Shibusawa Eiichi\u27s View of Japan\u27s Foreign Affairs: Focusing on His Influences on the Meiji Government

From the mid-nineteenth century, Asia, including China and Japan, has been involved in the trend of modernization that was triggered by the activities of European and American powers in this area. In a time of drastic changes, Shibusawa Eiichi (1840-1931) assumed several roles successively: he served as retainer during the bakumatsu period, as official in the Meiji government, and afterwards as businessman, philanthropist, and non-official diplomat. During his service in the Meiji government from 1869 to 1873 and as an entrepreneur from 1873 to 1909, Shibusawa played a key role in devising economic and diplomatic policies for the Meiji government. He is even considered a major designer of modem Japanese economic systems and society. This paper examines Shibusawa Eiichi\u27s view of Japan\u27s foreign affairs and focuses on the way he influenced the Meiji government

The Image of Municipalities

Purpose of the study: The aim of this study is to investigate the image of municipalities and also to determine the things that give the city a positive image of the territory. Methodology: The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is the ideas and paradigms that were developed in the works of leading domestic sociologists, cult urologists, economists, and marketers. The applied individual methods include comparative analysis, typology, classification method, questionnaire, method of analysis of social factors and events Results: The Program of socio-economic development must be amended in the form of a subprogram for the formation of a positive image of the municipality of Chekhov, since today there are no projects or programs aimed at creating a positive image of the municipality to one degree or another, its popularization and perception among the local population and among tourists. Moreover, information support of the main assets of the municipality of Chekhov (information about the advantages of the territory, photographs and advertising leaflets) in social networks, the media, on the Internet, that is, marketing of historical and cultural heritage with a priority on the work of A.P. Chekhov Applications of this study: The formation of a favorable image is of fundamental importance primarily for residents of the municipality. It affects the creation and support of social optimism among the population, trust in the authorities and confidence in the future. Novelty of the study: The image of the municipality is formed from the priority elements of its structure and a set of certain factors of development and promotion of the territory. So, the novelty of this study is to asses this image in modern life

Genes of susceptibility to early neurodegenerative changes in the rat retina and brain: analysis by means of congenic strains

Contains the lists of RNO1 genes which are located within examined regions of rat chromosome 1 (Additional file 2: Tables S1, S2, S3, S4 and S5) (XLSX 349 kb

Desarrollo de la alfabetización intercultural de los docentes en el sistema de educación vocacional adicional

The general trends of contemporary education include the desire to integrate and universalize social relations. This study aims to explain that the process leads to the intensification of intercultural interaction between representatives of different cultural communities. The expansion of intercultural contacts in the modern world emphasizes the importance of achieving mutual understanding between people of different cultures. The study concludes that multicultural education should become an inseparable part of general education, including additional professional education, since interpersonal relationships take place in a multiethnic and multicultural environment.Las tendencias generales de la educación contemporánea incluyen el deseo de integrar y universalizar las relaciones sociales. Este estudio pretende explicar que el proceso conduce a la intensificación de la interacción intercultural entre representantes de diferentes comunidades culturales. La expansión de los contactos interculturales en el mundo moderno enfatiza la importancia de lograr el entendimiento mutuo entre personas de diferentes culturas. El estudio concluye que la educación multicultural debería convertirse en una parte inseparable de la educación general, incluida la e ucación profesional adicional, ya que las relaciones interpersonales tienen lugar en un entorno multiétnico y multicultural

Special features of the structure and phase composition of a Ti-23Al-26Nb/Al layered material obtained by plasma-spark sintering

Special features of formation of the structure of a layered intermetallic material based on titanium aluminide obtained by the method of plasma-spark sintering of foils are studied. The dependence of the structure on the temperature-and-time treatment parameters is determined. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

Oligomerization of the antimicrobial peptide Protegrin-5 in a membrane-mimicking environment. Structural studies by high-resolution NMR spectroscopy

© 2016 European Biophysical Societies' AssociationProtegrin pore formation is believed to occur in a stepwise fashion that begins with a nonspecific peptide interaction with the negatively charged bacterial cell walls via hydrophobic and positively charged amphipathic surfaces. There are five known nature protegrins (PG1-PG5), and early studies of PG-1 (PDB ID:1PG1) shown that it could form antiparallel dimer in membrane mimicking environment which could be a first step for further oligomeric membrane pore formation. Later, we solved PG-2 (PDB ID:2MUH) and PG-3 (PDB ID:2MZ6) structures in the same environment and for PG-3 observed a strong dαα NOE effects between residues R18 and F12, V14, and V16. These “inconsistent” with monomer structure NOEs appears due to formation of an additional antiparallel β-sheet between two monomers. It was also suggested that there is a possible association of protegrins dimers to form octameric or decameric β-barrels in an oligomer state. In order to investigate a more detailed oligomerization process of protegrins, in the present article we report the monomer (PDB ID: 2NC7) and octamer pore structures of the protegrin-5 (PG-5) in the presence of DPC micelles studied by solution NMR spectroscopy. In contrast to PG-1, PG-2, and PG-3 studies, for PG-5 we observed not only dimer NOEs but also several additional NOEs between side chains, which allows us to calculate an octamer pore structure of PG-5 that was in good agreement with previous AFM and PMF data

The Mitochondria-Targeted Antioxidant SkQ1 Downregulates Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor-Dependent Genes in the Retina of OXYS Rats with AMD-Like Retinopathy

The mitochondria-targeted antioxidant SkQ1 is a novel drug thought to retard development of age-related diseases. It has been shown that SkQ1 reduces clinical signs of retinopathy in senescence-accelerated OXYS rats, which are a known animal model of human age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The aim of this work was to test whether SkQ1 affects transcriptional activity of AhR (aryl hydrocarbon receptor) and Nrf2 (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2), which are considered as AMD-associated genes in the retina of OXYS and Wistar rats. Our results showed that only AhR and AhR-dependent genes were sensitive to SkQ1. Dietary supplementation with SkQ1 decreased the AhR mRNA level in both OXYS and Wistar rats. At baseline, the retinal Cyp1a1 mRNA level was lower in OXYS rats. SkQ1 supplementation decreased the Cyp1a1 mRNA level in Wistar rats, but this level remained unchanged in OXYS rats. Baseline Cyp1a2 and Cyp1b1 mRNA expression was stronger in OXYS than in Wistar rats. In the OXYS strain, Cyp1a2 and Cyp1b1 mRNA levels decreased as a result of SkQ1 supplementation. These data suggest that the Cyp1a2 and Cyp1b1 enzymes are involved in the pathogenesis of AMD-like retinopathy of OXYS rats and are possible therapeutic targets of SkQ1

Changes in the transcriptome of the prefrontal cortex of OXYS rats as the signs of Alzheimer’s disease development

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neuro­degenerative disease. It produces atrophic changes in the brain, which cause dementia. The incidence of AD is increasing with increasing life expectancy and gradual aging of the population in developed countries. There are no effective prophylactic inter­ventions because of insufficient understanding of the AD pathogenesis and the absence of adequate experimental models. Recently, we showed that senescence-accelerated OXYS rats represent a promis­ing model of AD; in these rats, accelerated aging of the brain is accompanied by the typical signs of AD: degenerative alterations and death of neurons, a de­crease in synaptic density, mitochondrial dysfunction, hyperphosphorylation of the tau protein, an increased level of amyloid β (Aβ1–42), and the formation of amyloid plaques. To elucidate how these signs develop, we used a nextgeneration RNA sequencing technique (RNA-Seq) to study the prefron­tal-cortex transcriptome of OXYS rats during the manifestation of AD signs (at an age of 5 months) and during their active progres­sion (at an age of 18 months), using age-matched Wistar rats (parental strain) as controls. At the age of 5 months, there were significant differences between OXYS and Wistar rats (p < 0.01) in the mRNA expression of more than 900 genes (> 2000 genes at the age of 18 months) in the prefrontal cortex. Most of these genes were related to neuronal plasticity, protein phosphorylation, Са2+ homeostasis, hypoxia, immune processes, and apoptosis. Between the ages of 5 and 18 months, there were changes in the expression of 499 genes in Wistar rats and changes in the expres­sion of 5500 genes in OXYS rats. Only 333 genes were common between these sets. This finding points to differences in the mechanisms and rates of age-related changes in the brain between normal aging and the period of development of AD-specific neuro­degene­rative processes