Reversal and pinning of Curie point transformations in thin film piezoelectrics

The Curie point for a rhombohedral piezoelectric thin film was established by in situ micro-Raman spectroscopy. The hysteresis in phase reversal and specific thermal conditions for disrupting such reversal were determined

Microstructural investigation supporting an abrupt stress induced transformation in amorphous carbon films

The intrinsic stress of carbon thin films deposited by filtered cathodic arc was investigated as a function of ion energy and Ar background gas pressure. The microstructure of the films was analyzed using transmission electron microscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy. The stress at given substrate bias was reduced by the presence of an Ar background gas and by the presence of a Cu underlayer deposited onto the substrate prior to deposition. Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiles showed no evidence of Ar incorporation into the films. A sharp transition from a sp2 to sp3 rich phase was found to occur at a stress of 6.5±1.5 GPa, independent of the deposition conditions. The structural transition at this value of stress is consistent with available data taken from the literature and also with the expected value of biaxial stress at the phase boundary between graphite and diamond at room temperature. The microstructure of films with stress in the transition region near 6.5 GPa was consistent with a mixture of sp2 and sp3 rich structures

The 2003 eclipse of EE Cep is coming. A review of past eclipses

EE Cep is an eclipsing binary with a period of 5.6 years. The next eclipse will occur soon, in May-June 2003, and all available past eclipses were collected and briefly analysed. EE Cep shows very large changes of the shape and the depth of minima during different eclipses, however it is possible to single out some persistent features. The analysis suggests that the eclipsing body should be a long object surrounded by an extended semi-transparent envelope. As an explanation, a model of a precessing optically thick disc, inclined to the plane of the binary orbit, is invoked. The changes of its spatial orientation, which is defined by the inclination of the disc and the tilt, induced most probably by precession of the disc spin axis with a period of about 50 years, produce strange photometric behaviour of this star. The H_alpha emission, and possibly the NaI absorptions, show significant changes during several months outside of the eclipse phase.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, LaTeX2e, accepted by A&

Assessment of Relative Risk for Periodontitis Progression Using Neural Network Modeling: Cohort Retrospective Study

Background. Currently accepted risk assessments of periodontitis progression are determinants of indirect stability: periodontal pockets, persistent bleeding of the gums, tooth mobility, local risk factors. In the era of case-oriented medicine, a relevant solution would be to choose periodontal therapy according to one-time consideration of the maximum available range of individual risk factors rather than on general clinical guidelines.Objectives. The study was aimed at determining the relative risk of periodontitis progression after active basic therapy using neural network modeling.Methods. A cohort retrospective study was performed on 109 patients of both sexes, aged 30 to 70 years, after basic treatment of chronic periodontitis (mild, moderate and severe) in the period from 1999 to 2016, who were on supportive periodontal therapy (SPT) for 5 years ≤SPT≤ 20 years. The authors considered data from objective examination of the periodontium and categorical indices (24 in total) assessed before treatment, 4–6 months after basic (active) treatment and 5 years ≤SPT≤ 20 years. Following the analysis of descriptive statistics, target quantitative indices were determined for prognostic modeling of treatment outcomes in periodontitis patients and calculating the residual risk of disease progression. Statistical processing of obtained data was carried out using the Statistica 13.3 package (Tibco, USA). Mean values of the indicators at different time points were compared by means of Wilcoxon’s and Signs criteria; Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to evaluate relevance between predictors and target indicators. The level of statistical significance p = 0.05 was accepted in all cases of analysis. DataMining, an automated neural network of Statistica software, was used as a tool to build neural network models. The task of classifying the level of risk of disease progression was solved by means of ROC analysis. The prognostic potential of the model was assessed using sensitivity and specificity measures.Results. The heterogeneous dynamics of predictor variables describing the state of the periodontium was determined. The outcomes of regenerative periodontal surgery, regardless of gender, age of patients and comorbidities, significantly outperformed those of other approaches, due to the formation of a new dentogingival attachment, although to different extent. Another positive functional outcome was recorded in restoring the dentition integrity by implantation, without any mutually damaging effects. Since revealing the interrelationships between indicators is not equivalent to the predictive value, prognostic models were built for target indicators and stratification of the relative risk of periodontitis progression using automated neural networks. The networks with the best prognostic properties were selected out of 1000 automatically built and trained neural networks — double-layer perceptrons. The sensitivity of the relative risk prognostic model on the training, control and test samples made up 90%, 67%, 80%; the specificity of the model made up 81.481%, 85.714%, 100%. Overall, in the cohort, the sensitivity and specificity accounted for 85.937% and 86.666%. The area under the curve (ROC AUC) is 0.859.Conclusion. The use of an artificial intelligence algorithm for the construction of neural networks for target predictors and stratification of the relative risk of periodontitis progression has advantages over classical methods — it is instrumental in solving classification and regression problems with categorical and quantitative predictor variables using data of arbitrary nature of large and small volumes. The practical implementation of the study results is reflected in the development of a relative risk calculator based on a written computer program

Importance of implementation disease prevention programs temporomandibular joint in elderly and senile

The aim of the study was to increase the effectiveness of prevention of dysfunctional states of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in elderly and senile age by developing and implementing new approaches to health education as part of the creation and implementation of the program «Prevention of diseases of the temporomandibular joint in elderly and senile». To achieve the objectives were examined 86 patients from 60 to 83 years: 25 patients with symptoms of diseases TMJ found as a result of uptake with complaints of difficulty in chewing, aesthetic dissatisfaction, and 61 patients who were sent for consultation gnathology doctors another profile under the program "Prevention of diseases of the temporomandibular joint in elderly and senile.

NITRIC OXIDE – BIOCHEMICAL MARKER OF TUBERCULOSIS PATHOGENESIS

Role of nitric oxide in the pathogenesis of pulmonary tuberculosis has been studied in 77 patients with new infiltrate pulmonary tuberculosis and 34 patients with fibrous cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis. The level of cumulative and endogenous nitrite depended on the clinical form of tuberculosis: in infiltrate pulmonary tuberculosis patients it was within the limits of reference ranges, and in fibrous cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis patients it was significantly lower. Results of statistical analysis point out at the significant homogeneity (monofunctionality) of the set of rates, defining the level of NO metabolites in blood serum in infiltrate pulmonary tuberculosis, namely: impact of adenosine deaminase, levels of α1-protease inhibitor, ceruleoplasmin and age. On the contrary in case of fibrous cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis the diverse (multi-functional) complexes were detected including clinical blood rates providing influence on the reduction of NO level in blood. Nitric oxide in the patients with both clinical forms of tuberculosis correlated with classical markers of system inflammatory response, thus nitric oxide can be regarded as an integral component of inflammatory response with potential evaluation of prognosis of specific lesions during follow-up of changes

Возможности применения лучевых методов исследования в диагностике кристаллических артропатий

 A review of current techniques of instrumental and laboratory diagnosis of crystal arthropathies is presented. Advantages and disadvantages of various methods of diagnostic radiology and diagnostic radiologic criteria employed in primary and differential diagnosis of crystal deposits are discussed in relation to their etiology and clinical peculiarities. It is proven from a wide pool of published studies that the method of ultrasonic diagnosis is the most available one, has no contraindications and demonstrates the best sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of crystalline arthropathy.  Представлен обзор современных методов  инструментальной и лабораторной диагностики  кристаллических артропатий. Обсуждаются достоинства и  недостатки лучевых методов исследования в выявлении  критериев и построении дифференциального ряда среди  различных по природе кристаллических депозитов. Показано, что метод ультразвуковой диагностики обладает  высокой чувствительностью и специфичностью в диагностике кристаллических артропатий.Введение в диагностическую практику ультразвукового  метода исследования позволит значительно повысить  точность диагностики кальцификатов с последующим  своевременным назначением лечебной и  профилактической тактики пациентами с данным типом  артрита, а новый набор диагностических критериев применительно к ультразвуковому исследованию в  артрологии может способствовать дальнейшему  повышению точности диагностики кристаллических  артропатий.

The Size Ellect on the Infrared Spectra of Condensed Media Under Conditions of ID, 2D and 3D Dielectric Confinement

A general expression for the dielectric loss spectrum of an absorbing composite medium was obtained from a Maxwell-Garnett general equation. This expression was simplified for the cases of one, two and three dimensional dielectric confinement in both ordered and disordered thin layers, rods (wires) and spheres of absorbing medium which are considered as mesoparticles or mesoscopic molecules. This theoretical approach was verified experimentally using high purity organic liquids with strong absorption bands in the infrared range. Three organic liquids, namely benzene, chloroform and carbon disulphide, were measured in various dielectric confinement configurations using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with a Grazing Angle attachment GATRTM. A significant shift of the resonant absorption band of liquid mesoparticles was observed for various dielectric confinement geometries which is in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Possible applications of this work include investigations of industrial smoke, toxic aerosols and liquid droplets

Know Your Heart: Rationale, design and conduct of a cross-sectional study of cardiovascular structure, function and risk factors in 4500 men and women aged 35-69 years from two Russian cities, 2015-18

Russia has one of the highest rates of cardiovascular disease in the world. The International Project on Cardiovascular Disease in Russia (IPCDR) was set up to understand the reasons for this. A substantial component of this study was the Know Your Heart Study devoted to characterising the nature and causes of cardiovascular disease in Russia by conducting large cross-sectional surveys in two Russian cities Novosibirsk and Arkhangelsk. The study population was 4542 men and women aged 35-69 years recruited from the general population. Fieldwork took place between 2015-18. There were two study components: 1) a baseline interview to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors, usually conducted at home, and 2) a comprehensive health check at a primary care clinic which included detailed examination of the cardiovascular system. In this paper we describe in detail the rationale for, design and conduct of these studies.The International Project on Cardiovascular Disease in Russia (IPCDR) project was supported in part by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award [100217]. The project was also funded by the Arctic University of Norway, UiT in Tromsø; Norwegian Institute of Public Health; the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Social Affairs