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Book review: America against All [Amerika protiv vsekh] (2023). Geopolitics, Statehood and Global Role of the USA: History and Modernity [Geopolitika, gosudarstvennost’ i global’naya rol’ SSHA: istoriya i sovremennost’]. Moscow: LLC “Commonwealth of Cultures” [OOO “Sodruzhestvo kul’tur”], 588 p.What is America for Russia, the rest of the world and itself? This question is answered differently by historians, journalists, writers, diplomats, academic researchers, and incumbent politicians. Why has the United States – in recent years especially – pursued an exemplarily offensive foreign policy, as if directed “against everyone”? The authors of the book of the same name, “America Against All. Geopolitics, Statehood and the Global Role of the United States: History and Modernity” offer their answer to this question. The authors of the monograph analyze a significant body of literature on the U.S. geopolitical thought, reflect on the origins of American statehood, and seek to trace the formation of the so-called ‘‘American empire” and the spread of American hegemony from the late 19th century to the present day. In conclusion, the authors outline proposals for democratizing modern America. This book review is an attempt to critically analyze the assessments and recommendations of a large number of authors from the Diplomatic Academy, IMEMO RAS, MGIMO University, RUDN, and branch institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) significantly exacerbate the severity and mortality of COVID-19. We aimed to investigate whether GWAS-significant SNPs correlate with CVDs in severe COVID-19 patients. DNA samples from 199 patients with severe COVID-19 hospitalized in intensive care units were genotyped using probe-based PCR for 10 GWAS SNPs previously implicated in severe COVID-19 outcomes. SNPs rs17713054 SLC6A20-LZTFL1 (risk allele A, OR = 2.14, 95% CI 1.06–4.36, p = 0.03), rs12610495 DPP9 (risk allele G, OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.02–2.81, p = 0.04), and rs7949972 ELF5 (risk allele T, OR = 2.57, 95% CI 1.43–4.61, p = 0.0009) were associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). SNPs rs7949972 ELF5 (OR = 2.67, 95% CI 1.38–5.19, p = 0.003) and rs61882275 ELF5 (risk allele A, OR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.14–3.45, p = 0.01) were linked to a higher risk of cerebral stroke (CS). No associations were observed with AH. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the involvement of GWAS-significant loci in atherosclerosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, angiogenesis, and apoptosis, which provides evidence of their role in the molecular mechanisms of CVDs. This study provides novel insights into the associations between GWAS-identified SNPs and the risk of CAD and CS.

This article explores the methodological approaches to analyzing free radical processes in the body, particularly in relation to lipid peroxidation products (PLP). The levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and PLP were shown to vary depending on the time and conditions of biomaterial storage, which may affect the reliability of the results. It was revealed that the optimal storage conditions include freezing (t = ‒20 °C) for the determination of ROS and diene conjugates (DC) and deep cooling (t = ‒80 °C) for malondialdehyde (MDA). For the determination of Schiff bases, the temperature of biomaterial storage was found to be non-essential. The analysis period after receiving the biomaterial was defined as follows: up to 2 h for Schiff bases, up to 24 h for ROS, up to 36 h for MDA, and up to 48 h for DC. The obtained results can be useful for further scientific research and in clinical diagnostic laboratories that perform prooxidant-antioxidant balance tests.

We have experimentally investigated the effect of three different types of microplastics (high-density polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) on body weight, metamorphosis rate and mortality of bloodsucking mosquitoes Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus 1762), vectors of protozoal and helminthic diseases of humans and animals. Supplementation of the diet with polypropylene was found to have no effect on mosquito weight at all life stages, while the addition of high-density polyethylene and polystyrene promoted a decrease in larval weight and an increase in adult weight (p < 0.05). Ingestion of high-density polyethylene by larvae increased pupal weight and decreased adult weight compared to the control, whereas no such effect was found for polypropylene and polystyrene. High-density polyethylene and polystyrene did not affect mosquito mortality at all stages, but there was a tendency for polypropylene to have an adverse effect on pupal and adult survival. The survival rate of mosquitoes at all life stages in both the control and experimental groups was generally quite high. Supplementation of the diet with different types of plastics did not affect the metamorphosis rate at all stages of mosquito development and was comparable in both the control and experimental groups. The experiments revealed no significant effect of different types of plastics on the vital activity of Ae. aegypti. Only high-density polyethylene microparticles were found to significantly affect mosquito body weight, yet this was opposite at the pupal and adult stages.

Aim. To analyze ischemic and reperfusion injury characteristics, as well as myocardial performance, to identify predictors of reduced left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF)

Over the past decade, there has been a rapid acceleration in the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Earth Observation (EO), driven by the exponential growth in collected data and advances in algorithms and computing. This revolution extends to onboard EO spacecraft, enabling the development of smart satellites and software-defined missions with more autonomy and reconfigurability. This article discusses the challenges linked to data quantity, diversity, accountability, and onboard representativeness for the implementation of deep neural networks onboard EO missions. To address these challenges, the article introduces a new framework for simulating radiance and reflectance for future hyperspectral or multispectral imaging satellites based on existing missions. This framework is modular and versatile, allowing for the generation of synthetic images across various optical sensors and environmental conditions. The effectiveness and flexibility of the approach is demonstrated by applying it to two different missions, $\Phi$sat-2 and IMAGIN-e. Its practical deployment and effectiveness in real-world scenarios were demonstrated via an open community challenge organized in 2023 and dubbed OrbitalAI. With over a hundred registered teams, a set of 15 teams was preselected, proposing a wide range of AI applications trained via the proposed framework. The EO use cases encompass the monitoring of flood, wildfire, build-up area, water quality, or crops. In addition, comprehensive datasets of simulated images are created and shared, representing up to 520 GB and providing a significant resource for developing AI algorithms for space applications. Both the simulation framework and datasets are made open-source to foster further research in this domain.

Relevance. The article deals with the problem of assessing the effectiveness of school adaptation of children with special needs in modern educational environment. The purpose of the study was to develop tools for assessing the quality of school adaptation of students with learning disabilities (LD). Methods. The authors defined significant parameters of pupils' school adaptation and described their qualitative characteristics (markers), which were used to create questionnaires for teachers (school–based therapists) and parents. The questionnaire for parents includes 8 parameters, whereas the questionnaire for teachers includes 18 parameters arranged into 8 topic–specific blocks. Modern typological classification of children with learning disabilities (N.V. Babkina, I.A. Korobeynikov) was used as a methodological framework when developing the parameters. The results of testing the developed toolkit are presented, demonstrating its sensitivity to various manifestations of children mental disorders. Authors outline directions for future research, connected both with expanding notions of psychosocial development of pupils with LD, and specifying the content of the advisory activity of a school–based therapist with children and their families.

The article describes the results of a comprehensive study of the extra-framework components of scapolites using quantum–chemical calculations, electronic and vibrational spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction and crystal structure refinement. The ab initio calculations were performed using an embedded-cluster approach of extra-framework components in various cation surroundings. As a result, through comparing the experimental and ab initio calculation results, the energies of the electronic and vibrational transitions of various extra-framework components (CO3)2−, (CO3)·−, S3·−, S2·−—as well as the role of these components in the process of the lowering of the symmetry—were determined for scapolites belonging to the marialite–meionite solid–solution series. The nature of the various colors of the scapolites has also been established. Colors from purple to blue are a result of the presence of radiation-induced pairs of defects: carbonate radical anions (CO3)·− and F-centers. However, polysulfide S3·− radical anions are found in some violet scapolites.

Aim. To study the effect of 48-week therapy with atorvastatin and ezetimibe on laboratory parameters, structural and functional arterial characteristics and heart failure markers in the post-infarction period.Material and methods. A total of 87 patients with acute myocardial infarction were included. In the first 24 hours, atorvastatin 80 mg/day was prescribed. During hospitalization, after 5-6, 24, 48 weeks, clinical and paraclinical examinations were performed. In the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) >1,4 mmol/l and the decrease

Myocardial infarction remains one of the most common causes of chronic heart failure. Modern innovative treatment of patients with high cardiovascular risk is the use of sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors - a class of antidiabetic drugs. This review is devoted to the study of dapagliflozin and empagliflozin effect on the quality of life and prognosis in patients with myocardial infarction and chronic heart failure. Special attention in the review is paid to the analysis of some pleiotropic effects of drugs in clinical studies of patients with various variants of coronary heart disease, as well as in experimental studies on animals. The systematic review was carried out in accordance with the recommendations and reporting provisions for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). The search was conducted in PubMed electronic databases, elibrary.ru without restrictions on the date of publication of publications. The last search was carried out on August 12, 2023.

Ethylene-propylene copolymerization reactions were carried out using rac-Et(2-MeInd)2ZrMe2 catalyst and (2,6-tBu2PhO-)AliBu2 as activator under varying reaction conditions. We demonstrate that reaction conditions such as monomer concentration, Al/Zr molar ratio and solvent type (toluene and heptane) all have significant effect on activity of the system and copolymers composition. The decrease in reaction pressure from 11 to 3 atm leads to: a) 1.6-fold increase in specific activity (from 3030 to 4840 kg copolymer/(mol Zr•h•atm)), b) increase of Mn value from 38 to 89 kg/mol, and c) increase of ethylene content in copolymer from 87 to 92 mol %. The increase of ethylene/propylene molar ratio from 0.7 to 2 does not significantly affect activity but leads to the rise in the ethylene content in copolymer from 92 to 97 mol % and, correspondingly, to the increase of copolymer crystallinity from 43 to 48%. As a result, thermal and mechanical properties of the obtained polymers also change, according to the shifts in copolymers composition. The change in Al/Zr molar ratio is confirmed to have great effect on the catalytic activity of our systems. In a row of Al/Zr= 100, 150, 200, 300 mol/mol, the lowest activity of 80 and the highest one of 8550 kg copolymer/(mol Zr•h•atm) are observed at 100 and 150 molar ratios correspondingly. We have also demonstrated the ability of catalytic systems with isobutylaluminum aryloxide activators to operate in aliphatic medium (heptane). On another note, during the reaction quenching, aryloxide activator hydrolyzes the polymer infused with 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol antioxidant. This results in the increased resistance of copolymers to the thermal-oxidative degradation. The presence of 4 wt% phenol in the copolymer leads to an increase in the 5% mass loss temperature by 67°C. Moreover, increasing the residual phenol content from 2 to 4 wt% affects the mechanical properties of the copolymers: the elongation-at-break increases from 500 to 600%, and the tensile strength decreases from 10 to 8 MPa.

Розвиток галузі охорони здоров'я неможливий без застосування сучасних технологій, що останнім часом стають одним із вирішальних факторів для забезпечення якісної та ефективної медичної діагностики та лікування пацієнтів. Завдяки залученню інформаційно-комунікаційних і цифрових технологій, мі-кроелектроніки виникли такі напрями як телемедицина, цифрова охорона здоров'я, мобільна медицина, 3D-друк (адитивні технології) та інші. В той же час без лабораторних та інструментальних досліджень неможливою стає не тільки постановка клінічного діагнозу, але й контроль над безпекою лікування. Від рівня достовірності досліджень залежить прийняття лікарем рішень про діагностування, профілактику та лікування пацієнта. Представлено сучасне уявлення про програму навчання майбутніх спеціалістів ступеня доктора філософії за спеціальністю 224 «Технології медичної діагностики та лікування» галузі знань 22 «Охорона здоров'я». Методами експертного оцінювання проаналізовано розвиток теорії і практики застосування технологій діагностики та лікування захворювань внутрішніх органів, у тому числі інформаційних. Уніфіковано сучасні технології клінічних лабораторних і променевих методів дослідження, що сприяють підвищенню якості надання медичної допомоги; методи променевої терапії, що сприяють підвищенню ефективності лікування онкологічних і неонкологічних захворювань, а також методи прийняття рішень у діагностиці, лікуванні та прогнозуванні станів пацієнта. По завершенню навчання, здобувачі вищої освіти третього рівня мають оволодіти загальнонаукови-ми компетентностями, здобути універсальні навики дослідника та мовні компетентності. Тематика курсів професійної підготовки розроблена з метою сприяння здатності інтегрувати знання та розв'язувати складні завдання в мультидисциплінарних і трансдисциплінарних контекстах. Отже, зміст запропонованої освітньо-науково'! програми за спеціальністю 224 «Технології медичної діагностики та лікування» направлено на підготовку висококваліфікованих і конкурентоспроможних спеціалістів ступеня доктора філософії та здобуття ними в процесі навчання необхідних теоретичних знань, що носять мультидисциплінарний характер, та комплексу практичних умінь, навиків і компетентностей для виконання інноваційних наукових досліджень та впровадження отриманих результатів у практичну охорону здоров'я.

The article presents the results of a study of personal distress and its relationship with indicators of psychological well-being and professional burnout among teachers with different experience of working with students with learning disabilities. The study involved 293 respondents (N=293) from 20 to 65 years old, (average age 34.6±13.2; SE=0.774), with work experience from 6 months to 45 years (average — 11.16; SD=11.13; SE=0.649) of who 94.3% were women. In the empirical sample, three groups of teachers were represented in accordance with the experience of working with students with learning disabilities: 111 people working in a special school (37.8%); teachers working in an inclusive school — 103 people (35.15%); and teachers who have no experience working with students with learning disabilities — 79 people (26.96%). The "Scale of psychological well-being" by K. Riff in the adaptation of P.P. Fesenko, T.D. Shevelenkova, the questionnaire of professional burnout by K. Maslach, S. Jackson (MBI), the multifactorial empathy questionnaire by M. Davis (IRI) methods were used. The results obtained make it possible to say that personal distress is significantly higher among teachers working in inclusive education. Empathic care and decentration are significantly higher in groups of teachers of special and inclusive education compared to teachers without work experience in inclusion. At the same time, there were no differences between groups of teachers in terms of psychological well-being. Emotional exhaustion, empathic care, self-acceptance and autonomy turned out to be significant predictors of the personal distress of teachers with different experience of working with students with learning disabilities.

Introduction. Successive development of historically established urban structures, formation activity areas of citizens with special attention to the image perception and quality of urban environment are becoming a steady trend. The research purpose is to propose a concept for the urban environment transformation, development of public spaces and cultural contexts based on study and systematization of works on citizens’ perception and city image formation.Materials and methods. The research is based on the examination and systematization of works in culture, literature, psychology, sociology, architecture studies devoted to the perception of citizens, identifying city image and its elements, and mental maps making. The parallel formation the district volumetric-planning structure and urban environment image perceived by local residents is also traced. Interviewing was conducted and image elements appearance, stages of their development and gradual incorporation into the urban tissue were identified. Scientific novelty is that in addition to the territory historical and genetic analysis, the computer and Data-Base resources were involved to reach the objectives. Basing on archival maps, historical photographic material (postvu.com) and descriptions examination, popular and visited places are identified; heat maps of the frequency of recognizable places occurrence are drawn up and the areas of visual activity are defined.Results. A way of monitoring the existence of urban environment and perception is proposed, and trends of ongoing transformations are identified. It is defined that the areas of visual activity are mainly grouped along historically formed pedestrian routes (streets, squares with well-formed image); within the group, stable connections are established between the areas; between groups of areas separated by large distances, there are image gaps, but correspondences related to their semantic content are also established.Conclusions. A concept developed in the work is implementing the principles and techniques of structuring gaps and “visual voids” not perceived by people in order to saturate them with imaginative elements. The elements composing the image need to be completed and fragmentarily restore. Public spaces should be united, behavioral scenarios should be arranged and pedestrian routes should be organized, promoting the city image creation and the self-identification of citizens.

The problem of the development of emotional self-regulation as a process of becoming an independent experiencing in its cultural sign-symbolic mediation is discussed. The results of the study are presented: the process of becoming an independent experience in adolescents with developmental delay. The sample consisted of 42 normotypic adolescents and 25 adolescents with developmental delay. Methods: psychodiagnostic – drawing “My emotional state”, author's questionnaire, composition “The meaning of music in my life”; methods of qualitative data analysis: methods of grounded theory, content analysis. Methods of mathematical statistics: frequency analysis, criterion – Fisher angular transformation. A generalizing conclusion is made that the mediation of the experience of a teenager with developmental delay is largely difficult. Music plays the role of “activation” – strengthening the actual state of a teenager, but the experiencing remains incomplete, since there is only saturation of the immediate bodily-perceived level of it. Low cognitive and reflexive abilities of adolescents with developmental delay do not allow using an artistic image as a means-incentive for “mastering oneself”.

The new hybrid composite materials for PEM fuel cell were synthesized by the UV polymerization of acrylic monomers (acrylonitrile, acrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) and a sulfo aromatic monomer, i.e., sodium styrene sulfonate, and the tetraethoxysilane/3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane-based sol–gel system. By means of X-ray spectroscopy, the fractal structure of the obtained materials was characterized. Proton conductivity and viscoelasticity of the obtained materials were determined depending on the content of the inorganic component in nanocomposites. Based on impedance studies, an equivalent scheme is proposed that successfully describes the proton conductivity in the synthesized composite’s electrolyte membranes.

Better understanding of ischemic brain injury mechanisms is important for the development and improvement of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities for management of ischemic stroke. As experimental studies are on demand, there’s a need for relevant models of focal brain lesions. Photochemically induced thrombosis remains one of the most popular models of ischemic stroke.The purpose of the review is to consider the pathogenesis and applicational relevance of the photochemical thrombosis in ischemic stroke modeling.Material and methods. The information was searched using PubMed and Google Scholar databases and keywords «photothrombotic stroke» without language restrictions. 74 papers out of more than 600 sources were found the most relevant for the purpose of this review and selected for the analysis. Of these, more than 50% have been published in the last five years. The criterion for excluding a source was an inconsistency with the objectives of the review and low information content.Results. We outlined a variety of features in modeling photothrombotic stroke, analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the model, presented data on current method’s modifications, as well as approaches to evaluation of brain lesions in ischemic stroke induced by photothrombosis, and summarized information about the mechanisms of brain damage induced in this model.Conclusion. Several advantages of the photothrombotic stroke model, such as low invasiveness, high reproducibility, inherent control of brain infarction volume and low mortality, determine its active use in experimental studies of ischemic stroke. Pathological processes in the brain modeled by photochemical thrombosis are similar to the processes occurring in acute ischemic cerebral circulation events. Therefore, this model provides insights into cellular and molecular mechanisms of ischemic brain damage, and can be used for developing novel therapeutic approaches for management of ischemic stroke.

Since the discovery of the neuron-specific protein by Moore and McGregor in 1965, tens of thousands of studies have investigated the basic and applied significance of neuron-specific enolase (NSE). This promising biomarker, according to many researchers, has not found widespread use in clinical practice, particularly in acute cerebrovascular accidents. Moreover, the several studies refuting the usefulness of serum NSE measurement in critically ill patients leads us to consider the reasons for such contradictory conclusions. In this article, we have analyzed the main directions in the study of NSE and expressed our perspective on the reasons for the contradictory results and the difficulties in implementing the results of these studies in clinical practice. In our opinion, the method of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) used in the majority of the studies is inappropriate for the evaluation of NSE as a marker of central nervous system damage, because it does not allow for the differentiation of heterodimers of enolases and the assessment of the enzymatic activity of this group of enzymatic proteins. Therefore, the methodological approach for the evaluation of NSE (γγ-enolase) as a biomarker needs to be elaborated and improved. Furthermore, the specificity of the applied research methods and the appropriateness of the continued use of the term “neuron-specific enolase” must be addressed.

World production of convenient and durable materials made of synthetic plastics during the last 70 years caused the dispersal of microplastic particles in the environment. Microplastic pollution is the focus of interest worldwide due to its global distribution and adverse effects on living organisms. The largest number of studies addressing this issue explored the aquatic environment, yet terrestrial ecosystems also suffer from microplastic pollution. Insects are crucial for most terrestrial ecosystems. Few can compete with them in biomass productivity and species diversity, which makes them targets for studying the toxic bioaccumulation. This review article presents a systematic analysis of data on bioaccumulation, degradation of microplastics by aquatic and terrestrial entomofauna, and its ecotoxicological effects.

Rare earth activated powders are widely regarded as promising candidates for optical thermometry due to their unique photoluminescence characteristics. The paper presents the structural and luminescent properties of crystalline powders of gadolinium and yttrium oxides (Gd1−xYx)2O3, doped with Nd3+ ions, synthesized by the liquid polymer-salt method. The addition of polyvinylpyrrolidone increases the homogeneity of the mixture and ensures high adhesion of the resulting powders. Scanning electron microscopy shows that powders are μm-sized aggregates, which consist of particles with several tens of nanometers in size. A smooth shift of the diffraction peaks of the powders occurs when Gd is replaced by Y without additional peaks. The successive decrease in the lattice constant of the powders from 10.816 to 10.607 Å confirms the existence of continuous solid solutions in the system. The Stark sublevels of the 4F3/2 → 4I9/2 fluorescent band are shifted to 4 nm when Gd is replaced by Y since the strength of the local field has a stronger effect on the inner F-shell of Nd ions in the case of Y. For thermometry, we chose the ratio of the fluorescence intensities between the Stark sublevels 4F3/2(2) → 4I9/2(2) and 4F3/2(1) → 4I9/2(2). The best obtained sensitivity is 0.22% °C−1 for Nd-doped GdYO3 powder in the range of 10–70 °C. This value of temperature sensitivity, together with radiation and excitation lying in the biological window, opens the possibility of using Nd3+-doped (Gd1−xYx)2O3 powders for real-time thermal probing of under tissue luminescence with sub-degree resolution.

With the increase in the population of patients with transplanted organs, the risk of developing oncological diseases has become proportionally high, which may be the cause of poor quality of life, and also of a high mortality among the patients with transplanted organs. The review examines the risk factors, incidence, and the impact of malignant neoplasms on the survival in patients with transplanted organs. The rapid development of clinical transplantology, the use of new drugs and immunosuppression regimens poses new challenges for oncologists and transplantologists. The analysis of oncopathology incidence in patients with transplanted organs allows us to conclude about its impact on the long-term life prognosis and the need to include preventive measures in transplantation practice.

The parapharyngeal space is a complex structure, being narrow and difficult for surgical approach. Surgical treatment is the main treatment for parapharyngeal space (PPS) tumors, it is performed on the basis of information obtained from imaging methods (computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). Objective – to investigate the effectiveness of advanced visualization of radiological research methods in the diagnosis of the parapharyngeal space tumors in order to select the necessary tactics of surgical treatment. This retrospective study included 43 patients who underwent surgery for primary parapharyngeal space tumors from 2010 to 2021. 32 patients were treated in previous 10 years, 11 – patients who underwent examination and surgical treatment over the past 2 years with advanced methods of MRI and CT to select a safe surgical approach. Patients of the 2nd group underwent advanced MRI and CT studies in order to choose the correct method of surgical approach and prevent postoperative complications and recurrence. The histological conclusion in 90.1% of the operated patients confirmed the preliminary data of MRI perfusion regarding the probable histological structure of the neoplasm. Due to a comprehensive preoperative study, in 81.8% of patients in this group transoral approach was used. Our experience confirms the necessity for a thorough preoperative diagnostic procedure that should take advantage of imaging modalities (CT, MRI), especially new techniques (MRI-perfusion and diffusion weighted imaging).