Methodological Approach to Measure the Quality of Life of the Region’s Population

The article is devoted to the urgent problem of the regional development, i.e. to the development of methodological tools to evaluate the quality of life of the population in the region. The article considers the concept of “quality of life”, and the terms related thereto; and substantiate the author’s position with respect to the concept. The existing domestic and foreign approaches to evaluate the quality of life of the population were analyzed, and the application of the comprehensive approach was reasoned within this study. The criteria for evaluation of the quality of life of the population were distinguished. The authors proposed the methodological approach that considers not only objective indicators of the quality of life presented in the statistical reports of the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, but also employs subjective evaluations of the local population enabling more appropriate evaluation of the quality of life in the region. The methodological tools of the research include mathematical methods of statistical data processing and online survey of the population about the level of satisfaction with various aspects of their life. The methodological tools were tested using the example of the Sverdlovsk Region that is characterized both by the steady improvement of statistical indicators of the quality of life and by low satisfaction of population with certain aspects of the quality of life, which generally decreases the integrated indicator of the quality of life despite positive dynamics of social and economic development of the region and vigorous social policy of the regional authorities. The proposed methodology was used in the evaluation of the quality of life of the Sverdlovsk Region population as part of the development of the Concept of comprehensive regional program “New quality of life of Ural residents” (Decree of the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Region No. 45-UG dated January 29, 2014 “On the Concept of the life quality improvement for the Sverdlovsk Region population before 2030 year — “New quality of life of Ural residents”).The article has been prepared with the support of the grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) No. 15-06-09169 “Development of methodical measurement tools and evaluation of the impact of social, economic, medical and demographic factors on mortality rates of working-age population”

Flipped classroom in the higher education system: A pilot study in Finland and Russia

This article shows specifics of the transition from conventional educational practice to the Flipped classroom model in modern education system. It is focused on professors’ perception of the video-based teaching approach. Conducted sociological survey involves the teaching staff from one European and one Russian university, namely the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) and Ural Federal University (URFU). The survey investigated professors’ awareness of the Inverted classroom, their readiness to employ it and prime barriers they face. Results reveal that teachers from Russia have less information about the model and practically do not embed it in the education arrangement comparing to professors from Finland. Lack of time, lack of support and assistance are shown to be the prime barriers preventing them from flipped classroom implementation. Drawn implications are of use for the integration of the flipped classroom. © 2017, Adam Marszalek Publishing House. All rights reserved

Gastroesophageal reflux disease associated with diseases of the respiratory tract

The European community of gastroenterologists in 1997 recognized GERB as "illness of the 21st century". Diseases of a respiratory tract take the leading place among all extra esophageal implications of a gastroesophageal reflux disease. Among them bronchial asthma and a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are the most widespread. The study of the features of the current and modern methods of diagnosing bronchial asthma, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease is of great importance for identifying potential obstacles to effective treatment and preventing an increase in the risk of hospitalizations of patients with this co-morbid pathology. The morbidity of the pathology of the respiratory tract, combined with gastroesophageal reflux disease, is steadily growing. There is a large number of publications concerning the relationship between gastroesophageal reflux disease and diseases of the bronchopulmonary system, but the etiopathogenesis and the cause-and-effect relationship of these diseases remain in question. 1t is interesting to note that the syndrome of obstructive sleep apnea is not included in the list of extra-oesophageal manifestations, both probably and reliably associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease (according to the Montreal Consensus, 2006), but is of great interest to researchers in recent years

The role of a2ß1 integrin in anchorage dependent apoptosis of breast carcinoma and hepatoma cells

The role of collagen specific a2ß1 integrin in anchorage dependent apoptosis (anoikis) was investigated. Stimulation of a2ß1 signaling with immobilized anti-a2 antibody markedly sensitized human MCF-7 breast carcinoma and HepG2 hepatoma cells to anoikis. Accordingly, down-regulation of a2ß1 by a2-specific siRNA decreased the percentage of cells undergoing anoikis. These results for the first time provide direct evidence that a2ß1 receptor can transduce the signal to promote death in matrix deprived cells

Oxidative destruction of anionite AV-17×8 using the Fenton reaction

Received: 02.11.2021. Revised: 22.11.2021. Accepted: 23.11.2021. Available online: 26.11.2021.The kinetic studies of AV-17×8 strongly basic anionite’s oxidative destruction using the Fenton reaction have been carried out. The effect of the process’s temperature and the concentration of catalysts of iron(II) sulfate or copper(II) sulfate on the oxidation of anionexchange resin with hydrogen peroxide is estimated. With an increase in temperature in the range of 323–348 K, a regular increase in the effective rate constant of oxidative anionite destruction is observed when using iron(II) sulfate by 1.5 times, and when using copper(II) sulfate – by 22 times. It was found that the obtained values of the activation energy of the anion exchanger’s oxidation with the addition of copper(II) sulfate are 124.3–115.7 kJ/mol and are characteristic of the process proceeding in the kinetic region. The nature of the change in the surface morphology of the anionite granules in the process of oxidative decomposition has been revealed

Mesoporous silica particles are phagocytosed by microglia and induce a mild inflammatory response in vitro

Aim: Mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) are broadly used drug delivery carriers. In this study, the authors analyzed the responses to MSPs of astrocytes and microglia, the two main cellular players in neuroinflammation. Materials & methods: Primary murine cortical mixed glial cultures were treated with rhodamine B-labeled MSPs. Results: MSPs are avidly internalized by microglial cells and remain inside the cells for at least 14 days. Despite this, MSPs do not affect glial cell viability or morphology, basal metabolic activity or oxidative stress. MSPs also do not affect mRNA levels of key proinflammatory genes; however, in combination with lipopolysaccharide, they significantly increase extracellular IL-1β levels. Conclusion: These results suggest that MSPs could be novel tools for specific drug delivery to microglial cells. Plain language summary Mesoporous silica particles (MSPs) are broadly used drug delivery carriers. In this study, the authors analyzed the responses of two types of brain cells, astrocytes and microglia, to MSPs. Mouse astrocytes and microglia were kept alive in cultures and were treated with MSPs that were labeled with a red fluorescent agent to facilitate visualization under the microscope. MSPs are avidly internalized by microglial cells and remain inside the cells for at least 14 days. Despite this, MSPs do not affect glial cell viability or morphology, basal metabolic activity or oxidative stress. When given alone, MSPs do not affect mRNA levels of key proinflammatory genes. However, MSPs given in combination with lipopolysaccharide, a strong proinflammatory agent, significantly increase extracellular levels of IL-1β, one of the proinflammatory mediators studied. These results suggest that MSPs could be novel tools for specific drug delivery to microglial cells

Improvement of crop rotations aimed at increasing their efficiency and conserving soil fertility in conditions of biological intensification

The long-term research conducted in 2002-2017 in a long stationary experiment on studying different types of field crop rotations under conditions of the Kirov region showed that on sod-podzolic soils the loss of humus could be lowered using agro technical methods. The most critical of them include the reduction of a portion of bare fallow, transition to sown and green-manure fallow, expanded use of perennial legume and grain-legume crops and intercrop sowings. In eight-field crop rotations when using such means of a biologization as plowing of the root-stubble residues, aboveground mass of green-manure crops in fallow fields and intercrop sowings, the supply of organic substance was within 17.24-83.03 t/ha. By mineral-ization of this substance 7.64-11.51 t of humus were produced. In a crop rotation with bare fallow there is a negative balance of humus of -0.06 t/ha. The positive balance is obtained when using sown, green-manure fallows, intercrop sowings (two-three fields), and introduction of up to 25% perennial legumes to the structure of crop rotations. The formation of 0.96-1.44 t/ha of humus in the arable layer provides positive balance of 0.20-0.72 t/ha. The increase of the part of grain crops up to 62.5-75.0% in the structure of crop rotations resulted in rise of their efficiency up to 4.74-4.79 thousand fodder units. It was 0.27-0.32 thousand fodder units higher than in the control crop rotation with bare fallow. Dependence of productivity of agricultural crops on humus content was insignificantly negative (r = -0.16). The efficiency of the studied crop rotations depended considerably on the amount of productive moisture in the soil in a phase of ear formation of grain crops (r = -0.78) and on biological activity of the soil (r = -0.80)