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The neglect of physical activity in the education of high-school students (14 - 19 years old) during the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to serious consequences for their physical development and put their health at risk. In order to mitigate the problem with inactivity many countries all over the world use different approaches to sports classes. In cases where attendance is not possible, it is necessary to provide distance learning with maximum efficiency. The aim of the study was to examine the opinion of high-school students on the influence of COVID-19 on their physical activity and to optimize the learning process in physical education and sports under the conditions of distance learning in an electronic environment (DLEE). The study was carried out with 43 respondents who met the criteria of the target group. The survey was administered in two phases. Two questionnaires were completed by the participating students. The analysis of the results shows that in Bulgaria the pandemic does not have a negative influence on the physical activity of high-school students. We assume that the main reasons for this observation are the more liberal measures and the availability of options to use different sports facilities. In perspective, it would be useful to identify contemporary and innovative methods for improvement and monitoring of the activity of high-school students under the conditions of DLEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a thorough theoretical analysis and a summary of the problem we formulated the following aim: to identify the level of emotional intelligence of students specializing in Sport Management as a prerequisite for their professional fulfilment. Methods: The study included 63 participants: men and women in different years of their education at Vassil Levski National Sports Academy and careerpursuing graduates. The Bulgarian adapted version of the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test consisting of 33 questions whose responses are indicated on a 5-point Likert scale was used to achieve the goal of the study. The analysis of the results shows that the overall emotional intelligence and all its factors are significantly higher in men specializing in sport management. Male professionals demonstrate higher motivation for overcoming obstacles, and optimism in solving problems and achieving goals. The positive attitudes and emotions of the graduates determine the significant differences identified with respect to their abilities to "share emotions and empathy", "perceive the nonverbal expression of emotions in others" and "perceive one's own emotions and self-control" in comparison to students who are still in the process of learning. Conclusion: We consider emotional intelligence as a necessary criterion that determines the possibilities for professional fulfilment of sport management students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A health emergency situation occurred in Bulgaria in 2007 when positive rabies cases were notified in Sofia district in the central-western part of the country, suggesting a southward spread of the disease for the first time in the last 10 years. Phylogenetic analysis on 49 isolates sampled between 2009 and 2011 showed, for the first time, evidence of the existence of NEE and D clustered lineages in Bulgaria. Their geographical distribution clearly reveals the permeability of natural barriers, as already suggested by the disease spread that occurred across the Balkan mountain range in 2007. The monitoring and passive surveillance programmes conducted since the first 2009 oral vaccination campaign, the spatio-temporal evolution of the disease in the country since 2007, and the need for further investigation of the role of jackals in virus dispersion are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses research which examined the efficiency of oral vaccination against rabies in foxes in Bulgaria. Topics covered include the measurement of the circulating anti-rabies antibodies, the assessment of the presence of the wild rabies virus in brain samples from various animals and the seroconversion rates in the fox population. Also mentioned is the decline in rabies prevalences since 2009.

The object of research in this paper is the split phase of overhead power lines. The study of the aeroelastic instability of the icy conductors of the split phase for a multi-span system has already been explored using the method of determining the Hurwitz stability criterion. In multi-span systems, where conductors are interconnected through a garland of insulators, the garlands themselves are involved in an oscillatory process. As a result of this, mutual influence of adjacent spans is observed energy is transferred from one span to another. The paper investigates the aeroelastic instability of the icy conductors of the split phase in the anchor span, which is characterized by two intrinsic features: the attachment point of conductors on the supports is fixed and mutual effects between adjacent spans are not observed. The study of motion instability is carried out by the first approximation method, that is, on the basis of linearization of the nonlinear equation at the equilibrium point and further investigation of the linearized equation in the vicinity of this point. The results of the study are based on the novelty of the carried out experiments - taking into account the peculiarities of the anchor span and the findings based on the analysis of empirical data.

This paper gives an overview and comparative characteristics of the main rotors available today, with properties suitable for the climatic conditions of Almaty and Almaty region, along with their critical mode of operation. A number of studies is carried out analysing the intrinsic features and capabilities of rotors, through which the problem of choosing an optimal rotor model for the subsequent design of a wind generator control unit is solved. One of these studies is a computer simulation of the main existing rotors operating in the same climatic conditions. The selected model must fully comply with the given environmental conditions of the selected area, in which the maximum wind speed and its critical value are set for all the studied rotor models. Thanks to the comparative studies on the technical characteristics of the most commonly used rotors, as well as to the modelling results, conclusions are drawn for the most effective and optimal choice to be employed in the design of a wind generator for the climatic conditions of the Almaty region.

Abstract Background The mechanism by which duplicate genes originate – whether by duplication of a whole genome or of a genomic segment – influences their genetic fates. To study events that trigger duplicate gene persistence after whole genome duplication in vertebrates, we have analyzed molecular evolution and expression of hundreds of persistent duplicate gene pairs in allopolyploid clawed frogs (Xenopus and Silurana). We collected comparative data that allowed us to tease apart the molecular events that occurred soon after duplication from those that occurred later on. We also quantified expression profile divergence of hundreds of paralogs during development and in different tissues. Results Our analyses indicate that persistent duplicates generated by allopolyploidization are subjected to strong purifying selection soon after duplication. The level of purifying selection is relaxed compared to a singleton ortholog, but not significantly variable over a period spanning about 40 million years. Despite persistent functional constraints, however, analysis of paralogous expression profiles indicates that quantitative aspects of their expression diverged substantially during this period. Conclusion These results offer clues into how vertebrate transcriptomes are sculpted in the wake of whole genome duplication (WGD), such as those that occurred in our early ancestors. That functional constraints were relaxed relative to a singleton ortholog but not significantly different in the early compared to the later stage of duplicate gene evolution suggests that the timescale for a return to pre-duplication levels is drawn out over tens of millions of years – beyond the age of these tetraploid species. Quantitative expression divergence can occur soon after WGD and with a magnitude that is not correlated with the rate of protein sequence divergence. On a coarse scale, quantitative expression divergence appears to be more prevalent than spatial and temporal expression divergence, and also faster or more frequent than other processes that operate at the protein level, such as some types of neofunctionalization.

Purpose: This study investigates the interplay between strategic goals and calculative practices, specifically Customer Profitability Analysis (CPA). Drawing on practice-based theories, the research aims to understand how managers strategize with CPA, including the balancing of financial and strategic objectives and the interplay of institutionalized practices with individual practitioners' actions., Design: The study uses a qualitative, revelatory, and exploratory case study approach at the sub-organizational level in a manufacturing company. The researchers compare CPA practices across six departments, guided by a phenomenological research design. Data collection methods include informal conversations, qualitative observations, written documentation, numerical evidence from the accounting system, and interviews., Findings: The study offers four novel findings to the field. First, it highlights how managers employ procedural and interactive strategizing to reframe CPA practices. The sophistication of CPA practices increases with unevenly distributed customer volume, high customer-specific, controllable overhead, customer-to-customer interaction, and service complexity. Conversely, the sophistication of cost-focused CPA practices tends to decrease with diverse strategic goals. Additionally, CPA become more effective through the utilization of non-financial information, employee empowerment, localization, and strategic alignment. Second, CPA can be adapted through integrative strategizing where managers avoid using it as a financial benchmark for strategic initiatives. Third, accountants actively seek intermediary roles to incorporate arguments from strategy and marketing to balance strategic objectives-contrary to their portrayal as myopic guardians of profitability. Fourth, the localization of CPA practices to front-line employees compensates for a lack of sophisticated CPA practices., Future Research: Future research should, investigate the adaptation of calculative practices in different cultures, and industries. Exploring additional contextual factors such as uncertainty, management characteristics, and linguistic framing of practices would be beneficial. Examining the interactions in utilizing CPA practices between front-line staff and customers would shed light on their effectiveness. Lastly, investigating the role of consultants in diffusing such practices would offer valuable perspectives., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Lueg, Ilieva. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Valorization of high-volume mine tailings could be achieved by the development of new geopolymers with a low CO 2 footprint. Materials rich in aluminum and silicon with appropriate solubility in an alkaline medium can be used to obtain a geopolymer. This paper presents a study of copper mine tailings from Bulgaria as precursors for geopolymers. Particle size distribution, chemical and mineralogical composition, as well as alkaline reactivity, acidity and electroconductivity of aqueous slurry are studied. The heavy metal content and their mobility are studied by leaching tests. Sequential extraction was applied to determine the geochemical phase distribution of heavy metals. The studied samples were characterized by high alkalinity, which could favor the geopolymerization process. The water-soluble sulphates were less than 4%. The Si/Al ratio in mine tailing was found to be 3. The alkaline reactivity depended more so on the time of extraction than on the concentration of NaOH solution. The main part of the heavy metals was found in the residual fraction; hence, in high alkaline medium during the geopolymerization process, they will stay fixed. Thus, the obtained geopolymers could be expected to exert low environmental impact. The presented results revealed that studied copper mine tailing is a suitable precursor for geopolymerization.

Rabies caused by the Classical Rabies Virus (Lyssavirus rabies abbreviated RABV) in the European Union has been close to elimination mainly thanks to Oral Rabies Vaccination (ORV) campaigns targeting wildlife (primarily red foxes). ORV programmes co-financed by the European Commission include a monitoring-component to assess the effectiveness of the ORV campaigns at national level. This assessment is performed by a random collection of red foxes in the vaccinated areas with control of antibodies presence by serological analysis and control of bait uptake by detection of biomarkers (tetracycline incorporated into the baits) in the bones and teeth. ORV programmes aim to a vaccine coverage high enough to immunize (ideally) 70 % of the reservoir population to control the spread of the disease. European Union (EU) programmes that led to almost elimination of rabies on the territory have been traditionally found to have a bait uptake average of 70 % (EU countries; 2010-2020 period) while the seroconversion data showed an average level of 40 % (EU countries; 2010-2020 period). To better understand variations of these indicators, a study was been set up to evaluate the impact of several variables (linked to the vaccination programme itself and linked to environmental conditions) on the bait uptake and the seroconversion rate. Thus, pooling data from several countries provides more powerful statistics and the highest probability of detecting trends. Results of this study advocate the use of a single serological test across the EU since data variation due to the type of test used was higher than variations due to field factors, making the interpretation of monitoring results at EU level challenging. In addition, the results indicates a negative correlation between bait uptake and maximum temperatures reached during ORV campaigns questioning the potential impact of climatic change and associated increase of temperatures on the ORV programmes efficiency. Several hypotheses requesting additional investigation are drawn and discussed in this paper., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Emmanuelle Robardet reports financial support was provided by European Commission., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Rabies, a worldwide zoonosis, remains a public-health concern despite oral wildlife vaccination in Europe. After a ten-year break, Macedonia reported eight rabies cases in 2011-2012. Two countries (Serbia and Bulgaria) bordering Macedonia are reporting cases in domestic and wild animals. This report describes the genetic characterisation of eight isolates from Macedonia compared with representative samples from neighbouring countries. All of the isolates tested belong to the Eastern European group, with a high degree of nucleotide sequence identity in the nucleoprotein gene. The close genetic relationship between isolates from the three bordering countries suggests that wildlife is responsible for rabies movements in the region.

Respiratory viral infections have been associated with an increased incidence of allergic asthma. However, the mechanisms by which respiratory infections facilitate allergic airway disease are incompletely understood. We previously showed that exposure to a low dose of house dust mite (HDM) resulted in enhanced HDM-mediated allergic airway inflammation, and, importantly, marked airway hyperreactivity only when allergen exposure occurred during an acute influenza A infection. In this study, we evaluated the impact of concurrent influenza infection and allergen exposure at the genomic level, using whole-genome microarray. Our data showed that, in contrast to exposure to a low dose of HDM, influenza A infection led to a dramatic increase in gene expression, particularly of TLRs, C-type lectin receptors, several complement components, as well as FcεR1. Additionally, we observed increased expression of a number of genes encoding chemokines and cytokines associated with the recruitment of proinflammatory cells. Moreover, HDM exposure in the context of an influenza A infection resulted in the induction of unique genes, including calgranulin A (S100a8), an endogenous damage-associated molecular pattern and TLR4 agonist. In addition, we observed significantly increased expression of serum amyloid A (Saa3) and serine protease inhibitor 3n (Serpina3n). This study showed that influenza infection markedly increased the expression of multiple gene classes capable of sensing allergens and amplifying the ensuing immune-inflammatory response. We propose that influenza A infection primes the lung environment in such a way as to lower the threshold of allergen responsiveness, thus facilitating the emergence of a clinically significant allergic phenotype.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that human breast cancer is sustained by a minor subpopulation of breast tumor-initiating cells (BTIC), which confer resistance to anticancer therapies and consequently must be eradicated to achieve durable breast cancer cure., Methods/findings: To identify signaling pathways that might be targeted to eliminate BTIC, while sparing their normal stem and progenitor cell counterparts, we performed global gene expression profiling of BTIC- and mammary epithelial stem/progenitor cell- enriched cultures derived from mouse mammary tumors and mammary glands, respectively. Such analyses suggested a role for the Wnt/Beta-catenin signaling pathway in maintaining the viability and or sustaining the self-renewal of BTICs in vitro. To determine whether the Wnt/Beta-catenin pathway played a role in BTIC processes we employed a chemical genomics approach. We found that pharmacological inhibitors of Wnt/β-catenin signaling inhibited sphere- and colony-formation by primary breast tumor cells and primary mammary epithelial cells, as well as by tumorsphere- and mammosphere-derived cells. Serial assays of self-renewal in vitro revealed that the Wnt/Beta-catenin signaling inhibitor PKF118-310 irreversibly affected BTIC, whereas it functioned reversibly to suspend the self-renewal of mammary epithelial stem/progenitor cells. Incubation of primary tumor cells in vitro with PKF118-310 eliminated their capacity to subsequently seed tumor growth after transplant into syngeneic mice. Administration of PKF118-310 to tumor-bearing mice halted tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, viable tumor cells harvested from PKF118-310 treated mice were unable to seed the growth of secondary tumors after transplant., Conclusions: These studies demonstrate that inhibitors of Wnt/β-catenin signaling eradicated BTIC in vitro and in vivo and provide a compelling rationale for developing such antagonists for breast cancer therapy.