In situ synthesis, structural chemistry and vibrational spectroscopy of Zn-doped Ca5Mg4(VO4)6

The phase formation of the solid solution Ca5Mg4–xZnx(VO4)6 (0≤x≤4) was studied in situ using differential scanning calorimetry and high-temperature X-Ray powder diffraction (XRPD). XRPD analysis shows the appearance of unavoidable secondary pyrovanadate phases using conventional synthesis methods. The local structure of the solid solution was verified by vibrational spectroscopy. The analysis of the infrared and Raman spectroscopy data allows establishing the main features between vanadate garnets and their isostructural analogs among natural silicates

Dynamics of artificial spin ice: continuous honeycomb network

We model the dynamics of magnetization in an artificial analog of spin ice specializing to the case of a honeycomb network of connected magnetic nanowires. The inherently dissipative dynamics is mediated by the emission, propagation and absorption of domain walls in the links of the lattice. These domain walls carry two natural units of magnetic charge, whereas sites of the lattice contain a unit magnetic charge. Magnetostatic Coulomb forces between these charges play a major role in the physics of the system, as does quenched disorder caused by imperfections of the lattice. We identify and describe different regimes of magnetization reversal in an applied magnetic field determined by the orientation of the applied field with respect to the initial magnetization. One of the regimes is characterized by magnetic avalanches with a 1/n distribution of lengths.Comment: 19 pages, focus issue of New J. Phys. on artificial frustrated systems, minor clarifications requested by refere

The Implementation of Managed Entry Agreements in Central and Eastern Europe : Findings and Implications

Funding Information: In Bosnia and Herzegovina, both The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska, also have special funds and budgets in place for the financing of expensive medicines, which are innovative and under patent. Similar earmarked funds are available in Scotland (the New Medicines Fund funded by the Pharmaceutical Price Regulation Scheme [PPRS] rebates) [35] and England (the Cancer Drugs Fund) [36]. However, support for such earmarked funds is mixed. While they facilitate access, critics raised issues about fairness towards other disease areas and patient groups that are not eligible for special funding [3, 39]. Further, the views of a Patient and Clinician Engagement meeting in Scotland [37] and the end-of-life criteria in England [38] offer opportunities for special considerations affecting medicines for end-of-life and very rare conditions to be taken into account in the health technology assessment process. Funding Information: The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Jan Jones from the Scottish Medicines Consortium, Scotland, for contributing to the discussion with information on Scotland, Drs. Lyudmila Bezmelnitsyna and Anastasia Isaeva for contributing to data collection in Russia and Dr. Kate?ina Podrazilov? from SZP ?R for providing information on the Czech Republic. Alessandra Ferrario was a Research Officer at the LSE Health at the time this research was conducted. She is now a postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, USA. Email: [email protected] No sources of funding were used for this study. The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest. However, Di?na Ar?ja, Maria Dimitrova, Jurij F?rst, Ieva Grei?i?t?-Kuprijanov, Iris Hoxha, Arianit Jakupi, Erki Laidm?e, Vanda Markovic-Pekovic, Dmitry Meshkov, Guenka Petrova, Maciej Pomorski and Patricia Vella Bonanno work directly for national health authorities or are advisers to them. Alessandra Ferrario, Tomasz Bochenek, Ileana Mardare, Dominik Tomek, Luka Voncina, Alan Haycox, Panos Kanavos,?Olga L?blov?, and Brian Godman are academics and independent researchers also working with national and regional health authorities and others to improve the quality and efficiency of prescribing, and Tarik Catic, D?vid Dank?,and Tanja Novakovic are involved with pharmaceutical, pharmacoeconomics and outcomes research groups in their countries. Olga L?blov? has also carried out remunerated consultancy activities for A&R Partners, Baxter AG and Instytut Arcana and Ileana Mardare has signed a consulting contract with Ewopharma A.G. Romania. The content of the paper and the conclusions are those of each author and may not necessarily reflect those of any organisation that employs them. Publisher Copyright: © 2017, The Author(s).Background: Managed entry agreements (MEAs) are a set of instruments to facilitate access to new medicines. This study surveyed the implementation of MEAs in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) where limited comparative information is currently available. Method: We conducted a survey on the implementation of MEAs in CEE between January and March 2017. Results: Sixteen countries participated in this study. Across five countries with available data on the number of different MEA instruments implemented, the most common MEAs implemented were confidential discounts (n = 495, 73%), followed by paybacks (n = 92, 14%), price-volume agreements (n = 37, 5%), free doses (n = 25, 4%), bundle and other agreements (n = 19, 3%), and payment by result (n = 10, >1%). Across seven countries with data on MEAs by therapeutic group, the highest number of brand names associated with one or more MEA instruments belonged to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC)-L group, antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents (n = 201, 31%). The second most frequent therapeutic group for MEA implementation was ATC-A, alimentary tract and metabolism (n = 87, 13%), followed by medicines for neurological conditions (n = 83, 13%). Conclusions: Experience in implementing MEAs varied substantially across the region and there is considerable scope for greater transparency, sharing experiences and mutual learning. European citizens, authorities and industry should ask themselves whether, within publicly funded health systems, confidential discounts can still be tolerated, particularly when it is not clear which country and party they are really benefiting. Furthermore, if MEAs are to improve access, countries should establish clear objectives for their implementation and a monitoring framework to measure their performance, as well as the burden of implementation.publishersversionPeer reviewe

A Novel Signaling Network Essential for Regulating Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Development

The important human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has been linked to numerous biofilm-related chronic infections. Here, we demonstrate that biofilm formation following the transition to the surface attached lifestyle is regulated by three previously undescribed two-component systems: BfiSR (PA4196-4197) harboring an RpoD-like domain, an OmpR-like BfmSR (PA4101-4102), and MifSR (PA5511-5512) belonging to the family of NtrC-like transcriptional regulators. These two-component systems become sequentially phosphorylated during biofilm formation. Inactivation of bfiS, bfmR, and mifR arrested biofilm formation at the transition to the irreversible attachment, maturation-1 and -2 stages, respectively, as indicated by analyses of biofilm architecture, and protein and phosphoprotein patterns. Moreover, discontinuation of bfiS, bfmR, and mifR expression in established biofilms resulted in the collapse of biofilms to an earlier developmental stage, indicating a requirement for these regulatory systems for the development and maintenance of normal biofilm architecture. Interestingly, inactivation did not affect planktonic growth, motility, polysaccharide production, or initial attachment. Further, we demonstrate the interdependency of this two-component systems network with GacS (PA0928), which was found to play a dual role in biofilm formation. This work describes a novel signal transduction network regulating committed biofilm developmental steps following attachment, in which phosphorelays and two sigma factor-dependent response regulators appear to be key components of the regulatory machinery that coordinates gene expression during P. aeruginosa biofilm development in response to environmental cues

Relatório de estágio em farmácia comunitária

Relatório de estágio realizado no âmbito do Mestrado Integrado em Ciências Farmacêuticas, apresentado à Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Coimbr

Abstracts from the 8th International Conference on cGMP Generators, Effectors and Therapeutic Implications

This work was supported by a restricted research grant of Bayer AG

Использование больших данных в когнитивных и лингвокультурологических исследованиях английского и русского языков

Big data search instruments, Google and Yandex and others, offer new research opportunities, statistically very impressive. The questions arise here as to what extent we can trust the statistical data obtained, what kinds of hypotheses can be verified through Google and Yandex searching. The authors try to experimentally verify the hypothesis relating to the word order in the attributive group of the kind healthy nourishing food vs nourishing healthy food using Google and Yandex and, in this way, test the explanatory potential of the big data sources. The choice of word order is related to the theory of classes which explains cognitive mechanisms that govern the order of adjectives in a noun group. The empirical results obtained via Google and Yandex help to verify this hypothesis and identify cognitive grounds for choosing the order of attributes. The authors claim that data search engines, particularly, Russian Yandex and Google corpora, can help identify linguistically and culturally relevant conceptsИнструменты получения больших данных, Google, Яндекс и другие, предоставляют статистику, которая открывает новые возможности для исследователей. Это, в свою очередь, порождает вопросы о надежности таких данных, а также о том, какие гипотезы могут быть проверены с помощью поиска в Google и Яндексе. Авторы экспериментально проверяют гипотезу, связанную с порядком слов в атрибутивной группе типа healthy nourishing food vs nourishing healthy food, используя Google и Яндекс, и, таким образом, подтверждают объяснительный потенциал данных инструментариев. Выбор порядка следования атрибутов в группе связан с теорией классов, которая объясняет когнитивные механизмы, управляющие очередностью расположения прилагательных. Эмпирические результаты, полученные с помощью Google и Яндекса, позволяют подтвердить эту гипотезу и выявить когнитивные основания для выбора порядка следования атрибутов. Авторы утверждают, что поисковые системы, в частности русскоязычный Яндекс и англоязычный Google, могут быть полезны при исследовании языковых и культурно значимых концепто