The book contains 19 national reports and a comparative legal analysis of the legal regulations on the procedure of genome editing on the human germline. It is worked out which shared values ​​the different legal systems connect and which differences exist. On this basis, it is examined whether an international regulation of the topic is possible and how it could be designed. In addition, it will be examined to what extent the regulations of other countries can serve as a model for German legislation.

Cancer cells require exogenous methionine for survival and therefore methionine restriction is a promising avenue for treatment. The basis for methionine dependence in cancer cells is still not entirely clear. While the lack of the methionine salvage enzyme methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) is associated with methionine auxotrophy in cancer cells, there are other causes for tumors to require exogenous methionine. Restricting methionine by diet or by enzyme depletion, alone or in combination with certain chemotherapeutics, is a promising antitumor strategy.

Preface It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. —Charles Darwin We live in an era of rapid and unprecedented change. Driven by technological innovation and changes in the way we deliver services, the face of healthcare is undergoing a metamorphosis, shifting into a more person-based, technologically enabled, evidence-based, and responsive system. That is the theory, at least. But are health systems that are changing according to these plans heralding transformative change? And what do some of the best thinkers believe is the prole of their health system over the next 5–15 years? We believe this book represents the best attempt yet to answer those thorny questions. Very few people could reach into the health systems of 152 countries and territories and orchestrate a book of this magnitude. Jeffrey Braithwaite, as series editor, accompanied by regional editors, Russell Mannion, Yukihiro Matsuyama, Paul G. Shekelle, Stuart Whittaker, and Samir Al-Adawi, and supported by an extremely knowledgeable team at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, particularly Dr. Wendy James and Kristiana Ludlow, were just the team to accomplish this. The omnibus they have created is an invaluable source of predictions about the future scope and shape of health systems across low-, middle-, and highincome countries. It is a treasure trove of important information. People will use it as a practical guide to the future in many ways: it can be read for benet and learning by region, by theme, and by specic case study exemplars of the kinds of reforms people are enacting in their health systems, extrapolated across the medium-term time horizon. Most books do not do this. The fact that this group has been able to achieve this is an endorsement of the skills, efforts, ingenuity, and expertise of the editors, editorial team, and individual chapter authors. We commend this book and recommend it as a must-read to many stakeholder groups: students of the system, policy-makers, planners, futurists, and groups representing managers, clinicians, and patients—in fact, all those who have an interest in healthcare and its future success. We enjoyed dipping xii Preface into it and thinking about its many learning points. We are sure others will too. Wendy Nicklin RN, BN, MSc(A), CHE, FACHE, FISQua, ICD.D President, International Society for Quality in Health Care Clifford F. Hughes AO, MBBS, DSc, FRACS, FACS, FACC, FIACS (Hon), FAAQHC, FCSANZ, FISQua, AdDipMgt, Immediate Past President, International Society for Quality in Health Care

This volume contains proceedings of the first Workshop on Data Analysis in Medicine held in May 2017 at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. The volume contains one invited paper by Dr. Svetla Boytcheva, 6 regular contributions and 2 project proposals, carefully selected and reviewed by at least two reviewers from the international program commit- tee. The papers accepted for publication report on different aspects of analysis of medical data, among them treatment of data on particular diseases (Consoli- dated mathematical growth model of Breast Cancer CoMBreC, Artificial neural networks for prediction of final height in children with growth hormone deficiency), methods of data analysis (analysis of rare diseases, methods of machine learning and Big Data, subgroup discovery for treatment optimization), and instrumental tools (explanation-oriented methods of data analysis in medicine, information support features of the medical research process, modeling frame- work for medical data semantic transformations, radiology quality management and peer-review system). Organizers of the workshop would like to thank the reviewers for their careful work and all contributors and participants of the workshop.

This book examines how Russia, the world’s most complicated country, is governed. As it resumes its place at the centre of global affairs, the book explores Russia’s overarching strategies, and how it organizes itself (or not) in policy areas ranging from foreign policy and national security to health care, education, immigration, science, sport, agriculture, the environment and criminal justice. The book also discusses the structures and institutions on which Russia relies in order to deliver its goals in these areas of national life, as well as what’s to be done, in policy terms, to improve the country’s performance in its first post-Soviet century. Edited by Irvin Studin, the book includes contributions from a tremendous list of Russia’s leading thinkers and specialists, including Alexei Kudrin, Vladimir Mau, Alexander Auzan, Simon Kordonsky, Fyodor Lukyanov, Natalia Zubarevich and Andrey Melville.

This overview report is based upon the scientific report for the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (BCB) region, which comprises parts of Canada, the United States and Russia. The scientific report describes current regional environmental conditions, global and regional drivers of change, and the human and ecological impacts of this change. It also emphasises is the diverse, inter-linked environmental, social and economic challenges that residents are already, or likely will be, experiencing from climate change and other regional and global-scale drivers. It considers the environmental and socio-economic changes to which inhabitants in the region are and will be adapting to. Finally, it provides a number of observations intended to help inform decision makers about how they might help their communities adapt to future changes.

The authors proposed and mathematically described model of a new type of the Fermi-Pasta-Ulam recurrence (the FPU auto recurrence) and hypothesized an adequate description of the heart's electrical dynamics within the observed phenomenon. The dynamics of the FPU auto recurrence making appropriate electrical dynamics of the normal functioning of the heart in the form of an electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained by a computer model study. The model solutions in the form of the FPU auto recurrence – ECG Fourier spectrum were evaluated for resistance to external disturbances in the form of random effects, as well as periodic perturbation at a frequency close to the heart beating rate of about 1 Hz. In addition, in order to simulate the dynamics of myocardial infarction model, studied the effect of the surface area of the myocardium on the stability and shape of the auto recurrence – ECG spectrum. It has been found that the intense external disturbing periodic impacts at a frequency of about 1 Hz lead to a sharp disturbance spectrum shape FPU auto recurrence – ECG structure. In addition, the decrease in the surface of the myocardium by 50% in the model led to the destruction of structures of the auto recurrence – ECG, which corresponds to the state of atrial myocardium. Research models have revealed a hypothetical basis of coronary heart disease in the form of increasing the energy of high-frequency harmonics spectrum of the auto recurrence by reducing the energy of low-frequency harmonic spectrum of the auto recurrence, which ultimately leads to a sharp decrease in myocardial contractility. In order to test the hypothesis has been studied more than 20,000 ECGs both healthy people and patients with cardiovascular disease. As a result of these studies, it was found that the dynamics of the electrical activity of normal functioning of the heart can be interpreted by the display of the detected by authors the FPU auto recurrence, and coronary heart disease is a violation of the energy ratio between the low and high frequency harmonics of the FPU auto recurrence Fourier spectrum equal to the ECG spectrum. Thus, the hypothesis has been confirmed.

The materials of The International Scientific – Practical Conference is presented below. The Conference reflects the modern state of innovation in education, science, industry and social-economic sphere, from the standpoint of introducing new information technologies.

It is interesting for a wide range of researchers, teachers, graduate students and professionals in the field of innovation and information technologies.

Background and aims. This research reported here presents findings from an evaluation of the development and implementation of the Healthy Community Challenge Fund (otherwise known as the ‘Healthy Towns’ programme). A key aim of the research has been to inform the development of future environmental and systems‐based ‘whole town’ approaches to obesity prevention. The overall aim of the Healthy Towns programme was to pilot and stimulate novel ‘whole town’ approaches that tackle the ‘obesogenic’ environment in order to reduce obesity, with a particular focus on improving diet and increasing physical activity. Through a competitive tender process, nine towns were selected that represented urban areas across England ranging from small market towns to areas of large cities. The fund provided £30 million over the period 2008‐2011, divided amongst the nine towns. The amounts awarded ranged from £900,000 to £4.85 million. Towns were instructed to be innovative and were given freedom to develop a locally‐specific programme of interventions. This report supplements local process and impact evaluations undertaken by each town (not reported here) by taking an overall view of the programme’s development and implementation. Our evaluation therefore addressed the following research questions: 1. What kinds of interventions were delivered across the Healthy Towns programme? 2. Were environmental and infrastructural interventions equitably delivered? 3. How was the Healthy Towns programme theorised and translated into practice? 4. How was evidence used in the selection and design of interventions? 5. What are the barriers and facilitators to the implementation of a systems approach to obesity prevention?

Adequate assessment of individual functional motor potentials is important for developing appropriate rehabilitation strategies in ischemic stroke [1]. Microstructural changes in corticospinal tract (CST) and corpus callosum (CC) were repeatedly correlated to post-stroke outcome [2, 3]. However, relationship between them and functional recovery remains unclear. Here we investigated relationship between integrity of CST and CC assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and brain functional state assessed with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) in chronic ischemic supratentorial stroke.

The present volume is the fourth issue of the Yearbook series entitled ‘Evolution’. The title of the present volume is ‘From Big Bang to Nanorobots’. In this way we demonstrate that all phases of evolution and Big History are covered in the articles of the present Yearbook. Several articles also present the forecasts about future development.

The main objective of our Yearbook as well as of the previous issues is the creation of a unified interdisciplinary field of research in which the scientists specializing in different disciplines could work within the framework of unified or similar paradigms, using the common terminology and searching for common rules, tendencies and regularities. At the same time for the formation of such an integrated field one should use all available opportunities: theories, laws and methods. In the present volume, a number of such approaches are used.

The volume consists of four sections: Universal Evolutionary Principles; Biosocial Evolution, Ecological Aspects, and Consciousness; Projects for the Future; In Memoriam.

This Yearbook will be useful both for those who study interdisciplinary macroproblems and for specialists working in focused directions, as well as for those who are interested in evolutionary issues of Cosmology, Biology, History, Anthropology, Economics and other areas of study. More than that, this edition will challenge and excite your vision of your own life and the new discoveries going on around us!

The book presents the most important aspects of safe digital image workflows, starting from the basic practical implications and gradually uncovering the underlying concepts and algorithms. With an easy-to-follow, down-to-earth presentation style, the text helps you to optimize your diagnostic imaging projects and connect the dots of medical informatics.​

In the context of global efforts to move towards universal coverage in health systems, this report reviews health financing reforms in the Republic of Moldova and looks in particular at how the population´s access to health services has been affected. In 2004, as has been widely documented elsewhere, wholesale reforms were made to the way in which government funds were used to fund health services, shifting the system overnight from a highly fragmented and inflexible one, to one in which funds for the health sector were pooled nationally, allowing improved risk-sharing as a result of greater flexibility to allocate funds in line with health needs. A new source of funding in the form of a payroll tax for health was also introduced directly leading to a growth in total levels of government health spending. A second phase of reforms starting in 2009 addressed the issue of gaps in population coverage under mandatory health insurance, with legislative measures taken to ensure that all citizens of Moldova had access to primary health care, and to ensure that the poor receive subsidized health insurance. Fiscal constraints have limited the full implementation of these reforms however. Moldova has shown that it is prepared to tackle difficult policy issues head on and has articulated clear goals for the sector. In particular, the Roadmap “Accelerating Reforms: addressing the needs of the health area through investment policies” approved on 1 March 2012, lays a clear agenda for the next phase or priority reforms focusing on principally on service delivery reorganization but also on health financing. This is the correct focus given that progress on a number of priority indicators such as equity in access to services and financial protection has been limited in recent years. This report summarizes the main impact of health financing reforms to date and agrees with the Roadmap about the major challenges for the coming decade, in particular the need to address inefficiencies in service delivery, but also to ensure that the close link between guaranteed benefits and available funding is maintained in future policy decisions.

Background

People who inject drugs (PWID) around the world are disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic. National policy responses to the epidemic heavily influence risk factors for HIV acquisition among this key group. Prior efforts to monitor national policy responses to HIV/AIDS among PWID were limited both in scope and coverage. In this paper we develop and validate the HIV-PWID Policy Index (HPPI) to benchmark and monitor national commitments to HIV prevention and treatment among PWID.

Methods

Composite indicator was constructed employing fuzzy multilayer data envelopment analysis (FMLDEA). Model inputs based on data from 105 countries included 27 variables measured across six conceptual domains, including needle and syringe programs, opioid substitution treatment, testing and counseling, information and education, monitoring and evaluation, and legal and policy climate.

Results

According to the HPPI, which ranges from 0 to 1, the top performing countries in policy commitments to HIV prevention and treatment among PWID were Spain (0.988), Switzerland (0.982), Luxembourg (0.970), Moldova (0.970), and Kyrgyzstan (0.945), whereas the poorest performing included Nicaragua (0.094), Japan, (0.094), Cape Verde (0.097), Syria (0.174), and Benin (0.185). Regionally, commitment to HIV services targeting PWID was highest among European countries (0.81) and lowest among African countries (0.50), with Oceania (0.76), Asia (0.66), and the Americas (0.56) in the mid-range. Subregional differences were even more prominent, with West and Central European nations (0.84) and Central American nations (0.22) earning the highest and lowest HPPI scores, respectively.

Conclusions

The HPPI documented substantial national and regional variation in policy responses to the HIV epidemic among PWID. Our analysis also revealed that many countries have limited HIV/AIDS data collection and monitoring capabilities. Continued enhancement and standardization of global HIV/AIDS monitoring efforts are therefore vital to articulated national and international benchmarking and performance assessment goals.

Objectives: Despite being often overlapped and used interchangeably in academic literature, loving-kindness meditation (LKM) and compassion meditation (CM) are also seen to have their distinct features. As a differential approach towards LKM and CM can promote a more accurate integration of these practices into the clinical field, it is worth studying their differential effects. The present pre-registered study, thus, aimed to experimentally compare effects of single-session LKM and CM on first-time practitioners' emotions. 

Methods: Two hundred and one university students were randomly allocated to three (LKM, CM and control) groups. The self-reported emotions were measured twice, before and after completing an assigned task. 

Results: (1) Both LKM and CM significantly increased other-focused positive emotions compared with the control condition; (2) Both LKM and CM increased happiness and overall positive emotions, and decreased sadness; however, the effect sizes of LKM were consistently larger compared to those of CM; (3) Both LKM and CM significantly increased low arousal positive emotions compared with the control condition.

ConclusionsLKM and CM represent two theoretically different practices. However, as they belong to the same tradition of meditation, they are similar in their intention of forming positive wishes towards self and others, and this appeared to have a positive effect on practitioners’ emotional experience. At the same time, LKM was found to be more effective in evoking positive emotions in first-time practitioners, compared to CM. 

Background

In patients with psychotic disorders, sleep spindles are reduced, supporting the hypothesis that the thalamus and glutamate receptors play a crucial etio-pathophysiological role, whose underlying mechanisms remain unknown. We hypothesized that a reduced function of NMDA receptors is involved in the spindle deficit observed in schizophrenia.

Methods

An electrophysiological multisite cell-to-network exploration was used to investigate, in pentobarbital-sedated rats, the effects of a single psychotomimetic dose of the NMDA glutamate receptor antagonist ketamine in the sensorimotor and associative/cognitive thalamocortical (TC) systems.

Results

Under the control condition, spontaneously-occurring spindles (intra-frequency: 10–16 waves/s) and delta-frequency (1–4 Hz) oscillations were recorded in the frontoparietal cortical EEG, in thalamic extracellular recordings, in dual juxtacellularly recorded GABAergic thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) and glutamatergic TC neurons, and in intracellularly recorded TC neurons. The TRN cells rhythmically exhibited robust high-frequency bursts of action potentials (7 to 15 APs at 200–700 Hz). A single administration of low-dose ketamine fleetingly reduced TC spindles and delta oscillations, amplified ongoing gamma-(30–80 Hz) and higher-frequency oscillations, and switched the firing pattern of both TC and TRN neurons from a burst mode to a single AP mode. Furthermore, ketamine strengthened the gamma-frequency band TRN-TC connectivity. The antipsychotic clozapine consistently prevented the ketamine effects on spindles, delta- and gamma−/higher-frequency TC oscillations.

Conclusion

The present findings support the hypothesis that NMDA receptor hypofunction is involved in the reduction in sleep spindles and delta oscillations. The ketamine-induced swift conversion of ongoing TC-TRN activities may have involved at least both the ascending reticular activating system and the corticothalamic pathway.

Paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) allows investigating inhibitory and excitatory interactions in the human motor cortex noninvasively. Short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (SICF) are used to measure cortico–cortical excitability in patients with, e.g., stroke, dystonia, and Parkinson’s disease. However, the role of the induced electric field (E-field) orientation remains partly unclear. Posterior–anterior (PA)-oriented E-field elicits motor evoked potentials (MEPs) with the lowest stimulus intensities due to the recruitment of corticospinal neurons, indirectly via excitatory synaptic inputs to corticospinal axons (indirect (I-) waves). Stimulation in the lateral–medial (LM) orientation directly activates corticospinal axons, which leads to the generation of both direct (D-) and I-waves. Conditioning stimulus (CS) with an intensity between 50% and 90% of resting motor threshold (RMT) induces activation of GABAA inhibitory mechanisms observed as the SICI (inhibitory) effect on MEP amplitude. In contrast, if the CS intensity is above RMT, the SICF (excitatory) phenomenon can be present due to the superposition of D- and I-waves. Our aim was to investigate the dependence of inhibitory and facilitatory mechanisms on the orientation of the induced E-field of CS and TS. We developed a multi-locus TMS (mTMS) transducer, which allowed us to control the E-field orientation independently for CS and TS at a millisecond inter-pair interval (IPI). Eight healthy subjects (five males; mean age 29, range 21–35 years) participated in the study. mTMS was applied to the hotspot of the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) muscle in the left primary motor cortex. The stimulus intensities were based on the individual RMT of APB for PA and LM orientations. TS and single pulses were administered at 110% RMT. Twenty single pulses were applied for each TS orientation and for each of the 32 paired-pulse conditions. CS and TS stimuli were applied in every combination of the PA and LM orientations with four CS intensities (50, 70, 90, and 110% RMT) and two IPIs (1.5 and 2.7 ms) in a random order. Interaction between CS orientation, IPI, and CS intensity significantly affected TS MEP amplitudes. We observed no statistically significant difference between the responses induced by PA- and LM-oriented TS. CS at 70% RMT for SICI and at 110% RMT for SICF induced similar effects regardless of the TS orientation. We established that LM-oriented CS at 90% RMT produced a greater inhibition than stimuli at the same intensity in the PA orientation. Our results emphasize the minimal influence of the CS E-field dorientation on the test pulse. Additionally, we demonstrate the pivotal role of the stimulus intensity for any CS orientation. SICI and SICF evoked using perpendicular CS and TS directions indicate that we stimulated overlapping neuronal populations with both pulses.

The article deals with the ways Russian authorities have constructed the social problem of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/ acquired immune deficiency syndrome) in Russia. The statistical construction of HIV/AIDS includes data indicating the significant rise of HIV prevalence in Russia since 2000. The study focuses on what and how Russian authorities speak about HIV/AIDS, while there are official data on the rapid spread of the virus in the country. The work is based on a discourse analysis of the authorities’ rhetoric about HIV/AIDS. During his first presidential terms, Vladimir Putin constructed HIV/AIDS not as an epidemic in the country, but as a “global problem,” representing Russia as a participant in international efforts to combat AIDS. The president problematized the HIV spread through the rhetoric of endangerment but without its crucial term “epidemic,” while at the same time de-problematized HIV in Russia by the strategy of naturalizing (“this is a problem that all countries face”). The Russian authorities appealed to traditional moral values and spoke about marginal or risk groups, rather than risk practices. After the deterioration of relations with Western countries since 2007, the Russian president excluded HIV/AIDS problem from his public agenda, despite the existence of the data on steep HIV growth in Russia. The Russian president’s traditionalism, de-problematization, and silence concerning HIV/AIDS lead to the absence of the HIV/AIDS issues in media agenda, the agenda of local authorities, and consequently the personal agendas of Russian citizens. The consequences are ignorance, fears, stigmatization of people living with HIV, semi-legal status of needle, and syringe exchange programs for intravenous drug users, low antiretroviral therapy coverage, and the continuing HIV epidemic.

The review summarizes studies of chemical and biological processes occurring in human body upon exposure to coronaviruses, in particular SARS-CoV-2. The mechanisms of viral particles penetration into the cell and their replication, impact on the immune system and oxygen transport systems are considered. The mechanisms of complications occurring as a consequence of viral infection - vasculitis, thrombosis, cytokine storm and lung fibrosis are discussed. The review also includes data on the latest research in the field of small molecule medication to counteract the virus. Molecular targets and possible vectors of exploiting them are considered. The review is written primarily for specialists who want to understand the chains of activation, replication, actions and methods of protection/inhibition of SARS-CoV-2. Due to the short period of such studies, the data on complexes of small molecule compounds and possible protein targets are not numerous, but they will be useful in search and synthesis of new potentially effective drugs.

The predictive properties of methods aimed for estimating the water content in skin from the spectral diffuse reflection characteristics near the water absorption line in the near-IR spectral range are analysed. Numerical simulation data, experimental data on diffuse reflection from human skin phantoms, and data from the reference data set of human skin reflectance spectra are used to consider the possibility of gaining additional information about the water distribution in skin. The influence of variations in the scattering coefficient and oxyhaemoglobin concentration on the water content estimates is investigated.

BACKGROUND: Past research in population health trends has shown that injuries form a substantial burden of population health loss. Regular updates to injury burden assessments are critical. We report Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study estimates on morbidity and mortality for all injuries. METHODS: We reviewed results for injuries from the GBD 2017 study. GBD 2017 measured injury-specific mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) using the Cause of Death Ensemble model. To measure non-fatal injuries, GBD 2017 modelled injury-specific incidence and converted this to prevalence and years lived with disability (YLDs). YLLs and YLDs were summed to calculate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). FINDINGS: In 1990, there were 4 260 493 (4 085 700 to 4 396 138) injury deaths, which increased to 4 484 722 (4 332 010 to 4 585 554) deaths in 2017, while age-standardised mortality decreased from 1079 (1073 to 1086) to 738 (730 to 745) per 100 000. In 1990, there were 354 064 302 (95% uncertainty interval: 338 174 876 to 371 610 802) new cases of injury globally, which increased to 520 710 288 (493 430 247 to 547 988 635) new cases in 2017. During this time, age-standardised incidence decreased non-significantly from 6824 (6534 to 7147) to 6763 (6412 to 7118) per 100 000. Between 1990 and 2017, age-standardised DALYs decreased from 4947 (4655 to 5233) per 100 000 to 3267 (3058 to 3505). INTERPRETATION: Injuries are an important cause of health loss globally, though mortality has declined between 1990 and 2017. Future research in injury burden should focus on prevention in high-burden populations, improving data collection and ensuring access to medical care.

The ongoing pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 presents novel challenges and opportunities for the use of phylogenetics to understand and control its spread. Here, we analyze the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Russia in March and April 2020. Combining phylogeographic analysis with travel history data, we estimate that the sampled viral diversity has originated from 67 closely timed introductions into Russia, mostly in late February to early March. All but one of these introductions came from non-Chinese sources, suggesting that border closure with China has helped delay establishment of SARS-CoV-2 in Russia. These introductions resulted in at least 9 distinct Russian lineages corresponding to domestic transmission. A notable transmission cluster corresponded to a nosocomial outbreak at the Vreden hospital in Saint Petersburg; phylodynamic analysis of this cluster reveals multiple (2-4) introductions each giving rise to a large number of cases, with a high initial effective reproduction number of 3.7 (2.5-5.0).

Background and Purpose Despite the continuing efforts in multimodal assessment of the motor system after stroke, conclusive findings on the complementarity of functional and structural metrics of the corticospinal tract (CST) integrity and the role of the contralesional hemisphere are still missing. The aim of this work was to find the best combination of the motor system parameters, allowing classification of patients into three predefined groups of upper limb motor recovery. Methods 35 chronic ischemic stroke patients (47 [26–66] y.o., 29 [6–58] months post-stroke) with only supratentorial lesion and unilateral upper extremity weakness were enrolled. Patients were divided into three groups depending on the upper limb motor recovery. Non-parametric statistical tests and regression analysis were used to investigate the relationships among structural and functional motor system parameters, probed by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). In addition, stratification rules were tested, using a decision tree classifier to identify parameters explaining motor recovery. Results Fractional anisotropy (FA) ratio in the internal capsule (IC) and absence/presence of motor evoked potentials (MEPs), were equally discriminative of the worst motor outcome group (96% accuracy). MEP presence diverged for two investigated hand muscles. Concurrently, for the three recovery groups’ classification, the best parameter combination was: IC FA ratio and Fréchet distance between the contralesional and ipsilesional CST FA profiles (91% accuracy). No other metrics had any additional value for patients’ classification. Conclusions This study demonstrates that IC FA ratio and MEPs absence are equally important markers for poor recovery. Importantly, we found that MEPs should be controlled in more than one hand muscle. Finally, we show that better separation between different motor recovery groups may be achieved when considering the whole CST FA profile.

Human genetic variability is thought to account for a substantial fraction of individual biochemical characteristics — in biomedical sense, of individual drug response. However, only a handful of human genetic variants have been linked to medication outcomes. Here, we combine data on drug-protein interactions and human genome sequences to assess the impact of human variation on their binding affinity. Using data from the complexes of FDA-drugs and drug-like compounds, we predict SNPs substantially affecting the protein-ligand binding affinities. We estimate that an average individual carries ~6 SNPs affecting ~5 different FDA-approved drugs from among all of the approved compounds. SNPs affecting drug-protein binding affinity have low frequency in the population indicating that the genetic component for many ADEs may be highly personalized with each individual carrying a unique set of relevant SNPs. The reduction of ADEs, therefore, may primarily rely on the application of computational genome analysis in the clinic rather than the experimental study of common SNPs.

The paper examines the changes in the physician’s motivation at work during the period of reforms the salary system started since 2008. These reforms have included a shift from fixed salary system to pay for performance remuneration as well as sufficient increase of salary. The data of six surveys of health workers implemented in 2007-2016 were used to reveal the hierarchy of physician’s motives at work and to track their changes during the period of time under consideration. The changes were minor, and the directions of these changes were rather opposite to the expected strengthening of financial motivation at work: the importance of the motive of earning money has moved from the first place. The share of doctors willing to work more and better on the condition of linking salary with labor contribution did not increase. In contrast, almost two-thirds of physicians believe that they are working on a high level of quality and performance. The majority of physicians desire to increase not a stimulating part of the salary but a base, fixed one. Doctors who receive bonuses for the intensity, quality and performance, and who have a higher amount of salary wish to see the share of fixed part of salary higher than it is now available. This is a clear indication of orientation of this professional to strengthening the protective function of the salary rather than to use increased opportunities for earning money.

The paper explores primary health care models in Russia and in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Starting with the similar model, they have taken totally different ways of primary health care transformation, including the role of general practitioner, multispecialty polyclinics and private sector. The comparison of this diversity, based on the conceptual framework of Primary Health Care Activity Monitor in Europe, demonstrated that the scores of primary care in Russia are relatively lower, particularly in the dimensions of accessibility, comprehensiveness, continuity and coordination of care. The score of the selected efficiency indicators is also relatively low. The major reasons for this are discussed, including the lack of strategic vision on the role of primary care, an excessive specialization of primary care and the delay with a shift to a general practitioner model. A debatable issue of primary care extended composition (the involvement of a growing number of specialists) is also addressed. The conceptual presumption that an extended composition presents new opportunities for more integrated care and better performance has not been supported by the evidence. Big multispecialty policlinics in Russia don’t demonstrate advantages over solo and group GP practices that dominate in CEE countries. The potential of polyclinics is not used because of the lack of specific activities for integration. It is argued that new specialists in the practices can strengthen primary care only when they support generalists rather than replace them. The lesson learnt from CEE countries is that substantial changes are needed to overcome the lagging status of primary care in Russia, including overcoming the excessive specialization of primary care, the replacement of district physicians by general practitioners, developing the forms of independent practices operating in parallel with polyclinics and competing with them.

In this work, we present a family of operational semantics that gradually approximates the realistic program behaviors in the C/C++11 memory model. Each semantics in our framework is built by elaborating and combining two simple ingredients: viewfronts and operation buffers. Viewfronts allow us to express the spatial aspect of thread interaction, i.e., which values a thread can read, while operation buffers enable manipulation with the temporal execution aspect, i.e., determining the order in which the results of certain operations can be observed by concurrently running threads.  Starting from a simple abstract state machine, through a series of gradual refinements of the abstract state, we capture such language aspects and synchronization primitives as release/acquire atomics, sequentially-consistent and non-atomic memory accesses, also providing a semantics for relaxed atomics, while avoiding the Out-of-Thin-Air problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first formal and executable operational semantics of C11 capable of expressing all essential concurrent aspects of the standard.  We illustrate our approach via a number of characteristic examples, relating the observed behaviors to those of standard litmus test programs from the literature. We provide an executable implementation of the semantics in PLT Redex, along with a number of implemented litmus tests and examples, and showcase our prototype on a large case study: randomized testing and debugging of a realistic Read-Copy-Update data structure.

Having one of the highest physician-population ratios in the world, Russia – paradoxically – also faces shortages of physicians. This paper explores the reasons for this paradox through examining the structural characteristics of the Russian health workforce and its development. In comparing Russia with mainstream European countries and in particular the ‘new” EU countries we argue that the shortage of physicians is determined mostly by the prevailing model of health workforce development with its enduring emphasis on quantitative rather than structural indicators. First, the traditional perception of physicians as inexpensive health resources determines the long-term growth of their jobs – irrespective of the new opportunities for substitution and other structural innovations. Second, there is a persistent distortion in the composition of physician supply, of which the most important is the very low share and narrow remit of primary health care providers in comparison to European standards. Third, the international trends in the division of labor between physicians, medical nurses and allied health personnel are not followed in Russia with the result of an inevitable overburden of physicians, the reproduction of a large supply of physicians, while also the paradoxical shortage. Fourth, the system of professional development of physicians does not match international standards. Although with a substantial delay, Russia has now started transition to a workforce model focused on structural characteristics of human resources and so, in the final part of the paper, these new initiatives of the Government are critically assessed.

Background: With the rapid growth of online social network sites (SNS), the issue of health-related online communities and its social and behavioral implications have become increasingly important for public health and healthcare. Unfortunately, online communities often become vehicles for promotion of pernicious misinformation, for example, alleged harm of vaccination or that HIV-virus is a myth (AIDS-denialism). This study seeks to explore the social structure and participants' behavior of the AIDS-denialists online community to identify and estimate the those who potentially are most susceptible to AIDS-denialists arguments  - “the risk group” in terms of becoming AIDS-denialists. Methods: Social network analysis was used for examining the most numerous AIDS-denialist community in the most popular Russian SNA “VKontakte”, which numbered 13000 – 15 000 members during the various stage of analysis. Qualitative content analysis was also used for collecting relevant for this study members’ attributes, such as HIV status and the extent of belief in AIDS-denialists arguments. Two datasets were collected to analyze friendship  relations between community members and their communication relations. Results: Using social network analysis combined with content-analysis we have identified the core of online community - cohesive and dedicated AIDS-denialists, and the risk group, which is not equal in composition to all peripheral members appeared in the online group. The risk group is the circle of users who engage with core members through online communication and may be more susceptible the AIDS-denialist propaganda. Analysis allowed to significantly reduce the target audience for possible intervention campaign and simultaneously increase the accuracy of user selection into the risk group (1369 users from the risk group is more than 10 times less than whole online group population counting over 15,000 users). Thus, online information interventions should be aimed at this risk group audience in the first place to prevent their adoption of AIDS-denialism beliefs, further spread of AIDS-denialism, and pernicious health consequences associated with being an HIV-positive AIDS-denialist. Conclusion: More research on influence of AIDS-denialism on HIV-positive online group members is needed. Of particular interest are longitudinal or case control studies that could detect the size of effect of AIDS-denialist propaganda that is communicated from hard-core denialists to the risk group, different factors associated with higher or lower susceptibility to AIDS-denialist views, and real health behavior change that occurs with becoming an AIDS-denialist.

The article is based on the preliminary results of author’s current study of the implementation of electronic health records in one of Russian outpatient clinics. Interviews with doctors, developers, managers of the State Department of Healthcare, IT-specialists, and clinic’s head, as well as observations of doctors’ everyday work, show that one of the key problems in the transition from paper to electronic record-keeping is how new information system transforms (or fails to transform) doctors’ routine, habitual activities. The article suggests that the widespread view of habitual action as an action in accordance with a preliminary scheme — a view that forms a basis for the majority of medical information systems — does not describe the actual structure of healthcare activities. The analysis of how doctors perceive and use electronic health records in their daily practice demonstrates that a situational approach to routine actions is more adequate. For example, the use of so-called “templates” that are created by doctors within the electronic health records cannot be understood without reference to the situational context of professional activities. Doctors, creating and using various “templates,” do this in such ways that allow them to make these health records circumstantially understandable. The view of routine activities as situated, concerted achievements not only proves the possibility of a new approach to the description of habitual actions’ role and place in the structure of social action, but can be important for the design and evaluation of professional information systems.

The article focuses on four major assumptions that underlie the alternative conceptualization of public recreation marketing. It explains (1) the redistribution system within recreation resources are allocated; (2) the organizational structure of recreation agencies; (3) the ways in which public recreation agencies interact with local governments and citizens; and (4) the code of ethics and its influence on the behavior of recreation professionals. Finally, the article attempts to integrate these assumptions into an alternative definition of public recreation marketing that is termed “administered marketing.”

This paper presents a method and computational technology for forecasting ambulance trips. We used statistical information about the number of the trips in 2009-2013, the meteorological archive, and the corresponding archive of the meteorological forecasts for the same period. We take into account social and meteorological predictors simultaneously. The method may be used operatively for planning in the ambulance service. It may be applied for all trips and for specific subgroups of diseases. The method and the technology may be applied for any megalopolis if the corresponding medical and meteorological information is available.

The paper considers the changes in major proximate determinants of fertility in Russia within the framework of demographic transition theory and Bongaarts approach to fertility analysis. After World War II Russian fertility became fully controlled process. The complex interplay of abortion and contraception during the Soviet period resulted in a very high abortion level. Russian government has almost never supported and promoted family planning as alternative to abortion. However couple's preferences of small offspring appeared more powerful than the will of authorities. Current trends show that albeit lack of governmental support the society itself is evolving towards more humanistic and effective birth control. Estimates made upon recent surveys' data confirm the validity of official statistics and thus the reality of favorable trend of abortion decline.