Creation of Clusters of Small Enterprises of the Region

Under the conditions of continuous economic progress, modernization of production, development of the world market there is the need for increasing competitiveness of small enterprises of the country and regions. This dynamics of changes demands new approaches to socio-economic development of the Russian industries. Each region of the country can be competitive not only in the domestic market, but also and in the world if it uses the reserve which has necessary economic, intellectual and financial potential. Thus, one of the ways of the effective realization of economic potential and stimulation of economic growth is the creation of competitive regional clusters, both large-scale organizations and small enterprises. Now the given problem is one of essential for the decision in the sphere of economic regional government as the analysis of world practice shows rather high efficiency of development of economies of many countries on the basis of use of cluster approach as opposed to branch that is acceptable for our country. The government of Russia also defined cluster approach as the main instrument of management of regional development. However, this approach demands detailed studying, first of all, from the point of view of adaptation of the international experience to the Russian conditions. Keywords: cluster, small enterprises, development, region, economic progress JEL Classifications: A10, C38, O1

Label-free macroscopic fluorescence lifetime imaging of brain tumors

Advanced stage glioma is the most aggressive form of malignant brain tumors with a short survival time. Real-time pathology assisted, or image guided surgical procedures that eliminate tumors promise to improve the clinical outcome and prolong the lives of patients. Our work is focused on the development of a rapid and sensitive assay for intraoperative diagnostics of glioma and identification of optical markers essential for differentiation between tumors and healthy brain tissues. We utilized fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) of endogenous fluorophores related to metabolism of the glioma from freshly excised brains tissues. Macroscopic time-resolved fluorescence images of three intracranial animal glioma models and surgical samples of patients\u27 glioblastoma together with the white matter have been collected. Several established and new algorithms were applied to identify the imaging markers of the tumors. We found that fluorescence lifetime parameters characteristic of the glioma provided background for differentiation between the tumors and intact brain tissues. All three rat tumor models demonstrated substantial differences between the malignant and normal tissue. Similarly, tumors from patients demonstrated statistically significant differences from the peritumoral white matter without infiltration. While the data and the analysis presented in this paper are preliminary and further investigation with a larger number of samples is required, the proposed approach based on the macroscopic FLIM has a high potential for diagnostics of glioma and evaluation of the surgical margins of gliomas

The Influence of Neurotrophic Factors BDNF and GDNF Overexpression on the Functional State of Mice and Their Adaptation to Audiogenic Seizures.

peer reviewedThe high prevalence of diagnosed cases of severe neurological disorders, a significant proportion of which are epilepsy, contributes to a high level of mortality and disability in the population. Neurotrophic factors BDNF and GNDF are considered promising agents aimed at increasing the central nervous system's adaptive potential for the development of the epileptiform activity. Despite the pronounced neuroprotective and anticonvulsant potential, an appropriate way to stimulate these endogenous signaling molecules with minimal risk of side effects remains an open question. Herein, we assessed the safety of gene therapy using original adeno-associated viral constructs carrying the genes of neurotrophic factors BDNF and GDNF in the early postnatal period of development of experimental animals. The intraventricular injection of AAV-Syn-BDNF-eGFP and AAV-Syn-GDNF-eGFP viral constructs into newborn mice was found to provide persistent overexpression of target genes in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex in vivo for four weeks after injection. The application of viral constructs has a multidirectional effect on the weight and body length characteristics of mice in the early postnatal period; however, it ensures the animals' resistance to the development of seizure activity under audiogenic stimulation in the late postnatal period and preserves basic behavioral reactions, emotional status, as well as the mnestic and cognitive abilities of mice after simulated stress. Our results demonstrated the safety of using the AAV-Syn-BDNF-eGFP and AAV-Syn-GDNF-eGFP viral constructs in vivo, which indicates the expediency of further testing the constructs as therapeutic anticonvulsants

Towards targeted colorectal cancer biopsy based on tissue morphology assessment by compression optical coherence elastography

Identifying the precise topography of cancer for targeted biopsy in colonoscopic examination is a challenge in current diagnostic practice. For the first time we demonstrate the use of compression optical coherence elastography (C-OCE) technology as a new functional OCT modality for differentiating between cancerous and non-cancerous tissues in colon and detecting their morphological features on the basis of measurement of tissue elastic properties. The method uses pre-determined stiffness values (Young’s modulus) to distinguish between different morphological structures of normal (mucosa and submucosa), benign tumor (adenoma) and malignant tumor tissue (including cancer cells, gland-like structures, cribriform gland-like structures, stromal fibers, extracellular mucin). After analyzing in excess of fifty tissue samples, a threshold stiffness value of 520 kPa was suggested above which areas of colorectal cancer were detected invariably. A high Pearson correlation (r =0.98; p <0.05), and a negligible bias (0.22) by good agreement of the segmentation results of C-OCE and histological (reference standard) images was demonstrated, indicating the efficiency of C-OCE to identify the precise localization of colorectal cancer and the possibility to perform targeted biopsy. Furthermore, we demonstrated the ability of C-OCE to differentiate morphological subtypes of colorectal cancer – low-grade and high-grade colorectal adenocarcinomas, mucinous adenocarcinoma, and cribriform patterns. The obtained ex vivo results highlight prospects of C-OCE for high-level colon malignancy detection. The future endoscopic use of C-OCE will allow targeted biopsy sampling and simultaneous rapid analysis of the heterogeneous morphology of colon tumors

Investigation of emotional burnout in bank employees working in «person-to-person» system

This study was designed to evaluate the intensity of emotional burnout (EB) in bank employees who directly interact with clients. One hundred and seventeen bank employees (90 women and 27 men; 21-54 years old), whose job directly involves client service, had their level of EB measured using a psychodiagnostic test proposed by Boyko (1996). This tool allows identifying three phases of EB: tension, resistance, and exhaustion. It was shown that a greater proportion of respondents (69.3%) have prevalent features of resistance phase in EB. Exhaustion phase is also notable, with its symptoms present in 53.9% respondents. Tension phase was the least prevalent in the evaluated group of bank employees (only present in 23.1% cases). Analysis of EB in bank employees engaged in direct interaction with clients has shown that this group of individuals is characterized primarily by symptoms of resistance phase, triggered by the excessive emotional burden and constant stress

Methyl-3-(3-hydroxy-3-(4-(piperidin-1-yl)phenyl)-prop-2-enoyl)benzoate

The title compound was synthesized and characterized for the first time by 1H, 13C NMR, high-resolution mass spectra and single-crystal X-ray diffraction

Professional training of mining engineers

Nowadays, the solution of the problem of training mining engineers in the environment of innovation development is rather complicated and multifaceted. It involves determining the essence and content of the engineer’s professional activity; the need to study the specifics of the training of a mining engineer; the requirements for training mining engineers in innovative development. It is also connected with evaluation of students’ readiness level in the specialty 21.05.04 «Mining», identifying ways to increase the level of readiness of mining engineers for professional activity. The factors influencing the results of the training of mining engineers are identified here, as well as foreign experience in the education and training of mining engineers. Besides, noncompensatory model of assessment of readiness of mining engineers for professional activity by method of threshold aggregation with example of building rating on the basis of this model is being developed