Економічні засади покращення інвестиційного клімату України

Розглянуто тенденцію основних прямих та непрямих інвестицій в країну за певний період та виявлено основну низку системних вад економіко - правового середовища, які заважають припливу іноземних інвестицій. Представлені можливі шляхи покращення інвестиційного клімату України.Considered the main trend of direct and indirect investment in the country for a certain period and found a number of major systemic defects economic and legal environment that hinder foreign investment. Courtesy of the main factors that affect the volume of investment, presents possible ways of improving the investment climate in Ukraine

Identification and characterization of potential drug interactions in hypertensive patients in a Kenyan tertiary hospital

Background: Hypertensive patients are particularly at risk of drug-drug interactions resulting from the concomitant use of multiple drugs to control their blood pressure. The presence of comorbidities and advancing age are also likely to contribute to the use of many drugs, further increasing this risk. Drug related problems such as drug interactions in the management of hypertension increase morbidity and mortality but there are limited published data to characterize them especially among the African population. Objective: To identify and characterize potential drug interactions among adult hypertensive patients attending Kenyatta National Hospital. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study done among 313 adult patients between May to July 2016 at Kenyatta National Hospital. Ethical approval was sought from the institutional review board. Data on patient demographics, clinical characteristics and current prescriptions were extracted from patient records into predesigned data collection forms. Potential drug interactions were identified using an online Drug Interactions Checker. Results: There was female predominance at 60.7% and the mean age of the study population was 55.2 years (SD 15.9).  The mean number of drugs per prescription was 5.93 (SD 2.24). The prevalence of potential drug interactions was 92.7%. There was an average of 3.5 drug interactions per prescription. Majority (79.2%) of the potential drug interactions were categorized as moderate while major and minor interactions accounted for 4.1% and 16.8%, respectively. The most prevalent interacting drug pair was enalapril and furosemide (15.3 %). The most frequent major interaction found was between enalapril and spironolactone, which is associated with hyperkalaemia. Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of potential drug interactions. Prescribers should be encouraged to be vigilant during the management of hypertensive patients to avoid overt drug interactions which may compromise treatment outcomes and increase the health care costs. Keywords: Drug interactions, hypertension, prescriptions, Keny

Dessins d'enfants in N=2 generalised quiver theories

We study Grothendieck’s dessins d’enfants in the context of the N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories in (3 + 1) dimensions with product SU (2) gauge groups which have recently been considered by Gaiotto et al.. We identify the precise context in which dessins arise in these theories: they are the so-called ribbon graphs of such theories at certain isolated points in the moduli space. With this point in mind, we highlight connections to other work on trivalent dessins, gauge theories, and the modular group

Guillain-Barré syndrome during childhood: particular clinical and electrophysiological features

Introduction Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) has some specific characteristics in children. Methods In this study we reviewed the clinical, laboratory, electrophysiological, and prognosis features of the 19 children diagnosed with GBS at Nantes University Hospital from 2000 to 2011. Results Gait disturbance and leg pain were the most frequent presenting symptoms. Electrophysiological examinations revealed significant abnormalities even when performed within the first week after onset. Decreased distal CMAP amplitude was noted in 89% of cases. The pattern indicated an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in 95% of cases and acute motor axonal neuropathy in the remaining 5%. About two-thirds of the children were treated with intravenous immunoglobulin. After >1 year of follow-up, 17 patients had complete recovery. Conclusion Gait disorder, leg pain, a high rate of distal conduction block, and a good prognosis are among the main specific features of GBS in childhood. Muscle Nerve, 48: 247–251, 201

Molecular Detection of Anaerobic Ammonium-Oxidizing (Anammox) Bacteria in High-Temperature Petroleum Reservoirs

Anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing (anammox) process plays an important role in the nitrogen cycle of the worldwide anoxic and mesophilic habitats. Recently, the existence and activity of anammox bacteria have been detected in some thermophilic environments, but their existence in the geothermal subterranean oil reservoirs is still not reported. This study investigated the abundance, distribution and functional diversity of anammox bacteria in nine out of 17 high-temperature oil reservoirs by molecular ecology analysis. High concentration (5.31–39.2 mg l−1) of ammonium was detected in the production water from these oilfields with temperatures between 55°C and 75°C. Both 16S rRNA and hzo molecular biomarkers indicated the occurrence of anammox bacteria in nine out of 17 samples. Most of 16S rRNA gene phylotypes are closely related to the known anammox bacterial genera Candidatus Brocadia, Candidatus Kuenenia, Candidatus Scalindua, and Candidatus Jettenia, while hzo gene phylotypes are closely related to the genera Candidatus Anammoxoglobus, Candidatus Kuenenia, Candidatus Scalindua, and Candidatus Jettenia. The total bacterial and anammox bacterial densities were 6.4 ± 0.5 × 103 to 2.0 ± 0.18 × 106 cells ml−1 and 6.6 ± 0.51 × 102 to 4.9 ± 0.36 × 104 cell ml−1, respectively. The cluster I of 16S rRNA gene sequences showed distant identity (<92%) to the known Candidatus Scalindua species, inferring this cluster of anammox bacteria to be a new species, and a tentative name Candidatus “Scalindua sinooilfield” was proposed. The results extended the existence of anammox bacteria to the high-temperature oil reservoirs

Clostridia in Premature Neonates' Gut: Incidence, Antibiotic Susceptibility, and Perinatal Determinants Influencing Colonization

Although premature neonates (PN) gut microbiota has been studied, data about gut clostridial colonization in PN are scarce. Few studies have reported clostridia colonization in PN whereas Bacteroides and bifidobacteria have been seldom isolated. Such aberrant gut microbiota has been suggested to be a risk factor for the development of intestinal infections. Besides, PN are often treated by broad spectrum antibiotics, but little is known about how antibiotics can influence clostridial colonization based on their susceptibility patterns. The aim of this study was to report the distribution of Clostridium species isolated in feces from PN and to determine their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Additionally, clostridial colonization perinatal determinants were analyzed.Of the 76 PN followed until hospital discharge in three French neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), 79% were colonized by clostridia. Clostridium sp. colonization, with a high diversity of species, increased throughout the hospitalization. Antibiotic courses had no effect on the clostridial colonization incidence although strains were found susceptible (except C. difficile) to anti-anaerobe molecules tested. However, levels of colonization were decreased by either antenatal or neonatal (during more than 10 days) antibiotic courses (p = 0.006 and p = 0.001, respectively). Besides, incidence of colonization was depending on the NICU (p = 0.048).This study shows that clostridia are part of the PN gut microbiota. It provides for the first time information on the status of clostridia antimicrobial susceptibility in PN showing that strains were susceptible to most antibiotic molecules. Thus, the high prevalence of this genus is not linked to a high degree of resistance to antimicrobial agents or to the use of antibiotics in NICUs. The main perinatal determinant influencing PN clostridia colonization appears to be the NICU environment

Immune Response and Mitochondrial Metabolism Are Commonly Deregulated in DMD and Aging Skeletal Muscle

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a complex process involving multiple pathways downstream of the primary genetic insult leading to fatal muscle degeneration. Aging muscle is a multifactorial neuromuscular process characterized by impaired muscle regeneration leading to progressive atrophy. We hypothesized that these chronic atrophying situations may share specific myogenic adaptative responses at transcriptional level according to tissue remodeling. Muscle biopsies from four young DMD and four AGED subjects were referred to a group of seven muscle biopsies from young subjects without any neuromuscular disorder and explored through a dedicated expression microarray. We identified 528 differentially expressed genes (out of 2,745 analyzed), of which 328 could be validated by an exhaustive meta-analysis of public microarray datasets referring to DMD and Aging in skeletal muscle. Among the 328 validated co-expressed genes, 50% had the same expression profile in both groups and corresponded to immune/fibrosis responses and mitochondrial metabolism. Generalizing these observed meta-signatures with large compendia of public datasets reinforced our results as they could be also identified in other pathological processes and in diverse physiological conditions. Focusing on the common gene signatures in these two atrophying conditions, we observed enrichment in motifs for candidate transcription factors that may coordinate either the immune/fibrosis responses (ETS1, IRF1, NF1) or the mitochondrial metabolism (ESRRA). Deregulation in their expression could be responsible, at least in part, for the same transcriptome changes initiating the chronic muscle atrophy. This study suggests that distinct pathophysiological processes may share common gene responses and pathways related to specific transcription factors