Meteoprotective properties of melaxen in old and middle aged patients with ischemic heart disease in combination with arterial hypertension

We studied 102 patients (mean age 60.1±3.3 years) with arterial hypertension (AH) II-III stage, grade 2-3 and ischemic heart disease (exertional angina functional class (FC) I-II, postinfarction cardiosclerosis). The control group of patients received traditional therapy (TT): beta -blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, antiplatelet agents, diuretics and nitrate

Knot homology via derived categories of coherent sheaves II, sl(m) case

Using derived categories of equivariant coherent sheaves we construct a knot homology theory which categorifies the quantum sl(m) knot polynomial. Our knot homology naturally satisfies the categorified MOY relations and is conjecturally isomorphic to Khovanov-Rozansky homology. Our construction is motivated by the geometric Satake correspondence and is related to Manolescu's by homological mirror symmetry.Comment: 51 pages, 9 figure

The Role of Bilingual Language Experience in Executive Functioning

В работе описывается проект исследования по изучению феномена билингвального преимущества. Планируется изучение компонентов исполнительных функций (рабочей памяти, ингибиторного контроля, когнитивной гибкости) у выборки молодых взрослых, владеющих двумя языковыми парами (адыгейский-русский или татарский-русский). Согласно гипотезе исследования, билингвы, погруженные в разные культурно-языковые контексты, будут различаться по уровню билингвального языкового опыта и, следовательно, по показателям исполнительных функций.This is the research design of the project that aims at examining the bilingual advantage. The study will assess the following components of executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility) in the sample of young adults native to two language pairs (Adyghe-Russian or Tatar-Russian). According to the research hypothesis, bilinguals immersed into different linguistic and cultural contexts will have various levels of bilingual language experience and, consequently, will differ in their executive functions

Современные подходы к использованию глюкокортикоидных и цитотоксических препаратов при болезни Шегрена

Tsel' issledovaniya. Otsenit' effektivnost' dlitel'noy terapii bolezni Shegrena (BSh) malymi dozami glyukokortikoidnykh (GK) i alkiliruyushchikh tsitotoksicheskikh (ATs) preparatov Materialy i metody. V issledovanie vklyucheno 412 patsientov (406 zhenshchin i 6 muzhchin) s BSh, nablyudavshikhsya v Institute revmatologii v 1975 - 2007 gg. Mediana nablyudeniya - 9 (5-15) let. Sredniy vozrast bol'nykh na nachalo nablyudeniya - 44,8 goda. Mediana dlitel'nosti BSh do pervogo postupleniya - 9 let, mediana vozrasta debyuta BSh - 33 goda. Effektivnost' dlitel'noy terapii malymi dozami GKu 151 bol'nogo (mediana - 10 let), malymi dozami ATsu 147 bol'nykh (mediana - 5 let) otsenena v sravnenii s rezul'tatami lecheniya 94 bol'nykh, poluchavshikh tol'ko «oftal'mologicheskie» i «stomatologicheskie» metody terapii. Rezul'taty issledovaniya. Pokazano, chto terapiya malymi dozami GK i ATs polozhitel'no vliyala na nekotorye zhelezistye i vnezhelezistye proyavleniya zabolevaniya, odnako k snizheniyu veroyatnosti razvitiya limfoproliferativnykh zabolevaniy (r=0,036) i povysheniyu vyzhivaemosti bol'nykh s BSh privodila tol'ko terapiya ATs (r=0,037). Razrabotany i predstavleny metodiki lokal'nogo ispol'zovaniya GK pri tyazhelykh oftal'mologicheskikh i stomatologicheskikh proyavleniyakh BSh. U 150 bol'nykh s BSh s tyazhelymi sistemnymi proyavleniyami predstavleny pokazaniya i protivopokazaniya dlya provedeniya pul's-terapii (PT), kombinirovannoy PT, plazmafereza, krioafereza i dvoynoy fil'tratsii plazmy v sochetanii s kombinirovannoy PT. Pokazano, chto naznachenie malykh doz GK i PT u zhenshchin s BSh s sokhranennym menstrual'nym tsiklom privodit k bolee rannemu nastupleniyu menopauzy i sposobstvuet razvitiyu glyukokortikoidnogo i postmenopauzal'nogo osteoporoza v otdalennye sroki. Otseneny naibolee znachimye pobochnye proyavleniya terapii GK i ATs pri razlichnykh variantakh terapii BSh.Цель исследования. Оценить эффективность длительной терапии болезни Шегрена (БШ) малыми дозами глюкокортикоидных (ГК) и алкилирующих цитотоксических (АЦ) препаратов Материалы и методы. В исследование включено 412 пациентов (406 женщин и 6 мужчин) с БШ, наблюдавшихся в Институте ревматологии в 1975 - 2007 гг. Медиана наблюдения - 9 (5-15) лет. Средний возраст больных на начало наблюдения - 44,8 года. Медиана длительности БШ до первого поступления - 9 лет, медиана возраста дебюта БШ - 33 года. Эффективность длительной терапии малыми дозами ГКу 151 больного (медиана - 10 лет), малыми дозами АЦу 147 больных (медиана - 5 лет) оценена в сравнении с результатами лечения 94 больных, получавших только «офтальмологические» и «стоматологические» методы терапии. Результаты исследования. Показано, что терапия малыми дозами ГК и АЦ положительно влияла на некоторые железистые и внежелезистые проявления заболевания, однако к снижению вероятности развития лимфопролиферативных заболеваний (р=0,036) и повышению выживаемости больных с БШ приводила только терапия АЦ (р=0,037). Разработаны и представлены методики локального использования ГК при тяжелых офтальмологических и стоматологических проявлениях БШ. У 150 больных с БШ с тяжелыми системными проявлениями представлены показания и противопоказания для проведения пульс-терапии (ПТ), комбинированной ПТ, плазмафереза, криоафереза и двойной фильтрации плазмы в сочетании с комбинированной ПТ. Показано, что назначение малых доз ГК и ПТ у женщин с БШ с сохраненным менструальным циклом приводит к более раннему наступлению менопаузы и способствует развитию глюкокортикоидного и постменопаузального остеопороза в отдаленные сроки. Оценены наиболее значимые побочные проявления терапии ГК и АЦ при различных вариантах терапии БШ

Immunologic Responses to Vibrio cholerae in Patients Co-Infected with Intestinal Parasites in Bangladesh

Vibrio cholerae causes cholera, a severe diarrhea that may lead to fatal dehydration if not treated. Cholera occurs mostly in impoverished areas where there is poor sanitation and intestinal parasites are also common. However, little is known about the relationship between intestinal parasites and cholera. To learn about how parasites affect the immune response to Vibrio cholerae, this article describes 361 patients with cholera, including 53 who had intestinal parasitic infection. We found that cholera patients with parasitic worms had decreased antibody response to cholera toxin. The decrease was greatest in IgA antibodies, which are secreted in the intestine. However, patients with worm infection did not have a difference in their immune response to lipopolysaccharide, a sugar-based molecule that is important for immunity. These different effects on the immune response to cholera toxin and lipopolysaccharide could be explained by the effect of parasitic infection on CD4+ T cells, a type of cell that influences the development of the antibody response to proteins such as cholera toxin but may not always influence the response to sugar-based molecules. The finding that worm infection is associated with decreased immune responses to cholera provides an additional reason for deworming in cholera-endemic areas

Rhythmic Structure of Reading and Cross-Modal Priming Effect of Rhythm on Grammatical Judgements

Ритм является фундаментальным элементом как музыки, так и речи, однако влияние аудиально представленных ритмических паттернов на процессы чтения игнорируется в исследованиях. Здесь мы представляем исследование связанных с событиями потенциалов, проведенное с использованием кросс-модального дизайна. Мы обнаружили увеличение эффекта P600 после регулярной ритмической стимуляции, который был наиболее выражен в правом полушарии. Также мы обнаружили значимое взаимодействие фактора полушария и прайминга. Результаты нашего исследования показывают тесное межмодальное взаимодействие в процессе чтения, а также наличие внутренней ритмической структуры, которая участвует в процессе чтения и может быть синхронизирована с внешней ритмической стимуляцией.Rhythm is a fundamental element of both music and speech, however, the effect of auditorily presented rhythm patterns on reading processes is neglected in the research. Here we present an event-related potentials study conducted using such cross-modal design. We found an increased P600 effect after regular rhythmic stimulation, this effect was the most pronounced in the right hemisphere.We also found a significant interaction between hemispheric factor and priming. These results suggest tight intermodal connections in the reading process as well as the existence of an internal rhythmic structure which is both involved in the reading process and might be synchronized with external rhythmic stimulation

Effect of Pictorial Depth Cues, Binocular Disparity Cues and Motion Parallax Depth Cues on Lightness Perception in Three-Dimensional Virtual Scenes

Surface lightness perception is affected by scene interpretation. There is some experimental evidence that perceived lightness under bi-ocular viewing conditions is different from perceived lightness in actual scenes but there are also reports that viewing conditions have little or no effect on perceived color. We investigated how mixes of depth cues affect perception of lightness in three-dimensional rendered scenes containing strong gradients of illumination in depth.Observers viewed a virtual room (4 m width x 5 m height x 17.5 m depth) with checkerboard walls and floor. In four conditions, the room was presented with or without binocular disparity (BD) depth cues and with or without motion parallax (MP) depth cues. In all conditions, observers were asked to adjust the luminance of a comparison surface to match the lightness of test surfaces placed at seven different depths (8.5-17.5 m) in the scene. We estimated lightness versus depth profiles in all four depth cue conditions. Even when observers had only pictorial depth cues (no MP, no BD), they partially but significantly discounted the illumination gradient in judging lightness. Adding either MP or BD led to significantly greater discounting and both cues together produced the greatest discounting. The effects of MP and BD were approximately additive. BD had greater influence at near distances than far.These results suggest the surface lightness perception is modulated by three-dimensional perception/interpretation using pictorial, binocular-disparity, and motion-parallax cues additively. We propose a two-stage (2D and 3D) processing model for lightness perception

Susceptibility to Vibrio cholerae Infection in a Cohort of Household Contacts of Patients with Cholera in Bangladesh

Vibrio cholerae is the bacterium that causes cholera, a severe form of diarrhea that leads to rapid and potentially fatal dehydration when the infection is not treated promptly. Cholera remains an important cause of diarrhea globally, and V. cholerae continues to cause major epidemics in the most vulnerable populations. Although there have been recent discoveries about how the bacterium adapts to the human intestine and causes diarrhea, there is little understanding of why some people are protected from infection with V. cholerae. This article describes several factors that are associated with the risk of developing V. cholerae infection among people living in the same household with a patient with severe cholera who are at high risk of contracting the infection. One of the findings is that IgA antibodies, a type of antibody associated with immunity at mucosal surfaces such as the intestine, that target several components of the bacteria are associated with immunity to V. cholerae infection. This article also describes genetic and nutritional factors that additionally influence susceptibility to V. cholerae infection

Defining the cellular precursors to human breast cancer

Human breast cancers are broadly classified based on their gene-expression profiles into luminal- and basal-type tumors. These two major tumor subtypes express markers corresponding to the major differentiation states of epithelial cells in the breast: luminal (EpCAM+) and basal/myoepithelial (CD10+). However, there are also rare types of breast cancers, such as metaplastic carcinomas, where tumor cells exhibit features of alternate cell types that no longer resemble breast epithelium. Until now, it has been difficult to identify the cell type(s) in the human breast that gives rise to these various forms of breast cancer. Here we report that transformation of EpCAM+ epithelial cells results in the formation of common forms of human breast cancer, including estrogen receptor-positive and estrogen receptor-negative tumors with luminal and basal-like characteristics, respectively, whereas transformation of CD10+ cells results in the development of rare metaplastic tumors reminiscent of the claudin-low subtype. We also demonstrate the existence of CD10+ breast cells with metaplastic traits that can give rise to skin and epidermal tissues. Furthermore, we show that the development of metaplastic breast cancer is attributable, in part, to the transformation of these metaplastic breast epithelial cells. These findings identify normal cellular precursors to human breast cancers and reveal the existence of a population of cells with epidermal progenitor activity within adult human breast tissues

Comparative Proteomic Analysis of the PhoP Regulon in Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi Versus Typhimurium

Background: S. Typhi, a human-restricted Salmonella enterica serovar, causes a systemic intracellular infection in humans (typhoid fever). In comparison, S. Typhimurium causes gastroenteritis in humans, but causes a systemic typhoidal illness in mice. The PhoP regulon is a well studied two component (PhoP/Q) coordinately regulated network of genes whose expression is required for intracellular survival of S. enterica. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using high performance liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), we examined the protein expression profiles of three sequenced S. enterica strains: S. Typhimurium LT2, S. Typhi CT18, and S. Typhi Ty2 in PhoP-inducing and non-inducing conditions in vitro and compared these results to profiles of $phoP^−/Q^−$ mutants derived from S. Typhimurium LT2 and S. Typhi Ty2. Our analysis identified 53 proteins in S. Typhimurium LT2 and 56 proteins in S. Typhi that were regulated in a PhoP-dependent manner. As expected, many proteins identified in S. Typhi demonstrated concordant differential expression with a homologous protein in S. Typhimurium. However, three proteins (HlyE, STY1499, and CdtB) had no homolog in S. Typhimurium. HlyE is a pore-forming toxin. STY1499 encodes a stably expressed protein of unknown function transcribed in the same operon as HlyE. CdtB is a cytolethal distending toxin associated with DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and cellular distension. Gene expression studies confirmed up-regulation of mRNA of HlyE, STY1499, and CdtB in S. Typhi in PhoP-inducing conditions. Conclusions/Significance: This study is the first protein expression study of the PhoP virulence associated regulon using strains of Salmonella mutant in PhoP, has identified three Typhi-unique proteins (CdtB, HlyE and STY1499) that are not present in the genome of the wide host-range Typhimurium, and includes the first protein expression profiling of a live attenuated bacterial vaccine studied in humans (Ty800)