Characteristics of the categories «involvement» and «organization» in extremist crimes

Extremist crimes in modern society pose a serious threat to its further successful development. It is at this point of our development when the danger of this type of crimes is extremely high due to a wide range of factors on an objective basis. However, along with the demand for the study of extremism as a phenomenon from the perspective of philosophy, sociology, religious studies, etc., the dogmatic approach is equally important. Improvement of legislation in the indicated direction acts as a prerequisite for increasing the effectiveness of the fight against extremist manifestations of the radically minded part of society. In this regard, it is essential to define the categories «involvement» and «organization» as crucial in the elements of the crimes, which provide for criminal liability for the crimes of this group. The lack of clarity of both terms directly in the text of the criminal law entailed uncertainty in the emerging judicial and investigative practice, which increasingly begins to assume the regional. One of the ways to overcome this tendency might be the analysis of specific decisions made by the law enforcement officer and the development of concrete recommendations on this basis.

A Single Center's Clinical Experience With Ergonomix Breast Implants

Background This retrospective study reports on the early experience of a private surgical center with Motiva Ergonomix SilkSurface SikSurface breast implants. Objectives to examine the incidence of complications and satisfaction levels in women who received primary and revision breast augmentation or augmentation-mastopexy with this device. Methods 356 consecutive patients received Motiva Ergonomix breast implants from April 2014 to October 2018 by 3 different surgeons and were followed-up for a minimum of 12 months. Complications were assessed by measuring the rate of rupture, capsular contracture, malposition, late seroma, double capsule, reoperation, symmastia, ptosis, extrusion, and infection. Satisfaction with aesthetic results was assessed by both surgeon and patient, using the Likert scale. Results Only six major complications were observed in these 356 patients (712 implants). One unilateral implant ptosis (“bottoming out”) at 12 months (0.14 %) and 2 capsular contractures (0.28 %), one at 14 months and the other at 2 years. At all time-points, 98% of the patients were “extremely satisfied or very satisfied” with the aesthetic results and surgeons categorized the outcomes as “very important or important improvement” in 96% of the cases. Conclusions Motiva Ergonomix SilkSurface devices provided high patient satisfaction up to more than 5 years postoperatively with very few complications. These data are consistent with other reports in the literature. The observed favorable outcomes might be attributed, at least in part, to Motiva Ergonomix’s bio-engineered “cell-friendly” surface.

A novel mechanism for probing the Planck scale

The Planck or the quantum gravity scale, being $16$ orders of magnitude greater than the electroweak scale, is often considered inaccessible by current experimental techniques. However, it was shown recently by one of the current authors that quantum gravity effects via the Generalized Uncertainty Principle affects the time required for free wavepackets to double their size, and this difference in time is at or near current experimental accuracies [1,2]. In this work, we make an important improvement over the earlier study, by taking into account the leading order relativistic correction, which naturally appears in the sytems under consideration, due to the significant mean velocity of the travelling wavepackets. Our analysis shows that although the relativistic correction adds nontrivial modifications to the results of [1,2], the earlier claims remain intact and are in fact strengthened. We explore the potential for these results being tested in the laboratory.

Vigorous regular leisure-time physical activity is associated with a clinically important improvement in back pain – a secondary analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background Neck and back pain are musculoskeletal conditions with serious individual and societal consequences. Current evidence about the prognostic value for neck and back pain is limited and conflicting. This prospective cohort study aimed to assess the association between leisure-time physical activity (LPA) and improvement of neck and/or back pain in a working population receiving manual therapy or general care in one of two randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods Analyses of data from two RCTs evaluating the effect of manual therapies for neck and/or back pain was conducted. Participants (n = 1 464) answered questionnaires about frequency and effort level of LPA at baseline. LPA on moderate or vigorous levels was compared to no or low/irregular moderate and vigorous levels. Pain intensity was assessed with numerical scales at baseline and 3-, 6-, and 12-month follow-up. The outcome was minimal clinically important improvement in pain intensity, defined as ≥2 points improvement in mean pain intensity at follow-up. Crude- and adjusted risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated with Poisson regression analysis and stratified by pain location. Results Participants with neck and/or back pain performing vigorous LPA showed a minimal clinically important improvement after 12 months compared to the control group; RR 1.35 (95% CI; 1.06-1.73). No effect was observed at 3 or 6 months. Moderate LPA did not improve pain intensity in any follow-up. Stratified analyses revealed that the effect of vigorous LPA at 12 months in back pain was RR 1.83 (95% CI; 1.26-2.66) and neck pain RR 1.06 (95% CI; 0.75-1.49). Conclusions Persons with neck and/or back pain receiving manual therapy or general evidence-based care have greater chance of improvement after 12 months if they prior to treatment frequently practice vigorous LPA. When analyzed separately, the effect was only present for back pain. Trial registration Registration in Current Controlled Trials (ISRCTN), Stockholm Manual Intervention Trial (MINT), ISRCTN92249294 BJORN-trial, ISRCTN56954776

Gut microbial determinants of clinically important improvement in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Background Rapid advances in the past decade have shown that dysbiosis of the gut microbiome is a key hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Yet, the relationship between the gut microbiome and clinical improvement in RA disease activity remains unclear. In this study, we explored the gut microbiome of patients with RA to identify features that are associated with, as well as predictive of, minimum clinically important improvement (MCII) in disease activity. Methods We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study on patients diagnosed with RA between 1988 and 2014. Whole metagenome shotgun sequencing was performed on 64 stool samples, which were collected from 32 patients with RA at two separate time-points approximately 6–12 months apart. The Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) of each patient was measured at both time-points to assess achievement of MCII; depending on this clinical status, patients were distinguished into two groups: MCII+ (who achieved MCII; n = 12) and MCII− (who did not achieve MCII; n = 20). Multiple linear regression models were used to identify microbial taxa and biochemical pathways associated with MCII while controlling for potentially confounding factors. Lastly, a deep-learning neural network was trained upon gut microbiome, clinical, and demographic data at baseline to classify patients according to MCII status, thereby enabling the prediction of whether a patient will achieve MCII at follow-up. Results We found age to be the largest determinant of the overall compositional variance in the gut microbiome (R2 = 7.7%, P = 0.001, PERMANOVA). Interestingly, the next factor identified to explain the most variance in the gut microbiome was MCII status (R2 = 3.8%, P = 0.005). Additionally, by looking at patients’ baseline gut microbiome profiles, we observed significantly different microbiome traits between patients who eventually showed MCII and those who did not. Taxonomic features include alpha- and beta-diversity measures, as well as several microbial taxa, such as Coprococcus, Bilophila sp. 4_1_30, and Eubacterium sp. 3_1_31. Notably, patients who achieved clinical improvement had higher alpha-diversity in their gut microbiomes at both baseline and follow-up visits. Functional profiling identified fifteen biochemical pathways, most of which were involved in the biosynthesis of L-arginine, L-methionine, and tetrahydrofolate, to be differentially abundant between the MCII patient groups. Moreover, MCII+ and MCII− groups showed significantly different fold-changes (from baseline to follow-up) in eight microbial taxa and in seven biochemical pathways. These results could suggest that, depending on the clinical course, gut microbiomes not only start at different ecological states, but also are on separate trajectories. Finally, the neural network proved to be highly effective in predicting which patients will achieve MCII (balanced accuracy = 90.0%, leave-one-out cross-validation), demonstrating potential clinical utility of gut microbiome profiles. Conclusions Our findings confirm the presence of taxonomic and functional signatures of the gut microbiome associated with MCII in RA patients. Ultimately, modifying the gut microbiome to enhance clinical outcome may hold promise as a future treatment for RA.

THE USE OF LAZOLEX DURING COMPLEX TREATMENT OF CHRONIC RECURRENT APTHOUS STOMATITIS

The aim of our research was to study efficiency of applying the new national gel Lazolex (5%) during the treatment of chronic recurrent apthous stomatitis. To achieve this aim we examined and treated 19-55 years old 54 patients. The patients were devided into two groups. Each group included 27-27 patients. We used the same treatment in both groups, but in the first group during the local treatment we applied the gel Lazolex and in the second group we used the ointment zovirax(5%). Studies of our examination showed that the 19 patients (70,37±0,42%) from the first group 27(50±50) had important improvement, 6 patients (22,22±1,87%) had improvement. there was no efficiency in 2 patients (7,41±1,87%) with grave forms of chronic recurrent apthous stomatitis. In the second group after applying Zovirax only five patients from 27 (50±0,5%) had important improvement with the easy forms of chronic recurrent apthous stomatitis (18,52±0,9%) improvement was shown with 15 patients (55,6±0,8%). 7 patients (26,16±1,67%) from which 2 had grave forms and 5 had medium forms of disease had no efficiency. It is concluded that applying of national gel Lazolex (5%) accelerates the epithelisation on lips and skin and growth the remission process of disease. It does not have side effects . Thus, it is recommended to apply Lazolex during the treatment of chronic recurrent apthous stomatitis.

Preparation of Pt/CNT Thin-Film Electrodes by Electrochemical Potential Pulse Deposition for Methanol Oxidation

High-quality performance of catalysts is increasingly required to meet industry exigencies. However, chemical synthesis is often insufficient to maximize the potential properties of the catalysts. On the other hand, electrochemical synthesis has arisen as a promising alternative to overcome these limitations and provide precise control in the preparation of catalysts. In this sense, this work involved the well-controlled electrochemical synthesis of a catalyst based on platinum nanoparticle deposition on carbon nanotubes using only electrochemical treatments. Thin films of functionalized carbon nanotubes were cast onto the surface of a glassy carbon electrode using potential pulsed electrodeposition, resulting in a better distribution of the carbon nanotubes on the electrode when comparing with traditional methods. Then, platinum nanoparticles were electrodeposited on the carbon nanotube-modified electrode. To check the performance of the catalyst and the relevance of the electrochemical synthesis treatments, the samples were analyzed as electrocatalysts towards methanol electrooxidation, showing an important improvement in the catalytic activity in comparison with electrodes that were prepared by traditional methodologies.