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2022 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
Vladimír Pliska ◽  
Antonín Pařízek ◽  
Martin Flegel

From the fifties to the seventies of the last century, the neurohypophyseal peptides oxytocin and vasopressin constituted one of the main research areas at the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry in Prague (IOCB). A significant contribution to this area is associated with the names of František Šorm, director of the said institute, and Josef Rudinger, head of the institute's peptide laboratory. At that time, newly developed research tools enabled to synthesize structural analogues of these hormones in numerous laboratories worldwide and hence to investigate the structure-activity relationships within this peptide group. Contributions of single peptide-chain positions to the respective biological activities were identified which opened a possibility to rationalize a design of peptides with a combination of changes in several positions. Several clinically interesting peptides were synthesized in the late 1960s at the IOCB and employed as therapeutics: [(Gly)3-Cys1,Lys8]-vasopressin (Glypressin Ferring®, Terli­pressin INN), 1-deamino-8-ᴅ-arginine vasopressin (Desmopressin INN, dDAVP), and later the uterotonics carbetocin (INN), widely used in obstetrics to prevent postpartum haemorrhage. Since the industrial production of peptide therapeutics was scarcely possible under the conditions of socialist economy in Czechoslovakia as well as in other countries under the Soviet influence, F. Šorm agreed to use the already established scientific contacts of IOCB with the Swedish pharmaceutical company Ferring AB and to transfer the production licences to Sweden. The license agreements were signed in 1969 and led to a quick spread of dDAVP in the substitution therapy of the central form of diabetes insipidus and, moreover, contributed to a fast upsurge of the Ferring company. Somewhat later, Glypressin was produced as a therapeutic with a prolonged action in cases of cardiovascular collapse. Contacts between Prague peptide chemists and the Ferring company lasted on a rather informal base until the end of the 1980s. After the fall of the totalitarian regime in Czechoslovakia in 1990, Ferring started a joint-venture collaboration with the newly organized Czech company Léčiva st.p. Praha in a newly established group Prague Polypeptide Institute spol. s. r.o. (later Ferring-Léčiva A.S.). A substantial part of the peptide-production capacities was then transferred to new buildings in Prague.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose L Sandoval ◽  
Alex Friedlaender ◽  
Alfredo Addeo ◽  
Glen J Weiss

Background: The unprecedented context of the COVID-19 pandemic poses the opportunity to study several questions in circumstances that would probably not otherwise occur. We sought to determine the dynamics of pharmaceutical company drug sales revenue, market capitalization and payments to physicians during the pandemic, focusing on payments to so-called key opinion leaders (KOLs). Methods: We analyzed the CMS Open Payments data of 15 top pharmaceutical company general payments to US physicians. We calculated total payments per year for all physicians, KOLs and 2018 KOLs in subsequent years. Drug-related fold changes in payments, drug revenues and company market capitation were calculated using Q1-2018 as reference. Yearly differences in payments, drug sales revenue and market capitalization were tested using generalized estimation equations (GEE). A double-sided p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The analyzed dataset comprised 8,563,872 payments to 382,779 physicians. In 2020, we observed a reduction in payments to physicians and KOLs compared to prior years. The total amount per KOL physician per company also decreased for each year for KOLs and the 2018 KOLs in the subsequent years. Payments per drug, but neither drug revenues nor pharmaceutical company market capitalization, followed a downward trend in 2020 compared to prior years. GEE analysis confirmed that, compared to 2018, the decrease in payments to KOLs overall and for the top drugs of each company was statistically significant. Yet, no significant differences in drug sales revenue and market capitalization was observed. Conclusions: A substantial and significant reduction in payments to KOLs during the first fiscal year of the COVID-19 pandemic was not associated with a reduction in drug sales revenue of blockbuster drug products and the market capitalization of 15 top pharmaceutical companies. Overall, these findings suggest that a substantial part of pharmaceutical payments to KOLs do not appear to impact top drug sales revenues.


2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Jorin Hamer ◽  
Birte Matthiessen ◽  
Silvia Pulina ◽  
Giannina S. I. Hattich

Intraspecific diversity is a substantial part of biodiversity, yet little is known about its maintenance. Understanding mechanisms of intraspecific diversity shifts provides realistic detail about how phytoplankton communities evolve to new environmental conditions, a process especially important in times of climate change. Here, we aimed to identify factors that maintain genotype diversity and link the observed diversity change to measured phytoplankton morpho-functional traits Vmax and cell size of the species and genotypes. In an experimental setup, the two phytoplankton species Emiliania huxleyi and Chaetoceros affinis, each consisting of nine genotypes, were cultivated separately and together under different fluctuation and nutrient regimes. Their genotype composition was assessed after 49 and 91 days, and Shannon’s diversity index was calculated on the genotype level. We found that a higher intraspecific diversity can be maintained in the presence of a competitor, provided it has a substantial proportion to total biovolume. Both fluctuation and nutrient regime showed species-specific effects and especially structured genotype sorting of C. affinis. While we could relate species sorting with the measured traits, genotype diversity shifts could only be partly explained. The observed context dependency of genotype maintenance suggests that the evolutionary potential could be better understood, if studied in more natural settings including fluctuations and competition.


Tertium ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-31
Author(s):  
Małgorzata Nicieja

The paper attempts to analyse the international success of the Danish televisual series Rita (TV2 Denmark - Netflix, 2012-2020). It places the production in a wider cultural and historical context and treats it as an exemplification of, what the author deems, a recent shift in representations of teachers in visual media narratives. The author’s argumentation is premised on three principal assumptions. First, Rita demonstrates that after the genre’s decline at the turn of the twentieth century, the school-centred audio-visual narratives are back in favour. The trend is connected to the growth of the post-network television and the so-called over-the-top services (OTT). Second, the substantial part of Rita’s wide appeal is related to the show’s innovative application of the conventions known from the earlier Scandinavian productions and themes from serials about “difficult women”. This particularly concerns the show’s adept exploration of the resilient and anti-heroic female lead character. Third, Rita is regarded as an early indication of the shift in the ways school life and teachers are represented in the media today. The author stipulates that the show may augur the emergence of many similar complex televisual images of teachers in the near future.


Poligrafi ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 93-124
Author(s):  
A. Banu Hülür ◽  
Yusuf Ekinci ◽  
A. Çağlar Deniz

The Syrian civil war and related migration affected Turkish border cities such as Antakya, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Gaziantep, and Kilis. In this study, we explore the tactics and strategies developed by Syrian asylum seekers in order to cope with the prejudices and negative perceptions about Syrians commonly shared by locals. The findings of our research are drawn from the in-depth interviews we conducted with more than one hundred refugees, locals, and staff members of different NGOs. Our arguments and conclusions in this article are also the result of observations made during several research trips and a thorough examination of news about refugees in local and national media. Our field research lasted from August 2014 to February 2015, but the substantial part of this study was conducted between January and February 2015.


2021 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Yousuke Kaifu

Skull IX (Tjg-1993.05) was found in Sangiran, Central Java, in 1993, and is now stored at the Institute of Technology, Bandung. It is a remarkably complete fossil cranium of Homo erectus. It is one of the six H. erectus crania from the early Pleistocene of Java that preserves a nearly complete vault and is the third Javanese H. erectus crania with a substantial part of the facial skeleton preserved. After preliminary studies by late Prof. Sartono and other researchers, our team, led by Prof. Yahdi Zaim, had an opportunity to re-reconstruct and fully describe the specimen during 2008-2010. In this paper, I introduce how we corrected the distorted original reconstruction and summarize the specimen’s implications for the Homo erectus evolution in and outside Indonesia. Skull IX closely resembles Sangiran 17 and other Javanese H. erectus crania from the same stratigraphic level. The neurocranium of Skull IX is slightly smaller than the so-far-recorded smallest cranium from this zone, suggesting this individual was female. The face exhibits some “Asian” features, which highlights regional variation in Afro-Asian archaic members of Homo.


2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 459-468
Author(s):  
Vaida Pilinkienė ◽  
Alina Stundziene ◽  
Evaldas Stankevičius ◽  
Andrius Grybauskas

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a number of challenges worldwide regarding not only the human health perspective, but also the economic situation. Quarantine, imposed in many countries, forced a substantial part of businesses to close or narrow down their activities, thus leaving corporations and employees without any or with lower income. If national governments had not undertaken any actions to save national economies, the consequences could have been even more devastating. The real estate market is an important part of economy. Instability in the real estate market can cause financial problems, vulnerability of population’s welfare and other negative effects. This research aims to assess the impact of the economic stimulus measures on the real estate market under the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic in Lithuania. The research methods include comparative analysis, correlation analysis, stationarity test, regression analysis and the ARDL models. The results indicate that the economic stimulus measures only partially contribute to stabilization of the real estate market in Lithuania. The drop in housing prices was 2.9 percent lower because of the economic stimulus in the second quarter of 2020. Maintenance of household cash and deposits as well as lending to business enterprises are the measures that allow to stabilize the real estate market in the shortest time under the conditions of the economic shock. The other governmental support measures are also important, especially if they are aimed at preserving jobs.


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (7) ◽  
pp. 754-760
Author(s):  
A. A. Kryukov ◽  
A. O. Gorbunova ◽  
T. R. Kudriashova ◽  
O. I. Yakhin ◽  
A. A. Lubyanov ◽  
...  

Plant sugar transporters play an essential role in the organism’s productivity by carrying out carbohydrate transportation from source cells in the leaves to sink cells in the cortex. In addition, they aid in the regulation of a substantial part of the exchange of nutrients with microorganisms in the rhizosphere (bacteria and fungi), an activity essential to the formation of symbiotic relationships. This review pays special attention to carbohydrate nutrition during the development of arbuscular mycorrhiza (AM), a symbiosis of plants with fungi from the Glomeromycotina subdivision. This relationship results in the host plant receiving micronutrients from the mycosymbiont, mainly phosphorus, and the fungus receiving carbon assimilation products in return. While the efficient nutrient transport pathways in AM symbiosis are yet to be discovered, SWEET sugar transporters are one of the three key families of plant carbohydrate transporters. Specific AM symbiosis transporters can be identified among the SWEET proteins. The survey provides data on the study history, structure and localization, phylogeny and functions of the SWEET proteins. A high variability of both the SWEET proteins themselves and their functions is noted along with the fact that the same proteins may perform different functions in different plants. A special role is given to the SWEET transporters in AM development. SWEET transporters can also play a key role in abiotic stress tolerance, thus allowing plants to adapt to adverse environmental conditions. The development of knowledge about symbiotic systems will contribute to the creation of microbial preparations for use in agriculture in the Russian Federation. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 1209 (1) ◽  
pp. 012045
Author(s):  
S Ravaszová

Abstract The article deals with a laboratory preparation of triclinic modification of clinker mineral tricalcium silicate. A substantial part of the article is devoted to the technology and technique of firing a sample of tricalcium silicate, which would in the future allow the study of the development of the crystal lattice structure of this clinker mineral at short isothermal durations, in the order of minutes. As part of the research, a small high-temperature experimental furnace was designed and constructed. Based on the results, we can express the suitability and applicability of this furnace for the study of the formation of triclinic tricalcium silicate at short soakings.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emeline Roux ◽  
Aurélie Nicolas ◽  
Florence Valence ◽  
Grégoire Siekaniec ◽  
Victoria Chuat ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundStreptococcus thermophilus is a Gram-positive bacterium widely used as starter in the dairy industry as well as in many traditional fermented products. In addition to its technological importance, it has also gained interest in recent years as beneficial bacterium due to human health-promoting functionalities. The objective of this study was to inventory the main health-promoting properties of S. thermophilus and to study their intra-species diversity at the genomic and genetic level within a collection of representative strains. ResultsIn this study various health-related functions were analyzed at the genome level from 79 genome sequences of strains isolated over a long time period from diverse products and different geographic locations. While some functions are widely conserved among isolates (e.g., degradation of lactose, and folate production) suggesting their central physiological and ecological role for the species, others including the tagatose-6-phosphate pathway involved in the catabolism of galactose, and the production of bioactive peptides and g-aminobutyric acid are strain-specific. Most of these strain-specific health-promoting properties seems to have been acquired via horizontal gene transfer events. The genetic basis for the phenotypic diversity between strains for some health related traits have also been investigated. For instance, substitutions in the galK and gadBC promoter region correlate with the ability of some strains to catabolize galactose via the Leloir pathway and to produce high level of g-aminobutyric acid, respectively. Finally, the low occurrence in S. thermophilus genomes of genes coding for biogenic amine production and antibiotic resistance is also a contributing factor to its safety status.ConclusionsThe natural intra-species diversity of S. thermophilus, therefore, represents an interesting source for innovation in the field of fermented products enriched for healthy components that can be exploited to improve human health. A better knowledge of the health-promoting properties and their genomic and genetic diversity within the species may facilitate the selection and application of strains for specific biotechnological and human health-promoting purpose. Moreover, by pointing out that a substantial part of its functional potential still defies us, our work opens the way to uncover additional health-related functions through the intra-species diversity exploration of S. thermophilus by comparative genomics approaches.


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