Integrative Biomarker Indices in a Benthic Indicator Species Modiolus Modiolus (L.) Under a Simulated Oil Spill

The horse mussel Modiolus modiolus (L.) is a sentinel bivalve species used in monitoring programs to assess potential biological exposure to anthropogenic contaminants, including oil hydrocarbons, in benthic environments. In an aquariumbased experiment, these mussels were exposed to a simulated oil spill where crude oil at realistic concentrations (from low to high) interacted with an inert environment (seawater, gravel surface, etc.) and the biota. Using a combination of endpoints that included tissue contaminant load, protease activity, antioxidant enzyme activity, and low-molecular antioxidant profiles, we characterized M. modiolus responses to this simulated crude oil spill. Significant differences were observed in tissue protein reserves, protease activity, and oxidative stress markers including glutathione content and glutathione-S-transferase activity in the hepatopancreas and gill tissues of the bivalves treated with oil. Total concentrations of oil-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in M. modiolus tissues were generally highest under the highest ambient oil concentration with much lower levels at the lowest. This general pattern does match the activity of protein quality control proteases but not the antioxidant enzyme activity profiles. Glutathione-S-transferase activity in bivalves showed decreased activity under the high compared to the lower oil load and oil-free animals, while glutathione content and calpain activity were positively correlated with oil uptake. The data suggest that these benthic organisms were exhibiting biological responses to the oil polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and support the bioindicator value of the species. Keywords: M. modiolus, oil spill, PAHs, integrative biomarker approach, protein quality control, GSH, GS

Socio-Cultural Mobility as a Condition for Professional Activation of Staff

We have identified the basic types of human mobility: social, professional, academic and some mixed types: socio-professional, professional-academic, socio-cultural, etc. Carryed out a comparative, comprehensive analysis, applying the method of sequential comparison of different interpretations of the concept of "socio-cultural mobility" with the use of systematic analysis, we substantiated the basic meaning of this concept: quality inherent in human (individual) which indicate a high level of social and cultural competence, social and general culture of the individual; the process of individual and group mobility of people in different socio-cultural environments (including professional environments in which a person operates), the process of realization of personal qualities, especially those that determine their ability to master social and cultural values and norms of a particular environment; achieved (or determined) result of activity, mobility in different socio-cultural environments (realized the potential of this type of human mobility for a certain period); criterion for evaluating activities in different socio-cultural environments, effectiveness, productivity, efficiency of the specified socio-cultural activities of man

Kurhany z epoki brązu nad górnym Dniestrem - polsko-ukraińskie projekty badawcze

This paper discuses the excavations in the cemetery of the Komarów culture of the Bronze Age in Bukivna upon the upper Dniester. They have been carried out by the Polish-Ukrainian archaeological expedition as a part of the project of the National Centre of Sciences, the aim of which has been to provide comprehensive bioarchaeological characteristic and socio-cultural interpretation of the cemetery. During the field walking over 50 barrows were documented, round or slightly oval in plan. They occurred in three main clusters, arranged in groups-lines, on the watershed between the Dniester and its little, nameless tributary. The article presents the results of the study of barrow 1, in which there were discovered six features and over 400 artefacts, including 38 vessels in several deposits, 262 flint implements, fragments of structural daub, and bronze items - a pin and pendant, as well as small, burned bones. Among the features two charred wooden structures seem special and one stone-and-wood (cenotaph). Bones were “scattered” mainly between wooden structures. A series of analyses and specialist expertises had been done: radiocarbon, paleopedological, geomorphological, paleobotanical, physico-chemical. The sum of probability distribution of calibrated radiocarbon dates suggests second quarter of the second millennium BC. These dates are consistent with the analysis of the stylistics of vessels and bronze artefacts, indicating the early and classic stages of development of the Komarów culture

Securing tropical forest carbon: the contribution of protected areas to REDD

Forest loss and degradation in the tropics contribute 6-17% of all greenhouse gas emissions. Protected areas cover 217.2 million ha (19.6%) of the world's humid tropical forests and contain c. 70.3 petagrams of carbon (Pg C) in biomass and soil to 1 m depth. Between 2000 and 2005, we estimate that 1.75 million ha of forest were lost from protected areas in humid tropical forests, causing the emission of 0.25-0.33 Pg C. Protected areas lost about half as much carbon as the same area of unprotected forest. We estimate that the reduction of these carbon emissions from ongoing deforestation in protected sites in humid tropical forests could be valued at USD 6,200-7,400 million depending on the land use after clearance. This is >1.5 times the estimated spending on protected area management in these regions. Improving management of protected areas to retain forest cover better may be an important, although certainly not sufficient, component of an overall strategy for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD

Problems of the Formation and Development of Diaspora Business in the Regions of Western Siberia

Using the example of the Tyumen region, the experience of inter-ethnic interaction, formation and development of diaspora business is summed up. The results of the social research, conducted in 2013-2015 within the framework of the scientific community “The Social Responsibility of Business” on the basis of the Tyumen State Oil and Gas University are presented. The representatives of the regional public service and ethnic business took part in the research. Keywords: ethnos, ethnic community, diaspora, inter-ethnic interaction, diaspora business. JEL Classifications: M38, M21, R11, R5

Radical prostatectomy in the treatment of locally advanced prostate cancer: a retrospective, bicentric, descriptive study

Catedra de urologie, Universitatea de Stat de Medicină din Kuban, Krasnodar, Federaţia Rusă, Catedra de oncologie, Centrul de Medicină Reconstructivă al Clinicii Universitare, Universitatea Naţională de Medicină din Odessa, Odessa, UcrainaRezumat Introducere. Actualmente, există numeroase criterii ce vizează depistarea cancerului de prostată (PCa) cu risc înalt de progresie. Prostatectomia radicală (RPE) poate fi efectuată și la pacienții cu PCa local-avansat, fără riscul creșterii numărului de complicații. Material și metode. Stusdiu retrospectiv, descriptiv, bicentric, efectuat pe un eșantion total de 276 de pacienți (91 – PCa local-avansat și 185 – PCa local). Descrisă evoluția postoperatorie a pacienților pe o durată de până la 36 luni. Rezultate. Prostatectomia radicală permite un control fiabil al procesului neoplazic la 75% dintre pacienții cu PCa avansat local, aprecierea gradului de extindere al tumorii fiind mai exactă. Progresia biochimică a fost semnificativ mai des întâlnită la pacienții cu stadiul pT3 la PCa; cu toate acestea, doar la 5,6% dintre ei nivelul postoperatoriu de PSA a fost peste 0,2 mg/mL. Doar 35,2% dintre acești pacienți au necesitat tratament multimodal pe parcursul primelor 12 luni de monitorizare postoperatorie. Dintre aceștia, doar 18,9% au necesitat radioterapie adjuvantă (RT), 3,2% – tratament hormonal adjuvant (HT) și 13,1% – RT și HT, în combinație, luând în considerare factorii de pronostic negativ. Concluzii. Prostatectomia radicală oferă un control sigur al tumorii la majoritatea pacienților cu cancer de prostată localavansat și permite evaluarea mai exactă a extinderii procesului neoplazic. Pacienții cu stadiu pT3 necesită un control mai riguros al nivelului de PSA în primele 12 luni după intervenție, cu scopul unei eventuale inițieri precoce al altor tratamente adjuvante. Este argumentată și instituirea unui control programat al pacienților după prostatectomie radicală începând cu 24 luni postoperatoriu, în scopul identificării precoce a progresării tumorii din micrometastazele preexistente în ganglionii limfatici retroperitoneali și structurile osoase, care sunt nedetectabile preoperatoriu. Abstract Introduction. There are a lot of criteria characterizing highrisk of progression prostate cancer (PCa) nowadays. Radical prostatectomy (RPE) being used for years makes it possible to perform this surgery in patients with locally advanced PCa without the risk of increasing the number of complications. Material and methods. Retrospective, descriptive, bicentric study, made on a total number of 276 patients (91 – locally advanced PCa, and 185 – local PCa). The evolution of 36 months of follow-up was described. Results. Radical prostatectomy provided reliable control of the tumor in 75% of patients with locally advanced PCa, allowed to assess more accurately the extent of the tumor process. Biochemical progression was significantly more frequently found in patients with pT3 stage of PCa; however, only in 5.6% of them, postoperative levels of PSA were over 0.2 mg/mL. Only 32.5% of these patients required multimodal treatment within the first 12 months of postoperative followup. Out of them, 18.9% required adjuvant radio therapy (RT), 3.2% – adjuvant hormonal therapy (HT) and 13.1% – RT and HT taking in consideration negative prognostic factors. Conclusions. Radical prostatectomy offers a reliable control of tumours in the majority of patients with locally advanced prostate cancer and allows better evaluation of the extension of the neoplastic process. Patients with pT3 stage of cancer need a more rigorous control of PSA levels in the first 12 months after the surgery, in order to early initiate other adjuvant therapies. It is also reasonable to initiate a protocol of programmed control of patients that underwent radical prostatectomy in the first 24 months after the surgery, in order to early identify tumour progression from pre-existent micrometastasis in retroperitoneal lymphatic nodes and bones that are undetectable preoperatively

Mapping vulnerability of tropical forest to conversion, and resulting potential CO2 emissions: A rapid assessment for the Eliasch Review

This report is a rapid assessment analysis undertaken to inform the UK's Eliasch Review on the role of international finance mechanisms to preserve global forests in tackling climate change. The results should be used with an understanding of the caveats specified at the end of the report

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity