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The relevance of the study is due to the fact that digital transformation of vocational education requires revision and elaboration of digital educational technologies psychodidactics, particularly in adult learning. The purpose of the study is to determine the psychodynamic features of digital technologies for professional development of adult personality within the framework of additional vocational education. The main objectives of the study contributed to the goal achievement: to analyze the scientific and practical literature on the research issue; to identify the psychodynamic features of digital technologies in adult learning; to determine the relationship of digital technologies of vocational learning and self-development of adult personality on the basis of integration of digital didactics, andragogy, and psychodynamic. Research methods are theoretical and system-logical analysis of digital technologies for adult personality development, practical analysis and synthesis, and results generalization method. The novelty of the study lies in the fact that the promising digital technologies for professional development of a modern worker’s personality and their distinctive features (target orientation, reliability, and openness), contributing to personal and professional development of adults and psychodidactic transformation of the digital educational environment of additional vocational education, have been identified. The literature on the issues of psychodidactics of vocational education, digital didactics, and psychodidactics, and on the issues of digital technologies application in training and development of adult learners has been analyzed. The peculiarities of open Internet resources that allow to determine the educational potential of digital technologies have been revealed. Psychodidactic elements of digital technologies for professional development of adult personality have been revealed. The system-structural interrelationships of digital and traditional educational technologies for professional learning and self-development of adult personality have been determined.

Aim. To determine the peculiarities of enzymatic and glutathione link of antioxidant protection of the liver of rats of different age in case of experimental cranioskeletal injury. Materials and methods. Cranioskeletal trauma (CST) was modelled in rats of three age groups (sexually immature, sexually mature, old) under thiopental sodium anesthesia. Rats were removed from the experiment under anesthesia after 3 and 7 days of the post-traumatic period. Superoxide dismutase and catalase activity, as well as glutathione peroxidase (GP) and glutathione reductase (GR) activity and the content of reduced glutathione were determined in the liver homogenate extract. Results. It was identified that, regardless of age, under the influence of CST, after 3 and 7 days of the post-traumatic period, in the liver of experimental rats, indicated parameters of enzymatic and glutathione link of antioxidant protection significantly decrease. However, the degree of decrease of the studied indicators is significantly greater in old rats, in particular after 7 days: according to catalase activity – on 30.8 % compared to sexually immature rats and on 27.0 % compared to sexually mature rats; according to glutathione peroxidase activity – on 31.6 % compared to sexually immature rats and on 23.5 % compared to sexually mature rats; according to glutathione reductase activity – on 22.0 % compared to sexually mature rats. The obtained results indicate a systemic pro-oxidant effect of the modelled injury on organs which are distant from the site of direct injury, as well as a decrease in the antioxidant capacity of the liver of rats with increasing age. Conclusions. Under the influence of CST, the activity of the enzyme and glutathione link of antioxidant protection of the liver gradually decreases after 3 and 7 days in experimental rats, regardless of age. Under the conditions of CST modeling, the antioxidant capacity of the liver of old rats is lower than that of sexually mature and immature rats.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a serious acute, highly contagious disease caused by the peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV). This study aims to establish a qRT-PCR assay with an internal amplification control for the rapid and accurate detection of PPRV. The primers and probes for PPRV N were based on the national standard of the diagnostic techniques for PPR of China, and a pair of primers and TaqMan probes for the internal reference gene of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was designed. Optimisation of the reaction conditions, specificity, sensitivity and reproducibility tests, and clinical sample detection were conducted. The results showed that the optimal primers and probe concentrations of PPRV were 0.4 μmol/l and 0.4 μmol/l, respectively, and were 0.4 μmol/l and 0.2 μmol/l for the reference gene GAPDH, respectively. The established method has no cross-reaction with other viruses. The minimum detection limit was 6.8 copies/µl for PPRV and 190 copies/µl for GAPDH. The coefficients of variation (CV%) of PPRV and GAPDH were both lower than 2%. The results suggest that the PPRV qRT-PCR method containing internal reference genes has strong specificity, high sensitivity, and good reproducibility. The addition of internal reference genes for the sample quality control improves the accuracy of the detection.

On the eve of the First Russia-Africa Summit in the fall of 2019, the Russian infospace for the first time started talking about new opportunities for Africa. The African theme became increasingly important with the start of the special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, the subsequent adoption of the new Concept of Russian Foreign Policy of 2023 and the actualization of Russia's contacts with the so-called Global South. Contemporary Africa is not a continent of threats, as was commonly said a decade ago, but of opportunities. The very identity of more and more states on the African continent is growing. Many of them continue to build their capacities at the expense of their rapidly growing young populations. At the same time, against the backdrop of the emerging global scramble for Africa's raw materials and new attempts at resource colonization and fragmentation, the continent needs honest partners focused on a pragmatic but mutually beneficial approach. In this context, Russia actively advocates strengthening the sovereignty and development of the national economies of the continent, using the "two-way street" concept. The Russia-Africa Summits (in 2019 and 2023) marked a new milestone in Russia-Africa relations and led to concrete practical results: the establishment of new contacts and the strengthening of trust and mutual interest of representatives of political, business, scientific and cultural circles.These and other topics were discussed by Lora Chkoniya, Junior Research Fellow (Institute for International Studies, MGIMO University), and Dr Irina Abramova, Director of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Full Member of the RAS.

Large hail events are typically infrequent, with significant time gaps between occurrences at specific locations. However, when these events do happen, they can cause rapid and substantial economic losses within a matter of minutes. Therefore, it is crucial to have the ability to accurately observe and understand hail phenomena to improve the mitigation of this impact. While in situ observations are accurate, they are limited in number for an individual storm. Weather radars, on the other hand, provide a larger observation footprint, but current radar-derived hail size estimates exhibit low accuracy due to horizontal advection of hailstones as they fall, the variability of hail size distributions (HSDs), complex scattering and attenuation, and mixed hydrometeor types. In this paper, we propose a new radar-derived hail product developed using a large dataset of hail damage insurance claims and radar observations. We use these datasets coupled with environmental information to calculate a hail damage estimate (HDE) using a deep neural network approach aiming to quantify hail impact, with a critical success index of 0.88 and a coefficient of determination against observed damage of 0.79. Furthermore, we compared HDE to a popular hail size product (MESH), allowing us to identify meteorological conditions that are associated with biases on MESH. Environments with relatively low specific humidity, high CAPE and CIN, low wind speeds aloft, and southerly winds at the ground are associated with a negative MESH bias, potentially due to differences in HSD, hail hardness, or mixed hydrometeors. In contrast, environments with low CAPE, high CIN, and relatively high specific humidity aloft are associated with a positive MESH bias.

The aim of the work is to assess the effectiveness of prescribing a fixed-dose combination of amlodipine with the ACE inhibitor lisinopril or with the angiotensin 2 receptor blocker valsartan in patients with coronary artery disease, acute coronary syndrome with hypertensive disease regarding the impact on the structural and functional parameters of the heart and extracranial branches of the brachiocephalic arteries. Materials and methods. General clinical examination of 108 patients with postinfarction cardiosclerosis and hypertension was done within 12 months. The patients were allocated to two groups. Patients in the first group (n = 50) were assigned a fixed-dose combination of lisinopril and amlodipine (20 mg and 5 mg, respectively), and patients in the second group (n = 58) received a fixed-dose combination of valsartan with amlodipine (160 mg and 5 mg, respectively). The patients were monitored for 12 months, including general clinical examinations, measurements of office blood pressure (BP), 24-hour BP monitoring, echo-dopplerographic examination of the heart and brachiocephalic arteries, determination of the composite endpoint. Statistical analysis of the obtained data was performed using Microsoft Excel, IBM SPSS Statistics v.23. Results. A significant difference in echocardiographic data has been proved (p < 0.05) regarding left ventricle (LV) dimensions in both study groups. A significant decrease in the E/A ratio and an insignificant decrease in E/E’ (p > 0.05) have been found in the first group. When analyzing the indicators of diastolic function in the second group, a highly significant (p < 0.05) decrease in E/A, E/E’, IO of the LA has been revealed; data analysis on the morphofunctional state indicators of the extracranial arteries has shown a CIM reduction and a decrease in PSV and RI. Conclusions. Prescriptions of the fixed-dose combination of amlodipine with the ACE inhibitor lisinopril was more effective in terms of the LV measurements (p < 0.05) and LV diastolic function as evidenced by decreased E/A, E/E’ and IO of the LA (p < 0.05) as compared to the data in the group of amlodipine with the angiotensin 2 receptor blocker valsartan. Both fixed-dose combinations were effective in reducing the CIM thickness, decreasing PSV and RI when analyzing the morphofunctional state findings of the extracranial arteries.

The article is devoted to determining the structure of the forensic characteristics of crimes under Article 200 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine “Illegal actions with the documents for transfer, payment cards and other means of access to bank accounts, electronic money, equipment for their production”. The theoretical foundations of developing forensic characteristics of a particular type of crime have been analysed and the grounds for forming its structure have been highlighted. These grounds include criminal law elements of a crime, a list of circumstances to be proved in criminal proceedings, and elements of the mechanism of committing illegal actions with payment instruments. Significant elements for the forensic methodology of the criminal law characteristics of the crime under investigation are its subject matter, method of commission and subjective features. Among the elements of the subject matter of proof, the most important are also the object, method and identity of the offender, as well as the time, place and other circumstances of the crime. In turn, the mechanism of illegal actions with payment instruments determines the need to study these elements in their broadest sense, i.e., taking into account all stages of criminal activity (preparation, direct commission and concealment), means and conditions of its implementation. Based on the analysis of the above theoretical foundations for the formation of a forensic characteristic of this type of crime, the author identifies the following elements which should be included in its structure: the subject matter of the crime; the method of the crime and its links with other criminal offences; typical traces (trace pattern); the setting (conditions) of the crime; and the identity of the perpetrator. This structure is the most optimal one, allowing for a comprehensive analysis of the typical features of the crime mechanism and building its qualitative information model as the basis for further development of the relevant separate forensic methodology.

The use of haloperidol in pain management has been a topic of interest for several decades. Haloperidol is a widely used antipsychotic medication with unique pharmacologic properties that make it a potential candidate for pain management. However, the efficacy and safety of haloperidol for pain management remain controversial. This narrative review provides a summary of the current literature on the use of haloperidol for pain management, including its pharmacology, clinical effectiveness, adverse effects, and dosing regimens. We performed a comprehensive search of the literature for this review. The most robust clinical data from the past decade suggest that haloperidol has good efficacy in the treatment of pain related to gastroparesis and migraines and has shown promise for opioid use reduction in patients with chronic pain or receiving palliative care. The overall side effect profile is excellent, with zero reported events of QT-related cardiac arrest and minimal reports of sedation and transient extrapyramidal effects such as akathisia. Dosing regimens used were heterogeneous, with most ranging from 1 to 5 mg per dose via intravenous, intramuscular, or oral route. Studies with designs that isolated the effects of haloperidol from combinations of other drugs were extremely limited. Further high-quality prospective studies are needed to determine the ideal role of haloperidol in the routine clinical management of painful conditions.

Abstract Biophysical cohesion, introduced predominantly by Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS) during mineral flocculation in subaqueous environments, plays important role in morphodynamics, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem processes. However, the mechanism of how EPS functioning with cohesive particles and affects settling behaviors remain poorly understood. We measure initial flocculation rate, floc size and settling velocity of mineral and artificial EPS (Xanthan gum) mixtures. Combining results from these and previous studies demonstrate coherent intensification of EPS-related flocculation compare with those of pure mineral and oil-mineral mixtures. Importantly, the presence of EPS fundamentally changes floc structure and reduces variability of settling velocity. Measured data shows that ratios of microfloc and macrofloc settling velocity for pure mineral flocs is 3.9 but greatly reduced to a lowest value of 1.6 due to biological EPS addition. The low variability of settling velocity due to EPS participation explains the seemingly inconsistent results previously observed between field and laboratory studies.

Functionalization of a macroporous elastic-like recombinamer hydrogel with synthetic glycosaminoglycans enables controlled binding and release of growth factors for blood vessel formation with reduced immune response in a subcutaneous mouse model.

Abstract Background Older people receive care from multiple providers which often results in a lack of coordination. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled value-based methodology for integrated care (ValueCare) project aims to develop and implement efficient outcome-based, integrated health and social care for older people with multimorbidity, and/or frailty, and/or mild to moderate cognitive impairment in seven sites (Athens, Greece; Coimbra, Portugal; Cork/Kerry, Ireland; Rijeka, Croatia; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Treviso, Italy; and Valencia, Spain). We will evaluate the implementation and the outcomes of the ValueCare approach. This paper presents the study protocol of the ValueCare project; a protocol for a pre-post controlled study in seven large-scale sites in Europe over the period between 2021 and 2023. Methods A pre-post controlled study design including three time points (baseline, post-intervention after 12 months, and follow-up after 18 months) and two groups (intervention and control group) will be utilised. In each site, (net) 240 older people (120 in the intervention group and 120 in the control group), 50–70 informal caregivers (e.g. relatives, friends), and 30–40 health and social care practitioners will be invited to participate and provide informed consent. Self-reported outcomes will be measured in multiple domains; for older people: health, wellbeing, quality of life, lifestyle behaviour, and health and social care use; for informal caregivers and health and social care practitioners: wellbeing, perceived burden and (job) satisfaction. In addition, implementation outcomes will be measured in terms of acceptability, appropriateness, feasibility, fidelity, and costs. To evaluate differences in outcomes between the intervention and control group (multilevel) logistic and linear regression analyses will be used. Qualitative analysis will be performed on the focus group data. Discussion This study will provide new insights into the feasibility and effectiveness of a value-based methodology for integrated care supported by ICT for older people, their informal caregivers, and health and social care practitioners in seven different European settings. Trial registration ISRCTN registry number is 25089186 . Date of trial registration is 16/11/2021.

The main infectious agent that causes contamination of poultry products are bacteria of the genus Salmonella. The article presents the results of monitoring studies on salmonellosis among poultry of different technological direction of poultry farms of all forms of ownership in Ukraine. In the analysis of the results of the incidence of salmonellosis in poultry used Reports on the work of state laboratories of veterinary medicine of the State Food and Consumer Services of Ukraine for 2012–2021. Data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine were also used during the work on the article. It was found that for the period 2012–2021, the total number of samples tested for salmonellosis was 306466, of which 932 were positive, which was 0.3 %. It is established that the number of studies in certain years differs greatly in number. After all, the peak number of studies fell on 2012 (51985 samples), but in 2020 it was only 25.796 samples or 49.6 % to the peak level of studies. The highest percentage of pathogen isolation was observed in the period from 2013 to 2015, respectively 0.39, 0.48 % and 0.38 %. In 2016–2018, there was a decrease in the number of positive samples, respectively, the number of positive samples was 0.24–0.33 %, the lowest percentage in 2019–2021, the number of positive samples was minimal and amounted to 0.05 %, 0.22 % and 0.13 %. Thus, there is a clear trend of decreasing the amount of pathogen. The largest number of positive samples of biological material for salmonellosis in the period 2012–2021 was found in Sumy and Luhansk regions, 156 and 186 samples, respectively. Slightly fewer positive samples were found in Kharkiv (117), Kirovohrad (79), Cherkasy (71), Zaporizhia (51), Donetsk (45), Kyiv (30) and Zhytomyr (30) regions. The pathogen Salmonella spp. in Zakarpattia, Rivne and Chernivtsi regions.

The methodological and methodical foundations of enhancement of statistical assessment on the progress in achieving sustainable agricultural development and its environmental consequences requires an integrated statistical approach. Thanks to statistical analysis and evaluation it is possible to obtain a complete picture of the functioning of such a complex and dynamic system, develop means of influencing the totality of agricultural relations in order to reduce harmful effects on the environment and eliminate the negative environmental consequences of agricultural activities. The article assesses the progress in achieving the targets for the sustainable development of agriculture in Ukraine with the help of indicators that ensure the filfillment of the objectives set. The quality of the available information support of monitoring is analyzed. In accordance with the given national targets by 2030, the actual reach of individual indicators that guarantee the implementation of the outlined objectives and targets for sustainable agricultural production was assessed.. It is noted that the main national indicators used to determine the implementation of the task are the indicators of the availability of a balanced diet at the level of reasonable standards for certain segments of the population. It is stated that the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) form a wide range of economic, social and environmental challenges. Although global SDGs are not legally binding, countries take them into account and develop national measures to achieve them. It is noted that not all global indicators of SDG were relevant for Ukraine as for a number of indicators there are gaps in data sources, their metadata and information support for their monitoring. It is stated that during the process of introduction of national indicators the priority was given to the data that are produced on an ongoing basis within the framework of official statistics using approved methodologies and classifiers. In order to identify potential sources of the data to better reflect the sustainable development of agriculture, a comparative evaluation of global and national indicators, the achievement of which will ensure the implementation of the SDG was conducted.

Vaccine coverage is below desired levels in Canada, despite National Advisory Committee on Immunization recommendations. One solution to improve coverage is to offer vaccines in pharmacies. We explore the awareness, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the general public in four communities in Nova Scotia (NS) and New Brunswick (NB) about the changing role of pharmacists as immunizers. Adult members of the public were invited to complete an online survey through advertisements in print and online, and through e-mail lists at local universities. Immunization status among participants (n = 985) varied across vaccines with slightly more than one-half of the participants (51.8%) reporting receipt of a seasonal influenza vaccine last year, 38.0% reporting receipt of the meningococcal C or ACWY vaccine, and 77.7% reporting receipt of the pertussis vaccine. Despite variable self-reported receipt of vaccines, the pervasive belief that participants were not at risk of getting vaccine-preventable diseases, and a lack of awareness about which vaccines are recommended for adults, participants in this study held vaccine-positive beliefs. Participants, especially those who had previously been vaccinated in a pharmacy (39.0%), were supportive of the inclusion of pharmacists as immunizers although nearly one-half of the participants would feel more comfortable getting vaccinated by a pharmacist if another practitioner recommended it to them. While cost threatens to be a barrier to pharmacists as immunizers, this study suggests that they are well-positioned to improve vaccine coverage and to communicate recommendations and other vaccine-related information to the public.

Hyperprolactinemia (HP) is a persistent increase in serum prolactin levels, the most typical manifestation of which is a dysfunction of the reproductive system. Pregnant women with HP have a high incidence of perinatal complications; thus, the threat of self-abortion in these women is more than 48.4 %, and in 16.1 % of pregnant women it ends in premature birth. These patients often develop placental abnormalities that lead to fetal distress during pregnancy and childbirth. The aim: to investigate the morphological and immunohistochemical changes in the placental barrier, taking into account the expression of prolactin in postpartum women with a history of hyperprolactininemia. Materials and methods. In 30 puerperas with a history of endocrine infertility associated with hyperprolactinemia (group 1) and in 27 healthy puerperas without hyperprolactinemia and infertility (control group 2), the morphological features of the placentas were studied in the gestational period of 39–40 weeks using organometric, macroscopic, histological and immunohistochemical (IHC) methods. IHC studies were carried out on serial paraffin sections in accordance with standard protocols using monoclonal antibodies to prolactin (Rabbit a-Нu Prolactin Monoclonal Antibody (Clone EP 193) master diagnostica (Spain) and detection system Thermo scientific (USA). Results. The placenta weight of women in labor with hyperprolactinemia did not differ significantly from the weight of the placenta of women in labor without hyperprolactinemia. In 22 (73.3 %) postpartum women with hyperprolactinemia in the placenta, paracentral attachment of the umbilical cord took place, in 4 (13.3 %) patients malformation of the umbilical cord vessels was detected, in 7 (23.3 %) postpartum women significant stenosis and closure of the arterial lumen vessels of the umbilical cord were found. Histological examination of women in labor with hyperprolactinemia identified focal thickening of the decidua with the presence of significant fibrinoid masses (n = 18, 60 %), microbleeds and thinning of the decidua (n = 8, 26.6 % of women in labor). A number of observations revealed the presence of maternal internal infarctions with perivillous fibrin deposition, in 12 (40 %) postpartum women, the presence of fibrinoid-embedded villi with the replacement of the villus epithelium with fibrinoid masses was noted, in 15 (50 %) women fibrosis and collagenization of the stem and middle chorionic villi, fibrosis of small villi and avascular small villi was observed in 12 (40 %) postpartum women. In some observations, a decrease in the number of syncytial nodes and syncytiocapillary membranes was noted in the terminal villi. IHC study of the placenta of postpartum women with hyperprolactinemia in the gestational period of 39–40 weeks revealed multiple foci of decidual cells with overexpression of prolactin in the cytoplasm. Conclusions. Morphological changes in the placenta of postpartum women with hyperprolactinemia in anamnesis differ from changes in the placenta of women without hyperprolactinemia by the presence of focal vascular changes in the decidual membrane with its partial detachment and internal infarctions in the maternal part of the placenta, as well as by the presence of signs of partial perfusion disorders of the fetal foci placenta. In the placenta of women with hyperprolactinemia, immunohistochemical study revealed a long-term focal significant cytoplasmic expression of prolactin in the cells of the decidual membrane, which indicates disorders of prolactin synthesis in the body and discoordination in the work of the endocrine system of women.

A system analysis of the core threats to the budgetary security of the state shows that the current performance of the budgetary system in Ukraine was formed under the pressure of destructive external and internal risks aggravating the budgetary security problem. The article’s objective is to deepen theoretical and methodological foundations for the assessment of core threats to the budgetary security of the state. It is demonstrated that the occurrence of external and internal threats to the budgetary security is characterized by the following tendencies: high level of GDP redistribution through the budgetary system; the growing figures of the total public debt, the government guaranteed debt and the payments to service and repayment of the public debt in Ukraine; the persisting high deficit of the public budget; high level of centralization of the budgetary funds. It is substantiated that the execution of budget revenues involves two main dimensions of risk activities, which are the threats related with the proceeding of taxes and other categories of obligatory payments to the budget, and the administrative threats stemming from the existing system of tax administering. The impact of the first group of threats can be minimized by building up a rational budgetary system with the optimal level of fiscal burden. Minimization of the impact from the second group of threats will enable for the effective work of government bodies charged with administering and control. The factors that cause risks and threats of budget losses resulting from failures in the budget revenues administration system are determined: risks which occurrence will result in the budget revenues never reaching the expected levels due to the inefficiency of forecasting and planning of budget revenues and failures in the routine operation process, first and foremost when mobilizing payments to the budget; risks of the excessive costs with the occurrence of which the costs for guaranteeing the projected figures of budget revenues by revenue category will exceed the economically viable ones; risks of the violation of the law, and risks of budget revenues administering per se.

Introduction. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the main chronic inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system that causes functional disability in people. Assessment of the state of the immune system begins with an analysis of the total number of blood leukocytes and their population composition (the number of neutrophils and lymphocytes). The ratio of neutrophils and lymphocytes (NRL) is a marker of inflammation.The aim of the study. The aim of this study was to investigate the WBC and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with different forms of MS. Results. In patients with MS in 23.5% of cases the WBC is higher than 9×109/L. In 5.9% of МS cases leukopenia is observed, and in the vast majority of cases (70, 6%) the level of blood leukocytes was in the range of 4-9×109/L. Leukopenia and leukocytosis are more common in women than in men (pConclusions. NRL is an inexpensive and affordable indicator, which is determined by the automatic determination of the total number of leukocytes in the blood. It can be an additional informative indicator of inflammation against the background of normal leukocyte levels.

Most of the lunar surface area has been observed from different viewing conditions thanks to the on-orbit work of lunar orbiters, a large amount of images are available for photogrammetric three-dimensional mapping, which is an important issue for lunar exploration. Theoretically, multi-view images contain more information than a single stereo pair and can get better 3D mapping results. In this paper, the semi-global matching method is applied to the object space, and the steps of cost calculation, cost aggregation, and elevation calculation are performed to obtain the three-dimensional coordinates directly. Compared with the traditional image-based semi-global matching method, the object-based semi-global method is more easily extended to multi-view images, which is beneficial for applying multi-view image information. In addition, it does not require steps such as stereo rectification and forward intersection, that is, the overall pipeline is more elegant. Using the LRO NAC images covering Apollo 11 landing area as the experimental data, the result shows that the object-based semi-global matching is competent for the multi-view image matching and the multi-view image result achieves higher accuracy and more details than the single stereo pair. Furthermore, the experimental results of Zhinyu crater data show that this method can also alleviate the uncertainty of the lunar orbiter's positioning to some extent.

During many decades, rabies remained endemic on the territory of Ukraine. In certain historical periods, the epizootic process of rabies developed with the alternate inclusion of different species of animals as a source and a reservoir of the virus which are of great interest to many scientists. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to conduct an analysis of rabies epidemiology on the territory of Ukraine from 1950 to 2019 based on collected reliable archival data. Collected archival data have shown that over the past 70 years sources of rabies infection varied from domestic to wild carnivorous and vice versa with three major epizootic peaks. The first and the highest peak in the entire study period was recorded in 1951 (3 724 cases) and was caused by the spread of the rabies virus solely through dogs. The second peak with lower number of cases was recorded in 1979 (1 594 cases) when the dominant role in the spread of rabies virus turned to foxes. Finally, the third peak in 2007 (2 932 cases) was triggered by the combination of animals (foxes, dogs, and cats) as the source of the pathogen. Considering significant peaks and downturns and the varying degrees of involvement of domestic and wild animals in spreading of the pathogen, we have identified five historically important stages in the development of the epizootic process: the stage of «urban» or «dog» rabies (1950–1959), relative stability (1960–1969), «sylvatic» or «fox» rabies (1970–1990), relative safety (1991–1999), and expansion (2000–2019). At the stage of «urban» rabies dogs played a significant role as a source and a reservoir of the virus. In the epizootic aspect, dogs made up 54.3 % of all rabies cases, while cats and wild animals (wolves, raccoon dogs, foxes, raccoons, martens, and lynxes) – 1.58 % and only 0.05 % respectively. Domestic animals (cattle, pigs, horses, goats, etc.) made up the rest 44.07 %, but they were «victims» and did not contribute to the further spread of the virus. Moreover, in 89 % of cases dogs were a source of rabies for humans. The stage of «relative stability» was marked by decline of epizootics throughout Ukraine and decrease in the number of deaths to 140 per year. «Sylvatic» or «fox» rabies stage was characterized by the involvement in the epizootic process of a new species of animals – the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). During this stage the proportion of wild animals in the total number of cases was 33.9 %, cats – 17.7 %, and dogs – 12 %. In 46.5 % of cases foxes were the main source of rabies for humans, while cats and dogs in 34.2 % and 11.8 % of cases respectively. The stage of «relative safety» was marked by the repeated prolonged decline of epizootics and the increasing role of dogs and cats in the epizootic process. The last stage of the expansion took place against the background of the increasing population size and proportion of rabies cases among domestic carnivores (up to 44.6 %) and foxes (up to 36.5 %), which contributed to the widest distribution of the virus, and remains a significant problem nowadays. While in the period of «urban rabies» vaccination of dogs together with the regulation of their population allowed to reduce the number of rabies cases by 26 times in 15 years, nowadays regulation of fox and domestic carnivores populations in combination with oral vaccination of wild and parenteral vaccination of companion animals, unfortunately, do not give visible result. So, it is extremely important not only to increase the quality of preventive measures against rabies, but also to increase their quantity in order to cover all three major sources of rabies – dogs, cats, and foxes.

Здійснено аналіз проблеми формування валеологічної компетентності сучасного учителя у вітчизняній та зарубіжній теорії й практиці. З’ясовано сутнісні характеристики поняття «валеологічна компетентність» педагогів. Виявлено оптимальні педагогічні умови процесу формування валеологічної компетентності учителя. На підставі досліджень, що проведені до та після реалізації педагогічних умов формування валеологічної компетентності вчителя, виявлено підвищення рівня готовності педагогічного колективу до здійснення здоров’язберігаючої діяльності, рівня валеологічної компетентності кожного вчителя, що позитивно позначилося на стані здоров’я учнів, рівня їх освіченості й вихованості.

The article is devoted to the analysis of results of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in “Statistics” Discipline (referred hereafter as Olympiad) held in the National Academy of Statistics, Accounting and Audit (NASAA) in 2019. Given that NSAA Olympiad in statistics has been organized since 2012, the authors analyze change in the geographical structure of Olympiad participants in the period under study. Olympiad – 2019 engaged 46 participants from 21 Ukrainian HEEs. The largest share of participants comes from northern regions of Ukraine (52.2%), which is 26.7 percentage points higher than in 2012; nearly one of the four participants (23.9%) is from the Central Ukraine and 17.4% – from the Western Ukraine, with the latter two shares being almost unchanged, and 6.5% come from the East of Ukraine, which is 4.4 percentage points lower than in 2012. Of the HEEs located in Eastern regions of Ukraine, only Donetsk National University was represented, accommodated temporarily in the city of Vinnytsia and, therefore, counted in the Central region by geographic locality. The largest number of Olympiad participants was in 2013 (85 students), with nearly 25% of participants coming from Eastern regions of Ukraine, and Olympiad events arranged as part of international collaboration with the Russian Federation. It was 8 Russian students that came to Ukraine that time: three from Moscow State University of Economics, Statistics and Informatics; three from Saint-Petersburg State Economic University, and two from Transbaikal State University. The study reveals that 56 students from 16 Ukrainian HEEs were awarded over eight years of the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in “Statistics” Discipline. The leadership is with Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University (15 awards or 26.8% of the total), nearly 18% of awards was received by students of NASAA, 12,5% – by students of Dnipropetrovsk Oles Honchar National University, 7% – Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, and 7% – Sumy State University. The analysis of mistakes made by Olympiad participants in 2019 shows that the most frequent ones occurred in the thematic sections: “Correlation analysis” and “Forecasting”. However, as the Olympiad participants used creative approaches to problem solution and demonstrated the mature statistical thinking they could be considered as professionally qualified. The authors gave firm arguments supporting the All-Ukrainian Student Olympiad in “Statistics” Discipline: it is useful for popularization of statistical literacy among the youth and fostering logical and unconventional thinking, promotion of their professional and intellectual development etc.

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from biogenic precursors is affected by anthropogenic emissions, which are not well understood in polluted areas. In this study, we accomplished a year-round campaign at nine sites in polluted areas located in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region during 2015. We measured typical biogenic SOA (BSOA) tracers from isoprene, monoterpenes, and β-caryophyllene, as well as major gaseous and particulate pollutants and investigated the impact of anthropogenic pollutants on BSOA formation. The concentrations of BSOA tracers were in the range of 45.4 to 109 ng m−3 with the majority composed of products from monoterpenes (SOAM, 47.2±9.29 ng m−3), isoprene (SOAI, 23.1±10.8 ng m−3), and β-caryophyllene (SOAC, 3.85±1.75 ng m−3). We found that atmospheric oxidants, Ox (O3 plus NO2), and sulfate correlated well with later-generation SOAM tracers, but this was not the case for first-generation SOAM products. This suggested that high Ox and sulfate levels could promote the formation of later-generation SOAM products, which probably led to the relatively aged SOAM that we observed in the PRD. For the SOAI tracers, both 2-methylglyceric acid (NO/NO2-channel product) and the ratio of 2-methylglyceric acid to 2-methyltetrols (HO2-channel products) exhibit NOx dependence, indicating the significant impact of NOx on SOAI formation pathways. The SOAC tracer was elevated in winter at all sites and was positively correlated with levoglucosan, Ox, and sulfate. Thus, the unexpected increase in SOAC in wintertime might be highly associated with the enhancement of biomass burning, O3 chemistry, and the sulfate component in the PRD. The BSOAs that were estimated using the SOA tracer approach showed the highest concentration in fall and the lowest concentration in spring with an annual average concentration of 1.68±0.40 µg m−3. SOAM dominated the BSOA mass all year round. We also found that BSOA correlated well with sulfate and Ox. This implied a significant effect from anthropogenic pollutants on BSOA formation and highlighted that we could reduce BSOA by controlling the anthropogenic emissions of sulfate and Ox precursors in polluted regions.

The objective of the research was to evaluate the risk of the development of chronic kidney disease: glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome by antigens of blood groups of AB0 and Rhesus (Rh) systems. Material and methods. We examined 119 patients (76 men and 43 women) with chronic kidney disease: primary glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome. The mean age of the patients was 39.65±14.16 years. The patients underwent a puncture biopsy of the kidney to verify the morphological form of the disease. A survey of 1428 healthy individuals was conducted to determine the populational distribution of blood groups phenotypes of AB0 and Rh systems. Results. Greater probability of the development of chronic kidney disease: glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome was observed in carriers of 0 Rh+ and AB Rh+ antigens. The fact was interesting that carriers of phenotype 0 Rh– were registered much less of ten in patients than in healthy individuals. This may indicate some resistance to the disease in such individuals. Greater predisposition to the development of chronic kidney disease: glomerulonephritis with nephrotic syndrome was observed in Rh-positive women with blood groups0 (χ2=6.98; р=0.008) and АВ (φ=2.32; р=0.010). The chance of the studied pathology development in Rh-positive women versus Rh-negative was in 2.19 times higher than the same ratio in men. The highest chance to contract the pathology was in Rh-positive women with groups AB and 0 versus B, in 4.49 and 4.34 times more than men, respectively. Conclusions. Men with phenotypes A Rh– and B Rh– versus 0 Rh–, women with phenotypes AB Rh+ and 0 Rh+ versus A Rh+ and B Rh+ have the highest risk to contract the disease. Individuals of both genders with groups 0 Rh–and B Rh+ may be resistant to the development of the disease.

Introduction. Generalized periodontitis (GP) refers to the diseases with multifactorial heredity, in which the variability of one or another sign is determined not by one major gene, but by the influence of a large number of hereditary and external factors with small effects. An important component for the research of immuno-cytogenetic status of healthy persons and patients with multifactorial diseases is the study of chromosomal abnormalities. For this purpose, a method of metaphase analysis of karyotype in peripheral blood lymphocytes is used. Aim is to investigate gender peculiarities of the frequency and spectrum of chromosomal aberrations (CA) in peripheral blood lymphocytes of GP patients with chronic course of various degrees of development. Methods. There were examined 54 patients, who were divided into three groups: 18 persons (8 men and 10 women) healthy (group I); 24 persons (by 12 men and women) – patients with the GP of the initial-I degree (group II) and 12 persons (by 6 men and women) with II-III degree of GP (group III). Analysis of metaphase chromosomes was performed in venous blood according to the methodology of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in the accredited genetic laboratory of the State Medical University, SHEI “Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University” after lymphocytes cultivation in the nutrient medium «PB-max» during 72 hours at a temperature of +37ºС. In each preparation, at least 100 metaphases with a good chromosomal dispersion were analyzed. Microscopic examination was performed using a microscope «Axioskop» company Zeizz (magnification×1000) at the optical-electronic complex “Metacan-2”. The frequency and spectrum of CA in men and women in terms of gaps, ruptures, single and paired fragments, translocations, deletions, dicentricks were studied. Results. It has been determined, that the frequency of CA increased with the degree of GP development (p

The article is devoted to methodological aspects addressed in building up the framework for the satellite account of the expenditure on environmental protection in Ukraine. It is argued that any study of the environment need computations and analyses of quantitative indicators based on the statistics data. Problems of statistical accounting are, therefore, the central ones in investigating the expenditure on environmental protection. One of the most urgent tasks is to ensure comparability of data, to enable comparisons of data at all the levels in order to find output key tendencies and patterns in the expenditure on environmental protection, comparisons of figures relating to environmental protection and macroeconomic situation. The article contains an analysis of the phases of creating the European standard of the system for environmental-economic accounting on the whole and the environmental protection expenditures account in particular. The sources of data for creating the satellite account for the expenditure on environmental protection in Ukraine, and the indicators included in the EU questionnaire designed to collect data on national expenditures on environmental protection are highlighted. It is demonstrated that data from many sources are used to build the satellite account for the expenditure on environmental protection. It is mentioned that by now Ukraine has not introduced ad hoc surveys of households on the expenditures on environmental protection. Results of the study show that the main sources of data for computations of the expenditures on environmental protection in Ukraine can be the official statistical observation by type of expenditure, collected by form 1 – environmental expenditure (annual) “Expenditures on environmental protection and environmental payments”, where the expenditure are recorded according to the Classification of Environmental Protection Activities. The sources of secondary information, i. e. the data from regular official statistical observations and administrative data that are collected with other purposes and reflect selected aspects of expenditure on EP, are recommended for use when developing the methodology.

В роботі розроблено метод опрацювання електроміографічних сигналів для задачі компенсації порушеної комунікативної функції людини. Метод дає можливість виявлення ознак основного тону в структурі електроміографічного сигналу, зареєстрованого з поверхні шиї пацієнтів поблизу голосових складок. За цими ознаками можна проводити ідентифікацію окремих подумки вимовлених голосних та приголосних вокалізованих фонем та проводити розпізнавання власне мови пацієнтів із порушеною чи втраченою комунікативною функцією. Розроблений метод включає в себе два етапи, а саме: підготовчий та основний. Метою підготовчого етапу є отримання даних про індивідуальні особливості мови пацієнта, зокрема наближеного значення частоти основного тону та частотного інтервалу існування частоти основного тону при намаганні вимовляння пацієнтом тестових послідовностей звуків у визначені моменти часу. Ці дані є необхідні для можливості застосування основного етапу методу, що передбачає опрацювання електроміографічних (ЕМГ) сигналів, зареєстрованих при довільному намаганні вимовляння пацієнтом довільних звуків, слів чи фраз. Запропоновано для виявлення часових інтервалів наявності ознак основного тону проводити опрацювання електроміографічних сигналів методами спектрально-кореляційного аналізу із застосуванням методу ковзного вікна при поданні таких біосигналів у вигляді кусково-стаціонарного випадкового процесу. При цьому, в межах кожної трансляції ковзного вікна проводиться обчислення оцінок розподілу спектральної густини потужності та усереднення цих оцінок за частотою і потужністю в межах попередньо визначеного інтервалу існування частоти основного тону. Отримані усереднені оцінки дають можливість встановлення часових інтервалів наявності основного тону та відповідно наступної ідентифікації голосних та приголосних вокалізованих фонем. Проведено опрацювання розробленим методом експериментально зареєстрованого ЕМГ сигналу із різними значеннями ширини ковзного вікна.

Arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM) is known to enhance the rate of photosynthesis in plants, but there is little information on whether this effect is maintained at low temperature when the development of AM fungi is restrained. We therefore investigated the influence of AM on gas exchange, PSII fluorescence, and some photosynthesis-related biochemical parameters in cucumber seedlings under cold stress. Cold stress decreased, as expected, the chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, and parameters related to photochemical quenching, while increasing nonphotochemical quenching and sugar contents in leaves. In contrast, AM had opposite effects on most of the determined parameters; it improved the efficiency of photosynthesis in the cucumber seedlings both at cold stress and at control ambient temperature. In addition, we recorded significant alleviation of the cold stress effect on sugar contents in leaves, which indicated that higher carbon-sink strength was an important factor maintaining higher efficiency of photosynthesis in mycorrhizal cucumber seedlings under cold stress.

Choosing a probability distribution to represent daily precipitation depths is important for precipitation frequency analysis, stochastic precipitation modeling and in climate trend assessments. Early studies identified the two-parameter gamma (G2) distribution as a suitable distribution for wet-day precipitation based on the traditional goodness-of-fit tests. Here, probability plot correlation coefficients and L-moment diagrams are used to examine distributional alternatives for the wet-day series of daily precipitation for hundreds of stations at the point and catchment scales in the United States. Importantly, both Pearson Type-III (P3) and kappa (KAP) distributions perform very well, particularly for point rainfall. Our analysis indicates that the KAP distribution best describes the distribution of wet-day precipitation at the point scale, whereas the performance of G2 and P3 distributions are comparable for wet-day precipitation at the catchment scale, with P3 generally providing the improved goodness of fit over G2. Since the G2 distribution is currently the most widely used probability density function, our findings could be considerably important, especially within the context of climate change investigations.

The dental bridges are often used to replace missing teeth. Currently, the most common are the metal-ceramic structures, which have the high mechanical properties and are aesthetic and functional, because they restore chewing efficiency by 85-100% and provide a high level of adaptation to them. However, in the presence of metallic and combined prostheses in the oral cavity, the pathological changes may occur, taking into account that in the oral cavity, the non-removable dentures are foriegn bodies affecting the tissues and the environment of the oral cavity. The effect of almost all artificial bridges on the tissues of the marginal periodontal disease depends on the level of the location of the bridge margin and the depth of the immersion under the gum. In the presence of such processes, the main factor is the specific antimicrobial protection, which is carried out by immunoglobulins; in the oral cavity, there are present only IgA, IgG, IgM of six classes. Thus, in the prosthetic dentistry one of the important problems is the connection of prosthetic constructions and the state of the oral cavity – homeostasis. The dental prostheses activate the lipid peroxidation and reduce the antioxidant defense factors. On the 7th day after bridge fixation, there is a significant decrease in the level of antioxidant enzymes and immunoglobulins and high concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines and interleukins. It is found that on the first stage of dental prosthesis the activity of lysozyme is sharply reduced and then restored very slowly. There is reduced not only non-specific reactivity (lysozyme), but also specific (lgA, IgG, and IgE) affected by dental prostheses, in particular, from acrylic plastics. The clinical data of 46 patients, age between 29 – 73 years old (56% of women, 44% of men), which had the non-removable metal ceramic crowns and bridge prostheses, and the indicators of immune markers in the oral fluid were used. In a determination of IL-1β concentration in the saliva of the tested patients, there was found a significant increase by a factor of 12 in the control parameters, it indicates on the high activity of the monocyte-macrophage lineage cells. In the saliva, the increased content of IL-1β confirms its role in the local inflammatory process and indicates the activation of endothelial cells and connective tissue. In the group of patients, IL-6 salivary content exceeds the level in healthy people by 3.66 times, indicating a protective mechanism that is necessary for the initial phase of inflammation. The IL-6 high level is a prognostic adverse factor, which can indicate the progression of the inflammatory process and the increase of membrane-destructive disorders in the cells. Monocytes and macrophages, activated by periodontopathogenic microbes, produce all cascade of proinflammatory interleukins, causing an imbalance between them. The damage of the periodontal tissue and resorption of the alveolar bone occur. In periodontal disease, the most damaging effect is characteristic for IL-1β and TNF-α. In the saliva of patients, there was detected an increased TNF-α level by 2.89 times compared to control, that has a negative inotropic effect, stimulates apoptosis, and increases vascular wall permeability. In prolonged prosthesis in the saliva of patients, there was found the higher level of IL-4 than in healthy individuals by 1.24 times. IL-4 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine, an activator and chemokinetic factor for phagocytes. The cytokines ensure the consistency and completeness of the immune response. Most of them induce inflammatory reaction and acute phase response of the organism and can exhibit the immunopathological effect on the tissues. At the systemic level, cytokines modulate the key protective reactions of the organism.

To date, unexplained reasons and pathogenic mechanisms, which underlie the development and progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain. It is generally recognized that MS in etiological terms is a multifactorial disease. Today it is thought that MS is an autoimmune process that arises in the body with a genetically determined defect in the immune response and is marked by myelin defeat. Lecithin is a major component in the formation of myelin and is an important component of cellular membranes. It feeds fat shells, which cover nerve fibers. There is evidence that the use of lecithin leads to remission of multiple sclerosis. Study of changes in levels of cytokines at different stages of development of MS in the use of patients with lecithin is an interesting and relevant research.The aim of the study was to investigate the changes in levels of cytokines (IL1?, IL-33, IL-2, TNF-?) in serum of patients with various forms of multiple sclerosis before and after administration of lecithin.135 patients with a verified diagnosis of MS were examined based on MacDonald criteria from 19 to 65 years old (59 women, 76 men). Primary progressive type of flow is established in 45 patients, secondary progressive - 45, remitting-recurrent type of course - in 45 patients. The control group consisted of 80 virtually healthy male volunteers aged 25-45 years. The determination of interleukins (IL-1?, IL-2, TNF-?) was carried out using a set of reagents from VectorBest Company, Ukraine. The level of IL-33 was determined using a set of Human IL-33 ELISA Kit reagents (Bender Medsystems, Austria). Part of patients (60 people with different clinical forms of MS) besides standard therapy, it is suggested to take capsules of lecithin for three months. They took biologically active additive Lecithin (1 capsule - 560 mg lecithin) from Natures Sunshine (USA) 1 capsule twice daily with food. In patients with a primary progressive form of MS, the level of IL-1? remained higher than normal (2.7 times), but decreased 1.4 times compared to a similar group of patients who did not use lecithin. Patients with secondary progressive MS after treatment with lecithin also showed a decrease in the level of IL-1? (1.5 times compared with the group that did not use lecithin). In the group of recurrent-progressive MS after administration of lecithin, the level of IL-1? virtually reached the norm of norm. The content of IL-2 in patients with an initially progressive form of MS after a course of lecithin decreased 1.5 times compared with a similar group of patients without lecithin, but remained higher than normal 3.5 times. In patients with a secondary progressive form of MS after administration of lecithin, the level of IL-2 remained twice as high as control, but decreased 1.4 times than in the non-use group of lecithin. The dynamics of changes in the concentration of IL-33 in the examined groups of patients after the course of lecithin was as follows: in the group of patients with the primary progressive form of MS remained 4 times lower, but increased in comparison with the group of patients who did not use lecithin 1.3 times; in the group of patients with a secondary progressive form of MS was three times lower than normal, but increased in comparison with the similar group without lecithin 1.2 times; in patients with recurrent-progressive MS was lower in the 2.4 times, but increased in relation to the group of patients who did not use lecithin1.14 times. The level of TNF-? in subjects with both primary and secondary progressive MS after administration of lecithin was lower (1.15 times and 1.4 times in accordance less). In the group, the remitting-recurring flow of PCs, the TNF-? content was virtually normal. Investigation of the content of cytokines in patients with MS, depending on the activity of the process, makes it possible to predict the course of the disease. As can be seen from the above data, the use of lecithin in patients of all the examined groups contributed to a more pronounced decrease in the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and an increase in the synthesis of IL-33, which is definitely a positive trend.

Background error covariance (BEC) plays a key role in a variational data assimilation system. It determines variable analysis increments by spreading information from observation points. In order to test the influence of BEC on the GSI data assimilation and prediction of aerosol in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, a regional BEC is calculated using one month series of numerical forecast fields of November 2017 based on the National Meteorological Center (NMC) method, and compared with the global BEC.The results show that the standard deviation of stream function of the regional BEC is larger than that of the global BEC. And the horizontal length-scale of the regional BEC is smaller than that of the global BEC, white the vertical length-scale of the regional BEC is similar with that of the global BEC. The increments of the assimilation experiment with the regional BEC present more small scale information than that with the global BEC. The forecast skill of the experiment with the regional BEC is higher than that with the global BEC in the stations of Beijing, Tianjin, Chengde and Taiyuan, and the average root-mean-square errors (RMSE) reduces by over 13.4%.

The modern seismic activation of the main oil and gas areas of the Pre-Carpathian foredeep – Dolyna (1974–1976), Nadvirna (1996–2013) and Boryslav (2014–2017) was traced. The refinement of the location of the studied earthquakes courses is carried out on the regional travel time tables and the method of residuals minimizing. The directions of ruptures breaking in the foci of the stronger ones were studied, the ruptures lengths and other parameters of these courses were estimated. The spatial models of seismic activity of the main seismogenic structures in these areas have been constructed. It has been established that most of the earthquakes courses tend to transverse faults of the anti-Carpathian (northeastern) direction (in the zones of their intersection with the Precarpathian deep fault), which cross or limit the oil and gas structures, part of the courses tend to the ones available here thrusts and folds of different depth. Taking into account the long-lasting (starting from the 19th century) active production of oil and gas condensate here the local seismicity, obviously, is additionally technogenically provoked (induced).

An automatic global registration approach for point clouds and remote sensing image based on straight line features is proposed which is insensitive to rotational and scale transformation. First, the building ridge lines and contour lines in point clouds are automatically detected as registration primitives by integrating region growth and topology identification. Second, the collinear condition equation is selected as registration transformation function which is based on rotation matrix described by unit quaternion. The similarity measure is established according to the distance between the corresponding straight line features from point clouds and the image in the same reference coordinate system. Finally, an iterative Hough transform is adopted to simultaneously estimate the parameters and obtain correspondence between registration primitives. Experimental results prove the proposed method is valid and the spectral information is useful for the following classification processing.

Purpose of the work – to investigate the possible contribution of aldosterone synthetase gene (CYP11B2) polymorphism to the disease course and structural parameters of LV in patients with coronary heart disease, postinfarction cardiosclerosis. Materials and мethods. General clinical examination of 100 patients with postinfarction cardiosclerosis was done at the Cardiology Department of P. L Shupyk NMAPE. Genetic testing was performed by polymerase chain reaction in real time at the Bogomolets Institute of Physiology,Kyiv,Ukraine. Exclusion criteria were hemodynamically significant valvular heart diseases, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, permanent or temporary heart pacing, acute heart failure and implanted cardioverter-defibrillator, permanent atrial fibrillation. Statistical analysis of the results was performed using Microsoft Excel, the statistical program SPSS (version 20, US). The results obtained are presented as M ± σ. Results. The stenosis of the left main coronary artery was observed in 25.9 % of cases in the subgroup of the TT variant. It should be noted that in the TC subgroup of aldosterone synthase gene variant polymorphism the incidence of the left main coronary artery lesion was 13.9 %. There has been no single case of left main coronary artery lesion in the SS subgroup with little statistical significance in comparison with the subgroup of TT variant of the polymorphism (P = 0.048). In the analysis of clinical data the most marked manifestations of angina pectoris were in subgroups of TT and TC – 73.3 % and 72.7 %, respectively, compared with CC subgroup – 40 %, reliable for both subgroups (P1.2 = 0.95, P1.3 = 0.039, P2.3 = 0.029). In the analysis of LV morphological characteristics the smallest indices of the LV mass have been revealed in the CC subgroup of the polymorphism variant (190.5 ± 52.1 g), compared with the LV mass values in the TT subgroup (231.00 ± 55.21 g, P = 0.03) and TC (197.421 ± 63.15, P > 0.05). A statistically significant difference has been also observed between the TT and TC subgroups of the polymorphism variant data (P = 0.01). The smallest index of LV myocardial mass has been revealed in the TC subgroup of the polymorphism variant compared with the TT variant subgroup (98.0 ± 29.25 versus 113.33 ± 26.63 g/m2, P = 0.017). In the analysis of left ventricle diastolic diameter index between subgroups of polymorphism the smallest parameter was in the CC subgroup of polymorphism with a significant difference in comparison with the data of the aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism TC subgroup patients (2.38 ± 0.17 vs. 2.56 ± 0.26 cm/m², respectively, P = 0.02). The lowest left ventricle systolic diameter index was detected in CC variant of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism subgroup in comparison with the data of patients in the TT and TC variants of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism subgroups (1.51 ± 0.2 vs. 1.88 ± 0.5 and 1.83 ± 0,37 cm/m², p1.3 = 0.02 and p2.3 = 0.005). The smallest left ventricle diastolic volume index was also found in the CC variant of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism subgroup in comparison with the other two subgroups data with a significant difference in the data of TC variant of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism patients (54.2 ± 10.7 versus 68.1 ± 17.7 ml/m², P = 0.01). Conclusions. Patients with TT and TC variants of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism demonstrated higher incidence of the left main coronary artery lesion in comparison with the patients of the CC variant of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism subgroup, who have not had atherosclerotic lesion of the left main coronary artery. In patients with TT and TC variants of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism manifestations of angina pectoris had a higher gradation compared to the CC variant of aldosterone synthetase gene polymorphism. Significantly lower values of left ventricle diastolic diameter index, systolic diameter index and diastolic volume index have been found in the CC variant subgroup in comparison with TT variant. Patients in TT variant of polymorphism subgroup had significantly reduced ejection fraction in comparison with the CC subgroup.

Необходимо разрабатывать маркеры генетического скрининга, которые позволят диагностировать мультифакторные заболевания на начальных стадиях и определять эффективность их лечения. Целью данной работы стало изучение особенностей структурно-функционального состояния хроматина и ядер лимфоцитов периферической крови пациентов с хронической болезнью почек, гломерулонефритом. Обследовано 75 больных. Для цитологического исследования изготавливали мазки периферической крови и проводили анализ интерфазных ядер лимфоцитов. Выявлены изменения компактизации хроматина, активности ядрышкового аппарата и морфологически измененных ядер, которые отражают состояние транскрипционно-трансляционного процесса в клетке. Установлены особенности структурно-функциональных показателей метаболизма лимфоцитов в зависимости от пола пациентов и синдрома заболевания. Исследованные цитологические маркеры можно использовать для диагностики этой патологии на начальных стадиях и с целью оценки эффективности проводимого лечения.

The semi-global optimization algorithm, which approximates a global 2D smoothness constraint by combining several 1D constraints, has been widely used in the field of image dense matching for digital surface model (DSM) generation. However, due to occlusion, shadow and textureless area of the matching images, some inconsistency may exist in the overlapping areas of different DSMs. To address this problem, based on the DSMs generated by semi-global matching from multiple stereopairs, a novel semi-global merging algorithm is proposed to generate a reliable and consistent DSM in this paper. Two datasets, each covering 1 km2, are used to validate the proposed method. Experimental results show that the optimal DSM after merging can effectively eliminate the inconsistency and reduce redundancy in the overlapping areas.

High-resolution imagery is an attractive option for surveying and mapping applications due to the advantages of high quality imaging, short revisit time, and lower cost. Automated reliable and dense image matching is essential for photogrammetric 3D data derivation. Such matching, in urban areas, however, is extremely difficult, owing to the complexity of urban textures and severe occlusion problems on the images caused by tall buildings. Aimed at exploiting high-resolution imagery for 3D urban modelling applications, this paper presents an integrated image matching and segmentation approach for reliable dense matching of high-resolution imagery in urban areas. The approach is based on the framework of our existing self-adaptive triangulation constrained image matching (SATM), but incorporates three novel aspects to tackle the image matching difficulties in urban areas: 1) occlusion filtering based on image segmentation, 2) segment-adaptive similarity correlation to reduce the similarity ambiguity, 3) improved dense matching propagation to provide more reliable matches in urban areas. Experimental analyses were conducted using aerial images of Vaihingen, Germany and high-resolution satellite images in Hong Kong. The photogrammetric point clouds were generated, from which digital surface models (DSMs) were derived. They were compared with the corresponding airborne laser scanning data and the DSMs generated from the Semi-Global matching (SGM) method. The experimental results show that the proposed approach is able to produce dense and reliable matches comparable to SGM in flat areas, while for densely built-up areas, the proposed method performs better than SGM. The proposed method offers an alternative solution for 3D surface reconstruction in urban areas.

Objective: to study the effect of the ursodeoxycholic acid and L-arginine combination on the background of basic therapy on the structural and functional state of the heart and indicators of the autonomic nervous system in patients with coronary heart disease combined with the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods: The study involved 56 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Patients were randomized into two groups. Patients in the 1st group (n = 30) received only basic therapy of coronary heart disease, patients in the 2nd group (n = 26) in addition to basic therapy were prescribed with UDCA and L-arginine. All patients underwent daily ECG monitoring and two-dimensional echocardiography. Statistical data processing was carried out using the program package Statistica 10.0. Results: In the 2nd group after 3 months of treatment there were observed decrease in indicators: myocardial stiffness index by 45 %, Va by 7.4 %, mean heart rate in both the active (11.72 %) and the passive (8 %) periods, the number (80 %) and duration (85 %) of tachycardia episodes, total number of ventricular (84 %) and supraventricular (63 %) extrasystoles per day, duration of the ST depression (by 55 %) and the duration of its maximum episode (by 75 %) and LF/HF ratio to 24 % in the active and 27 % in the passive period along with an increase of indicators: Ve by 7.4 %, SDNNi in both active (18 %) and passive (20 %) periods (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The positive effects of adding UDCA and L-arginine to basic therapy in patients with coronary artery disease and NAFLD include improved diastolic function, decreased myocardial ischemia, decreased myocardial stiffness and the number of ventricular and supraventricular extrasystoles, as well as increased total VPS, normalization of the sympathetic-parasympathetic balance by increasing the parasympathetic component of the cardiovascular system.

Goal. To study the prevalence of hereditary epidermolysis bullosa (HEB) in the Russian Federation. Materials and methods. The data on the number of HEB patients by subjects of the Russian Federation as well as their age and disease type were obtained based on questionnaires. The questionnaires were sent to dermatovenerology healthcare institutions from 85 subjects of the Russian Federation. The HEB prevalence rates in the subjects of the Russian Federation were calculated as the ratio of the number of HEB patients in the subject of the Russian Federation to the population size in the subject per million residents. Results. Information about 438 HEB patients (210 female and 228 male) aged 0-66 was collected in 70 subjects of the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2015. The disease type was specified for 139 patients (86 patients with common HEB, 50 patients with dystrophic HEB and 3 patients with the borderline form of HEB). No details about the disease type were provided for 299 patients (68.26%). The HEB prevalence rate in the subjects of the Russian Federation varies from 0 to 19.73 cases per million residents. Conclusion. These data on the HEB prevalence rate in 70 subjects of the Russian Federation are comparable to the data specified in literature sources providing information on the HEB prevalence rate in some foreign states. The data represent the first step to the development of clinical recommendations concerning HEB management and establishment of a register of in the Russian Federation.

Crater-detection approaches can be divided into four categories: manual recognition, shape-profile fitting algorithms, machine-learning methods and geological information-based analysis using terrain and spectral data. The mainstream method is Shape-profile fitting algorithms. Many scholars throughout the world use the illumination gradient information to fit standard circles by least square method. Although this method has achieved good results, it is difficult to identify the craters with poor "visibility", complex structure and composition. Moreover, the accuracy of recognition is difficult to be improved due to the multiple solutions and noise interference. Aiming at the problem, we propose a method for the automatic extraction of impact craters based on spectral characteristics of the moon rocks and minerals: 1) Under the condition of sunlight, the impact craters are extracted from MI by condition matching and the positions as well as diameters of the craters are obtained. 2) Regolith is spilled while lunar is impacted and one of the elements of lunar regolith is iron. Therefore, incorrectly extracted impact craters can be removed by judging whether the crater contains "non iron" element. 3) Craters which are extracted correctly, are divided into two types: simple type and complex type according to their diameters. 4) Get the information of titanium and match the titanium distribution of the complex craters with normal distribution curve, then calculate the goodness of fit and set the threshold. The complex craters can be divided into two types: normal distribution curve type of titanium and non normal distribution curve type of titanium. We validated our proposed method with MI acquired by SELENE. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has good performance in the test area.

Objective: to study changes in the vascular endothelium state in conjunction with clinical and metabolic features in CHD patients with the concomitant nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Methods: cross-cohort analytical study involved 86 patients, the primarily selected group consisted of 34 patients, mean age 60 (57.5; 66) with documented coronary artery disease, stable exertional angina of II-III functional class combined with NAFLD; comparison selected group: 32 patients, mean age 60.5 (51.5; 65.6) with coronary artery disease without NAFLD. The control selected group consisted of 20 healthy individuals. Results: In patients with coronary artery disease and NAFLD compared with CHD patients without NAFLD was found significantly higher levels of ADMA by 21 % (p < 0.05), CRP by 1.63 times (p < 0.05), intima-media thickness by 14.28 % (p < 0.05). Using ROC-analysis established that levels of ADMA >0.74 mmol/l is the cutting point and has an optimal ratio of sensitivity (80 %) to the specificity (82.9 %) for the diagnosis of vascular remodeling in CHD patients with concomitant NAFLD. The presence of significant direct correlation relationship of ADMA with CRP, total cholesterol, glucose, body mass index, alkaline phosphatase, ALT and significant negative relation of ADMA with HDL were found. Conclusions: In patients with coronary artery disease, combined with NAFLD structural and functional changes in vascular endothelium (increase in serum levels of ADMA, thickening of intima-media) are observed during activation of systemic inflammation (increased CRP concentration), which is associated with metabolic disorders and liver damage indicators. The value of ADMA in serum prevailing 0.74 mmol/l helps to diagnose structural and functional changes in vascular endothelium in patients with coronary artery disease, comorbid with NAFLD. coronary artery disease; nonalcoholic fatty liver disease; vascular endothelium; carotid intima-media thickness; arginine