Effects of Pruning and Nitrogen Fertilization for The Rejuvenation and Physicochemical Characteristics Of Fruits of Declining Apricot Trees (Prunus Armeniaca L. CV. New Castle)

Effects of pruning and nitrogen fertilization for the rejuvenation and physicochemical quality of fruits, bearing on declining apricot trees (Prunus armeniaca L. cv. New Castle) were assessed. Studies were conducted from 2011 to 2015 on the 25 years old senile and declining apricot trees. Ten treatments comprised of a factorial combination of three pruning levels/severity (heading back of main scaffolds at 20, 40 and 60%) with three levels of nitrogen doses (500, 625 and 750g N/tree). For the first time in the year 2011, the experimental trees received the treatments during its dormant period (winter). In the successive years, all the treatments were followed by corrective pruning facilitate rapid restoration of growth and production of the orchard. The factorial treatment combination of heavy pruning (60%) with the lowest doses of nitrogen level (500g/tree) increased the qualities of fruits in terms of weight, volume, firmness, total soluble solids, sugars and acidity content. Whereas, the ascorbic acid content was facilitated by heavy pruning (60%) with the highest doses of nitrogen level (750g/tree) in all the following years. Bangladesh J. Bot. 50(4): 1119-1126, 2021 (December)

Multilevel percutaneous vertebroplasty: safety, efficacy and long-term outcomes

<p><strong>Background:</strong> The pain in vertebral compression fractures is severe, leading to reduced mobility and quality of life. Percutaneous vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive procedure for treating various spinal pathologies. This study evaluated the usefulness and safety of multilevel PVP (two to three vertebrae) in managing VCF.</p><p><strong>Methods:</strong> This retrospective study evaluated 59 vertebral levels in 28 patients with VCF who had been operated on for multilevel PVP (two to three levels). There were 22 females and six males, and their ages ranged from 36 to 79 years, with a mean age of 68.95 years. We had injected two levels in 25 patients and three levels in 3 patients. The visual analogue scale was used for pain intensity measurement, and plain X-ray films, computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging was used for radiological assessment. The mean follow-up period was 13.8 months (range, 11-19).</p><p><strong>Results:</strong> Significant pain improvement was recorded in 26 patients (92.85%). More remarkable improvement in pain was noticed in the immediate postoperative period than in the subsequent follow-ups. Asymptomatic bone cement leakage anteriorly and into the disk spaces in two patients. Isolated anterior leakage has occurred in one patient. There was no encounter of pulmonary embolism.</p><p><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Multilevel PVP for the treatment of VCF is a safe and effective procedure that can significantly reduce pain and improve patient condition without any significant morbidity. It is considered a cost-effective procedure allowing a rapid restoration of patient mobility.</p><p> </p>

Volcanic climate impacts can act as ultimate and proximate causes of Chinese dynastic collapse

State or societal collapses are often described as featuring rapid reductions in socioeconomic complexity, population loss or displacement, and/or political discontinuity, with climate thought to contribute mainly by disrupting a society’s agroecological base. Here we use a state-of-the-art multi-ice-core reconstruction of explosive volcanism, representing the dominant global external driver of severe short-term climatic change, to reveal a systematic association between eruptions and dynastic collapse across two millennia of Chinese history. We next employ a 1,062-year reconstruction of Chinese warfare as a proxy for political and socioeconomic stress to reveal the dynamic role of volcanic climatic shocks in collapse. We find that smaller shocks may act as the ultimate cause of collapse at times of high pre-existing stress, whereas larger shocks may act with greater independence as proximate causes without substantial observed pre-existing stress. We further show that post-collapse warfare tends to diminish rapidly, such that collapse itself may act as an evolved adaptation tied to the influential “mandate of heaven” concept in which successive dynasties could claim legitimacy as divinely sanctioned mandate holders, facilitating a more rapid restoration of social order.

German Foreign Policy in the Face of Current Challenges

The article analyzes the features of German foreign policy on the eve of the September (2021) elections to the Bundestag and the gradual overcoming of the crisis consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. The priorities of the foreign policy based on the value approach remain the European and transatlantic vectors, as well as relations with the main system-forming international organizations. The postulates of value are prompting Berlin to increasingly intensify criticism of Russia and China, incl. due to the signifi cantly increased, from his point of view, threats in relation to Germany and other states of the collective West. Germany still relies on France in European politics. Their tandem continues to determine the political and economic processes in the European Union, as well as to infl uence the formation of the EU mechanisms for overcoming the coronavirus crisis. Despite the rapid restoration of constructive relations with the new American administration, a number of controversial issues remain in bilateral relations, including defense spending and the economy. In recent years, Germany has been able to strengthen its positions in Europe and the world and expects to strengthen its role as a global actor, especially in international organizations. Nevertheless, the German expert community critically refers to its current foreign policy status quo. The author explores the latest trends in German foreign policy, gives an assessment of its development after elections to the Bundestag, pays special attention to the prospects for relations with the Russian Federation.

Effects of sea urchin and herbivorous gastropod removal, coupled with transplantation, on seaweed forest restoration

This study aims to investigate the relative effects of urchin removal, non-urchin gastropod herbivores removal, and transplantation on macroalgal forest restoration using an additive manipulation design. A field experiment was conducted in subtidal urchin barren rocks in the eastern coast of South Korea from August 2017 to June 2020 with three experimental treatments: no urchins (NU), NU plus no herbivorous gastropods (NH), NH plus Ecklonia bicyclis transplant (NHT). Six months after experiment initiation, seaweed abundance rapidly increased in all three experimental treatments. The highest peak was found in the spring season of the first year (2018). The year-to-year variations became smaller throughout the survey period. The results of comparing NU and control site indicated that urchin removal had an exclusive effect on algal recovery while additional removal of herbivorous gastropods did not affect algal recovery quantitatively. With the successful establishment of E. bicyclis, the community assemblages of the three treatments became more distinct in the subsequent years, showing diverse dominance in NU, red algal dominance in NH, and dominance of E. bicyclis canopy and understory groups in NHT. This study provides evidence that urchin removal on its own from barren grounds can lead to rapid restoration of seaweed forest in subtidal habitats.

Early diagnosis and surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s disease in newborns

Aim. Improve the results of diagnosis and surgical treatment of Hirschsprung’s disease in the neonatal period.Materials and methods. The article presents an analysis of the diagnosis and results of surgical treatment of 15 children with Hirschsprung’s disease in the neonatal period, in the Department of Neonatology and Neonatal Surgery of the Scientific Center of Pediatrics and Pediatric Surgery from 2017 to 2020.Results. All children were found to have a rectosigmoid form of the disease. 10 (66.6%) newborns underwent radical surgery-transanal endorectal proctoplasty according to Svenson-like. Immunohistochemical examination with the use of calretinin confirmed Hirschsprung’s disease in all operated children.Conclusions. Our results of surgical treatment in the neonatal period indicate that early diagnosis and early surgical correction contribute to the rapid restoration of gastrointestinal motility, and the method of choice is Svensonlike transanal endorectal proctoplasty, which has proven to be an effective and gentle method of surgical correction for this pathology. Also, the use of immunohistochemical studies with calretinin is a highly sensitive diagnostic method.

Early COVID-19 pandemic’s toll on tuberculosis services, WHO European Region, January to June 2020

Background Essential health services, including for tuberculosis (TB), are being affected by public health and social measures (PHSM) introduced to control COVID-19. In many settings, TB resources, facilities and equipment are being redirected towards COVID-19 response. Aim We sought to assess the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on TB services in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region. Methods The fifty-three European Region Member States were asked to report qualitative and quantitative data in quarter one and two (Q1 and Q2) 2020. TB notifications were triangulated with the severity score on domestic movement restrictions to assess how they may have influenced TB detection. Results Twenty-nine countries reported monthly TB notifications for the first half of 2019 and 2020. TB notifications decreased by 35.5% during Q2 2020 compared with Q2 2019, which is six-fold more than the average annual decrease of 5.1% documented during 2015–2019. The number of patients enrolled in rifampicin-resistant/multidrug-resistant TB treatment also decreased dramatically in Q2 2020, by 33.5%. The highest movement restriction severity score was observed between April and May 2020, which coincided with the highest observed decrease in TB notifications. Conclusion A decrease in TB detection and enrolment to treatment may cause increases in TB burden and threatens the Region’s ability to reach the TB targets of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, still this might be mitigated with rapid restoration of TB services and the implementation of targeted interventions during periods with severe PHSM in place, such as those introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Volumetric osteoconchoplasty method

Introduction. Pathology of the inferior turbinates (IT) was found in 76.1% of patients with difficulty in nasal breathing. If nasal breathing cannot be restored with conservative measures, surgical intervention becomes the method of choice.Materials and methods. Under local infiltration anesthesia, the IT is fractured and retracted medially (medialization). In the anterior section of the HHP, a vertical incision 0.5 cm long to the bone is made, through which the mucosa is peeled off from the bone base of the concha with a raspator-suction and a small tunnel from 2 to 3 cm long is created. shell surfaces and a small area of the mucosa of the lateral surface of the IT and the lateral wall of the nasal cavity. After insertion into the created tunnel of the required size of the "spreader-implant" plate, treated with a thin layer of LTK glue, the shell is slightly pressed with a self-inflating latex-foam rubber swab introduced into the IT for 10–15 minutes. At the end of the operation, after removing the tampon, the edges of the incision are processed with LTK glue.Results. The results of the study demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed method for the rapid restoration of nasal breathing after rhinosurgical interventions. We use this technique in the overwhelming majority of cases of fibrous and bone forms of IT hypertrophy. In cases of the cavernous form, we perform a submucous conchotomy with a shaver, which makes it possible to very accurately remove exactly that part of the concha that violates the patency of the nasal cavity. In all cases, we consider it compulsory to carry out the IT lateroposition according to our method, which significantly improves the result of the operation. The surface of the shell remains completely covered with mucosa and as a result of matching the edges of the incision, the wound surface is absent. At the same time, after the operation, the shell remains full anatomically and functionally, i.e. consists of the bone skeleton and the corresponding volume of soft tissues.Conclusion. The question of how to predict in the long-term postoperative period the normal size of the modeled IT, apparently, is currently not answered even by highly qualified rhinosurgeons. In this regard, there remains a need to search for new technologies for treating patients with chronic hypertrophic rhinitis.

Problematic issues of diagnosis and treatment of vulvovaginitis of mixed bacterial-candidiasis etiology

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of modern antiseptic agent Gynodek in the treatment of mixed bacterial-candidiasis vulvovaginitis.Materials and methods. There were 67 patients with bacterial-candidiasis vulvovaginitis under observation. The diagnosis of candidiasis infection was verified according to the data of clinical and laboratory research methods. Patients received vaginal gel Gynodek 5 ml once a day for 7 days. The effectiveness of treatment was assessed according to the data of the clinical examination before treatment and on the 7th day of observation, and according to the laboratory (bacterioscopic, bacteriological) data before and after treatment. Complete clinical and bacterial debridement was criteria of the treatment effectiveness.Results and discussion. The clinical picture of bacterial-fungal vulvovaginitis was characterized by a decrease in the number and severity of symptoms such as hyperemia and edema of the mucous membrane, discharge from the genital tract was not typical.There were no complaints in 95.5% of the examined women after end of therapy, there were no objective symptoms in all women on the 7th day of treatment. Bacteriological examination after 2 weeks confirmed the therapy effectiveness in 86.6% of women. Peptostreptococcus spp. after treatment sowed at significant concentrations 106–107 CFU/ml only in 1.5% of patients, Streptococcus spp. in 8.9% of women, Candida albicans in 13.4%. Lactobacilli in the amount of 107 CFU/ml were in 86.6% of patients, which indicates a rapid restoration of normal vaginal microflora.Conclusions. Bacterial-fungal associations of microorganisms in the vaginal biotope lead to a complex clinical symptoms, which makes it difficult to make a timely diagnosis. Gynodek vaginal gel is highly effective against gram-positive, gram-negative and fungal microflora, which makes it the drug of choice in the treatment of bacterial-candidiasis vulvovaginitis. Gynodek creates a comfortable pH, promotes the rapid restoration of own lactoflora, and increases the functional activity of the vaginal mucosa epithelium, which ensures the prevention of vaginal infection recurrence.