International research devoted to the representation of women on bank boards of directors is growing rapidly and consideration of the representative set of publications allows summarizing their ...results. Information analysis of 104 articles published in international scientific journals reveals their thematic diversity and allows one to establish thematic and geographic biases in this research theme.
Allocation of costs for technological innovations across Russian regions has changed little during 2010-2014-s, that is in many respects favorable for the formation of an appropriate investment ...attractiveness of the country and regions. This factor should be taken into account in state programs and strategies for building an innovative economy.
This paper presents models describing ecological niches of the stellate sturgeon (
Acipenser stellatus
Pallas, 1771) in the northern part of the Caspian Sea produced on the basis of long-term ...(1992–2006) monitoring data. Long-time spatial distribution dynamics of two alien species (polychaete worm
Hediste diversicolor
and mollusk
Abra ovata
) and crustaceans is analyzed. The effects of abiotic and biotic factors on the formation of stellate sturgeon ecological niches in the eastern and western regions of the northern part of the Caspian Sea are estimated. Ordination diagrams reflecting the spatial distribution of stellate sturgeon in different years in the plane of two principal components (PCA) are constructed. It is shown that the leading factors for the construction of ecological niche models are water salinity and density of crustacean aggregations.
Background: The maximal calcium absorption in response to vitamin D has been proposed as a biomarker for vitamin D sufficiency.Objective: The objective was to determine whether there is a threshold ...beyond which increasing doses of vitamin D, or concentrations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D 25(OH)D, no longer increase calcium absorption.Design: This was a placebo-controlled, dose-response, randomized, double-blind study of the effect of vitamin D on calcium absorption in healthy postmenopausal women. Seventy-six healthy postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to placebo or 800 IU (20 μg), 2000 IU (50 μg), or 4000 IU (100 μg) vitamin D3 for 8 wk. The technique of dual isotopes of stable calcium was used with a calcium carrier to measure calcium absorption at baseline and after 8 wk.Results: Seventy-one women with a mean ± SD age of 58.8 ± 4.9 y completed the study. The mean calcium intake was 1142 ± 509 mg/d and serum 25(OH)D was 63 ± 14 nmol/L at baseline. A statistically significant linear trend of an increase in calcium absorption adjusted for age and body mass index with increasing vitamin D3 dose or serum 25(OH)D concentration was observed. A 6.7% absolute increase in calcium absorption was found in the highest vitamin D3 group (100 μg). No evidence of nonlinearity was observed in the dose-response curve.Conclusions: No evidence of a threshold of calcium absorption was found with a serum 25(OH)D range from 40 to 130 nmol/L. Calcium absorption in this range is not a useful biomarker to determine nutritional recommendations for vitamin D. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01119378.
Abstract
Funding Acknowledgements
Type of funding sources: None.
Background
Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has garnered attention as a potential imaging biomarker for the risk stratification of ...cardiovascular diseases (CVD). However, the prognostic utility of EAT due to inter-ethnic differences and imaging modality (computed tomography (CT) or transthoracic echocardiography (TTE)) remains undetermined.
Purpose
To evaluate the effect of EAT volume and thickness on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular outcomes. We also aim to compare the prognostic utility between CT volumetric and TTE thickness quantification; and provide consolidated data on the heterogeneity in EAT measurements across different ethnic groups.
Methods
Medline and Embase databases were searched from inception till 16 May 2022 for studies that measured EAT volume or thickness of adult patients at baseline and reported follow-up data on outcomes of interest. Outcomes included MACE, all-cause mortality, cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), coronary revascularisation, atrial fibrillation (AF), and stroke. Statistical analyses were conducted on Review Manager 5.4.1 to obtain unadjusted and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and odds ratios (OR) with the results presented on forest plots.
Results
Twenty-nine studies comprising 19709 patients were included in our analysis. Increased EAT thickness and volume were associated with higher risks of MACE (adjusted HR aHR 1.46, 95%CI 1.25–1.71, p<0.001), cardiac death (OR 2.53, 95%CI 1.17–5.44, p=0.020), MI (OR 2.63, 95%CI 1.39–4.96, p=0.003), coronary revascularisation (OR 2.99, 95%CI 1.64–5.44, p<0.001), AF (aOR 4.04, 95%CI 3.06–5.32, p<0.001), and stroke (HR 1.02, 95%CI 1.01–1.03, p<0.001). CT-volumetric quantification of EAT conferred a larger MACE risk (aHR 1.79, 95%CI 1.47–2.17, p<0.001) compared to TTE thickness quantification (aHR 1.20, 95%CI 1.09–1.32, p<0.001). Studies originating from North America (HR 1.91, 95%CI 1.26–2.89, p=0.002) and Asia (HR 1.60, 95%CI 1.09–2.36, p=0.020) demonstrated a significantly higher risk of MACE with increased EAT thickness and volume. However, this significance was not seen in European studies (HR 1.48, 95%CI 0.99–2.20, p=0.060). Subgroup differences were also noted across the studies’ countries of origin when analysing the association of EAT and MI (p=0.020). European studies reported a higher magnitude of MI risk associated with higher EAT thickness and volume (OR 5.28, 95%CI 2.34–11.95, p<0.001) as compared to Asian studies (OR 1.75, 95%CI 1.05–2.92, p=0.030). No differences were noted across other outcomes in the subgroup comparisons by geographical region and between CT and TTE quantification of EAT.
Conclusion
The utility of EAT as an imaging biomarker for predicting and prognosticating CVD is promising. Future efforts to harmonise the EAT parameter thresholds, based on the type of imaging modality and the target population’s ethnic characteristics, will be the next important step before including EAT in CVD prediction models.
Discovering new natural resources is important for sustainable development of remote oases in arid regions of Africa and the Middle East. The first comprehensive assessment of geological heritage of ...the Siwa Oasis in the northwestern part of Egypt is based on field inventory of potentially unique geological features and analysis of literature data. Comparison to similar features in the other parts of Egypt and the world, including the Russian South, is essential to evaluate the uniqueness of the described geological phenomena. A total of nine geological heritage types are established in the Siwa Oasis. These include stratigraphical, palaeontological, sedimentary, palaeogeographical, hydrological and hydrogeological, geothermal, pedological, geomorphological, and economical types. The most high-ranked are features constituting sedimentary, palaeogeographical, and hydrological and hydrogeological types. The former can be found in the old Shali town built from evaporite stones experienced diagenetic changes, and the latter is local manifestation of the Eocene–Oligocene palaeoenvironmental transition different from the global cooling trend. Additionally, saline lakes and pools, as well as stratigraphical sections, landforms, and some other features demonstrate certain uniqueness. A series of geosites are identified in the oasis and vicinities. Taken together, the geological heritage of the Siwa Oasis is significant for conservation and exploitation for research, education, and tourism purposes. It is suggested that geological tourism there should be combined with archaeological, industrial, and "ordinary" to become efficient and to contribute to the local sustainable development. Examples from the Russian South (the Big Tambukan and Big Yashalta lakes) permit to realize that the consideration of salt and therapeutic mud resource indicates on the higher value of the discussed geological heritage features of the Siwa Oasis. Moreover, this resource, which is of big uniqueness itself, can contribute substantially to tourism development on the basis of unique geological phenomena.
Display omitted
•Geological heritage – a new resource for Siwa Oasis (NW Egypt).•Nine types of geological heritage and several geosites.•Saline lakes and pools as characteristic features.•Geological tourism to be combined with archaeological and industrial tourism.•Similar resource available in the Russian South is already exploited.
Computational fluid dynamic simulations have been performed in order to study the consequences of a hydrogen release from a pressure swing adsorption installation operating at 30 barg. The ...simulations were performed using FLACS-Hydrogen software from GexCon. The impact of obstruction, partial confinement, leak orientation and wind on the explosive cloud formation (size and explosive mass) and on explosion consequences is investigated. Overpressures resulting from ignition are calculated as a function of the time to ignition.
•We model the consequences of hydrogen releases from a PSA operating at 30 barg.•The simulations are performed using FLACS-Hydrogen from GexCon.•Contours of hydrogen at LFL concentration are presented.•Simulated maximum overpressures varied from 0.20 barg up to 2.42 barg.•Various times to ignition, ignition positions and simulation meshes were investigated.
Larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages from the mid-Eocene (Bartonian) sedimentary successions of the Tethyan carbonate platforms have been studied in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Egypt. In ...the Hazro–Diyarbakir section (SE Turkey), small-medium miliolids and textularinids are identified from the lower intervals of the Hoya Formation, whereas alveolinids and soritids (porcellaneous) and orbitolinids (agglutinated) increase in diversity and abundance in the upper intervals. The Dictyoconus aegyptiensis (Chapman) and Somalina stefaninii Silvestri are recorded for the first time from the Hoya Formation. The larger benthic foraminiferal assemblage from the Hoya Formation shows a significant similarity to those reported from the Observatory Formation (coeval with the Sannor Formation) in the Cairo–Suez district (NE Egypt). The studied foraminiferal assemblages imply restricted lagoonal–tidal flat palaeoenvironments. Palaeobiogeographically, the larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages recorded in southeastern Turkey and northeastern Egypt carbonate platforms display a strong affinity to the Arabian, Middle East and African platforms. The position of the global sea-level and the plate tectonic organization of the studied region during the Bartonian were the main factors that facilitated faunal exchange within the carbonate platforms.
•Bartonian larger benthic foraminiferal assemblages from SE Turkey and NE Egypt.•D. aegyptiensis and S. stefaninii first reported from the Hoya Formation.•Significant affinity of foraminifera from the Hoya Formation to NE Egypt.•Foraminifers indicate on lagoonal-tidal flat palaeoenvironments of shallow platforms.•Sea level and plate tectonics as controls of Bartonian microfaunal exchange.
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