REPRESENTATION OF KIDNEY DAMAGE AT THE MOLECULAR LEVEL IN PATIENTS WITH UROLITHIASIS BASED ON THE STUDY OF ENZYMATIC TEST INDICATORS.

The aim of the work is to improve the results of early diagnosis of acute infectious kidney diseases at the molecular level in urolithiasis (urinary stone disease) through the study of enzymatic test indicators. Enzymatic tests (NGAL, IL-1ß, ß2-microglobulin) were investigated at the molecular level using the IFA method in the urine of patients with urolithiasis. Comparative and prognostic significance of the conducted treatment was established between the groups of patients, and an algorithm was developed based on the results of kidney damage predictors. It was found that the indicators of general laboratory analysis in patients with urolithiasis within the first 24-48 hours do not reliably indicate the absence of an infectious-inflammatory process in the kidneys and the development of renal failure. It was determined that an increase in the inflammation predictor indicators in more than 50% of patients indicates the development of infectious-inflammatory complications within the first 12-24 hours before the occurrence of general laboratory and clinical changes. The assessment of the effectiveness of conservative therapy in groups IA and II revealed that complications of the inflammatory process in the kidneys were observed five times more frequently in group II (comparison) than in group IA. The use of enzymatic tests as markers for early kidney damage allows for the classification of two main groups of patients: those requiring conservative treatment and those requiring urgent surgical intervention. This significantly reduces the frequency of inflammatory, purulent-septic complications and improves the treatment outcomes for patients with upper urinary tract obstruction in urolithiasis.

[Demographic Aspects of Population Aging in Saint-Petersburg at the End of XX-the beginning of XXI Century. Part II. Prospective Aging Measures.]

The paper is the second part of the series of two articles on demographic aspects of population aging in Saint-Petersburg in 1990-2010/2014 compared to the situation in the Russian Federation as a whole. In the first part, the situation with population aging in Saint-Petersburg and Russia was considered based on traditional aging measures. In the second part, a number of prospective aging measures that take account of remaining life expectancy are studied, such as Prop. RLE 15 (proportion of population with remaining life expectancy 15 years or less), POADR (prospective old-age dependency ratio), population average remaining years of life (PARIL). Prospective aging indicators are compared with their traditional analogues. Gender imbalance of prospective aging measures has been considered.

Experimental demonstration of change of dynamical properties of a passively mode-locked semiconductor laser subject to dual optical feedback by dual full delay-range tuning.

In this contribution we experimentally demonstrate the change and improvement of dynamical properties of a passively mode-locked semiconductor laser subject to optical feedback from two external cavities by coupling the feedback pulses back into the gain segment. Hereby, we tune the full delay-phase of the pulse-to-pulse period of both external cavities separately and demonstrate the change of the repetition rate, timing jitter, multi-pulse formation and side-band suppression for the first time for such a dual feedback configuration. In addition, we thereby confirm modeling predictions by achieving both a good qualitative and quantitative agreement of experimental and simulated results. Our findings suggest a path towards the realization of side-band free all-optical photonic oscillators based on mode-locked lasers.

Plasticity of social behavior in Drosophila.

This article presents results obtained from studies of the plasticity of changes in social behavior in Drosophila (interactions between individuals in groups) in conditions of homo- and heterogeneous environments. This is the first report of data illustrating self-starting acquisition by female Drosophila of a classical conditioned reflex to contextual factors signaling possible threats from other individuals and blocking the initiation of activity. A previously described operant conditioned reflex also helped flies avoid aggression from other individuals and make more efficient use of food resources by decreasing the initially high level of activity. Classical conditioning had the effect that the fly did not need to repeat acquisition of the conditioned reflex each time: when placed into an analogous situation, the fly's activity automatically decreased as a result of exposure to the conditioned stimulus, i.e., contextual factors.

[Plasticity of the social behavior in Drosophila]. / Plastichnost' sotsial'nogo povedeniia u drozofily.

Original data illustrate self-starting classical conditioning to environmental factors in Drosophila, the factors serving as signals of a possible threat from other individuals and blocking initiation of activity. Instrumental conditioning resulting in reduction of an initially high level of activity in the group situation, helps a fly to avoid aggression from other flies and to use the food resources more efficiently. Classical conditioning makes it unnecessary for a fly to learn this instrumental task again and again: being faced with an analogous situation the fly automatically decreases its activity following presentation of the conditioned stimuli or the specific environment.