Pilot study of the transcranial electrostimulation in autistic children

Увод: Всички методи, при които се подава слаб електрически ток през краниума на пациента за терапевтични цели, официално се наричат кранио-електротерапевтична стимулация (tDES). Транскраниалната електростимулация е неинвазивен и лесно поносим метод за повлияване на мозъчната активност, навлязъл в клиничната практика през последните десетилетия Цел: Да се анализира ефектът на tDES върху когнитивното развие, комуникативни способности и речевата продукция при неговорещите деца с аутизъм. Материал и методи: Обект на изследването бяха деца с разстройство от аутистичния спектър. Групата бе от 7 деца на възраст от 4 до 16 години. Тя бе много хетерогенна по отношение на биологично и нервно-психично развитие, интелектуално и езиково развитие. Всички деца бяха с ниско функциониране на аутистичното разстройство, без коморбидност и при никое дете нямаше изградена вербална реч (пълна липса на каквато и да е дума). За оценка на ефективността на прилаганата стимулация беше използвана тестова батерия за оценка на детското развитие - Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC), разработена от Judith K. Voress и Taddy Maddox Резултати: Резултатите, постигнати в групата по отношение на речево развитие, когнитивни и комуникативни умения, са обнадеждаващи. По отношение на речевото развитие има 9.8% ръст на айтемите. Отчетеното подобрение в когнитивните способности е 12.5% , a в желанието за комуникация е 11.4%. Заключение: tDES оказва комплексно въздействие върху развитието на детето. Положителни тенденции, които се наблюдават по отношение на речевата продукция, когнитивно и социално-емоционално развитие, дават основание нашите проучвания да продължат.Introduction: All methods, based on delivery of weak electric current trough the patient cranium for therapy use have the name Transcranial Electrotherapy Stimulation /TES/. Tonic application of direct current (DC) to the brain (tDCS) is well-known, non-invasive and safe method to modulate the activity of the central nervous system (CNS), and has got more and more clinical use in the last years. Aim: The goal of this study is to analyse how tDCS can help in speech production and communicative abilities in non-verbal children in the autistic spectrum and how to enhance the wish to communicate. Materials and Methods: This study included children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We had 7 children at an age between 4 to 16. The group was very heterogeneous in respect of biological and neuro-psychological development, intellectual and language maturity. All children were low-functioning, without co-morbidity and nonverbal (absence of any words). To assess the effectiveness of the stimulation we used test battery to monitor the child development - Developmental Assessment of Young Children (DAYC by Judith K. Voress and Taddy Maddox).Results: At the end of the study, we have positive results concerning the speech development, communication skills and the cognitive abilities. In the speech development, we had a 9.8% increase. The cognitive improvement was about 12.5% and that of communication willingness - 11.4%. Conclusion: tDES has a complex influence over the neuro-psychological development in children with autism. The positive tendencies regarding speech development, cognitive development, and socio-emotional development give us ground for further research

Two-step separation of nostotrebin 6 from cultivated soil cyanobacterium (Nostoc sp.) by high performance countercurrent chromatography

High performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) was successfully applied for the separation of nostotrebin 6 from cultivated soil cyanobacteria in a two-step operation. A two-phase solvent system composed of n-hexane-ethyl acetate-methanol-water (4:5:4:5, v/v/v/v) was employed for the HPCCC separation. In the first-step operation, its neutral upper phase was used as stationary phase and its basic lower phase (1% NH3 in lower phase) was employed as mobile phase at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. In the second operation step, its neutral upper phase was used as stationary phase, whereas both its neutral lower phase and basic lower phase were employed as mobile phase with a linear gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.8 mL/min. The revolution speed and temperature of the separation column were 1,000 rpm and 30 °C, respectively. Using HPCCC followed by clean-up on Sephadex LH-20 gel, 4 mg of nostotrebin 6 with a purity of 99% as determined by HPLC/DAD-ESI-HRMS was obtained from 100 mg of crude extract. The chemical identity of the isolated compound was confirmed by comparing its spectroscopic data (UV, ESI-HRMS, ESI-HRMS2) with those of an authentic standard and data available in the literature.This work was supported by the project ALGAIN (reg. nr. CZ.1.07/2.3.00/30.0059) and the Center for Algal Biotechnology Třeboň-ALGATECH (CZ. 1.05/21.00/03.0110)

Sensitive Skin

Sensitive skin is a condition that affects a large percentage of people today and can occur at any point in their lives. It can affect people of all ages with different skin types. Signs of sensitivity can be permanent or be triggered by various external and internal factors, such as bacteria, chemicals, allergens, adverse weather conditions, hormonal problems, stress, etc. This article describes different types of sensitive skin, along with the external and internal factors that affect sensitive skin. It offers care recommendations as well as therapeutic techniques and methods for treatment

Development of a Scalable and Sustainable High Performance CounterCurrent Chromatography (HPCCC) Purification for Spinosyn A and Spinosyn D from Spinosad

© 2017 American Chemical Society. A high-performance countercurrent chromatography (HPCCC) process was developed as a more efficient and sustainable alternative to reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) for the pilot-scale purification of the naturally occurring fermentation-derived insecticides, spinosyn A and spinosyn D, the major components of spinosad insecticide. While on pilot scale HPCCC and RP-HPLC both gave > 99% purities and comparable combined recoveries of 77% and 83%, respectively, HPCCC was much more efficient and sustainable by producing a 60% higher productivity, 11 times higher solute loading, 96% savings in stationary phase costs, and 42% reduction in solvent usage. The increase in productivity and reduction in solvent usage further reduced waste recycle and disposal costs, thus presenting significantly less environmental impact compared to RP-HPLC separations. The use of mixing on demand for a solvent system at the preparative scale allowed a complete automation with minimized solvent consumption

Centrifugal partition chromatography in a biorefinery context: Separation of monosaccharides from hydrolysed sugar beet pulp

A critical step in the bioprocessing of sustainable biomass feedstocks, such as sugar beet pulp (SBP), is the isolation of the component sugars from the hydrolysed polysaccharides. This facilitates their subsequent conversion into higher value chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates. Separation methodologies such as centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) offer an alternative to traditional resin-based chromatographic techniques for multicomponent sugar separations. Highly polar two-phase systems containing ethanol and aqueous ammonium sulphate are examined here for the separation of monosaccharides present in hydrolysed SBP pectin: l-rhamnose, l-arabinose, d-galactose and d-galacturonic acid. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was selected as an effective phase system modifier improving monosaccharide separation. The best phase system identified was ethanol:DMSO:aqueous ammonium sulphate (300 g L−1) (0.8:0.1:1.8, v:v:v) which enabled separation of the SBP monosaccharides by CPC (200 mL column) in ascending mode (upper phase as mobile phase) with a mobile phase flow rate of 8 mL min−1. A mixture containing all four monosaccharides (1.08 g total sugars) in the proportions found in hydrolysed SBP was separated into three main fractions; a pure l-rhamnose fraction (>90%), a mixed l-arabinose/d-galactose fraction and a pure d-galacturonic acid fraction (>90%). The separation took less than 2 h demonstrating that CPC is a promising technique for the separation of these sugars with potential for application within an integrated, whole crop biorefinery

The position of the fixed combination of indacaterol, glycopyrronium, and mometasone furoate in the management of bronchial asthma. The Report of Expert Panel of Russian Respiratory Society

Achieving the control of bronchial asthma (BA) in real clinical practice remains an unresolved problem, despite the expansion of therapeutic options in this area. Guidelines about when and for whom should a particular treatment be used continue to develop. Increasing of inhaled corticosteroid dose (ICS) in combination with a long-acting β2-agonist (LABA) does not always lead to the desired result, although a combined LABA-ICS inhaler could improve the course of asthma and increase adherence. The addition of tiotropium bromide to LABA-ICS requires the use of two inhalers. The targeted biological therapy is associated with the complexity of phenotyping and is possible only in specialized medical centers. Mometasone furoate, indacaterol acetate, and glycopyrronium bromide in fixed doses were combined in Breezhaler® inhaler for asthma maintenance therapy once per day. This way of treatment helps to realize full potential of maintenance inhalation therapy of bronchial asthma and to simplify the achievement of control over the disease in routine clinical practice.Достижение контроля над бронхиальной астмой (БА) в реальной клинической практике остается нерешенной проблемой, несмотря на существенное расширение терапевтических возможностей в этом направлении. Рекомендации о том, когда и для кого должны использоваться те или иные методы лечения, продолжают расширяться. При увеличении дозы ингаляционного глюкокортикостероида (иГКС) в комбинации с длительно действующим β2-агонистом (ДДБА) далеко не всегда достигается желаемый результат, хотя при использовании единого ингалятора иГКС / ДДБА может улучшиться течение БА и повыситься приверженность терапии. При добавлении тиотропия бромида к иГКС / ДДБА требуется использование 2 ингаляторов, а назначение таргетной биологической терапии связано со сложностью фенотипирования и возможно только в специализированных медицинских центрах. Мометазона фуроат, индакатерола ацетат и гликопиррония бромид объединены в фиксированную комбинацию, доставляемую с помощью ингалятора Бризхалер® 1 раз в день для поддерживающей терапии БА. Этот способ лечения помогает реализовать потенциал базисной ингаляционной терапии БА и упростить достижение контроля над заболеванием в повседневной клинической практик

An Integrated Biorefinery Concept for Conversion of Sugar Beet Pulp into Value-added Chemicals and Pharmaceutical Intermediates

Over 8 million tonnes of sugar beet are grown annually in the UK. Sugar beet pulp (SBP) is the main by-product of sugar beet processing which is currently dried and sold as a low value animal feed. SBP is a rich source of carbohydrates, mainly in the form of cellulose and pectin, including D-glucose (Glu), L-arabinose (Ara) and D-galacturonic acid (GalAc). This work describes the technical feasibility of an integrated biorefinery concept for fractionation of SBP and conversion of these monosaccharides into value-added products. SBP fractionation is initially carried out by steam explosion under mild conditions to yield soluble pectin and insoluble cellulose fractions. The cellulose is readily hydrolysed by cellulases to release Glu that can then be fermented by a commercial Yeast strain to produce bioethanol with a high yield. The pectin fraction can be either fully hydrolysed, using physico-chemical methods, or selectively hydrolysed, using cloned arabinases and galacturonases, to yield Ara-rich and GalAc-rich streams. These monomers can be separated using either Centrifugal Partition Chromatography (CPC) or ultrafiltration into streams suitable for subsequent enzymatic upgrading. Building on our previous experience with transketolase (TK) and transaminase (TAm) enzymes, the conversion of Ara and GalAc into higher value products was explored. In particular the conversion of Ara into L-gluco-heptulose (GluHep), that has potential therapeutic applications in hypoglycaemia and cancer, using a mutant TK is described. Preliminary studies with TAm also suggest GluHep can be selectively aminated to the corresponding chiral aminopolyol. Current work is addressing upgrading of the remaining SBP monomer, GalAc, and modelling of the biorefinery concept to enable economic and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)

Selection of vigor hybrids of first generation of hot-house tomatoes characterized by group immunity to diseases

Available from VNTIC / VNTIC - Scientific & Technical Information Centre of RussiaSIGLERURussian Federatio

ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНО-КУЛЬТУРНЫЕ ПРАКТИКИ БУДУЩЕГО БАКАЛАВРА И ИХ СТРУКТУРНЫЕ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ

Educational activities at the university are presented as a variety of practices many of which have professional and cultural character and a sufficient potential for the development of the students’ personal initiative and for their reconsideration and transformation of their own life and the formation of social responsibility.In this paper there has been explicated the idea of «professional and cultural practices of the future bachelor» and their basic types that have been singled out and characterized. The involvement of the future bachelors in these practices has been also considered. The results of the performed study show that the level of involvement of the future bachelors in these practices (2012–2014) is characterized as indifferent-positive which indicates the need to activate their involvement in the given form of professional and cultural activities to focus on the higher level – sustainable-positive.Образовательная деятельность в вузе представлена многообразием практик, многие из которых носят профессионально-культурный характер и обладают достаточным потенциалом для развития личной инициативыобучающихся, переосмысления и преобразования имисобственной жизнедеятельности и формирования социальной ответственности.В статье эксплицировано понятие «профессионально-культурные практики будущего бакалавра», выделеныи охарактеризованы их основные виды, обсуждается вопрос об участии будущих бакалавров в данных практиках. Результаты проведенного исследования показали, что уровень участия будущих бакалавров в данных практиках (2012–2014 гг.) характеризуется как индифферентно-положительный, что свидетельствует о необходимости активизировать их участие в данной форме профессионально-культурной работы с ориентацией на более высокий уровень – устойчиво-положительный