On the Possibility of the Detection of Extinct Radio Pulsars

We explore the possibilities for detecting pulsars that have ceased to radiate in the radio band. We consider two models: the model with hindered particle escape from the pulsar surface (first suggested by Ruderman and Sutherland 1975) and the model with free particle escape (Arons 1981; Mestel 1999). In the model with hindered particle escape, the number of particles that leave the pulsar magnetosphere is small and their radiation cannot be detected with currently available instruments. At the same time, for the free particle escape model, both the number of particles and the radiation intensity are high enough for such pulsars to be detectable with the presently available receivers such as GLAST and AGILE spacecrafts. It is also possible that extinct radio pulsars can be among the unidentified EGRET sources.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure corrected version of the paper that was published in Astronomy Letter

Prognostic factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: current stage of a problem

The basic principles of the diagnostic and treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has changed in recent years. Last clinical guidelines recommended the initiation of therapy with biologic agents (BA) as early as it possible, however the patient population with RA has heterogeneity of clinical progression. In present review authors analyzed the basic prognostic factors (clinical, immunological, radiological, genetic) that can predict clinical outcomes also in patients with BA therapy

Химико-токсикологическая диагностика острых отравлений феназепамом

Background. The relative availability of Phenazepam makes it a frequent cause of overdose, suicide and non-medical use. At the same time, it remains insufficiently studied in chemical and toxicological terms.The aim of study. to create an accessible, rapid method for detecting Phenazepam in biological matrices of patients with acute poisoning.Materials and methods. We used thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography with a mass selective detector (GC-MS), high performance liquid chromatography with a tandem mass-selective detector (LC-MS/MS) and immunochromatographic analysis (ICA). The preparation of samples of intact urine with the addition of standard solutions of Phenazepam and real urine samples of patients with acute poisoning with Phenazepam was carried out using liquid-liquid extraction or precipitation of related components of the sample with acetonitrile. Hydrolysis and derivatization were also added in GC-MS analysis.Results. The analysis of statistics of the Department of Acute Poisonings of the N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine in 2014-2016 showed that Phenazepam poisonings averaged 9.2% of the total number of admissions and mainly occurred as suicidal attempts. A technique has been developed for the detection of Phenazepam by TLC, which gives more objective results than ICA. For confirmatory analysis, it is advisable to use LC-MS/MS method for the native substance and GC-MS for the products of hydrolysis after derivatization. Compared to confirmatory methods, the developed TLC-screening technique is expressive, does not require the use of expensive high-tech equipment, difficult sample preparation, and makes it possible to reliably detect toxic and lethal concentrations of Phenazepam.Актуальность. Относительная доступность феназепама делает его частой причиной передозировок, суицидов и немедицинского использования. В то же время он остается недостаточно изученным в химикотоксикологическом отношении. ЦЕЛЬ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ Создание доступной экспрессной методики обнаружения феназепама в биологических средах пациентов с острым отравлением им.Материал и методы. Использовали методы тонкослойной хроматографии (ТСХ), газовой хроматографии с масс-спектрометрическим детектированием (ГХ-МС), высокоэффективной жидкостной хроматографии с тандемным масс-спектрометрическим детектированием (ВЭЖХ-МС/МС), иммунохроматографический анализ (ИХА). Пробоподготовка образцов интактной мочи с добавлением стандартных растворов феназепама и реальных образцов мочи пациентов с острыми отравлениями феназепамом проводилась методами жидкость-жидкостной экстракции или осаждения сопутствующих компонентов пробы ацетонитрилом, а также добавляли стадии гидролиза и дериватизации при анализе методом ГХ-МС.Результаты. Анализ статистики отделения острых отравлений НИИ скорой помощи им. Н.В. Склифосовского за 2014–2016 гг. показал, что отравления феназепамом составляют в среднем 9,2% от всего числа поступлений и совершаются преимущественно с суицидальной целью. Разработана методика обнаружения феназепама методом ТСХ, которая дает более объективные результаты, чем ИХА. Для подтверждающего анализа целесообразно использовать метод ВЭЖХ-МС/МС по нативному веществу и ГХ-МС по продуктам гидролиза после дериватизации. По сравнению с подтверждающими методами разработанная методика ТСХ-скрининга обладает экспрессностью, не требует использования дорогостоящего высокотехнологичного оборудования, трудоемкой пробоподготовки, позволяет достоверно выявлять феназепам в моче с концентрацией свыше 1 мкг/мл (предел обнаружения методики)

Т-лимфоциты - ключевые иммунорегуляторные клетки

Phenotypical and functional heterogeneity of immune regulating subpopulations of T-lymphocytes having suppressor activity is discussed in the article. Natural regulators and inducible regulating cells are characterized in more details.Обсуждается фенотипическая и функциональная гетерогенность иммунорегуляторных субпопуляций Т-лимфоцитов с супрессорной активностью. Наиболее подробно охарактеризованы натуральные регуляторные и индуцибельные регуляторные клетки

THE RUSSIAN DATA OF INTERNATIONAL ENDORSE REGISTER (EPIDEMIOLOGIC INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE EVALUATION OF PATIENTS AT RISK OF VENOUS THROMBOSIS IN ACUTE HOSPITAL CARE SETTING)

Aim. To estimate a risk factor frequency of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients urgently hospitalized in hospitals, and also to estimate of patients part having effective prevention of VTE.Material and methods. ENDORSE (Epidemiologic International Day for the Evaluation of Patients at Risk of Venous Thrombosis in Acute Hospital Care Setting) is the international register. Patients of 40 years and older hospitalised in therapeutic departments as well as patients of 18 years and older hospitalised in surgical departments (358 hospitals in 32 countries) were included in the register. The case history analysis of all patients was performed for estimation of risk VTE and evaluation of preventive therapy quality according to American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) Recommendation 2004.Results. Totally 68 183 patients (including 30 827 (45%) surgical patients and 37 356 (55%) therapeutic patients) were enrolled in Global ENDORSE Register. Russian centers enrolled 4 788 patients (including 2 829 (59%) surgical patients and 1 959 (41%) therapeutic patients). Totally 35 329 (51,8%) patients enrolled in Global ENDORSE Register (64,4% of surgical patients (19 842) and 41,5% of therapeutic patients (15 487)) had VTE risks. In Russia 2 188 enrolled patients (45,7%) had VTE risks (52% of surgical patients (1 470) and 36,7% of therapeutic patients (718). Totally 17 732 (50,2%) patients enrolled in Global Register ENDORSE and having VTE risks received VTE preventive therapy according to АССР Recommendations 2004. In Russia 521 (23,8%) patients enrolled in Global ENDORSE Register and having VTE risks received VTE preventive therapy according to АССР Recommendations 2004. It is more than 2 times less in comparison with world level (р<0.001).Conclusion. There are a lot of patients with VTE risks in hospitals. It is necessary to improve preventive therapy of VTE due to better hospital management and more active use of АССР Recommendations 2004

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Chemical and Toxicological Diagnosis of Acute Poisonings with Phenazepam

Background. The relative availability of Phenazepam makes it a frequent cause of overdose, suicide and non-medical use. At the same time, it remains insufficiently studied in chemical and toxicological terms.The aim of study. to create an accessible, rapid method for detecting Phenazepam in biological matrices of patients with acute poisoning.Materials and methods. We used thin-layer chromatography (TLC), gas chromatography with a mass selective detector (GC-MS), high performance liquid chromatography with a tandem mass-selective detector (LC-MS/MS) and immunochromatographic analysis (ICA). The preparation of samples of intact urine with the addition of standard solutions of Phenazepam and real urine samples of patients with acute poisoning with Phenazepam was carried out using liquid-liquid extraction or precipitation of related components of the sample with acetonitrile. Hydrolysis and derivatization were also added in GC-MS analysis.Results. The analysis of statistics of the Department of Acute Poisonings of the N.V. Sklifosovsky Research Institute for Emergency Medicine in 2014-2016 showed that Phenazepam poisonings averaged 9.2% of the total number of admissions and mainly occurred as suicidal attempts. A technique has been developed for the detection of Phenazepam by TLC, which gives more objective results than ICA. For confirmatory analysis, it is advisable to use LC-MS/MS method for the native substance and GC-MS for the products of hydrolysis after derivatization. Compared to confirmatory methods, the developed TLC-screening technique is expressive, does not require the use of expensive high-tech equipment, difficult sample preparation, and makes it possible to reliably detect toxic and lethal concentrations of Phenazepam

Semantic technology design nl interfaces for question answering

В работе рассматривается семантическая технология проектирования естественно-языковых и речевых интерфейсов для интеллектуальных вопросно-ответных систем. Данная технология развивается в рамках открытого проекта OSTIS [Ostis, 2012]. Рассматривается также библиотека компонентов проектирования естественно-языкового интерфейса, возможности ее пополнения сторонними компонентами и создания новых компонентов. Description of technology to design a natural language interfaces for intelligent systems which is based on semantic networks (sc-technology) [Ostis, 2012], applying to a prototype of natural language interface for question answering intelligent system on the geometry is presented. Model includes speech-to-text and text-to-speech Belarusian and Russian subsystems, the generation of responses in the form of natural language and formal text. Also article include the description methods for linking various components of the system and description methods for development of new components