Regulation of international trade and services

Currently, trade barriers in the international services market are powerful tools and are mainly used to support national security, public and private monopoly status, for example, immigration, licensing services. Therefore, work on liberalizing the global service markets has been started within the WTO, as it remains the most protected area today owing to the participating States

Functional Characterization of Lamina X Neurons in ex-Vivo Spinal Cord Preparation

Functional properties of lamina X neurons in the spinal cord remain unknown despite the established role of this area for somatosensory integration, visceral nociception, autonomic regulation and motoneuron output modulation. Investigations of neuronal functioning in the lamina X have been hampered by technical challenges. Here we introduce an ex-vivo spinal cord preparation with both dorsal and ventral roots still attached for functional studies of the lamina X neurons and their connectivity using an oblique LED illumination for resolved visualization of lamina X neurons in a thick tissue. With the elaborated approach, we demonstrate electrophysiological characteristics of lamina X neurons by their membrane properties, firing pattern discharge and fiber innervation (either afferent or efferent). The tissue preparation has been also probed using Ca2+ imaging with fluorescent Ca2+ dyes (membrane-impermeable or -permeable) to demonstrate the depolarization-induced changes in intracellular calcium concentration in lamina X neurons. Finally, we performed visualization of subpopulations of lamina X neurons stained by retrograde labeling with aminostilbamidine dye to identify sympathetic preganglionic and projection neurons in the lamina X. Thus, the elaborated approach provides a reliable tool for investigation of functional properties and connectivity in specific neuronal subpopulations, boosting research of lamina X of the spinal cord

Exciton-photon correlations in bosonic condensates of exciton-polaritons

Exciton-polaritons are mixed light-matter quasiparticles. We have developed a statistical model describing stochastic exciton-photon transitions within a condensate of exciton polaritons. We show that the exciton-photon correlator depends on the "hidden variable" which characterizes the rate of exciton-photon transformations in the condensate. We discuss implications of this effect for the quantum statistics of photons emitted by polariton lasers.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

A new mechanism of contact resistance formation in ohmic contacts to semiconductors with high dislocation density

About new mechanism of contact resistance formation in ohmic contacts to semiconductors with high dislocation densit

Mechanism of contact resistance formation in ohmic contacts with high dislocation density

A new mechanism of contact resistance formation in ohmic contacts with high dislocation density is proposed. Its specific feature is the appearance of a characteristic region where the contact resistance increases with temperature. According to the mechanism revealed, the current flowing through the metal shunts associated with dislocations is determined by electron diffusion. It is shown that current flows through the semiconductor near-surface regions where electrons accumulate. A feature of the mechanism is the realization of ohmic contact irrespective of the relation between the contact and bulk resistances. The theory is proved for contacts formed to III-V semiconductor materials as well as silicon-based materials. A reasonable agreement between theory and experimental results is obtaine

Measurement of intracellular concentration of fluorescently-labeled targets in living cells

Estimations of intracellular concentrations of fluorescently-labeled molecules within living cells are very important for guidance of biological experiments and interpretation of their results. Here we propose a simple and universal approach for such estimations. The approach is based upon common knowledge that the dye fluorescence is directly proportional to its quantum yield and the number of its molecules and that a coefficient of proportionality is determined by spectral properties of the dye and optical equipment used to record fluorescent signals. If two fluorescent dyes are present in the same volume, then a ratio of their concentrations is equal to a ratio of their fluorescence multiplied by some dye- and equipment-dependent coefficient. Thus, if the coefficient and concentration of one dye is known then the concentration of another dye can be determined. Here we have demonstrated how to calculate this coefficient (called a ratio factor) and how to use it for concentration measurements of fluorescently tagged molecules. As an example of how this approach can be used, we estimated a concentration of exogenously expressed neuronal Ca2+ sensor protein, hippocalcin, tagged by a fluorescent protein in a dendritic tree of rat hippocampal neurons loaded via a patch pipette with Alexa Fluor dye of known concentration. The new approach should allow performing a fast, inexpensive and reliable quantitative analysis of fluorescently-labeled targets in different parts of living cells

Associations of BCL-2 (RS17759659), CTLA-4 (RS231775), APO-1/FAS (RS2234767) genes polymorphisms with activity of proliferation and apoptosis in thyroid tissue of patients with nodular forms of goiter combined with autoimmune thyroiditis and thyroid adenoma

The study of apoptosis and proliferative activity in the thyroid gland (TG) tissue of patients with nodular goiter and autoimmune thyroiditis (NGAIT) and thyroid adenoma (TA) is based on the expression/density of Fas/FasL, BCL-2, p53, and Ki-67 markers assessment depending on the genetic polymorphisms of BCL-2 (rs17759659), CTLA-4 (rs231775) and APO-1/Fas (rs2234767) genes.Several mechanisms of thyroid cells' programmed killing are activated in NGAIT and TA with domination of Fas-induced apoptosis, which strongly associates with the BCL-2 gene's (rs17759659) promoter (F=25.33; p<0.001) and almost six fold weaker associates with the CTLA-4 gene's (rs231775) promoter (F=4.23, p=0.017). Factors that decrease the likelihood of NGAIT and TA regardless of the CTLA-4 (rs231775) and APO-1/Fas (rs2234767) genes' genotypes are the high Ki-67 density and reduction of cells containing p53 or BCL-2 proteins (OR=0.07-0.17; 95% CI OR: 0.03-0.36; p<0.001, and OR=0.08-0.11; 95% CI OR: 0.02-0.31; p<0.001, re­spectively). High expression of surface Fas and FasL in lymphoid infiltration and de­struction of thyroid cells (stronger in GG-genotype carriers of the BCL-2 gene by 18.54% (pAA=0.043) and 36.18% (pAG=0.018), respectively) indicates the initiation of the external pathway of apoptosis through the caspase mechanism (effector caspase- 8)

Nano-engineered pathways for advanced thermal energy storage systems

Nearly half of the global energy consumption goes toward the heating and cooling of buildings and processes. This quantity could be considerably reduced through the addition of advanced thermal energy storage systems. One emerging pathway for thermal energy storage is through nano-engineered phase change materials, which have very high energy densities and enable several degrees of design freedom in selecting their composition and morphology. Although the literature has indicated that these advanced materials provide a clear thermodynamic boost for thermal energy storage, they are subject to much more complex multiscale governing phenomena (e.g., non-uniform temperatures across the medium). This review highlights the most promising configurations that have been proposed for improved heat transfer along with the critical future needs in this field. We conclude that significant effort is still required to move up the technological readiness scale and to create commercially viable novel nano-engineered phase change systems

Clinical markers of immune disorders in the pathogenesis of Escherichia coli enteritis

Background. Escherichia coli enteritis is one of the most common causes of diarrhea in developed countries and is caused usually by pathogenic strains of Escherichia coli. Objectives. To investigate the role of reactive response of polymorphonuclear neutrophilic granulocytes (NG) of peripheral blood in the systemic inflammatory response mechanisms of acute Escherichia enterocolitis (AEC), depending on genes polymorphism of heat shock proteins (HSP) family 70-2 (HSP70-2, 1267A®G) and interleukin 10 (IL-10, C-592A). Material and methods. The genes polymorphism was analysed by PCR based method in 95 patients with AEC and 30 healthy individuals. Clinical markers of immune disorders were evaluated after hematological indices, based upon an extended general clinical blood analysis, using verified formulas. Results. The endogenous intoxication severity did not depend reliably on genotypes of IL-10 gene (rs1800872), however it was significantly 23.68% (р=0.043) higher in GG-genotype carriers of HSP70-2 gene (rs1061581). The reduction of cellular reactivity by 14.71-19.08% (р<0.01) did not depend on the analyzed genes genotypes. But general non-specific immune reactivity decreases 3.49-4.24 times (р<0.001) was deeper in GG-genotype carriers of HSP70-2 gene and AA-genotype carriers of IL-10 gene by 17.78% (р=0.009) and 12.37% (р=0.023) respectively. The immunologic resistance index was lower by 18.75% (р=0.024) in GG-genotype carriers than in patients with А allele. Conclusions. Hematological indices, based upon an extended general clinical blood analysis, are indicative and reliable non-specific clinical markers of immune disorders in case of AEC