Negative Conclusions Research Articles

Антимонопольное регулирование деятельности IT-гигантов: основные тенденции зарубежного и российского законодательства

The article is devoted to the antimonopoly regulation of IT giants` activities. The author presents an overview of the main trends in foreign and Russian legislation in this area. The problems the antimonopoly regulation of digital markets faces are the following: the complexity of determining the criteria for the dominant position of economic entities in the digital economy and the criteria for assessing the economic concentration in the commodity digital markets; the identification and suppression of cartels; the relationship between competition law and intellectual property rights in the digital age. Some aspects of these problems are considered through the prism of the main trends in the antimonopoly policy in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Russia. The investigation findings of the USA House of Representatives Antitrust Subcommittee against Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook are presented. The author justifies the need to separate them, which requires the adoption of appropriate amendments to the antimonopoly legislation. The article analyzes the draft law of the European Commission on the regulation of digital markets – Digital Markets Act, reveals the criteria for classifying IT companies as «gatekeepers», and notes the specific approaches to antimonopoly regulation in the UK and the US. The article describes the concepts «digital platform» and «network effects», presented in the «fifth antimonopoly package of amendments», developed in 2018 by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation, and gives an overview of the comments of the Ministry of Economic Development regarding these concepts wording in the text of the draft law, which formed the basis for the negative conclusion of the regulator. It is concluded that in the context of the digital markets’ globalization, there is a need for the international legal nature antitrust norms formation, since regional legislation obviously cannot cope with the monopolistic activities of IT giants.

Diagnostic role of positron emission tomography in patients with ovarian cancer

The review deals with the effectiveness of the use of positron emission tomography (PET) with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in the diagnosis, staging, assessment of treatment results, prognosis and monitoring of ovarian cancer. It is shown that the adequate use of PET in diagnostic algorithms can improve the accuracy of complex diagnostics, optimize the tactics of examination and treatment of patients. The opinions of researchers on the limitations of the method are presented, leading to false positive and false negative conclusions. Key words: ovarian cancer, positron emission tomography, 18F- fluorodeoxyglucose.

Assessment of satisfaction of students of a medical university with distance learning at the department of pediatrics during the period of self-isolation

Objective: The analysis of the distant education experience of the students studying clinical subjects in medical university.Methods: 410 students of the ISMU pediatric department. Author’s questionnaire was used. It consisted of 3 parts: socio-economic, organizational and methodical.Results: Every second respondent noticed connection problems and every fourth – an increase in communication and equipment costs. 68.2% of students increased their level of knowledge through online learning, 40% had a negative opinion about distant learning (but every third respondent didn’t give definitive positive or negative conclusion). 57.5% of the participants noticed the relevance of the given marks. At the same time the distant method increased the time spent on studying two times or more.Conclusions: The technologies used for distant education LMS Moodle got a positive feedback from students. Distant learning in case of involuntary isolation allows to keep an appropriate level of training and can extend ordinary studying and provide an opportunity of self-preparing for classes. In future it is offered to use distant learning for self-study and estimation of the quality of theoretical knowledge.

Ossification of willow withe: A study inspired by an ancient Chinese medical technique, “Willow Withes Repairing Bone”

“Willow Withes Repairing Bone” (WWRB) is an ancient and mysterious technique in traditional Chinese medicine. In the 1950s, researchers of Chinese medicine made a lot of efforts hoping to revive the technique, but due to the poor osteogenic ability of willow withes, the research ended in a negative conclusion. Nonetheless, given the inherent advantages of the structure of willow withes, the authors of this paper decided to investigate the possibility of improving their osteogenicity. The results show that willow withes in a natural state show little ability to support HA biomineralization. Phosphorylation of the withes, however, can induce a significant degree of HA mineralization on their surface and in their pores by introducing phosphate groups through esterification, resulting in a remarkable improvement of the withes’ osteogenicity. Even better, phosphorylation does not affect the pore structure and biocompatibility of the withes. It does reduce their mechanical strength, but the amount of reduction is acceptable. This study should act as a step toward the revival of the WWRB technique.

Measurement of Residual Stresses Using Indentation Plastometry

This study concerns the potential use of the indentation plastometry technique to obtain information about residual stresses. This is a logical extension of the technique, which is based on iterative FEM simulation of the indentation procedure so as to infer the true stress-strain curve of the material, with the target outcome being the profile of the residual indent. Once this has been obtained (in the form of parameter values in a constitutive law), a logical extension of the procedure is to create an initial (residual) stress in the model and then converge on the value that gives the best agreement with experiment. In the present work, this has been done for some copper sheet samples, with different levels of residual stress created experimentally via the application of external loads. This has been done for a series of equal biaxial stress levels. The inferring of residual stress levels in this way, and comparison with expected levels, has not been reported previously. The main conclusion is that the sensitivity of the measured indent profile to the residual stress level is low. This is particularly the case for compressive stresses and for relatively deep indents, but it is also true for tensile stresses and shallower indents. The prospects for accurately inferring residual stress levels via this procedure are therefore poor. A positive aspect to this rather negative conclusion is that, when obtaining plasticity characteristics in this way, there need be little concern about the outcome being influenced by the presence of (unknown) residual stresses.

Working from home during COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned and issues

Abstract During the COVID pandemic, many companies, schools, and public organizations all around the world asked their employees to work from home i.e. to adopt what are called “smart working” modalities. This has and will presumably have a serious impact on both employees and employers, which still needs to be clarified and investigated: indeed, if smart working becomes a common working modality, this may have a significant impact on both organizations and employees. This paper reports the results of an online survey of “smart workers” in Italy during the COVID pandemic, when a great number of employees suddenly moved to working from home with no or little preparation. The study offers interesting indications about the involvement and usefulness perception of smart working by the sampled people and makes it possible to single out different categories of employees based on their attitude towards this modality. Also, it points out the potential impact on socialization among colleagues, and the consequent implications for knowledge sharing and knowledge management. From the collected responses, a fully positive or negative conclusion about working from home was not possible, nor a clear indication about the efficiency and effectiveness of this working modality. The analysis, instead, highlighted the presence of different but numerically similar groups of people, i.e. those who were not satisfied at all with the experience, those who were very satisfied, and those who were “undecided”. Furthermore, respondents underlined the importance and the difficulty to maintain working contacts and the intense use of communication systems made for this purpose. Lastly, collected opinions on positive and negative aspects of working from home provided some practical suggestions about how to successfully implement this solution.

METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF RESEARCH ON A DOMESTIC DOG INTERMEDIATE HAIR

Currently, offenses against animals, in particular, dogs are often committed. Many scientists developed theory and methodology to study animal hair. However, today there remained certain difficulties in establishing genus assignment and species of hair. It is noted that animal hair that belong to related genera is the most difficult to differentiate.
 The Article purpose is to establish diagnostic features of an intermediate type of hair of an animal in order to trace its origin from a domestic dog.
 Micro-objects similar to hair have been received for study. Objects were examined macroscopically and microscopically. The length was measured with a metal ruler, thickness was determined using an ocular screw micrometer MOV 1-16x on the “MIKMED-2-20” microscope with a binocular body. A cuticle imprint was obtained on the “BF-6” glue; thermochemical treatment (alkaline hydrolysis) was carried out in a 20% sodium hydroxide solution.
 The established morphological structure of the objects under study confirms the fact that intermediate hair is somewhere in the middle between down and guard hairs with a different number of features specific to mentioned categories. Objects have features attributed to animal hair of the Canidae family: complex cuticle pattern, medulla begins at some distance from the root end, medulla thickness and the shape of medulla cells. Thus, one feature that is characteristic of guard hairs, namely a complex cuticle pattern in the form of various cones can give a forensic expert a reason to state that objects under study can originate from a domestic dog.
 It can be concluded that in order to establish taxonomic identity of an intermediate hair in a domestic dog, it is necessary: 1) to determine features of guard hairs and signs of down hair in an object under study; 2) to identify and evaluate signs of guard hair (in this case, a specific cuticle pattern, medulla thickness) 3) to compare the information obtained while research with literature data and make a positive or negative conclusion.

PROTOCOL FOR REPAIR OF LATE PRESENTATION OF MYELOMENINGOCELE – INITIAL STUDY

ABSTRACT:- Background: - The incidence of myelomeningocele is on the wane in view of ready access to medical facilities and a well organized ANC check up, however in families located far away in the interiors regular ANC is not done leading to surprises during the delivery. MMC and its associated disabilities after treatment require special care and commitment from the parents. All this adds additional responsibilities on the parents; therefore it is not unusual for the parents to refuse surgery. We came across few parents who refused surgery initially but returned at various intervals of time for management. Methods: - Command Hospital Central Command had a sudden spurt of MMC cases in which 5 patients presented late after initially refusing surgery. All of them had associated ACM II with hydrocephalus, 02 had evidence of local infection on the sac, 01 patient had evidence of meningitis. There was one fatality. All the patients underwent upfront VP shunt followed by repair of the defect after cultures from the wound showed negative growth Conclusion: - The management of MMC is quite straight forward if presented at birth, the protocols are well laid out, however our institute had a situation where 05patients presented after initially refusing surgery, there are not many definitive protocols addressing this particular situation. However a planned protocol addressing all possible issues has led to a favorable outcome. We hereby present our initial experience of management of late presentation of myelomeningocele.

The medical research of "chicken blood therapy"

In 1952, inspired by the "tissue therapy" which was being carried out nationwide at that time, Yu Changshi, a folk science enthusiast, proposed "chicken blood therapy" . In 1959, it was supported as an important achievement in technological innovation and technological revolution movement. In the following years, some researchers and many hospitals organized by the leaders of Jing'an District of Shanghai successively carried out the animal experiment, the first phase clinical experiment and the second phase clinical experiment of this therapy, and this therapy was also widely spread during this period.However, the expert meeting in 1965 gave it a basically negative conclusion on the basis of insecurity and poor long-term effect.

BCG vaccination policy and preventive chloroquine usage: do they have an impact on COVID-19 pandemic?

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In the light of its rapid global spreading, on 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization has declared it a pandemic. Interestingly, the global spreading of the disease is not uniform, but has so far left some countries relatively less affected. The reason(s) for this anomalous behavior are not fully understood, but distinct hypotheses have been proposed. Here we discuss the plausibility of two of them: the universal vaccination with Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) and the widespread use of the antimalarial drug chloroquine (CQ). Both have been amply discussed in the recent literature with positive and negative conclusions: we felt that a comprehensive presentation of the data available on them would be useful. The analysis of data for countries with over 1000 reported COVID-19 cases has shown that the incidence and mortality were higher in countries in which BCG vaccination is either absent or has been discontinued, as compared with the countries with universal vaccination. We have performed a similar analysis of the data available for CQ, a widely used drug in the African continent and in other countries in which malaria is endemic; we discuss it here because CQ has been used as the drug to treat COVID-19 patients. Several African countries no longer recommend it officially for the fight against malaria, due to the development of resistance to Plasmodium, but its use across the continent is still diffuse. Taken together, the data in the literature have led to the suggestion of a possible inverse correlation between BCG immunization and COVID-19 disease incidence and severity.

Grotius’s Impact on the Scandinavian Theory of Contract Law

This article discusses to what extent the widely accepted hypotheses of Hugo Grotius’s crucial impact on the theory of contract law – also in Scandinavia – may be maintained or even positively confirmed. Although few direct references to the works of Grotius can be found in Scandinavian legal literature of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, it would be premature to draw a negative conclusion. An impact of Grotius’s thoughts may rather be demonstrated by thoroughly analysing patterns of argumentation concerning specific contractual topics both in legal literature and case law. The article provides the reader with necessary information on the institutional and intellectual preconditions for the reception of Grotius in the Scandinavian legal orders before discussing the impact of the ‘will-theory’ on the requirements of a legally binding contractual agreement in the works of selected influential legal scholars and in case law in more detail. The analysis confirms that Grotius’s work contributed substantially to shaping the intellectual framework in which the first contract law doctrines in Scandinavia evolved.

Does the Christian church have any guidance to offer in solving the global problems we are faced with today?

In his book, 21 Lessons for the 21st century , the historian Yuval Noah Harari devoted a chapter to the question of whether traditional religions could provide any guidance in solving the momentous global problems confronting us today. He drew the rather negative conclusion that they do not have any constructive contribution to make in solving these problems. This article made an original contribution to scholarly research by, from the perspective of Christian Ethics, subjecting this recently expressed view of Harari to critical scrutiny and by exploring the guidance the Christian church could offer in solving global problems we are faced with today, such as nuclear war, ecological collapse and technological disruption. These research objectives were realised by addressing four questions: (1) does the church have a responsibility to provide guidance in this regard? (2) What is the nature of the guidance the church ought to provide? (3) What are the factors hindering the church in providing such guidance? (4) Which conditions need to be fulfilled for the church to provide meaningful guidance? The answers provided to these questions were substantiated by drawing on the findings of published Christian ethical and social scientific research. The conclusion drawn from the article is that the church could today provide meaningful moral guidance in solving global problems. It should then, however, depart from an unbiased understanding of the message of the Bible and effectively deal with certain hindrances preventing it from providing adequate moral guidance.

Frequency of Medical Reversal Among Published Randomized Controlled Trials Assessing Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

ObjectiveTo characterize what proportion of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) among patients experiencing cardiac arrest find that an established practice is ineffective or harmful, that is, a medical reversal. MethodsWe reviewed a database of all published RCTs of cardiac arrest patient populations between 1995 and 2014. Articles were classified on the basis of whether they tested a new or existing therapy and whether results were positive or negative. A reversal was defined as a negative RCT of an established practice. Further review and categorization were performed to confirm that reversals were supported by subsequent systematic review, as well as to identify the type of medical practice studied in each reversal. This study was conducted from October 2017 to June 17, 2019. ResultsWe reviewed 92 original articles, 76 of which could be conclusively categorized. Of these, 18 (24%) articles examined a new medical practice, whereas 58 (76%) tested an established practice. A total of 18 (24%) studies had positive findings, whereas 58 (76%) reached a negative conclusion. Of the 58 articles testing existing standard of care, 44 (76%) reversed that practice, whereas 14 (24%) reaffirmed it. ConclusionReversal of cardiopulmonary resuscitation practices is widespread. This investigation sheds new light on low-value practices and patterns of medical research and suggests that novel resuscitation practices have low pretest probability and should be empirically tested with rigorous trials before implementation.

Construcciones formales y tradiciones discursivas en cuatro textos médicos novatores fundamentales

Seguramente, los novatores constituyen el movimiento más destacado en la ciencia española de las últimas décadas del siglo XVII y principios del XVIII. En lucha contra la teoría y práctica tradicionales, a las que hacen responsables de la decadencia española, los novatores anticipan lo que será después la Ilustración. En este artículo se examinan construcciones formales argumentativas y metadiscursivas de los textos médicos novatores, dentro de un estilo caracterizado por el polisíndeton y la complejidad sintáctica, propio de la proximidad concepcional. Interesados por el peso de los factores culturales en la evolución de la gramática del texto y el concepto de tradición discursiva, finalmente nos hemos preguntado si los novatores supusieron un cambio significativo en la organización textual y si, por tanto, existe una tradición discursiva novatora. Al menos por ahora, la respuesta es negativa. Sin embargo, es posible que estudios posteriores ofrezcan datos que modifiquen esta conclusión negativa y muestren que el cambio en la historia de la Medicina de los novatores vino unido también a una nueva tradición discursiva.

Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor Antibody Mediated Rejection Following Orthotopic Heart Transplant: A Single Center Experience

Antibody mediated rejection (AMR) following heart transplant (OTHx) causes significant morbidity and mortality. In particular, diagnosis and management of non-HLA AMR remains challenging. Antibodies to the angiotensin II type 1 receptor (AT1R) causing rejection after kidney transplant have been described, but there is limited data on AT1R-Ab mediated rejection following OHTx. Here, we present our single center experience. We retrospectively reviewed all OHTx cases from the past 2 years with clinically suspected AMR without evidence of canonical donor-specific AMR who had a positive AT1R-Ab titer. Clinical and pathological features were documented. We identified 7 patients, the majority were female (71%), African American (71%), and had prior LVAD support (71%). All patients had NICM pretransplant. Patients presented both early (∼2 weeks) and late (∼7 years) with heart failure; 3 patients presented within 1 year post OHTx. Echocardiography showed progressive graft dysfunction, primarily decreased EF, ventricular wall thickening, and diastolic dysfunction. The average AT1R-Ab titer was 22U/mL at 1:100 dilution (range: 3 to >40 U/mL). Biopsies showed reactive endothelium and increased interstitial macrophages, without pathologic AMR features (negative C4d and <10% intravascular macrophages by CD68). Five patients were empirically treated with plasmapheresis, IVIG and rituximab. One patient did not tolerate plasmapheresis, and treatment was deferred on one patient given low titers and clinical improvement with standard heart failure treatment. All patients were started on an angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB). There were no deaths, and the majority of patients had clinically significant improvement in symptoms and graft function following treatment with an ARB at an average 6 months of follow-up. AT1R-Ab mediated rejection is an underdiagnosed and emerging entity following OHTx that remains ill-defined; it requires a high index of suspicion and should be considered for all OHTx recipients with evidence of graft dysfunction or decompensation. Empiric AMR treatment followed by oral ARB therapy anecdotally improves patient outcomes; however, future studies are needed to better define the pathophysiology, long-term clinical sequelae, and optimal treatment modalities of this disease.

Theodizee und Atheismus: Norbert Hoersters Argumentation gegen die Existenz Gottes

Starting from the problem of evil, Norbert Hoerster argues for an atheistic position. He discusses several historical and current attempts to reconcile the existing evils with the existence of God and comes to the negative conclusion that all of these attempts fail. From this, he concludes that the existing evils speak against the existence of God. In this article I argue that Hoerster's arguments are not sufficient for an atheistic conclusion. Rather, they only strengthen the case for agnosticism, the position according to which we cannot know whether God exists. I want to work out that Hoerster does not recognize this because he does not clearly distinguish the position of agnosticism from the position of atheism, and thereby gives away important potential for differentiation.

Institutional Economics and the Theory of What Unions Do

The theory of trade unions is re-examined using principles and ideas of institutional economics. An institutional perspective provides a more balanced and inclusive portrait of what unions do; it also demonstrates flaws and biases in the standard neoclassical account that lead to overly negative conclusions. Unions can either be “monopsony-reducing” or “monopolycreating” in their economic and governance functions and may thus in some situations improve economic performance and welfare but it others harm them. The “optimal” level of union density depends on the breadth and depth of market and governance failures and an assessment of the feasibility, benefits and costs of alternative institutional solutions to labor problems.

On exact and discretized stability of a linear fractional delay differential equation

The paper discusses the problem of necessary and sufficient stability conditions for a test fractional delay differential equation and its discretization. First, we recall the existing condition for asymptotic stability of the exact equation and consider an appropriate fractional delay difference equation as its discrete counterpart. Then, using the Laplace transform method combined with the boundary locus technique, we derive asymptotic stability conditions in the discrete case as well. Since the studied fractional delay difference equation serves as a backward Euler discretization of the underlying differential equation, we discuss a related problem of numerical stability (with a negative conclusion). Also, as a by-product of our observations, a fractional analogue of the classical Levin–May stability condition is presented.

Commentary on Ambedkar’s Posthumously Published “Philosophy of Hinduism”

This paper offers a critical commentary of Ambedkar's posthumously published "The Philosophy of Hinduism," which was discovered shortly after his death. Given previous, considerable contributions in the fields of law, economics, political and social theory, the work appears to be the beginnings of what remains an incomplete treatise on a new area of investigation for Ambedkar. In this work, Ambedkar tackles the murky and opaque sub-field of philosophy, namely the philosophy of religion. This paper unpacks some of Ambedkar's key insights on the nature of the philosophy of religion to test what elements - considered from a philosophical point view - constitute a religion. Furthermore, given the historical paradigmatic shifts in the nature of religion from antiquity to modernity, Ambedkar identifies two conceptual revolutions from which he will introduce two criteria - utility and justice - to evaluate the nature of Hinduism as a religion. Given his life-long quest to understand Hinduism and caste, ultimately, Ambedkar's goal to overcome what he says is the systemic and structural inequality of caste in the Indian social order leads him to certain negative conclusions: namely whether Hinduism can be characterized as a religion if in fact modern religions must have a foundation in some intrinsic dimension of social justice. This paper constitutes Part I of a longer commentary. The aspiration is that a longer Part II will ultimately extend Ambedkar's philosophical investigation into new domains for which he did not have the opportunity to explore.

In vitro testing strategy for assessing the skin sensitizing potential of “difficult to test” cosmetic ingredients

Before placing a new cosmetic ingredient on the market, manufacturers must establish its safety profile, in particular assessing the skin sensitization potential, which is a mandatory requirement for topical applications. Since the ban on animal testing in Europe, and its extension to many parts of the world, a battery of in vitro tests covering the key steps of the Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) for skin sensitization is recommended. To date, three in vitro methods are validated in the OECD guidelines (442C, 442D, 442E), and many others are under validation by OECD (2019) and ECVAM. However, there is still no official strategy. Some industrial manufacturers have proposed in vitro strategies with good predictivity, but their studies were mainly based on the testing of simple and “easy to test” substances. This work therefore focused on “difficult to test” ingredients with particular physicochemical properties (i.e. poorly water-soluble components) or with particular intrinsic properties placing them outside the applicability domains of most in vitro models (irritants or cytotoxic like surfactants, complex substances). Furthermore a particular focus was made on weak to moderate sensitizers. The objective was to develop a robust, quick and straightforward testing strategy enabling the evaluation of the skin sensitization potential of “difficult to test” ingredients. In this context, four in vitro test models were used: three validated methods and the Sens-Is® assay, currently in the work plan of the OECD, chosen for its ability to overcome solubility issues and to discriminate irritants from sensitizers. 25 ingredients with particular physicochemical properties were evaluated, chosen among positive or negative sensitizers according to in vivo data (M&K and/or LLNA). Such ingredients, including cleansers, solubilizers, emulsifiers, emollients, active ingredients, preservatives, and antioxidants are indeed essential constituents of cosmetic and dermopharmaceutical formulations.The results analysis on each in vitro test demonstrated that the DPRA model was the less predictive on the chosen ingredients, resulting especially in many false negative responses compared to animal studies, or being unsuited to the mode of action of the selected ingredients. On the contrary, the Sens-Is® assay revealed a real capability to discriminate sensitizers from non-sensitizers. The two other models, KeratinoSensTM and h-CLAT, showed a lower ability to classify the materials correctly than in previously published studies, linked to the particular physicochemical and intrinsic properties of the chosen ingredients and the applicability domains of these in vitro tests. The KeratinoSensTM model tended to overestimate the sensitization potential of the tested ingredients, whereas the h-CLAT model tended to underestimate the sensitizers.Based on these results a new sequential testing strategy was set up combining 1 to 3 models to cover the main key events of the skin sensitization AOP. Sens-Is® model, assessing the first two AOP Key Events with consideration of the ingredient dermal penetration, is chosen as a starting point. The approach is completed, depending on the first response, by the h-CLAT model, assessing Key Event 3, and then potentially KeratinoSensTM assessing Key Event 2, but with a more direct application mode. This new testing strategy increases the accuracy to 88% on the selected ingredients and minimizes the risk of a false negative conclusion, which is crucial from the perspective of the ingredients’ users and cosmetic consumers.