Tilt testing remains a valuable asset

Head-up tilt test (TT) has been used for >50 years to study heart rate/blood pressure adaptation to positional changes, to model responses to haemorrhage, to assess orthostatic hypotension, and to evaluate haemodynamic and neuroendocrine responses in congestive heart failure, autonomic dysfunction, and hypertension. During these studies, some subjects experienced syncope due to vasovagal reflex. As a result, tilt testing was incorporated into clinical assessment of syncope when the origin was unknown. Subsequently, clinical experience supports the diagnostic value of TT. This is highlighted in evidence-based professional practice guidelines, which provide advice for TT methodology and interpretation, while concurrently identifying its limitations. Thus, TT remains a valuable clinical asset, one that has added importantly to the appreciation of pathophysiology of syncope/collapse and, thereby, has improved care of syncopal patients.

On the Strategic Effects of Unilateral Sanctions: Russian Experience

Much of the academic debate about the consequences of sanctions has been focused on their direct impact or on collateral damage to the bilateral relationship between the issuer of sanctions and the target of sanctions, reflecting the understanding of sanctions as a foreign policy tool. However, an analysis of the Russian experience allows one to raise new questions about the role of sanctions instruments in international affairs. Of course, in the short term, the priority is a policy aimed at minimizing the risks of direct sanctions. Nevertheless, Russia has been under extensive US and EU sanctions for more than seven years, and began to face individual restrictions even earlier. In this regard, the analysis of sanctions reactions can clearly be transferred to the mid- and long-term plane. The analysis of the regulatory legal acts and particular regional and sectoral strategies of Moscow shows that the target countries have been rearranging their international priorities under the threat of further sanctions pressure, both formal and informal. Thus, sanctions are serving not only as a tool of punishment or deterrence, but also as a signaling function in a new meaning — not only demonstrating disapproval of the target country’s policy, but signaling that the planning of long-term development projects is associated with increased risks. Therefore, the complex consequences of sanctions go far beyond the immediate response of the target countries, which is reflected in the industry overview of Russian sanctions pressure adaptation strategies. A particular example of such a transformation, considered in this article, is the sanctions policy in the post-Soviet space—both on the part of individual countries of the region in relation to Russia, and in terms of countermeasures on the part of the Russian Federation.

On the Success of the Hadal Snailfishes

Synopsis Deep-sea trenches, depths 6000–11,000 m, are characterized by high pressures, low temperatures, and absence of sunlight. These features make up the majority of the deepest marine habitat—the hadal zone—home to distinct communities from those in the surrounding abyssal plains. The snailfishes, family Liparidae (Scorpaeniformes), have found notable success in the hadal zone from ∼6000 to 8200 m, comprising the dominant ichthyofauna in at least six trenches worldwide. The hadal fish community is distinct from the abyssal community where elongate, scavenging fishes such as rattails (Macrouridae), cutthroat eels (Synaphobranchidae), tripodfishes (Ipnopidae), eelpouts (Zoarcidae), and cusk eels (Ophidiidae) are most common. Until recently, little was known about the biology of these deepest-living fishes, or the factors that drive their success at hadal depths. Here, I review recent investigations spanning the abyssal–hadal boundary and discuss the factors structuring these communities, including the roles of pressure adaptation, feeding ecology, and life history. Hadal fishes show specialized adaptation to hydrostatic pressure both in accumulation of the pressure-counteractant trimethylamine n-oxide and in intrinsic changes to enzymes. Stomach content and amino acid isotope analyses, and jaw morphology suggest that suction-feeding predatory fishes like hadal liparids may find an advantage to descending into the trench where amphipods are increasingly abundant. Analysis of otolith growth zones suggest that snailfishes may be adapted to a seismically active, high-disturbance hadal environment by having relatively short life-spans. This review synthesizes the known literature on the planet’s deepest-living fishes and informs new understanding of adaptations to life in the trenches.