An epigenetic hypothesis for ovarian cancer prevention by oral contraceptive pill use

Background: Ovarian cancer is the second most common gynecological cancer type after uterine cancers. In 2020, according to worldwide statistics, there were more than 313,000 new cases of ovarian cancer. Most concerning with ovarian cancer is the poor overall survival, with only 30% of patients surviving for longer than 5 years after diagnosis. The reason for this poor outcome includes late diagnosis due to non-specific symptoms and a lack of any highly effective biomarkers of the early stages of ovarian carcinogenesis. However, it is important to note that some modifiable lifestyle factors can be preventative [pregnancy, breastfeeding and combined oral contraceptives pill (COCP) use]. Results: There is now increasing data reporting the role of epigenetic changes, which are detectable in ovarian cancer tumors, suggesting the possibility that epigenetics may also play a key role in the mechanism of long-term effective prevention of ovarian cancer. To our knowledge, there is a lack of high-quality data on the molecular mechanisms of ovarian cancer prevention, although several hypotheses have been proposed. Conclusions: This review focusses on the evidence for a proposed novel hypothesis—that COCPs act as a chemoprevention through the impact on the epigenome of the cells of origin of ovarian cancer—fallopian tubes epithelium

Investigating structure-function relationships of dough stickiness within low sodium bread dough formulations

The overarching goal of this research was to gain a greater understanding of the underlying structure-function relationships leading to the sticky dough phenomenon when sodium chloride is reduced in bread dough formulations. The primary objectives of this research were to: a) examine the effect of flour composition (focusing on gluten content/quality) on the dough handling properties of four flours ranging from good to poor dough handling; b) examine the effect of NaCl level on the dough handling properties, morphology (focusing on the gluten network formation), stickiness and water mobility with the same four flours; and c) examine the effect of various salts from the lyotropic series on the dough handling properties, morphology, stickiness and water mobility of a known strong/non-sticky dough producing flour and a weak/sticky dough producing flour to achieve similar properties to that of NaCl. Within Chapter 3, the chemical compositions of flours milled from four different Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat cultivars (i.e., Pembina, Roblin, McKenzie and Harvest) were investigated and then related to the rheological properties, stickiness, morphology and water mobility of each dough with 2% NaCl. All cultivars showed similar proximate composition, with the exception of the protein content, and were all of high quality with minimal enzymatic activity/degradation. Major differences were noted for flour cultivars with respects to gluten quality and damaged starch level. Pembina and Roblin, which are both known strong dough producing flours, showed a significantly higher gluten index and gluten performance index than both McKenzie and Harvest, which are both known to be intermediate and weak dough producing flours, respectively. However, dough prepared with Pembina was found to have the greatest resistance to extension relative to the other flour cultivars. Pembina was found to have greater amounts of low molecular weight glutenin subunits (insoluble) than Roblin which could account for Pembina’s greater resistance to extension than Roblin. McKenzie and Harvest flours had higher levels of gliadin than Pembina and Roblin, in part accounting for the weaker doughs. McKenzie and Harvest both had significantly higher damaged starch (~7.1%) (i.e., harder kernels) than Pembina and Roblin (~5.7%) which would impact the hydration of gluten proteins and therefore would ultimately impact the formation of the gluten network. Within Chapter 4, the dough rheological properties, stickiness, morphology and water mobility for the four CWRS wheat cultivars were examined as a function of NaCl (0-4%). More specifically the dough rheology was investigated with respect to the oscillatory shear, creep recovery and extensibility. The loss tangent of doughs prepared with Roblin, McKenzie and Harvest flours had similar values and greater than that of dough prepared with Pembina flour. This trend was similar to the strength trend seen in Chapter 3 with the examination of resistance to extension. Rheological data indicated that with increasing NaCl levels doughs prepared with the four cultivars increased in strength. The magnitude of changes in dough strength with different NaCl levels tended to be cultivar specific. For dough stickiness Pembina and Roblin showed the least stickiness when compared to McKenzie and Harvest at the 0 and 2% NaCl levels, with the addition of 2% NaCl decreasing stickiness for all cultivars. However at the 4% NaCl level a greater cultivar effect was observed with regard to stickiness. Water association measurements (i.e., distribution of water as free, associated with starch or associated with gluten) found that with the addition of NaCl there was a decrease in free water among the doughs prepared with the different cultivars and an increase in the water associated with the starch-fraction. Overall, Pembina and Roblin formed stronger gluten networks with lower stickiness than McKenzie and Harvest and NaCl sensitivity was found to be cultivar dependent. Pembina was chosen as a strong/non-sticky dough producing flour and Harvest was chosen as a weak/sticky dough producing flour to move forward to Chapter 5 to investigate the effect of salts from the lyotropic series. Within Chapter 5, the impact of salts from the lyotropic series (NH4Cl, KCl, NaCl, MgCl2, CaCl2, and MgSO4) at the 1 and 2% salt levels on the dough rheology, morphology, stickiness and water mobility of doughs prepared using a CWRS flour producing a strong/non-sticky dough (Pembina) and a flour producing a weak/sticky dough (Harvest), were investigated. Overall, Pembina developed stronger gluten networks than Harvest as determined by a lower loss tangent and reduced amount of deformation during creep recovery. However, the effect of salt-type was dependent on the cultivar. For instance, in the case of Pembina only dough prepared with NH4Cl was found to experience significantly reduced deformation during creep recovery compared to NaCl, whereas all other salt-types were similar. However for Harvest, KCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2 were found to have a weakening effect on the gluten network with respect to the higher deformation experienced when compared to NaCl; whereas NH4Cl and MgSO4 resulted in lower deformation compared to NaCl. Overall Pembina had lower dough stickiness in all cases when compared to Harvest. Dough stickiness saw the greatest decrease for both flour cultivars with the use of NH4Cl. Enhanced dough morphology was noticed for Pembina and Harvest in the presence of NH4Cl. Findings from the rheology and stickiness measurements indicate NH4Cl could serve as a replacement for NaCl in low sodium dough formulations, however future studies are necessary to determine the impact on final loaf quality, consumer acceptability and potential health implications

Regional Investment Policy Under the Impact of Budget Limitations and Economic Sanctions

The article is devoted to the assessment of influence of budgetary restrictions and economic sanctions on investment policy of a region. The paper studies the bilateral negative effect on socio-economic development of regions from both the external sanctions and braking mechanism of economic development within the country. On the basis of the comparative and statistical analysis, the need to change focus of investment policy from the growth in volumes to qualitative perfecting is proved. The new direction of investment policy connected with the import substitution process realization, its combination with acceleration of innovative development on the certain example of Sverdlovsk region is analyzed. The conclusions and offers stated in the article are applicable to the public authorities of subjects of the Russian Federation, experts in the sphere of regional investment policy and improvement of investment climate, and also the specialized organizations specialized in attracting investment and work with investors in regions of Russia

Features of the distribution of the concentration on the mucous stomach of active and inactive forms of helicobacterial infection in patients with chronic non-atrophic gastritis, suffering and not suffering from chronic constipation

The frequency of detection and the degree of colonization of the gastric mucosa by the active and inactive form of Helicobacter pylori infection was analyzed in 50 patients with chronic non-atrophic gastritis, suffering from chronic constipation, and in 50 patients with chronic non-atrophic gastritis, who did not suffer from constipation. In the group of patients suffering from chronic constipation, the frequency of occurrence of the active form of Helicobacter pylori infection in different topographic zones of the stomach ranged from 46% to 56% with an average degree of mucosal seeding from 1.12 ± 0.13 (+) to 1.48 ± 0.13 (+), the frequency of occurrence of an inactive form of Helicobacter pylori infection in different topographic zones of the stomach ranged from 0% to 48% with an average degree of mucosal colonization from 0 ± 0.0 (+) to 1.30 ± 0.13 (+), while while in the group of patients who did not suffer from chronic constipation, the frequency of occurrence of an act distinct Helicobacter pylori infection in different topographic zones of the stomach ranged from 36% to 52% with an average degree of mucosal seeding from 1.02 ± 0.13 (+) to 1.34 ± 0.13 (+), and the frequency of occurrence of the inactive Helicobacter pylori infections in different topographic zones of the stomach ranged from 0% to 58% with an average degree of mucosal seeding from 0 ± 0.0 (+) to 1.56 ± 0.13 (+). In patients of the first group, the frequency of detection of intracellular "depots" of HP infection was 2.3 times higher than in patients of the second group

Дослідження скорингової моделі для кредитопозичальників банку

In the paper we investigate scoring models as a tool for credit risk management, their importance, types, features and applications. We consider the history of scoring models and the development of the modern concepts of creditworthiness and scoring, examine scoring types and their features, methods (logistic regression, decision trees, linear programming, decision trees, and others), strengths and weaknesses of each considered method and stages of building scoring models; we stress the importance of scoring cards for building scoring models, indicate the main quantitative and qualitative features, their classification used for and describe the procedure of creating scoring cards. In the paper we consider the factors needed to be considered for more effective scoring model building process; we indicate the main formulas used to assess the creditworthiness of borrowers and improve the accuracy of scoring models, including Population Stability Index (PSI), R-Square Coefficient, Kolmogorov-Smirnov Coefficient, GINI Coefficient, and others; the practical application of scoring models in banks of Ukraine and their steps after applying scoring models are described on the example of a typical borrower. Pages of the article in the issue: 44 - 53 Language of the article: UkrainianВ роботі досліджено скорингові моделі як інструмент управління кредитними ризиками, їх типи та особливості. Розглянуто поняття кредитоспроможності та скорингу, типи скорингу та їхособливості, методи скорингових моделей (логістична регресія, дерева рішень, лінійне програмування, дерева рішень та інші) та етапи їх побудови. В роботі наведені основні формули, що використовуються для оцінки кредитоспроможності позичальників та підвищення точності скорингових моделей, включаючи індекс стабільності популяції, коефіцієнт R2, коефіцієнт Колмогорова-Смірнова та інші; розглянуто практичне застосування скорингових моделей в банках України на прикладі типового позичальника