Crohn disease: before and after 1932 year

The article describes the historical milestones in the study of Crohn's disease from the time of its original description in the 17th century, the revolution in the medical community after the landmark paper in 1932, to the present day. The history of Crohn's disease testifies to the discoveries of the past years, which open up to us the advantages of a scientific approach to the diagnosis and treatment of this disease

Changes in mRNA expression of members of TGFB1-associated pathways in human leukocytes during EBV infection

Transforming growth factor β 1 (TGFB1) likely contributes to the pathogenesis of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-mediated cancer. A microarray containing 59 probes for detecting mRNA of members of TGFB1-associated pathways was developed. mRNA expression of TGFB1 receptors and members of connected pathways were examined in peripheral blood leukocytes of patients during acute EBV infection and after recovery. TGFB1 and TGFBR2 mRNA expression was increased in patients with EBV infection. Similarly, mRNA expression of protein kinase C (PRKCB), MAP3K7, PDLIM7, and other members of TGFB1 and NF-κB signaling pathways increased. A shift of mRNA transcript variant expression of some key members (TGFBR2, PRKCB, and NFKBIB) of involved signaling pathways was detected. After the patients’ recovery, most of the altered mRNA expression has been normalized. We speculate that in patients with EBV infection, members of TGFB1-associated pathways contribute to the suppression of proapoptotic and induction of pro-survival factors in leukocytes. The modulation of TGFB1-associated pathways may be considered as a potential risk factor in the development of EBV-associated tumors in patients with acute EBV infection

Laser therapy of acute and chronic maxillary sinusitis

ABSTRACT The clinical results of photodynamic therapy of maxillary sinusitis have been presented. 0.1 %-Methylene Blue aqueous solution in combination with He-Ne laser irradiation (632.8 nm) has been used for treatment of patients with acute and chronic maxillary sinusitis. Efficacy of the photodynamic therapy was estimated with the use of the following criteria: the state of respiration, olfaction, duration of purulent discharge, reconstruction of transport function of ciliary epithelium, etc. The obtained results have shown that the photodynamic therapy is effective in comparison with conservative methods of treatment of the diseases

“Perfect” Terahertz Vortex Beams Formed Using Diffractive Axicons and Prospects for Excitation of Vortex Surface Plasmon Polaritons

Transformation of a Bessel beam by a lens results in the formation of a “perfect” vortex beam (PVB) in the focal plane of the lens. The PVB has a single-ring cross-section and carries an orbital angular momentum (OAM) equal to the OAM of the “parent” beam. PVBs have numerous applications based on the assumption of their ideal ring-type structure. For instance, we proposed using terahertz PVBs to excite vortex surface plasmon polaritons propagating along cylindrical conductors and the creation of plasmon multiplex communication lines in the future (Comput. Opt. 2019, 43, 992). Recently, we demonstrated the formation of PVBs in the terahertz range using a Bessel beam produced using a spiral binary silicon axicon (Phys. Rev. A 2017, 96, 023846). It was shown that, in that case, the PVB was not annular, but was split into nested spiral segments, which was obviously a consequence of the method of Bessel beam generation. The search for methods of producing perfect beams with characteristics approaching theoretically possible ones is a topical task. Since for the terahertz range, there are no devices like spatial modulators of light in the visible range, the main method for controlling the mode composition of beams is the use of diffractive optical elements. In this work, we investigated the characteristics of perfect beams, the parent beams being quasi-Bessel beams created by three types of diffractive phase axicons made of high-resistivity silicon: binary, kinoform, and “holographic”. The amplitude-phase distributions of the field in real perfect beams were calculated numerically in the approximation of the scalar diffraction theory. An analytical expression was obtained for the case of the binary axicon. It was shown that a distribution closest to an ideal vortex was obtained using a holographic axicon. The resulting distributions were compared with experimental and theoretical distributions of the evanescent field of a plasmon near the gold–zinc sulfide–air surface at different thicknesses of the dielectric layer, and recommendations for experiments were given

Modeling joint distributions of national stock indices

This paper discusses the practical aspects of modeling the structure of dependence of national stock indices based on copula functions. An approach is proposed to identify groups of stock markets with homogeneous dynamics and to select typical representatives within these groups. It can be used as a preliminary step to build multivariate copula models as it rationalizes the criteria and principles for selection of national stock indices. Constructed model of the joint distribution of indices is used to estimate the probability of crisis events and to demonstrate the benefits of diversification

Multiple Resistive Switching Mechanisms in Graphene Oxide-Based Resistive Memory Devices

Among the different graphene derivatives, graphene oxide is the most intensively studied material as it exhibits reliable and repeatable resistive switching. The operative mechanisms that are responsible for resistive switching are being intensively investigated, and three models explaining the change in the resistive states have been developed. These models are grounded in the metallic-like filamentary conduction, contact resistance modification and the oxidation of/reduction in the graphene oxide bulk. In this work, using Al/GO/n-Si structures, we demonstrate that all three of these operative mechanisms can simultaneously participate in the resistive switching of graphene oxide. Multiple point-like conduction channels in the graphene oxide films were detected by the electron beam-induced current (EBIC) technique. At the same time, large areas with increased conductivity were also revealed by EBIC. An analysis of these areas by Raman spectroscopy indicates the change in the graphene oxide bulk’s resistive properties. The EBIC data along with the measurements of the capacitance–voltage characteristics provided strong evidence of the involvement of an aluminum/graphene oxide interface in the switching processes. In addition, by using Al/GO/n-Si structures, we were able to identify unique local properties of the formed conductive channels, namely the change of the charge state of a conductive channel due to the creation of negatively charged traps and/or an increase in the GO work function