Efficiency of State Economy Regulation Tools in Contemporary Russia

It has now become obvious that market economy is not able to develop successfully without government support. Moreover, state regulation is becoming increasingly important, particularly in the periods of recession. The pandemic of COVID-19 has changed the world and required strengthening the regulatory function of the state. In 2020, the government had to provide for organizing and financing the national health care system, free vaccination and medicines for the public, allowances to families with children and to people on unpaid leaves, as well as subsidies and reduced-rate lending to businesses. The demand for statism – a doctrine that the political authority of the state is the objective and result of social development – is a new trend in the world. Russian economy currently features a slow pace of growth, a lack of private investments, and a decrease of real disposable income. In this context, studies of efficiency of economy regulatory tools used by the state are becoming topical. The article analyzes the role of the state in the society, determines its functions and objectives, objects and subjects, and describes its administrative and economic regulatory tools. The authors point out the country’s economic problems of the recent decade and estimate the efficiency of the economy regulation tools used by the state.

Intravenous Thrombolysis After First-Ever Ischemic Stroke and Reduced Incident Dementia Rate

Background and Purpose: The use of intravenous thrombolysis is associated with improved clinical outcomes. Whether thrombolysis is associated with reduced incidence of poststroke dementia remains uncertain. We sought to estimate if the use of thrombolysis following first-ever ischemic stroke was associated with a reduced rate of incident dementia using a pragmatic observational design. Methods: We included first-ever ischemic stroke patients from the Ontario Stroke Registry who had not previously been diagnosed with dementia. The primary outcome was incident dementia ascertained by a validated diagnostic algorithm. We employed inverse probability of treatment-weighted Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the cause-specific hazard ratio for the association of thrombolysis and incident dementia at 1 and 5 years following stroke. Results: From July 2003 to March 2013, 7072 patients with ischemic stroke were included, 3276 (46.3%) were female and mean age was 71.0 (SD, 12.8) years. Overall, 38.2% of the cohort (n=2705) received thrombolysis, 77.2% (n=2087) of which was administered within 3 hours of stroke onset. In the first year following stroke, thrombolysis administration was associated with a 24% relative reduction in the rate of developing dementia (cause-specific hazard ratio, 0.76 [95% CI, 0.58–0.97]). This association remained significant at 5 years (cause-specific hazard ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.66–0.91]) and at the end of follow-up (median 6.3 years; cause-specific hazard ratio, 0.79 [95% CI, 0.68–0.89]). Conclusions: Thrombolysis administration following first-ever ischemic stroke was independently associated with a reduced rate of dementia. Incident dementia should be considered as a relevant outcome when evaluating risk/benefit of thrombolysis in ischemic stroke patients.

Effect of Various Rates of P from Alternative and Traditional Sources on Butterhead Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) Grown on Peat Substrate

Previous research indicated the potential use of struvite (STR) as an alternative source of phosphorus (P) in crop production. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of STR and triple superphosphate (TSP) on the growth and chemical composition of butterhead lettuce grown on peat substrate over a three-month period (May–July). Both alternative (STR) and conventional (TSP) fertilizers were applied at three rates: (1) recommended rate based on the elemental content of substrate and crop nutritional need; (2) reduced rate (50% lower than recommended); and (3) increased rate (50% higher than recommended). Unfertilized (control) plants were also grown in the pot experiment. As expected, fertilizer application tended to increase the content of heavy metals in the substrate. Thus, an increase in Zn, Pb, and Cu content in peat substrate was found following STR amendments. However, compared with unfertilized plants, the applied rates of the STR and TSP fertilizers did not increase the content of Cd and Cu in the plant leaf, while Hg content was below the detection limit. In addition, Zn content in the plant leaf significantly decreased following STR and TSP applications. In comparison to unfertilized plants, both alternative and conventional fertilizers increased the content of P and nitrate nitrogen (N-NO3−) in the plant leaf while their effect on Mg content was negligible. The increased rate of STR was the best fertilizer treatment because it produced the largest number of leaves, which were also characterized by the highest P content. Our findings showed that STR was an effective source of P in butterhead lettuce cultivation without adverse effects on heavy metal accumulation.

Manganese modulates metabolic activity and redox homeostasis in translationally-blocked Lactococcus cremoris, impacting metabolic persistence, cell-culturability, and flavor formation.

Manganese (Mn) is an essential trace element that is supplemented in microbial media with varying benefits across species and growth conditions. We found that growth of Lactococcus cremoris was unaffected by manganese omission from the growth medium. The main proteome adaptation to manganese omission involved increased manganese transporter production (up to 2000-fold), while the remaining 10 significant proteome changes were between 1.4 and 4 fold. Further investigation in translationally-blocked (TB), non-growing cells showed that Mn supplementation (20 µM) led to approximately 1.5X faster acidification compared to Mn-free conditions. However, this faster acidification stagnated within 24 hours, likely due to draining of intracellular NADH that coincides with substantial loss of culturability. Conversely, without manganese, non-growing cells persisted to acidify for weeks, albeit at a reduced rate, but maintaining redox balance and culturability. Strikingly, despite being unculturable, α-keto acid-derived aldehydes continued to accumulate in cells incubated in the presence of manganese, whereas without manganese cells predominantly formed the corresponding alcohols. This is most likely reflecting NADH availability for the alcohol dehydrogenase-catalyzed conversion. Overall, manganese influences the lactococcal acidification rate, and flavor formation capacity in a redox dependent manner. These are important industrial traits especially during cheese ripening, where cells are in a non-growing, often unculturable state.

Changing the Status Quo: Cases of Production Restoration in Inactive Offshore Oil Wells

The United Arab Emirates oil and gas reservoirs are continuously intersected with a growing number of horizontal wells and longer drains at varying bottomhole static temperatures. This results in a variety of naturally flowing and more challenging wells where stimulation is required for sustainable flow. Hence it became important to not only rely on plain acid systems for production gain, but to also include more sophisticated acid stimulation systems that can provide improved results in more challenging environments where plain acid may be found lacking. These results were recently achieved via the introduction of single-phase retarded acid (SPRA) as well as viscoelastic diverting acid (VEDA) in inactive wells offshore. The application of SPRA and VEDA was subsequent to extensive laboratory testing including core flow tests, solubility tests, and emulsion tendency testing to the performance of these blends against existing acid recipes such as plain HCl and polymer-based diverting acid. These tests proved that a combination of SPRA and VEDA would allow maximizing lateral coverage in heterogenous reservoirs due to the chemical diversion capabilities from thief zones without imposing further damage that polymer-based diverted acids may cause. The combined SPRA and VEDA would also enhance acid wormhole penetration due to the reduced rate of reaction caused by acid retardation. Such tests were supported with software simulations that provided acid dosage, pumping rate, and pumping method sensitives. Proposing SPRA and VEDA at higher pumping rates enabled the delivery of previously unattainable production influx at sustainable wellhead pressures. In addition, 28% acid content typically used for dolomitic reservoirs was considered unnecessary as 20% retarded acid proved sufficient in such environments. This allowed bullheading treatments, which was previously not possible due to the restriction on pumping 28% acid content across wellheads to avoid causing corrosive damage. Other treatment parameters such as volumes, rates, and acid/diverter sequence and ratio were also adjusted for optimal wormhole penetration across all zones using a fit-for-purpose carbonate matrix acidizing modeling software. The success of SPRA and VEDA was clear in post-treatment evaluation for the cases of previously shut-in wells. These wells were able to produce sustainably at the required tubinghead pressure (production line pressure) after unsuccessful attempts to flow prior to stimulation. The novelty of this paper is the assessment between legacy carbonate stimulation results in UAE using plain HCl acid and polymer-based diverting acid (PDA) and using SPRA and VEDA in shut-in or inactive wells. It also highlights the game-changing solutions that suit the increasing challenges observed in offshore inactive wells including well placement, lithology, bottomhole static temperature, and permeability contrast.

The Small GTPase CsRAC1 Is Important for Fungal Development and Pepper Anthracnose in Colletotrichum scovillei

The pepper anthracnose fungus, Colletotrichum scovillei, causes severe losses of pepper fruit production in the tropical and temperate zones. RAC1 is a highly conserved small GTP-binding protein in the Rho GTPase family. This protein has been demonstrated to play a role in fungal development, and pathogenicity in several plant pathogenic fungi. However, the functional roles of RAC1 are not characterized in C. scovillei causing anthracnose on pepper fruits. Here, we generated a deletion mutant (ΔCsrac1) via homologous recombination to investigate the functional roles of CsRAC1. The ΔCsrac1 showed pleiotropic defects in fungal growth and developments, including vegetative growth, conidiogenesis, conidial germination and appressorium formation, compared to wild-type. Although ΔCsrac1 was able to develop appressoria, it failed to differentiate appressorium pegs. However, ΔCsrac1 still caused anthracnose disease with significantly reduced rate on wounded pepper fruits. Further analyses revealed that ΔCsrac1 was defective in tolerance to oxidative stress and suppression of host-defense genes. Taken together, our results suggest that CsRAC1 plays essential roles in fungal development and pathogenicity in C. scovillei-pepper fruit pathosystem.

Influence of Personal Protective Equipment on the Quality of Chest Compressions: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the influence of personal protective equipment (PPE) on quality of chest compressions during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) showed inconsistent results. Accordingly, a meta-analysis was performed to provide an overview.Methods: Relevant studies were obtained by search of Medline, Embase, and Cochrane's Library databases. A random-effect model incorporating the potential heterogeneity was used to pool the results.Results: Six simulation-based RCTs were included. Overall, pooled results showed that there was no statistically significant difference between the rate [mean difference (MD): −1.70 time/min, 95% confidence interval (CI): −5.77 to 2.36, P = 0.41, I2 = 80%] or the depth [MD: −1.84 mm, 95% CI: −3.93 to 0.24, P = 0.11, I2 = 73%] of chest compressions performed by medical personnel with and without PPE. Subgroup analyses showed that use of PPE was associated with reduced rate of chest compressions in studies before COVID-19 (MD: −7.02 time/min, 95% CI: −10.46 to −3.57, P < 0.001), but not in studies after COVID-19 (MD: 0.14 time/min, 95% CI: −5.77 to 2.36, P = 0.95). In addition, PPE was not associated with significantly reduced depth of chest compressions in studies before (MD: −3.34 mm, 95% CI: −10.29 to −3.62, P = 0.35) or after (MD: −0.97 mm, 95% CI: −2.62 to 0.68, P = 0.25) COVID-19. No significant difference was found between parallel-group and crossover RCTs (P for subgroup difference both > 0.05).Conclusions: Evidence from simulation-based RCTs showed that use of PPE was not associated with reduced rate or depth of chest compressions in CPR.

The Response of Brewster Glacier to Five Decades of Climate

<p>Small perturbations in climate can produce measurable changes to the size of a glacier. Documenting such changes is important for quantifying water storage changes, and understanding glacier-climate interactions. By using all available geodetic data, such as Landsat imagery, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, GNSS and photogrammetric techniques, as well as ground penetrating radar for the construction of a bed DEM, it is found that Brewster Glacier decreased in volume from 1967 to 2017, losing ∼56% of its volume, with a period of volume increase of ∼10% from 1986 to 1997. The overall pattern of geodetic mass balance is similar to the glaciological mass balance record, however, the geodetic method tends to show more negative values by an average of ∼0.6 m w.e. Contrary to many other New Zealand glaciers, which experienced an advance from 1983 to 2008, Brewster Glacier continued to retreat by 390 m during the study period, at an average rate of 7.8 m a⁻¹, but at a significantly reduced rate of ∼2 m a⁻¹ from 1997 until 2005. By comparing the records of Brewster Glacier and Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, we explore the differences in response and reaction times resulting from glacier area-altitude distribution, and climatic setting. Furthermore, DEMs produced by this study are now available for use by a New Zealand wide glacier monitoring programme.</p>

The importance and movement of mud bacterial carbon within the symbiosis of the New Zealand sea anemone Anthopleura aureoradiata

<p>A. aureoradiata is New Zealand’s only native cnidarian to form a phototrophic symbiosis with dinoflagellate microalgae. It is of particular interest as it can be found in estuarine mudflat habitats attached to cockles, where it spends a portion of the day submerged under the mud, either partially or completely. This scenario is very different to the situation in the tropics, where comparable symbioses (e.g. those with reef-building corals) live in brightly lit, clear waters. How A. aureoradiata maintains a stable symbiosis is therefore of considerable interest, with one potential mechanism involving the acquisition of carbon from the surrounding mud to counter the reduced availability of light and hence the reduced rate of photosynthesis. In this thesis, I established the extent to which organic carbon in mud (especially bacteria) can be assimilated by A. aureoradiata and to what extent, if any, this carbon contributes to symbiosis nutrition and facilitates symbiosis stability under otherwise sub-optimal conditions. In the first instance, anemones were given access to¹³C glucose-labelled mud for 12 hours, in both the light and dark, and the extent of label incorporation (¹³C enrichment) in both the host and symbiont was measured by mass spectrometry. Subsequently, A. aureoradiata was starved of planktonic food for six weeks in the presence of differing quantities of unlabelled mud (‘no-mud’, ‘low-mud’ and ‘high-mud’), either with or without light, and a range of nutritional and biomass parameters measured. These included symbiont density, host protein content, and the accumulation of host lipid and symbiont starch stores. Both the host anemone and its symbiotic algae showed signs of ¹³C uptake from the mud. Host anemones maintained in the dark assimilated more ¹³C label from the mud than did anemones incubated in the light, while the extent of label assimilation by the symbionts was unaffected by irradiance. Enhanced heterotrophic feeding in the dark is consistent with patterns reported for other symbiotic cnidarians, such as reef corals, where the host must counter the reduced availability of photosynthate from the symbiotic algae. However, the reason for the equal labelling of the symbionts in the light and dark is less clear. Nevertheless, factors such as reverse translocation in the dark (i.e. the transfer of organic carbon from host to symbiont), dark fixation of inorganic carbon, and a higher respiration rate of symbionts in the light than dark, could act either alone or in concert to produce the labelling pattern seen. While the host and symbiont showed evidence of carbon uptake from the surrounding mud, mud quantity had no effect on either the host’s or symbiont’s storage products (% of starch in symbiont biomass, host protein content and lipid content), or on symbiont density. The lack of an effect of mud suggests that mud-derived bacteria comprise little of the host’s natural diet. In contrast, increased light availability (independent of mud availability) did lead to elevated symbiont density and symbiont starch content, consistent with the phototrophic nature of this symbiosis. More surprising was that host protein content was highest in the dark, suggesting perhaps that the symbionts were less of an energetic drain on their host when starved in the dark due to their lower population density. In summary, my thesis provides evidence that A. aureoradiata and its symbiotic algae can use organic carbon obtained from the surrounding mud for their nutrition, but that this carbon source is of only negligible importance. These results are consistent with previous findings for the uptake and role of mud-derived nitrogen in this system. Further work to establish how this symbiosis maintains its remarkable stability under apparently sub-optimal, low-light conditions is therefore needed.</p>

The Response of Brewster Glacier to Five Decades of Climate

<p>Small perturbations in climate can produce measurable changes to the size of a glacier. Documenting such changes is important for quantifying water storage changes, and understanding glacier-climate interactions. By using all available geodetic data, such as Landsat imagery, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, GNSS and photogrammetric techniques, as well as ground penetrating radar for the construction of a bed DEM, it is found that Brewster Glacier decreased in volume from 1967 to 2017, losing ∼56% of its volume, with a period of volume increase of ∼10% from 1986 to 1997. The overall pattern of geodetic mass balance is similar to the glaciological mass balance record, however, the geodetic method tends to show more negative values by an average of ∼0.6 m w.e. Contrary to many other New Zealand glaciers, which experienced an advance from 1983 to 2008, Brewster Glacier continued to retreat by 390 m during the study period, at an average rate of 7.8 m a⁻¹, but at a significantly reduced rate of ∼2 m a⁻¹ from 1997 until 2005. By comparing the records of Brewster Glacier and Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, we explore the differences in response and reaction times resulting from glacier area-altitude distribution, and climatic setting. Furthermore, DEMs produced by this study are now available for use by a New Zealand wide glacier monitoring programme.</p>