Productivity trends and income inequality in Latvia

Increasing labour productivity is a key driver for prosperity. Although Latvia's productivity growth rates are among the highest in the EU, productivity growth has declined in recent years. With the productivity dynamics slowing down, the pace of convergence is also slower. The benefits of the recent economic recovery in Latvia have not been evenly distributed among households and income inequality has not diminished significantly. The recent OECD and academic studies point to a correlation between falling productivity and increasing income inequality. The more unequal a society is, the more it affects productivity growth and the sustainability of growth. Improving productivity has the potential to affect inequalities in a positive and negative way. To find suitable policy answers therefore is extremely challenging. The research describes the dynamics of productivity and income inequality, their interaction in Latvia. The research is based on existing data, studies, and policy documents. It aims to integrate the available data from a broad range of international and domestic sources from the perspective of Latvia. The research argues that easy gains from catching up are over, keeping productivity dynamic will not be easy, as the factors that provided relatively high productivity rates in previous periods are likely to be exhausted and companies are approaching the limits of existing technology. Continued progress in implementing structural reforms will be needed to reduce the productivity gap, only systemic implementation of all policies and structural reforms can provide a desirable outcome. In order to reduce income inequality, it is important to strengthen the competitiveness of the regions of Latvia and to improve the tax and benefit system

Lithologic-facies and paleogeographic features of Mid-Upper Jurassic oil-gas bearing sediments in Nurolsk depression (Western Siberia)

Bathonian-Callovian-Oxfordian sedimentation environment reconstruction in SE Nurolsk depression, Western Siberia has been described. Paleogeographic and litho-geochemical features of sediments, numerous plant remains and ichnofossils indicated the fact that this territory during the Naunaksk suite formation was the transition in-situ sedimentogenesis. Based on the integrated research data, the potential litho-facies were identified in the Mid-Upper sediments within Nurolsk depression, Western Siberia

Проблемы профилактики и лечения глюкокортикоидного остеопороза

Osteoporosis (OP) is a serious problem to patients who have long taken glucocorticoids. In the past two decade, much knowledge has been accumulated about the epidemiology of the disease and drugs with proven efficacy for its prevention and treatment have emerged. However, a large number of studies suggest that there is a serious shortage in care to patients with glucocorticoid-induced OP, which calls for effective measures to bring the real level of its prevention and treatment in compliance with the current clinical guidelinesОстеопороз (ОП) является серьезной проблемой для больных, длительно принимающих глюкокортикоиды. За последние 20 лет накоплено большое количество знаний об эпидемиологии заболевания, появились препараты с доказанной эффективностью для его профилактики и лечения. Однако большое количество исследований свидетельствует о серьезных недостатках в помощи больным глюкокортикоидным ОП, что требует действенных мер для приведения реального уровня его профилактики и лечения в соответствие требованиям современных клинических рекомендаци

In Vitro and in Silico Liver Models: Current Trends, Challenges and Opportunities

Most common drug development failures originate from either bioavailability problems, or unexpected toxic effects. The culprit is often the liver, which is responsible for biotransformation of a majority of xenobiotics. Liver may be modeled using liver on a chip devices, which may include established cell lines, primary human cells, and stem cell-derived hepatocyte-like cells. The choice of biological material along with its processing and maintenance greatly influence both the device performance and the resultant toxicity predictions. Impediments to the development of liver on a chip technology include the problems with standardization of cells, limitations imposed by culturing and the necessity to develop more complicated fluidic contours. Fortunately, recent breakthroughs in the development of cell-based reporters, including ones with fluorescent label, permits monitoring of the behavior of the cells embed into the liver on a chip devices. Finally, a set of computational approaches has been developed to model both particular toxic response and the homeostasis of human liver as a whole; these approaches pave a way to enhance the in silico stage of assessment for a potential toxicity

Validation of Molecular Markers of Barley Net Blotch Resistance Loci on Chromosome 3H for Marker-Assisted Selection

The most widespread and harmful disease of barley is net form of net blotch caused by the ascomycete Pyrenophora teres f. teres Drechsler (Ptt). A cost effective and environmentally sustainable strategy for barley protection against Ptt is to develop barley cultivars possessing genetic resistance. In previous GWA analysis, we identified SNP-markers associated with a resistance locus on chromosome 3H in the interval of 45.82-54.53 cM. These SNPs have been described previously in the literature to be located within the same region of chromosome 3H. The aim of the study was to validate QTL markers controlling resistance to Ptt on chromosome 3H in this region by KASP genotyping in four F-2 populations of crosses between the resistant cultivars, Morex, Fox, and Zolo, and the accession, Local k-21578, with the susceptible barley cv. Gesine and in a doubled haploid (DH) population of Canadian Lake Shore (CLS)/Harrington. Eleven of fifteen studied markers showed high efficacy (97.5-100%) for co-segregation with resistance to Ptt in the DH population, CLS/Harrington. Three of these markers located at 54.53 cM and one at 51.27 cM were effective in two F-2 populations of crosses of Morex and Fox with susceptible cv. Gesine. These markers are also located close to each other on the physical map (442,203,921-443,119,491 bp). Apparently, in cultivars, CLS, Morex, and Fox, resistance to Ptt is determined by the same locus. Markers JHI-Hv50k2016-166392 (47.1 cM, 112,536,071 bp), Clone ID 3255462_1 (51.63 cM, 363,531,898 bp), and Clone ID 3255462_2 (51.63 cM, 363,531,871 bp) showed high efficacy in the DH population and in the F-2 population, Local k-21578/Gesine. Apparently, at least two loci controlling Ptt resistance exist in the chromosome region of 47.0-54.3 cM: one at 46.0-48.44 cM and another at 51.27-54.8 cM. These regions were found to harbor several genes involved in important plant functions, including disease response and signaling pathways. Allele-specific PCR markers were developed based on the KASP assay data and tested on six resistant, two moderately resistant, and two susceptible barley genotypes. Four markers were found to be effective to differentiate susceptible and resistant barley genotypes. The KASP and allele-specific PCR markers associated with Ptt resistance on chromosome 3H will be useful for pyramiding resistance QTLs in barley marker-assisted selection

Peculiarities of Mental Space in Modern Linguistics

The article considers the principles of intellectualism and anthropocentrism, correlating to the classical approaches of G.W.F. Hegel, W. Humboldt, I. Kant, Plato, A. Potebnja, G. Shpet and developed by M. Mamardashvili, N. Chomsky. Mental space is characterized by a specific systematicity for which some dominant areas, mental spheres, mental phrasemes verbalized at lexical, semantic and structural levels are essential. The author’s bilingual consciousness is capable of forming grammatically correct structures including a feedback to an initial intention and assessing of an obtained result by its content while respecting the scientific traditions of the theory of denoting. Such mental space usually systemically artistically reveals both differences between the world of language and the world of soul, the world of consciousness and their unity. It is noted that a bilingual consciousness operates a special set of syntactical structures (elliptical sentences) enabling the recipient to conjecture some information; thus, this cognitive process is a creative and positive one, moulding a personality. Relevant stereotypes are also characterized by a special interrelation between verbalization and semantization, which acquire a language form through etiquette formulas, various stable cognitive combinations and proverbs. The bilingual consciousness creates a fragment of reality in a special way in the mental space, reflecting the specific national verbal and non-verbal behaviour of a certain ethnos and specific standards of the creation and perception of speech forms adopted in a certain culture. In this connection, a bilingual consciousness can be regarded as a way of reflecting the linguistic consciousness of an author, which is national in the ways of its expression. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s2p16

Toward high-resolution population genomics using archaeological samples

The term ‘ancient DNA’ (aDNA) is coming of age, with over 1,200 hits in the PubMed database, beginning in the early 1980s with the studies of ‘molecular paleontology’. Rooted in cloning and limited sequencing of DNA from ancient remains during the pre-PCR era, the field has made incredible progress since the introduction of PCR and next-generation sequencing. Over the last decade, aDNA analysis ushered in a new era in genomics and became the method of choice for reconstructing the history of organisms, their biogeography, and migration routes, with applications in evolutionary biology, population genetics, archaeogenetics, paleoepidemiology, and many other areas. This change was brought by development of new strategies for coping with the challenges in studying aDNA due to damage and fragmentation, scarce samples, significant historical gaps, and limited applicability of population genetics methods. In this review, we describe the state-of-the-art achievements in aDNA studies, with particular focus on human evolution and demographic history. We present the current experimental and theoretical procedures for handling and analysing highly degraded aDNA. We also review the challenges in the rapidly growing field of ancient epigenomics. Advancement of aDNA tools and methods signifies a new era in population genetics and evolutionary medicine research