Nontrivial topological defects of micro-rods immersed in nematics and their phototuning

Combinations of different geometry and the surface anchoring conditions give rise to the diversity of topological structures in nematic colloid systems. Tuning these parameters in a single system offers possibilities...

CLINICAL FEATURES AND OUTCOME IN CHILDREN WITH LANGERHANS CELL HISTIOCYTOSIS. A SINGLE INSTITUTION EXPERIENCE FROM PAKISTAN

Objective: To find out the clinical manifestations, treatment given and outcome of children with diagnosis of Langerhans cell histiocytosis. Study Design: Retrospective observational study. Place and Duration of Study: Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital, Lahore Pakistan, from Jan 2005 to Dec 2015. Methodology: Medical charts were reviewed in detail along with the available imaging for the patients. The data included age at the time of diagnosis, extent of the disease, involvement of risk organs, treatment given, response at 6th week of chemotherapy and at the end of the treatment, and outcome in terms of disease progression during the treatment, relapse of disease on follow up and cause of death either due to treatment related mortality or disease complications. Results: There were 29 patients, 12 patients (41%) had single system and 17 (58%) had multisystem involvement. 7 patients (41%) had risk organ involvement in the multisystem group. All the patients of multisystem and 6 patients of single system were treated according to the Langerhans cell histiocytosis III protocol. Commonest sites of involvement were bone in 22 (75%), followed by lymph nodes in 18 (62%) patients. Disease relapse was seen in 6 patients and all of them had multisystem disease. Mortality was observed only in multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis patients and more than 50% were risk organ positive. Conclusion: Langerhans cell histiocytosis is a highly heterogeneous disease. Some forms are curable without chemotherapy, while the multisystem disease requires aggressive treatment. However, despite intensive treatment, the multisystem disease and risk organs involved have poor...........

Beyond Broca: Neural Architecture and Evolution of a Dual Motor Speech Coordination System

Classical neural architecture models of speech production propose a single system coordinating all the vocal articulators from lips to larynx. Here we propose a dual coordination system in which laryngeal control of pitch-related aspects of prosody and song are controlled by a dorsal premotor system while supralaryngeal articulation at the phonetic/syllabic level is controlled by a ventral premotor system. The separability of these neural systems supports models of the evolution of speech and language in which song-based communication was an early foundational stage.

“Single System, Single-Standard” vs. “Single System, Multi-Standard”—The Impact of the Financing Method of Chinese Urban-Rural Integrated Medical Insurance System on the Rate of Joining Insurance for Middle-Aged and Elderly People

Basic Chinese medical insurance has achieved full coverage, but the inequality between urban and rural areas is still outstanding. Under this background, the government proposed the urban-rural Integrated Medical Insurance System which proposes two kinds of financing modes. Based on the decision-making theory of medical insurance and the logit regression model, this paper studies the influence of two kinds of financing modes on middle-aged and elderly people’s decisions to participate in integrated medical insurance in China. The two financing modes are “single-standard” and “multi-standard”. The results show that the two kinds of financing methods have positive and significant effects, and the incentive effect of “multi-standard” on the integrated medical insurance is greater than that of “single-standard”. Having an urban household registration promotes the development of the “multi-standard”. However, there are some central provinces are not eable to improve the integrated medical insurance participation rate through “multi-standard”. Improving the participation rate of integrated medical insurance can promote the balanced allocation of resources between urban and rural areas, as well as different income groups and regions. Moreover, it can ensure a smooth transition of medical insurance policies. We should hold and boost the financing method of “multi-standard” to guarantee medical insurance integration’s rapid and steady progress in China.

The Presidential Grants Fund as an Instrument of the Policy of Remembrance for the Great Patriotic War

The presented research is devoted to the study of the role of the Presidential Grants Fund in the implementation of the memorial policy in relation to the events of the Great Patriotic War. The methodological base of the study is formed through a combination of comparative and structural analysis. The author concludes that the activity of the Presidential Grants Fund on the field of memorial policy is built outside the context of a clear strategy for implementing the policy of memory. Currently, the Fund allocates funds primarily to support local and regional initiatives that are not linked to each other in a single system. There is a clear imbalance in the territorial distribution of grants in terms of their number and size in favor of projects of participants from Moscow and St. Petersburg. Part of the grants is allocated for the solution of tasks assigned by law to the sphere of responsibility of local self-government bodies (for example, this concerns projects for the improvement of military graves).

The Development of the Extravascular Defibrillator with Substernal Lead Placement: A New Frontier for Device-Based Treatment of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

Introduction: The extravascular ICD (EV ICD) system with substernal lead placement is a novel non-transvenous alternative to current commercially available ICD systems. The EV ICD provides defibrillation and pacing therapies without the potential long-term complications of endovascular lead placement. Methods: This paper summarizes the development of the EV ICD, including the pre-clinical and clinical evaluations that have contributed to system and procedural refinements to date. Results: Extensive pre-clinical research evaluations and 4 human clinical studies with >140 combined acute and chronic implants have enabled the development and refinement of the EV ICD system, currently in worldwide pivotal study. Conclusion: The EV ICD may represent a clinically valuable solution in protecting patients from sudden cardiac death while avoiding the long-term consequences of transvenous hardware. The EV ICD offers advantages over transvenous and subcutaneous systems by avoiding placement in the heart and vasculature; relative to subcutaneous systems, EV ICD requires less energy for defibrillation, enabling a smaller device, and provides pacing features such as anti-tachycardia and asystole pacing in a single system.

Congenital ureterovaginal fistula: a rare case of single-system ectopic ureter with ipsilateral ectopic kidney managed by vaginal approach: a case report

Background Diagnosing urinary incontinence from organic causes such as ectopic ureter is particularly important because of the potential for cure by surgical correction. The prevalence of ectopic ureter is uncertain because many are asymptomatic and the diagnosis is usually overlooked. Eighty percent of ectopic ureters in females are often associated with duplex kidney. However, an ectopic ureter draining a single-system ectopic dysplastic/atrophic but functioning kidney is rare, especially in females. The overall long-term continence rate after successful correction of ectopic ureter is satisfactory. Case presentation This case is reported to highlight a rare situation, where a 22-year-old nulligravid Ethiopian women presented with a complaint of continuous wetting of her underwear since childhood, but she had normal voiding pattern. Localized right pelvic kidney ultrasound and computed tomography scan with contrast revealed right ectopic ureter and atrophied ipsilateral pelvic kidney with good function. Surgical reimplantation through vaginal approach was performed, and the outcome was good. The patient’s subsequent follow-ups were uneventful. Conclusion An extramural vaginal ectopic ureter is better accessed through transvaginal approach than abdominal, especially when it is associated with pelvic ectopic kidney. This modified approach is less invasive and has lower morbidity and better success rate than a transabdominal approach.

Vzgliady uchenykh pedagogov i psikhologov na nekotorye voprosy intellektual'nogo razvitiia

This chapter examines the views of educational scientists, psychologists, methodologists on the issues of intellectual development. The learning process at school includes not only the assimilation of a certain system of knowledge, but also, mainly, the intellectual development of students. All cognitive processes make up a single system that simultaneously provides perception, memorization, discovery, and the formulation of something new.

Darbības vārdi būt un būti otrās baltu valodas apguvē

The paper discusses the various meanings of the words būt and būti ‘to be’ in Latvian and Lithuanian and their acquisition. The aim of the research is to discover in what meanings these words are used by the learners of the second Baltic language, i.e., the learners whose mother tongue is a Baltic language and who are learning the other Baltic language – Latvian for Lithuanians and Lithuanian for Latvians. Both languages are closely related, and the meanings are similar. However, their grouping in each linguistics tradition is different. Therefore, this paper attempts to group meanings from both languages into a single system that could be used to compare usage tendencies. Such a system was made based on the Latvian grouping tradition but is not concise. The meanings in which būt/būti is used may depend on the topics of the texts. There seems to be an overuse of the location meaning in texts written by learners of Latvian; learners of Lithuanian seem to be using the verb in a larger variety of meanings. Perfect times are also more present in texts written by learners of Lithuanian. It seems to hint at a systemic difference between Baltic languages: Latvian tends to use perfect times in situations when Lithuanian does not.