Study of accessibility and quality of the patient information about medicines in Latvia

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New challenge for social inclusion - marine product processing development of mussel farming in the Baltic sea region

Product recycling opportunities that potentially increase the value of the initial product create interest in creating and developing a field. Seafood is demanded product in the world but creating a higher value of the product the value of it can be increased and in many countries it helped to solve social problems with food provision and employment. Aim of research analysis of area for mollusc farming, and mollusc-processing options to explore opportunities for development of the field. By analysing views of public administrators, entrepreneurs and researchers in selected Baltic Sea Region countries. Based on expert viewpoint (public administrators, entrepreneurs and researchers that participated in the survey), the study summarizes aspects of seafood re-processing that may affect the potential for shellfish development in the Baltic Sea region and whether educational measures can contribute to the development of processed seafood in the Baltic Sea Region. Research methods used: Scientific publication studies on mussel farming development and marine product processing supporting and braking factors, survey of different stakeholders in mussel farming – public administrators, entrepreneurs and researchers; expert interviews. For evaluation of different aspects affecting marine product processing from mussel farming evaluation scale 1 – 10 was used, where 1 – do not affect; 10 – affect in great extent. Data obtained in the survey were analysed with indicators of descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations by gender, education level, age group and country, analysis of variance – ANOVA, correlation analysis, and factor analysis. From the experts' point of view, the important aspects that could affect the processing of marine products in mussel farming in the Baltic Sea region were indicated as government support, education including informal education, human resources as well as marketing events. The results were statistically different by age group and by country. Experts who evaluated aspects of education as a less important factor affecting the development of marine product processing rated the development potential of marine product processing over the next 10 years lower

ERAWATCH Country Report 2008 - An Assessment of Research System and Policies: Latvia

The main objective of ERAWATCH country reports 2008 is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The reports are produced for each EU Member State to support the mutual learning process and the monitoring of Member States' efforts by DG Research in the context of the Lisbon Strategy and the European Research Area. In order to do so, the system analysis focuses on key processes relevant for system performance. Four policy-relevant domains of the research system are distinguished, namely resource mobilisation, knowledge demand, knowledge production and knowledge circulation. The reports are based on a synthesis of information from the ERAWATCH Research Inventory and other important available information sources.JRC.J.3-Knowledge for Growt

IMPORTANCE OF POSITIVE PEDAGOGICAL RELATIONSHIPS IN THE CONTEXT OF NOWADAY`S TEACHER EDUCATION

The current situation in the sphere of education outlines the need for changes that can be seen as a continuous quality improvement process in the sphere of teacher education. The context emphasizes pedagogical relationships that are viewed as a key element penetrating the whole process of education. However, the competence models focus more on different sets of competences, but those necessary for the development of pedagogical relationships remain unclear. Therefore the following research questions have been put forward: 1) What is the correlation between pedagogical relationships oriented towards the personality and university teachers as social role models for student teachers? 2) What is the correlation between pedagogical relationships oriented towards the personality and self-evaluation of the effectiveness of mastering the content of study courses? The article reflects the research study that involves Bachelor and Master level students at Liepaja University, who were separated in 3 groups according to the respondents’ pedagogical experience and the following criterions: 1) a level of study experience and 2) personal involvement into the development of pedagogical relationships. The results were collected by Likert-type questionnaire and analysed with SPSS Statistics 17.0 using a crosstabulation and a Pearson’s chi-square test. The totality of the research data confirm that exactly the skills of university teachers to create positive personal relationships with the students can be regarded as a precondition for achieving desirable study outcomes and a determinant factor of their competitiveness

Smart delivery systems for cancer treatment using advanced liposome formulations: fabrication, spectroscopic characterization and cell internalization studies

Cancer is a leading cause of death in the world; consequently, an increasing number of studies have been dedicated to the improvement of cancer therapy treatments over several decades. The objective of this thesis is to fabricate anti-cancer liposomal formulation, with a novel, improved composition, consisting of lipid vesicles encapsulating anti-cancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and to spectroscopically characterize these liposomes. In addition, the internalization process of the drug in cells was studied by using advanced fluorescence imaging techniques. DOX is used for wide variety of cancer types but its main disadvantage is high toxicity for other healthy organs and tissues that can lead to fatal complications. The use of liposomes as carriers of DOX is thus very appealing to counteract this disadvantage and protect the healthy tissues from contact with the DOX toxicity. A number of DOX liposomal formulations using active loading methods have been developed. With these loading methods large amounts of DOX are encapsulated and lead to the formation of dimers, lowering drug activity. In this work a carrier system made of Dioctadecyldimethylammonium Bromide (DO-DAB) and 1-oleoyl-rac-glycerol (Monoolein (MO)) with a ratio of (1:2) is proposed. This system has recently been described to have the potential of encapsulating drugs, not only at the DODAB enriched bilayer level, but also at the inverted non-lamellar MO-enriched phases at the vesicle interior. After fabrication the stability of the liposomal system was tested by measuring the size and zeta potential of the liposomes. Four different ‘nano-ruler’ n-(9-anthroyloxy)-stearic acid (n-AS) probes at 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th – carbon positions of an membrane inserted lipid chain were used for determination of the nanoscale localization of DOX inside the liposome bilayer. These studies revealed that DOX is located closest to the 9-AS probe, close to the bilayer center. The internalization of the liposomal formulation in epidermoid and lung carcinoma cells was analyzed using confocal imaging. It was concluded that the formulation with DOX encapsulated in DODAB:MO (1:2) has more controlled drug release compared to the free drug and a commercial formulation, confirming the potential of the developed formulation for cancer treatment

Лирическая героиня в цикле М. Цветаевой "Комедьянт"

https://www.ester.ee/record=b5564662*es

Cost-Optimal Sector Integration and Energy Balancing Strategies for Reaching Carbon Neutrality

Sectoral integration will play a major role in the clean energy transition to increase the utilisation rates of available renewable energy sources (RES). Preliminary studies have shown that the decarbonisation of power generation can be reached through well-developed technical solutions such as the integration of hydro, wind, and solar energy. However, emissions in the buildings, transport, and industrial sectors remain stubbornly high. Therefore, the electrification of these sectors and interconnection through smart grids have been identified as promising future development trends to avoid the usage of fossil fuels. The TIMES optimisation model is used to evaluate the future cost-effective pathways for reaching carbon neutrality in the Latvian energy sector. The model includes both the end-use sectors such as transport, buildings, industry and agriculture and the energy sector with a well-developed database of existing and future RES and storage technologies. The modelling framework allows for identifying the cost-optimal future energy mix by considering the electrification potential of each sector. Therefore, it allows analysing of the impact of different policy strategies at sectoral integration levels and the necessity for additional energy storage capacities. The preliminary results show that one of regret-free solutions for reaching the energy efficiency targets in 2030 is the wide expanse of heat pump utilisation in residential buildings instead of inefficient biomass boilers. The building heat supply transformation also brings higher power consumption and interacts with the wider utilisation of wind power. In addition, sensitivity analyses have been performed to evaluate the impact of high uncertainties related to fuel costs, resource availability and other conditions

Fibrinolytic system changes in liver surgery : A pilot observational study

Publisher Copyright: © 2018 Ozolina, Nemme, Ozolins, Bjertnæs, Vanags, Gardovskis, Viksna and Krumina.Introduction: Bleeding occurs frequently in liver surgery. Unbalance between tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) concentrations might increase bleeding. Our aim was to analyze perioperative fibrinolytic changes during liver surgery. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 15 patients for inclusion into a prospective pilot study of liver surgery. We assessed fibrinolysis by plasma PAI-1 and t-PA: before surgery (T1), before Pringle maneuver (PM;T2), at the end of surgery (T3) and 24 h postoperatively (T4), and registered demographic and laboratory data, extent and duration of surgery, hemodynamic parameters, blood loss, and transfused volumes of blood products. Data presented as mean ± SD. Significance at P < 0.05. Results: After exclusion of six patients only undergoing biopsies, we included six women and three men aged 49.1 ± 19.6 years; two patients with liver metastases of colorectal cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma, respectively, two with focal nodular hyperplasia, two with hepatic hemangioma, and one with angiomyolipoma. Six patients underwent PM. PAI-1 plasma concentration (n = 9) rose from 6.25 ± 2.25 at T1 through 17.30 ± 14.59 ng/ml at T2 and 28.74 ± 20.4 (p = 0.007) and 22.5 ± 16.0 ng/ml (p = 0.04), respectively, at T3 and T4. Correspondingly, t-PA plasma concentration (n = 9) increased from 4.76 ± 3.08 ng/ml at T1 through 8.00 ± 5.10 ng/ml (p = 0.012) at T2 and decreased to 4.25 ± 2.29 ng/ml and 3.04 ± 3.09 at T3 and T4, respectively. Plasma t-PA level at T2 was significantly different from those at T1, T3, and T4 (p < 0.004). In PM patients, t-PA levels increased from T1, peaked at T2 (p = 0.001), and subsequently decreased at T3 and T4 (p = 0.011 and p = 0.037), respectively. Mean blood loss was 1,377.7 ± 1,062.8 ml; seven patients received blood products. Patients with higher PAI-1 levels at T3 received more fresh frozen plasma (r = 0.79; p = 0.01) and red blood cells (r = 0.88; p = 0.002). Conclusions: During liver surgery, fibrinolysis increased, as evidenced by rises in plasma PAI-1and t-PA, especially after start of surgery and following PM. Transfused volumes of blood products correlated with higher plasma concentrations of PAI-1. Confirming this tendency requires a larger cohort of patients.publishersversionPeer reviewe