Recent trends in state of landscapes and shoreline dynamics in the Bulgarian sector of the Black Sea

The article analyzes the contemporary processes of natural and human-induced shore- line dynamics between cape Kaliakra and cape Emine, Bulgarian Black Sea coastal zone. Main accent is put on the anthropogenic impact on beach morphodynamics, coastal erosion, sediment transport and accretion influenced by land use changes and technogenic load. The stages of recent landscape transformations since the beginning of the XX century are discussed chronologically. Assumptions are made with reference to existing relationships among coastal geomorphic processes, land use dynamics, levels of anthropogenization and coastal landscape change at the investigated area.Проанализировано современные процессы естественной и подверженной антропогенному влиянию динамики береговой линии между мысом Калиакра и мысом Емине на болгарском побережье Черного моря. Основное внимание уделено воздействию антропогенных факторов на береговую морфодинамику, прибрежную эрозию, транспортировку и аккумуляцию осадков под влиянием изменений в использовании земель и техногенной нагрузки. Стадии недавних преобразований ландшафта с начала XX столетия рассмотрены хронологически. Сделаны выводы о взаимоотношениях прибрежных процессов, геоморфологии, динамики использования земли, уровня антропогенизации и изменения прибрежного ландшафта на исследованной территории.Проаналізовано сучасні процеси природної і зазнавшої антропогенного впливу динаміки берегової лінії між мисом Каліакра і мисом Еміне на болгарському узбережжі Чорного моря. Основну увагу приділено впливу антропогенних чинників на берегову морфодинаміку, прибережну ерозію, транспортування й акумуляцію осадів під впливом змін у використанні земель і техногенного навантаження. Стадії недавніх перетворень ландшафту з початку XX сторіччя розглянуто хронологічно. Зроблено висновки про взаємовідношення прибережних процесів, геоморфології, динаміки використання землі, рівня антропогенізації та зміни прибережного ландшафту на дослідженій території

QT DISPERSION AND DIPYRIDAMOLE-INDUCED MYOCARDIAL ISCHEMIA

The relationship between QT interval dispersion and dipyridamole-induced, transient myocardial ischemia was assessed in 32 male patients with ischemic heart disease. A standardized, high dose dipyridamole-ECG stress test was used as dipyridamole infusion of 0,56 mg/kg applied i. v. for 4 min followed by 4 min interval of no-dose with E C G and blood pressure monitoring, and in negative test - by a dipyridamole infusion of 0,28mg/kg i. v. for 2 min. Seventeen patients (53%) developed a transient myocardial ischemia with duration of 20 ±7 (4-40) min during the dipyridamole infusion while 15 ones (47%) did not. No regular dynamics and significant differences in the values of total QT interval dispersion and maximum adjacent QT interval dispersion estimated before, during and after the dipyridamole infusion could be established. It was supposed that the severity, duration and time for development of dipyridamole-induced transient myocardial ischemia were not sufficient to generate a dispersion in ventricular repolarization detectable as changes in QT dispersion parameters on surface ECG. The combination of QT dispersion with various non-invasive markers of arrhythmogenic mechanisms could help the estimation of arrhythmogenic risk in the patients with ischemic heart disease

Ancient coastlines of the Black Sea and conditions for human presence – Black Sea expedition 2011

Project DO 02-337, an expedition on the RV Akademik, took place during June 2011 with financial support from the Bulgarian Science Fund. The location for this expedition was the Western Black Sea. 17 core and 8 grapple organic seabed samples were taken. The initial core samples were extracted from the submerged shorelines with subsequent ones taken from deeper water. So submerged shoreline was mapped, samples for dating, isotope analysis and pollen sampling were taken.Проект ДО 02-337, експедиція у східну частину Чорного моря на н/с «Академік» відбулася в червні 2011 року за фінансової підтримки Болгарського наукового фонду. Відібрано 17 проб трубкою і 8 проб драгою. Зразки відбиралися із затопленої берегової лінії, відібрано зразки для датування, ізотопного і пилкового аналізів.Проект ДО 02-337, экспедиция в восточную часть Черного моря на н/с «Академик» состоялась в июне 2011 г. при финансовой поддержке Болгарского научного фонда. Отобраны 17 проб трубкой и 8 проб драгой. Образцы отбирались из затопленной береговой линии, отобраны образцы для датирования, изотопного и пыльцевого анализов

Constructing a new understanding of the environment under postsocialism

This paper introduces a special grouping of papers on the theme of the environment and postsocialism. After the collapse of state socialism in Europe between 1989 and 1991, many immediate approaches to environmental reconstruction assumed that economic liberalisation and democratisation would alleviate problems. Since then, critics have argued that these proposed solutions were themselves problematic, and too closely reflected Western European and North American conceptions of environmental quality and democracy. The result has been a counterreaction focusing on detail and specificity at national levels and below. In this paper, we summarise debates about the environment and postsocialism since the period 1989 - 91. In particular, we examine whether an essentialistic link can be made between state socialism and environmental problems, and how far civil society -- or environmentalism -- may result in an improvement in perceived environmental quality. Finally, we consider the possibility for developing an approach to the environment and postsocialism that lies between crude generalisation and microscale studies

Progression From Paroxysmal to Persistent Atrial Fibrillation. Clinical Correlates and Prognosis

Objectives: We investigated clinical correlates of atrial fibrillation (AF) progression and evaluated the prognosis of patients demonstrating AF progression in a large population. Background: Progression of paroxysmal AF to more sustained forms is frequently seen. However, not all patients will progress to persistent AF. Methods: We included 1,219 patients with paroxysmal AF who participated in the Euro Heart Survey on AF and had a known rhythm status at follow-up. Patients who experienced AF progression after 1 year of follow-up were identified. Results: Progression of AF occurred in 178 (15%) patients. Multivariate analysis showed that heart failure, age, previous transient ischemic attack or stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension were the only independent predictors of AF progression. Using the regression coefficient as a benchmark, we calculated the HATCH score. Nearly 50% of the patients with a HATCH score >5 progressed to persistent AF compared with only 6% of the patients with a HATCH score of 0. During follow-up, patients with AF progression were more often admitted to the hospital and had more major adverse cardiovascular events. Conclusions: A substantial number of patients progress to sustained AF within 1 year. The clinical outcome of these patients regarding hospital admissions and major adverse cardiovascular events was worse compared with patients demonstrating no AF progression. Factors known to cause atrial structural remodeling (age and underlying heart disease) were independent predictors of AF progression. The HATCH score may help to identify patients who are likely to progress to sustained forms of AF in the near future. \ua9 2010 American College of Cardiology Foundation

Effect of Systemic Hypertension With Versus Without Left Ventricular Hypertrophy on the Progression of Atrial Fibrillation (from the Euro Heart Survey).

Hypertension is a risk factor for both progression of atrial fibrillation (AF) and development of AF-related complications, that is major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE). It is unknown whether left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) as a consequence of hypertension is also a risk factor for both these end points. We aimed to assess this in low-risk AF patients, also assessing gender-related differences. We included 799 patients from the Euro Heart Survey with nonvalvular AF and a baseline echocardiogram. Patients with and without hypertension were included. End points after 1 year were occurrence of AF progression, that is paroxysmal AF becoming persistent and/or permanent AF, and MACCE. Echocardiographic LVH was present in 33% of 379 hypertensive patients. AF progression after 1 year occurred in 10.2% of 373 patients with rhythm follow-up. In hypertensive patients with LVH, AF progression occurred more frequently as compared with hypertensive patients without LVH (23.3% vs 8.8%, p = 0.011). In hypertensive AF patients, LVH was the most important multivariably adjusted determinant of AF progression on multivariable logistic regression (odds ratio 4.84, 95% confidence interval 1.70 to 13.78, p = 0.003). This effect was only seen in male patients (27.5% vs 5.8%, p = 0.002), while in female hypertensive patients, no differences were found in AF progression rates regarding the presence or absence of LVH (15.2% vs 15.0%, p = 0.999). No differences were seen in MACCE for hypertensive patients with and without LVH. In conclusion, in men with hypertension, LVH is associated with AF progression. This association seems to be absent in hypertensive women

Khresmoi: Multimodal Multilingual Medical Information Search

Khresmoi is a European Integrated Project developing a multilingual multimodal search and access system for medical and health information and documents. It addresses the challenges of searching through huge amounts of medical data, including general medical information available on the internet, as well as radiology data in hospital archives. It is developing novel semantic search and visual search techniques for the medical domain. At the MIE Village of the Future, Khresmoi proposes to have two interactive demonstrations of the system under development, as well as an overview oral presentation and potentially some poster presentation

Khresmoi – multilingual semantic search of medical text and images

The Khresmoi project is developing a multilingual multimodal search and access system for medical and health information and documents. This scientific demonstration presents the current state of the Khresmoi integrated system, which includes components for text and image annotation, semantic search, search by image similarity and machine translation. The flexibility in adapting the system to varying requirements for different types of medical information search is demonstrated through two instantiations of the system, one aimed at medical professionals in general and the second aimed at radiologists. The key innovations of the Khresmoi system are the integration of multiple software components in a flexible scalable medical search system, the use of annotation cycles including manual correction to improve semantic search, and the possibility to do large scale visual similarity search on 2D and 3D (CT, MR) medical images

ОСОБЕННОСТИ РАЗРУШЕНИЯ РАБОЧИХ ЛОПАТОК ТУРБИНЫ ИЗ ВЫСОКОПРОЧНЫХ ЖАРОСТОЙКИХ ЛИТЫХ СПЛАВОВ НА ЭНЕРГЕТИЧЕСКИХ УСТАНОВКАХ

 The article describes peculiarities of destruction occurred with blade roots of the turbine when operated as integrated in power units, and the results of investigations conducted with a corrosion detected at a zone of crack development.  В статье приведены особенности разрушения хвостовиков рабочих лопаток турбины во время эксплуатации в составе энергетических установок и результаты исследования про­дуктов коррозии, выявленных в зоне развития трещин