Illustration Festivals and Book Fairs in the Development of Ukrainian Illustration as a Sector of Creative Industries

The purpose of the article is to clarify the meaning and functions of illustration festivals and book fairs from a socio-cultural perspective, as well as to determine and summarize the level of Ukrainian illustration’s representation in the international space through participation in such events. Research methodology. Empirical method, method of analysis and synthesis were applied. Journalistic materials on international events containing locations for the presentation of illustrative works and professional communication between illustrators were subject to analysis. Scientific novelty. The article considers the theoretical aspects’ importance of professional exhibitions of illustrators at international book fairs, competitions and festivals in the field of illustration for the development of this sector of creative industries. It is determined that these events are a powerful socio-cultural phenomenon and an effective platform for social communication between the main players in the sector. The events also perform a compensatory and motivating function for both professional environments and ordinary viewers of illustration, and their festivity and positive public response increase the illustration importance as a creative industries’ sector among the population. Also, for the first time, the article synthesizes factual data on the awards and prizes of Ukrainian illustrators, which exist in separate news publications, in the chronology of each event. It turned out that the most attractive for the participation of Ukrainian illustrators is The Illustrators Exhibition – Bologna Children’s Book Fair, as the chronology of achievements at this event is the longest and largest. The most successful illustrators in terms of international awards are Romana Romanyshyn and Andriy Lesiv («Agrafka»creative workshop). Conclusions. Over the last decade, Ukrainian illustration has been actively asserting itself internationally. The works created in 2010 correspond to world trends and attract the attention of foreign colleagues, publishers and critics. In recent years, the promotion and PR of illustrators have reached a much higher level, which increases the publicity of Ukraine’s achievements and strengthens the prestige of the sector in the public. The constant worldwide recognition of a narrow circle of Ukrainian illustrators in the presence of many talented authors raises the question of forming a culture of Ukrainian illustrators’ professional ambitions, when presenting themselves in international competitions and festivals, submitting their work should be understood as part of professional activity. The presentation of Ukrainian illustration in such events can be interpreted as a tool of cultural diplomacy of Ukraine in the international space.

Successions of microbiotic communities of sandy soils in pine stands of different ages in the forest-steppe zone

Peculiarities of transformation processes in soils should be taken into account when developing strategies for their rational use and optimization of their functions. The purpose of the work is to study the successions of soil microbiotic coenosis of azonal Al-Fe-humus sandy soils in pine forest stands of different age in the cities of the Kursk region. Traditional and innovative methods of studying the microbiological activity of soils are used in the work. Al-Fe-humus sandy soils of the forest-steppe covered with 100-year-old stands of Scots pine emit 2.1-2.3 times more CO2 than Al-Fe-humus sandy soils under 25 - and 70-year-old stands of pine and 1.5 times more than similar soils under herbaceous phytocenoses. It has been established that stands of Scots pine during 100 years of vegetation lead to significant changes in the basic properties of soils, changes in response, increase in podzolic process, changes in hydrothermal conditions, as well as increase in the biomass of the main groups of soil microorganisms (up to 38.1 times). Keywords: MICROMYCETES, ACTINOMYCETES, SANDY PODZOLS, GRAY HUMUS (TURF) SOILS, CO2 EMISSION, MICROBIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF SOILS

New data on well-known drug: focus on meldonium

The article reviews the efficacy of meldonium in patients with various diseases, which are based on secondary mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are complex cellular organelles that control many metabolic processes, including fatty acid oxidation, the Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation in the electron transport chain, and many other processes. Many conditions can lead to secondary mitochondrial dysfunction and affect other diseases. Damage to mitochondria can promote the activation of free radical processes and the initiation of the mechanisms of programmed cell death, mitochondrial dysfunction decrease in the immune response, increase in the activity of the body’s inflammatory response in various infections. Mitochondria appear to be important in COVID-19 pathogenesis because of its role in innate antiviral immunity, as well as inflammation. The article presents data on the effectiveness of using meldonium as a drug that helps to arrest pathological processes in mitochondria. The main mechanism of action of meldonium is based on a decrease in L-carnitine levels and increase of peroxisomes activity in the cytosol Meldonium was designed as a inhibitor of carnitine biosynthesis aimed to prevent accumulation of cytotoxic intermediate products of fatty acid beta- oxidation in ischemic tissues and to block this highly oxygen- consuming process. It is based on the correction of the energy metabolism of the cell. There was a positive trend in the use of meldonium in patients with diseases of the cardiovascular system (chronic ischemic diseases, chronic heart failure, arterial hypertension, etc.), neurological disorders (stroke, cerebrovascular insufficiency, etc.), respiratory diseases. The data on the beneficial effect of meldonium on the immune response in patients with coronavirus, bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, during vaccination with anti-influenza serum are presented. A decrease in asthenia was noted against the background of the use of meldonium in patients who had undergone coronavirus infection.

Predictive factors of response to 3rd dose of COVID-19 mRNA vaccine in kidney transplant recipients

Only a minority of kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) develop protective neutralizing titers of anti-receptor binding domain of spike protein (RBD) IgG after two doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Administration of a third dose of mRNA vaccine to KTRs with sub-optimal response increase anti-RBD IgG titers but with high inter-individual variability. Patients with the higher response rate to the third dose of vaccine can be identified by the presence of low anti-RBD IgG titers and spike-specific CD4+ T cells in their circulation 14 days after the second dose.

The effect of home visits as an additional recruitment step on the composition of the final sample: a cross-sectional analysis in two study centers of the German National Cohort (NAKO)

Background Participation in epidemiologic studies has been declining over the last decades. In addition to postal invitations and phone calls, home visits can be conducted to increase participation. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the effects of home visits in terms of response increase and composition of the additionally recruited and final sample. Methods In the framework of the German National Cohort (NAKO) recruitment process, two of 18 study centers, Halle (Saale) and Berlin-Center, performed home visits as additional recruitment step after postal invitation and reminders. Response increase was calculated and differences between participants recruited via home visits and standard recruitment were examined. Proportions are presented as percentages with 95%-confidence intervals. Results In the general population in Halle, 21.3-22.8% participated after postal invitation and two reminders in the five assessed recruitment waves. The increase of the overall response was 2.8 percentage points (95%confidence interval: 1.9-4.0) for home visits compared to 2.4 percentage points (95%CI: 1.7-3.3) for alternatively sent third postal reminder. Participants recruited via home visits had similar characteristics to those recruited via standard recruitment. Among persons of Turkish descent in Berlin-Center site of the NAKO, home visits conducted by native speakers increased the participation of women, persons living together with their partner, were born in Turkey, had lower German language skills, lower-income, lower education, were more often smokers and reported more often diabetes and depression to a degree which changed overall estimates for this subsample. Conclusions As an additional recruitment measure in the general population, home visits increased response only marginally, and the through home visits recruited participants did not differ from those already recruited. Among persons with migration background, home visits by a native speaker increased participation of persons not reached by the standard recruitment, but the effects of using a native speaker approach could not be separated from the effect of home visits.

Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of non-severe and severe pediatric and adult COVID-19 patients across different geographical regions in the early phase of pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

This systematic and meta-review aimed to compare clinical presentation, outcomes, and care management among patients with COVID-19 during the early phase of the pandemic. A total of 77 peer-reviewed publications were identified between January 1, 2020 and April 9, 2020 from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Chinese Medical Journal databases. Subsequently, meta-analysis of 40 non-overlapping studies, comprising of 4844 patients from seven countries, was conducted to see differences in clinical characteristics and laboratory outcomes across patients from different geographical regions (Wuhan, other parts of China and outside China), severity (non-severe, severe and fatal) and age groups (adults and children). Patients from Wuhan had a higher mean age (54.3 years) and rates of dyspnea (39.5%) compared with patients from other parts of China and outside China. Myalgia, fatigue, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and fatalities were also significantly more prevalent among Wuhan patients. A significant dose–response increase in prevalence of diabetes, D-dimer, white blood cells, neutrophil levels and ARDS was seen from non-severe to severe and fatal outcomes. A significant increase in mean duration of symptom onset to admission was seen between non-severe cases (4.2 days) and severe and fatal cases (6.3 days and 8.8 days, respectively). Proportion of asymptomatic cases was higher in children (20%) compared with adults (2.4%). In conclusion, patients with COVID-19 from Wuhan displayed more severe clinical disease during the early phase of the pandemic, while disease severity was significantly lesser among pediatric cases. This review suggests that biomarkers at admission may be useful for prognosis among patients with COVID-19.

Habituation in mosquito larvae Aedes aegypti is context-specific

Mosquito larvae live in water and perform a stereotyped escape response when a moving object projects its shadow on the surface, indicating potential risk of predation. Repeated presentations of the shadow induce a decrease in the response due to habituation, a form of non-associative learning defined as the progressive and reversible decrease in response to a specific reiterative innocuous stimulus. Nevertheless, habituation can be context-specific, which indicates an association between the context and the stimulus. The aim of this work was to study context-specificity in habituation in mosquito larvae Aedes aegypti. Larvae were individually placed in Petri dishes. Underneath, black, white or black-white striped cardboards were placed as backgrounds (visual context). Larvae were presented with a shadow produced by a cardboard square (training) over the course of 15 trials. After the fifteenth trial, the background was shifted and the stimulus was presented once again (test). To analyse habituation in different contexts, we developed a series of learning curve models. We performed a Bayesian model selection procedure using those models and the data from the experiments to find which model best described the results. The selected model was a Power-Law learning curve with six parameters (habituation rate, context-specific asymptotic habituation response -with one parameter per context, i.e. 3 parameters-, response-increase, and autocorrelation) describing the whole experimental setup with a generalised r2 of 0.96. According to the model, a single habituation rate would indicate that habituation was independent of the context, whilst asymptotic habituation would be context-specific. If the background was shifted after training, there was an increase in the response in the test, evincing context specificity in habituation.

Response Enhancement of Pt–AlGaN/GaN HEMT Gas Sensors by Thin AlGaN Barrier with the Source-Connected Gate Configuration at High Temperature

AlGaN/GaN HEMT hydrogen gas sensors were optimized by AlGaN barrier thickness in the gate-source connected configuration demonstrated high response and robust stability up to 500 °C. First, we found that the hydrogen sensing performance of a conventional normally-on HEMT-based sensor was enhanced when zero voltage was applied on the gate in comparison with a floating-gate condition due to a reduced level of the base current. In the next step, to take advantage of the response increase by VGS = 0 V, a new type of sensor with a source-connected gate (SCG) was fabricated to utilize the normally-on operation of the GaN HEMT sensor as a two-terminal device. AlGaN barrier thickness was thinned by the dry-etching process to gain higher transconductance at a zero-gate bias with the reduction of the distance from the 2DEG channel to the AlGaN surface, thereby significantly improve the hydrogen response. The SCG GaN sensor with an ultra-thin AlGaN barrier (9 nm) exhibited responses of 85% and 20% at 200 and 500 °C, respectively, onto 4%-hydrogen gas, which demonstrates a promising ability for harsh environment applications.

Examining HIV progression mechanisms via mathematical approaches

The progression of HIV infection to AIDS is unclear and under examined. Many mechanisms have been proposed, including a decline in immune response, increase in replication rate, involution of the thymus, syncytium inducing capacity, activation of the latently infected cell pool, chronic activation of the immune system, and the ability of the virus to infect other immune system cells. The significance of each mechanism in combination has not been studied. We develop a simple HIV viral dynamics model incorporating proposed mechanisms as parameters that are allowed to vary. In the entire parameter space, we derive two formulae for the basic reproduction number (R0) by considering the infection starting with a single infected CD4 T cell and a single virion, respectively. We show that both formulae are equivalent. We derive analytical conditions for the occurrence of backward and forward bifurcations. To investigate the influence of the proposed mechanisms to the HIV progression, we perform uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for all parameters and conduct a bifurcation analysis on all parameters that are shown to be significant, in combination, to explore various HIV/AIDS progression dynamics.