Comparative assessment of physicians’ and senior medical students’ basic knowledge in treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

The article represents the results of anonymous prospective survey within the ASCO project (full title - "Assessment of Senior Medical Students in the Field of COPD"), aimed at assessing the basic knowledge in the COPD treatmen

Structural and magnetic dimers in the spin-gapped system CuTe2O5

We investigated the magnetic properties of the system CuTe2O5 by susceptibility and electron spin resonance measurements. The anisotropy of the effective g-factors and the ESR linewidth indicates that the anticipated structural dimer does not correspond to the singlet-forming magnetic dimer. Moreover, the spin susceptibility of CuTe2O5 can only be described by taking into account interdimer interactions of the same order of magnitude than the intradimer coupling. Analyzing the exchange couplings in the system we identify the strongest magnetic coupling between two Cu ions to be mediated by super-super exchange interaction via a bridging Te ligand, while the superexchange coupling between the Cu ions of the structural dimer only results in the second strongest coupling

Assessment of the system of lipid peroxidation - anti oxidant defense in children with essential arterial hypertension by the methods of spectrophotometry and chemiluminescence

The article presents the results of the research of some indices of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense in children of 11-13 years with essential arterial hypertension that were obtained by the methods of spectrophotometry and chemiluminescence. Quantity of products of lipid peroxidation - antioxidant defense in blood serum of patients with essential arterial hypertension significantly exceeds this index in control group. Intensity of the lipid peroxidation processes expressed by the indices of chemiluminescence was higher in patients with essential arterial hypertension than in control group

Orthopoxvirus Infections: Epidemiology, Clinical Picture, and Diagnostics (Scientific Review)

Lack of immunity among the population against pathogenic orthopoxviruses and an increased number of these infections human cases testify to the need of development of the rapid high-sensitive methods for species-specific orthopoxvirus diagnostics. The review presents current epidemiological situation on human orthopoxvirus infections. Addressed are clinical aspects of the disease, caused by small pox virus (SPV), Monkeypox virus, cowpox virus, and vaccinia virus. Represented is a historical survey of the conventional methods for diagnostics of these particular viruses. Reconsidered are the benefits of researches into the sphere of state-of-the-art molecular-diagnostic techniques taking into view both genus-specific and species-specific detection of agents, causing orthopoxvirus infections in humans. Demonstrated is the urgency of new-generation typing in view of occurrence of a novel SPV-like virus emerged as a result of natural evolution of existing zoonotic orthopoxviruses or SPV application as a biological terroristic agent

Meat quality of quail fed diets enriched with probiotic lactobacilli

The article describes the effect of probiotic strains Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus AG16, Limosilactobacillus fermentum HFD1, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LS-4.4 on the meat quality of quail. The strains were grown on a whey-based nutrient medium, and in the form of suspension were introduced into the diet of birds for two months. The use of these feed additives, especially L. fermentum HFD1, resulted in a decrease in the pH of the quail breast meat. All tested strains induced a decrease in water holding capacity and cooking loss of quail breast meat compared to the control variant. The meat of quail fed with probiotic lactobacilli was less stiff, that resulted in less chewing effort in the raw meat and less cutting effort in the cooked meat

Cold-induced changes in gene expression in brown adipose tissue, white adipose tissue and liver

Cold exposure imposes a metabolic challenge to mammals that is met by a coordinated response in different tissues to prevent hypothermia. This study reports a transcriptomic analysis in brown adipose tissue (BAT), white adipose (WAT) and liver of mice in response to 24 h cold exposure at 8°C. Expression of 1895 genes were significantly (P<0.05) up- or down-regulated more than two fold by cold exposure in all tissues but only 5 of these genes were shared by all three tissues, and only 19, 14 and 134 genes were common between WAT and BAT, WAT and liver, and BAT and liver, respectively. We confirmed using qRT-PCR, the increased expression of a number of characteristic BAT genes during cold exposure. In both BAT and the liver, the most common direction of change in gene expression was suppression (496 genes in BAT and 590 genes in liver). Gene ontology analysis revealed for the first time significant (P<0.05) down regulation in response to cold, of genes involved in oxidoreductase activity, lipid metabolic processes and protease inhibitor activity, in both BAT and liver, but not WAT. The results reveal an unexpected importance of down regulation of cytochrome P450 gene expression and apolipoprotein, in both BAT and liver, but not WAT, in response to cold exposure. Pathway analysis suggests a model in which down regulation of the nuclear transcription factors HNF4α and PPARα in both BAT and liver may orchestrate the down regulation of genes involved in lipoprotein and steroid metabolism as well as Phase I enzymes belonging to the cytochrome P450 group in response to cold stress in mice. We propose that the response to cold stress involves decreased gene expression in a range of cellular processes in order to maximise pathways involved in heat production

Vibrational and magnetic properties of crystalline CuTe2O5

© 2014, Pleiades Publishing, Inc. In the present work we have performed an ab initio calculation of vibrational properties of CuTe2O5 by means of density functional theory (DFT) method. One has compared calculated values with known experimental data on Raman and infrared spectroscopy in order to verify the obtained results. Lattice contribution to the heat capacity obtained from the ab initio simulations was added to magnetic contribution calculated from the simple spin Hamiltonian model in order to obtain total heat capacity. Obtained results are in good agreement with the experimental data. Thus, the DFT methods could complement the experimental and theoretical studying of low-dimensional magnetic systems such as CuTe2O5

Rates of lobar atrophy in asymptomatic MAPT mutation carriers.

IntroductionThe aim of this study was to investigate the rates of lobar atrophy in the asymptomatic microtubule-associated protein tau (MAPT) mutation carriers.MethodsMAPT mutation carriers (n&nbsp;=&nbsp;14; 10 asymptomatic, 4 converters from asymptomatic to symptomatic) and noncarriers (n&nbsp;=&nbsp;13) underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging and were followed annually with a median of 9.2&nbsp;years. Longitudinal changes in lobar atrophy were analyzed using the tensor-based morphometry with symmetric normalization algorithm.ResultsThe rate of temporal lobe atrophy in asymptomatic MAPT mutation carriers was faster than that in noncarriers. Although the greatest rate of atrophy was observed in the temporal lobe in converters, they also had increased atrophy rates in the frontal and parietal lobes compared to noncarriers.DiscussionAccelerated decline in temporal lobe volume occurs in asymptomatic MAPT mutation carriers followed by the frontal and parietal lobe in those who have become symptomatic. The findings have implications for monitoring the progression of neurodegeneration during clinical trials in asymptomatic MAPT mutation carriers