Chewing gum and context-dependent memory: The independent roles of chewing gum and mint flavour

Two experiments independently investigated the basis of the chewing-gum induced context-dependent memory effect (Baker et al, 2004). At learning and/or recall participants either chewed flavourless gum (Experiment 1) or received mint-flavoured strips (Experiment 2). No context dependent memory effect was found with either flavourless gum or mint-flavoured strips, indicating that independently the contexts were insufficiently salient to induce the effect. This is found despite participants’ subjective ratings indicating a perceived change in state following administration of flavourless gum or mint-flavoured strips. Additionally, some preliminary evidence for a non-additive facilitative effect of receiving gum or flavour at either learning and/or recall is reported. The findings raise further concerns regarding the robustness of the previously reported context-dependent memory effect with chewing gum

Мобильное приложение для организации проектной деятельности студента

Объектом исследования является процесс организации проектной деятельности студента. Цель работы – проектирование и разработка мобильного приложения для организации проектной деятельности студента. В результате разработано мобильное приложение для организации проектной деятельности студента со следующим функционалом: учет выполняемых проектов, учет посещаемости консультаций проектного обучения, учет и контроль выполнения оперативных задач проекта, анализ исполнительской дисциплины.The object of research is the process of organizing student project activities. The purpose of the work is the design and development of a mobile application for the organization of student project activities. As a result, a mobile application was developed for organizing a student’s project activity with the following functionalities: accounting for ongoing projects, accounting for attendance of project training consultations, accounting for and monitoring the implementation of operational tasks of the project, analysis of performing discipline

Effects of cytokine blocking agents on hospital mortality in patients admitted to ICU with acute respiratory distress syndrome by SARS-CoV-2 infection: Retrospective cohort study

Background: The use of cytokine-blocking agents has been proposed to modulate the inflammatory response in patients with COVID-19. Tocilizumab and anakinra were included in the local protocol as an optional treatment in critically ill patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by SARS-CoV-2 infection. This cohort study evaluated the effects of therapy with cytokine blocking agents on in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients requiring mechanical ventilation and admitted to intensive care unit. Methods: The association between therapy with tocilizumab or anakinra and in-hospital mortality was assessed in consecutive adult COVID-19 patients admitted to our ICU with moderate to severe ARDS. The association was evaluated by comparing patients who received to those who did not receive tocilizumab or anakinra and by using different multivariable Cox models adjusted for variables related to poor outcome, for the propensity to be treated with tocilizumab or anakinra and after patient matching. Results: Sixty-six patients who received immunotherapy (49 tocilizumab, 17 anakinra) and 28 patients who did not receive immunotherapy were included. The in-hospital crude mortality was 30,3% in treated patients and 50% in non-treated (OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.56-1.05, p=0.069). The adjusted Cox model showed an association between therapy with immunotherapy and in-hospital mortality (HR 0.40, 95% CI 0.19-0.83, p=0.015). This protective effect was further confirmed in the analysis adjusted for propensity score, in the propensity-matched cohort and in the cohort of patients with invasive mechanical ventilation within 2 hours after ICU admission. Conclusions: Although important limitations, our study showed that cytokine-blocking agents seem to be safe and to improve survival in COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU with ARDS and the need for mechanical ventilation

Selective ethenolysis and oestrogenicity of compounds from cashew nut shell liquid

The ethenolysis of cardanol (2), a waste product from cashew kernel production, was carried out using a variety of metathesis catalysts. Surprisingly, the best activities and selectivities could be observed with ruthenium based 1st generation type catalysts converting cardanol (2) almost completely to the corresponding 1-octene (6) and 3-non-8-enylphenol (4), a potential detergent precursor. Detailed investigation of the reaction system showed that the high activity and selectivity were due to a combination of ethenolysis and internal self-metathesis of the unsaturated cardanol mixture, 2. Self-metathesis of cardanol (2) containing three double bonds led to the formation of 3-non-8-enylphenol (4) and 1,4-cyclohexadiene (7). The latter was crucial for a high selectivity and activity in the ethenolysis, not only of cardanol (2), but also of other substrates like methyl oleate (10) when using ruthenium based 1st generation catalysts. The endocrine disrupting properties of 3-nonylphenol and related compounds are compared