Щодо кодування нанокілець

Повторно переглянуто правила кодування карбонових нанокілець стосовно значень відповідних па­раметрів коду. Показано, іцо кодування Z-нанокілець дозволяє розрізняти 'їхню хіральність, яка є нас­лідком хіральності вихідних нанотрубок або виникає внаслідок скруту ахіральних нанотрубок при за­миканні нанокілець.The rules for encoding carbon nanorings have been revised as to values of corresponding code parameters. It has been shown that encoding Z-nanorings enables to distinguish their chirality that results either from initial nanotubes chirality or arises owing to twisting achiral nanotubes when closure into nanorings

Tolerance and Intolerance for Uncertainty as Predictors of Decision Making and Risk Acceptance in Gaming Strategies of Te Iowa Gambling Task

Background. Tis article reports on the results of an empirical study of interrelationships between indicators of decision-making strategies (indexed by the Iowa Gambling Task, IGT) and traits of tolerance and intolerance for uncertainty that capture the unity of cognitive and personality components of situational representations. Objective. Our study tested the hypothesis that overcoming uncertainty in decision making goes beyond cognitive representations of the task but instead is rooted in the construction of the amodal image of an uncertain situation that captures the meaning regulation of perception and action. We hypothesized that when a person is faced with multi-stage decisions, their strategies refect the contribution of individual diferences in attitudes towards uncertainty. Design. Using data obtained from n=60 typically developing adults (68% men; Mage=30.58), we examined the contribution of tolerance/intolerance for uncertainty to a variety of IGT dependent variables at fve diferent stages of the game. Results. Te data was analyzed using the mixed linear model method as implemented in the lme4 package for R. Te results indicated that tolerance for uncertainty signifcantly contributes to the initial level of behavioral risk, ensuring readiness for decision making under uncertainty. Conclusion. Tolerance for uncertainty plays an important role in early stages of orientation in an uncertain modeled game situation, and contributes to the productive development of probabilistic expectations. Intolerance for uncertainty, on the other hand, was shown to contribute to risk in decision making afer trial failure, potentially limiting learning in uncertain conditions through risk aversion

Health and disease markers correlate with gut microbiome composition across thousands of people.

Variation in the human gut microbiome can reflect host lifestyle and behaviors and influence disease biomarker levels in the blood. Understanding the relationships between gut microbes and host phenotypes are critical for understanding wellness and disease. Here, we examine associations between the gut microbiota and ~150 host phenotypic features across ~3,400 individuals. We identify major axes of taxonomic variance in the gut and a putative diversity maximum along the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes axis. Our analyses reveal both known and unknown associations between microbiome composition and host clinical markers and lifestyle factors, including host-microbe associations that are composition-specific. These results suggest potential opportunities for targeted interventions that alter the composition of the microbiome to improve host health. By uncovering the interrelationships between host diet and lifestyle factors, clinical blood markers, and the human gut microbiome at the population-scale, our results serve as a roadmap for future studies on host-microbe interactions and interventions

Математическая модель подключения оптимального числа потенциальных потребителей тепла к тепловой сети

In the modern world, the efficient use of energy is an extremely important aspect of human activity. In particular, heat supply systems have significant economic, environmental and social importance for both heat consumers and heat supply organizations. The economic status of all participants in the heat supply process depends on the efficiency of the functioning of the heat supply systems. The reliability of the functioning of systems depends on vital processes such as the work of hospitals and industrial enterprises. With such a close network communication, reliable and efficient operation of power supply systems is critical. In this article, ways to improve the efficiency of heat supply systems are considered. A mathematical model for improved planning of heat supply systems by connecting the optimal set of new heat consumers is presented. For each single customer, when there is an alternative option for connecting this consumer to the existing heat network, it is possible to choose the only optimal solution. This becomes possible due to the restrictions and the procedure for selecting variants from a subset of binary variables corresponding to alternatives. The procedure for finding the optimal number of consumers for connection to the existing heat network is presented, which is the rationale for increasing the number of existing consumers of the heat network. The testing was carried out and the results of the mathematical model by an example of test heat networks are presented. Directions of further study of increasing the efficiency of heat supply systems and integrating the presented mathematical model with modern software complexes are determined.В современном мире эффективное использование энергоносителей является крайне важным аспектом человеческой деятельности. В частности, системы теплоснабжения имеют значительное экономическое, экологическое и социальное значение как для потребителей тепла, так и для теплоснабжающих организаций. От эффективности функционирования систем теплоснабжения зависит экономическое состояние всех участников процесса теплоснабжения. От надежности функционирования систем зависят жизненно важные процессы, такие как работа больниц и промышленных предприятий. При такой тесной сетевой коммуникации критически важно безотказное и эффективное функционирование систем энергоснабжения. В данной статье рассмотрены пути повышения эффективности работы систем теплоснабжения. Представлена математическая модель для планирования работы систем теплоснабжения путем подключения оптимального множества новых потребителей тепла. Для отдельно взятого потенциального потребителя, каждый раз, когда возникает альтернативный вариант подключения этого потребителя к существующей тепловой сети, возможно выбрать единственное оптимальное решение. Это становится возможно за счет наложения ограничений и процедуры отбора вариантов из подмножества бинарных переменных, соответствующих альтернативам. Представлена процедура поиска оптимального числа потребителей для подключения к существующей тепловой сети, являющаяся обоснованием для увеличения числа существующих потребителей. Проведено тестирование и представлены результаты работы математической модели на примере тестовых тепловых сетей, сконфигурированных на основе ручного ввода основных условий и параметров работы. Определены направления дальнейших исследований по повышению эффективности систем теплоснабжения и интеграции представленной математической модели с современными программными комплексами.         

Structural insights into thrombolytic activity of destabilase from medicinal leech

Destabilase from the medical leech Hirudo medicinalis belongs to the family of i-type lysozymes. It has two different enzymatic activities: microbial cell walls destruction (muramidase activity), and dissolution of the stabilized fibrin (isopeptidase activity). Both activities are known to be inhibited by sodium chloride at near physiological concentrations, but the structural basis remains unknown. Here we present two crystal structures of destabilase, including a 1.1 Å-resolution structure in complex with sodium ion. Our structures reveal the location of sodium ion between Glu34/Asp46 residues, which were previously recognized as a glycosidase active site. While sodium coordination with these amino acids may explain inhibition of the muramidase activity, its influence on previously suggested Ser49/Lys58 isopeptidase activity dyad is unclear. We revise the Ser49/Lys58 hypothesis and compare sequences of i-type lysozymes with confirmed destabilase activity. We suggest that the general base for the isopeptidase activity is His112 rather than Lys58. pKa calculations of these amino acids, assessed through the 1 μs molecular dynamics simulation, confirm the hypothesis. Our findings highlight the ambiguity of destabilase catalytic residues identification and build foundations for further research of structure–activity relationship of isopeptidase activity as well as structure-based protein design for potential anticoagulant drug development.</p

ECMO for COVID-19 patients in Europe and Israel

Since March 15th, 2020, 177 centres from Europe and Israel have joined the study, routinely reporting on the ECMO support they provide to COVID-19 patients. The mean annual number of cases treated with ECMO in the participating centres before the pandemic (2019) was 55. The number of COVID-19 patients has increased rapidly each week reaching 1531 treated patients as of September 14th. The greatest number of cases has been reported from France (n = 385), UK (n = 193), Germany (n = 176), Spain (n = 166), and Italy (n = 136) .The mean age of treated patients was 52.6 years (range 16–80), 79% were male. The ECMO configuration used was VV in 91% of cases, VA in 5% and other in 4%. The mean PaO2 before ECMO implantation was 65 mmHg. The mean duration of ECMO support thus far has been 18 days and the mean ICU length of stay of these patients was 33 days. As of the 14th September, overall 841 patients have been weaned from ECMO support, 601 died during ECMO support, 71 died after withdrawal of ECMO, 79 are still receiving ECMO support and for 10 patients status n.a. . Our preliminary data suggest that patients placed on ECMO with severe refractory respiratory or cardiac failure secondary to COVID-19 have a reasonable (55%) chance of survival. Further extensive data analysis is expected to provide invaluable information on the demographics, severity of illness, indications and different ECMO management strategies in these patients

Neurophysiological and Genetic Bases of Developmental Language Disorder

Four electrophysiological studies (using event-related potentials, ERPs) and one genome-wide association (GWAS) study investigated the neurophysiological and genetic bases of Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) in a geographically isolated Russian-speaking population with an elevated prevalence of DLD. Experiments 1 and 2 found that while children with DLD showed intact preattentive phonological discrimination mismatch negativity (MMN) component, they showed reduced amplitudes of the auditory P2 and P3b components in an attentional oddball task. These amplitudes were related to measures of lexical development and development of complex syntax, underscoring the role of working memory and attentional limitations in DLD. Experiment 3 examined lexical processing (i.e., the N400 component) in children with DLD and their typically developing (TD) peers and established the presence of lexical processing deficits in DLD potentially mediated by their phonological deficits but largely unrelated to deficits in grammatical development. Experiment 4 investigated children’s neural responses to violations of subject-verb grammatical gender agreement in Russian. Children with DLD showed a left-lateralized P600 in response to the morphologically-taxing violations, absent in TD children; they also showed a reduced amplitude of the P200-like component in response to verbs in general, suggesting the presence of early phonological and/or morphological processing deficits. The molecular genetic GWAS study identified a novel candidate DLD gene, SETBP1, located on chromosome 18q21 and associated with measures of the development of complex syntax. The patterns of intercorrelations between behavioral measures of cognitive/language development and ERPs and intercorrelations among ERPs suggested that behavioral heterogeneity of DLD manifestations is accompanied by its neurocognitive heterogeneity. Coupled with the results from the GWAS study, these findings support viewing DLD as a complex common neurodevelopmental disorder that is multivariate, dimensional and etiologically heterogeneous even when overall heterogeneity is reduced at both environmental and genetic levels

Model of the Connecting Optimal Number of Heat Consumers

In the modern world, the efficient use of energy is an extremely important aspect of human activity. In particular, heat supply systems have significant economic, environmental and social importance for both heat consumers and heat supply organizations. The economic status of all participants in the heat supply process depends on the efficiency of the functioning of the heat supply systems. The reliability of the functioning of systems depends on vital processes such as the work of hospitals and industrial enterprises. With such a close network communication, reliable and efficient operation of power supply systems is critical. In this article, ways to improve the efficiency of heat supply systems are considered. A mathematical model for improved planning of heat supply systems by connecting the optimal set of new heat consumers is presented. For each single customer, when there is an alternative option for connecting this consumer to the existing heat network, it is possible to choose the only optimal solution. This becomes possible due to the restrictions and the procedure for selecting variants from a subset of binary variables corresponding to alternatives. The procedure for finding the optimal number of consumers for connection to the existing heat network is presented, which is the rationale for increasing the number of existing consumers of the heat network. The testing was carried out and the results of the mathematical model by an example of test heat networks are presented. Directions of further study of increasing the efficiency of heat supply systems and integrating the presented mathematical model with modern software complexes are determined