Issues of financial assurance of economy greening in the regions

The relevance of the analyzed issue is caused by the need to internalize environmental externalities in the modern world. The purpose of the article is to examine the issue of financial support of the green economy using the example of the regions included in the Volga Federal District (VFD). The leading methods to the study of this issue is a comparative analysis of environmental taxes and charges in Russia and countries of the European Union (EU) and the analysis of environmental problems in the regions of the Volga Federal District, which allow identifying the shortcomings of the existing environmental payment system and proposing measures to modernize the system of financial support of the green economy. The key shortcomings of the existing environmental payment system: low rates of environmental payments; the inappropriate use of funds received from environmental payments; concentration of 97% of revenues from environmental payments in the federal budget. The contents of the article may be helpful for public authorities of general and special competence to develop the principal directions of environmental policy and plan activities aimed at improving the green economy. © 2016 Shekhova et al

Особенности диагностики спонтанной эмфиземы средостения

The article describes a clinical observation of an 18-year-old patient suffering from bronchial asthma complicated by mediastinal emphysema which developed during a coughing attack. It demonstrates the possibilities of computed tomography in the complex diagnosis of spontaneous mediastinal emphysema.Приведено клиническое наблюдение пациента 18 лет, страдающего бронхиальной астмой, осложнившейся во время приступа кашля эмфиземой средостения. Продемонстрированы возможности компьютерной томографии в комплексной диагностике спонтанной эмфиземы средостения

Эволюция методики и новые протоколы ультразвукового исследования легких при COVID-19 пневмониях

Competent triage of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia is not only about efficient allocation of hospital resources, but also about making timely decisions that can ultimately save the patient's life. When healthcare facility is overloaded, computed tomography to assess the severity of COVID-19-associated pneumonia in each individual case is not always possible. Alternative solutions, however, are opted.The aim of the study was to develop Lung UltraSound (LUS) protocols with high diagnostic potential for assessing the severity of pneumonia caused by COVID-19, which can be reliably used instead of CT during triage in an emergency setting.Materials and methods. We conducted a retrospective analysis of data on 161 hospitalized patients with confirmed pneumonia caused by COVID-19, subjected to both CT and LUS within 24 hours after hospitalization. Three consecutive LUS protocols, including two LUS developed by the NMHC (National Medical Surgical Center) authors, were tested to choose the most reliable protocol for assessing the severity of lung damage in pneumonia caused by COVID-19 (based on correlation with chest CT results). We also checked the applicability of LUS for the prognosis of the disease.Results. Moderate (50% CT) and severe (50% CT) lung damage can be distinguished when using both - the 16-zone and 12-zone LUS NMHC scanning protocols. The AUC for the ROC curves was almost identical: 0.83 (95% CI: 0.75–0.90 and 0.81 (95% CI: 0.73–0.88) for the 16-zone and 12-zone LUS NMHC protocols, respectively. The 16-zone LUS NMHC had an optimal threshold of 20 scores with a sensitivity of 67% and a specificity of 82%, while the 12-zone LUS NMHC provided an optimal threshold of 15 scores with the same sensitivity but lower specificity — only 73%. Neither the 16-zone nor the 12-zone NMHC LUS protocols could predict the outcome.Conclusion. The newly developed 16- and 12-zone LUS NMHC scanning protocols for patients with pneumonia caused by COVID-19 proved to be easy to implement, demonstrating a strong correlation with CT results. The 16-zone LUS NMHC protocol is probably more relevant for triage of patients with more than 50% of pulmonary tissue involvement based on CT data. Both protocols can be useful in emergency settings and in medical institutions with limited or no access to CT.Сортировка пациентов с COVID-19 пневмонией — очень зависимая от времени задача, которая позволяет эффективно распределить ресурсы больницы, что в конечном итоге может привести к спасению жизни пациента.Проблемы использования компьютерной томографии в перегруженной системе здравоохранения требуют поиска дополнительных методов дифференцировки тяжести пневмонии, вызванной COVID-19.Цель исследования — разработка протоколов ультразвукового исследования легких (Lung Ultra-Sound — LUS) с высокими диагностическими характеристиками для определения тяжести пневмонии, вызванной COVID-19, которые можно использовать вместо КТ во время сортировки в условиях неотложной помощи.Материалы и методы. Провели ретроспективный анализ данных о 161 госпитализированном пациенте с подтвержденной пневмонией, вызванной COVID-19, которым в течение 24 ч после госпитализации выполнили как КТ, так и LUS. Три последовательных протокола LUS, в том числе два, разработанные авторами LUS NMHC (National Medical-Surgical Center), тестировали, чтобы выбрать из них наиболее надежный для определения выраженности повреждения легких при пневмонии, вызванной COVID-19 (исходя из корреляции с результатами КТ грудной клетки). Проверили также применимость LUS для построения прогноза заболевания.Результаты. С помощью как 16-зонного, так и 12-зонного LUS NMHC протокола можно различать умеренное (50% по КТ) и тяжелое (50% по КТ) повреждение легких. AUC для кривых ROC была почти идентична: 0,83 (95% СИ, 0,75–0,90) и 0,81 (95% СИ 0,73–0,88) для 16-зонного и 12-зонного LUS NMHC протоколов, соответственно. 16-зонный LUS NMHC имел оптимальный порог 20 баллов с чувствительностью 67% и специфичностью 82%, в то время как 12-зонный LUS NMHC обеспечивал оптимальный порог 15 баллов с той же чувствительностью, но более низкой специфичностью — только 73%. Ни по 16-зонному, ни по 12-зонному LUS-протоколам NMHC нельзя было прогнозировать исход.Заключение. Недавно разработанные 16- и 12-зонные протоколы LUS NMHC для пациентов с пневмонией, вызванной COVID-19, оказались просто выполнимыми и имели сильную корреляцию с результатами КТ. 16-зонный протокол LUS NMHC вероятно более применим для сортировки пациентов, у которых по КТ имеется более 50% объема повреждения легких. Оба протокола могут быть полезны в условиях неотложной помощи и в медицинских учреждениях с ограниченным или отсутствующим доступом к КТ

Transcriptional Infidelity Promotes Heritable Phenotypic Change in a Bistable Gene Network

Bistable epigenetic switches are fundamental for cell fate determination in unicellular and multicellular organisms. Regulatory proteins associated with bistable switches are often present in low numbers and subject to molecular noise. It is becoming clear that noise in gene expression can influence cell fate. Although the origins and consequences of noise have been studied, the stochastic and transient nature of RNA errors during transcription has not been considered in the origin or modeling of noise nor has the capacity for such transient errors in information transfer to generate heritable phenotypic change been discussed. We used a classic bistable memory module to monitor and capture transient RNA errors: the lac operon of Escherichia coli comprises an autocatalytic positive feedback loop producing a heritable all-or-none epigenetic switch that is sensitive to molecular noise. Using single-cell analysis, we show that the frequency of epigenetic switching from one expression state to the other is increased when the fidelity of RNA transcription is decreased due to error-prone RNA polymerases or to the absence of auxiliary RNA fidelity factors GreA and GreB (functional analogues of eukaryotic TFIIS). Therefore, transcription infidelity contributes to molecular noise and can effect heritable phenotypic change in genetically identical cells in the same environment. Whereas DNA errors allow genetic space to be explored, RNA errors may allow epigenetic or expression space to be sampled. Thus, RNA infidelity should also be considered in the heritable origin of altered or aberrant cell behaviour

Complete Structural Model of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase from a Hybrid Approach

A combination of structural approaches yields a complete atomic model of the highly biochemically characterized Escherichia coli RNA polymerase, enabling fuller exploitation of E. coli as a model for understanding transcription

Panta Rhei benchmark dataset: socio-hydrological data of paired events of floods and droughts

As the adverse impacts of hydrological extremes increase in many regions of the world, a better understanding of the drivers of changes in risk and impacts is essential for effective flood and drought risk management and climate adaptation. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive, empirical data about the processes, interactions, and feedbacks in complex human–water systems leading to flood and drought impacts. Here we present a benchmark dataset containing socio-hydrological data of paired events, i.e. two floods or two droughts that occurred in the same area. The 45 paired events occurred in 42 different study areas and cover a wide range of socio-economic and hydro-climatic conditions. The dataset is unique in covering both floods and droughts, in the number of cases assessed and in the quantity of socio-hydrological data. The benchmark dataset comprises (1) detailed review-style reports about the events and key processes between the two events of a pair; (2) the key data table containing variables that assess the indicators which characterize management shortcomings, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, and impacts of all events; and (3) a table of the indicators of change that indicate the differences between the first and second event of a pair. The advantages of the dataset are that it enables comparative analyses across all the paired events based on the indicators of change and allows for detailed context- and location-specific assessments based on the extensive data and reports of the individual study areas. The dataset can be used by the scientific community for exploratory data analyses, e.g. focused on causal links between risk management; changes in hazard, exposure and vulnerability; and flood or drought impacts. The data can also be used for the development, calibration, and validation of sociohydrological models. The dataset is available to the public through the GFZ Data Services (Kreibich et al., 2023, https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.4.4.2023.001)

CCN3 modulates bone turnover and is a novel regulator of skeletal metastasis

The CCN family of proteins is composed of six secreted proteins (CCN1-6), which are grouped together based on their structural similarity. These matricellular proteins are involved in a large spectrum of biological processes, ranging from development to disease. In this review, we focus on CCN3, a founding member of this family, and its role in regulating cells within the bone microenvironment. CCN3 impairs normal osteoblast differentiation through multiple mechanisms, which include the neutralization of pro-osteoblastogenic stimuli such as BMP and Wnt family signals or the activation of pathways that suppress osteoblastogenesis, such as Notch. In contrast, CCN3 is known to promote chondrocyte differentiation. Given these functions, it is not surprising that CCN3 has been implicated in the progression of primary bone cancers such as osteosarcoma, Ewing’s sarcoma and chondrosarcoma. More recently, emerging evidence suggests that CCN3 may also influence the ability of metastatic cancers to colonize and grow in bone

Deadly liaisons: fatal attraction between CCN matricellular proteins and the tumor necrosis factor family of cytokines

Recent studies have revealed an unexpected synergism between two seemingly unrelated protein families: CCN matricellular proteins and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) family of cytokines. CCN proteins are dynamically expressed at sites of injury repair and inflammation, where TNF cytokines are also expressed. Although TNFα is an apoptotic inducer in some cancer cells, it activates NFκB to promote survival and proliferation in normal cells, and its cytotoxicity requires inhibition of de novo protein synthesis or NFκB signaling. The presence of CCN1, CCN2, or CCN3 overrides this requirement and unmasks the apoptotic potential of TNFα, thus converting TNFα from a proliferation-promoting protein into an apoptotic inducer. These CCN proteins also enhance the cytotoxicity of other TNF cytokines, including LTα, FasL, and TRAIL. Mechanistically, CCNs function through integrin α6β1 and the heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG) syndecan-4 to induce reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation, which is essential for apoptotic synergism. Mutant CCN1 proteins defective for binding α6β1-HSPGs are unable to induce ROS or apoptotic synergism with TNF cytokines. Further, knockin mice that express an α6β1-HSPG-binding defective CCN1 are blunted in TNFα- and Fas-mediated apoptosis, indicating that CCN1 is a physiologic regulator of these processes. These findings implicate CCN proteins as contextual regulators of the inflammatory response by dictating or enhancing the cytotoxicity of TNFα and related cytokines