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The aim of this study was to conduct a clinical and statistical analysis of ophthalmological manifestations in patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) using biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) as a basic therapy. The study included 58 patients (19[32.7%] women and 39[67.3%] men) with AS receiving bDMARDs. The median age of patients was 41.81(25;60) years. The average age of the disease onset was 25.23(9;47) years. The patients were divided into two groups: Group 1 included 24 patients with ophthalmic manifestations; Group 2 included 34 patients without ophthalmic manifestations. All patients in Group 1 took TNF-α inhibitors, (infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, etarnacept, and cetrolizumab-pegol). In Group 2, TNF-α inhibitors (infliximab, adalimumab, golimumab, etarnacept) were received by 32(92.4%) patients and interleukin-17 inhibitor (secukinumab) by 2(5.8%) patients. Group 1 was characterized by a greater age and average duration of the disease, as well as the presence of metabolic instability (blood glucose and creatinine levels in the borderline range). The effectiveness of bDMARD in AS is characterized by the normalization and stabilization of clinical and biochemical parameters, including blood cholesterol and creatinine levels, which prevents the occurrence of vascular lesions, including uveitis.

The aim of the study was a comparative analysis of the blood value of the leukocyte shift index (LSI) in acute suppurative otitis media (ASOM) and chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM), depending on the age of children. Methods and Results: This study included 100 children (62 boys and 38 girls) aged 1-16 years who were diagnosed with ASOM and CSOM. The mean age of all patients was 7.59±0.50 years. Group 1 included 50 patients (30 boys and 20 girls) with ASOM. Group 2 included 50 patients (20 boys and 30 girls) with CSOM. As a marker for determining the activity of the inflammatory process, we chose LSI, calculated taking into account the parameters of the general blood test. LSI levels in the patients of Group 1 and Group 2 were 2.08±0.23 and 1.51±0.16, respectively (P=0.0446). The results obtained indicate that in children with mean age of 3.44±0.31 years, the LSI level of 2.08±0.23 can suggest the formation of ASOM. In children with mean age of 11.56±0.46 years, the LSI level of 1.51±0.16 can suggest the formation of CSOM. Conclusion: The proposed method for predicting CSOM in children has enough grounds for clinical application in practical health care.

Obtaining and production of metals from natural raw materials causes a large amount of liquid, solid, and gaseous wastes of various hazard classes that have a negative impact on the environment. In the production of titanium dioxide from ilmenite concentrate, hydrolytic sulphuric acid is formed, which includes various metal cations, their main part is iron (III) and titanium (IV) cations. Hydrolytic acid waste is sent to acid storage facilities, which have a high environmental load. The article describes the technology of ion exchange wastewater treatment of acid storage facility from iron (III) and titanium (IV) cations, which form compounds with sulphate ions and components of organic waste in acidic environments. These compounds are subjected to dispersion and dust loss during the evaporation of a water technogenic facility, especially in summer season. Sorption of complex iron (III) cations [FeSO4]+ and titanyl cations TiO2+ from sulphuric acid solutions on cation exchange resins KU-2-8, Puromet MTS9580, and Puromet MTS9560 was studied. Sorption isotherms were obtained both for individual [FeSO4]+ and TiO2+ cations and in the joint presence. The values of the equilibrium constants at a temperature of 298 K and the changes in the Gibbs energy are estimated. The capacitive characteristics of the sorbent were determined for individual cations and in the joint presence.

The global cost of corrosion imposes a significant burden on society, with safety and environmental consequences in addition to its direct impact. One challenge to its management is that the process of corrosion is complex, and common experimental techniques provide only limited information. The neutral salt spray test, a standardized test used for the evaluation of the corrosion resistance of steels and coatings, creates an aggressive environment not suitable for many analytical methods. Here, we report the first use of in situ Raman spectroscopy to detect the formation, growth, and evolution of corrosion products on metal surfaces, monitoring a mild steel plate in alternating salt fog and dry atmospheric conditions over a period of eight days to identify and track key corrosion products. Assisted by multivariate curve resolution alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) analysis and online weighing of the sample, we found the chemical conversion of iron hydroxides to oxides takes much longer than the physical drying of the corroded surface. Together, these results pave the way for real-time online observation of corrosion inside a salt fog chamber to obtain chemically relevant information with a single, compact apparatus.

The aim of this research was to study the features of clinical and laboratory parameters of acute otitis media (AOM), taking into account the value of the leukocyte shift index (LSI) in pediatric patients with the demonstration of clinical cases. Methods and Results: This study included 100 children (55 boys and 45 girls) with AOM. The mean age of all patients was 4.32±0.31 years. Group 1 included 50 patients (30 boys and 20 girls) with acute suppurative otitis media (SupAOM) . Group 2 included 50 patients (25 boys and 25 girls)with acute serous otitis media (SerAOM). As a marker for determining the activity of the inflammatory process and the disorders of the immunological reactivity of the body, we chose LSI, calculated taking into account the parameters of the general blood test. Our results show the diagnostic significance of LSI in predicting the clinical course of AOM in patients in the age group of 2-16 years. The development of SerAOM is predicted when the LSI is 1.05±0.08; SupAOM - 2.08±0.23 The results obtained can be useful in providing specialized medical care for children of this age group, for optimizing the algorithms for preventive examinations and therapeutic interventions, and for offering the possibility of predicting the severity of the disease and timely treatment of SupAOM requiring a surgical intervention followed by systemic antibiotic therapy in order to prevent otogenic complications and hearing.

The issues of complex processing of mineral resources are relevant due to the depletion of available raw materials. So, it is necessary to involve technological waste, generated during the processing of raw materials, to obtain valuable components. In the process flow of apatite concentrate treatment using the sulfuric acid method, a large amount of phosphogypsum is produced with an average content of light rare earth metals (REMs) reaching 0.032-0.45 %. When phosphogypsum is treated with sulfuric acid solutions, a part of REMs is transferred to the sulfate solution, from which it can be extracted by means of ion exchange method. The study focuses on sorption recovery of light REMs (praseodymium, neodymium and samarium) in the form of anionic sulfate complexes of the composition [ln(SO4)2]– on polystyrene anion exchanger AN-31. The experiments were performed under static conditions at a liquid-to-solid ratio of 1:1, pH value of 2, temperature of 298 K and initial REM concentration in the solutions ranging from 0.83 to 226.31 mmol/kg. Thermodynamic description of sorption isotherms was carried out by the method based on linearization of the mass action equation, modified for the ion exchange reaction. As a result of performed calculations, the authors obtained the constants of ion exchange equilibrium for Pr, Nd and Sm, as well as the values of the change in the Gibbs energy for the ion exchange of REM sulfate complexes on the AN-31 anion exchanger and the values of total capacity of the anion exchanger. Calculated separation factors indicated low selectivity of AN-31 anionite exchanger for light REMs; however, the anion exchanger is suitable for effective recovery of a sum of light REMs. Based on the average value of ion exchange equilibrium constant for light REMs, parameters of a sorption unit with a fluidized bed of anion exchanger were estimated.

Background: Panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) remains one of the effective methods of treatment in pre- and proliferative forms of retinopathy with high efficiency. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of PRP depending on the somatic status, laboratory parameters, and the severity of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and a history of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods and Results: The study included 76 patients (50 women and 26 men) with T2D who underwent PRP for DR (152 eyes) using a VISULAS® 532s solid-state laser (ZEISS). The patients were divided into two groups depending on the severity of CKD. Group 1 (n=32, 64 eyes) included patients with CKD Stage 1, Group 2 (n=44, 88 eyes) included patients with CKD Stage 2. All patients underwent standard ophthalmological examination: visometry, tonometry, perimetry, biomicroscopy of the anterior segment of the eye and vitreous body, and fundus ophthalmoscopy. Thickness map of the retina was obtained using the RTVue-100 OCT (Optovue, Fremont, CA) EMM5 scan protocol and the Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec, USA) radial scan protocol. Laboratory methods included a general blood test, PPG, FG, HbA1c, general urine analysis, and the assessment of blood levels of creatinine, ALT, and AST. PRP was carried out according to the standard method, gradually, in three stages; the interval between the stages of laser treatment was 1 month. After laser treatment, all patients, regardless of the treatment stage, were prescribed topical Broxinac® (Bromfenac ophthalmic solution 0.09%). The dynamics of corrected visual acuity (CVA) parameters and the retinal thickness of the macular region were assessed before PRP and 3 months after the complex treatment. Multivariate analysis revealed a linear and nonlinear effect of lipid spectrum indicators (TC and LDL) on the formation of CL (crystalline lens) pathology. After treatment, a significant increase in CVA was noted in both study groups. The effectiveness of PRP coagulation depended on the severity of the CKD stage in T2D patients with DR. Normalization of morphometric parameters of the macular region of the retina was noted in 93.8% of cases in Group 1 and in 86.4% of cases in Group 2. The decrease in the effectiveness of treatment was associated with the presence of macroangiopathy (CAD), concomitant diseases (CHF, AH and dyslipidemia), and CKD stage. Conclusion: Prolonged administration of the non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug Bromfenacum® for a month after each stage of PRP is effective.

In the modern multicultural Russian society, the preservation of ethnocultural continuity, the formation of modern-day understanding of history, and the integration of ethnic and civic identities in the Indigenous peoples of the Far North and the Arctic, which are currently characterized by the intensification of ethnic processes, are becoming increasingly relevant. When describing the contemporary Russian North, we should note that it is characterized by highly contradictory processes, which combine both the integration of the Indigenous population and newcomers and the separation of different ethnic groups. Trying to understand this highly contradictory situation, we have conducted an empirical study of ethnic and personal identity in adolescents, as described below. Within the study, we have focused on the Nenets and the Sami communities as representative of the Indigenous peoples of the Russian Far North.

The article is devoted to the problem of studying the personal identity of Sami adolescents living in the Arctic territories of Russia. The study aims to study the characteristics of the personal identity of Sami boys and Sami girls in adolescence. The article presents the results of an empirical study carried out according to the methodology developed based on the test “Who am I?” developed by Kuhn and McPartland. The respondents were 39 Sami adolescents aged 12-13 years and 40 Sami adolescents aged 14-15 years. All respondents were from the indigenous Sami people. When studying personal identity, we analyzed the characteristics corresponding to each identity component: gender, social, ethnic, family, professional, individual, physical, active and undifferentiated. The study results made it possible to reveal the characteristics of the personal identity of Sami adolescents compared to the personal identity of their Russian peers. The data obtained expand modern psychological ideas about the patterns of personality development in adolescence, how the human psyche functions in a changing world, and clarify the meaningful characteristics of the psychological portrait of a modern adolescent.

This article addresses the problem of studying ethnic identity in Saami adolescents, representatives of indigenous peoples of the Russian Far North. The aim of the research is to study ethnic identity in adolescent Saami boys and girls. The article presents the results of an empirical research conducted using the “Types of ethnic identity” technique developed by G.U. Soldatova and S.V. Ryzhova. 39 Saami adolescents aged 12-13 years (18 boys and 21 girls) and 40 Saami adolescents aged 14-15 years (23 boys and 17 girls) participated in our empirical research as respondents. All the respondents live in the village of Lovozero in the Murmansk region. To identify specific features of ethnic identity development among Saami adolescents, we included ethnic Russian adolescent respondents: 59 people aged 12-13 years (31 boys and 28 girls), and 62 people aged 14-15 years (32 boys and 30 girls). Empirical data was collected in the period from April to May 2018. The analysis of the empirical research results allowed us to identify the dynamics in the development of ethno-nihilism, ethnic indifference, positive ethnic identity, ethno-egoism, ethno-isolationism and ethno-fanaticism in adolescent Saami boys and girls (12 to 15 years). The research revealed specific features of ethnic identity in Saami adolescents in comparison with their ethnic Russian agemates. The results of this research can be used to preserve and develop ethnic identity among indigenous adolescents in the Arctic territories of the European North of Russia. In future, this will allow to develop individual routes of training and education for indigenous adolescents in the Far North, to improve the system of psychological counselling and support. This will provide prospects for preservation of indigenous culture, traditions and ethnic identity, which will in its turn contribute to the development of the Northern territories, implementation of national interests, and achievement of the state strategic goals in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation.

in the study of agricultural land, the priority is the use of remote monitoring techniques using unmanned aerial vehicles, technological portable devices. Obtaining materials by remote methods will expand the possibilities of introducing grazing livestock, increase the yield and thereby improve the efficiency of production indicators. The article considers the issues of assessing the nutritional value of pasture fodder, in particular, the amino acid composition in combination with the vegetation index in the conditions of pasture livestock raising in the Stavropol Territory. Productive qualities of replacement young animals directly depend on the quality of feed. Monitoring the amino acid composition of feeds allows you to optimize the technology of growing sheep, taking into account their productivity direction. The combination of remote methods for assessing the vegetation index and the in-depth composition of the nutritional value of feeds makes it possible to optimize the production schedule for the use of pasture plots by various sex and age groups of animals and increase the average daily gain in live weight of young fattening groups by 8-10%. It has been shown that the introduction of top-dressing with roughage in especially dry periods contributes to preserve of animal growth energy when changing grazing areas. Remote assessment of pasture vegetation was carried out using a special camera to calculate the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), which was installed on an unmanned aerial vehicle. At the same time, the dynamics of the NDVI using a portable manual nitrogen sensor was studied in the same pasture plots. The obtained results of monitoring of the vegetative index on pasture plots were compared with the results of chemical analysis of plant feed. Information on the availability of gross amount of plant biomass in the fields was used for priority selection of a specific site for grazing animals and optimizing the use of agricultural territories. It was proven that the parameters of the NDVI for the pasture keeping of young sheep should not be lower than 0.4. The development and implementation of innovative methods of aerospace monitoring makes it possible to increase the efficiency of land use and increase the efficiency of grazing.

In the Conceptual History Latin notion respublica is one of the most complex and disputable issues of research and translation. In spite of its fundamental significance for political thinking and political philosophy of Antiquity and Middle Ages, the evolution of the meaning of respublica stays underinvestigated for the most of its stages. The present paper is devoted to the Latin respublica in French political thinking of 14th century. Political vocabulary of this time was beginning to be controlled by laic courtly intellectuals instead of clerics and universities. In that way, both spiritual and laic aspects, Aristotelian philosophy and Ciceronian rhetorics constitute the context for all the dominant political notions of the time, and so it is for the Latin respublica. The research is based on the political pamphlet A Dispute between a Priest and a Knight, its reception and French translation at Charles V’s court. The mutual comparison of respublica’s semantical function in different versions of the treatise in the context of other key political notions like people (populus) or common good (bonum commune) allows us to trace the evolution of its interpretation from the principle of political life to a material object. Thus, the concept of Latin respublica is being objectified and earthed within the framework of gallicanist project on the base of late medieval Aristotelianism.

Parametric mixture models are commonly used in applied work, especially empirical economics, where these models are often employed to learn for example about the proportions of various types in a given population. This paper examines the inference question on the proportions (mixing probability) in a simple mixture model in the presence of nuisance parameters when sample size is large. It is well known that likelihood inference in mixture models is complicated due to (1) lack of point identification, and (2) parameters (for example, mixing probabilities) whose true value may lie on the boundary of the parameter space. These issues cause the profiled likelihood ratio (PLR) statistic to admit asymptotic limits that differ discontinuously depending on how the true density of the data approaches the regions of singularities where there is lack of point identification. This lack of uniformity in the asymptotic distribution suggests that confidence intervals based on pointwise asymptotic approximations might lead to faulty inferences. This paper examines this problem in details in a finite mixture model and provides possible fixes based on the parametric bootstrap. We examine the performance of this parametric bootstrap in Monte Carlo experiments and apply it to data from Beauty Contest experiments. We also examine small sample inferences and projection methods.

Summary Consider the linear model E[y|x] = x ′ β where one is interested in learning about β given data on y and x and when y is interval measured, i.e., we observe ([y0,y1],x) such that P(y 2 [y0,y1]) = 1. Moment inequality procedures use the implication E[y0|x] � x ′ β � E[y1|x]. As compared to least squares in the classical regression model, estimates obtained using an objective function based on these moment inequalities do not provide a clear approximation to the underlying unobserved conditional mean function. Most importantly, under misspecification, it is not unusual that no parameter β satisfies the previous inequalities for all values of x, and hence minima of an objective function based on these moment inequalities are typically tight. We construct set estimates for β in the linear model that have a clear interpretation when the model is misspecified. These sets are based on moment equality models. We illustrate these sets and compare them to estimates obtained using moment inequality based methods. In addition to the linear model with interval outcomes we also analyze the binary missing data model with a monotone instrument assumption (MIV), we find there that when this assumption is misspecified, bounds can still be non-empty, and can differ from parameters obtained via maximum likelihood. We also examine a bivariate discrete game with multiple equilibria. In sum, misspecification in moment inequality models is of a different flavor than in moment equality models, and so care should be taken with the 1) interpretation of the estimates and 2) the size of the ‘identified set.’

Three hypotheses about the nature of federal tax arrears in Russia in the second half of the 1990s are tested empirically. Tax arrears can be a result of: 1) liquidity problems in firms, 2) redistributive subsidies of the federal government, or 3) regional political resistance to federal tax collectors. Liquidity problems in firms explain a large part of the variation in tax arrears. Regional political resistance to federal tax collectors was also an important factor: For a given level of liquidity, federal arrears accumulated faster in regions where governors had a larger popular base, in regions with a better bargaining position vis-a-vis the centre, and in regions with governors in political opposition to the centre. We find that patterns of federal arrears are inconsistent with the redistributive politics premise that redistribution favours jurisdictions with 'closer races' for the incumbent in the national elections. Variation in authorized tax deferrals can be explained in part by federal redistributive politics.

This paper continues our research on the identification and estimation of statistical func- tionals when the sampling process produces incomplete data due to missing observations or interval measurement of variables. Incomplete data usually cause population parameters of interest in appli- cations to be unidentified except under untestable and often controversial assumptions. However, it is often possible to identify sharp bounds on these parameters. The bounds are functionals of the population distribution of the available data and do not rely on untestable assumptions about the process through which data become incomplete. They contain all logically possible values of the population parameters. Moreover, every parameter value within the bounds is consistent with some model of the process that generates incomplete data. The bounds can be estimated consistently by replacing the population distribution of the data with the empirical distribution in the functionals that give the bounds. In practice, this is straightforward in some circumstances but computationally bur- densome in others; in general, the bounds are the solutions to non-convex mathematical programming problems that can be difficult to solve. Horowitz and Manski (Censoring of Outcomes and Regressors Due to Survey Nonresponse: Identification and Estimation Using Weights and Imputations, Journal of Econometrics 84 (1998), pp. 37-58; Nonparametric Analysis of Randomized Experiments with Missing Covariate and Outcome Data, Journal of the American Statistical Association 95 (2000), pp. 77-84) studied nonparametric mean regression with missing data. In this paper, we first describe the general problem. We then present new findings on the computation of bounds on best linear predictors under square loss. We describe a genetic algorithm to compute sharp bounds and a min- imax approach yielding simple but non-sharp outer bounds. We use actual data to demonstrate the computations.

This work proves that inferences on parameter vectors based on moment inequalities typically used in linear models with outcome censoring are sharp, i.e., they exhaust all the information in the data and the model. This holds for fixed and randomly censored linear models under median independence where the censoring can be endogenous.

This paper analyzes the identification question in censored panel data models, where the censoring can depend on both observable and unobservable variables in arbitrary ways. Under some general conditions, we derive the tightest sets on the parameter of interest. These sets (which can be singletons) represent the limit of what one can learn about the parameter of interest given the model and the data in that every parameter that belongs to these sets is observationally equivalent to the true parameter. We consider two separate sets of assumptions, motivated by the previous literature, each controlling for unobserved heterogeneity with an individual specific (fixed) effect. The first imposes a stationarity assumption on the unobserved disturbance terms, along the lines of Manski (1987), and Honor ́e (1993). The second is a nonstationary model that imposes a conditional independence assumption. For both models, we provide sufficient conditions for these models to point identify the parameters. Since our identified sets are defined through parameters that obey first order dominance, we outline easily implementable approaches to build confidence regions based on recent advances in Linton et.al.(2010) on bootstrapping tests of stochastic dominance. We also extend our results to dynamic versions of the censored panel models in which we consider lagged observed, latent dependent variables and lagged censoring indicator variables as regressors.