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The article presents a discussion about the article by Doctor of Economics, professor Andrei Evgenievich Busygin on the problem of the evolution of higher education in Russia since Soviet times, organized by the editorial board of the journal. In connection with the possible turn of the Russian higher education system from the Bologna process to the more familiar Soviet system, it is important to think over and evaluate the possible risks, pros and cons with a historical digression into this problem. Now the topic of the development of the higher education system is relevant and in demand, it is especially acute for the younger generation and representatives of higher education

BACKGROUND: In HIV-discordant couples, questions often arise about the possibility of having a child. Under current conditions, with the availability of antiretroviral therapy, such couples can have healthy children, subject to specific requirements. No approved algorithm exists for examining and monitoring of pregnant women in contact with HIV infection. AIM: This study uses a team approach that comprises specialists from medical organizations to monitor discordant couples in which the man is HIV positive, and the woman is HIV negative at any stage of pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted from 2018 to 2021 from medical records of 158 discordant couples in which the man is HIV positive and the woman is HIV negative. The detection results of HIV infection were evaluated by detecting HIV antibodies, HIV DNA/RNA in healthy pregnant women and CD4 lymphocytes, and HIV RNA in HIV-infected sexual partners. Safety measures were observed for medical personnel and the patient during medical interventions. RESULTS: Discordant couples under observation were divided into 2 groups and totaled 158 couples. They included 69 (43.3%) couples who were observed at the Center for AIDS and were planning a pregnancy and 89 couples (52.9%) who first applied to the medical organization about a pregnancy that had already occurred. In the first group, sexual partners were on antiretroviral treatment until the wife became pregnant, and the viral load was undetectable. In 100% of cases, there was no HIV transmission to a woman in this group during pregnancy. In the second group, 52 (58.4%) HIV-infected sexual partners and 37 (42.5%) couples not receiving antiretroviral therapy received antiretroviral therapy. In the second group of discordant couples, HIV transmission was 1.1% (1 woman). CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to develop, approve, and implement an algorithm that includes monitoring discordant couples from the moment they are registered, examining the sexual partners of pregnant women in 100% of cases, and developing a team approach to monitor pregnant women.

Objective: Long-standing gastroesophageal reflux disease is the most common cause of a cicatricial stricture of the esophagus. The treatment of this pathology involves a wide range of methods including conservative and surgical options. Surgeons can encounter technical difficulties in case of concomitant neck and chest pathology.Clinical case: We report a case of a decompensated cicatricial stricture of the esophagus with concomitant paraesophageal hiatal hernia, refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease, and nontoxic multinodular goiter (166.9 cm3). Selecting the optimal management for such patients is often a challenge. Staged treatment significantly improves postoperative quality of life, but the increased length of hospital stay can negatively impact patient compliance.

BACKGROUND: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated severe immunosuppression, high viral load, non-HIV-related comorbidities and conditions, and lack of antiretroviral therapy may exacerbate the clinical course of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). AIM: To assess the effect of HIV infection on the clinical course of COVID-19, disease severity, and its outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 35,328 patients who had COVID-19 in 2020 were analyzed, including 46 cases of COVID-19 in individuals with HIV infection. Clinical variants and COVID-19 severity, frequency of COVID-19 detection by polymerase chain reaction, CD4 lymphocyte count, viral load in individuals with HIV infection, and mortality rates were assessed. RESULTS: In 76% of patients with coinfection, signs of HIV infection progression, opportunistic infections, and concomitant diseases were noted. Moreover, 52.2% of the patients analyzed were users of psychoactive substances. Among patients with HIV and COVID-19, men predominated in groups aged 30 years, whereas among the HIV-negative population, women were predominant in groups aged 18 years. The proportion of severe COVID-19 in individuals with HIV infection (47.8%) exceeds that in the group without HIV (12.3%). The mortality rate from COVID-19 in the HIV-infected group was more than seven times higher than that in the HIV-negative group (t=1.81; p=0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In the HIV-infected group, extremely severe COVID-19 was more common. Weakness, cough, shortness of breath, and myalgia were significantly more common in the HIV-infected group. Moreover, the HIV-infected group with an undetectable viral load and adequate CD4 lymphocyte count in the blood was exposed to the same risks of the disease and its progression as the HIV-negative group.

The round table is devoted to the discussion on a wide range of problems related to new challenges and prospects for the development of modern society. These are the challenges of global instability, bio- and cybersecurity, pandemic problems, digitalisation, which all lead the world to large-scale crises: economic, environmental, anthropological, etc. In the conditions of global instability, there is a rise of connections and interactions that fix new social changes, some other integrity, and the crisis of the technogenic civilisation. In this case, modernity is perceived not as a completed project, but as a process of updating social reality, a person’s ideas about society. It includes the main aspects of human relations to the world, and opens up a great civilisational diversity, which only grows with time. The catalysts of change on the way to a new modernity are values that reflect changes in life meanings under the influence of social life. Constantly emerging new risks and challenges motivate the reset of values that are tested in the depths of culture and only after that become ideals for imitation and reproduction. Currently, there is another change of milestones. Modernity imposes its own requirements on the processes taking place in society, and largely determines the course of global evolution as the path of ascent of complex systems to higher levels of organisation and complexity.

All available data about the digger wasp genus Chilosphex Menke in Bohart and Menke, 1976 is summarized. The melanistic form of Ch. argyrius (Brullé, 1833) from North Caucasus (Dagestan) is recorded and illustrated. Chilosphex pseudargyrius (Roth in de Beaumont, 1967) is newly recorded from Iran and Ch. argyrius from Bulgaria. A key to both species is provided.

Background. Acute mesenteric thrombosis (AMT) is a condition that develops with thrombosis in the vessels of the mesenteric pool, which causes hypoperfusion of the intestinal wall and leads to secondary inflammatory changes. Mortality in OMT is 80–85 %. Early diagnosis of OMT is difficult due to the lack of specific clinical signs and laboratory markers.Objective. To identify preoperative risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in OMT.Design and Methods. A single-center retrospective observational cohort study included 47 patients diagnosed with OMT. The following patient data were analyzed: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), assessment of the patients’ condition according to the SOFA, APACHE II, EuroSCORE scales. Various laboratory parameters in the preoperative and postoperative periods were analyzed.Results. The incidence of oncological diseases and history of acute cerebrovascular accident (ACV) were significantly higher in the group of lethal outcomes of OMT than in the group of surviving patients. The correlation of higher serum levels of lactate, D-dimer, creatinine, leukocytosis and procalcitonin in the preoperative period with the development of an unfavorable clinical outcome was revealed.Conclusion. The main risk factors for the development of an unfavorable clinical outcome of mesenteric thrombosis in patients are the presence of malignant neoplasms, a history of stroke, a high level of mixed venous blood lactate, creatinine, D-dimers, procalcitonin, leukocytosis in the preoperative period.

The article is devoted to the review of vaccines against new coronavirus infection in the world and Russia. Vaccination is an affordable and cost-effective way to reduce morbidity and mortality from COVID-19. The importance of vaccination is beyond doubt and is a method of creating active artificial immunity based on the formed immunological memory to an infectious agent. Conventionally, vaccines can be divided into two groups: classical (recombinant, peptide and virusinactivated), and gene vaccines (vector and mRNA vaccines). Classical vaccines are based on the introduction of ready-made antigens into the body, which can be purified viral proteins, fragments of viral proteins (peptides) or whole inactivated (killed) viral particles. Inactivated whole-virion vaccines contain a weakened or inactivated virus that promotes the development of antiviral immunity. Subunit vaccines contain only surface antigens (specific fragments subunits), which reduces the amount of protein in the vaccine and thereby reduces its allergenicity. Vector vaccines use safe viruses that are unable to reproduce in the human body (vectors), in which a gene is embedded ― a small section of the coronavirus genome. Vector vaccines effectively cause a cellular and humoral immune response, since the vector, entering the cell, is perceived by the body as a viral infection. Gene vaccines differ significantly from classical ones and produce an immune response at the gene level, since they contain not the virus or protein itself, but the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. An RNA-based vaccine delivers a specific set of instructions to the bodys cells for the synthesis of a specific protein, to which the bodys immune system must give an immune response. The criterion for the effectiveness of the vaccine is the immune response that it creates. The more pronounced and stable it is, the higher the protection against infection. So far, no drugs have been developed that have 100% protection against infection, since the immune response depends on numerous reasons, including individual characteristics of the body, general health, age, etc. At the present stage, the tasks of vaccination are complicated by such factors of the epidemiological process as the emergence of new highly pathogenic strains of coronavirus.

Amiodarone is a drug used in the treatment of life-threatening arrhythmias, which can lead to the development of amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis. In most cases this pathology can be treated by conservative methods; surgical treatment is resorted to in cases of thyrotoxicosis refractory to medical treatment. This case report describes surgical treatment of a patient with amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis, progressive heart failure, neurological pathology, bilateral pneumonia, functioning tracheostomy, systemic infectious process, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, who was treated in the intensive care unit. Due to the lack of response to therapy with antithyroid drugs (thiamazole, lithium preparations and pulse therapy with prednisolone) and a progressive deterioration of the condition in a short period of time, according to vital indicators, the patient underwent thyroidectomy. In the postoperative period, there was a decrease in the occurrence of chronic heart failure symptoms. Medical control of cardiac arrhythmias was achieved. Surgical stage proceeded without complications in the period of 30-days. The patient was discharged for outpatient rehabilitation treatment.

The article discusses topical problems of social development, in which context modernity evolves as a challenge, and the emergence of new forms is accompanied by a reset of values. The post-Soviet society turns to national foundations, traditions, historical experience, ideals, and values tested in national culture. The Western-type consumer society, which is now dominant in the world, was previously perceived as promising, and its ideals and values were presented as a role model, but nowadays, in public opinion, that society is not considered as a non-alternative model. The problems that arise during the implementation of the value orientations of the consumer society are becoming increasingly obvious. The universality of such a model of development for modernity is called into question, and evidence of its historical limitations appears. In addition, that type of organization of socio-economic and cultural life is not organic and does not imply continuity in the reset of values. Under the current conditions of global instability, connections and interactions emerge that form some new integrity. From a methodological point of view, it is important to analyze the mechanism and motives for choosing the future and the role of culture in that process. Obviously, in every time there is a need to define what modernity is and what is the role of values reset for that. Modernity does not arise as a completed project, but as a process of updating social reality, as a system of individual views on society and relations to the world; in emerging modernity, there is a growing diversity of values. The catalysts for transformations on the way to a new modernity are values that bring changes in life meanings under the influence of social life. Constantly emerging new risks and challenges demand the reset of values, which are tested on various levels of national culture and only after that become ideals for imitation and mass reproduction.

On the basis of computer modeling of the electro acoustic channel of a normal probe for a reflector in the form of a bottom surface, the influence of some typical forms and corresponding frequency spectra of the electric pulse of excitation of the piezoelectric plate on the characteristics of the frequency spectrum and pulse of the recorded echo signal is considered. Calculations of signals using an exciting pulse in the form of a voltage jump (step), in the form of half a sine wave and a rectangular shape have shown the feasibility of using rectangular pulses with a duration equal to half of the oscillation period at the nominal frequency of the probe. The maximum of the pulse envelope of the recorded bottom echo for the excitation pulse of a rectangular shape piezoelectric plate is approximately twice as high as the maximum of the envelope when the piezoelectric plate is excited by a pulse in the form of a jump and a quarter more than the maximum when excited by a semi sinusoidal pulse for the nominal frequencies of the probes 2.5 and 5.0 MHz.

The results of ultrasonic testing of metal before and after the operation of pipelines of thermal power plants are presented. Based on the metallographic analysis data, the frequency of ultrasonic waves was selected for research 10 and 15 MHz. It was found that the smallest effect of the surface roughness of the tested samples from the 12X1MF (Ra = 0.07…3.50 microns) was observed at a frequency of 15 MHz. It is shown that on the rough surface of samples Ra = 1.17…2.50 microns, the ratio of the amplitude of the 3rd bottom echo to the amplitude of the average noise level decreases to 17 dB at a frequency of 15 MHz with a metal operating time of 300 000 hours. The specified parameter is proposed to be used in metal structroscopy by ultrasonic method. It is shown that the shape of the pulse and its spectrum are subject to the greatest distortion at a frequency of ultrasonic waves equal to 15 MHz.

The concept of a multi-civilisational world, the philosophical foundations of which are set out in the new monograph of academician A. V. Smirnov «The logic of sense as a philosophy of mind» (2021). Historical experience and analysis of modern practice shows that a new multi-civilisational integrity will not work, as long as only the Western project is considered as the only possible perspective of modern civilisation, and its ideals and values are presented as a role model. At the same time, the implementation of the value orientations of the consumer society outside Europe generates new crises and contradictions, not fitting into the national and cultural characteristics of other countries. Therefore, the way out to the points of growth of a new civilisational integrity should be not found in the West at all, but should be explored in those cultures that have preserved the traditional soil under the influence of modernisation processes. The new civilisational world does not arise as a completed project; it grows out of the global dynamic chaos left over from the outgoing civilisation. The catalysts of civilisational changes on the way to a new integrity are values that carry changes in life meanings under the influence of social life. New risks and challenges faced by countries require timely and adequate changes. Recently, the world has faced global instability, adaptation to which has become a motive for the transition to a new model of civilisational development.

The computer simulation of acoustic сhannels of a tandem techniques on transverse waves (usual) and with transformation of radiated transverse waves in longitudinal on a upright oriented surface of the reflector such as a round flat bottom hole is conducted, during which one the calculations of echo signals for different stratification depths of the reflector, angles of probes and bases to apex are executed. For both methods the influencing on amplitude of a registered signal of a rule position of the reflector on depth of the control is established. The obtained formula of an acoustic сhannel of a tandem technique with transformation allows to conduct calculations of a echo signal at change of spacing interval from the reflector up to transmitting and receiving probes. It is showed, that at a ultrasonic probe technique of objects with a bottom surface without a cladding fused layer with usage of a tandem technique with transformation of transverse waves in longitudinal as contrasted to by usual scheme the tandem of advantages has no.If the bottom surface of object contacts to a cladding fused layer, the ultrasonic probe technique with usage of the scheme a tandem with transformation of transverse waves in longitudinal for the upright oriented planar reflector can be more sensing, than with usage of the usual scheme a tandem.

Based on computer modeling of the electro acoustic channel of a normal probe for a reflector in the form of a bottom surface, the influence of elements of the electrical circuits of the probe on the characteristics of the frequency spectrum and pulse of the recorded echo signal is considered. It is shown that the use of corrective inductance to compensate for the reactance of the piezoelectric probe plate provides an increase in the amplitude of the signal, and the parallel connection of the corrective inductance in the electrical circuits of the probe during transmission and reception has an advantage over serial connection. Examples of choosing the parameters of the elements of the electrical circuits of the probe to receive a signal with the highest amplitude are given. In general, the optimal choice of such parameters depends on the electrical impedance of the piezoelectric plate of the probe, taking into account the influence of the reverse piezoelectric effect.

The article considers the role of culture in the process of transition to a new civilisation. The author notes that the stable foundation of the future civilisation is formed in culture, based on the expertise of historical experience, traditions, value preferences, and national characteristics of the peoples living in countries. In conditions of increasing global instability, when it is not clear how to cope with crises, and where are the roots of new challenges and risks, it is essential to identify scenarios that lead to catastrophic consequences in order not to fall into these traps, or at least to see and minimise them. The answer to the new challenges of the time will certainly be found. It has already started forming in the culture, absorbing centuries-old experience of development, traditions and dominant values. The main function of culture is precisely to preserve in memory only that confirms the ideal image of the people. History can constantly return to the same plot in search of acceptable answers for each generation. And here an important feature of cultural identity is considered language as a code and a mechanism for cognition of reality. The building of a new ideal of civilisational development is fixed through the disclosure of a complex developing value system. In such a situation, culture is increasingly associated with the environment of preservation and possible transmission of spiritual civilisational heritage. Now it is impossible to say what a new system of values will be in a new civilisation, it is just emerging.

Based on analytical models, the dependence of the velocity and attenuation coefficient of the longitudinal ultrasonic wave in cast iron with globular graphite on the average size of graphite elements and its volume content is shown. Computer modeling of acoustic paths for a medium – cast iron with globular graphite for standard normal probes was carried out to assess the influence of such a medium on the characteristics of the transmitted and recorded signals during ultrasonic testing. Calculations of directivity characteristic of probes with normalization of each directivity characteristic to its maximum for steel and cast iron with globular graphite, a slight change in the width of the directivity characteristics due to the lower velocity of longitudinal waves in cast iron compared to steel. It is established that the amplitude of the bottom signal in cast iron with globular graphite can exceed its values for structural steel. Evaluation of the nonlinearity of attenuation for cast iron with globular graphite showed that it is very small. The features of DGS-diagrams for cast iron with globular graphite are noted, associated with higher attenuation of longitudinal waves than in steel, as well as with lower velocities of their propagation.

Formulas of acoustic channels of an angle dual probes of longitudinal waves for several models of reflectors – a spherical hole, a notch, an infinite strip, a round flat bottom hole etc. in a far field are given, allowing to carry out calculations of signals at change of position of probes on a surface of the control concerning reflectors. For reflectors as lateral side drilled hole and spherical hole definition of an angle of probe and an angle of a direction on a point of reflection in a plane of the control is carried out by the decision of system from two transcendental equations. In formulas of acoustic channels for angle reflectors at the account of easing of longitudinal waves at their reflection from flat surfaces method of prof. I. N. Ermolov is used.

With use of the analytical description of coefficient of reflection of a bottom signal from area of contact of a sample and the normal probe growing with increase of frequency of fluctuations transmitted and a registered longitudinal wave and thickness of a layer of a contact liquid, computer modeling spectra and pulses of signals of models of direct converters with frequencies 5; 7,5; 10 МГц for number of reflections from a ground surface from 1 up to 3 is carried out. It is established, that with growth of thickness of a layer of a contact liquid and frequency of the probe values of maxima of pulses of the second and third bottom signals concerning a maximum of the first bottom signal are increased. Comparison settlement for model and experimental values for the direct converter frequency 5 MHz (P111-5,0-K6-002) relative maxima of pulses of the second and third bottom signals has shown their provisional conformity for thickness of a layer of a contact liquid of 0,004 mm. The account of factor of reflection of a bottom signal from area of contact of a sample and the probe may be useful at calculation of amplitudes ground echo signals longitudinal waves for samples of metal with the purpose of increase of opportunities of correct interpretation of research by a ultrasonic method of its structure.

Type 2 diabetes prevalence is increasing dramatically worldwide. Conservative therapy doesn’t bring stable effect and is often insufficient, not to mention the lack of prospects to cure the disease. Fortunately, accumulating evidence points towards the notion that a complete remission of type 2 diabetes is feasible following a choice of surgical interventions. The efficacy of bariatric surgery in particular for achieving glycemic control has highlighted surgery as a candidate curative intervention for type 2 diabetes. When compared to intensive medical therapy and lifestyle intervention, metabolic surgery has shown superiority in achieving reducing number of medications and metabolic factors improvement, which translates in long-term benefits on diabetes progression and complications. Understanding factors that predict diabetes remission can help to select patients who will benefit most from bariatric surgery and to choose the most effective type of operation. This literature review analyzes studies of the most significant clinical and biochemical predictors of remission of type 2 diabetes mellitus after bariatric interventions, as well as highlights well-known mathematical prediction models.

The article considers the age-old path of development of sociology at the Belarusian State University (BSU). It is argued that the institutionalization of sociology on the territory of Belarus began with the opening of the Belarusian State University and the creation of the Department of Sociology and Primitive Culture (S. Z. Katzenbogen), where students were given lectures on genetic sociology, issues of labor, law, cultural history, and sociology of family and marriage. After the identification of historical materialism with sociology, the teaching of sociological disciplines was excluded from the curricula of BSU. Sociology revived in the 1960s with the creation of the Problematic Research Laboratory of Sociological Studies at the BSU (PRLSS–BSU) (first head – Prof. I. N. Lushchitsky). In its depths, as well as in the sector of applied sociology at the Department of Philosophy of the Humanities Faculties (Prof. G. P. Davidyuk), personnel were trained and the necessary conditions were created for the opening of the Department of Sociology and the Department of Sociology in 1989 (the first head of the department was Prof. A. N. Elsukov). Professor G. P. Davidyuk is rightfully considered the founder of modern Belarusian sociology. At present, at BSU, centuries-old traditions in the field of sociological science and education are being developed at the Center for Sociological and Political Researches (headed by Prof. D. G. Rotman) and at the Department of Sociology of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences (headed by Prof. A. N. Danilov).

The article examines the origins and philosophy of the development of sociology at the Belarusian State University (BSU), which has accumulated the wisdom and socio-political thought of Belarusian thinkers of the past, absorbed the research experience of previous generations. Since the beginning of the work of BSU in 1921, the Department of Sociology and Primitive Culture was created (S.Z. Katzenbogen). The course in genetic sociology, which was taught by Professor S.Z. Katzenbogen, to a greater extent resembled a kind of fusion of philosophical and sociological thought and primitive history, was unlike modern ideas about sociological science. This period did not last long. Soon repressions broke out, the Great Patriotic War, and the post-war reconstruction took place, which significantly delayed the development of sociology as an independent science. All this time, sociology functioned in the bosom of philosophical knowledge, where the convergence of meanings and meaningful mutual enrichment took place, the difficult process of accumulating theoretical, methodological and practical experience was going on. The rticle highlights the key role of BSU in institutionalization, development of sociological science and education in Belarus. The leader of the revival of sociology at BSU was Professor G.P. Davidyuk (1923–2020). Following the example of the Belarusian State University, in the 1960s–1970s, sociological structures were created in all the leading universities of the republic; the work of the applied sociology sector of BSU contributed to the development of factory sociology. In 1989, a sociological department and a department of sociology were opened, at the end of 1996, the Center for Sociological and Political Research was established. Since 1997, the scientific and theoretical Journal of BSU. Sociology, and in 2000 the Belarusian Sociological Society began to function, a branch of the Department of Sociology of the Belarusian State University was opened at the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The traditions of previous generations, laid down by the leaders of the Belarusian sociological school, are gradually being transformed, taking into account the development of scientific, technological and informational and communicative progress, revising curricula and training programs for modern sociologists.

The article identifies three stages in the development of sociology at BSU, reveals their content and features. It is argued that the institutionalisation of sociology on the territory of Belarus began with the opening of the Belarusian State University and the creation of the department of sociology and primitive culture, where students were given lectures on genetic sociology, issues of labour, law, cultural history, and sociology of family and marriage. After the identification of historical materialism with sociology, the teaching of sociological disciplines was excluded from the curricula of BSU. Sociology revived in the 1960s with the creation of the Problematic Research Laboratory of Sociological Studies at the BSU. In its depths, as well as in the sector of applied sociology at the department of philosophy of the humanities faculties, personnel were trained and the necessary conditions were created for the opening of the section of sociology and the department of sociology in 1989. Professor G. P. Davidyuk is rightfully considered to be the founder of modern Belarusian sociology. Currently, at BSU, centuries-old traditions in the field of sociological science and education are being developed at the Center for Sociological and Political Researches and at the department of sociology of the faculty of philosophy and social sciences. It is concluded that BSU is one of the leading universities in the post-Soviet space and it possesses everything necessary for its further development. Sociological science and scientific schools are actively developing at BSU. The university staff includes well-known specialists who provide the training of highly qualified personnel with competences to work in conditions of global instability and readiness to give an adequate respond to the new challenges of the time.

New experimental data on inelastic scattering of α-particles on 13C at E(α) = 65 MeV and 90 MeV with excitation of the $$1{\text{/}}2_{3}^{ - }$$ state are present. Data is analyzed using Modified diffraction model (MDM). Obtained rms radius of this state within errors coincides with the radius of the $$1{\text{/}}2_{2}^{ - }$$ 8.86 MeV state in 13C and the Hoyle state in 12C. This result is an argument for close structure of these states. Unusual result regarding compact state 3/2– 9.90 MeV in 13C was tested via consideration of its isobar-analog state (IAS) in 13N – 3/2– 9.48 MeV state. We found that these states have normal non-increased radius.

Algorithms have been presented for calculating the velocity (in the approximation of a fine-layered model) and the attenuation coefficient of a longitudinal ultrasonic wave in cast iron, depending on the average size of graphite elements and its volume content, the calculation results for which are qualitatively confirmed experimentally. The calculation was performed using a fine-layered model of the structure, the graphite inclusions were described in the form of plane-parallel layers placed in an isotropic elastic medium (metal base). Computer simulation of acoustic paths for a mediumcast iron with flake graphite for standard direct converters is carried out in order to study the influence of such a medium on the characteristics of transmitted and received signals during ultrasonic testing. In the course of the research, a previously developed model was used to calculate the attenuation coefficient of longitudinal waves in cast iron with flake graphite due to their Rayleigh and phase scattering on graphite inclusions. Computer simulation of the acoustic characteristics of the signals of a direct linear probe with a phased array in cast iron with flake graphite was carried out, during which the shape of the acoustic pulses of the longitudinal wave was calculated, depending on the distance traveled by the wave and the value of the attenuation coefficient for various models of cast iron. The main modeled characteristics of the transducer include the directivity characteristic and the change in the signal amplitude along the acoustic axis. It is shown that for cast iron with flake graphite, there are cases when the directivity of the probe with a phased array transmitted into the cast iron is practically absent.

An overview of the clinical observation of a patient with the consequences of severe traumatic brain injury, with a tracheoesophageal fistula is presented. The article discusses a staged multidisciplinary approach to treatment.

The results of the first stage of ultrasonic studies of the metal structure of pipelines of thermal power plants in operation are presented. The tests were carried out on metal of steel grades 15Kh1M1F and St20 with different operating life (operating time). The metal samples were subjected to metallographic analysis, the received data (the average grain size $$\bar {D},$$ the distribution variance $$\ln D{\kern 1pt} - {\kern 1pt} {{\sigma }_{D}}$$ ) was used for theoretical calculation of the parameters of ultrasonic pulses of the bottom signal in metal. Quantitative data were obtained on the effect of the thickness of the couplant layer (the gap) between the transducer and the test object at operating frequencies of 5.0, 7.5 and 10 MHz for various values of the average grain size in metal. Examples of calculated and experimental pulses and signal spectra for a frequency of 5 MHz are given.

The OBJECTIVE of the study was to analyze the experience of performing thyroidectomy (TE) in patients with amiodarone-induced thyrotoxicosis (AmIT) at our centre.METHODS AND MATERIALS. The study included 12 patients with AmIT who underwent TE. Medical records were analyzed to assess the features of the AmIT and indications for TE. We also studied the operation protocols and postoperative follow-up data. Intraoperative, early and long-term postoperative complications were recorded. The long-term TE results were evaluated by the dynamics of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) based on the echocardiography data.RESULTS. The main indications for TE included the resistance of thyrotoxicosis to medication and worsening of the cardiac pathology. No cases of thyrotoxicosis progression or thyrotoxic crisis were registered during the operation. The vocal cord paresis developed in one case, completely restored in a year. Blood loss was minimal in all cases. Other intraoperative complications were absent. Not a single death was registered in the early postoperative period. At this period, a short paroxysm of atrial fibrillation resolved on its own was registered in patient with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. A patient with biventricular chronic heart failure of a high functional class died 39 days after the operation due to a massive pulmonary thromboembolism. The long-term results of TE were evaluated in eight patients. In four out of five patients with initially reduced LVEF, it increased. In three patients with initially normal LVEF, it did not change.CONCLUSION. Thyroidectomy is an effective and safe treatment in patients with AmIT, including those with the persistent thyrotoxicosis and severe cardiac pathology. The success is possible when the preparation of patients for the intervention is carried out by a team of specialists experienced in treating of such patients.

The article deals with the specificity of philosophical knowledge, metaphysics as its semantic core and the problems of transforming modern humanitarian university education, which was developed in the work of Vladimir Mironov. V. V. Mironov is a well-known Russian scientist, doctor of philosophy, professor, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, dean of the faculty of philosophy of the Lomonosov Moscow State University. The author analyses current problems related to the role of philosophy in shaping the image of the future in modern culture, reforming university education, the consequences of introducing scientometric methods into the educational process, the readiness of higher education responding to the challenges of the times, global instability, commercialisation, digitalisation, etc. The scientific position of V. V. Mironov on topical problems of transforming modern society, its assessment and reflections on the prospects for teaching philosophy and the humanities.

Results of researches of structure of metal of elements of power pipelines before operation by a ultrasonic method are submitted. With use before the developed algorithm of definition of factor of attenuation of longitudinal waves owing to dispersion on structural elements calculations of amplitude of a bottom echo – signal in metal with various in average size of a grain, distribution of grains on the sizes and factor of anisotropy are executed. Influence of parameters of metal on amplitude of an echo – signal is shown. Comparison of theoretical calculation with the data of experiment and results metallography for five samples of elements of pipelines from two grades of metal with a various operating time is carried out and their satisfactory concurrence is shown.