Neuroanatomical interpretation of Peter Paul Rubens’s copy of ,,The Battle of Anghiari’’ by Leonardo da Vinci

The object of this research is a drawing by Peter Paul Rubens, a copy of ,,The Battle of Anghiari’’ performed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1503-1506. This work, dating from 1603, was based on an engraving of 1553 by Lorenzo Zacchia, which was taken from a cartoon by Leonardo da Vinci. The original fresco itself is lost. Since the individual details of the drawing matched the anatomical elements of the human brain we decided to perform an anatomical interpretation. With the help of the program Paint X we were able to move 23 elements of the drawing. The comparison revealed the similarity between the details of the obtained image and the anatomical elements of the brain. Our research shows that the Peter Paul Rubens’s copy of ,,The Battle of Anghiari’’ by Leonardo da Vinci is a harmonious mix of Art and Anatomy. We have established that the copy of the lost fresco, which was created six centuries ago, includes double content. By moving 23 details of the drawing in which the battle is depicted, an image is obtained. This image accurately describe the anatomical elements of the brain in the lateral view

CURRENCY CRISES IN GEORGIA: A MULTIVARIATE LOGIT MODEL

After the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, developing countries, including Georgia, experienced several currency crises followed by severe recessions and deteriorated macroeconomic stability. This creates incentives for policymakers to predict currency crises in a timely manner, and avoid them or mitigate their negative consequences. This paper aims to identify episodes of the currency crisis in a panel of the Post-Soviet countries (to create evidence for Georgia), and access predicting power of the various economic, structural and institutional variables. Based on the different versions of the foreign exchange market pressure indices and their critical values, we identified three periods of the currency crisis: 2008-2009, 2015-2017 and 2020 years (with multiple episodes of the crisis). Among the reasons behind these episodes of currency crises, we can highlight: global financial crisis, monetary expansion of the United States, reduced crude oil and commodity prices, armed conflicts between countries in the region, political instability and imposed sanctions, and COVID-19 pandemic. Early warning indicators were chosen based on desk research of the theoretical models, and meta-analysis of the empirical papers. The optimal forecast horizon is 1 year and predicting ability of indicators are assessed employing multivariate logit model. One-year lag of the annual export growth, crude oil price and credit to GDP ratio are significantly correlated with the probability of currency crisis. These early warning indicators have an ability to collectively predict currency crises one year prior. The results of the multivariate logit model are robust under different specifications of the model. In contrast to the theoretical foundation, the lag value of the crude oil prices is positively correlated with the probability of the currency crisis, but narrowing the predicting corridor changes the sign of the correlation coefficient from positive to negative. The most reliable specification of the models successfully predicts 34% of the crisis episodes. Moreover, the model has low Quadratic Probability Score (QPS) and Logarithmic Probability Score (LPS), indicating high level of reliability of the model’s outcomes

The Cosmos in “Ginevra de’ Benci’’ by Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo observed the celestial phenomena to study the phenomenon of light and shadow, which was to be used in painting. The object of the research is the painting “Ginevra de’ Benci’’. This work was created in 1474-1478 by Leonardo da Vinci. In the left half of the painting the oval shape detail bordered with faint contour is observed. Trough the Paint X program, we moved this detail to the right part of the painting in the place of a round shadow near the face of Ginevra. According to our interpretation, the bright and oval face of Ginevra de’ Benci is a metaphorical image of the moon. The dark background around it is a cosmos with numerous stars. Below the displaced detail is a quarter of the sphere that resembles the Earth’s surface and is associated with our planet. The displaced detail represents the oval and is associated with the moon. The layout of the dark spots on the sphere is compared to the relief of the moon, which is described on a modern photo. Finally we can think that the painting describes the earth, the moon, the cosmos, and the stars

Hidden Map of North America in “Bacchus” by Leonardo da Vinci

The object of this research is a “Bacchus” created in 1510-1515 byLeonardo da Vinci. By moving the detail of the painting, the map of North America is obtained, on which the present United States and Mexico are imprinted. The detail was drawn along the pale lines. The map we have shown in the painting is almost identical to the modern map of North America. The right part of the map shows a tree. In our opinion, Leonardo symbolically painted a tree of life, associated with the newly discovered land at that time

Interpretation of “Madonna of the Yarnwinder” by Leonardo da Vinci

The object of this research is Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Madonna of the Yarnwinder”. The date of creation of the painting is unknown. By rotation and moving of the detail we get a figure depicting a snake trying to escape Jesus. Mary’ gaze is directed towards the snake and therefore expresses concern. In our opinion, Leonardo presented a scene where Mary is disturbed by a snake, which is a symbol of sin and evil and because of which Christ was crucified

Identification of novel elements of the Drosophila blisterome sheds light on potential pathological mechanisms of several human diseases.

Main developmental programs are highly conserved among species of the animal kingdom. Improper execution of these programs often leads to progression of various diseases and disorders. Here we focused on Drosophila wing tissue morphogenesis, a fairly complex developmental program, one of the steps of which - apposition of the dorsal and ventral wing sheets during metamorphosis - is mediated by integrins. Disruption of this apposition leads to wing blistering which serves as an easily screenable phenotype for components regulating this process. By means of RNAi-silencing technique and the blister phenotype as readout, we identify numerous novel proteins potentially involved in wing sheet adhesion. Remarkably, our results reveal not only participants of the integrin-mediated machinery, but also components of other cellular processes, e.g. cell cycle, RNA splicing, and vesicular trafficking. With the use of bioinformatics tools, these data are assembled into a large blisterome network. Analysis of human orthologues of the Drosophila blisterome components shows that many disease-related genes may contribute to cell adhesion implementation, providing hints on possible mechanisms of these human pathologies

Anatomical repair of a congenital aneurysm of the distal abdominal aorta in a newborn

Congenital (primary) neonatal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an extremely rare truncular arterial abnormality among numerous congenital vascular malformations. Only seven cases have been reported as congenital origin in newborns. This report presents the case of a male infant in whom a 33-mm congenital AAA was diagnosed prenatally and was successfully treated 10 days after birth without exogenous graft material or aneurysmorrhaphy. Follow-up study at 39 months demonstrated excellent clinical, ultrasound scan, and computed tomography scan findings. Anatomic reconstruction with native vessels is the preferred surgical technique to ensure the child's potential for harmonious growth

High capacity in G protein-coupled receptor signaling.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) constitute a large family of receptors that activate intracellular signaling pathways upon detecting specific extracellular ligands. While many aspects of GPCR signaling have been uncovered through decades of studies, some fundamental properties, like its channel capacity-a measure of how much information a given transmission system can reliably transduce-are still debated. Previous studies concluded that GPCRs in individual cells could transmit around one bit of information about the concentration of the ligands, allowing only for a reliable on or off response. Using muscarinic receptor-induced calcium response measured in individual cells upon repeated stimulation, we show that GPCR signaling systems possess a significantly higher capacity. We estimate the channel capacity of this system to be above two, implying that at least four concentration levels of the agonist can be distinguished reliably. These findings shed light on the basic principles of GPCR signaling

Testing of SNS-032 in a panel of human neuroblastoma cell lines with acquired resistance to a broad range of drugs

Novel treatment options are needed for the successful therapy of patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Here, we investigated the cyclindependent kinase (CDK) inhibitor SNS-032 in a panel of 109 neuroblastoma cell lines consisting of 19 parental cell lines and 90 sublines with acquired resistance to 14 different anticancer drugs. Seventy-three percent of the investigated neuroblastoma cell lines and all four investigated primary tumor samples displayed concentrations that reduce cell viability by 50% in the range of the therapeutic plasma levels reported for SNS-032 (<754 nM). Sixty-two percent of the cell lines and two of the primary samples displayed concentrations that reduce cell viability by 90% in this concentration range. SNS-032 also impaired the growth of the multidrug-resistant cisplatin-adapted UKF-NB-3 subline UKF-NB-3rCDDP1000 in mice. ABCB1 expression (but not ABCG2 expression) conferred resistance to SNS-032. The antineuroblastoma effects of SNS-032 did not depend on functional p53. The antineuroblastoma mechanism of SNS-032 included CDK7 and CDK9 inhibition–mediated suppression of RNA synthesis and subsequent depletion of antiapoptotic proteins with a fast turnover rate including X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis (XIAP), myeloid cell leukemia sequence 1 (Mcl-1), baculoviral IAP repeat containing 2 (BIRC2; cIAP-1), and survivin. In conclusion, CDK7 and CDK9 represent promising drug targets and SNS-032 represents a potential treatment option for neuroblastoma including therapy-refractory cases

Use of Nanomodified Clinoptilolite as an Additions to Building Materials

Natural zeolite clinoptoline from Georgian origin and its nanomodified forms have been used for modification of structures of the composite building materials. Characteristics of this zeolite have been studied by thermal analysis, IR spectroscopy, and adsorption methods. The testing results of the zeolitecontaining cement have shown that introduction of zeolite (treated at high temperature) into the composition of cement improves its physical-mechanical properties and whole nanomodification of zeolite with plasticizers significantly decreases water-cement ratio improves its mechanical properties and quickens the setting time.Модифікуванням структури природного цеоліту клиноптилоліту грузинського родовища одержано добавку для цементу. Вивчено її властивості методами термічного аналізу та ІЧ-спектроскопії. Тестування цеолітовмісних цементів свідчить, що введення цеоліту до складу цементу покращує його фізико-механічні властивості, а наномодифікування цеолітів пластифікаторами істотно знижує водоцементне відношення, поліпшує його механічні характеристики та прискорює терміни схоплювання.Модифицированием структуры природного цеолита клиноптилолита грузинского месторождения получена добавка для цемента. Изучены её свойства методами термического анализа и ИК-спектроскопии. Тестирование цеолитсодержащих цементов показывает, что введение цеолита в состав цемента улучшает его физико-механические свойства, а наномодифицирование цеолитов пластификаторами существенно понижает водоцементное отношение, улучшает его механические характеристики и ускоряет сроки схватывания