Experimental facility control system for optical studies in the frame of problem solving of brain hematoma diagnostics

The article describes a system to control a unit moving to find the dependence of the photodetectors signals from the distance to the hematoma. It considers existing devices that operate in accordance with the principle of near infrared spectroscopy and reveals their limitations the illuminations of which are our key objective. The limitations of the designed unit are described and possible ways of upgrading the system are outlined

Designing of phantom head used in optical diagnostics of brain injury

This article shows the results of an experimental research on properties of the materials chosen for designing of a phantom head, which is to be used in testing of a brain hematoma diagnostics device. We have conducted a comparative research of the optical properties of model materials and real head tissue

Physical modeling of the formation of clathrate hydrates of methane

Nowadays natural gas hydrates attract special attention as a possible source of fossil fuel. According to various estimates, the reserves of hydrocarbons in hydrates exceed considerably explored reserves of natural gas. Due to the clathrate structure the unit volume of the gas hydrate can contain up to 160–180 volumes of pure gas. In recent years interest to a problem of gas hydrates has considerably increased. Such changes are connected with the progress in searches of the alternative sources of hydrocarbonic raw materials in countries that do not possess the resources of energy carriers. Thus gas hydrates are nonconventional sources of the hydrocarbonic raw materials which can be developed in the near future. At the same time, mechanisms of methane clathrate hydrates formations have not reached an advanced level, their thermophysical and mechanical properties have not been investigated profoundly. Thereby our experimental modeling of the processes of formation of methane clathrate hydrates in water cryomatrix prepared by co-condensation from the gas phase onto a cooled substrate was carried out over the range of condensation temperatures 12–60 K and pressures 10⁻⁴ –10⁻⁶ Torr. In our experiments the concentration of methane in water varied in the range of 5–90%. The thickness deposited films was 30–60 μm. The vibrational spectra of two-component thin films of CH₄+H₂O condensates were measured and analyze

West nile fever case in neurological practice

West Nile fever is a zoonotic arbovirus mosquito- and tick-borne infection, which occurs in humans in the form of an acute febrile illness with symptoms of general intoxication, in severe cases – with the central nervous system damage. West Nile virus belongs to the Flaviviridae family.After the start of Russians’ mass tourism to tropical and subtropical regions, number of cases of the disease in Russia has increased, especially in the south, where the virus is more viable. The infection mainly affects birds but also people and many mammals (bats, cats, dogs, skunks, squirrels, rabbits, etc.), which become infected after the bite of a mosquito of the genus Culex (Culex pipiens) carrying the disease, ixodid or argas mite. A clinical case of hemorrhagic stroke caused by West Nile fever is presented in the article

Use of Visual Digital Media to Develop Creativity: The Example of Video Games

Summary In the post-information era, most of technologies have a visual part, or at least some functions related to visualization. It is also one of the popular means of presenting materials in education area. However, despite its popularity, the impact of visualization on the effectiveness of learning still remains controversial. Even more controversial is its usefulness in developing creativity, which is one of the most important skills for today’s employee. The authors considered the use of visualization as a tool for the development of children’s creativity on the example of learning video games, in particular, ClassCraft to distinguish features that, from the point of view of psychology, may lead to developing creativity even being not useful for educational purposes. It is concluded that video games useful for learning may have features, that are inappropriate in formal educational context, but important to develop creative thinking. Keywords: visualization, creativity, IT in education, video games, guardian of virtual culture virtual dimension, virtual culture, cyber security

Expression of a Dominant Negative CELF Protein In Vivo Leads to Altered Muscle Organization, Fiber Size, and Subtype

CUG-BP and ETR-3-like factor (CELF) proteins regulate tissue- and developmental stage-specific alternative splicing in striated muscle. We previously demonstrated that heart muscle-specific expression of a nuclear dominant negative CELF protein in transgenic mice (MHC-CELFΔ) effectively disrupts endogenous CELF activity in the heart in vivo, resulting in impaired cardiac function. In this study, transgenic mice that express the dominant negative protein under a skeletal muscle-specific promoter (Myo-CELFΔ) were generated to investigate the role of CELF-mediated alternative splicing programs in normal skeletal muscle.Myo-CELFΔ mice exhibit modest changes in CELF-mediated alternative splicing in skeletal muscle, accompanied by a reduction of endomysial and perimysial spaces, an increase in fiber size variability, and an increase in slow twitch muscle fibers. Weight gain and mean body weight, total number of muscle fibers, and overall muscle strength were not affected.Although these findings demonstrate that CELF activity contributes to the normal alternative splicing of a subset of muscle transcripts in vivo, the mildness of the effects in Myo-CELFΔ muscles compared to those in MHC-CELFΔ hearts suggests CELF activity may be less determinative for alternative splicing in skeletal muscle than in heart muscle. Nonetheless, even these small changes in CELF-mediated splicing regulation were sufficient to alter muscle organization and muscle fiber properties affected in myotonic dystrophy. This lends further evidence to the hypothesis that dysregulation of CELF-mediated alternative splicing programs may be responsible for the disruption of these properties during muscle pathogenesis

Electrodeposition and characterisation of CdS thin films using thiourea precursor for application in solar cells

CdS thin films have been successfully electrodeposited on glass/FTO substrates using acidic and aqueous solution of CdCl2.xH2O and thiourea (SC(NH2)2). The electrodeposition of CdS thin films were carried out potentiostatically using a 2-electrode system. The prepared films were characterised using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Photoelectrochemical (PEC) cell measurements, Electrical resistivity measurements and UV-Vis spectrophotometry to study their structural, compositional, morphological, electrical and optical properties, respectively. The structural studies show that the as-deposited and annealed CdS layers are polycrystalline with hexagonal crystal structure and preferentially oriented along (200) planes. The optical studies indicate that the ED-CdS layers have direct bandgaps in the range (2.53-2.58) eV for the as-deposited and (2.42-2.48) eV after annealing at 400oC for 20 minutes in air. The morphological studies show the good coverage of the FTO surface by the CdS grains. The average grain sizes for the as-deposited and annealed layers were in the range (60-225) nm. These grains or clusters are made out of smaller nano crystallites with the sizes in the range ~(11-33) nm. The electrical resistivity shows reduction as thickness increases. The resistivity values for the as-deposited and annealed layers were in the range (0.82-4.92)×105 Ωcm. The optimum growth voltage for the CdS thin films was found to be at the cathodic potential of 797 mV with respect to the graphite anode. No visible precipitations of elemental S or CdS particles were observed in the deposition electrolyte showing a stable bath using thiourea during the growth

The 5′ Flanking Region and Intron1 of the Bovine Prion Protein Gene (PRNP) Are Responsible for Negative Feedback Regulation of the Prion Protein

Transcription factors regulate gene expression by controlling the transcription rate. Some genes can repress their own expression to prevent over production of the corresponding protein, although the mechanism and significance of this negative feedback regulation remains unclear. In the present study, we describe negative feedback regulation of the bovine prion protein (PrP) gene PRNP in Japanese Black cattle. The PrP-expressing plasmid pEF-boPrP and luciferase-expressing plasmids containing the partial promoter fragment of PRNP incorporating naturally occurring single-nucleotide or insertion/deletion polymorphisms were transfected into N2a cells. Transfection of pEF-boPrP induced PrP overexpression and decreased the promoter activity of PRNP in the wild-type haplotype (23-bp Del, 12-bp Del, and −47C). Reporter gene assays further demonstrated that the 12- and 23-bp Ins/Del polymorphisms, which are thought to be associated with Sp1 (Specific protein 1) and RP58 (Repressor Protein with a predicted molecular mass of 58 kDa), in intron1 and the upstream region, respectively, and an additional polymorphism (−47C→A) in the Sp1-binding site responded differently to PrP overexpression. With the −47C SNP, the presence of the Del in either the 23-bp Ins/Del or the 12-bp Ins/Del allele was essential for the negative feedback caused by PrP overexpression. Furthermore, deletion mutants derived from the wild-type haplotype showed that nucleotides −315 to +2526, which include the 5′-flanking region and exon1, were essential for the response. These results indicate that certain negative feedback response elements are located in these sequences, suggesting that regulation by transcription factors such as Sp1 and RP58 may contribute to the negative feedback mechanism of PRNP

Analyzing and Mapping Sweat Metabolomics by High-Resolution NMR Spectroscopy

The content of human sweat is studied by high-resolution NMR, and the majority of organic components most often found in sweat of conditionally healthy people are identified. Original and simple tools are designed for sweat sampling from different areas of human body. The minimal surface area needed for sampling is in the range of 50–100 cm2. On all the surface parts of the human body examined in this work, the main constituents forming a sweat metabolic profile are lactate, glycerol, pyruvate, and serine. The only exception is the sole of the foot (planta pedis), where trace amounts of glycerol are found. An attempt is made to explain the presence of specified metabolites and their possible origin