THE ROLE OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL MARKERS IN PREDICTING RECURRENCE OR DEATH IN PATIENTS WITH MEDULAR THYROID CANCER

Introduction. Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) belongs to a class of rare neuroendocrine aggressive tumors and arises from parafollicular cells (C-cells). An important modern problem is the development of ways to predict the recurrence of this disease. The aim of the study is to determine the role of immunohistochemical tumor markers of medullary thyroid cancer in predicting recurrence or death. Materials and methods. The analysis of the prospective study included 22 patients with MTC, 5 of whom have developed a recurrence and 4 have died at the end of the 10-year (120 months) follow-up period. Immunohistochemical examinations were performed using monoclonal antibodies of tumor markers calcitonin, chromogranin A, vimentin and Ki-67. Results. The discrepancy between the data of histological and immunohistochemical examinations in MTC is 12.0%, which indicates the hyperdiagnosis of this nosology and argues the importance of performing immunohistochemical examinations to verify the diagnosis. Patients who had a recurrence of MTC had significantly (p <0.05) lower levels of calcitonin expression (5.00 [5.00; 5.00] points) compared with patients who did not relapse, where this figure was 6.00 [6.00; 7.00] points. In patients with MTC, an increase in calcitonin expression was significantly associated with an increase in chromogranin A expression (r = + 0.49, p = 0.02); a similar relationship was found for the proportions of immunopositive cells of these tumor markers: r = + 0.68, p = 0.001. At the same time, it was found that the increase in the level of calcitonin expression was apparently combined with the decrease in the level of Ki-67 expression (r = -0.52, p = 0.02). It was also found that the increase in the level of vimentin expression is combined with an increase in the expression (r = + 0.64, p = 0.001) and the proportion of immunopositive cells of chromogranin A (r = + 0.45, p = 0.038). Conclusions. Low levels of calcitonin expression are prognostically unfavorable markers for the recurrence of MTC. Specific tumor markers are important in the treatment process and for the dynamic monitoring of patients with MTC.

Personal determinants of vandal behaviour among urban school and student youth from a gender perspective

Introduction. Vandalism is an urgent modern problem. This problem is especially acute for modern megalopolises, the environment of which is often a subject for damages and unauthorised changes. However, the megalopolis, possessing specific environmental characteristics, in a sense creates favourable conditions for vandalism through anonymisation, a decrease in social control, the adoption of borderline deviant-like forms of behaviour, etc. At the same time, foreign and Russian researchers refer to adolescents and young adult males as the subjects of vandal activity, i.e. those young people, who are mostly the subjects of education (schoolchildren, students). Their destructive vandal activity can spread in the space of an educational organisation or in the urban territory. Most often, males are at risk of vandalism, but there are examples of female vandalism. In such a case, the question of the personal determination of vandal behaviour of schoolchildren and students as active subjects transforming the environment remains open.The aim of the present research was to identify personality characteristics as facilitating and inhibiting predictors of motivational readiness for vandal behaviour of school and university students in a modern Russian megalopolis taking into account the gender factor.Research methodology, methods and techniques. The research was carried out among students of schools and universities in Ekaterinburg (an urban area with all the features of a modern Russian megalopolis). The study involved 132 people from 13 to 24 years (42 males, 90 females; 57 schoolchildren, 75 students). The HEXACO Personality Inventory, Dark Triad Personality Test and the questionnaire “Motives of Vandalism” were used as diagnostic tools. Mathematical and statistical processing of the results was carried out using comparative statistics (Student’s t-test) and linear regression analysis.The results of the study confirm the existence of significant differences in the motivational readiness for vandalism among the male and female subsamples. The constructed gender-differentiated regression models made it possible to identify a number of significant personality predictors of vandal behaviour. Predictors-facilitators include personality traits such as psychopathy and narcissism. The predictors-inhibitors of vandalism are honesty-modesty, extraversion, altruism, conscientiousness (female subsample), openness to new experience, Machiavellianism.The scientific novelty is in the fact that specific for the Russian sample of students and schoolchildren living in a megalopolis, personal factors of vandal behaviour were identified, taking into account gender differentiation.The practical significance is due to the potential possibilities of using the obtained data for preventing vandalism by students in the framework of the educational process in an educational organisation.

Dialectical and activity-based foundations for the modern original definition of science

The article is devoted to the actual problem of uncertainty in science. The work done not only contributes to the removal/solution of this modern problem, but also contributes to the theoretical understanding of the need for qualitative changes in the sphere of scientific activity, the most organic combination of theory with practice to form a new form of science, guaranteed to remove the global dangers and uncertainties of scientific and technological development. The author presents the basis for the formation of a modern, general definition of science, the absence of which indicates the presence of the above problem. The aim of the research is to give a modern general definition of science, making a serious step, if not to the final solution, then to a generally meaningful solution of this problem. In the authors opinion, all substantive elements necessary for forming a modern general definition of science have already been identified, but they are not structured. The methodological approach has a high importance in solving this problem, and the emphasis should be placed on dialectics, rather than formal logic. In dialectical methodology, it is necessary to refer to the theory of dialectical development from the abstract to the concrete, as well as the general theory of activity. The specificity of science is defined in the consistent disclosure of the content of science as knowledge, as individual-collective, internalist-externalist activity and as a sphere of social life. As a result of the analysis of these aspects the author comes to the initial, general and actual definition of science.

Economic theory: patterns of consumer behavior

The modern problem of cognition is the problem of choosing tools for obtaining new knowledge, either taken from the arsenal of other sciences, or newly created by scientists.

Predicting the Past

Drawing from the social theories of Niklas Luhmann and Mary Douglas, Predicting the Past advocates a reflexive understanding of the paradoxical institutional dynamic of American literary history as a professional discipline and field of study. Contrary to most disciplinary accounts, Michael Boyden resists the utopian impulse to offer supposedly definitive solutions for the legitimation crises besetting American literature studies by “going beyond” its inherited racist, classist, and sexist underpinnings. Approaching the existence of the American literary tradition as a typically modern problem generating diverse but functionally equivalent solutions, Boyden argues how its peculiarity does not, as is often supposed, reside in its restrictive exclusivity but rather in its massive inclusivity which drives it to constantly revert to a self-negating “beyond” perspective. Predicting the Past covers a broad range of both well-known and lesser known literary histories and reference works, from Rufus Griswold’s 1847 Prose Writers of America to Sacvan Bercovitch’s monumental Cambridge History of American Literature. Throughout, Boyden focuses on particular themes and topics illustrating the selfinduced complexity of American literary history such as the early “Anglocentric” roots theories of American literature; the debate on contemporary authors in the age of naturalism; the plurilingual ethnocentrism of the pioneer Americanists of the mid-twentieth century; and the genealogical misrepresentation of founding figures such as Jonathan Edwards, Emily Dickinson, and Robert Lowell.

ETHNOPOLITICAL CONFLICTS AS A MODERN PROBLEM OF EUROPEAN SECURITY

The article analyzes the results of a comprehensive study of a modern ethnopolitical processes in Europe and their impact on European security. In the context of its dynamic reveals that there is a strong connection between ethnic and political confrontation of individual groups. The article highlights the ethnic and political specificity and nature of conflicts in Europe, causes and factors of their occurrence and the impact on national security. Examined the modern level of linguistic, cultural, political and religious orientations and preferences, regional identity and characteristics of the social behavior of the European region’s population. Grounded set of proposals on improving the prevention and elimination of the most significant hazards. The article’s first goal is to understand the causes of ethnic conflicts in Europe. Why some potential ethnical conflicts do not happen at all, while others can produce violence, warfare and, even, in some cases, genocide? Why some ethnic conflicts get resolved and others do not? One more goal is to find out how we can predict and, perhaps, prevent ethno-political warfare. The EU is trying to be successful in resolving these conflicts through legislation system of those countries where conflicts are most acute. Europe has many problem areas. The most developed countries – UK, Spain, Belgium and Denmark – have also some kind of ethnic instability inside which causes some kind of ethnic instability inside theirs countries. National governments are trying to solve ethno-political conflicts on their own. However, the spirit of nationalism, disobedience and personal freedom are very strong in these places. The local population is not going to give up in their aspiration for independence and, sometimes, calls for separatism. The article suggests some possible solutions for these conflicts where the government and local communities can be involved. In this article also describes possible effects that can be caused by European ethno-political conflicts. Anyway, the most dangerous consequences is spontaneous uncontrolled migration inside Europe and international terrorism.

Clinical case of associative course of panleukopenia and intestinal yersiniosis in cats

The study of the course and manifestation of mixed infections is an important modern problem of both humane and veterinary medicine because their diagnosis is quite complex and time-consuming. The clinical manifestation of double and sometimes triple infection has its characteristics, which depend on various biotic and abiotic factors. To date, it has been proven that the associative course of several infectious diseases is registered more and more often, which confirms the case of simultaneous manifestation of panleukopenia and intestinal yersiniosis in domestic outbred cats. Diagnosis of mixed infection was comprehensive through general clinical and laboratory studies, the use of rapid test systems to confirm the diagnosis of panleukopenia and RNGA with specific yersinia antigens to determine the status of intestinal yersiniosis in cats. The latter was caused by serovar Y. enterocolitica O: 9 with a diagnostic titer of 1: 400. Thanks to microbiological studies, the causative agent of intestinal yersiniosis Y. enterocolitica was isolated. Its biological properties were determined, and antimicrobial sensitivity to enrofloxacin and doxycycline was established against the background of polyresistance to ceftriaxone and tetracycline. During treatment, it was found that the clinical case of intestinal yersiniosis was also due to the simultaneous infection of Y. enterocolitica with two types of serotypes O: 3 and O: 9. Which also have their own specific features. But in most cases, we have different sensitivity to antibacterial drugs, in contrast to the case we described. Clinical signs of the associated course of panleukopenia and intestinal yersiniosis in domestic outbred cats were characterized by prolonged diarrhea, streaks of blood and mucus, apathy, refusal to feed, general weakness. Therapeutic measures containing antibacterial drugs, energy sources, crystalloids, buffer infusions which were aimed at reducing dehydration and maintaining water-salt balance in the complex, were effective, clinical signs of the disease disappeared on the eighth day of treatment, and complete isolation of the pathogen in the environment ceased on the thirteenth day, which indicated the complete recovery of the animal. However, to prevent re-infection, it was recommended to treat disinfectants with care items and utensils. And also to avoid direct contact with animals that have pronounced clinical signs of disease. To prevent the occurrence of panleukopenia, scheduled mass vaccinations with mandatory observance of time limits.

Protection Against Slavery in New Zealand

<p>The European Court of Human Rights decision in CN v The United Kingdom highlighted that slavery remains a modern problem. It may no longer resemble the traditional picture of slavery dramatically presented by Hollywood but it is no less on an issue. Modern slavery is less visible; it is hidden away within homes, normal workplaces or in overseas factories. This paper argues that New Zealand’s current treatment of slavery is inadequate exemplified by the absence of prosecutions. Thorough protection of slavery requires clear definitions that courts can easily apply. This paper explores how the Bill of Rights could be used to remedy this situation. This paper argues for the application of the Drittwirkung concept to give a horizontal effect to a right against slavery. Furthermore it is argued that New Zealand is under positive obligations to actively prevent rights violations, not merely avoid them. These positive obligations are a key component of modern human rights jurisprudence and can be read into the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. This paper speculates that one action courts could take is to undertake the development of a tort action against slavery.</p>

Protection Against Slavery in New Zealand

<p>The European Court of Human Rights decision in CN v The United Kingdom highlighted that slavery remains a modern problem. It may no longer resemble the traditional picture of slavery dramatically presented by Hollywood but it is no less on an issue. Modern slavery is less visible; it is hidden away within homes, normal workplaces or in overseas factories. This paper argues that New Zealand’s current treatment of slavery is inadequate exemplified by the absence of prosecutions. Thorough protection of slavery requires clear definitions that courts can easily apply. This paper explores how the Bill of Rights could be used to remedy this situation. This paper argues for the application of the Drittwirkung concept to give a horizontal effect to a right against slavery. Furthermore it is argued that New Zealand is under positive obligations to actively prevent rights violations, not merely avoid them. These positive obligations are a key component of modern human rights jurisprudence and can be read into the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. This paper speculates that one action courts could take is to undertake the development of a tort action against slavery.</p>

Culture as the key factor in the establishment of noospherogenesis

The subject of this article is the substantiation of the fundamental link between culture and modern problem of searching for the vector of positive social development. The object of this research is the concept of noospheric development as one of the productive futurological strategies that gives adequate responses to the challenges of modernity. Leaning on the unified nature of the sphere of noumena, regardless of the methods of cognition of existence (science, religion, art), and integrating the conceptual grounds of the theories of noosphere and pneumatosphere, the author proves that cultural phenomena are capable of fulfilling the functions of the attractor of social development as the bearers of scientific ideas, axiological and aesthetic values, and aspirations for spiritual ideals. The artifacts that are yet to be implemented, but of exists as ideas, do influence the future. The noospheric strategy of social development requires elaboration of new educational approaches. Special attention is given to the substantiation of culture-making educational model as an effective methodology in preparation of &ldquo;man on the future&rdquo;. Analysis of the works of the founders of the theory of noosphere and the theory of pneumatosphere, as well as their contemporary adherents allows concluding on the natural integration of the concepts of V. I. Vernadsky and P. A. Florensky in modern concept of noospherogenesis, as scientific, artistic, and social ideas have the single information nature. The acquired conclusions explicate the culturological component of the concept of noospherogenesis and substantiate the effectiveness of culture-making educational model that contributes to the formation of noospheric type of mentality among younger generation. The author&rsquo;s special contribution consists in presentation of the model of culture-making school, tested on the public schools of Altai Krai, which also has high heuristic potential for humanities and art universities.