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This article covers the topics of volunteer movement, its social essence and significance in the modern world, as well as the shifts in its concept as a response to global social and cultural changes in the 21th century. This study is conducted using historical data and current experience of the volunteer movement in Germany. The goal of this article is to define the organizational specifics and nature of modern volunteering, based on the present-day reality and its most significant global challenges, as well as to summarise the latest experiences of volunteer movement in Germany associated with the forced mass migration of Ukrainian refugees. The results of the study made it possible to outline some guidelines for the non-governmental organisations that provide social support to vulnerable populations, in particular, people who have been exposed to a trauma caused by life-threatening events. To achieve the goal, such research methods as analysis and synthesis, generalisation, comparison, logical analysis method, survey, content analysis were used. Special attention has been paid to the support provided to refugees fleeing from countries where hostilities are taking place (on the example of refugees from Ukraine). The article uses data from special monitoring surveys of Ukrainian refugees conducted by the Institute for Economic Research (Germany), as well as the author’s own experience of volunteer work in Munich. In addition, as an illustration to the topic, the results of a small online survey of Ukrainian refugees are presented. The participants of the survey were women who were forced to leave Ukraine for Germany due to hostilities and received support from volunteers — the owners of local hotel businesses. The source of data on the number and composition of volunteers in Germany is a survey that has been carried out every 5 years since 1999. The 2019 study covered 27.7 thousand people aged 14 years and older. Based on the data, it was possible to draw conclusions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the modern volunteering movement in Germany, as well as provide practical guidelines, which are primarily aimed at improving the effectiveness of volunteer work. In particular, the authors have identified the main features of modern transformations of volunteering. These transformations are characterized by transition from associative, unstructured forms to well-organized and highly specialized ones. The changes also affected the motivational characteristics of volunteers — the transition from altruism to pragmatism. One of the conclusions of the study is the identification of conflicting assessments of such changes: along with an increase in the effectiveness of volunteer work, its complication and excessive bureaucratization are observed. As a result, a negative attitude towards such work may be formed. The conclusions of this article can be useful for increasing the effectiveness of volunteer organizations in other countries, as well as scaling up experience through greater specialization, increasing the professional level of volunteers, and expanding activities.

The purpose of the study was to substantiate and develop the improved model of the specialized nephrology care for the children with infectious inflammatory diseases of the urinary system at the regional level. Materials and methods. The official statistical data have been studied (reports on the state of medical care for children in the Chernivtsi region and data from the Center of medical statistics of the Ministry of Healthcare from 2006 to 2017), information-analytical and statistical methods have been used. The modern etiological structure of uropathogens – urinary tract infection pathogens among the children of the Chernivtsi region (2009-2016) was studied. Clinical and laboratory examination of 3,089 children (0-17 years old) was conducted in the region; the regional spectrum of sensitivity to antibacterial drugs was determined among the main groups of urinary tract infection pathogens; their age, gender and administrative-territorial differences among the children's population of the region are analyzed. Results and discussion. During 2012-2017 there was a significant increase (by 23.0%) in the incidence of infectious and inflammatory groups of the urinary system diseases among children of 0-14 years old, while among adolescents there was simultaneously an intensive decrease in indicators (by 40.0%) compared to 8.7% in 2006-2011. The ratio of indicators and their dynamics suggests that the growth of sick adolescents is largely due to the insufficient effectiveness of medical care, while children of 0-14 years old is due to their low and insufficient prevention. The data formed the foundation for substantiation and development of an improved functional-organizational model of the system. In addition to the existing and functionally changed elements the model contains new elements: regional/inter-regional center of specialized medical aid for children with infectious-inflammatory diseases of the urinary system. Conclusion. Implementation of the elements of the suggested improved model in a part of a rational approach in distribution of functions concerning medical observation of patients at the stages of providing medical aid enabled to make the period of hospitalization of nephrological patients by 11.40% shorter and an average period of treatment of patients with infectious-inflammatory diseases of the urinary system by 2.93% shorter. Efficiency of implementation of certain elements of the suggested model with its positive evaluation by independent experts and its compliance with the strategy of branch reforms enables to recommend the improved functional-organization model of providing medical aid for children with infectious-inflammatory diseases of the urinary system at the regional level to be introduced into the health care system of Ukraine

Oxygen deficiency is one of the key pathogenetic factors determining development and severity of many diseases, including inflammatory, infectious diseases, and cancer. Lack of oxygen activates the signaling pathway of the hypoxia-inducible transcription factor HIF in cells that has three isoforms, HIF-1, HIF-2, HIF-3, regulating expression of several thousand genes. Throughout tumor progression, HIF activation stimulates angiogenesis, promotes changes in cell metabolism, adhesion, invasiveness, and ability to metastasize. HIF isoforms can play opposite roles in the development of inflammatory and neoplastic processes. Humans and laboratory animals differ both in tolerance to hypoxia and in the levels of expression of HIF and HIF-dependent genes, which may lead to predisposition to the development of certain oncological disorders. In particular, the ratio of different histogenetic types of tumors may vary among people living in the mountains and at the sea level. However, despite the key role of hypoxia at almost all stages of tumor development, basal tolerance to oxygen deficiency is not considered as a factor of predisposition to the tumor growth initiation. In literature, there are many works characterizing the level of local hypoxia in various tumors, and suggesting fundamental approaches to its mitigation by HIF inhibition. HIF inhibitors, as a rule, have a systemic effect on the organism, however, basal tolerance of an organism to hypoxia as well as the level of HIF expression are not taken into account in the process of their use. The review summarizes the literature data on different HIF isoforms and their role in tumor progression, with extrapolation to organisms with high and low tolerance to hypoxia, as well as on the prevalence of various types of tumors in the populations living at high altitudes.

There are individual differences in the tolerance to hypoxia and stress. Stress can contribute to the development of various diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. It was found that inflammatory bowel diseases in animals susceptible to hypoxia runs more severe course than in tolerant animals. We studied morphofunctional changes in the colon under conditions of modeled cold stress in male C57BL/6 mice susceptible and tolerant to hypoxia. The animals were daily subjected to cold stress (20 min at -20°C) for 2 weeks. Cold stress was followed by an increase in the volume fraction of goblet cells in the colon and production of mucins by these cells in mice tolerant to hypoxia and an increase in cell content in the lamina propria of the colon mucous membrane in animals susceptible to hypoxia. The number of serotoninproducing endocrine cells increased in both groups, but these changes were more pronounced in mice susceptible to hypoxia.

The relevance of this study is due to the desire to propose one of the criteria that contributes to improving the effective communication with a patient: analyzing and interpreting patient’s emotional speech. The aim of this paper is to consider the usage features of figurative and expressive means in a patient’s speech which may characterize both the sick state and his attitude to health problems. To achieve this aim the following methods are used in the paper: distributive, contextual, semantic and stylistic methods. The material for analysis is the patent’s phrases taken from the various sources: real and designed for classes communication situations, mass media, teaching aids and science articles on the medical discourse. A patient is an equal partner in the communication with a doctor that is why the consideration of linguistic and paralinguistic factors influencing the patient’s choice of speech means is no less important. When studying the patient’s speech expressive means can be distinguished at all levels of the language: phonetic, morphemic, lexical and grammatical. Doctor’s understanding the explication of the patient’s intentions and analyzing the patient’s speech expressive means contribute to correct interpreting the patient’s story about himself and his state of health. We believe that the patient’s thinking creativity being expressed in using the emotional means is due to, on the one hand, his inability to describe internal pain sensations properly in detail. On the other hand, in the situation of a strong pain it is due to the patient’s desire to quickly find the right metaphor or other means to express his thought by a non-standard way that implies more emotionally and thus increases the function of influencing the interlocutor and creates more positive emotional background in communication with a doctor.

We studied the dynamic of proliferative activity of cultured mouse transformed fibroblast-like L-929 cells in the logarithmic growth phase. During a long period (December 5-23, 2020), we revealed a 4-day rhythm of daily increase in the number of L-929 cells with an amplitude not lower than in a culture of embryonic fibroblast-like cells. Hence, the formation of the 4-day rhythm is not associated with the molecular mechanisms of inhibition of proliferation, which are absent in transformed cells. Daily thawing of samples of one culture over 17 days showed the presence of a 4-day rhythm synchronous between all thawed samples and the control cell culture. As deep freezing leads to the cessation of all life processes in cells, the formation of a 4-day rhythm of proliferative activity of cell culture is determined by an exogenous mechanism.

Introduction. Doxorubicin (Dox) in the composition of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid, 50:50) (PLGA) – nanoparticles has high antitumor efficacy in rats with glioblastoma 101.8. However, the toxic effect of Dox-PLGA is not well understood. The aim of the study was morphological and biochemical evaluation of the hepatotoxic and cardiotoxic effects of doxorubicin and Dox-PLGA in the glioblastoma 101.8 treat-ment in Wistar rats. Materials and methods. The study was performed on 24 male Wistar rats with glioblastoma: no treatment (n=7), treated with doxorubicin (n=9) or Dox-PLGA (n=8) intravenously at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg on days 2, 5 and 8 after tumor implantation. On the 14th day of the experiment, morphological changes in the myocardium and liver were examined. Hematological and biochemical blood tests were performed. Results.When treating rats with experimental glioblastoma 101.8, Dox-PLGA in comparison with doxorubicin has less pronounced cardiotoxic and hepatotoxic effects according to the morphological, hematological and biochemical tests. Inflammatory changes in the myocardium of the animals treated with Dox-PLGA were less pronounced and widespread than the ones treated with doxorubicin. The activities of total and cardiac creatine phosphokinase (CPK) isoforms and AST were statistically significantly lower in Dox-PLGA group than in animals with glioblastoma without treatment and receiving doxorubicin. The hepatotoxic effects of Dox-PLGA were minimal. Unlike animals treated with doxorubicin, they had mild hepatocyte dystrophy. ALT activity in all groups did not differ from the reference values. Conclusion. Compared with doxorubicin, the nanosomal form of Dox-PLGA in the experimental glioblas-toma 101.8 treatment has less pronounced cardio- and hepatotoxic effects. Keywords: rat glioblastoma 101.8, doxorubicin, PLGA-nanoparticles, toxic effect, liver, myocardium, morphology, biochemistry

The morphological and functional peculiarities of the immune system are studied in adult male and female Wistar rats with high and low hypoxic resistance. Sex-specific differences in the subpopulation composition of the peripheral blood lymphocytes, not depending on the hypoxic resistance of animals, are detected: the males have lower absolute counts of T helpers and higher percentage of regulatory T cells than the females in the diestrus phase. Comparison of the morphofunctional status of the immune system in male and female (diestrus) rats with high resistance to hypoxia has shown a better developed subcapsular zone of the thymus, higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β, and lower absolute counts of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood in the males. Males with low hypoxic resistance have higher counts of phase II thymic bodies in comparison with low-resistant females. Hence, morphofunctional differences in the immune system of male and female rats with different hypoxic resistance are detected, which can determine the course of inflammatory diseases.

We prove the Grothendieck conjecture on invariant cycles for an Abelian scheme over a smooth connected complex algebraic curve and the Tate conjecture for codimension r algebraic cycles on an Abelian variety over a number field. Bibliography: 18 titles.

Morphological, morphometric, and ultrastructural analysis of the nerve fibers in the colon mucosa was performed in C57BL/6 mice at various terms of development of acute colitis induced by dextran sodium sulphate. The nerve fibers were labeled with antibodies to pan-neuronal marker βIII-tubulin. The progression of inflammatory and ulcerative processes in the mucosa on days 3-5 was associated with hyperplasia and hypertrophy of nerve fibers that peaked on day 7 after colitis induction. Ultrastructural analysis at all terms of colitis development showed moderate degeneration of axons. Thus, hypertrophy and hyperplasia of the nervous fibers in colon mucosa in experimental acute colitis correlated with aggravation of the ulcerative process in the mucosa. These changes are determined by alteration of histoarchitectonics and regenerative processes in the mucosa.

We studied morphological changes in the prostate ventral lobe, proliferative activity of the epithelium in prostate acini, and the levels of prolactin and prostate-specific antigen in the blood serum of Sprague-Dawley rats after repeated injections of sulpiride in a dose of 40 mg/ kg over 30 and 60 days and in 10 and 30 days after withdrawal. Morphological and morphometrical analysis of hyperplastic changes in the prostate ventral lobe was performed. Ki-67+ proliferating epithelial cells in the acini were counted. The dynamics of serum concentrations of prolactin and prostate-specific antigen was evaluated by ELISA. Morphological and morphometrical analysis and evaluation of the content of Ki-67+ cells demonstrated epithelium hyperplasia in the prostate ventral lobe after sulpiride treatment for 30 or 60 days and in 10 days after withdrawal, but serum level of prostate-specific antigen did not differ from the control. After 60-day sulpiride treatment and in 30 days after withdrawal, pronounced hyperplastic changes of prostate and elevated concentrations of prostate-specific antigen (but not prolactin) were observed. Thus, administration of sulpiride (40 mg/kg) to Sprague-Dawley rats for 60 days allows, by morphological criteria and serum level of prostate-specific antigen, to model stable hyperplastic changes in the prostate corresponding to benign prostatic hyperplasia in humans.

Introduction. Stress is one of the factors contributing to the gastrointestinal tract diseases development and exacerbating the course of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The cold factor is the most common stress factor in Russia. Therefore, the aim of our work was to characterize the immune responses and colon morphological and functional changes during cold stress in male and female C57BL/6 mice. Materials and methods. We studied alterations in the subpopulation composition of peripheral blood lymphocytes and morphofunctional changes in the thymus, spleen, and colon in response to a course intermittent cold exposure during 35-minute sessions for 14 days at –20° in adult male and female C57BL/6 mice. Results. The volume fraction of the PALS zone of the spleen and the content of endocrine cells in the colon decreased in animals of both sexes in the cold stress conditions. In females, the number of platelets and leukocytes in the peripheral blood increased, the width of the subcapsular zone of the thymus decreased, and the volume fraction of the red spleen pulp increased. In males, in the peripheral blood, the absolute and relative content of T-regulatory lymphocytes decreased, and the relative content of activated T-helpers increased, the volume fraction of the light centers of lymphoid nodules in the spleen decreased, the length of the crypts increased in the colon. A number of differences between males and females of control groups were also revealed: in the peripheral blood, males had more platelets and the absolute content of T-regulatory lymphocytes and less absolute content of T-cytotoxic. In the colon of males, the content of proliferating epithelial cells in the colon was higher than the one in females, and the bulk density of goblet cells was lower in males. Conclusion. Under the cold stress factor exposure in animals, physiological stress develops. Immune reactions and colon morphofunctional changes in the colon during cold stress differ between males and females. Keywords:cold stress, sex differences, colon, immune system

Western blot analysis is used for evaluation of the level of proteins production in organs and tissues, and housekeeping proteins GAPDH, actin, and tubulin are usually used as the reference proteins. The signal of the target protein is normalized to the corresponding signal of the reference protein. The data on the intensity of actin, tubulin, and GAPDH synthesis are fragmentary: their expression differs in different organs and can vary depending on age, which is often not taken into account in experimental studies. We studied the features of the production of reference proteins in the liver, heart, brain, and lungs of newborn, prepubertal, and adult male Wistar rats. Age-related differences in the expression of β-actin, β-tubulin, and GAPDH in the myocardium and dorsal prefrontal cortex were revealed. GAPDH expression in the dorsal prefrontal cortex in adult rats was significantly higher than in prepubertal rats; GAPDH expression in the myocardium of adult rats was significantly higher than in newborns. The level of actin in the dorsal prefrontal cortex in newborn rats was significantly higher than in prepubertal and adult rats. In the liver and lungs, the expression of actin, tubulin, and GAPDH did not differ in newborn, prepubertal, and adult rats. When choosing the reference protein for Western blotting, animals age and the studied organ should be taken into account.

Hypoxia tolerance of the organism depends on many factors, including age. High newborn organisms tolerance and high level of oxidative stress throughout aging were demonstrated by many studies. However, there is lack of investigations reflecting the expression of key hypoxia-inducible factor HIF in different age organisms in correlation to levels of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Liver is a sensitive to hypoxia organ, and is an important organ in providing an acute reaction to infections – it synthesizes acute inflammation phase proteins, in particular, C-reactive protein. The aim of study was to determine relationship between age-related tolerance to hypoxia and HIF-1 and PHD2 (prolyl hydroxylase domain protein) expression levels in the liver and the production of cytokines in the spleen in newborn, prepubertal and adult Wistar rats. Newborn rats are characterized by high mRNA Hif-1α expression level in the liver, accompanied by a low content of HIF-1 protein and high level of PHD2. The growth in HIF-1α protein level throughout age is accompanied by the growth of pro-inflammatory cytokines level. Prepubertal animals are the least hypoxia resistant and their HIF-1α mRNA expression level was higher than in adult animals. The PHD2 activity in prepubertal animals was significantly reduced in comparison to newborn rats, and the HIF-1α protein level did not change. Further studies require the identification of additional mechanisms, determining the regulation of the HIF-1α level in prepubertal animals., Hypoxia tolerance, HIF-1, PHD2, Age-related differences, Newborn, Prepubertal age.

We studied the dynamics of the body temperature in mature male Wistar rats maintained under condition of constant illumination. It was shown that body temperature under these conditions varied with a 3-5-h period. The daily dynamics of body temperature summed up over 20-23-day intervals showed a 4-h ultradian rhythm with maxima at 3.35-4.30, 7.35-8.30, 11.35-12.30, 15.35-16.30, 19.35-20.30, and 23.35-00.30 h. During these hours, pronounced (>0.9°C) increase in body temperature was observed by 1.6 times more often than in other eriods. Thus, there are periods during the day when the increase in body temperature in rats in the absence of light cues occurs more often than in other periods of the day. Hence, about 4-h ultradian rhythm of body temperature has an external synchronizer that differs from lighting conditions.

Hypoxia tolerance and the intensity of systemic inflammatory response during endotoxemia were examined in newborn, prepubertal, and mature Wistar rats. To assess the sensitivity to hypoxia, the rats were placed into a pressure chamber simulating an altitude of 11,500 m. The systemic inflammatory response was provoked by intraperitoneal injection of LPS from E. coli O26:B6. Serum concentrations of HIF-1α, neopterin, C-reactive protein, and endotoxin were measured. In histological sections of the liver, the area of necrosis was assessed. The smallest tolerance of the prepubertal males to hypoxia correlated with the greatest manifestations of hepatic inflammation and elevated endotoxin, neopterin, and C-reactive protein. Elevation of serum HIF-1α in 3 h after LPC injection was observed in only prepubertal rats. The data obtained should be taken into account during the development of therapeutic strategy for prepubertal children with infectious and inflammatory diseases.

Purpose The aim of the study was to characterize the severity of the systemic inflammatory response induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in animals with different resistance levels to hypoxia. Materials and methods Two to three months old male Wistar rats (220-240 g) were divided according to hypoxia tolerance in a hypobaric chamber. After a month, they were injected intraperitoneally with Escherichia coli LPS at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg. After 3, 6 and 24 hours of LPS injection, we studied the levels of IL-1β, C-reactive protein (CRP) and TGF-β in the serum, the expression of Hif-1α and Nf-kb in the liver, morphological disorders in the lung and ex vivo production of IL-10 by splenic cells activated by ConA. Results In the early periods after the injection of LPS, increase in Nf-kb expression in the liver was observed only in the rats susceptible to hypoxia. After 6 hours of LPS injection, the number of neutrophils in the interalveolar septa of the lungs of rats susceptible to hypoxia was higher than in tolerant rats. This points to the development of more pronounced LPS-induced inflammation in the rats susceptible to hypoxia and is accompanied by increased expression of Hif-1α in the liver after 6 hours of LPS administration, serum IL-1β level after 3 hours and CRP level after 24 hours. The production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 by the spleen was significantly decreased after 6 hours of LPS injection only in the animals tolerant to hypoxia. After 24 hours of LPS injection, a significant decrease in serum TGF-β level occurred in the rats tolerant to hypoxia in comparison with the control group, which improved the survival rates of the animals. Conclusion We have demonstrated the differences in the severity of the LPS-induced inflammatory response in male Wistar rats with different resistance levels to hypoxia. Rats susceptible to hypoxia are characterized by a more pronounced inflammatory response induced by LPS.

There are individual differences in the tolerance to hypoxia and stress. Stress can contribute to the development of various diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. It was found that inflammatory bowel diseases in animals susceptible to hypoxia runs more severe course than in tolerant animals. We studied morphofunctional changes in the colon under conditions of modeled cold stress in male C57BL/6 mice susceptible and tolerant to hypoxia. The animals were daily subjected to cold stress (20 min at -20°C) for 2 weeks. Cold stress was followed by an increase in the volume fraction of goblet cells in the colon and production of mucins by these cells in mice tolerant to hypoxia and an increase in cell content in the lamina propria of the colon mucous membrane in animals susceptible to hypoxia. The number of serotoninproducing endocrine cells increased in both groups, but these changes were more pronounced in mice susceptible to hypoxia.

Hypoxia plays an important role in the development of many infectious, inflammatory, and tumor diseases. The predisposition to such disorders is mostly provided by differences in basic tolerance to oxygen deficiency, which we discuss in this review. Except the direct exposure of different-severity hypoxia in decompression chambers or in highland conditions, there are no alternative methods for determining organism tolerance. Due to the variability of the detection methods, differences in many parameters between tolerant and susceptible organisms are still not well-characterized, but some of them can serve as biomarkers of susceptibility to hypoxia. At the moment, several potential biomarkers in conditions after hypoxic exposure have been identified both in experimental animals and humans. The main potential biomarkers are Hypoxia-Inducible Factor (HIF)-1, Heat-Shock Protein 70 (HSP70), and NO. Due to the different mechanisms of various high-altitude diseases, biomarkers may not be highly specific and universal. Therefore, it is extremely important to conduct research on hypoxia susceptibility biomarkers. Moreover, it is important to develop a method for the evaluation of organisms’ basic hypoxia tolerance without the necessity of any oxygen deficiency exposure. This can contribute to new personalized medicine approaches’ development for diagnostics and the treatment of inflammatory and tumor diseases, taking into account hypoxia tolerance differences.

It is a common fact, that the content of sex hormones in humans and animals varies in different age periods. The functional state of the immune system also changes with age. However, sex differences studies of inflammatory and immune responses during puberty prevail in literature. Investigation of immune responses to LPS peculiarities in prepubertal females and males may contribute to the development of more effective immunotherapy and minimize side effects of children vaccination. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the LPS-induced SIRS sex differences in prepubertal Wistar rats. Despite the absence of sex differences in estradiol and testosterone levels, LPS-induced inflammatory changes in liver and lungs are more pronounced among males. Males demonstrate the increasing neopterin, corticosterone levels and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity. Not less important is that in females, demonstrating less morphological changes in liver and lungs, endotoxin level is tenfold higher, and corticosterone level decreases. Thus, endotoxin cannot be used as a marker of the severity of multiple organ failure in prepubertal period. The LPS-induced immune reactions in females and males are similar and are characterized by immunosuppression. Both females and males have decreased production of cytokines (IL-2, IL-4, TNF-α, TGF-β) and the absolute number of CD3 + and CD3 + CD8 + lymphocytes in blood. The acute atrophy of thymus and apoptosis of thymic cells are revealed in animals of both sexes. However, the number of CD3 + CD4 + T-helpers and CD4 + CD25 + Foxp3 + T-cells decreases only in females with SIRS, and in males there was a decrease of CD45R + B-cells. The least expressed sex differences in immune responses in the prepubertal period can be determined by the low levels of sex steroids and the absence of their immunomodulatory effect. Further studies require the identification of mechanisms, determining the sex differences in the inflammatory and immune responses in prepubertal animals.