Paraguay local elections increase Colorado dominance

Significance The ruling Colorado Party won a resounding victory, taking control of 163 of the country’s 261 municipalities. The party retained control of the capital city, Asuncion, where it now has the mayoralty and an absolute majority on the local council. However, it failed to regain control in the cities of Ciudad del Este and Encarnacion. Impacts The Colorado Party could reach an absolute majority in both houses of Congress in 2023. The fractured opposition represents little threat to Colorado dominance despite citizen backlash against corruption. The expansion of the political influence of drug gangs in sub-national politics is likely to continue.

Moldova reforms now possible due to absolute majority

Significance This removes formal impediments to a reform agenda focused primarily on the judiciary and corruption. Despite contesting the elections in coalition with the Communists, the pro-Russian Socialist Party has been badly defeated. Impacts Moldova is set for four years of political stability, barring the unexpected, which is common here. Russia will wait, and calibrate its counter-measures according to the pace at which European integration proceeds. One disruptive option for Moscow would be to create instability in Transnistria. EU officials will be delighted at the prospect of an uncomplicated positive relationship with untainted Moldovan leaders.

Plasma zinc status and hyperinflammatory syndrome in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Background SARS-CoV-2 is associated with significant mortality and morbidity in a subgroup of patients who develop cytokine releasing syndrome (CRS) and the related acute respiratory distress syndrome. Precedent evidence suggests that deficiency of the element zinc can be associated with similar complications as well as impaired antiviral response. Herein, beyond determining the zinc status, we explore the association between the plasma zinc concentration, the development of CRS, and the clinical outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods We conducted a prospective, single-center, observational study in a tertiary university hospital (CUB-Hopital Erasme, Brussels). Hospitalized adult patients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection were enrolled within 72 hours of hospital admission. We assessed the presence and severity of COVID-19-associated hyperinflammatory syndrome (cHIS), an additive six-point clinical scale that we independently validated in the current study. We defined the clinical outcomes as the length of hospitalization, the incidence of mechanical ventilation, and mortality. We recorded the outcomes with a follow-up of 90 days from hospital admission. Results One hundred and thirty-nine eligible patients were included between May 2020 and November 2020 (median age of 65 years [IQR, 54 to 77]). Our cohort's mean plasma zinc concentration was 56.2 mcg/dL (standard deviation [SD], 14.8). The absolute majority of patients (96%) were zinc deficient (<80mcg/dL). The mean plasma zinc concentration was lower in patients with CRS (cHIS ≧ 2)compared to those without CRS (-5 mcg/dL; 95% CI, -10.5 to 0.051; p = 0.048). We observed that the plasma zinc concentration is weakly but significantly correlated with the length of hospital stay (rho = -0.19; p = 0.022). However, the plasma zinc concentration was not significantly associated with the risk of mortality or morbidity. Conclusions Markedly, an absolute majority of hospitalized COVID-19 patients are zinc deficient. We found no significant association between zinc plasma concentration and cHIS. We find a weak (reverse) correlation between plasma zinc concentration and the length of hospital stay, but not with mortality or morbidity. As such, our findings do not support the role of zinc as a robust prognostic factor among hospitalized COVID-19 patients. We encourage further studies to explore the role of zinc as a biomarker for assessing the risk of developing a tissue-damaging CRS and predicting outcomes in patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Mexico election results will impede any major reforms

Significance President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO)'s ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) succeeded, with its allies, in retaining a majority of seats in the lower house of Congress. It nevertheless lost the two-thirds majority it held previously. Morena appears to have won eleven of 15 gubernatorial elections, meaning it will govern half of Mexico’s states. Impacts As counting ends and appeals are addressed, some results will change, but this will not undermine the elections’ legitimacy. Morena will continue criticising the election body but will struggle to alter electoral laws in ways that could undermine its independence. Morena and its allies will easily pass the 2022 budget, which requires only an absolute majority of congressional votes.

Path to Scottish independence will be difficult

Significance Having fallen one seat short of an absolute majority, the SNP will form a government with the Green Party, which also supports independence. After the election results, SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it is only “a matter of time” before Scotland holds another referendum on independence. Impacts The UK government’s rejection of a second referendum risks fuelling support for Scottish independence. London's successful vaccine roll-out and economic support is unlikely significantly to shift support vis-a-vis Scottish independence. A referendum victory in favour of Scottish independence would likely undermine support for the Union in Wales and Northern Ireland.

NOISE INFLUENCE ON THE RESOLUTION OF THE SENSORS BASED ON MAGNETIC TRANSISTOR STRUCTURES

Absolute sensitivity is a parameter that directly connects the disturbing value with the response to it, is the determining physical characteristic of the absolute majority of the conversion structure, regardless on the operation principle. This parameter is also considered the main criterion for the quality of the product when using such structures as sensors of the corresponding values. Therefore, the problem of the transducer sensitivity increasing remains relevant in connection with the increasing the sensor number built on new principles: new materials, new functionality and increasing the requirements arising from the sensor operating conditions.

The Forerunners of Libertarian Pedagogy (18. and 19. Centuries): A Gallery of Forgotten Portraits of Women

The article deals with the historical and philosophical foundations of libertarian pedagogy as a project of non-hierarchical organization of educational, cognitive and learning processes. It focuses on pedagogical concepts that have had a decisive influence on the modern face of libertarian pedagogy, but are poorly represented in the mainstream pedagogical discourse and are not known in Russia at all. Since women are an absolute majority among the authors who have been displaced from the official pedagogical discourse, the article aims to identify their forgotten figures and to redefine the significance of their contribution both to a particular pedagogical tradition and to pedagogy as a whole. In the light of this fact we make an attempt of primary reception in Russian-speaking academic space of philosophical-pedagogical ideas of Enlighteners of 18th- 19th centuries that influenced modern libertarian-pedagogical discourse. This revision attempts to identify, compare, and evaluate from a modern perspective the main trends of their quests. The study is based both on the texts of key primary sources and a number of monographs and articles on the philosophy and history of education.

Moldova: Results of the Parliamentary Elections

According to the results of the early parliamentary elections – 2021 in Moldova, the pro-presidential right-wing Action and Solidarity Party (PAS) won. For the first time in the history of the republic, the right-wing party won an absolute majority in the parliament. As a result, the consolidated power of the right-wing pro-European forces has been established in the country, which may mean a change in its geopolitical course.

RESIDENTS OF CHUVASHIA ABOUT INTERETHNIC AND INTER-CONFESSIONAL RELATIONS IN THE REPUBLIC

The article discusses the estimates made by Chuvashia’s population of different aspects of interethnic and inter-confessional relations in the Republic. For this purpose, the materials of the population sociological survey were used, more than 600 residents of the Republic took part in the survey, their distribution by sex, age and place of residence was taken into account. The study was carried out by the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities. In a number of cases, data obtained during 2018 and 2019 studies were used. Negative elements of inter-ethnic relationships, manifested in negative statements about people of other nationalities, real manifestations of such negative relationships are examined. It is shown that such inconveniences are not common, and they were noted by a small number of respondents. An absolute majority of respondents give a positive assessment to inter-ethnic and inter-confessional relations, which is consistent with data obtained in earlier surveys. The conclusion is made about sustainability of the results characterizing the inter-ethnic relations in the Republic. The general and the special in the opinions of representatives of the two main ethnic groups of the Republic – the Chuvash and the Russians are shown. The attitude to religion, its place in the life of respondents is examined.

About the Upper Border of the Кyiv Grivnas Usage

The problem of the usage of silver payment ingots (Kyiv grivnas) after the Mongol invasion is analyzed in the article. Such silver ingots are dated by the ХІІ — first half of the ХІІІ c., until the invasion of 1239—1240 by majority of authors. However, historical and numismatic facts testify to the important role, which the grivnas of the «Kyiv type» played in the second half of the ХІІІ c. The grivnas of the «Kyiv type» are occasionally among the finds of the beginning of the ХІV c. The weight of most ingots was about 160 g (are kept in the well-known standards — 163,7 g). However, a part of them has the weight of 170—216 g. It was connected with a great extent of rise in price of bread and grain in the middle – second part of the XIII c. The analysis of certain part of grivnas of the «Kyiv type» indicate, that the content of silver in them was very different. Absolute majority of grivnas has high percentage of silver — 900—950/1000. However, the certain part of them has high content of copper and other metals (400 °, 600 °, 750 °, 800 °, 870 °) and also there are present copper grivnas of the «Kyiv type». Part of researchers considers copper grivnas as old or modern false ingots. Several copper grivnas show the presence of silver (4,14 %. 9,80 %). For the grivnas of the «Kyiv type» manufacturing there was used well-quality silver as well alloys with concentrations of copper and other metals. These several grivnas of the «Kyiv type» could be made from billon Byzantine and oriental coins of the XIII c. Copper Byzantine coins of the ХІІ—ХІV c. are fixed in the Eastern Europe among the objects found in hoards and occasionally. A wide distribution of the Byzantine copper coins in Rus gives a testimony to the fact that they intensively were used in the local commerce. Discoveries of copper oriental coins of the middle of the XIII c. have been fixed in Kyiv. Reduction of the silver ingots usage was connected with global catastrophe associated with the invasion of the hordes of Batu Khan and Mongol tribute. However, these facts didn’t cause the complete disappearance of grivnas in the middle of the ХІІІ c. The grivnas of the «Kyiv type» appeared to be the main currency and in the second half of the ХІІІ c. (Mongol tribute, ransoms and etc.) on the certain territory of Eastern Europe.