDIA (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE ONLINE EDITION «MEDUZA»)

Данное исследование посвящено изучению использования бренд-журналистики как одного из основных методов продвижения СМИ. Объектом исследования является маркетинговая деятельность русскоязычного интернет-СМИ «Медуза». Для анализа эмпирического материала привлекались труды Ф. Котлера, Е.В. Попова и современных исследователей: А. Градюшко, Е.В. Ярных. Были использованы описательно-аналитический метод наряду с проблемно-тематическим и контент-анализом. В ходе исследования выявлено, что использование инструментов и технологий бренд-журналистики служит значительным стимулирующим фактором для роста аудитории издания «Медуза».This study examines the use of brand journalism as one of the main methods of media promotion. The object of the research is the marketing activities of the russian-language Internet media «Meduza». For the analysis of the empirical material, fundamental works of F. Kotler, E.V. Popov and modern researchers: A. Gradyushko, E.V. Yarnykh. The research used a descriptive-analytical method along with content analysis and problem-thematic analysis. It was found that the use of brand journalism tools and technologies serves as a significant stimulating factor for the growth of the audience of «Meduza»