Corruption as Shared Culpability: Religion, Family, and Society in Andrey Zvyagintsev\u27s Leviathan (2014)

This article engages in close analysis of how Andrey Zvyagintsev depicts corruption and its various manifestations: moral, familial, societal, and institutional, in Leviathan (Leviafan, 2014). While other post-Soviet films address the problem of prevalent corruption in Russia, Zvyagintsev’s work is the first to provoke strong public reactions, not only from government and Russian Orthodox Church officials, but also from Orthodox and political activist groups. The film demonstrates that the instances of legal and moral failings in one aspect of existence are a sign of a much deeper and wider-ranging problem that affects all other spheres of human experience. By elevating corruption from a well-known and accepted mundane problem to a religio-philosophical one, Leviathan creates a sense of shared culpability that underpins contemporary Russian society

Melatonin attenuates oxidative stress and modulates inflammatory response after experimental burn trauma

Introduction. Thermal injury activates an inflammatory response. Melatonin possesses anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The objective of the present work was to study melatonin effects on the inflammatory response under conditions of oxidative stress during the early stage of thermal injury. Materials and methods. We used 24 white male rats of Wistar breed, randomly divided into three experimental groups. Group one was the control, group two was inflicted with burn trauma, and group three was inflicted with burn trauma, with melatonin application following the thermal injury. Melatonin was applied twice in doses of 10 g/kg b.m. immediately after the burn trauma and again at 12 hours. Plasma levels of tumor necrosis-factor-α (TNF-α), a pro-inflammatory mediator, and of interleukin-10 (Il-10), an anti-inflammatory mediator, were examined and their ratio was calculated. The levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), an oxidative stress marker, were also estimated. Results. Thermal trauma significantly increased plasma TNF-α levels (ð\u3c0.01) and TNF-α /IL-10 ratio but did not change IL-10 ones. Plasma MDA concentrations were significantly elevated as well (ð\u3c0.0001). Melatonin application significantly reduced TNF-α (ð\u3c0.05), increased IL-10 (ð\u3c0.05), down-regulated TNF-α/IL-10 ratio and changed MDA concentrations (ð\u3c0.01). In conclusion, our results show that local alteration induces oxidative stress and inflammatory response with TNF-α /IL-10 disbalance. Melatonin modulates this response and attenuates oxidative stress in experimental burn injury

The New Urban Success: How Culture Pays

Urban economists have put forward the idea that cities that are culturally interesting tend to attract "the creative class" and, as a result, end up being economically successful. Yet it is still unclear how economic and cultural dynamics mutually influence each other. By contrast, that has been extensively studied in the case of individuals. Over decades, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu showed that people's success and their positions in society mainly depend on how much they can spend (their economic capital) and what their interests are (their cultural capital). For the first time, we adapt Bourdieu's framework to the city context. We operationalize a neighborhood's cultural capital in terms of the cultural interests that pictures geo-referenced in the neighborhood tend to express. This is made possible by the mining of what users of the photo-sharing site of Flickr have posted in the cities of London and New York over 5 years. In so doing, we are able to show that economic capital alone does not explain urban development. The combination of cultural capital and economic capital, instead, is more indicative of neighborhood growth in terms of house prices and improvements of socio-economic conditions. Culture pays, but only up to a point as it comes with one of the most vexing urban challenges: that of gentrification.Comment: 15 page

Survey of Users Interest in Initiatives Related to the European Program Healthy Lifestyle 4 All

The European Commission Healthy Lifestyle 4 All (HL4A) program aims to link sports and active lifestyles with health, food, and other policies. Healthy Lifestyle 4 All demonstrates the EC's commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles among all generations and across different social groups. HL4A is guided by the position that everyone can benefit from activities that improve health and well-being. The present study presents the attitudes of youth, corporations, and start-up companies regarding their involvement in initiatives related to the three pillars of Healthy Lifestyle 4, namely: Improved awareness of healthy lifestyles among all generations. Easy access to sports, physical activity, and healthy eating. A comprehensive holistic approach linking food, health, well-being, and sport

EFFICIENCY OF THE CAREER CENTERS IN BULGARIA

In Western countries, the Career Center is an integral part of any university that claims to offer up‐to‐date education and services to its students.  Well‐functioning career centers are a very powerful marketing tool for attracting prospective students. The centers are at the service of both students interested in work and internship programs, as well as employers looking for prospective employees. The purpose of this study is to understand the extent to which the Bulgarian Career Centers perform correctly, their expected duties and how well they function effectively. Career Centers provide high quality services related to the career guidance and development of students. Professionally trained professionals work with learners who want to better define their interests, opportunities and potential to define the most appropriate areas for career development. Multiple techniques such as group and individual discussions, tests, and more are often used in composing such profiles

Apoptosis as a mechanism for burn-induced gastric mucosal injury

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Severe thermal burns disturb tissue homeostasis of many organs, but the exact mechanisms of gastric mucosa changes are not yet clear. Various cellular mechanisms, such as cell activation, mitochondrial dysfunction, free oxygen radicals and cytokine overproduction may be involved in this process.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), apoptotic proteins Bax and Bcl-2 in normal gastric mucosa and to test the hypothesis that oxidative stress activation induces apoptotic processes in the stomach after experimental thermal trauma.Materials and Methods: Under anesthesia, the shaved rats` dorsum was exposed to 90° C bath for 10 s to induce third-degree burn injury, involving 30% of the total body surface area. We determined the tissue level of MDA, a lipid peroxidation marker, by spectrophotometric method and the apoptosis of epithelial cells in gastric mucosa, which was immunohistochemically determined at the level of Bcl-2 and Bax in burn trauma.Results: The gastric MDA level was higher (p<0.01) in the burned group compared to the control group 24 hours after thermal injury. The gastric mucosa in the treated group showed congestion, degenerative changes in the surface epithelium, focal destruction of glandular epithelium with formation of acute erosions. Bax expressed moderately in epithelial cells, predominantly in the basal parts of the gastric glands, while in the control group protein content was localized in the same region, but it was weak. Bcl-2 protein in the control group revealed nuclear expression in surface epithelium, while in the basal layer of gastric mucosa the expression was moderate and mainly cytoplasmic. In the burned group, Bcl-2 expression was more diffuse, nuclear and cytoplasmic, but cytoplasmic expression was weak.Conclusion: Thermal skin trauma induces gastric mucosal injury through the activation of lipid peroxidation, increase of pro-apoptotic Bax protein expression and decrease of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein expression in epithelial cells. We suggest that apoptosis is a possible mechanism for structural changes in the gastric mucosa

Towards Better Understanding of the Interactions and Efficient Application of Plant Beneficial Prebiotics, Probiotics, Postbiotics and Synbiotics

Project EXCALIBUR from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme 81794

Animal bones char solubilization by gel-entrapped yarrowia lipolytica on glycerol-based media

Citric acid was produced with free and k-carrageenan-entrapped cells of the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica in single and repeated batch-shake-flask fermentations on glycerol-based media. Simultaneous solubilization of hydroxyapatite of animal bone origin (HABO) was tested in all experiments. The highest citric acid production by free yeast cells of 20.4 g/L and 18.7 g/L was reached after 96 h of fermentation in the absence and presence of 3 g/L HABO, respectively. The maximum values for the same parameter achieved by gel-entrapped cells in conditions of single batch and repeated-batch fermentation processes were 18.7 g/L and 28.1 g/L registered after 96 h and the 3d batch cycle, respectively. The highest citric acid productivity of 0.58 g L−1 h−1 was obtained with immobilized cells in repeated batch mode of fermentation when the added hydroxyapatite of 3 g/L was solubilized to 399 mg/L whereas the maximum efficiency of 89.0% was obtained with 1 g/L of HABO.This work was supported by Projects CTM2008-03524, CTM2011-027797 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, España), P09-RNM-5196 (Junta de Andalucía, Proyecto de Excelencia), and EU COST FA0905. N. Vassileva is grateful for the SABF PR2010-0422—Ministerio de Educacion, España

Photocatalytic UV-Induced Approach for Discoloration of Bromocresol Purple, Bromothymol Blue Dyes and Their Mixture Using Nix Fe3−xO4/Fe2O3/AC Composites

The nickel ferrite-activated carbon samples NiFe2O4/Activated carbon and NixFe3−xO4/Fe2O3/AC, x = 0.25; 0.5 obtained by co-precipitation followed by thermal treatment in inert atmosphere, were studied for discoloration of Bromocresol Purple (BCP), Bromothymol Blue (BTB) dyes and their mixture as model contaminants under UV-A light. The prepared materials were investigated by XPS, PXRD and XRF analysis, FT-IR spectroscopy, SEM, EDX, BET method and TG analysis. The photocatalyst with composition NixFe3−xO4-AC, x = 1 has demonstrated the highest photocatalytic activity towards discoloration of the BTB in comparison with the others tested materials NixFe3−xO4/Fe2O3/AC, x = 0.25; 0.5. These results can be explained with the smaller particle sizes, the mesoporous structure, the higher degree of crystallinity and higher content of hydroxyl groups. This study proved that the obtained nickel ferrite-activated carbon materials are suitable as photocatalysts for discoloration of the BTB dye. They have demonstrated also relatively high adsorption ability towards BCP dye

Fungi, P-Solubilization, and Plant Nutrition

The application of plant beneficial microorganisms is widely accepted as an efficient alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It was shown that annually, mycorrhizal fungi and nitrogen-fixing bacteria are responsible for 5 to 80% of all nitrogen, and up to 75% of P plant acquisition. However, while bacteria are the most studied soil microorganisms and most frequently reported in the scientific literature, the role of fungi is relatively understudied, although they are the primary organic matter decomposers and govern soil carbon and other elements, including P-cycling. Many fungi can solubilize insoluble phosphates or facilitate P-acquisition by plants and, therefore, form an important part of the commercial microbial products, with Aspergillus, Penicillium and Trichoderma being the most efficient. In this paper, the role of fungi in P-solubilization and plant nutrition will be presented with a special emphasis on their production and application. Although this topic has been repeatedly reviewed, some recent views questioned the efficacy of the microbial P-solubilizers in soil. Here, we will try to summarize the proven facts but also discuss further lines of research that may clarify our doubts in this field or open new perspectives on using the microbial and particularly fungal P-solubilizing potential in accordance with the principles of the sustainability and circular economy.project EXCALIBUR from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program 817946 European Commission 872181101007702Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG) APQ-01842-17Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ) 407793/2021-