Identification of Persons Who Are Responsive To Wood Smoke Particle-Induced Airway Inflammation With Assessment of The Effect of GSTM1, Asthma Status And Sex On This Response.

Background: We are currently screening human volunteers to determine their sputum polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) response 6 and 24 hours following initiation of exposure to wood smoke particles (WSP). Inflammatory responders (>10% increase in %PMN) are identified for their subsequent participation in mitigation studies against WSP-induced airways inflammation. In this report we compared responder status (N=52) at both 6 and 24hr time points to refine/expand its classification, assessed the impact of the GSTM1 genotype, asthma status and sex on responder status, and explored whether sputum soluble phase markers of inflammation correlate with PMN responsiveness to WSP. Results: In the entire cohort, we found a significant, but very small, decrease in FVC and systolic blood pressure immediately following WSP exposure and sputum %PMNs were significantly increased at 24 hours post exposure, the latter finding was also significantly correlated with sputum IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8, and PMN/mg; a similar response was not found at the 6 hour %PMN response. Blood endpoints in the entire cohort showed a significant increase in %PMN and PMN/mg at 6 but not 24 hours. Six-hour responders tended to be 24-hour responders and vice versa, but 24-hour responders also had significantly increased IL-1b, IL-6, IL-8 at 24 hours post WSP exposure. The GSTM1 null genotype significantly (p<0.05) enhanced the %PMN response at 6 hours in the entire cohort, by 24% in the 24-hour responders and not at all in the 6 hours responders. Asthma status enhanced the 24 hour %PMN response in the entire cohort and in the 6- and 24-hour responders. Sex had no effect on %PMN response. Conclusions: The 24 hour time point was more informative than the 6 hour time point in optimally defining airway inflammatory responsiveness to WSP exposure. GSTM1 and asthma status are significant effect modifiers of this response. These study design and subject parameters should be considered before enrolling volunteers for proof-of-concept WSP mitigation studies.

Biological Aging for Risk Prediction of First-Ever Intracerebral Hemorrhage and Cerebral Infarction in Advanced Age

Successful interventions to prevent cerebrovascular disease and stroke require early identification of persons at risk before clinical manifestation of disease. We assessed the predictive value of biological age (BA) as an early indicator for cerebrovascular disease and risk of first-ever intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and cerebral infarction (CI) in advanced age and compared these relationships with commonly used biomarkers including tau and AB40 and AB42. The study included Individuals who consented for blood draw and follow-up. We computed biological age using structural equation modelling. The algorithm integrates biomarkers that represent six body systems involved in overall cerebrovascular health including metabolic function, cardiac function, lung function, kidney function, liver function, immunity and inflammation. Time to event analysis was conducted using Cox-regression models. Prediction analysis was conducted using Harrels C and Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. The sample included a total of 1699 individuals at baseline followed up over a median of 11 years. During a period of 15, 780 and 16, 172 person-years a total of 17 first-ever intracerebral hemorrhage and 83 cerebral infarction cases occurred. In time-to-event analysis, BA showed higher magnitude of associations with ICH compared to CA (HRBA-ICH: 2.30, 95% CI: 1.20, 4.30; HRCA-ICH: 1.40, 95% CI: 0.76, 2.53) and higher precision with CI (HRBA-CI: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.01,1.75; HRCA-CI:1.90, 95% CI: 1.48, 2.66). BA outperformed CA for prediction of ICH (AUC: 0.68 vs 0.53; Harrels C: 0.72 vs 0.53) and for CI (AUC:0.63 vs 0.62; Harrels C: 0.68 vs 0.67). Biological aging based on integrated physiology biomarkers provides a novel tool for monitoring and identification of persons at highest risk of cerebrovascular disease in advanced age. Future studies should confirm these observations in bigger samples and further characterize aging mechanisms that contribute towards brain reserve and resilience among individuals with similar risk profiles.

ALBUMIN CREATININE RATIO AS AN INDICATOR OF NON-HEALING FOOT WOUND FORMATION IN DIABETES

Aims: To investigate whether kidney injury, determined by albumin creatinine ratio, was associated with current non-healing foot wounds in type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: Eighty–nine Barbadians with diabetes were recruited. Cases had a current foot wound and controls had no current foot wound and no history of a non-healing foot wound. Cases were matched to controls using sex, age and duration of diabetes. Participants were from wound dressing and diabetes clinics at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Polyclinics, and from private healthcare practitioners. The relationship between albumin creatinine ratio and foot ulceration, adjusting for selected potential risk factors, was analyzed using logistic regression and presented as odds ratios. Results: Forty–four cases and 45 controls were matched, with no statistically significant difference in matching criteria. There were statistically important differences in measures of neuropathy, blood glucose, HbA1c and Albumin:creatinine ratio between cases and controls. Cases were 3 times more likely than controls to have microalbuminuria (95% CI 0.9 – 10.2; p=0.08). Cases were 7.4 times more likely than controls to have macroalbuminuria (95% CI 1.2 – 47.5; p=0.04). Conclusions: The possible association of albumin:creatinine ratio with diabetic foot wounds raises the possibility of its use in earlier identification of persons on the pathway to developing diabetic foot.

On the Prospects of Digitalization of Justice

The article considers the problem of digitalization of judicial activities in the Russian Federation and abroad. Given the fact that in the modern world elements of digital (electronic) justice are gaining widespread adoption, the article presents an analysis of its fundamental principles and distinguishes between electronic methods of ensuring procedural activity and digitalization of justice as an independent direction of transformation of public relations at the present stage. As a demonstration of the implementation of the first direction, the article presents the experience of foreign countries, Russian legislative approaches and currently being developed legislative initiatives in terms of improving the interaction of participants in the procedure through the use of information technologies. The authors come to the conclusion that the implemented approaches and proposed amendments are intended only to modernize the form of administration of justice with new opportunities to carry out the same actions (identification of persons participating in the case, notification, participation in the court session, etc.) without changing the essential characteristics of the proceedings. The second direction, related to electronic (digital) justice, is highlighted from the point of view of the prospects and risks of using artificial intelligence technologies to make legally significant decisions on the merits. At the same time, the authors argue that the digitalization of justice requires the development and implementation of the category of justice in machine-readable law, as well as special security measures of both technological and legal nature.

Legal Assistance in Criminal Cases in Digital Society

The digital environment developing in our society is becoming a kind of platform that not only conditions the emergence of new types of crime, but also provides new opportunities in the investigation of crimes. Therefore, the use of information technology should not only help in the prevention, detection of crimes and the identification of persons who committed them, but also become a reliable guarantor of ensuring the rights of persons involved in the orbit of criminal proceedings. The author discusses not only the problems of application of information technologies in the production of certain investigative actions and the place of electronic evidence in the list of types of evidence, but also the transfer of criminal proceedings to electronic format, examines individual advantages and benefits that can be obtained from digitalization of criminal proceedings. The author carries out a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign criminal procedure legislation in the context of the development of digital technologies. The question of the possibility of using artificial intelligence in legal proceedings, including in criminal proceedings, is considered. These issues acquire particular relevance when the investigation is connected with the need to interrogate persons who are at the time of the investigation of a criminal case on the territory of a foreign state. The same applies to the production of other investigative actions. In this case, cooperation is carried out within the framework of providing legal assistance in criminal cases. A separate problem is the differences in the criminal procedural legislation of the states cooperating in the provision of legal assistance in criminal cases. Indeed, some foreign laws allow for the possibility of remote interrogation and remote search. All this determines the search for new vectors for the development of international cooperation with more detailed regulation of the production of remote investigative actions and in terms of securing the rights and obligations of its participants not only for simpler and faster ways of accessing electronic evidence, but also for granting and observing their rights and establishing and observing requirements for information technology, storage and transmission of data, as well as the use of the information received.

Digital Neuropsychological Assessment: New Technology for Measuring Subtle Neuropsychological Behavior

Technology has transformed the science and practice of medicine. In this special mini-forum, data using digital neuropsychological technology are reported. All of these papers demonstrate how coupling digital technology with standard paper and pencil neuropsychological tests are able to extract behavior not otherwise obtainable. As digital assessment methods mature, early identification of persons with emergent neurodegenerative and other neurological illness may be possible.

Application of biometric systems in face identification technologies

The paper presents an analytical review of the application of biometric recognition systems in relation to facial image identification technologies. The classification of biometric systems is presented. The trends of technological progress in the field of biometrics and facial recognition capabilities are considered. It is determined that in 2020 there is a trend of transition from the use of biometric recognition technologies in traditional state security systems to the sphere of commercial and user applications. The process of «linking» encryption keys and passwords with the biometric parameters of the data subject is described. It is proposed that a biometric feature and a biometrics parameter mean a certain value that has a physical meaning that characterizes the subject itself. The possibility of using circular neighborhood and bilinear interpolation of pixel intensity values in biometrics is also presented. This will make it possible to build a local binary template. In order to solve the problem of identification of persons, it is advisable to investigate the essence of biometric systems in the technologies of identification of persons, their types, identifying the shortcomings of each of them, on the basis of which to present the directions of elimination and search for the most reliable technologies. The essence of the use of biometric systems in the technologies of identification of persons is, for example, that the user can provide the bank or other counterparty with evidence that it is he who wants to use the services on his accounts. At the same time, the demand has increased for contactless biometric solutions. These technologies are implemented in order to conduct additional biometric verification of users. This allows to minimize possible fraud or violation of the internal rules of the service, for example, the transfer of accounts of some registered users to others.

Age-Related Dynamics in Post-Vaccine Antibody Immune Response to Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoid in Bulgarian Subjects

In this study, we investigated the age-related dynamics in post-vaccine humoral immunity to diphtheria (DT) and tetanus (TT) toxoids in the Bulgarian population. In addition, we attempted to correlate the titers of specific antibodies with the predisposition to more common infectious pathology among our study participants. The 208 individuals tested were divided into five age groups: 0-4, 4-6, 6-12, 12-17 and 17-66 years, based on the vaccines received according to the immunization schedule in Bulgaria. Vaccine response was determined by measuring the concentrations of specific IgG antibodies using commercial ELISA kits. Sufficient protective levels of diphtheria (> 0.1 IU/mL) and tetanus (> 0.15 IU/mL) antitoxin were detected in 63.5% and 85.1% of all subjects, respectively. The highest rates of protection against both TT (94.3%) and DT (79.2%) were observed in the youngest age group (0-4 years). We also observed a relatively high rate of insufficient protection (< 0.1 IU/ml) against diphtheria (36% of individuals tested across all age groups) in comparison to tetanus (14.9% of all subjects). The rate of insufficient protection against both antigens was higher among children with frequent infections. Moreover, 77.1% of the individuals having low antibody titers against the highly immunogenic tetanus toxoid, also had low levels of diphtheria antibodies. The level of seroprotection is better for tetanus than for diphtheria toxoid at any age. In conclusion, our data provide information on the level of immunity to diphtheria and tetanus among vaccinated individuals in Bulgaria and allows for the identification of persons suspected of having an immune deficiency. Additional investigations are needed in order to provide reliable recommendations for the national vaccine program and personalized vaccinations.