bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Steroid-refractory hand eczema: treatment experience
Authors: Kostetskaia A. V. , Kasikhina E. I. , Ostretsova M. N. , Savastenko A. L. , Potekaev N. N.
Published: March 2022

Hand eczema is a common multi-etiological disease manifested by evolutionary polymorphism of rashes. Hand eczema develops against the background of altered reactivity and genetic predisposition under the adverse effects of endogenous and exogenous factors. Hand eczema has a chronic course and is characterized by a wide range of clinical manifestations. The prevalence of eczematous lesions of the hands among the adult population is 1–2%, and among all skin diseases – 30–40%. The disease has an extremely negative impact on the quality of life, ability to work, career prospects and the social status of a person. The long course of eczematous lesions of the hands can be complicated by a secondary infection: bacterial and mycotic flora. Therefore, choosing the right and effective treatment for hand eczema is a particularly difficult task for a dermatologist. In recent years, a multicomponent drug based on gentamicin sulfate, dexpanthenol, mometasone furoate and econazole nitrate has been widely used for the treatment of hand eczema due to its high efficacy, tolerability, and safety. The use of this multicomponent drug in monotherapy for hand eczema is effective, leads to clinical remission and restoration of the quality of life of patients and is not accompanied by side effects and complications. This review focuses on the epidemiology, clinical features, and treatment options for hand eczema. Clinical experience with the use of a multicomponent drug in patients with hand eczema complicated by infection is also given.
Current advances in biological therapy of psoriasis: efficacy of guselkumab in real clinical practice
Authors: Zhukova O. V. , Artemyeva S. I.
Published: March 2022

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated, chronic inflammatory skin disease, which is currently regarded as a systemic process given its association with multiple comorbid conditions. In psoriasis, there is a complex interaction between T cells and keratinocytes. The pathogenesis of psoriasis is not fully understood, but the IL-23/Th17 pathway is known to play the key role in the development

of the disease. With the advent of genetically engineered biological drugs (GEBD), the treatment of psoriasis has undergone significant changes due to their high efficacy through targeted effects. Guselkumab is the first drug for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis to target the p19 subunit of interleukin (IL) 23. The efficacy of guselkumab has been demonstrated in a number of clinical trials. To date, only a few case studies from actual clinical practice have been published in the literature reflecting the use of guselkumab in severe psoriasis, including long-term drug survival and continued efficacy in patients with comorbidities. The article reviews the results of key efficacy studies of guselkumab and presents its own clinical case studies of successful use of the drug. It is noted that guselkumab is able to replicate the results obtained in studies in real clinical prachttps tice. However, the cases presented are also of interest in view of their concomitant metabolic syndrome, obesity, which often makes it difficult to respond to therapy. This group of patients is usually characterised by a particularly torpid course of psoriasis and a certain refractoriness to the ongoing treatment. Thus, guselkumab has an effective and safe profile, in addition it is convenient to use, and the improvement in the quality of life of patients during therapy makes it promising as a first-line GEBD therapy in the treatment of psoriasis.
The efficacy of activated zinc pyrithione in the treatment of IgE-independent atopic dermatitis in children
Authors: Zhukova O. V. , Kasikhina E. I. , Ostretsova M. N. , Tereshchenko G. P. , Nemer A. M.
Published: March 2022

Introduction. Colonization of the skin with S. aureus and S. epidermidis in children with atopic dermatitis leads to the initiation of inflammation and worsening of the disease. The control of overcolonization with S. aureus is an important issue in pediatric dermatological practice. At the same time, to achieve a controlled level of colonization, it is preferable to prescribe non-steroidal external agents. Activated zinc pyrithione has a wide range of complementary pharmacodynamic effects, including anti-inflammatory, pro-apoptogenic, antimicrobial, and antifungal. The article presents the results of the use of zinc pyrithione in mild IgE-independent atopic dermatitis in children. The results of the main clinical studies confirming the effect of zinc pyrithione on the microbiome in AD and the severity of the disease were analyzed.

Aim. To evaluate the therapeutic and microbiological efficacy of activated zinc pyrithione as monotherapy in patients with IgEindependent atopic dermatitis.

Materials and methods. 30 patients aged 2 to 8 years with mild atopic dermatitis in the acute stage were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 received activated zinc pyrithione, group 2 received a combined topical steroid.

Results. Both groups showed a significant reduction in S. aureus skin colonization. In both groups, in comparison with the initial state, a significant decrease in the severity of clinical manifestations of AD was obtained. The therapeutic efficacy of zinc pyrithione was 93.3%, clinical remission was observed in 73.3% of cases.

Conclusion. The totality of currently available data on the clinical efficacy and safety of activated zinc pyrithione allows us to recommend it as one of the effective agents for external therapy of mild IgE-independent atopic dermatitis. The use of activated zinc pyrithione showed a rapid, pronounced positive result of treatment, a decrease in the risk of secondary infection in observed children with IgE-independent atopic dermatitis.
ELLIPSIS IN COMPARATIVES IN ENGLISH
Authors:   University of East Sarajevo Faculty of Philosophy Department of English Studies, M. Vujević Đurić Vera
Published: March 2022

This paper presents an analysis of certain properties of ellipsis within comparative clauses in English. The analysis has shown that the comparative clauses contain gradable expressions and establish a connection between two-stage concepts related to gradable properties. In other words, what is claimed in the matrix clause is compared to claims from subordinated clauses, so that the corresponding linguistic structures are usually omitted in a comparative clause. An elliptical comparative clause usually consists only of an expanded complement introduced with than, like, as ... as. The omitted parts, most often phrases, parts of predicates (or the whole predication) and clauses, are present in the text as antecedents. We have not limited our research only to the syntactic and / or semantic level in the reconstruction of ellipted content, but to all contexts and situations from which recoverability is possible, regardless of the type of ellipsis. We have examined the conditions and constraints of ellipsis within comparative clauses in the theoretical part, and the properties of the comparative ellipsis in the analysis on the corpus of contemporary English.
RICONOSCERSI NELLA SCRITTURA: IMPLICAZIONI INTERTESTUALI E METATESTUALI NEI ROMANZI LJUDI GOVORE DI RASTKO PETROVIĆ E CONVERSAZIONE IN SICILIA DI ELIO VITTORINI
Authors:   Università di Belgrado Facoltà di Filologia, D. Todorović Dušica
Published: March 2022

In un approccio comparatistico, con gli strumenti analitici della semiotica interpretativa e della narratologia, si prendono in esame i punti in comune di due testi modernisti appartenenti rispettivamente alla letteratura serba e a quella italiana: Ljudi govore (1931) di Rastko Petrović e Conversazione in Sicilia di Elio Vittorini (1939). Si focalizzano procedimenti e implicazioni intertestuali e metatestuali delle due opere che ne confermano l’appartenenza alle poetiche del modernismo.
(DE)MARGINALISATION IN JULIA ALVAREZ’S HOW THE GARCÍA GIRLS LOST THEIR ACCENTS: IMAGES OF GARCÍA GIRLSʼ ETHNIC AND GENDER OPPRESSION
Authors:   University of Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy, M. Ćurić Mirna
Published: March 2022

Ethnic marginalisation minorities is a recurring theme in ethnic writers’ works, such as Julia Alvarez’s novel How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, which highlights the marginalisation of Dominican family García in American culture. This paper, which draws on postcolonial and Latina feminist theory, focuses on the societal practices and familial dynamics that decenter the García sisters’ status both in their family and Dominican and American sociocultural environments. The close reading analysis conveys various forms of discrimination and oppression against the García sisters based on gender and ethnicity. Contrary to the novel’s title, which implies that the sisters eventually lose their accents or connection to Dominican culture, the paper argues that the sisters, in their eﬀort to transcend the margins, manage to situate themselves between two cultural fames, developing specific bicultural consciousness, which aids them in overcoming feelings of marginalisation, cultural and social alienation.
NARCISSISTIC CULTURE – SOCIAL ANOMALY OR NORM?
Authors:   University of Belgrade Faculty of Philology, D. Vurdelja Jovana
Published: March 2022

Based on the book of Christopher Lasch, The culture of narcissism (American life in the age of diminishing expectations), by exploring narcissism as a clinical as well as growing civilisational and social phenomenon in the context of metaphor of the human condition, this paper problematises a cultural crisis of the American society in the second half of the 20th century, eroded by corrosive decadence and atrophied intellectual and moral standards along with cultural values diagnosed as narcissistic. Crucial symptoms of the observed pathological changes in the cultural and social climate are also articulated with special reference to the transition from the erosion of standards to the apotheosis of individualism and solipsism. At the same time, the expansion of narcissistic ideology in the 21st century is considered in the form of reﬂection in today's selfie culture, as well as the fact that narcissistic personality disorder should no longer be considered a psychological deviation, but rather a dominant social norm, which implies a new narcissistic conformism.
SOURCES OF PU SONGLING’S MINIATURE TALE MAKING ANIMALS
Authors:   Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Starostina Aglaia
Published: March 2022

The reconstruction of the author’s original strategy in the collection Liao Zhai zhi yi (聊齋誌異) implies the ascertaining of the extent to which the text reflects the ethnographic and folklore facts contemporary for Pu Songling. The article offers an attempt of the approach based on the examination of a miniature tale called Making Animals (Zao chu, 造畜). Researchers see its origins either in the Tang story Third Lady of Banqiao Bridge (9th century) or in current demonological beliefs. An analysis of the general structure of the miniature and its lexical features has been conducted. On its basis, as well as on the basis of the comparison of the text with earlier works about the transformation of human beings into animals, we conclude that the sources of the tale were ethnographic information obtained by the author in everyday life, and the story Third Lady… combined with several widespread folklore motifs.
THE AWAKENING AND TRANSFORMATION OF SENSATION IN PU SONGLING’S ILLNESS POETRY
Authors:   Taiwan Military Academy, Ho Chi-chu
Published: March 2022

This article takes Pu Songling’s illness poetry as research subject to dig out his illness feeling about the five perceptions of the eyes, ears, tongue, and body. From deeply reviewing his four sensations in his poems, we have found the transformation of his life from sadness to glee. Due to the disease of his legs around his forty, he had spent much time lying down on the bed but he had strong feelings of the seasonal changes through his vision, hearing and touch to create a cold and lonely world around himself. After his sixty years old, the illness of his teeth had brought more severe transformation of the feeling of taste and touch. Finally, Pu Songling had accepted all of these sensations and lived with the painful feelings. The plentiful experience of feeling of illness and the fading desire for imperial examination had made huge transformation of Pu Songling’s sensations. The author would review these sensations item by item and through the real characteristic of describing the illness feelings in his poems to analyze deeply the emotional connotation of Pu Songling.
THE FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT THE YI-JING IN RUSSIA
Authors:   Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS, Kobzev Artem ,   Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology,   Russian State University for the Humanities
Published: March 2022

The first information in Russia about the Yi-jing (易經, Canon of Changes) was published by the first Russian sinologist, German historian and philologist-polyglot G. S. Bayer in the two-volume Museum Sinicum (St. Petersburg, 1730) in Latin. In Russian, the primary information about Yi-jing became available to the reader half a century later thanks to the coryphaeus of Russian sinology of the 18th century A. L. Leontiev. In 1782, he published an illustrated and commented translation of a fragment from Yi-jing (named Convenient Base) as an appendix to his translation of the Manchu text of the Statutes of the Great Qing (大清會典, Dai-Qing hui-dian). A. L. Leontiev called the French abbot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1769, the initiator of his appeal to the Yi-jing, but did not indicate his name. P. E. Skachkov after V. S. Kolokolov decided that he was the famous French Jesuit missionary and versatile scientist A. Gaubil. However, he died ten years earlier. Most likely the interlocutor of A. L. Leontiev was a well-known theologian and economist-physiocrat, French abbot N. Baudeau, who held confidential negotiations with Catherine II in 1769 in St. Petersburg about the situation in Poland. The secrecy of this mission on the eve of the first partition of Poland fully explains the concealment of his name in 1782, when he was still alive and brewing the second partition. Apparently, a look at the Yi-jing of the French enlighteners and physiocrats, reported by N. Baudeau to A. L. Leontiev, prompted him to link the ancient canon with Statutes of the Great Qing.
MYTHOPOETICS OF THE FOX SPIRIT IN THE SHORT STORIES OF B. M. YULSKY AND PU SONGLING
Authors:   Moscow State University, Lin Guanqiong
Published: March 2022

The article is devoted to the hermeneutic and comparative analysis of the short story The Fox’s Footprint (1939) by the Russian writer of the Harbin diaspora B. M. Yulsky. The mystical, mythological, adventure aspects are studied. The image of the fox spirit in Chinese culture, in particular, in the collection of stories Liao Zhai zhi yi (17th century) by the Chinese writer Pu Songling, is researched. The emphasis is placed on the cult of immortal foxes in Manchuria in the 19th — first half of the 20th century. It is proved that in his prose Yulsky relied on the eastern cultural context and thereby created the authorial frontier mythology, expressing it in the genre of the mystical-adventure story.
PETER THE GREAT IN CHINESE JOURNALS OF THE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURIES
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Samoylov Nikolay , Maiatskii Dmitrii ,   St. Petersburg State University
Published: March 2022

This paper examines a problem of reconstructing the image of the Russian emperor Peter the Great in works of Chinese publicists, published during the late Qing period. The issue is poorly studied in Russian sinology. The history of the spread of information about Peter the Great in the Qing Empire is considered. The main printed editions containing such information are found out, the features of its content are analyzed. The general specificity of the perception of the historical figure of Peter the Great by the Chinese in the 19th — early 20th centuries is established. The reason for the popularity of Peter the Great is explained. The study is relevant due to the growth of scientific interest to the problems of intercultural communication both in history and in the context of the process of globalization.
THE DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF GORKY’S THOUGHTS IN CHINESE LITERATURE OF THE 1930s
Authors:   Roma Tre University, Yang Zhiya
Published: March 2022

Joseph Stalin, as the ruler of the USSR, invited Maxim Gorky (who was living in Europe at that time) to return home to preach and consolidate socialist realism, and so socialist realism was established in Russia in the 1930s. Gorky played an important role in Russian literature during this time, while in China, different writers also introduced socialist realism through various literary translations of Russian writers, among which Gorky’s works were the most translated. Gorky advocated for the combination of realism and romanticism. He described positive heroes in his works and valued humanity. These thoughts, however, were interpreted in diverse ways by various Chinese writers, which were split into two teams. One team was represented by Zhou Yang (周 扬) and Xiao San (萧三), who underlined the political function of literature; the other team was represented by Hu Feng (胡风) and Mao Dun (茅盾), who were instead in favor of the fusion of the idea of humanism with socialist realism. This article begins with an introduction of Gorky’s thought through various literary works translated in the 1930s, representing the spread of Gorky’s ideas throughout China. The author then focuses on the different interpretations of his thoughts presented by Zhou Yang, Xiao San together with Hu Feng, and Mao Dun. The purpose of this article is first to elaborate on the significance of Gorky’s thoughts for Chinese literature in the 1930s, then to analyze the different interpretations of his thoughts, which serves to explain the reasoning for different interpretations and the objectives of these Chinese writers who put forward different perceptions of Gorky’s word. Finally, this article will conclude by analyzing whose interpretation is closer to Gorky’s original thoughts.
THE RESEARCH ON THE SOURCES OF CHINESE MATERIALS IN JAPANESE THE LEGENDS OF TŌNO
Authors:   St. Petersburg State University, Liu Limei
Published: March 2022

Tono Monogatari, published in 1910, is the pioneering and classic work of Yanagida Kunio, the father of modern Japanese folklore. Using Tono Monogatari as the starting point, Yanagida himself created the Japanese folklore, which the Japanese are proud of. Japanese academic circles have always regarded Tono Monogatari as a record of the local folk in Tono, Northeast Japan. Even Zhou Zuoren, who first got acquainted with this book in Japan, regarded it as a work of purely Japanese local studies. This article first starts with the text of Tono Monogatari, examines the relationship between its “Chinese style” and Chinese culture, and points out the Chinese cultural influence. On this basis the author traced the source of certain stories in Tono Monogatari, analyzed the way and process of these Chinese materials spread to Japan, and the changes that occurred after they were incorporated into Japanese folklore. By finding out that Tono Story has derived from many aspects of Chinese culture, it refutes the academic view that Tono Story is a pure Japanese folk heritage.
THE IMAGE OF THE IDEAL WOMAN IN TANIZAKI JUN’ICHIRŌ’S NOVEL BLUE FLOWER
Authors:   A. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Selimov Mazay
Published: March 2022

This paper is about the Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s (1886–1965) experience of creating a 1920–1950s Japanese woman image inspired by the urban environment of Yokohama — the city as a mirror of the Western culture in Japan. The writer who had combined the images of European and Oriental women in order to obtain the architype of new Japanese woman in his early works no longer wanted to do this. He began to portray a new-age woman — his new ideal, which writer observed in Hollywood movies. Tanizaki Jun’ichirō anticipated the appearance of Modan gāru on the Japanese stage, women who became objects of public attention because they followed Western fashion trends and lifestyle. Precisely this kind of woman occupied Tanizaki’s mind for the first half of the 1920s. The novel Blue Flower (Aoi hana, 青い花, 1921) was the first Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s work, in which we meet the modan garu, a new type of Japanese woman of the first half of the XX c. In this novel, he presents the West as a source of femininity, and western attributes now as being able to change both the exterior and interior of a human. Blue Flower is the result of Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s research of these new women in his quest for their physical perfection.
THE PECULIARITY OF THE COMPOSITION AND ARTISTIC SPEECH OF PROSE OF YANG WON SIK
Authors:   Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Ten Yuliya
Published: March 2022

The prosaic works of Yang Won Sik (1932–2006), a representative of Korean literature in Kazakhstan, are considered for the first time. After the Korean War, the DPRK leadership sent talented youth to Moscow to get an education. The New Republic needed qualified specialists to build a new state. Yang Won Sik graduates from VGIK in 1958 and stays in the USSR. He devoted many years to the life of the Kazakhfilm Studio and the republican newspaper Kore Ilbo. Yang Won Sik was a member of the Union of Writers of the USSR (1990) and Kazakhstan, a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR, a member of the international PEN Club. The prose by Yang Won Sik written in a dialect of the province of Hamken conveys the historical “time — space” through the system of images and, in particular, verbal images. The author introduces the reader to the panorama of events of the beginning of the last century to the present. In his works of the 1950s and 1980s, Yang Won Sik uses Koryo mar in artistic speech. In the stories describing the events of the early twentieth century, the language of the Far Eastern Koreans is different. Each historical period creates its own words that disappear with the era.
Container-based sanitation in urban Haiti: how can it improve human rights as a component of citywide inclusive sanitation?
Authors: VanRiper Froggi , Russel Kory C. , Tillias Daniel , Tilt Jenna , Laporte Jessica
Published: March 2022

Health, sanitation, and livelihoods are interrelated human rights and essential components of community wellbeing. Despite the United Nations recognizing the human right to sanitation, one-third of the world's population lack access to improved sanitation. Furthermore, in many low- and middle-income countries, urban latrines are excavated manually without physical or regulatory protections. Container-based sanitation (CBS) has promise as a component of Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS) in densely populated, low-resource environments. Before investing in CBS, however, governments and funders require evidence of user acceptance, public demand, and labor aspects of service delivery. To provide this evidence base, we completed 633 interviews with active and former users of EkoLakay, a CBS service in Cap Haïtien, Haiti, creating a profile of the user base and their motivations for subscribing. We also compiled and analyzed secondary data to determine the impacts of widespread CBS expansion in northern Haiti. Results reveal that CBS presently serves a geographical subset of Haiti's most resource-insecure residents, and that CBS significantly reduces handling of untreated excreta in Haiti's Nord Department, while doubling livelihood opportunities through safe and dignified jobs. Given its cost-effectiveness, this provides an opportunity to achieve widespread sanitation coverage by integrating and cross-subsidizing CBS within a CWIS strategy.
Temporal variations characteristic of precipitation in the Three Gorges Reservoir area from 1961 to 2016
Authors: Sheng Li , Liu Dianying , Wang Baihui , Yu Shunhui , Zuo Youwei , Gu Fengtai
Published: March 2022

As a hot issue, the precipitation characteristics of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) area drew widespread interest from domestic and overseas academic circles. Based on China's surface-based meteorological monthly precipitation data from 1961 to 2016 in the TGR area, the spatial, inter-annual and inter-decadal, and multi-time-scale changes of precipitation in the TGR area are analyzed by using Collaborative Kriging (Co-Kriging, CK) Interpolation, linear regression analysis, Morlet wavelet analysis and 5-year sliding average processing, which provide the reference basis for further discussion on the impact of climate change, flood control and drought relief work in the reservoir area. Research shows that in the past 56 years, the average annual precipitation in most areas of the TGR ranges from 1,000 to 1,200 mm; the variation of precipitation in the TGR area shows a weak decreasing trend, with great fluctuation between year and generation, and the precipitation in each decade has a ‘less-more-less’ changing trend; the annual precipitation in the TGR area has periodic changes on multi-time scales, mainly including 25, 16 and 8 years. The smaller the scale the shorter the average period of precipitation change.
Manual de arqueología del norte de Colombia
Authors: Londoño Díaz Wilhelm
Published: March 2022

Este libro está diseñado para conducir al lector en los estudios arqueológicos contemporáneos. Dado el gran volumen de información existente sobre los alcances de la disciplina actualmente, el libro intenta resumir las tendencias centrales que se asocian con los cambios paradigmáticos constantes que se han dado en la arqueología, con más intensidad, después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Adicionalmente, se presentan unas líneas descriptivas sobre el estado del arte de la investigación arqueológica en el norte de Colombia; para ello, se revisan y se actualizan las delimitaciones geográficas tradicionales del área. Igualmente, el libro, en un tono reflexivo, presenta las múltiples opciones del quehacer arqueológico contemporáneo, y el autor toma partido sin pretender imponer su enfoque dentro de un campo epistemológico y político intenso y cambiante. Finalmente, el libro contiene tres lecturas complementarias escritas por los arqueólogos Diana Carvajal, Sneider Rojas y Francisco Aceituno, de reconocida trayectoria en Colombia, que amplían y detallan las descripciones hechas a lo largo de la obra. Por el diseño del libro, resulta interesante para el público en general, y principalmente para estudiantes de antropología, arqueología, historia y carreras afines.
Use of Commercially Available Hemoglobin Standards to Quantitatively Calibrate a High Performance Liquid Chromatography Method
Authors: Lamba S.S. , Bricker B.A. , Buch K.Y. , Lewis, Ill H.
Published: March 2022

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) has proven to be an extremely useful analytical technique to separate and identify different types of hemoglobins, particularly A, C, F and S in blood samples, and compute their relative percentages. Such data provide useful information in the diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies including sickle cell anemia, β -thalas­semia, hemoglobin C disease,etc. In the present investigation, we have explored the determination of absolute concentrations of individual hemoglobins in g/dal nd recommend it as an additional parameter which could be included .as part of clinical data. Possible correlations between g/dlhemoglobin and the severity of a specific hemoglobinopathy could be established and aid in the diagnosis and/or treatment of such diseases. Several commercially available hemoglobin standards were analyzed and evaluated for use in creating g/dcl alibration graphs for the HPLC. Appropriate calibration procedures have been developed and are presented. Also, linear regression graphs and sample chromatograms· are included. Preliminary results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of using commercially available hemoglobin standards to calibrate an HPLC method for the estimation of absolute hemoglobin concentrations.
NMR Spectroscopy as A Tool to Investigate the Structural Basis of Anticancer Drugs
Authors: Gmeiner W. H.
Published: March 2022

NMR spectroscopy has been shown to be useful in determining the structures of nucleic acid fragments in solution. Over the last several years NMR spectroscopy, in conjunction with restrained molecular dynamics,
has been employed to understand the 3D structures of a number of anticancer drugs and to rationalize their DNA binding behavior. In this review
we address the methodologies used most frequently to determine nucleic acid structures in solution. In subsequent sections, we examine how these methods have been applied to rationalize the activities of a number of anticancer agents that target duplex DNA such as cisplatin, bleomycin and calicheamicin. Non-duplex DNA and RNA also represent interesting nucleic acid targets for anticancer drug design and applications of solution NMR spectroscopy to understanding the structures of these types of molecules (e.g. Okazaki fragments, DNA tetraplexes) are also reviewed. In the final sections, advances in NMR methodologies (e.g. linear prediction, superconducting probes) that are likely to impact the research conducted in this area are reviewed. The success of NMR spectroscopy in understanding the structural basis for clinically useful anticancer drugs bodes well for future applications of this methodology not only in rationalization of existing biological activity, but in the design of novel agents that will be useful in treating neoplastic disease.
Antiproliferative Naphthopyrans: Biological Activity, Mechanistic Studies and Therapeutic Potential
Authors: Dell Colin P.
Published: March 2022

This article will firstly briefly review the newer generation of immunosuppressant drugs, focusing mainly on tacrolimus (FK-506) , sirolimus (rapamycin), mycophenolate mofetil (RS-61443) and leflunomide (HWA 486) and then describe work carried out at the Lilly Research Centre on analogues of leflunomide and subsequent diversion into a structurally distinct series of compounds, the naphthopyrans. A clear structure activity
relationship exists within this series and selected data from a Concanavalin A stimulated T-cell proliferation assay are presented to illustrate this. Although the compounds proved to possess little in vivo activity in our rheumatoid arthritis program, examination of the compounds in in vitro and in vivo models within the diabetic complications group showed the compounds behaved as would be anticipated for inhibitors of protein kinase C, although this direct mode of action was clearly not correct. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the favoured compound 290181 blocks phorbol 12',13-dibutyrate-induced binding of transcription factor proteins to the PEA3/TRE sequence of the promoter region of the urokinase plasminogen activator gene. The compounds also showed antiproliferative effects on vascular smooth muscle cells, an in vitro activity that translated into in vivo efficacy in a rat model of restenosis. Mechanistic studies here demonstrated that 290181 blocks proliferation in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle by binding
directly to a novel site on tubulin. Finally the compounds were shown to inhibit the release of
neutral proteases from interleukin-1 stimulated articular chondrocytes, this activity having implications in the degenerative aspects of osteoarthritis.
Low Melting Mixtures: Neoteric Solvents and/or Catalysts for a Green
Approach to Organic Reactions
Authors: Sreekumar Krishnapillai , Theresa Letcy V. , Machingal Shaibuna
Published: March 2022

In the past two decades, low melting mixtures have become attractive because of their interesting
characteristics such as physicochemical properties, low cost of components, easiness of
preparation, low toxicity, biorenewability and biodegradability. Carbohydrates the most important
and widespread renewable compounds on earth, are introduced in low melting mixtures to get more
cost-effective and renewable solvents. The present review mainly focuses on the properties and applications
of low melting mixtures, which completely satisfy the green chemistry principles. Many physicochemical
properties of low melting mixtures have been studied recently. The various studies included
thermal stability, glass transition temperature, density, viscosity, acidity, surface tension, refractive
index, FT-IR spectra, conductivity, etc. The application towards organic synthesis makes the
low melting mixtures very important. Low melting mixtures and their use as a solvent in organic synthesis
and their dual role as catalyst and solvent are discussed.
Extended XOR Algorithm with Biotechnology Constraints for Data
Security in DNA Storage
Authors: Bi Kun , Lu Zuhong , Ge Qinyu , Gu Wanjun
Published: March 2022

Background:

DNA storage is becoming a global research hotspot in recent years, and today,
most research focuses on storage density and big data. The security of DNA storage needs to be observed.
Some DNA-based security methods were introduced for traditional information security problems.
However, few encryption algorithms considered the limitation of biotechnology and applied it for
DNA storage. The difference between DNA cryptography and the traditional one is that the former is
based on the limitation of biotechnology, which is unrelated to numeracy.

Objective:

An extended XOR algorithm (EXA) was introduced for encryption with constraints of biotechnology,
which can solve the problems of synthesis and sequencing partly, such as GC content and
homopolymer in DNA storage.

Methods:

The target file was converted by a quaternary DNA storage model to maximize the storage
efficiency. The key file could be ‘anything’ converted into a DNA sequence by a binary DNA storage
model to make the best utilization for the length of the key file.

Results:

The input files were encrypted into DNA storage and decrypted to error-free output files.

Conclusion:

This means error-free encryption DNA storage is feasible, and EXA paves the way for encryption
in large-scale DNA storage.
Call for a Global Vaccine Plan to Combat Current and Future Pandemics: One for ALL and ALL for One
Authors: Surani Salim , Taweesedt Pahnwat T. , Surani Sara , Ratnani Iqbal , Varon Joseph
Published: March 2022

The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in late December 2019 has taken the world by storm. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus COVID-19. To date, it has infected approximately 186 million people worldwide and is attributed as the cause of death of more than 5 million people (and this number is only increasing.) The global effort to develop vaccines and therapeutics occurred at the fastest pace yet, with several vaccines' approval under emergency authorization use. There are also several post-marketing side effects, including myocarditis, cerebral venous embolism, and Guillain Barre Syndrome. Global vaccine disparity complicates the control of pandemic challenges. Several highly infectious variants have emerged, and more variants are feared to emerge if global vaccination plans are not developed soon.
Professional Nurses Perceptions of Integrated School Health Team Performance in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa in 2018
Authors: Ndevu Siphelele-Matenza , Mahomed Ozayr
Published: March 2022

Background:

Optimal performance of the school health programme requires integration between services and other programmes to make sure that school health services are delivered in the most efficient and effective way.

Aim:

The aim of the current study was to assess nurse’s perception of the integrated school health performance and determine team, service-related factors associated with the optimal functioning of the integrated school health teams.

Methods:

An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa, amongst all professional nurses who were team leaders for one year or more. In the school health teams in the Eastern Cape in 2018 or a school health member deputised in for a team leader. Primary data was collected from the participants using a structured self-administered questionnaire with closed-ended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the socio-demographic variables. Bivariate analysis and multi-variate logistical regression were used to identify potentially significant associations.

Results:

Of the 172 professional nurses invited to participate, a total of 120 nurses were included in the study. Fifty-two (43%) professional nurses reported their satisfaction with the service delivered (i.e. optimal functioning perception). Females (OR: 1.09 CI: 0.48-2.52) and respondents of age group 60 years and above (OR: 1.09 CI: 0.48-2.52) showed increased probability of a satisfactory perception of optimal functioning, however significance was only seen for female sex (p<0.05). Clear roles and responsibilities were associated with a 5.7 (95% CI 1.26 – 42.38) times more chance of optimal function than when there is no clear roles or responsibilities (p = 0.043). On the other hand, a health team that needed all the other services had a 69 per cent less chance of an optimal function than the team that needed just some of the other services.

Conclusion:

Professional nurses have a positive perception of the performance of school health teams. Clear roles and responsibilities (accountability), support from other DOH and with adequate follow up procedures in place, school health teams have the potential of performing optimally.
THE ROLE OF THE SHARIA SUPERVISORY BOARD (SSB) IN MODERATING THE EFFECT OF GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF ISLAMIC BANKS IN INDONESIA
Authors: Siswanti Indra , Risman Asep , Elmi Farida , * Markonah , Cahaya Ferry
Published: March 2022

Purpose â€” The aims of this research to examine and analyze the extent of the role of the sharia supervisory board (SSB) in moderating the effect of good corporate governance on the financial performance of Islamic banks in Indonesia. Â Design/methodology/approach â€” Population in this research is 14 (fourteen) Islamic banks in Indonesia and the sample used in this research is 9 (nine) Islamic banks that have published financial reports, good corporate governance reports, and annual reports for the period 2010 - 2019. This research data processed were processed using reviews-10.Findings â€” The results of this research stated that good corporate governance has a significant effect on the financial performance of Islamic banks. The sharia supervisory board (SSB) moderates the effect of good corporate governance on the financial performance of Islamic banks in Indonesia.Practical Implications â€” The chow test stated chosen model as fixed effects, then the Housman test stated chosen model as random effects. Thus the model used in this research is a random effect.Originality/value â€” To complete the results, this research used in-depth interviews with practitioners of Islamic banks in Indonesia, specifically the departement of compliance with Islamic banks.Keywords Good corporate governance, ShariaÂ  Supervisory Board, financialÂ  performancePaper Type Research Paper.
CONSTRUCTING A HIERARCHICAL PYRAMID OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: A MODEL FROM LEGAL AND ECONOMIC TO SPIRITUAL OBLIGATION
Authors: Sukoharsono Eko Ganis , Widhianingrum Purweni , Purba Alan Smith
Published: March 2022

Purpose â€” The objective of the study is to construct a hierarchical pyramid of corporate social responsibility which provides a new model from economic to spiritual obligation of a corporation. Design/methodology/approach â€” The research method of the study utilizes an imaginary dialogue of the postmodernist paradigm. The imaginary dialogue is used of two persons which are an accountant and a stockholder of a company.Findings â€” The result of the study is a hierarchical pyramid of corporate social responsibility constructed. The study also defines detail of the levels. Firstly, the legal obligation is the basic obligation which a corporation has responsible for obeying the law. Secondly, the economic obligation is a corporate responsibility for accelerating economically and profitably for the corporation going concerned. Thirdly, the social philanthropic obligation is responsible for caring society as a large. Fourthly, the environmental obligation is responsible for preserving natural environments like a large. Lastly, the spiritual obligation is responsible for being fully aware of the internal corporation, society, environments, state, and God. Practical Implications â€” The hierarchical pyramid is a model of corporation obligations started from the level of legal, economic, Social philanthropic, environmental, and spiritual obligations. Originality/value â€” The model of this study is derived from the analysis of corporate obligation using a postmodernist paradigm.Keywords corporate, economics, postmodernism, economic obligation, spiritual obligationPaper Type Research Paper.
The Use of Composite TiO2/Activated Carbon Fibers as a Photocatalyst in a Sequential Adsorption/Photocatalysis Process for the Elimination of Ciprofloxacin
Authors:   Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France, Triquet Thibaut , Tendero Claire ,   Centre Inter-universitaire de Recherche et d’Ingénierie des Matériaux, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Toulouse, France, Latapie Laure ,   Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France, Richard Romain ,   Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France, Andriantsiferana Caroline ,   Laboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, Toulouse, France
Published: March 2022

This work reports the performance of a sequential adsorption/photocatalysis process using activated carbon fibers with deposited TiO2 for the elimination of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin (CIP) in water. A commercial activated carbon fiber (ACF10) was selected as the support, and a TiO2 coating was synthesized using Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). Experiments were carried out using a photocatalytic reactor irradiated with monochromatic LEDs (365nm). Two different processes have been studied: adsorption/photolysis and adsorption/photocatalysis. The objective was to completely remove the CIP and to evaluate the efficiency of the treatment by following the formation/elimination of aromatic transformation products (ATPs), aliphatic acids, fluoride, and the TOC in the liquid phase. The adsorption kinetic of the CIP by ACF10 was rather slow (71% of CIP adsorbed by 24 h and total adsorption by 20 days). A good fit between the external diffusion limitation model and the experimental curve (kext = 0.0056 h-1) showed an external transfer limitation due to a tight weave of fibers. For the adsorption/photolysis process, a significant decrease of the concentration was achieved (95% after 6 h of irradiation), but ten different ATPs were detected in the liquid phase. To eliminate CIP, 24 h of adsorption and 6 h of irradiation were then necessary, but most of the ATPs remained in solution (total treatment duration: 72 h). With ACF10-TiO2, the same ATPs were present in solution and were eliminated after the 6 h irradiation step (total treatment duration: 30 h). At the end of the treatment, several non-toxic aliphatic acids were found to be present, showing the higher efficiency of this sequential process. The presence of a significant amount of fluorine in the liquid phase suggests some surface photochemical reactions of the adsorbed molecules (CIP and transformation products) and a partial regeneration of the composite material.
Polar Vantage and Oura Physical Activity and Sleep Trackers: Validation and Comparison Study
Authors: Henriksen André , Svartdal Frode , Grimsgaard Sameline , Hartvigsen Gunnar , Hopstock Laila Arnesdatter
Published: March 2022

Background

Consumer-based activity trackers are increasingly used in research, as they have the potential to promote increased physical activity and can be used for estimating physical activity among participants. However, the accuracy of newer consumer-based devices is mostly unknown, and validation studies are needed.

Objective

The objective of this study was to compare the Polar Vantage watch (Polar Electro Oy) and Oura ring (generation 2; Ōura Health Oy) activity trackers to research-based instruments for measuring physical activity, total energy expenditure, resting heart rate, and sleep duration in free-living adults.

Methods

A total of 21 participants wore 2 consumer-based activity trackers (Polar watch and Oura ring), an ActiGraph accelerometer (ActiGraph LLC), and an Actiheart accelerometer and heart rate monitor (CamNtech Ltd) and completed a sleep diary for up to 7 days. We assessed Polar watch and Oura ring validity and comparability for measuring physical activity, total energy expenditure, resting heart rate (Oura), and sleep duration. We analyzed repeated measures correlations, Bland-Altman plots, and mean absolute percentage errors.

Results

The Polar watch and Oura ring values strongly correlated (P<.001) with the ActiGraph values for steps (Polar: r=0.75, 95% CI 0.54-0.92; Oura: r=0.77, 95% CI 0.62-0.87), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Polar: r=0.76, 95% CI 0.62-0.88; Oura: r=0.70, 95% CI 0.49-0.82), and total energy expenditure (Polar: r=0.69, 95% CI 0.48-0.88; Oura: r=0.70, 95% CI 0.51-0.83) and strongly or very strongly correlated (P<.001) with the sleep diary–derived sleep durations (Polar: r=0.74, 95% CI 0.56-0.88; Oura: r=0.82, 95% CI 0.68-0.91). Oura ring–derived resting heart rates had a very strong correlation (P<.001) with the Actiheart-derived resting heart rates (r=0.9, 95% CI 0.85-0.96). However, the mean absolute percentage error was high for all variables except Oura ring–derived sleep duration (10%) and resting heart rate (3%), which the Oura ring underreported on average by 1 beat per minute.

Conclusions

The Oura ring can potentially be used as an alternative to the Actiheart to measure resting heart rate. As for sleep duration, the Polar watch and Oura ring can potentially be used as replacements for a manual sleep diary, depending on the acceptable error. Neither the Polar watch nor the Oura ring can replace the ActiGraph when it comes to measuring steps, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and total energy expenditure, but they may be used as additional sources of physical activity measures in some settings. On average, the Polar Vantage watch reported higher outputs compared to those reported by the Oura ring for steps, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and total energy expenditure.