The myth of the urban peasant

This paper explores, the ‘myth of the urban peasant’, the widespread belief that urban Russian households are surviving the collapse of employment and money incomes by turning to subsistence agriculture. On the basis of the analysis of official and survey data the paper shows that although many urban households grow food in their garden plots, those with low money incomes are the least likely to do so, while subsistence production is a complement rather than an alternative to paid employment. Moreover, those who do grow their own food work long hours for very little return, spending no less of their money income on buying food than do those who grow nothing. The implication is that dacha use is a leisure activity of the better-off rather than a survival strategy of the poor. Regional data suggests that urban agricultural production persists in those regions in which commercial agriculture and monetised relations are least developed which, it is surmised, retain memories of past shortages

Judicial Protection of Intellectual Property Rights in a Digital Economy: Is There a Need for Change?

The paper looks at improving the judicial system in Russia facing the rapid technological change of modern society in which new relationships are largely associated with different areas of intellectual property. Today biotechnology, digital rights, computer programs and scientific research materials have become widely used in civil circulation and their intellectual property rights should be effectively protected. The paper discusses different issues of protecting intellectual rights provided for by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, aimed at both suppressing and preventing their infringement, and assesses the statistical indicators of the courts. The practice of the Intellectual Property Rights Court and the Moscow City Court shows that specialization yields positive results. The selection of judges, their professional development including their distinctive competencies in addition to legal ones, also help to find effective ways of resolving intellectual property disputes. With the protection of intellectual property rights being of great concern not only in Russia, but also in most developed countries of the world, their experience has also been thoroughly analyzed. The paper suggests a possible way of improving the judicial system under the current circumstances. Certain changes in the judicial system and the creation of additional specialized intellectual property courts could help to ensure an affordable, legitimate and effective mechanism for resolving disputes related to the violation of intellectual property rights

Percutaneous larynx ultrasonography for evaluation of vocal cords mobility after thyroid and parathyroid operations

The amount of thyroid and parathyroid surgeries increases annually. Contemporary diagnostics of such a severe complication, as larynx paresis, remains nowadays actual. The main diagnostic procedure for larynx paresis is endoscopic laryngoscopy, though it has several disadvantages: this is an invasive procedure, causing discomfort to the patients, it requires local anesthesia, which may lead to allergy; some patients can’t endure this procedure because of the anatomical features. All these factors force to find out a similar and at the same time effective diagnostic procedure for revealing disturbances of vocal cords mobility. This work represents the experience of implementation of 1252 percutaneous ultrasound examination of the vocal cords. We showed the diagnostic efficiency and convenience of this method at the endocrine surgical department. Aim. To evaluate a possibility of percutaneous ultrasound examination for detection of vocal cords mobility after thyroid and parathyroid surgery comparing with the laryngoscopy. Materials and methods. The first stage of the work included 809 patients, who were subjected to percutaneous larynx ultrasound check-up. During the second stage 443 patients were examined before and after operative treatment by means of larynx ultrasound and endoscopic laryngoscopy. Results. It is possible to visualize vocal cords in 85.9% of patients: in case of female patients it is possible to visualize vocal cords in 90.6%, and in men in 27.9% (c2 = 183.6; p 0.001). The visualization of vocal cords is feasible in 97.4% of patients under 40 years and in 57.1% in patients over 80 years (c2 = 42.4; p 0.001). Diagnostic efficiency of ultrasound visualization of vocal cords abnormality appeared to be 91.4%.The sensitivity of the method reached 62.5%, specificity 95.3%. Diagnostic efficiency of ultrasound visualization of vocal cords paresis reached 97.7%. The increase of this index is caused by sensitivity growth, which was 88.2%. Specificity grew also upto 98.5%. Dependence of diagnostic efficiency of ultrasound examination of vocal cords abnormality and patients’ age was statistically significant (c2 = 6.3; p 0.05). Conclusions. Percutaneous ultrasound examination of vocal cords is effective and convenient method of control over larynx function in patients after thyroid and parathyroid surgery