Long-term follow-up of school-age children on the effectiveness of myopia correction with contact lenses

Introduction and purpose. Early use of contact correction for congenital myopia and astigmatism in children and adolescents contributes to their social rehabilitation. The myopia correction with contact lenses provides sustainability of correction and absence of periods of blurred retinal images, which are experienced with the use of glasses. The purpose of the study was to determine, through long-term follow-up, the extent to which contact lens correction improves uncorrected and maximally corrected visual acuity in school-age children with myopia and myopic astigmatism. Material and methods. We followed up for three years 84 children (168 eyes) aged 6–16 years with myopic manifest refraction and astigmatism, who used soft silicone hydrogel aspherical contact lenses to correct ametropia. In the early and late follow-up, these patients were examined for visual acuity, objective and subjective clinical refraction, axial eye length, corneal thickness and diameter, keratometry, and phorometric data (accommodation, vergence, disparate areas, and oculomotor apparatus and their interaction). Results.In course of long-term monitoring of myopia and myopic astigmatism correction with contact lenses in school-age children, the statistically significant results were recorded after three years of observation, namely: an increase in uncorrected visual acuity by 47% (t=5.2; p<0.01), corrected acuity vision by 8% (t=9.3; p<0.01), the spheroequivalent by 17% (t=3.7; p<0.01), anteroposterior segment of the eye by 4% (t=7,1; p<0.01), amplitude of accommodation by 27% (t=14.6; p<0.01), negative part of relative accommodation by 17% (t=7.3; p<0.01), positive part of relative accommodation by 32% (t=7.1; p<0.01), flexibility of accommodation by 35% (t=14.2; p<0.01), the ratio of accommodation convergence to accommodation by 19% (t=3.4, p<0.01), stereovision acuity by 56% (t=4.1; p<0.01), as well as a decrease in keratometry index in the strong meridian by 2% (t=5.2; p<0.01), delays in accommodative responses by 33% (t=14.2; p <0.01), distance phoria by 16% (t=10.1; p<0.01), near phoria by 16% (t=11.3, p<0.01). Conclusions. The study has shown that the use of contact lenses by school-aged children with myopia and myopic astigmatism can increase uncorrected and maximum corrected visual acuity. The increase of the spheroequivalent and anteroposterior axis (APA) of the eye indicates progression of myopia, but the use of soft contact lenses (SCL) leads to changes of the anterior corneal surface: an increase of the thickness in the central zone, and its flattening. Improvement of accommodation, vergence, disparate parts of the oculomotor apparatus, and their interaction was also observed. The results obtained indicate deceleration of myopia progression

Experimental Studies and the Search for New Innovative Approaches to Treat Dry Eye Disease

Introduction and purpose. The main manifestation of eyelids, tear ducts, and orbits disorders is a dry eye disease considered as a serious disease that affects the quality of life. Nowadays, one in ten people worldwide faces this disease. Increased workload, development of multimedia technologies, hypodynamia, and environmental degradation are the main modern causes of the disease. Material and methods. In this work, we used an experimental model of dry eye in rats with the development of inflammation of the anterior surface of the eye. Alkali burns were used to develop inflammation. A fluorescein test performed immediately after alkaline erosion and on days 1, 5, and 10 after burns revealed a gradual increase in corneal epithelialization and vascularization. Results. One day after induction of inflammation, there was a dramatic and statistically significant increase in tear production in experimental rats. By the seventh day, tear production declined to the control level with a subsequent tendency to decrease tear production. Conclusions. In the group of rats with inflammation of the anterior surface of the eye that received polarized red-light therapy, there was no significant decrease in tear production on day 7, which may be indicative of a possible anti-inflammatory effect of light therapy under these conditions

Fairy tale therapy for children of war

The article highlights the possibilities of using fairy-tale therapy by parents, legal guardians, socionomic sphere specialists in the process of providing support and assistance to children during the war. The purpose of the article is to define the content of fairy-tale therapy and create an author’s fairy tale, which is focused on pedagogical and psychological assistance to children affected by military operations. To achieve the goal, mainly theoretical research methods were applied: study, analysis and generalization of special psychological and pedagogical literature in order to identify the investigated problem. It is emphasized that a therapeutic fairy tale heals a person’s soul, as it carries out powerful psychological work at the subconscious level. In order for the fairy-tale narrative to acquire a therapeutic character, it must reflect the child’s problem. The process of creating an author’s therapeutic fairy tale helps relieve tension in stressful situations, contributes to the constructive experience of emotions, develops communication skills, imagination, and distracts from difficult feelings. It was concluded that fairy-tale therapy is a unique method of treatment of mental health disorders caused by military actions, as children find echoes of inner experiences from their own lives in fairy tales

French loan words in modern American fiction

The paper deals with the origins of modern English vocabulary and shows the relevance of the influence of French on its modern state. The article makes a survey of scientific literature studying French heritage in English lexis. An overview of linguistic and historical data is provided to show the framework within which linguistic borrowing from French was made possible. A number of loanwords are mentioned that appeared under different historical circumstances. The article analyses borrowed words that kept their meaning they had in French, as well as those ones which experienced semantic transformation. The paper concentrates on the fact that frequency of English words having French roots is high enough in the novel by J. Grisham and they form a thick layer of common words. The article demonstrates, what kind   of impact the change in culture-specific concepts had on the meaning of the words borrowed from French and highlights possible prospects of such kind of studies. The paper emphasizes semantic layers of loan words and shows that finance vocabulary, the vocabulary of law and politics and the vocabulary of health are closely connected with borrowings from French

Selfie neologisms in social networks

The paper deals with modern trends in word formation connected with the development of virtual communication, social networks distribution and the possibility to be present in cyberspace on a permanent basis. The research concentrates on social media interaction as the main source of neologisms that reflect and describe digital portraits Internet users make and post on the web. Preconditions for newly coined words to continue their existence and become common are considered. Digitalization provides a large spectrum of opportunities for neologisms to be noticed by a wider audience and creates a demand for new coinages. At the same time, a new word should be similar to those existing in a given language in order to arouse interest of potential users. For this reason, the article considers different mechanisms of neological word formation that proved to be efficient. The methods used allow to assess the derivational potential of new coinages, define the most productive word building techniques, adequately interpret the words’ meaning and classify the neologisms under consideration into groups. The results obtained show relevance of digital portrait-based coinage in modern English and demonstrate prospects for further research in the field of digital communication neology

Marketing research in a transition economy of the turbulent world

The aim of the study is to clarify what factors and how exactly to act in market research in the transition economy of Ukraine. The hypothesis raised is the conduct of market research in a transition economy is affected by factors related to global economic trends, the state of development of marketing theory and market research in the world and in Ukraine. Their study was carried out through the use of general scientific methods of abstraction, a systematic approach to the study of socioeconomic processes and the participation of relevant theoretical concepts. Among the most relevant results is that the analysis confirms our hypothesis that the conduct of market research in the underdeveloped oligarchic transitive economy of Ukraine is influenced by three groups of factors related to the trends of the world economy, the state of development of marketing theory and market research, as well as characteristics of the transitive economy. The market research market size calculation is based on certain expert assumptions and may not fully reflect the actual situation. On the other hand, the practice of market research is influenced not only by theoretical developments but also by the state of its market. The result of the investigation makes it possible to take into account the particularities of the type of economy in transition in Ukraine

Study of new pathogenetic mechanisms of diabetic retinopathy development in patients with diabetic foot syndrome

Introduction and purpose.  Diabetes is one of the underlying causes of blindness and other long-term negative consequences that significantly affect patients’ quality of life. The study aimed to determine the indicators characterizing the pathogenetic mechanisms of the development of vascular dysfunction, in particular diabetic retinopathy (DR), and the relationship of these changes with nitric oxide. Material and methods. There were 2114 patients with various surgical diseases under observation (including 1073 patients with purulent-septic soft tissue diseases), among them there were 193 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) and 134 patients with Wagner stage 2-5 diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) and diabetic retinopathy in the main group (268 eyes). The comparison group included 59 patients (118 eyes) of the corresponding age with DM without DFS and DR. Both groups were the same in age and gender. Results. The level of the end products of nitric oxide metabolism in peripheral blood was found to be 1.78 times (p<0.01) higher compared with patients without DR. A decrease in the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in patients with DR was by 1.56 times (p<0.01) lower relative to the comparison group. The content of thiobarbituric acid (TBA)-active products in the peripheral blood of patients of the main group exceeded by 1.58 times (p <0.01) the reference values of patients without DR. When determining the content of S-nitrosithiols, an increase in these indicators in the main group was found to be 2.38 times (p<0.01). Patients in the main group with DR also showed a 5.13-fold (p<0.001) increase in peripheral blood homocysteine concentration. NO is known to have both positive and harmful effects depending on its concentration. On the one hand, NO causes relaxation of blood vessels by reducing blood pressure, prevents platelet aggregation and adhesion, limits LDL cholesterol oxidation, suppresses smooth muscle cell proliferation, and reduces the expression of proinflammatory genes that are associated with atherogenesis. It is known that NO can have both positive and harmful effects, depending on its concentration. On the one hand, NO causes relaxation of blood vessels, reducing blood pressure, prevents platelet aggregation and adhesion, limits the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, suppresses the proliferation of smooth muscle cells, and reduces the expression of pro-inflammatory genes that are associated with atherogenesis. On the other hand, NO interacts with O2-, leading to the inactivation of NO and the production of peroxynitrite, which post-transcriptionally modifies proteins and negatively affects their function. This can contribute to endothelial dysfunction by stimulating the production of inflammatory mediators and lipid peroxidation and thus increasing cell permeability. Conclusions. The findings show that the patients with diabetes mellitus complicated by retinopathy and DFS had a significant increase in the content of nitric oxide in the peripheral blood, the cause of which is hyperglycemia. The use of an intercellular mediator (nitric oxide), which contributes to the physiological regulation of the hemodynamics of the eye, protects vascular endothelial cells from pathogenic factors of ischemia, will help clinicians choose an effective pharmacological therapy appropriate for a particular patient and a particular eye

Toxicity of Water-Soluble D-g-PNIPAM Polymers in a Complex with Chemotherapy Drugs and Mechanism of Their Action In Vitro

The application of a biocompatible polymer nanocarrier can provide target delivery to tumor tissues, improved pharmacokinetics, controlled drug release, etc. Therefore, the proposed strategy was to use the water-soluble star-like copolymers with a Dextran core and Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) grafts (D-g-PNIPAM) for conjugation with the widely used chemotherapy drugs in oncology–Cisplatin (Cis-Pt) and Doxorubicin (Dox). The molecular characteristics of the copolymer were received using size-exclusion chromatography. The physicochemical characterization of the D-g-PNIPAM-Cis-Pt (or Dox) nanosystem was conducted using dynamic light scattering and FTIR spectroscopy. Using traditional biochemical methods, a comparative analysis of the enhancement of the cytotoxic effect of free Cis-Pt and Dox in combination with D-g-PNIPAM copolymers was performed in cancer cells of the Lewis lung carcinoma line, which are both sensitive and resistant to Dox; in addition, the mechanism of their action in vitro was evaluated