Concordance study between the ParaDNA® Intelligence Test, a rapid DNA profiling assay, and a conventional STR typing kit (AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus®).

The ParaDNA® Intelligence Test enables STR profiling directly from human biological samples and evidence items collected from crime scene in 75min. Designed for non-expert use this system allows DNA information to be available to investigators before it would typically be available from a laboratory. The ParaDNA Intelligence Test system amplifies D3S1358, D8S119, D16S539, D18S1358 and TH01 STR loci and the gender typing locus amelogenin and detects the alleles present with HyBeacon® probes. Individual DNA samples from 381 UK Caucasian individuals were analysed using AmpFlSTR® SGM Plus® and the ParaDNA Intelligence Test with the derived STR profiles compared. Here we describe the high level of concordance demonstrated between the two systems and discuss this with reference to allele frequencies and the discriminatory power offered by the ParaDNA Intelligence Test

КЛІНІКО-ПАТОГЕНЕТИЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ВИКОРИСТАННЯ АПЛІКАЦІЇ ЗА МЕТОДОМ ЛЯПКО ПРИ НЕЙРОЦИРКУЛЯТОРНІЙ ДИСТОНІЇ У МЕДСЕСТРИНСЬКІЙ ПРАКТИЦІ

This article describes the investigation about the influence of multineedle-shaped metal application by Lyapko method in patients with neurocirculatory dystonia.У статті проведено дослідження впливу багатоголчастої різнометалевої аплікації за методом Ляпко у хворих на нейроциркуляторну дистонію

THE EFFICIENCY OF GARBAGE TRUCKS OPERATION IN THE CITY – LANDFILL ENVIRONMENT

Наведено результати досліджень ефективності експлуатації сміттєвозів у середовищі "місто – сміттєзвалище". Встановлено найефективніший сміттєвоз для використання в умовах міста. Проаналізовано сміттєвози із найбільшим вмістом кузова для транспортування побутових відходів. На ефективність застосування сміттєвоза впливають такі параметри, як: маса відходів, об'єм відходів, маса транспортного засобу, габаритні розміри транспортного засобу, об'єм кузова. Оцінювання ефективності є складним завданням та потребує окремого розгляду. Її розглядають за часовими характеристиками доставляння твердих побутових відходів і підготовчо-заключних операцій. Комунальні господарства і підприємства із забезпечення благоустрою можуть експлуатувати різні сміттєвози, які мають різні характеристики. За результатами проведених теоретичних досліджень ефективності використання сміттєвозів встановлено, що найбільше впливає на ефективність такий параметр, як об'єм кузова сміттєвоза. Дещо менший вплив має вантажопідйомність маніпулятора. І найменший вплив має маса відходів, яка перевозиться. Ці результати є закономірними, оскільки для великого міста значущим показником роботи сміттєвоза є максимальний об'єм відходів, які він може перевезти. Отже, в умовах міста найбільшу ефективність використання мають сміттєвози: із боковим завантаженням – КО 449-02, КО-449-35; із заднім завантаженням – МКЗ-40, СБМ-409/1; портальні – МКТ-150.Приведены результаты исследований эффективности эксплуатации мусоровозов в среде "город – мусоросвалка". Установлен наиболее эффективный мусоровоз для использования в условиях города. Проанализированы мусоровозы с наибольшим содержанием кузова для транспортировки бытовых отходов. На эффективность применения мусоровоза влияют такие параметры, как: масса отходов, объем отходов, масса транспортного средства, габаритные размеры транспортного средства, объем кузова. Оценка эффективности является сложной задачей и требует отдельного рассмотрения. Ее рассматривают по временным характеристикам доставки твердых бытовых отходов и подготовительно-заключительных операций. Коммунальные хозяйства и предприятия по обеспечению благоустройства могут эксплуатировать различные мусоровозы, которые имеют различные характеристики. По результатам проведенных теоретических исследований эффективности использования мусоровозов установлено, что наибольше влияет на эффективность такой параметр, как объем кузова мусоровоза. Несколько меньшее влияние имеет грузоподъемность манипулятора. И наименьшее влияние имеет масса отходов. Эти результаты закономерны, поскольку для большого города значимым показателем работы мусоровоза является максимальный объем отходов, которые он может перевезти. Таким образом, в условиях города наибольшую эффективность использования имеют мусоровозы: с боковой загрузкой – КО 449-02, КО-449-35; с задней загрузкой – МКЗ-40, СБМ-409/1, портальные – МКТ-150.At present, a significant amount of garbage trucks are produced in Ukraine and abroad. The main differences between garbage trucks are body volume, the weight of the waste being hauled, the load carrying capacity of the manipulator, and the base chassis. Each manufacturer of special vehicles characterizes and evaluates his product differently and therefore it is rather difficult to choose the most efficient means of hauling garbage in the city. Therefore the purpose of the work is to find the most efficient garbage truck for use in the city. We used mathematical and statistical methods to conduct our study. In course of the study the authors have researched the efficiency of garbage trucks operation in the city – landfill environment. We have defined the most efficient garbage truck to be used within city conditions. Garbage trucks with the largest body content for hauling the collected household waste are analyzed. The following parameters are supposed to influence the efficiency of garbage collection: waste mass, waste volume, mass of the vehicle, overall dimensions of the vehicle, and body volume. Evaluation of the efficiency is a complex task and requires sufficient consideration. It is considered by the time characteristics of the delivery of solid household waste and also preparatory and final operations. Communal farms and maintenance industry enterprises can operate various garbage trucks having different characteristics. According to the results of the theoretical studies on the efficiency of the use of garbage trucks, we have revealed that the parameter such as the volume of the garbage truck body has the greatest influence on the efficiency. Then, the load-carrying capacity of the manipulator is slightly less influential. Finally, the mass of the hauled waste has the smallest impact. These results are logical, since a significant parameter for the garbage truck operation is the maximum amount of waste it can haul within a city. Consequently, in the conditions of the city the most effectively used are garbage trucks: with side loading – KO 449-02, KO-449-35; with back loading – МКЗ-40, СБМ-409/1; portal – МКТ-150. The most efficient operation of the garbage trucks that were investigated is considered to be MKZ-40. The comparable range of garbage hauling can reach from 11 to 167 km more than other types of special vehicles

ODRL Policy Modelling and Compliance Checking

This paper addresses the problem of constructing a policy pipeline that enables compliance checking of business processes against regulatory obligations. Towards this end, we propose an Open Digital Rights Language (ODRL) profile that can be used to capture the semantics of both business policies in the form of sets of required permissions and regulatory requirements in the form of deontic concepts, and present their translation into Answer Set Programming (via the Institutional Action Language (InstAL)) for compliance checking purposes. The result of the compliance checking is either a positive compliance result or an explanation pertaining to the aspects of the policy that are causing the noncompliance. The pipeline is illustrated using two (key) fragments of the General Data Protect Regulation, namely Articles 6 (Lawfulness of processing) and Articles 46 (Transfers subject to appropriate safeguards) and industrially-relevant use cases that involve the specification of sets of permissions that are needed to execute business processes. The core contributions of this paper are the ODRL profile, which is capable of modelling regulatory obligations and business policies, the exercise of modelling elements of GDPR in this semantic formalism, and the operationalisation of the model to demonstrate its capability to support personal data processing compliance checking, and a basis for explaining why the request is deemed compliant or not

Влияние габаритных параметров цилиндрического экрана на эффективность экранирования

Study of dimensional parametersʼ influence on shielding properties of cylindrical shields will allow to optimise the fusion process, as well as to reduce production costs by reducing the material used. The purpose of this work was to compare results of theoretical calculation of shielding effectiveness of an infinite cylindrical shield with the data obtained in real conditions.A cylindrical Ni-Fe shield was synthesised by electrochemical deposition with length of 32 cm, diameter of 4.5 cm and shielding thickness of ≈ 100 µm. The cylinder length was then reduced from 32 cm to 6 cm in 4 cm increments and for each cylinder length shielding effectiveness was measured using three-coordinate Helmholtz field-forming system.The measurement results show that the calculation of shielding effectiveness of infinite cylindrical shield is valid for cylinder lengths l ≥ 18–20 cm. Shielding effectiveness is markedly reduced at values of l ˂ 15 cm.Analysis of data obtained allowed to conclude that it is necessary to determine the correction factor when calculating a cylindrical screen shielding efficiencyИзучение влияния габаритных параметров на экранирующие свойства цилиндрических экранов позволит оптимизировать процесс синтеза, а также снизить затраты на производство, за счёт уменьшения используемого материала. Целью данной работы было сравнение результатов теоретического расчёта эффективности экранирования бесконечного цилиндрического экрана и данных, полученных в реальных условиях.Методом электрохимического осаждения был синтезирован цилиндрический экран Ni-Fe, длина которого составила 32 см, диаметр 4,5 см, толщина экранирующего покрытия составила≈ 100 мкм. Затем длина цилиндра уменьшалась от 30 до 6 см с шагом в 4 см, для каждой длины цилиндра была измерена эффективность экранирования с помощью полеобразующей системы трёхкоординатных катушек Гельмгольца.Результаты измерений показали, что расчёт эффективности экранирования бесконечного цилиндрического экрана справедлив при длине цилиндра l ≥ 18–20 см. При значениях l ˂ 15 см эффективность экранирования заметно снижается.Анализ полученных данных позволил сделать вывод о необходимости определения поправочного коэффициента при расчётах эффективности экранирования цилиндрического экрана

Induced surface and curvature tension equation of state for hadron resonance gas in finite volumes and its relation to morphological thermodynamics

Here we develop an original approach to investigate the grand canonical partition function of the multicomponent mixtures of Boltzmann particles with hard-core interaction in finite and even small systems of the volumes above 20 fm$^3$. The derived expressions of the induced surface tension equation of state are analyzed in details. It is shown that the metastable states, which can emerge in the finite systems with realistic interaction, appear at very high pressures at which the hadron resonance gas, most probably, is not applicable at all. It is shown how and under what conditions the obtained results for finite systems can be generalized to include into a formalism the equation for curvature tension. The applicability range of the obtained equations of induced surface and curvature tensions for finite systems is discussed and their close relations to the equations of the morphological thermodynamics are established. The hadron resonance gas model on the basis of the obtained advanced equation of state is worked out. Also, this model is applied to analyze the chemical freeze-out of hadrons and light nuclei with the number of (anti-)baryons not exceeding 4, including the most problematic ratios of hyper-triton and its antiparticle. Their multiplicities were measured by the ALICE Collaboration in the central lead-lead collisions at the center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} =$ 2.76 TeV.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures and 1 tabl

Antibiotic consumption and antimicrobial resistance in Poland; findings and implications

Background: The problem of inappropriate use of antibiotics and the resulting growth in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has implications for Poland and the world. The objective of this paper was to compare and contrast antibiotic resistance and antibiotic utilisation in Poland in recent years versus other European countries, including agreed quality indicators, alongside current AMR patterns and ongoing policies and initiatives in Poland to influence and improve antibiotic prescribing. Methods: A quantitative ten-year analysis (2007-2016) of the use of antibiotics based on European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) data combined with a literature review on AMR rates and antimicrobial stewardship initiatives. Results: The system of monitoring AMR and appropriate strategies to address AMR rates remain underdeveloped in Poland. The role of microbiological diagnostics and efforts to prevent infections is currently underestimated by physicians. Overall, Poland had one of the highest rates of total consumption of antibiotics in the analysed European countries. Total consumption of antibacterials for systemic use and relative consumption of beta-lactamase sensitive penicillins were characterized by small but statistically significant average annual increases between 2007 and 2016 (from 22.2DIDs to 23.9 DIDs and from 0.8% to 1.3%, respectively). Conclusions: The integrated activities around appropriate antibiotic prescribing in the pre- and post-graduate training of physicians and dentists seem to be particularly important, as well as changes in policies on prescribing antibiotics within ambulatory care. AMR and appropriate prescribing of antibiotics should be the focus of health policy actions in Poland

Functional Contribution of Elevated Circulating and Hepatic Non-Classical CD14+CD16+ Monocytes to Inflammation and Human Liver Fibrosis

BACKGROUND: Monocyte-derived macrophages critically perpetuate inflammatory responses after liver injury as a prerequisite for organ fibrosis. Experimental murine models identified an essential role for the CCR2-dependent infiltration of classical Gr1/Ly6C(+) monocytes in hepatic fibrosis. Moreover, the monocyte-related chemokine receptors CCR1 and CCR5 were recently recognized as important fibrosis modulators in mice. In humans, monocytes consist of classical CD14(+)CD16(-) and non-classical CD14(+)CD16(+) cells. We aimed at investigating the relevance of monocyte subpopulations for human liver fibrosis, and hypothesized that 'non-classical' monocytes critically exert inflammatory as well as profibrogenic functions in patients during liver disease progression. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We analyzed circulating monocyte subsets from freshly drawn blood samples of 226 patients with chronic liver disease (CLD) and 184 healthy controls by FACS analysis. Circulating monocytes were significantly expanded in CLD-patients compared to controls with a marked increase of the non-classical CD14(+)CD16(+) subset that showed an activated phenotype in patients and correlated with proinflammatory cytokines and clinical progression. Correspondingly, CD14(+)CD16(+) macrophages massively accumulated in fibrotic/cirrhotic livers, as evidenced by immunofluorescence and FACS. Ligands of monocyte-related chemokine receptors CCR2, CCR1 and CCR5 were expressed at higher levels in fibrotic and cirrhotic livers, while CCL3 and CCL4 were also systemically elevated in CLD-patients. Isolated monocyte/macrophage subpopulations were functionally characterized regarding cytokine/chemokine expression and interactions with primary human hepatic stellate cells (HSC) in vitro. CD14(+)CD16(+) monocytes released abundant proinflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, CD14(+)CD16(+), but not CD14(+)CD16(-) monocytes could directly activate collagen-producing HSC. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our data demonstrate the expansion of CD14(+)CD16(+) monocytes in the circulation and liver of CLD-patients upon disease progression and suggest their functional contribution to the perpetuation of intrahepatic inflammation and profibrogenic HSC activation in liver cirrhosis. The modulation of monocyte-subset recruitment into the liver via chemokines/chemokine receptors and their subsequent differentiation may represent promising approaches for therapeutic interventions in human liver fibrosis

RNA delivery by extracellular vesicles in mammalian cells and its applications.

The term 'extracellular vesicles' refers to a heterogeneous population of vesicular bodies of cellular origin that derive either from the endosomal compartment (exosomes) or as a result of shedding from the plasma membrane (microvesicles, oncosomes and apoptotic bodies). Extracellular vesicles carry a variety of cargo, including RNAs, proteins, lipids and DNA, which can be taken up by other cells, both in the direct vicinity of the source cell and at distant sites in the body via biofluids, and elicit a variety of phenotypic responses. Owing to their unique biology and roles in cell-cell communication, extracellular vesicles have attracted strong interest, which is further enhanced by their potential clinical utility. Because extracellular vesicles derive their cargo from the contents of the cells that produce them, they are attractive sources of biomarkers for a variety of diseases. Furthermore, studies demonstrating phenotypic effects of specific extracellular vesicle-associated cargo on target cells have stoked interest in extracellular vesicles as therapeutic vehicles. There is particularly strong evidence that the RNA cargo of extracellular vesicles can alter recipient cell gene expression and function. During the past decade, extracellular vesicles and their RNA cargo have become better defined, but many aspects of extracellular vesicle biology remain to be elucidated. These include selective cargo loading resulting in substantial differences between the composition of extracellular vesicles and source cells; heterogeneity in extracellular vesicle size and composition; and undefined mechanisms for the uptake of extracellular vesicles into recipient cells and the fates of their cargo. Further progress in unravelling the basic mechanisms of extracellular vesicle biogenesis, transport, and cargo delivery and function is needed for successful clinical implementation. This Review focuses on the current state of knowledge pertaining to packaging, transport and function of RNAs in extracellular vesicles and outlines the progress made thus far towards their clinical applications