Meie unistuseks on, et maailma kõige tervemad ja õnnelikumad inimesed elaks Eestis

Eesti Arst 2012; 91(6):27

Tähistaeval põhinevatest uskumustest III Vana-Hiina

The article concerns Chinese astral myths, calendar and astrology. Chinese creation myths concern also the creation of the Sun, Moon and stars. The heavenly bodies are constantly endangered by the sky dragon that now and then catches them, probably a reference to eclipses. Cosmology existed in Ancient China in the same sense as in Ancient Greede, though many ancient books were burned on the emperor's orders in 213 BC. Teaching of the endless sky emerged in the Han era, while in 1 century AD the theory of endless empty space was formulated. For the majority of Chinese history, astronomers were in the service of the country - studying and interpreting heavenly phenomena. The Chinese divided the heavenly sphere into several hundred little constellations of one to ten stars. They used the so-called Lunar Zodiac that contained 28 xiu or homes of the Moon but also the Sun Zodiac. Myths concerned the stars and their naming. Heavenly processes were believed to influence the earthly. From China come the earliest observations of solar eclipses and comets. The earliest registered solar eclipse is dated in 720 BC. There are also records about ceremonies dedicated to solar eclipses. Halley's comet has been sighted and recorded since 12 BC at its every passage, but irregularly already since 240 BC. The very first comet descriptions come from 1057-1056 BC. Chinese chronology is based on imperial eras: the inauguration of every emperor started a new era. The Chinese lunar-solar calendar was improved via constant observations. Seasons were determined by the position of the Ursa Major at dawn. The length of synodic months at the time was 29.5 days and a topic year 366 days. A supplementary month was added according to a 19-year cycle. Chinese calendar achieved its contemporary form in 7th-10th centuries

Genoomi struktuursed varieeruvused platsenta ja raseduse mõjutajatena

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneEma ja loote vaheline suhtlus loob aluse raseduse edukaks kulgemiseks. Rasedus on naise jaoks füsioloogiline väljakutse, mida kinnitab nii varaste (korduv raseduse katkemine, KRK) kui hiliste (preeklampsia, gestatsioonidiabeet, raseduskestuse kohta suur/väike sünnikaal) rasedustüsistuste rohkus. Rasedusaegseid komplikatsioone on sageli seostatud puuduliku platsenta invasiooni ning funktsiooniga, seetõttu on äärmiselt oluline täielik arusaam platsenta bioloogiast. Platsenta geenide avaldumise tase ja dünaamika reguleerib platsenta funktsiooni ja seeläbi raseduse kulgemist. Inimese platsenta RNA molekulide profiili moduleerib geneetiline varieeruvus, millest kõige enam on uuritud ühenukleotiidseid muutusi. Käesolevas doktoritöös uuriti esmakordselt DNA koopiaarvu muutuste (copy number variation, CNV) mõju teadmata põhjusega KRK (=>3 järjestikust raseduse katkemist) tekkes. CNV-d põhjustavad nähtust, kus teatud genoomi osad on kustutatud ja teistest on tehtud lisakoopiaid. CNV-sid on seostatud mitmete erinevate haigustega, kuid vähe on uuringuid rasedustüsistuste vallas. Kogu genoomi CNV piirkondade uuring Eesti ja Taani valimites tuvastas lisakoopia ehk duplikatsiooni 5. kromosoomil, mis suurendab KRK riski naistel ligi viis korda. Antud duplikatsioon hõlmab kahte platsentas kõrgelt avaldunud geeni (PDZD2 ja GOLPH3), mida pole varasemalt rasedusega seostatud. Lisauuringus leiti, et KRK vanemate genoomides leidub enam pikki kromosoomide otste ja keskmete läheduses asuvaid muutusi, mis võivad soosida vigu kromosoomide normaalsel jagunemisel. Lisaks võrreldi kogu genoomi CNV-de profiili vanemate verest ja platsentast eraldatud DNA-s nii normaalse raseduse erinevatel trimestritel kui rasedustüsistuste korral. Tulemused näitavad, et raseduse edukaks kulgemiseks ajab platsenta oma rakkude genoomi sassi justkui vähkkasvaja. Seetõttu esineb platsenta genoomis suurel hulgal muutusi, eelkõige duplikatsioone: ligi kuus korda enam kui vanematel genoomis. Kui aga ümberkorraldusi on liiga vähe, võivad tekkida mitmed rasedusaegsed komplikatsioonid. Duplikatsioonid hõlmasid geene, mis on seotud embrüonaalse arenguga ja platsenta rakkude invasiooni toetava protsessiga. See viitab sellele, et platsenta genoomis toimunud muutused soodustavad organi tööd ja raseduse edukat kulgemist.The establishment and maintenance of pregnancy relies on the well-coordinated crosstalk between the mother and the embryo. Pregnancy is an enormous physiological challenge a woman can experience and can cause early (recurrent pregnancy loss, RPL) as well as late (preeclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus and fetal growth abnormalities) gestational complications. As these complications are often associated with poor trophoblast invasion and placental function, there is an urgent need for complete understanding of placental biology. Placental gene expression levels and dynamics regulate the function of placenta and therefore pregnancy maintenance. Transcriptome of the human placenta is modulated by genetic variation of which single nucleotide variants have been investigated the most. The experimental part of the thesis explored the role of DNA copy number variation (CNV) in idiopathic RPL (=>3 consecutive pregnancy losses). CNVs represent a phenomenon where parts of the genome are missing or duplicated. CNVs have been implicated in various human diseases; however, studies are lacking in reproductive disorders. Genome-wide CNV profiling of parental genomes of Estonian and Danish couples with recurrent pregnancy loss discovered a duplication on chromosome 5 increasing maternal risk of RPL up to 5 times. The duplication encompasses two genes (PDZD2 and GOLPH3) with enhanced expression in placenta and associated with pregnancy maintenance for the first time. Further research detected overrepresentation of large pericentromeric and subtelomeric CNVs in RPL parental genomes that may promote errors in normal chromosome segregation. Additionally, a comparison of genome-wide CNV profiles of parental and placental genomes of three trimesters of normal gestations as well as pregnancy complications was conducted. Similarly to cancer genomes, an extensive load of CNVs was detected as a hallmark of normal placental development. The load was mostly caused by the number of duplications, which were enriched in genes relevant to embryonic development. Early as well as late pregnancy complications showed reduced capacity to promote somatic genomic rearrangements in the placenta. The results indicate that the extensive amount of changes in the placental genome contributes to placental function and successful maintenance of pregnancy

The Acquisition of Locatives in Estonian

The study and explanation of language acquisition has been approached from four major theoretical viewpoints. 1) The syntactic: what a child is mainly learning is grammatical structures, and the syntactic complexity of the language he is learning determines the sequence of acquisition; 2) The semantic: the child is really learning the meaning structures of language, and the semantic complexity of the adult language determines the sequence of acquisition; 3) The cognitive: as the child gains knowledge about the world around him, he tries to express it through language; the child\u27s cognitive structures and therefore the major determinants of what he will express in language; 4) The social or pragmatic: since language communication is the major method of human interaction, the child learns language through social interaction with others; therefore the functions that language serves for the child in actual situations determine his language development. When the many studies already done are examined together, it becomes clear that no one of these explanation types is adequate by itself. All four are claimed to be necessary to a theory of language acquisition. Therefore the role of each needs to be determined, so that progress can be made toward a complete theoretical framework for language acquisition

Makrokosmos II

The article is about early modern England in 1650-1750. A characteristic feature of this particular period was combining scientific thought with religious (scriptural) thought, to the extent that the importance of scriptures as sources of truth exceeded science. In this sense, Englishman William Whiston was a typical 17th-18th century thinker: a natural scientist, theologian and philosopher combined. In 1717 he published his "Astronomical Principles of Religion, Natural and Reveal'd". What does he mean by natural and revealed religion? Natural religion is a religion that man can reach through a process of reasoning (independent of divine revelation). If man uses the strength of his or her mind in the right way, he~she will, one way or another, reach the understanding that there is only one omnipotent God, who has created this world. Analogously, man reaches the conclusion that his (nonmaterial) soul is immortal and that there is life after death. The author, however, does not specify what this afterlife is like. W. Whiston's book, starting from its title, combines religious truths with scientific reasoning. Whiston uses scientific arguments to explain the doctrines of natural and revealed religion. In those days it was perfectly normal to believe that sooner or later, in one way or another, life continues after death. Recognising that afterlife does exist poses various intriguing questions about soul and body. For example, if we allow that human soul departs body after death, a question arises - where this soul departs to? Where is the place for departed souls in this universe? This period saw a number of widely different tenets on the issue. Catholics, as expected, still believed that souls departing worldly bodies go to purgatory, for expiation. But in the 17th-18th century England was a dominantly Protestant country. The official position of the Anglican Church was that the concept of purgatory is not biblical, and is therefore relinquished

Makrokosmos III

The scientific and religious thought of the Modern Age had a characteristic chronological pattern to describe the linear macrocosmic time scale. First happened the creation of the World and mankind, and the Fall, followed by the Deluge about two millennia later. The time scale was halved by the Crucifixion and Ascension of Christ, soon followed by the end of the world. What waits for mankind is the eternal bliss in Heaven or torment in Hell. The article discusses what happens to the soul after death and before the Last Judgment. Modern religiosity also influences contemporary understanding of science

Written to be Erased: Paper Rights and the Visibility of Migrant Domestic Workers

This chapter conceptualizes forms and processes of erasure and visibility of migrant domestic workers through the analysis of interview data, media coverage, and public policy. This chapter builds on the existing literature on foreign domestic labor by synthesizing a framework to better represent the mechanisms that produce instances of visibility and erasure; these include transnational forces of erasure like sexism, xenophobia, and domestic labor stigma that interact with country-specific policies and norms. Within this framework of visibility and erasure, we also delineate different aspects of each, such as spatial erasure, erasure in the media, and self-erasure. Finally, this chapter explores how each of these components interconnect into a system of erasure, each aspect enabling another aspect in dampening the individuality of migrant domestic workers. This chapter is intended to illuminate the realities of erasure with careful specificity, while still crediting domestic workers for their resilience and creativity in promoting their own visibility

Sekkumistõhusad teisesed leiud geneetikas

Kliinilises praktikas kasutatakse üha enam haigusseoseliste geenivariantide tuvastamiseks eksoomi (1–2% genoomist) sekveneerimist, sest selle diagnostiline saagis on suur (ligikaudu 30%). See suur andmestik (üle 80 000 geenivariandi) võib sisaldada ka teiseseid leide – kliiniliselt olulisi geenivariante, mis ei ole seotud patsiendi esmase kliinilise näidustusega. Teiseste leidude alla kuuluvad sekkumistõhusad monogeensed ehk ühe geeni muutusestpõhjustatud haigused, mis on eraldiseisvalt harvad, kuid mõjutavad kokku umbes 1–3% inimestest. Need haigused avalduvad elu jooksul ja on mõningatel juhtudel kiiresti areneva sümptomaatikaga. Päriliku riski varane hindamine on oluline, sest mitmete haiguste puhul on juba enne sümptomite teket võimalik meditsiiniline sekkumine (nt ravidieet, ennetavad ravimid, kirurgia), mis aitab vähendada tüsistusi ja enneaegset suremust. Artiklis on antud ülevaade eksoomi andmetest tuvastatavatest sekkumistõhusatest pärilikest haigustest, nende esinemissagedusest ja võimalikest ennetusmeetmetest ning teisestest leidudest tagasiside andmise rahvusvahelistest seisukohtadest

Minu soundid ja standardid : loov-praktilise lõputöö teoreetiline osa

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b2556597~S1*es