Corruption factor through the prism of social-demographic aspects: political and economic context

Objective: to determine the impact of socio-demographic factors and characteristics of political and economic changes on corruption.Methods: the work uses the methods of comparative analysis, construction of conjugation tables, and the index method; the information base is the public opinion monitoring data in Vologda oblast, with 1,500 respondents filling in questionnaires at their place of residence. The sample is random and quota; representativeness is ensured by the proportions observed between the residents of settlements of different types, gender and age structure of the population; sampling error does not exceed 3 %.Results: manifestations of corruption have been the subject matter of scientific discourse for quite a long time, but the research approaches have been constantly expanding from the historical, legal, and economic points of view. The article considers corruption as a multidimensional phenomenon and analyzes it from the perspective of an integrative approach, which implies taking into account territorial aspects, socio-demographic factors, and the citizens’ perception of the political and economic situation in the country and in the region. The analysis of the assessment results of the public opinion about the corruption level in the region showed that the authorities and the health care system are the most susceptible to corruption. The assessment of the territorial prevalence of corruption showed that the corruption index values along the “center – periphery” line are higher in the regional center than in the districts. It was also revealed that differences in the socio-demographic characteristics insignificantly influence the perception of changes in the corruption level, unlike the perception of corruption depending on the economic and political situation in the region.Scientific novelty: Based on the analysis of the results of the corruption level monitoring in the region, it is shown that positive assessments of the political and economic situation are associated with an unchanged or decreased level of corruption perception. Hence, good and very good assessments of the economic situation were more often associated with a decrease in the corruption level last year.Practical significance: the identified links between corruption, socio-demographic, political and economic factors can serve as a basis for adjusting and improving anti-corruption policy at the regional and state level

Experience of Organization and Holding Festival of Youth Cultures in Nizhny Tagil

The authors of the article share the experience of implementing a social project, during which a platform was created to meet the needs of creative youth in self-improvement and demonstration of their achievements, etc. Series of events - exhibition projects, competitions, screenings, concerts, performances, lectures, master classes, etc. allowed to unite artists, musicians, actors, directors, etc. for creative communication.Авторы статьи делятся опытом реализации социального проекта, в ходе которого была создана площадка для реализации потребностей творческой молодежи в самосовершенствовании и демонстрации своих достижений т. д. Цикл мероприятий - выставочные проекты, конкурсы-просмотры, концерты, спектакли, лекции, мастер-классы и т. д. позволили объединить художников, музыкантов, артистов, режиссеров и т.д. для творческого общения

Influence of the aftereffect of mineral fertilizers on the productivity of a long-term phytocenosis in the conditions of the Privilyui agrolandscape of the middle taiga subzone of Yakutia

The article provides the research of 2011-2019 on studying the long-term influence of the aftereffect of 36-year application of mineral fertilizers on the productivity and nutritional value of long-term meadow phytocenoses. In a stationary experiment with a radical improvement of meadows, the following variants for applying mineral fertilizers were studied from 1974 to 2010: the minimum level was N62P60K11 (control), the average level was N202P175K43, and the maximum level was N318P362K189. In the conditions of the Privilyui agrolandscape of the middle taiga subzone of Yakutia, a long-term aftereffect of fertilizers (from 2011 to 2019) contributed to the preservation of the main dominant in the grass stand - couch grass (Elymus repens (L.) Nevski) up to 27.4-42.1 % and codominant – short-awned barley (Hordeum brevisubulatum (Trin) Link.) up to 14.7-24.3 %. During the aftereffect of fertilizers, the yield of cereal-forb phytocenosis averaged 1.71-2.03 t/ha of hay, which is 2.1-2.5 times higher than the yield of natural meadows. At the same time, hay forage contained up to 8.9-9.1 MJ of exchange energy, up to 0.62-0.65 feed units, and up to 80-90 g of digestible protein, which corresponds to the zootechnical norm

Здоровье молодого поколения в контексте модернизации территории

The study focuses on estimating the health status of youth population and determining its influence on labor potential, labor productivity and wages that are examined with regard to one of the major economic development issues that is the necessity to modernize territorial entities in the Russian Federation. Applying system approach to research that implies the use of time series of statistical as well as sociological data (broken down territory and with due regard to age groups of population) allowed to increase the representativeness of quantitative characteristics received in the course of generalization. The results of the comparative analysis of workplace requirement and labor potential indices identify that the values of these indicators among youth are more differentiated than among the other population. The results also reveal that young people whose health status and labor potential are good or excellent are more productive and earn more compared to the rest of the youth.Авторы акцентируют внимание на оценке состояния здоровья населения, в том числе молодежи, и определении его влияния на качество трудового потенциала, производительность и оплату труда, рассматриваемых, в свою очередь, с учетом одной из важнейших задач экономического развития - необходимости модернизации территориальных образований в Российской Федерации. Применение системного подхода к исследованию, предполагающего использование динамических рядов как статистических, так и социологических данных (в территориальном разрезе и с учетом возрастных групп населения), позволило повысить репрезентативность полученных в ходе обобщения количественных характеристик. Результаты сравнительного анализа индекса требований рабочих мест и индекса качества трудового потенциала свидетельствуют о большем различии между значениями данных показателей у молодежи по сравнению с другими группами населения. По результатам исследования не только установлено, что молодежь с отличным и хорошим состоянием здоровья определяет более высокое качество трудового потенциала, но и получены количественные характеристики, позволяющие оценить величину превышения показателей производительности и оплаты труда по сравнению с аналогичными показателями для других групп молодых людей

The Role of TLR4 in the Paclitaxel Effects on Neuronal Growth In Vitro

Paclitaxel (Pac) is an antitumor agent that is widely used for treatment of solid cancers. While being effective as a chemotherapeutic agent, Pac in high doses is neurotoxic, specifically targeting sensory innervations. In view of these toxic effects associated with conventional chemotherapy, decreasing the dose of Pac has been recently suggested as an alternative approach, which might limit neurotoxicity and immunosuppression. However, it remains unclear if low doses of Pac retain its neurotoxic properties or might exhibit unusual effects on neuronal cells. The goal of this study was to analyze the concentration-dependent effect of Pac on isolated and cultured DRG neuronal cells from wild-type and TLR4 knockout mice. Three different morphological parameters were analyzed: the number of neurons which developed neurites, the number of neurites per cell and the total length of neurites per cell. Our data demonstrate that low concentrations of Pac (0.1 nM and 0.5 nM) do not influence the neuronal growth in cultures in both wild type and TLR4 knockout mice. Higher concentrations of Pac (1-100 nM) had a significant effect on DRG neurons from wild type mice, affecting the number of neurons which developed neurites, number of neurites per cell, and the length of neurites. In DRG from TLR4 knockout mice high concentrations of Pac showed a similar effect on the number of neurons which developed neurites and the length of neurites. At the same time, the number of neurites per cell, indicating the process of growth cone initiation, was not affected by high concentrations of Pac. Thus, our data showed that Pac in high concentrations has a significant damaging effect on axonal growth and that this effect is partially mediated through TLR4 pathways. Low doses of Pac are devoid of neuronal toxicity and thus can be safely used in a chemomodulation mode. © 2013 Ustinova et al

Up-regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in primary afferent pathway regulates colon-to-bladder cross-sensitization in rat

Background In humans, inflammation of either the urinary bladder or the distal colon often results in sensory cross-sensitization between these organs. Limited information is known about the mechanisms underlying this clinical syndrome. Studies with animal models have demonstrated that activation of primary afferent pathways may have a role in mediating viscero-visceral cross-organ sensitization. Methods Colonic inflammation was induced by a single dose of tri-nitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) instilled intracolonically. The histology of the colon and the urinary bladder was examined by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stain. The protein expression of transient receptor potential (TRP) ion channel of the vanilloid type 1 (TRPV1) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were examined by immunohistochemistry and/or western blot. The inter-micturition intervals and the quantity of urine voided were obtained from analysis of cystometrograms. Results At 3 days post TNBS treatment, the protein level of TRPV1 was increased by 2-fold (p \u3c 0.05) in the inflamed distal colon when examined with western blot. TRPV1 was mainly expressed in the axonal terminals in submucosal area of the distal colon, and was co-localized with the neural marker PGP9.5. In sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRG), BDNF expression was augmented by colonic inflammation examined in the L1 DRG, and was expressed in TRPV1 positive neurons. The elevated level of BDNF in L1 DRG by colonic inflammation was blunted by prolonged pre-treatment of the animals with the neurotoxin resiniferatoxin (RTX). Colonic inflammation did not alter either the morphology of the urinary bladder or the expression level of TRPV1 in this viscus. However, colonic inflammation decreased the inter-micturition intervals and decreased the quantities of urine voided. The increased bladder activity by colonic inflammation was attenuated by prolonged intraluminal treatment with RTX or treatment with intrathecal BDNF neutralizing antibody. Conclusion Acute colonic inflammation increases bladder activity without affecting bladder morphology. Primary afferent-mediated BDNF up-regulation in the sensory neurons regulates, at least in part, the bladder activity during colonic inflammation

Integrative genetic map of repetitive DNA in the sole Solea senegalensis genome shows a Rex transposon located in a proto-sex chromosome

Repetitive sequences play an essential role in the structural and functional evolution of the genome, particularly in the sexual chromosomes. The Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is a valuable flatfish in aquaculture albeit few studies have addressed the mapping and characterization of repetitive DNA families. Here we analyzed the Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) and Transposable elements (TEs) content from fifty-seven BAC clones (spanning 7.9 Mb) of this species, located in chromosomes by multiple fluorescence in situ hybridization (m-BAC-FISH) technique. The SSR analysis revealed an average density of 675.1 loci per Mb and a high abundance (59.69%) of dinucleotide coverage was observed, being 'AC' the most abundant. An SSR-FISH analysis using eleven probes was also carried out and seven of the 11 probes yielded positive signals. 'AC' probes were present as large clusters in almost all chromosomes, supporting the bioinformatic analysis. Regarding TEs, DNA transposons (Class II) were the most abundant. In Class I, LINE elements were the most abundant and the hAT family was the most represented in Class II. Rex/Babar subfamily, observed in two BAC clones mapping to chromosome pair 1, showed the longest match. This chromosome pair has been recently reported as a putative sexual proto-chromosome in this species, highlighting the possible role of the Rex element in the evolution of this chromosome. In the Rex1 phylogenetic tree, the Senegalese sole Rex1 retrotransposon could be associated with one of the four major ancient lineages in fish genomes, in which it is included O. latipes

Metformin strongly affects transcriptome of peripheral blood cells in healthy individuals

Funding Information: The study was supported by the European Regional Development Fund under the project ?Investigation of interplay between multiple determinants influencing response to metformin: search for reliable predictors for efficacy of type 2 diabetes therapy? (Project No.: 1.1.1.1/16/A/091, https://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/funding/ erdf/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The authors would like to thank all the volunteers for their participation and acknowledge the Genome Database of the Latvian Population for providing biological material and data. Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Ustinova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Metformin is a commonly used antihyperglycaemic agent for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of action, underlying the various therapeutic effects of metformin, remain elusive. The goal of this study was to evaluate the alterations in longitudinal whole-blood transcriptome profiles of healthy individuals after a one-week metformin intervention in order to identify the novel molecular targets and further prompt the discovery of predictive biomarkers of metformin response. Next generation sequencing-based transcriptome analysis revealed metformin-induced differential expression of genes involved in intestinal immune network for IgA production and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction pathways. Significantly elevated faecal sIgA levels during administration of metformin, and its correlation with the expression of genes associated with immune response (CXCR4, HLA-DQA1, MAP3K14, TNFRSF21, CCL4, ACVR1B, PF4, EPOR, CXCL8) supports a novel hypothesis of strong association between metformin and intestinal immune system, and for the first time provide evidence for altered RNA expression as a contributing mechanism of metformin’s action. In addition to universal effects, 4 clusters of functionally related genes with a subject-specific differential expression were distinguished, including genes relevant to insulin production (HNF1B, HNF1A, HNF4A, GCK, INS, NEUROD1, PAX4, PDX1, ABCC8, KCNJ11) and cholesterol homeostasis (APOB, LDLR, PCSK9). This inter-individual variation of the metformin effect on the transcriptional regulation goes in line with well-known variability of the therapeutic response to the drug.publishersversionPeer reviewe