Well-being of Pensioners. A Subjective Assessment of the Life's Quality (By the Example of China and Russia)

The well-being of pensioners depends on not only objective factors, but also subjective. Subjective assessment of the life's quality occupies an irreplaceable position in the welfare of pensioners. This study is limited by the following restrictions: results of the survey (80 profiles in Russia, 154 questionnaires in China): 18 questions for both objective and subjective assessments; deviation of the quality of life of pensioners in Russia and China; recommendations for improving pension policy (from the standpoint of the interests of the person and the state).We proved hypothesis that, despite the significant differences assessment of the life's quality and welfare of older persons in China and Russia, subjective assessment is important. A key way of the well-being of older persons is a union of state support, personal and corporate resources

Pattern formation on the surface of cationic-anionic cylindrical aggregates

Charged pattern formation on the surfaces of self--assembled cylindrical micelles formed from oppositely charged heterogeneous molecules such as cationic and anionic peptide amphiphiles is investigated. The net incompatibility $\chi$ among different components results in the formation of segregated domains, whose growth is inhibited by electrostatics. The transition to striped phases proceeds through an intermediate structure governed by fluctuations, followed by states with various lamellar orientations, which depend on cylinder radius $R_c$ and $\chi$. We analyze the specific heat, susceptibility $S(q^*)$, domain size $\Lambda=2\pi/q^*$ and morphology as a function of $R_c$ and $\chi$.Comment: Sent to PRL 11Jan05 Transferred from PRL to PRE 10Jun0

Antagonistic activity of some Herbaspirillum species against phytopathogenic micromycetes

A common problem of agriculture is damage from infectious plant diseases caused mainly by plant-pathogenic Alternaria, Helminthosporium, Cladosporium, and Fusarium. Fusariosis is a harmful, widespread worldwide disease caused by Fusarium species, which leads not only to a decrease in yield but also to a deterioration in its quality as a result of the accumulation of mycotoxin waste products of fungi that are hazardous to human and animal health. Biocontrol is an environm entally friendly approach to using microorganisms to control plant diseases. The use of antagonists is one of the ways to reduce the harmfulness of phytopathogens. Interest in such organisms has increased in recent decades due to the accumulation of negative consequences from the long-term use of chemical protection agents with a lack of organic fertilizers. The paper presents the results of assessing the biological activity of collection strains of bacteria of the genus Herbaspirillum with fi eld strains of fi lamentous fungi of the genus Fusarium. Based on the primary screening of representatives of diff erent species of Herbaspirillum for antagonism against natural isolates of Fusarium by the method characterizing their bio-fungicidal activity. The results of this work can be used in environmentally friendly, highly productive, and competitive biopreparations in adaptive farming, capable of controlling the Fusarium of the most important crops and activating plant defence systems

Enhanced Support for High Intensity Users of the Criminal Justice System – an evaluation of mental health nurse input into Integrated Offender Management Services in the North East of England

The current UK Government’s focus on the development of services to manage and support offenders with mental health problems has resulted in a number of innovative project developments. This research examines a service development in the North East of England which co-located Mental Health nurses with two Integrated Offender Management teams. While not solving all problems, the benefits of co-location were clear – although such innovations are now at risk from government changes which will make Integrated Offender Management the responsibility of new providers without compelling them to co-operate with health services

Transcatheter Intraarterial Perfusion MRI Approaches to Differentiate Reversibly Electroporated Penumbra From Irreversibly Electroporated Zones in Rabbit Liver

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether transcatheter intraarterial perfusion (TRIP) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can differentiate reversible electroporation (RE) zones from irreversible electroporation (IRE) zones immediately after IRE procedure in the rabbit liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All studies were approved by the institutional animal care and use committee and performed in accordance with institutional guidelines. A total of 13 healthy New Zealand White rabbits were used. After selective catheterization of the hepatic artery under X-ray fluoroscopy, we acquired TRIP-MRI at 20 minutes post-IRE using 3 mL of 5% intraarterial gadopentetate dimeglumine. Semi-quantitative (peak enhancement, PE; time to peak, TTP; wash-in slope, WIS; areas under the time-intensity curve, AUT, over 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 seconds after the initiation of enhancement) and quantitative (Ktrans, ve, and vp) TRIP-MRI parameters were calculated. The relationships between TRIP-MRI parameters and histological measurements and the differential ability of TRIP-MRI parameters was assessed. RESULTS: PE, AUT60, AUT90, AUT120, AUT150, AUT180, Ktrans, and ve were significantly higher in RE zones than in IRE zones (all P < 0.05), and AUC for these parameters ranged from 0.91(95% CI, 0.80, 1.00) to 0.99 (95% CI, 0.98, 1.00). There was no significant difference in AUC between any two parameters (Z, 0-1.47; P, 0.14-1.00). Hepatocyte apoptosis strongly correlated with PE, AUT60, AUT90, AUT120, AUT150, AUT180, Ktrans, and vp (the absolute value r, 0.6-0.7, all P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: AUT150 or AUT180 could be a potential imaging biomarker to differentiate RE from IRE zones, and TRIP-MRI permits to differentiate RE from IRE zones immediately after IRE procedure in the rabbit liver

Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in adolescents. What to choose for anesthesia?

The purpose - to optimize the quality of perioperative management of adolescents with damage of the anterior cruciate ligament of the knee. Material and methods: Perioperative methods of anesthesia in 71 patients were estimated. Psycho-emotional status was evaluated on the basis of determining the level of reactive anxiety (Spielberg Hanin scale) and intraoperative anesthesia (unilateral spinal anesthesia or combined) has been chosen. Results: According to the results of lactate and glucose levels in the blood the efficacy of unilateral spinal anesthesia during surgery was demonstrated. Visual analog scale revealed the advantage of extended continuous iliofascial block over an isolated femoral nerve blockade for adequate analgesia for postoperative period. The advantages of the performing continuous iliofascial block under ultrasound were demonstrated

Asteroids' physical models from combined dense and sparse photometry and scaling of the YORP effect by the observed obliquity distribution

The larger number of models of asteroid shapes and their rotational states derived by the lightcurve inversion give us better insight into both the nature of individual objects and the whole asteroid population. With a larger statistical sample we can study the physical properties of asteroid populations, such as main-belt asteroids or individual asteroid families, in more detail. Shape models can also be used in combination with other types of observational data (IR, adaptive optics images, stellar occultations), e.g., to determine sizes and thermal properties. We use all available photometric data of asteroids to derive their physical models by the lightcurve inversion method and compare the observed pole latitude distributions of all asteroids with known convex shape models with the simulated pole latitude distributions. We used classical dense photometric lightcurves from several sources and sparse-in-time photometry from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Catalina Sky Survey, and La Palma surveys (IAU codes 689, 703, 950) in the lightcurve inversion method to determine asteroid convex models and their rotational states. We also extended a simple dynamical model for the spin evolution of asteroids used in our previous paper. We present 119 new asteroid models derived from combined dense and sparse-in-time photometry. We discuss the reliability of asteroid shape models derived only from Catalina Sky Survey data (IAU code 703) and present 20 such models. By using different values for a scaling parameter cYORP (corresponds to the magnitude of the YORP momentum) in the dynamical model for the spin evolution and by comparing synthetics and observed pole-latitude distributions, we were able to constrain the typical values of the cYORP parameter as between 0.05 and 0.6.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, January 15, 201

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns