Fighting in Cities: Problems of International Legal Protection of Civilians and Civilian Objects

INTRODUCTION. Fighting is increasingly taking place in populated areas, including large cities, which leads to indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects. This problem is recognized by the UN, by an increasing number of States and requires training of combatants to choose and apply appropriate means and methods of war in populated areas to prevent or minimize accidental harm to the civilian population and civilian objects in such conditions. However, for example, the actions of the US-led coalition in 20162017 to liberate Iraqi Mosul from terrorists, the armed formations of Ukraine in the Donbas since 2014, which caused unjustifiably large civilian casualties and destruction of urban infrastructure, indicate that the Western powers and their satellites ignored these requirements.The purpose of the article is to identify and scientifically analyze problematic issues in the application of international humanitarian law for the protection of civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts in urbanized areas.MATERIALS AND METHODS. To reveal the theoretical aspects of the problem under consideration, a system-structural approach, generalization, deduction, methods of scientific abstraction, logical and system analysis are applied. Special research methods were also used: historical-legal, comparative-legal and formal-legal.RESEAECH RESULTS. Within the framework of this publication, the authors analyzed the problems of international legal protection of civilians and civilian objects in the context of hostilities in an urbanized area and developed proposals for their solution.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. According to the results of the study, it was found that the principles and norms of international law developed by mankind as a whole make it possible to ensure the protection of the civilian population and civilian objects during the conduct of hostilities, including in cities, under the key condition the realization of responsibility for crimes against peace, humanity and war crimes

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ФУНКЦІОНАЛЬНИХ ХАРЧОВИХ ПРОДУКТІВ ІЗ РОСЛИННОЇ СИРОВИНИ В КОМПЛЕКСНІЙ ТЕРАПІЇ ДІТЕЙ, ХВОРИХ НА ЮВЕНІЛЬНИЙ РЕВМАТОЇДНИЙ АРТРИТ.

The influence of common treatment for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and the complex treatment with dietetic products on the dynamics of the clinical indices and metabolic indicators of the connective tissue has been studied.Исследовано влияние комплексной терапии и комплексной терапии с добавлением продуктов для специального диетического питания на динамику клинической симптоматики и показателей метаболизма соединительной ткани у детей, больных ювенильным ревматоидным артритом. Досліджено вплив базової терапії і терапії із включенням продуктів для спеціального дієтичного харчування на динаміку клінічних показників і показників метаболізмуm сполучної тканини в дітей, хворих на ювенільний ревматоїдний артрит

Combination of hypomorphic mutations of the Drosophila homologues of aryl hydrocarbon receptor and nucleosome assembly protein family genes disrupts morphogenesis, memory and detoxification

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor is essential for biological responses to endogenous and exogenous toxins in mammals. Its Drosophila homolog spineless plays an important role in fly morphogenesis. We have previously shown that during morphogenesis spineless genetically interacts with CG5017 gene, which encodes a nucleosome assembly factor and may affect cognitive function of the fly. We now demonstrate synergistic interactions of spineless and CG5017 in pathways controlling oxidative stress response and long-term memory formation in Drosophila melanogaster. Oxidative stress was induced by low doses of X-ray irradiation of flies carrying hypomorphic mutation of spineless, mutation of CG5017, and their combination. To determine the sensitivity of these mutants to pharmacological modifiers of the irradiation effect, we irradiated flies growing on standard medium supplemented by radiosensitizer furazidin and radioprotector serotonin. The effects of irradiation were investigated by analyzing leg and antenna morphological structures and by using real-time PCR to measure mRNA expression levels for spineless, Cyp6g1 and Gst-theta genes. We also examined long-term memory in these mutants using conditioned courtship suppression paradigm. Our results show that the interaction of spineless and CG5017 is important for regulation of morphogenesis, long-term memory formation, and detoxification during oxidative stress. Since spineless and CG5017 are evolutionary conserved, these results must be considered when evaluating the risk of combining similar mutations in other organisms, including humans

Basic conditions for care economy development in Russia

Objective: to describe the development of care economy within the sphere of socio-economic relations as a tool for increasing social capital in society. Methods: abstract-logical and dialectical, phenomenological methods. Results: in the scientific literature, care economy is described primarily as a part of the healthcare sector. The article considers it in the context of a broader range of socio-economic services. The article describes the main content of care economy as a sphere of socio-economic relations providing services that ensure normal life-restoring and/or improving health, improving life quality by maintaining more comfortable living conditions. The main reasons for care economy development are highlighted: 1) aging of the population; 2) high costs of providing care services in specialized medical institutions; 3) shadow services provided in the field of care economy. It is established that in the coming years care economy development will dictate certain conditions for the labor and education market development in this segment. Scientific novelty: it is shown that the main content of care economy is not limited to the sphere of medical care, but can be considered more broadly - including care for children, pets, etc.; the relevance of care economy development as a separate sphere of socio-economic relations is shown.Practical significance: the understanding of the content of care economy revealed in this work makes it urgent to create a state system for providing services in the field of care economy, and creates the basis for further research in this area

Xenobiotic-induced activation of human aryl hydrocarbon receptor target genes in Drosophila is mediated by the epigenetic chromatin modifiers

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is the key transcription factor that controls animal development and various adaptive processes. The AHR\u27s target genes are involved in biodegradation of endogenous and exogenous toxins, regulation of immune response, organogenesis, and neurogenesis. Ligand binding is important for the activation of the AHR signaling pathway. Invertebrate AHR homologs are activated by endogenous ligands whereas vertebrate AHR can be activated by both endogenous and exogenous ligands (xenobiotics). Several studies using mammalian cultured cells have demonstrated that transcription of the AHR target genes can be activated by exogenous AHR ligands, but little is known about the effects of AHR in a living organism. Here, we examined the effects of human AHR and its ligands using transgenic Drosophila lines with an inducible human AhR gene. We found that exogenous AHR ligands can increase as well as decrease the transcription levels of the AHR target genes, including genes that control proliferation, motility, polarization, and programmed cell death. This suggests that AHR activation may affect the expression of gene networks that could be critical for cancer progression and metastasis. Importantly, we found that AHR target genes are also controlled by the enzymes that modify chromatin structure, in particular components of the epigenetic Polycomb Repressive complexes 1 and 2. Since exogenous AHR ligands (alternatively - xenobiotics) and small molecule inhibitors of epigenetic modifiers are often used as pharmaceutical anticancer drugs, our findings may have significant implications in designing new combinations of therapeutic treatments for oncological diseases. © Akishina et al

Problematics of proving the fact of occupational TB in health care workers.

The incidence of tuberculosis in medical per­sonnel in the Dnipropetrovsk region, incl. TB facilities, was analyzed for the period from 2008 to 2017. Occupational TB is an important indicator of infection control efficacy in health care facilities. Despite reducing trend of incidence in entire population and medical workers, their morbidity rates exceeded Ukrainian average ones by 25.0% and 2.5 times, respectively. There is about one and a half thousand employees in TB facilities of Dnipropetrovsk region. Their TB incidence rate was almost 5 times (p≤0.05) higher than in employees of other health care institutions and 6.6 times (p≤0.05) exceeded incidence of tuberculosis in community. In TB facilities, the highest incidence was registered among nurses – 506.8 per 100000. Non-medical workers have the second rank of incidence (409.4 per 100000). They did not contact TB patients directly, but inhaled air containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The incidence of TB in doctors and hospital attendants was lower – 384.6 and 357.1 per 100000, respectively. Nurses prevailed among TB-ill medical personnel of TB facilities – 41±3,4%. Hospital attendants had morbidity of 24±5,4%, non-medical stuff – 22±5,2%, doctors – 13±4,%. The confirmation of healthcare workers’ occupational TB cases is complicated. Taking info account that this infection is widely spread in community it is necessary to reveal active and latent tuberculosis infection with the quantiferon test and other modern methods, as well as to carry out genotyping of mycobacterium tuberculosis for finding epidemiological links in nosocomial TB transmission. To reduce the risks of occupational disease, it is important to carry out trainings on TB infection control for medical personnel and support staff

Effect of antitumor drugs in low concentrations on the biological, immunophenotypic and cytogenetic characteristics of human colon cancer cells in vitro

Objective: To estimate the impact of the low-dose anticancer drugs (ACD) with the different mechanisms of action and human interferon (IFN) alpha 2b on the biological properties, immunophenotypic and cytogenetic characteristics of colon cancer cells in vitro. Materials and Methods: The study was performed on human colon cancer cell lines COLO 205, HT-29 and 3C-P treated with ACD and IFN in subtoxic concentrations. Expression of CD44, N-cadherin, vimentin, β-catenin, ERCC1 and Slug was assessed by immunocytochemical method. Using cytogenetic analysis, the numbers of mitoses, cells with micronuclei, apoptotic cells and cells with nuclear protrusions were studied. Results: The prolonged exposure (up to 30 days) of colon cancer cells to low-dose ACD (0.2–0.5 µg/ml cisplatin and 0.1–0.2 µg/ml irinotecan) in combination with IFN (500–1000 IU/ml) led to 37-fold decreased colony-forming activity of these cell and 10-fold reduction of the number of cells expressing mesenchymal protein markers (N-cadherin, vimentin). Also, in COLO 205 cells treated with ACD and IFN the number of SLUG- and CD44-positive cells decreased by 92 and by 85%, respectively. Long-term cultivation of HT-29 cells in the presence of cisplatin and IFN resulted in 5-fold suppression of ERCC1 expression. The cytogenetic analysis has shown that the ACD, IFN and their combinations in subtoxic concentrations caused significant genotoxic effect, suppression of cell proliferation and accumulation of cells with micronuclei. The sensitivity of colon cancer cells to ACD in standard cytotoxic concentrations did not change after prolonged low-dose exposure. Conclusion: The data showed that the prolonged action of the low doses of ACD on human colon cancer cells resulted in the suppression of cell proliferation, colony-forming activity in soft agar, expression of epithelialmesenchymal transition-associated markers and significant cytogenetic changes

Grass Diversity and Pasture Quality Baseline Assessement in Central Madagascar

Poaceae family contributes to Madagascar’s biodiversity hotspot with 217 of 541 grass species endemic to the island, although their forage value is unknown, at least in the scientific literature. Our research aims 1) to describe the diversity of native and endemic grasses thereby recognising the role of grass species diversity in forage and ecosystem management and 2) to provide new knowledge about pasture management based on the relationship between grazing capacity and productivity within experimental pastureland plots under different fire and grazing treatments. Our study seeks to provide information to inform improvements in livestock nutrition via grazing management of natural pastures in central Madagascar, specifically around the Ankafobe, Ibity and Itremo Protected Areas. Sampling in different grassy habitats was undertaken to develop a grass checklist and overview of grass diversity across the project sites. Further, in the communal and experimental pastures standardised grass surveys were carried out to compare grazing capacity and biomass productivity in the experimental pastures. Our regional survey recorded 123 Poaceae species during the first year: including 90% native species (of which 34% were endemic) and 10% introduced species. Thirty species, all C4 and belonging to PACMAD clade, are found within established pasture grasslands. Across communal pastures the most frequently recorded species and thus most frequently grazed are Loudetia simplex, Aristida rufescens, Panicum luridum, Schizachyrium sanguineum, Hyparrhenia rufa and Aristida tenuissima – these species are predominantly associated with fire. The grazing capacity baseline, at about 0.7 to 0.8 ha/zebu/year, is similar across all experimental sites that are also characterised by having a similar climate, acidic soils with low nitrogen and phosphorus, and., Annual biomass production appears to be driven by fire frequency: at both Itremo and Ankafobe, where fire is an annual occurrence, biomass yield is 2.4-2.9t/ha whereas at Ibity, where fire frequency is fire every 3-4 years, biomass productivity is 6.9t/ha. However, it is unclear how these productivity estimates relate to forage quality; the relationship will be the subject of future work

Luminescent silica mesoparticles for protein transduction

Unlike silica nanoparticles, the potential of silica mesoparticles (SMPs) (i.e. particles of submicron size) for biological applications in particular the in vitro (let alone in vivo) cellular delivery of biological cargo has so far not been sufficiently studied. Here we examine the potential of luminescent (namely, octahedral molybdenum cluster doped) SMPs synthesised by a simple one-pot reaction for the labelling of cells and for protein transduction into larynx carcinoma (Hep-2) cells using GFP as a model protein. Our data demonstrates that the SMPs internalise into the cells within half an hour. This results in cells that detectably luminesce via conventional methods. In addition, the particles are non-toxic both in darkness and upon photo-irradiation. The SMPs were modified to allow their functionalisation by a protein, which then delivered the protein (GFP) efficiently into the cells. Thus, the luminescent SMPs offer a cheap and trackable alternative to existing materials for cellular internalisation of proteins, such as the HIV TAT protein and commercial protein delivery agents (e.g. Pierce™)