Role of HSC70 protein in maintenance of endoplasmic reticulum CA2+ homeostasis

Intracellular calcium homeostasis is disrupted in many neuronal diseases and traumatic brain injuries resulting in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress [1]. ER stress and intracellular calcium homeostasis is a hub of signaling mechanisms that determine whether injured neurons will live or die. With survivable injuries neurons seek to restore normal function by several mechanisms including the upregulation of chaperones [2]. Hsc70 (aka Hsp73 and HSPA8) is one of such proteins, which is found to be highly concentrated in neurons. Unlike other chaperones in the HSP family Hsc70 is constitutively expressed and interacts with both cell cycle and apoptosis regulating proteins [3]. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that Hsc70 regulates neural stem cell fate in response to changes intracellular calcium homeostasis. Currently little is known about the function of this novel chaperone or about the role of ER calcium homeostasis in neural stem cell fate determination and this work is the first to investigate this topic

Active Play is Now Essential Necessity

My son does not enjoy playing outside. Things like riding his scooter or bicycle or playing soccer far from his favorite things to do. I am afraid that he will never explore the pleasure of climbing the trees as one of the active outdoor activity. This makes me feel worried about his future health, just like the future of many other inactive kids worldwide. Physical inactivity in kids is one of the leading causes of obesity and heart diseases when they are grown up. As a parent, I feel that I have to do something in order to avoid these entirely preventable health consequences. My research looks into finding ways of promoting regular physical activity and wellness in early childhood, as one of the critical habits. To do this, me and my partners have launched a project back in my home-country (a kid on a picture) that provides physical activity classes through play for very young kids. The ultimate goal is to provide recommendations for parents of these young kids for indoor and outdoor active behavior.Ope

An observational case study of hospital associated infections in a critical care unit in Astana, Kazakhstan

Background: Hospital Associated infections (HAI) are very common in Intensive Care Units (ICU) and are usually associated with use of invasive devices in the patients. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and etiological agents of HAI in a Surgical ICU in Kazakhstan, and to assess the impact of these infections on ICU stay and mortality. Objective: To assess the rate of device-associated infections and causative HAI etiological agents in an ICU at the National Research Center for Oncology and Transplantation (NRCOT) in Astana, Kazakhstan. Methods: This retrospective, observational study was conducted in a 12-bed ICU at the NRCOT, Astana, Kazakhstan. We enrolled all patients who were admitted to the ICU from January, 2014 through November 2015, aged 18 to 90 years of age who developed an HAI. Results: The most common type of HAI was surgical site infection (SSI), followed by ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), catheter-related blood stream infection (BSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (UTI). The most common HAI was SSI with Pseudomonas aeruginosa as the most common etiological agent. The second most common HAI was VAP also with P. aeruginosa followed by BSI which was also associated with P. aeruginosa (in 2014) and Enterococcus faecalis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae (in 2015) as the most common etiological agents causing these infections

Disposable potentiometric sensory system for skin antioxidant activity evaluation

The skin is a natural barrier between the external and internal environment. Its protective functions and the relationship of its state with the state of health of the organism as a whole are very important. It is known that oxidant stress (OS) is a common indicator of health status. This paper describes a new sensory system for monitoring OS of the skin using antioxidant activity (AOA) as its criteria. The contact hybrid potentiometric method (CHPM) and new electrochemical measuring scheme were used. A new sensory system, including disposable modified screen-printed carbon and silver electrodes covered by membrane impregnated by mediator, was developed. Its informative ability was demonstrated in the evaluation of the impact of fasting, consumption of food and food enriched by vitamins (antioxidants) on skin AOA. This device consisting of a sensory system and potentiometric analyzer can be used in on-site and in situ formats. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Issues of Gender Equality in the Workplace: The Case Study of Kazakhstan

Family circumstances and gender equality are the factors which influence the formation of labour legislation and state policy in the sphere of wage labour. That is why this research analyses the issues of gender equality in workplace relations. The study uses unity and a differentiation method of wage labour employment regulation. This method allowed us to determine the specifics of workplace relations, which involve women and people with family responsibilities. It was established that the optimal legal regulation of women’s labour and labour of people with family responsibilities must be directed at achieving gender equality in the workplace and creating the conditions under which women and other people would be able to combine work and family responsibilities. The creation of a supportive environment for workplace relations of the specified categories of workers must be implemented through both internal and global regulations. The activities on both levels are mutually reinforcing in nature. The article, having analysed the Labour Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan and international labour standards, submits suggestions about improvement of labour laws, draws conclusions about the necessity of legal protection for women and people with family responsibilities as well as the elimination of discriminating factors in relations regulated by labour laws

Analysis of the Possibilities for Improving the Environmental Legislation of Kazakhstan

The study describes the results of a study of environmental problems that limit socio-economic development in Kazakhstan. Changes in legislation, management decisions, and strengthening of control over compliance with environmental standards are proposed. The article examines the gaps in the legislative regulation of environmental safety and the policy at the national level. The recommendations outlined in the research will create conditions for ensuring a higher level of environmental protection, introduce a more effective system for the prevention and control of pollution and waste management, which will inevitably lead to a significant step-by-step improvement in the quality of the environment in the medium and long term, and as a result - to reduce the levels of morbidity and mortality, loss and decrease in the working capacity of the population caused by environmental pollution. Such positive social consequences will help reduce the losses in GDP associated with the above factors

Unloading the Judicial System in Kazakhstan? Alternative Ways of Resolving Individual Labour Disputes

The purpose of the study is to develop proposals for the modernization of the judicial form of protection of social and labour rights and interests of the individual. We are testing the hypothesis about the priority and universality of the judicial form of protection of rights in relation to other ways of applying for the restoration of violated labour interests; we assess access to justice as a criterion for the effectiveness of the judicial form of protection. The main method is a desk study of law enforcement practice, reports related to the functioning in Kazakhstan of a judicial form of protection of the social and labour rights of an individual, also the method of analysis of documents and statistical data of courts, a survey of examples of the best foreign practice in the work of specialized courts, and an analysis of international universal standards of access to justice in social and labour disputes

Hydrological response of dry Afromontane forest to changes in land use and land cover in northern Ethiopia

This study analyzes the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) changes on the hydrology of the dry Afromontane forest landscape in northern Ethiopia. Landsat satellite images of thematic mapper (TM) (1986), TM (2001), and Operational Land Imager (OLI) (2018) were employed to assess LULC. All of the images were classified while using the maximum likelihood image classification technique, and the changes were assessed by post-classification comparison. Seven LULC classes were defined with an overall accuracy 83-90% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.82-0.92. The classification result for 1986 revealed dominance of shrublands (48.5%), followed by cultivated land (42%). Between 1986 and 2018, cultivated land became the dominant (39.6%) LULC type, accompanied by a decrease in shrubland to 32.2%, as well as increases in forestland (from 4.8% to 21.4%) and bare land (from 0% to 0.96%). The soil conservation systems curve number model (SCS-CN) was consequently employed to simulate forest hydrological response to climatic variations and land-cover changes during three selected years. The observed changes in direct surface runoff, the runoff coefficient, and storage capacity of the soil were partially linked to the changes in LULC that were associated with expanding bare land and built-up areas. This change in land use aggravates the runoff potential of the study area by 31.6 mm per year on average. Runoff coefficients ranged from 25.3% to 47.2% with varied storm rainfall intensities of 26.1-45.4 mm/ha. The temporal variability of climate change and potential evapotranspiration increased by 1% during 1981-2018. The observed rainfall and modelled runoff showed a strong positive correlation (R-2 = 0.78; p < 0.001). Regression analysis between runoff and rainfall intensity indicates their high and significant correlation (R-2 = 0.89; p < 0.0001). Changes were also common along the slope gradient and agro-ecological zones at varying proportions. The observed changes in land degradation and surface runoff are highly linked to the change in LULC. Further study is suggested on climate scenario-based modeling of hydrological processes that are related to land use changes to understand the hydrological variability of the dry Afromontane forest ecosystems