Urokinase regulates migration of human vascular smooth muscle cells via Tyk2-PI-3K interaction

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Investment needs assessment of Ukrainian agricultural enterprises

Agricultural enterprises in Ukraine require a considerable investment income. The paper studies the main problems and conditions for investment into agricultural enterprises, the scope and dynamics of their investment provision. The results of agricultural enterprises activity depend directly on the state of their fixed assets. This is one of the biggest vulnerabilities of agricultural enterprises, which makes it impossible for the economy of Ukraine to demonstrate decent results. Investments should be used primarily for the development of material and technical basis of agricultural enterprises, because the fixed assets always depreciate, the term of their use in many enterprises exceeds 15 years and their number is constantly decreasing. Investment in technical provision of plant growing is necessary and attractive. Firstly, as a basis of plant growing, grain and oilseeds are always in demand at the domestic and foreign markets. Secondly, the volumes of investments are moderate compared to other investments in agriculture. In the beginning, it is sufficient to invest into the branch on average from 1 to 2 thousand US dollars per 1 hectare. The average payback period of investments is 2-4 years. Thus, in order to stimulate investments, it is vital to form a qualitatively new policy aimed at increasing investment attractiveness of agricultural enterprises

Author Correction: Heparanase-2 protects from LPS-mediated endothelial injury by inhibiting TLR4 signalling

The Acknowledgements section in the original version of this Article was incomplete. “We are grateful to Prof. Israel Vlodavsky (Technion, Haifa, Israel) for giving us 1c7 antibody to HPSE2. We are grateful to Prof. Fridrich Luft for critical editing the manuscript. Grants from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Nr. 031A577A and 031A577B funded this research. This work was also supported by a grant for the German Research Council to H.H. Ha1388/17-1.” now reads: “We are grateful to Prof. Israel Vlodavsky (Technion, Haifa, Israel) for giving us 1c7 antibody to HPSE2. We are grateful to Prof. Fridrich Luft for critical editing the manuscript. Grants from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Nr. 031A577A and 031A577B funded this research. This work was also supported by a grant for the German Research Council to H.H. Ha1388/17-1. This work was also supported by a grant from the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS): Grant 2017_A96.” The original Article has been corrected

Heparanase-2 protects from LPS-mediated endothelial injury by inhibiting TLR4 signalling

The endothelial glycocalyx and its regulated shedding are important to vascular health. Endo-β-D-glucuronidase heparanase-1 (HPSE1) is the only enzyme that can shed heparan sulfate. However, the mechanisms are not well understood. We show that HPSE1 activity aggravated Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated response of endothelial cells to LPS. On the contrary, overexpression of its endogenous inhibitor, heparanase-2 (HPSE2) was protective. The microfluidic chip flow model confirmed that HPSE2 prevented heparan sulfate shedding by HPSE1. Furthermore, heparan sulfate did not interfere with cluster of differentiation-14 (CD14)-dependent LPS binding, but instead reduced the presentation of the LPS to TLR4. HPSE2 reduced LPS-mediated TLR4 activation, subsequent cell signalling, and cytokine expression. HPSE2-overexpressing endothelial cells remained protected against LPS-mediated loss of cell-cell contacts. In vivo, expression of HPSE2 in plasma and kidney medullary capillaries was decreased in mouse sepsis model. We next applied purified HPSE2 in mice and observed decreases in TNFα and IL-6 plasma concentrations after intravenous LPS injections. Our data demonstrate the important role of heparan sulfate and the glycocalyx in endothelial cell activation and suggest a protective role of HPSE2 in microvascular inflammation. HPSE2 offers new options for protection against HPSE1-mediated endothelial damage and preventing microvascular disease. © 2019, The Author(s)

ЧИСЕЛЬНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ НАПРУЖЕНО-ДЕФОРМОВАНОГО СТАНУ НОГИ ЛЮДИНИ ПІСЛЯ ОПЕРАТИВНОГО ЛІКУВАННЯ ІЗ ЗАСТОСУВАННЯМ БІОСКЛА

The paper presents the results of a numerical study of the effect on stress-strain state of the elements of a person's leg after surgical treatment, replacement of damaged tissues with osteomyelitis with implants made of bioglass. The mathematical model of conducted research was based on the basic relations of continuum mechanics, in conjunction with numerical methods, in particular, by the finite element method. In the course of the study, three design groups were considered, the differences of which consisted in the size of bioglass implants, each group, in turn, consisted of four design schemes, two of which described an “intact” state and a “damaged” state, the other two the schemes described the human leg after surgical treatment of implant installation made of various types of bioglass -AC-5 and FAR-5, respectively. According to the results of the research, characteristics of stress-strain state were obtained and a comparative analysis was carried out.У роботі пропонуються результати чисельного дослідження впливу на напружено-деформований стан елементів ноги людини здійснення оперативного лікування, заміни пошкоджених остеомієлітом тканин имплантатами, виготовленних з біоскла. Математична модель здійснених досліджень застосовує основні співвідношення механіки суцільного середовища у зв'язці з чисельними методами, зокрема, методом скінченних елементів. В ході дослідження розглядалися три розрахункові групи, відмінності яких полягали у розмірах имплантату з біоскла, кожна група, в свою чергу, складалася з чотирьох розрахункових схем, дві з яких описували «інтактний» стан та «пошкоджений», інші дві розрахункові схеми описували ногу людини після оперативного лікування з установки ымплантатів. виготовлених з різних типів біоскла – AC-5 та FAR-5, відповідно. За підсумками досліджень були отримані характеристики напружено-деформованого стану та здійснено порівняльний аналіз

МОДЕЛІ ТА ВЛАСТИВОСТІ НОВИХ МАТЕРІАЛІВ НА МІКРО- ТА НАНОРІВНІ НА ПРИКЛАДІ ПОК-РИТТІВ НА МЕТАЛАХ

The work covers the state of the art of technology and research of thin coatings with the empasis on the properties that is possible to obtain. Functional, protective as well as decorative coatings of metals are considered. These coatings are distinguished by their peculiar properties in particular anticorrosive protection, high hardness and wear resistance. The recent innovation in this area consists in the design and synthesis of multi-component and multi-layer coatings, which requires updated technology. Substrate surface treatment prior to the deposition has a great impact on the ultimate result. Roughness optimization allows to impede effectively erosion and corrosion. The steel can be refined at the surface by niobium, which enhances dramatically its hardness and prevents cracking. Other factors that have been studied include the potential applied to the substate and its impulse characteristics as well as the change in “substrate-cathode” separation. They have been shown to influence both the atomization and deposition processes as well as the resulting mechanical propertiesВ работе приведен анализ современного состояния технологий и исследование свойств тонких покрытий на металлах. Рассмотрены функциональные, защитные и декоративные покрытия на металлах. Эти покрытия соединяют в себе разнообразные свойства: защиту от коррозии, высокую твердость, износостойкость и прочие. Рассмотрены многокомпонентные и многослойные покрытия. Проанализировано дополнительно влияние подготовки поверхностей подложки перед осаждением покрытия. Также проведено исследование влияние потенциала, поданного на подложку, и изменения расстояния "подложка – катод" на процессы осаждения, распыления, а также механические характеристики в процессе очищения стали ниобием.У роботі наведено аналіз сучасного стану технологій та дослідження властивостей тонких покриттів на металі. Розглянуто функціональні, захисні та декоративні покриття на металах. Ці покриття поєднують у собі різноманітні властивості: захист від корозії, висока твердість та зносостійкість тощо. Розглянуті багатокомпонентні та багатошарові покриття. Проаналізовано на додаток вплив підготовки поверхні підкладки перед осадженням покриття. Проведено також дослідження впливу потенціалу, поданого на підкладку, і зміни відстані "підкладка – катод" на процеси осадження, розпилення, а також механічні характеристики у процесі очищення поверхні сталі ніобіє

Substantiating promising technical solutions for turbo- expander power plants based on the research into working processes and states

One of the most rational methods of energy utilization of compressed gas in pipelines is to use turbo-expander installations. In particular, these are autonomous turbo-expander power stations. A fundamentally new concept has been devised to improve the technical and economic performance of this type of machines. This concept is not focused on a separate aspect of the plant's operation but on their entire set. In particular, physical principles, structures, and technologies were considered as an object of research. First, effective parameters of gas-dynamic flows and heat-mass transfer were determined based on the modeling of work processes. Secondly, progressive designs of turbo-expander units have been created. Thirdly, technologies for the production of parts and assemblies of turbo-expander units have been developed, which combine, unlike the traditional ones, different types of strengthening for contacting parts in their pair. A method of parametric modeling was used to substantiate the technical solutions of the elements of turbo-expander power plants. This makes it possible to determine the technical characteristics of these installations under a certain set of parameters. By purposeful variation, a recommended set of their parameters was determined, which ensure the improvement of the most important technical characteristics. A specialized database was built, which contains an array of information about the regularities of the influence of variation of significant parameters on various characteristics of turbo-expander power plants. Already on this basis, the problems of synthesis of successful technical solutions of turbo-expander power plants are solved. As a result, their high energy efficiency is ensured. Thus, the efficiency of the expander was achieved at the level of 86 % while the resource increased by 20–25 %. All these solutions were implemented in a number of unique turbo-expander units. Their effectiveness has been demonstrated during operatio

T-Cadherin and the Ratio of Its Ligands as Predictors of Carotid Atherosclerosis: A Pilot Study

In the cardiovascular system, atherogenic low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and the protective hormone adiponectin bind to the same receptor, T-cadherin. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the ratio of circulating LDL to high-molecular weight (HMW) adiponectin could predict the development of atherosclerosis. Using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we measured the level of circulating HMW adiponectin in the blood of donors together with ultrasound measuring of intima-media thickness (IMT) of carotid arteries. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the T-cadherin gene were identified using polymerase chain reaction. We found that carotid artery IMT is inversely correlated with the level of HMW in male subjects. We also found that the G allele of rs12444338 SNP in the T-cadherin gene correlates with a lower level of circulating T-cadherin and thinner IMT and therefore could be considered as an atheroprotective genotype. Despite our data, we could not provide direct evidence for the initial study hypothesis. However, we did uncover an important correlation between circulating T-cadherin and thinner carotid IMT