bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Discriminating Bangladeshi Adults by the Prevalence of Obesity Disability
Authors: Bhuyan K.C.
Published: October 2021

The results presented here was derived in analyzing the data collected in investigating 900 adults from both urban and rural areas of Bangladesh to identify some of the socioeconomic variables responsible in discriminating obese disable adults from adults without this health problem . The sample contained 29.5% obese adults and 8.3% of them were disable. Level of obesity was significantly associated with different types of health hazard including disability. Obesity disability was predominant among females, illiterate persons, and physically inactive persons, high income group of persons and in diabetic adults. The most responsible variable for prevalence of obesity disability was level of body mass index followed by prevalence of diabetes, hypertension and illiteracy, and non-involvement in physical labor. These variables were identified by discriminant analysis.
Employment Barriers for Persons with Hearing Impairment in the Job Market: Employers' Perspectives
Authors: Abbas Faiza , Anis Faisal , Ayaz Mohammad
Published: October 2021

This study investigated the employers' perspectives on the decent employment barriers faced by persons with hearing impairment in the job market. A survey questionnaire was developed based on literature review and the ILO model, which was validated by experts of the field and then pilot tested to determine its reliability. Data were collected from 81 employers using the snowball sampling technique. Average mean values of data related to employment barriers were calculated to rank order these to prioritize the barriers that need to be addressed most urgently. Ranking revealed that education and training, unavailability of technical support, financial support, poor implementation of quota system represent the sequence of the urgency of the barriers. Further, a onesample t-test was used to compare the mean of employment barriers with a 75% preset criterion value. The findings of the t-test showed that the mean value of all the barriers was significantly less than 75%. The study recommended that there is a great need to propose a policy that clearly focuses on decent employment for the PWHI.
The Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Belgium: the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations and the First Envoys
Authors: Namazova Alla
Published: October 2021

The author analyses the initial period of the history of diplomatic relations between Russia and the Kingdom of Belgium, from 1853 onwards. The essay is based on the study of diplomatic documents from the Archive of the Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire. The author focuses on Russia’s important role in the international recognition of the independence of Belgium: after the Belgian Revolution of 1830, the former was one of the great powers which guaranteed, through international legal acts, the existence of a young neutral Belgian state. The close dynastic ties between the House of Romanov and the royal family of Belgium, House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, especially between the Romanovs and the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I. The latter took up a military career in the Imperial Russian Army (1812–1815), gained a certain degree of credibility at the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg; the personal correspondence established between the two ruling Houses helped to strengthen Russian-Belgian relations. Official documents of this period demonstrate that Brussels was strategically important as an information centre where information from the nearest European capitals was accumulated. That is why the Russian Foreign Ministry approached the selection of diplomatic personnel for the Russian representation in Brussels with special care, as evidenced by the guidelines of the Foreign Ministry to envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary cited in the article. The author also gives close attention to the life and work of the Belgian envoy in St. Petersburg, Count Camille de Briey, and the first Russian envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary in Brussels in 1853–1869, namely Count Mikhail Khreptovich and Prince Nikolay Orlov, as well as Alexandr Rikhter, who contributed to the development of friendly relations between the two countries.
Socialist Jules Destrée at the Head of Belgian Diplomatic Mission in Russia, August 1917 – March 1918
Authors: Khorosheva Aleksandra
Published: October 2021

The article examines the diplomatic mission of the Belgian socialist Jules Destrée to Russia in August 1917 – March 1918. He was appointed to Petrograd at the height of internal political changes in Russia when the country began its withdrawal from World War I. Following the previously set goal of participating in the war to the victorious end, Belgium tried to keep Russia as an ally, expecting that as her neutrality guarantor it will render assistance in restoring Belgian political independence. Furthermore, one of the urgent problems was to take care of Belgian companies and enterprises in Russia, their workers and employees who were in Russia. To achieve these goals, the Belgian Foreign Ministry attempted to establish a dialogue with the new Bolshevik government, appointing as its official ambassador a left-wing politician instead of a professional diplomat. He was well-known for his patriotism and his views about the necessity to continue the war to the end. The analysis of diplomatic documents and J. Destrée’s private notes allows the author to identify the diplomatic strategy pursued by the Belgian government, the specifics of the tasks assigned to the diplomat, and the fruits of his mission. The author concludes that Destrée’s mission failed due to the lack of understanding of the Russian internal contradictions on the part of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs which could not be counterbalanced by the ambassador’s political views.
A Mikes Kelemen program tapasztalatai és megújult működése
Authors: Görög Dániel , Rényi Mátyás
Published: October 2021

The presentation is an overview of the Mikes Kelemen Program - running since 2013 under the auspices of various public entities including the National Széchényi Library - in terms of its processes, results and future potential. Since its launch the Program has processed and offered into public use 250,000 documents collected from eight countries on four continents. The 90,000 documents so far placed offer us insight into the document needs of the domestic library system and those of Hungarian minorities abroad. After two years of development the initial HTML-based service interface listing the documents on offer was replaced by a new SQL database-based one in 2020. The implementation was driven by knowledge gained in the first years of the Program, including document processing experience, utilization statistics for the documents on offer, and feedback from partner institutions that joined the Program. The operation of the new database-based interface implements the management of duplicates exchange differently from the Hungarian practice. The Mikes Kelemen Program website is characterized by serviceoriented operation and integrated processing and recommendation process management. The operation enables accurate, reliable, automated and trackable document management, which may provide a blueprint for the overhaul of the national duplicates exchange system, replacing “digital paper-based” records such as Excel or Word.
A BTK Zenetudományi Intézet digitális archívum koncepciója az oktatás és a tudomány szolgálatában
Authors: Bolya Mátyás
Published: October 2021

The article introduces a unique Hungarian folklore database. Its design and operation were implemented within the framework of the new digital archive conception of the Institute for Musicology. This concept seeks to keep pace with the development of digital technology. I will briefly present aspects along which our strategy was developed, assessing how the database can be utilized in the fields of education and research. Hungarian folk music research, marked by the names of Bartók and Kodály, has a very strong tradition. Huge amounts of valuable material have been accumulated. Effects of this tradition are strongly felt even today. The connection between the archival background, folk music education and the performing arts is very strong. We are currently converting the heritage of our greatest researchers into digital knowledge. Results of this approach effect many areas of culture, creating an extremely complex system embedded in the communication space. Thorough knowledge of the context is essential to be able to design effective online systems.
A könyvtári szolgáltatások átalakulása és fejlesztése a pandémia idején
Authors: Békésiné Bognár Noémi Erika , Nagy Andor
Published: October 2021

The Covid19 pandemic has not only posed new difficulties to libraries but has accelerated the process of digitizing library services. Although different services, events and information sources online were only an option for libraries before, in 2020 it became essential for them to be able to fulfill their purpose even during obligatory closures: preserving human culture, making it accessible, providing information ensuring equal opportunities. Librarians all over the world re-evaluated their duties and tasks, the forms of communication and tools used. In January 2021, we conducted a survey of Hungarian libraries at the Research and Analysis Department of the Hungarian Library Institute, during which we tried to explore how certain library services and background activities changed during the pandemic. Based on the obtained results, it can be said that the operation of libraries not only did not stop during the obligatory closure of library buildings, but many libraries began to develop electronic and remote services on a large scale and tried to ensure that they could serve their users during this period. Not only by making some information sources available online and re-prioritizing tasks, but also by digitizing events, trainings, exhibitions and mainly locally available services.
Kutatási adatkezelést támogató szolgáltatás a Szegedi Tudományegyetemen
Authors: Zeller Rozália , Hoczopán Szabolcs , Nagy Gyula
Published: October 2021

Following the national and international trends in mid-2020 the Klebelsberg Kuno Library of the University of Szeged has also started to deal with the issue of research data management. After thorough self-training the library staff studied the Hungarian and international best practices of managing research data. We tried to assess the needs of the institutional research data management habits and the opinion of the researchers of SZTE with a comprehensive questionnaire. We compiled a comprehensive questionnaire to assess the needs of our researchers, learn what they’re thinking about RDM and what kind of practices regarding RDM already exist in the research community. By evaluating the questionnaire we have determined the areas in which the library could provide professional assistance where there was a real need among researchers. Keeping in mind the needs of the research community of University of Szeged we have decided to develop the following services: copyright consulting, RDM trainings for PhD students, theoretical and methodological assistance for RDM, write institutional FAIR data management recommendations. The last four services have been successfully implemented. We also wrote a feasibility study to assess the possibilities of developing our own institutional data repository.
A COVID járvánnyal kapcsolatos webarchiválási tevékenységek – nemzetközi és hazai körkép
Authors: Németh Márton
Published: October 2021

The article describes the evolution of COVID-19 special web archive collection in Hungary. It offers an overview about the main conception, about searchability and usability issues that are appearing related to the collection and about the international environment of our activities. There is a major emphasis on those technical and human resource limits that take a major challenge to the full success of the project.
Born digital workflow tervezése a Petőfi Irodalmi Múzeum Digitális Bölcsészeti Központjában
Authors: Kalcsó Gyula
Published: October 2021

The Petőfi Literary Museum’s Digital Humanities Centre, established last year, is in the process of creating a digital humanities platform, dHUpla. One of its sub-areas is the planning of the management of born digital materials. The development of a procedure for born digital materials is an urgent need: in addition to the existing collection items in the PIM, it is expected that in the future more and more content of this kind will be created, which will need to be managed professionally. The presentation will describe the research work carried out and the details of the workflow that is being outlined. It will present the workflow developed on the basis of the OAIS model, which covers the process from ingestion of such material to making it searchable and publishable. It covers not only the more manageable text file formats of born digital content, but also the more difficult tasks of emails or social media sites, and how to professionally extract and archive data from external media.
OSINT technológiák és alkalmazási lehetőségeik a felsőoktatási rendszerek ellen
Authors: Koczka Ferenc
Published: October 2021

A tudomány és eredményeinek szabadsága, az egyetemek szabad szellemisége, a nyílt működés és az alkotói szabadság évszázadok óta fontos jellemzője az akadémiai szférának. A tudományos eredmények publikálása számos, akár nemzetközi szintű szakmai csoportok kialakulását segítette, s hozzájárult a tudományos élet színvonalának emelkedéséhez. Az Internet szolgáltatásaiban rejlő lehetőségeket a tudományos világ az elsők közt használta fel, új csatornákon tette közzé kutatásainak folyamatát és eredményeit, ami korábban nem látott mértékben segítette az azonos érdeklődésű kutatók kapcsolatépítési lehetőségeit. A közzétett információk nem korlátozódnak a tudományos környezetre, a tudományos eredmények gyakorlati felhasználása értéket jelent a gazdasági és a bűnözői körök számára is. E szereplők elsődleges célja azonban más, szinte kizárólag a gazdasági előny megszerzésére korlátozódik. Cikkemben rámutatok, hogy mások mellett az akadémiai szféra intézményei is túlzott mennyiségű információt tesznek közzé magukról, azok védelmét magasabb szinten kellene ellátniuk, és javaslatot teszek arra, hogy nagyobb hangsúlyt fektessenek a nyílt forrású felderítés elleni védekezésre.
Az ELTE DH Regénykorpusz és lehetőségei
Authors: Bajzát Tímea Borbála , Szemes Botond Bálint , Szlávich Eszter
Published: October 2021

The corpus of the Hungarian novel created at the ELTE Department of Digital Humanities offers new methodologies for the philological research and “distant reading” approaches by providing a digitized, annotated and searchable database of freely accessible novels from the Hungarian literary history. The database fits organically into the international collection of the ELTeC COST Action Project (European Literary Text Collection https://www.distant-reading.net/eltec/), since the first 100 novels of the database are part of the Hungarian sub-corpus of that collection. Beside the description of the corpus and the aspects of the selection, the paper also reports in detail on the possibilities of the quantitative analysis of the novels. In doing so, we want to present what kind of knowledge of the Hungarian literary history can be produced by applying statistical and linguistic approaches, and what role these methods can play in the process of the interpretation of the texts. Through the visualized tendencies, a new history of the style of the Hungarian prose can be outlined, while the peculiarities of some texts in relation to others can lead to the description of the poetics of the given authors and their novels.
Automatikus kézírás-felismertetés Kiss József levelezésén
Authors: Szűcs Kata Ágnes
Published: October 2021

The digital edition of the József Kiss correspondence is a pilot project of the Centre for Digital Humanities, Petőfi Literary Museum. In addition to the processing of the personal and professional letters of the 19th-century writer, poet, and editor of the literary journal A Hét (The Week), the project is to explore the possibilities offered by the Transkribus software. Handwritten Text Recognition is an emerging field of the digital humanities. The paper will discuss this artificial intelligence-based technology and our experiences in creating a Hungarian model. The best result has a 6,94% character error rate. Apart from the practical experience gained in testing, the paper discusses the possibilities of implementing HTR in public collections.
The Influence of Self-Talk on Athletes’ Performance in National Youth Games Competitions
Authors: Olisola Daud Rofiat , Olaitan Jimoh R
Published: October 2021

The application of psychological principles of human performance to help people consistently perform in competitive games is an aspect of interest in sport psychology. Self-talk is one of the cognitive factors believed to contribute to athletes’ performance which are lacking in majority of the athletes attitude based on some factors. This study was to assess athletes’ belief in self-talk relative to their performance in competitive games. The study was a survey conducted in North-Central Nigeria.  Participants (N=100) were sampled from contingents who represented twenty-two states that participated in the third edition of the National Youth Games (NYG) held in the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. To guide this study, three research questions were raised and one hypothesis was formulated. An instrument; Belief in Self-Talk Questionnaire (BSQ), was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze the data collected. Results of this study revealed that belief in use of self-talk during competition significantly improved performance of athletes. Participants reported that positive thoughts make them relax enough to perform well on tasks. Finding also showed that belief in negative thoughts mar performance of athletes. Finally, investigation of this study revealed that use of self-talk by individual sport athletes and team sport athletes differ significantly; the former reported more frequent use of self-talk than the latter.
On the Temperature of SAT Formulas
Authors: Giráldez-Cru Jesús , Almagro-Blanco Pedro
Published: October 2021

The remarkable advances in SAT solving achieved in the last years have allowed to use this technology in many real-world applications of Artificial Intelligence, such as planning, formal verification, and scheduling, among others. Interestingly, these industrial SAT problems are commonly believed to be easier than classical random SAT formulas, but estimating their actual hardness is still a very challenging question, which in some cases even requires to solve them. In this context, realistic pseudo-industrial random SAT generators have emerged with the aim of reproducing the main features shared by the majority of these application problems. The study of these models may help to better understand the success of those SAT solving techniques and possibly improve them. In this work, we present a model to estimate the temperature of real-world SAT instances. This temperature represents the degree of distortion into the expected structure of the formula, from highly structured benchmarks (more similar to real-world SAT instances) to the complete absence of structure (observed in the classical random SAT model). Our solution is based on the Popularity-Similarity (PS) random model for SAT, which has been recently presented to reproduce two crucial features of application SAT benchmarks: scale-free and community structures. The PS model is able to control the hardness of the generated formula by introducing some randomizations in the expected structure. Our solution is a first step towards a hardness oracle based on the temperature of SAT formulas, which may be able to estimate the cost of solving real-world SAT instances without solving them.
Exploring Lifted Planning Encodings in Essence Prime
Authors: Espasa Joan , Coll Jordi , Miguel Ian , Villaret Mateu
Published: October 2021

State-space planning is the de-facto search method of the automated planning community. Planning problems are typically expressed in the Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL), where action and variable templates describe the sets of actions and variables that occur in the problem. Typically, a planner begins by generating the full set of instantiations of these templates, which in turn are used to derive useful heuristics that guide the search. Thanks to this success, there has been limited research in other directions. We explore a different approach, keeping the compact representation by directly reformulating the problem in PDDL into ESSENCE PRIME, a Constraint Programming language with support for distinct solving technologies including SAT and SMT. In particular, we explore two different encodings from PDDL to ESSENCE PRIME, how they represent action parameters, and their performance. The encodings are able to maintain the compactness of the PDDL representation, and while they differ slightly, they perform quite differently on various instances from the International Planning Competition.
Discovering Dominant Users’ Opinions in Reddit
Authors: Alsinet Teresa , Argelich Josep , Béjar Ramón , Martínez Santi
Published: October 2021

Reddit is a social news aggregation and discussion website. Users submit content to the site such as links to news, which are then voted up or down by other members who in turn, can comment on others’ posts to continue the conversation. In this work, we are interested in modeling how users interact with each other in Reddit debates, to discover the most dominant opinions in a debate. To this end, we introduce a user-based model for analysis of Reddit debates. In this model, comments by users are grouped per user, describing their opinion in relation to the root comment of the debate, and users are represented with a single node in a weighted graph, where node’s weights represent relevance of user’s opinions and edges represent agreement or disagreement relationships between users throughout the debate. In this model, agreement or disagreement between the opinions of two users is defined by aggregating the set of single interactions that have occurred between them during the debate. In this work we present a skeptical aggregation model for this task. For measuring the relevance of user’s opinions, we consider two models: one based on the score of all the user’s comments and other based on the user’s karma, as computed by the Reddit platform. We characterize the set of most dominant opinions with an argumentative-based model, using the information of disagreement between opinions and relevance of opinions.
Designing Chest X-ray Datasets for Improving Lung Nodules Detection Through Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Aceñero Eixarch Raúl , Díaz-Usechi Laplaza Raúl , Berlanga Rafael
Published: October 2021

In this paper, we propose a method for building alternative training datasets for lung nodule detection from plain chest X-ray images. Our aim is to improve the classification quality of a state-of-the-art CNN by just selecting appropriate samples from the existing datasets. The hypothesis of this research is that high quality models need to learn by contrasting very clean images with those containing nodules, specially those difficult to identify by non-expert clinicians. Current chest X-ray datasets mostly include images where more than one pathology exist and/or contain devices like catheters. This is because most samples come from old people which are the usual patients subject to X-ray examinations. In this paper, we evaluate several combinations of samples from existing datasets in the literature. Results show a great gain in performance for some of the evaluated combinations, confirming our hypothesis. The achieved performance of these models allows a considerable speed-up in the screening of patients by radiologist.
No-Reference Digital Image Quality Assessment Based on Structure Similarity
Authors: Ahmed Basma , Abdel-Nasser Mohamed , Omer Osama A. , Rashed Amal , Puig Domenec
Published: October 2021

Blind or non-referential image quality assessment (NR-IQA) indicates the problem of evaluating the visual quality of an image without any reference, Therefore, the need to develop a new measure that does not depend on the reference pristine image. This paper presents a NR-IQA method based on restoration scheme and a structural similarity index measure (SSIM). Specifically, we use blind restoration schemes for blurred images by reblurring the blurred image and then we use it as a reference image. Finally, we use the SSIM as a full reference metric. The experiments performed on standard test images as well as medical images. The results demonstrated that our results using a structural similarity index measure are better than other methods such as spectral kurtosis-based method.
Reliable Deep Learning Plant Leaf Disease Classification Based on Light-Chroma Separated Branches
Authors: Schwarz Schuler Joao Paulo , Romani Santiago , Abdel-Nasser Mohamed , Rashwan Hatem , Puig Domenec
Published: October 2021

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that plant diseases cost the world economy $220 billion in 2019. In this paper, we propose a lightweight Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) for automatic and reliable plant leaf diseases classification. The proposed method starts by converting input images of plant leaves from RGB to CIE LAB coordinates. Then, L and AB channels go into separate branches along with the first three layers of a modified Inception V3 architecture. This approach saves from 1/3 to 1/2 of the parameters in the separated branches. It also provides better classification reliability when perturbing the original RGB images with several types of noise (salt and pepper, blurring, motion blurring and occlusions). These types of noise simulate common image variability found in the natural environment. We hypothesize that the filters in the AB branch provide better resistance to these types of variability due to their relatively low frequency in the image-space domain.
Safety evaluation of direct oral anticoagulants in elderly patients with inferior vena cava thrombosis
Authors:   Kursk Regional Clinical Hospital, Kursk, Russian Federation, Khruslov M.V. , Ponomareva I.V. ,   Kusrk State Medical University, Kursk, Russian Federation, Safronova L.V. ,   Kursk City Outpatient Clinic No. 7, Kursk, Russian Federation, Sorokina A.S. ,   Kursk Regional Clinical Hospital, Kursk, Russian Federation
Published: October 2021

to evaluate the frequency of hemorrhagic complications in elderly patients with deep vein thrombosis taking direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Patients and methods: depending on the type of prescribed DOACs, all patients were randomized by sequential numbers into 3 groups: group 1 (n=124, 79.7±4.3 years) — patients took apixaban at a dose of 5 mg 2 times a day; group 2 (n=125, 78.9±4.6 years) — patients received rivaroxaban at a dose of 20 mg once a day; group 3 (n=121, 77.8±2.3 years) — patients received dabigatran 150 mg twice a day. The groups were comparable by gender, age, and concomitant pathology. The follow-up period for patients was 3 or 6 months from the start of DOACs therapy, depending on the form of thrombosis (distal, proximal) and the terms of anticoagulant administration. Hemorrhagic complications were classified as "major" in the case of retroperitoneal or intracranial bleeding, if there was a need for transfusable components, as well as when surgical intervention was required. In all other cases, the bleeding was classified as "minor". Results and Discussion: in group 1, the total number of hemorrhagic complications was 10.3% less than in group 2 (p=0.029), and 8.4% less than in group 3 (p=0.049). No statistically significant differences were found, when comparing the frequency of hemorrhagic complications in patients from the rivaroxaban and dabigatran groups. Conclusion: in the study course, apixaban demonstrated a more favorable safety profile concerning the overall frequency of hemorrhagic complications in the treatment of inferior vena cava thrombosis versus the other DOACs. KEYWORDS: deep vein thrombosis, hemorrhagic complications, venous thromboembolism, senile asthenia, direct oral anticoagulants. FOR CITATION: Khruslov M.V., Ponomareva I.V., Safronova L.V., Sorokina A.S. Safety evaluation of direct oral anticoagulants in elderly patients with inferior vena cava thrombosis. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(5):268–272 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021- 5-5-268-272.
Chondroitin sulfate injection efficacy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis
Authors:   Kazan State Medical University, Kazan, Russian Federation, Lapshina S.A. , Mingaleeva G.F. ,   Kazan State Medical University, Kazan, Russian Federation
Published: October 2021

Aim: to evaluate the efficacy of two-month therapy with chondroitin sulfate (CS) (Mucosat®) injections in patients with osteoarthritis and the drug potential in terms of structure-modifying action. Patients and Methods: an open prospective study with participation of 30 patients (mean age 52.5±11.7 years) with osteoarthritis, grade 2 gonarthrosis according to the Kellgren-Lawrence classification, and severe pain syndrome (more than 50 points according to VAS) was conducted. 76.7% of subjects had concomitant pathology. The drug was prescribed according to the standard regimen with a course of up to 25–30 injections. The examination included a clinical assessment of indicators of joint syndrome, life quality, joint function using WOMAC, Lekken, KOOS, EQ-5D scales, cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) and C-reactive protein (CRP), ultrasound of the knee joints. Results: after a two-month treatment course with Mucosat®, there was a significant (p<0.05) decrease in pain intensity by 1.8 times, the number of tender and swollen joints by 2 or more times, an improvement in indicators of functional activity and life quality of patients. Reactive synovitis of the knee joints, which was present at the beginning of the study in 53.3% of cases, was preserved clinically and according to ultrasound data only in 17% of subjects by the end of treatment. There was a tendency to decrease the levels of CRP and COMP. Ultrasound of the knee joints showed a significant (p=0.000) increase in the average thickness of articular cartilage from 1.55±0.26 mm initially to 1.67±0.27 mm after 2 months of treatment. More significant positive dynamics during therapy was observed in patients without arterial hypertension. In general, no adverse events were registered during treatment. Conclusion: in clinical practice, the use of the CS injections in patients with gonarthrosis is safe and effective. The tendency to decrease the cartilage degradation and increase its thickness suggests a positive effect of CS in the form of slowing the disease progression in the long-term period. KEYWORDS: osteoarthritis, cartilage degradation, synovitis, chondroitin sulfate, bioavailability, structure-modifying effect, Mucosat. FOR CITATION: Lapshina S.A., Mingaleeva G.F. Chondroitin sulfate injection efficacy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(5):301–306 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-5-301-306.
Modern view of the importance of cholecystectomy in the prognosis of a patient with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: follow-up algorithm and therapeutic approaches
Authors:   I.P. Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, Mekhtiev S.N. , Mekhtieva O.A. ,   I.P. Pavlov First St. Petersburg State Medical University, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, Ukhova M.V. ,   Gastroenterology Center "Expert" LLC, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, Ibragimova Z.M. ,   Gastroenterology Center "Expert" LLC, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation
Published: October 2021

The gallbladder is an organ that plays an important role in maintaining effective enterohepatic circulation (EHC) of bile and preserving the metabolic homeostasis of lipids and bile acids. Despite modern ideas about the role of the gallbladder in the human body, especially in subjects with metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cholecystectomy (CE) remains one of the most common surgeries, including in this patient category. The review examines the following in patients with NAFLD: the gallbladder role, the association between NAFLD and cholelithiasis (C), indications for CE, as well as the consequences of this intervention. The authors discuss the issues of patient management with NAFLD after CE. Patients with C and NAFLD who have undergone CE need a number of diagnostic measures aimed at identifying and timely correction of disorders, as well as complex treatment, which includes the risk factors elimination, strict adherence to diet, exercise regime, the use of drugs improving the EHC state, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, the metabolic function of hepatocytes and inhibiting the liver fibrogenesis. KEYWORDS: cholecystectomy, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, cholelithiasis, ursodeoxycholic acid, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance. FOR CITATION: Mekhtiev S.N., Mekhtieva O.A., Ukhova M.V., Ibragimova Z.M. Modern view of the importance of cholecystectomy in the prognosis of a patient with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: follow-up algorithm and therapeutic approaches. Russian Medical Inquiry. 2021;5(6):438–445 (in Russ.). DOI: 10.32364/2587-6821-2021-5-6-438-445.
National standards of the impulse electrical voltage of Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus: additional comparisons
Authors: Kaminsky Oleg V. , Kleopin Andrey V. , Makarov Vladislav V. , Selin Leonid N.
Published: October 2021

The results of additional bilateral comparison of initial standards of the impulse electrical voltage unit were considered. As a result of comparison there were confirmed announced uncertainties and calibration and measurement capabilities of the participants of comparison. The comparison was carried out under guidance of COOMET (project 710/RU-a/16) оn the initiative of national metrology institutes (NMI): VNIIFTRI (Russia) and BelGIM (Republic of Belarus). The comparison involved national standards: the State primary standard unit of the impulse electrical voltage unit (GET 182-2010, VNIIFTRI) and the original standard of the impulse electrical voltage unit BelGIM. Step pulse generator TMG030010SN11-M1 was used as a traveling standard. The values of the impulse electrical voltage, reproduced by means of traveling standard, were measured by national standards.The purpose of comparison was to confirm confidence in the measurement results and calibration certificates, issued by the NMI in the field of impulse electrical voltage measurements. In the comparison VNIIFTRI acted as a pilot laboratory. Measurements of impulse electrical voltage by means of traveling standard were carried out in the following order: first – measurements of impulse electrical voltage on GET 182-2010, then – on the original standard of BelGIM and finally – again on GET 182-2010. Processing of the results of comparison according to χ2(i) criterion showed that χ2(i) criterion values (calculated on the basis of the measurement results) doesn’t exceed a critical value χ2, that is the objective confirmation of announced uncertainties, declared by the participants of comparison.
Relativistic synchronization of onboard clocks of navigation space vehicles with the aid of intersatellite measurements
Authors: Vasilyuk Nikolay N. , Chervonkin Alexander P.
Published: October 2021

The problem of the synchronization of onboard clocks of navigation satellites has considered from a relativistic point of view using the concept of “coordinate simultaneity”. This concept allows an unambiguous interpretation of the synchronization results within the framework of general relativity. The algorithm of intersatellite measurements processing has formulated in terms of a proper time of a space vehicle and the coordinate time of a reference frame. Rules of transformation between coordinate and proper time scales have indicated. An analytical expression has obtained for the periodic relativistic correction to the estimated value of the relative clock drift. This correction has expressed in terms of the coordinate time of a ground observer. The value of this correction exceeds the acceptable synchronization error and should be taken into account for the inter-satellite measurements processing. The error of the relativistic correction determination has calculated. This error provides an upper limit for the period of uploading of ephemeris data on the board of the space vehicle.
Problematika Pembelajaran Daring Masa Pandemi Covid-19
Authors: Asridayanti Asridayati , Sari Rita
Published: October 2021

During the Covid-19 outbreak spread globally, learning in schools is also done online or online. Thisis to reduce the spread of the corona virus among students. The purpose of this study analyzesvarious problems and online learning that takes place today during the Covid-19 pandemic in termsof teachers, student side and parent side. This type of research is qualitative. The study subjects werenine people consisting of three teachers, three students and three parents of students. The datacollection techniques in this study are interviews and documentation. The data analysis techniques inthis study consist of data reduction, data presentation and conclusion withdrawal. The results of thisstudy are online learning problems that are reviewed from the teacher's side, namely the limitedability of IT teachers in using various applications such as Zoom, Google meet and google classroomin the online learning process. While the problem experienced by students is the need for internetquotas that are considered expensive, the material is felt difficult and not understood by students andstudents are not focused on learning. While the obstacle of parents is the concern about the child'slearning interest during online learning is greatly decreased, children are lazier to learn andchildren's morals are also getting worse.
The Impact of Information Communication Technology (ICT) on Procurement Processes: Case of Zimbabwean Urban Councils (2009 to 2018)
Authors: Mabhodha Shakespear , Choga Farai
Published: October 2021

The research aimed at determining the impact of ICT applications on procurement processes. The population of study was composed of 110 respondents from Chegutu, Kadoma, Kwekwe, Chinhoyi and Gweru urban councils with a representative sample of eighty-six participants all drawn from the procurement, finance and works departments of the five councils. Quota sampling was used in this research with strata based on the level of employment in the three different divisions. The research utilized a proportion of 78% from each stratum to select eight-six respondents. Both primary and secondary data was used. Primary data was collected through questionnaire which was designed to satisfy research objectives. Secondary data came from relevant literature review, journals, business magazines, conference papers, and internet. Questionnaire responses were tabulated, coded by use of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 to analyze quantitative data. Qualitative analysis was used to obtain in depth knowledge of the level of ICT utilization and why users were operating at different levels. Findings of the study indicated that although ICT infrastructure with procurement application is in existence and available, utilization of Information Communication Technology is at basic level. Acceptance and adoption of ICT in procurement was driven by both organization and personal objectives. The view that technology adoption is based on the Technology Acceptance Model was applied in this study by testing the perceptions of ease of use and usefulness of ICT. The study revealed that ICT adoption in procurement improves the process and benefits other operations of the business. ICT training and skills development, coupled to organizations’ leadership commitment and availability of financial resources were cited as critical success factors in the acceptance and improved utilization of ICT in procurement. The researchers recommended further studies on the topic of ICT adoption in business operations by public entities.
“President-Protector”: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis of a News Report Promoting the Personality Cult of the President of Turkmenistan G. Berdymukhamedov
Authors: Sarkisova Sofiya
Published: October 2021

The cult of personality started by the first President of Turkmenistan Saparmurat Niyazov has acquired new dimensions with the present leader of the country. The cult of personality of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov is actively constructed via mass media. This paper examines two short clips of a news report dedicated to the President’s birthday celebration that was broadcasted on the Turkmen national TV on 26 June 2020. The paper analyzes a set of specific mechanisms of flattery inflation used in the report and demonstrates special linguistic choices and visual patterns applied to force a specific ideology on the audience. Due to the multimodal nature of the analyzed discourse, multimodal critical discourse analysis has been implemented, additionally informed by the systemic functional linguistics and the visual semiotic analysis.
Analgesic Effects of the Cressa Cretica Extract on Induced Neuropathic Pain in Rats, and the Potential Role of Opioid Receptors
Authors:   Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran., Zabihi Mohsen , Ranjbar Ali Mohammad ,   Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran., Mosaddegh Mohammad Hossein ,   Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran., Zare Nasrin ,   Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran.
Published: October 2021

Background: Damages to the peripheral fibers of sensory nerve cells and central neurons cause neuropathic pain. Manifestations of neuropathic pain occur in various conditions, including diabetes mellitus, chemotherapy, and as the side effects of some medications. Cressa cretica has long been used in traditional medicine for pain control. This study was conducted to determine the role of opioid receptors in the analgesic effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of C. cretica in an experimental model of neuropathic pain. Methods: The hydroalcoholic extract of C. cretica was prepared, and its total phenolic and flavonoid contents were standardized. Painful peripheral neuropathy was induced in rats by Chronic Constriction Injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. To evaluate the effects of the extract, the animals were orally given C. cretica extract (300 mg/kg), gabapentin (70 mg/kg) or normal saline (4 mL/kg) on days 3, 7, 14, and 21 after surgery, and behavioral tests were performed 45 minutes after taking the medications. To evaluate the role of the opioid receptors, Naloxone (1 mg/kg, IP) was given to rats treated with the extract 30 minutes after the extract and then the behavioral tests were performed after 15 minutes. Results: The hydroalcoholic extract of C. cretica attenuates neuropathic pain induced by CCI in rats. The extract works acutely and chronically, depending on the dosage and duration of use. Conclusion: The hydroalcoholic extract of C. cretica reduces CCI-induced neuropathic pain in rats, and Naloxone, as an opioid receptor antagonist, inhibits this effect.
Riboceine Regimen Attenuates Ethanol-induced Neuronal Damage in the Cerebellum of Adult Male Wistar Rats
Authors:   Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria., Abayomi Taiwo Adekemi , Tokunbo Olorunfemi Samuel ,   Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria., Ajayi Moyinoluwa ,   Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Osun State University, Osogbo, Nigeria., Abayomi Olawale Ayobami ,   Department of Radiology, School of Clinical Sciences, Ekiti State University, Ekiti State, Nigeria., Ofusori David A. ,   Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife, Nigeria.
Published: October 2021

Background: Although ethanol exerts its neurotoxic effect on the brain through inflammatory and oxidative processes, the effect of Riboceine on the brain following ethanol neurotoxicity is yet to be elucidated. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the effects of riboceine on the cellular, behavioral, and molecular impairments induced by ethanol toxicity in rats. Methods: A total of 24 male Wistar rats weighing between 160-170 grams were used for the study, and were divided into four groups of six rats each. After completion of the administration of ethanol and riboceine, and testing for motor impairment, the rats were sacrificed. The cerebellum was excised and processed for oxidative stress analyses, based on oxidative stress markers and histological examinations. The immunohistochemical expression of astrocytes in the cerebellum was examined, using Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) stain. Results: This study demonstrated that ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in the cerebellum, characterized by increased oxidative stress profile, astrocyte activation, and neuronal death in the cerebellum, especially the Purkinje layer. Necrosis, significant decrease in Superoxide Dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and Gluathione (GSH) activities (P<0.05) as well as astrogliosis was associated with ethanol treatment. However, riboceine was observed to significantly increase the cerebellar SOD, CAT and GSH activities with significantly reduced Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (P<0.05). It also attenuated the histomorphological alteration of the cerebellum and reduced the cerebellar astrocytes activation following ethanol-induced neurotoxicity, thus leading to the attenuation of motor impairment. Conclusion: Riboceine attenuated motor impairment caused by chronic ethanol-induced neurotoxicity, suggestive of its anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties.
Premium for implicit deposit insurance within Russian state banks
Authors: Penikas H. I.
Published: October 2021

Deposit insurance system (DIS) exists for 17 years in Russia. The major deposit market share belongs to state banks. Ordinary depositors may perceive the status of the bank state ownership to reflect additional deposit safety, even in the excess of the DIS limits. Such a situation is called an “implicit deposit insurance” in the literature. By offering a sort of implicit deposit insurance services state banks might underprice the deposits in excess of DIS limits compared to the private banks. We utilize data from the open sources to measure the scale of the implicit deposit insurance pricing in Russian state banks. We have revealed that Russian state banks pay extra premium all other things being equal. More specifically, the premium is larger in the smallest and the largest state banks, than in the medium-sized ones. Thus, we claim that the implicit insurance premium has a U-shaped form for Russian state banks depending on their asset size. However, Russian state banks underprice all deposits all other things being equal. Additionally, we find out that IRB banks in Russia are more prone to set up higher deposit rates when they take on more risks, than non-IRB banks.