Predicting DME recurrence following surgical treatment for diabetic maculopathy in a Ukrainian population of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: Recurrent diabetic maculopathy (DMP) and diabetic macular edema (DME) may develop in the early or late period even after an advanced vitreoretinal procedure. It has been reported that the recurrence rate at one month and at one year after vitreoretinal surgery varied from 6.6% to 20.8% and from 20.8% to 83.3%, respectively. Purpose: To develop a model for predicting recurrence of DME after surgical treatment for DMP in the Ukrainian population of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Material and Methods: The study included 313 patients with T2DM (313 eyes) who underwent various types of vitreoretinal surgery. Preoperatively, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used to determine blood PDGF-BB, TNFα and ЕТ1 levels, and polymorphisms of PDGFB (rs1800818) and TNFα (rs1800629) were investigated by real-time polymerase chain reaction. At months 1, 3, 6 and 12 after surgery, incidence of DME recurrence and associations of DME recurrence with the characteristics under study were assessed. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to develop a model in Statistica 10 (GLZ; StatSoft, Tulsa, OK, USA). Results: Index of diabetic macular edema progression (DMEI) was used as the dependent variable and calculated as the mean speed of change in central retinal thickness (CRT) over a year after the initiation of treatment for DMP. SNP rs1800818 in PDGFB, SNP rs1800629 in TNFα, blood PDGF-BB level, and CRT0 were found to be significant predictors of the risk for postoperative DME recurrence. The calculation of DMEI values allowed to divide possible genotype combinations into three groups: those promoting the regression (СС-GG; CC-GA; TC-GG), those with a stable DMEI value (TC-GA and TC-AA), and those promoting the progression of DME. Conclusion: The prediction of DME recurrence after various types of vitreoretinal surgery combined with other methods of surgical treatment for DMP in a Ukrainian population of patients with T2DM is based on the determination of gene polymorphisms of PDGFB and TNFα

Relativistic Laser-Matter Interaction and Relativistic Laboratory Astrophysics

The paper is devoted to the prospects of using the laser radiation interaction with plasmas in the laboratory relativistic astrophysics context. We discuss the dimensionless parameters characterizing the processes in the laser and astrophysical plasmas and emphasize a similarity between the laser and astrophysical plasmas in the ultrarelativistic energy limit. In particular, we address basic mechanisms of the charged particle acceleration, the collisionless shock wave and magnetic reconnection and vortex dynamics properties relevant to the problem of ultrarelativistic particle acceleration.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figure

Effect of surface electron structure variations on the surface scattering of current carriers

An effect of electron transitions between the surface and bulk electron states on the conductance of a W(llO) metal plate has been observed in experiment for the first time using the static skin-effect and transversal magnetoresistance methods.Вперше експериментально спостерiгався вплив електронних переходiв мiж носiями поверхневих i об'ємних електронних станiв на провiднiсть металiчної пластини W(llo) за допомогою методiв статичного скiн-ефекту та поперечного магнiтоопору.Впервые экспериментально наблюдалось влияние электронных переходов между носителями поверхностных и объемных электронных состояний на проводимость металлической пластины W(llo) с помощью методов статического скин-эффекта и поперечного магнетосопротивления

Modern educational trends in the maritime industry

The paper reveals the potential and importance of training specialists in the field of maritime and river navigation. The trends of the modern educational process applicable to educational institutions of the maritime and river transport industry are considered. The trends of psychophysiological health and behavior among students of educational institutions of the transport industry are considered, the analysis of available studies on the state of psychophysiological health and behavior of officers of the merchant and navy is also carried out. The research revealed data on important changes and positive trends in the development of the modern educational system applicable to educational institutions of the transport industry, studied the issues of compliance of students' preparation for the difficulties of future professional activity, as well as the impact of the lack of proper attention to the psychophysiological health of ship and ship crews on their personal qualities. The ways of preventing harm to the psychophysiological health of students of institutions of the marine industry are considered. The conclusion is made that the identified trends are applicable to the industry leader of the GMU named after Adm. F.F. Ushakov

Influence of local and systemic factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus on the functional status of platelets in patients with diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy

Background: To date, there is no information on relationships of systemic (activation of the sympathoadrenal and renin- angiotensin systems, SAS and RAS, respectively) and local (inflammation and remodeling of the retinal extracellular matrix and activation of the ocular purinergic system) mechanisms of the development of diabetic maculopathy (DMP) and diabetic macular edema (DME). Purpose: To identify the influence of systemic and local factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) on functional status of platelets in DMP and DME under conditions of severe nonproliferative (NPDR) or proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Materials and Methods: This study included 42 type 2 DM patients (42 eyes), of which 31 patients (31 eyes) and 11 patients (11 eyes) were found to have DMP in the presence of PDR and severe NPDR, respectively. Platelet aggregation in vitro to ADP, adrenaline, angiotensin 2 (Ang2), platelet activation factor (PAF) and collagen were assessed spectrophotometrically with a Chrono-Log aggregometer. Results: As platelet hyperreactivity to AN II, adrenalin, PAF and collagen were found in all study patients, activation of the RAS and SAS, and inflammation and remodeling of retinal extracellular matrix are non-specific pathogenetic mechanisms of DMP. Platelet reactivity to ADP was higher in PDR than in severe NPDR (р=0.008), which reflected the features of the pathogenesis of PDR. Development of DME in patients with DMP could be caused by a pronounced dysregulation of purinergic signaling in the eye, activation of the RAS and inflammation, which was reflected by platelet hyperreactivity to ADP, AN II and PAF, whereas a high platelet reactivity to collagen was characteristic of the absence of DME. Conclusion: The analysis of functional status of platelets allowed elucidating platelet activation mechanisms and identifying major platelet agonists that enabled platelet involvement in progression of DMP and development of DME in type 2 DM patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy