Russian Studies Research Articles

A familiar stranger (about the conjunction libo (English or) in modern Russian)

The article provides a multidimensional characterisation of the conjunction libo (English or). The research is relevant due to the lack of a systematic and complete description of this conjunction in Russian studies. Nevertheless, it is an important means of expressing disjunctive relations. Libo was usually studied together with other disjunctive conjunctions, as well as in comparison with the conjunction ili (English or) although it is the second most frequent disjunctive conjunction. The research is based on the monographic method of studying function words used by the Far Eastern Syntactic School. Each such word is under scrutiny and can be considered as an organising unit of the surrounding syntactic context. The article analyses the constructional properties of the conjunction libo related to the morphological-syntactic characteristics of the word forms it connects. Moreover, the study focuses on the actual syntactic properties dependent on the peculiarities of the syntactic environment around this conjunction (such as generic words, particles, word order, intonation, etc). The research demonstrates that this conjunction is oriented to showing real options, therefore, in general, it cannot express alternative-suppositional and explanatory relations. The article characterises the pragma-stylistic properties of libo. It has been established that, like the conjunction ili, libo is stylistically neutral. Its differenfrom ili is primarily semantic although pragmatic factors are also relevant. The etymology of libo is explained. It is associated with the adjectival word form lyubo with which the conjunction retains a prototypical connection. As a result, the alternatives libo coordinates emphasise not only the different, but also the opposite. Based on the findings of the study, the key conclusion is that there is an ontologically opposed pair of conjunctions libo and ili in modern Russian. They reflect the speaker’s urge to present alternatives as compatible or incompatible.

Comparative analysis of models predicting the risks of early poor outcome of deceased-donor liver transplantation: a retrospective single-center study

Rationale. The risk of early graft loss determines the specifics and plan of anesthesiological assistance, intensive therapy, and overall the feasibility of liver transplantation. Various prognostic models and criteria have become widespread abroad; however, Russian transplant centers have not yet validated them.Objective. To evaluate the applicability and accuracy of the most common models predicting the risks of early adverse outcomes in liver transplantation from deceased donors.Material and methods. A retrospective single-center study included data on 131 liver transplantations from deceased donors performed between May 2012 and January 2023. For each observation, DRI, SOFT, D-MELD, BAR, MEAF, L-GrAFT, and EASE indices were calculated, and compliance with an early allograft dysfunction criteria was verified. Depending on the possibility of calculating the indicators and their values relative to known cutoff points, the study groups were formed, and 1-, 3-, 6-, and 12-month graft survival rates were calculated. The forecast was compared with the actual outcomes, and sensitivity, specificity, F1-score, and C-index were calculated.Results. When assessing the risk of 1- and 3-month graft loss, models using only preoperative parameters demonstrated relatively low prognostic significance: DRI (F1-score: 0.16; C-index: 0.54), SOFT (F1-score: 0.42; C-index: 0.64), D-MELD (F1-score: 0.30; C-index: 0.58), and BAR (F1-score: 0.23; C-index: 0.57). Postoperative indices of MEAF (F1- score: 0.44; C-index: 0.74) and L-GrAFT (F1-score: 0.32; C-index: 0.65) were applicable in 96%, those of ABC (F1-score: 0.29; C-index: 0.71) in 91%, and EASE (F1-score: 0.26; C-index: 0.80) in 89% of cases. The relative risk of 30-days graft loss in case of EAD was 5.2 (95% CI: 3.4-8.1; p<0.0001), F1-score: 0.64, and C-index: 0.84. Using locally established cutoff values for SOFT (11 points) and L-GrAFT (-0.87) scores increased their prognostic significance: F1-score: 0.46 and 0.63, C-index: 0.69 and 0.87, respectively.Conclusion. The analyzed models can be used to assess the risks of early liver graft loss; however, their prognostic significance is not high. Developing a new model in a multicenter Russian study, as well as searching for new objective methods to assess the state of the donor liver are promising directions for future work.

Criminal risks of medical robots turnover

Objective: to identify criminal risks inherent in a medical robot, taking into account its hardware-technological (technological and digital) features, and to construct, based on this analysis, the author’s classification of criminal risks and models of criminal-legal protection of public relations arising in the medical robots’ turnover.Methods: the article uses general scientific (analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, classification) and specific scientific methods of cognition, and the logical-legal method.Results: The security vulnerability of medical robots causes serious concern in manufacturers, programmers and those interacting with the robots in the healthcare industry. In medical institutions, robots interact closely with children, the elderly and the disabled, and it may not be clear to the patient whether the robot is working properly or being attacked. Any harm caused by a surgical robot as a result of unauthorized access (or other illegal actions) can undermine the public’s faith in medicine and in the healthcare system as a whole. Threats to the safety of medical robots can have further negative consequences for themselves, as such facts of unlawful influence can lead to robots breaking down or harming other nearby equipment that is the property of the healthcare institution, and worse – the life and health of patients or medical workers. In this regard, the paper identifies criminal risks and threats inherent in medical robots, and formulates measures to improve criminal legislation aimed at countering crimes arising against the legal turnover of medical robots (Article 2352 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).Scientific novelty: at the moment there are few Russian studies devoted to the legal regulation and protection of medical robots. Basically, such researches are done by medical scientists. However, in the Russian Federation, there are practically no special theoretical-legal studies, including those devoted to the study of criminal law issues of the protection of these legal relations, which confirms the relevance and significance of our research.Practical significance: the provisions and conclusions of the article can be used to further improve criminal legislation, and also lay the foundation for further research in criminal law science.

Арлекинадный гротеск в романе Д. Г. Лоуренса «Мистер Нун»

The aim of the research is to identify the features of harlequinade grotesque in D. H. Lawrence’s novel “Mr. Noon”. The paper briefly outlines the main approaches to the study of this work, analyses the system of images, reveals the content of the “harlequinade grotesque” notion and the grounds for which Lawrence employs it. Allusions to famous English pantomimes of the XVII and XIX centuries are revealed. As a result, a hypothesis that the writer deliberately turned to the composition and imagery of the English pantomime in order to romanticise and dramatise the narrative while enhancing its comic aspect is put forward. In addition, it is found that harlequinade grotesque, the element of which in “Mr. Noon” is the English pantomime, is designed to build a dialogue with the literary and theatrical traditions of the past and act as a tool of authorial irony and self-irony. The scientific originality of the research lies both in the unexplored nature of the novel “Mr. Noon” in Russian literary studies (due to the fact that the novel has not been translated into Russian, none of Russian researchers have yet written about this work) and in the absence of studies devoted to harlequinade grotesque in Lawrence’s writings. This paper is the first to determine the influence of English pantomime on Lawrence and its role in the formation of the author’s grotesque, which is paramount to understanding the author’s intention.

Russia's spatial anxiety and the construction of geographical knowledge

AbstractThis commentary addresses the dimensions of Russia's ‘spatial anxiety’—its inability to come to terms with the territorial delimitations of neighbouring states and, consequently, the preoccupation of mainstream political geography with the study of Russia‐centric territorial representations. Although geographical inquiry contributed substantially to understanding Russian territorial politics, most studies are often reduced to an analysis of the official Russian geographical canon. The purpose of this commentary is to unpack these disciplinary approaches by drawing attention to the local, indigenous and peasant geographies that the statist perspectives have unearthed and utilised, while at the same time accentuating the two assumptions that this project might imply—on the re‐territorialisation of the federation and the decolonisation of Russian area studies.

From Revolutionary Petrograd to Post-revolutionary Emigration

Abstract The article explores the impact of the revolutionary events of 1917 on the personal life and professional work of Georgii (George) Vernadskii, who later became a professor at Yale University and one of the founders of Russian Studies in the USA. The trajectories of Vernadskii’s professional and political activity in 1917–1921 seemed to be on a collision course. Revolutionary events caught him at the beginning of a successful academic career, which was jeopardized by his involvement in politics, an involvement that continued to plague him despite his eventual attempts to “quit politics.” Yet, an analysis of his writings in these years and his later notes about that period indicate that, in Vernadskii’s case, history and politics were deeply interwoven.

Творчество А. Б. Ярославского в период революционных преобразований 1917 г.: от стихотворного фельетона к истокам поэзии биокосмизма

The research aims to identify the features and nature of the evolution of A. B. Yaroslavsky’s poetic works in the conditions of the revolutionary transformations of 1917. The scientific novelty of the research lies in determining the ideological, figurative, stylistic and phonic levels of the structure of A. B. Yaroslavsky’s poems, which has not been done before in Russian literary studies. As a result, it has been proved that in the creative work of A. B. Yaroslavsky, the predominant genre is represented by the poetic feuilleton, where the author raises the issues of life in Vladivostok in 1917 that concern him and the problems of the revolutionary process development. At the same time, by employing the ode genre, it is possible to comprehend the persona’s place in the world from a philosophical standpoint, as well as the mechanisms and ethics of social progress in the poet’s notions. It can be concluded that this very period of A. B. Yaroslavsky’s oeuvre saw the formation of prerequisites for the poetry of biocosmism, in the creation of which the poet would take an active part in the early 1920s.

Место религии в жизни и творчестве британского поэта, прозаика и литературного критика начала XX века Эдварда Томаса

The aim of the research is to show as impartial as possible the attitude of Edward Thomas (1878-1917) – a British poet, prose writer and literary critic of the early XX century – to religion, including traditional religion. The scientific novelty of the paper lies in the fact that the topic of religion’s place in Thomas’ life and how his attitude to it was expressed in the writer’s diverse oeuvre has been insufficiently covered not only in Russian literary studies, but also by English-speaking scholars (the only attempt we have found belongs to an Anglican theologian, who appears to be not familiar well enough with this writer’s creative work). As a result, it has been shown that the apparent hostility of E. Thomas towards Christianity is the detachment of an unbeliever and a historian, a reverent attitude to nature, which characterises a number of his works and prompts some researchers of the writer’s creative work to attribute to him a “religious spirit”, goes back to the English tradition of literature about nature, while some elusive dissatisfaction, “existential” gloom permeating many of his poems, which is sometimes mistaken for the striving for the transcendent, the desire to find God, is rather psychological in nature.

Incidence of familial hypercholesterolemia in patients with early manifestations of coronary artery disease: data from a Russian multicenter study and meta-analysis

Aim. To assess the possibility of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) detection among patients with early coronary artery disease (CAD) in practice in comparison with data from different populations. Patients with early manifestations of CAD are a promising group for identifying a proband with FH and subsequent cascade screening. The question remains open about the sufficiency of clinical criteria for diagnosing this disease.Material and methods. We examined 651 patients with CAD manifestations aged £55 years in men and £60 years in women. FH was diagnosed according to the Dutch Lipid Clinic Network (DLCN) criteria, and cardiovascular risk was assessed using the Montreal-FH-SCOR E. In 35 phenotype-positive patients with FH, as well as 5 with lowdensity lipoprotein cholesterol levels ³5,5 mmol/l and 23 with age of manifestation of coronary artery disease £35 years, the coding sequence of the genes for apolipoprotein B (APOB), low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), low-density lipoprotein receptor adapter protein 1 (LDLRAP1), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9).Results. Definite FH was in 8 (1,2%), probable in 27 (4.2%), possible in 339 (52,1%) patients, while 277 (42,5%) patients had DLCN score of <3 points; 31 (88,6%), of 35 phenotype-positive patients had a high Montreal-FH-SCORE risk. Six carriers of pathogenic variants were identified, 2 of which were among phenotype-negative patients. A meta-analysis of 16 studies with 13065 patients (2012-2023) showed that the incidence of FH is 5,22 (4,848-5,619)% (fixed model) and 5,93 (4,528-7,515)% (random model).Conclusion. The use of existing diagnostic scales does not provide guaranteed detection of FH among patients with early CAD. It is likely that DLCN modification by additional gradation of the criterion for the age of CAD manifestation will help increase its diagnostic value.

Structure and contents of hearing impaired university students’ epistemic competence within digital learning environment: Criteria and evaluation methods

Introduction. A range of international and Russian studies addressing teaching hearing impaired university students focus on their cognitive and psychological differences from their hearing peers. However, they rarely discuss extremely relevant issue of learning in a digital environment which has untapped educational potential for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. The purpose of this paper is to rationalize a multi-component structure and content of hearing impaired university students’ abilities and skills to learn effectively, also known as epistemic competence, within a digital environment. Materials and Methods. The draft of the structure and content of this competence was designed relying on literature review, then improved and verified by means of the qualimetric approach, in particular, the procedures of expert group evaluation method. Results. Using a questionnaire and self-assessment techniques, the authors identified factors determining the expertise in teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students, the grade scale to evaluate the experts based on these factors has been designed, and 10 experts have been selected. The questionnaire aimed at improving and approving the structure (components) and content (criteria) of deaf and hard-of-hearing students’ epistemic competence in a digital learning environment have been designed and used in order to survey the experts. The authors rationalize the structure of the epistemic competence consisting of four components: motivation-based, cognitive, activity-based, and communicative. The content of components is presented as a list of criteria and evaluation methods for them. Conclusions. The developed structure and content represent an attempt to standardize teaching and learning of hearing impaired students. It is concluded that the proposed structure provides a way to identify challenges deaf and hard-of-hearing students face in learning online, and thus contributes to more effective epistemic competence development.

Литературоведческое и переводческое восприятие пьесы А. Н. Островского «Бесприданница» в Китае

The article is devoted to the reception of one of the most famous plays of A. N. Ostrovsky in China – “Without a Dowry”. The play belongs to the late period of the playwright's work and is characterised by a complex genre. In Russian literary studies it is considered as a socio-psychological drama with a bright lyrical beginning. The aim of the article is to give an idea of the translation, literary and literary perception of the play in China. The author of four versions of the play's translation into Chinese, Chen Bingyi, analyses the peculiarities of the play's translation. It reveals the main aspects of literary research on the play in China and examines the particular understanding of “Without a Dowry” by the playwright and translator Chen Baichen. By comparing the plots of A.N. Ostrovsky's drama and Chen Baichen’s drama “Love on a Steep Cliff”, the article highlights the influence of the character Katerina from the famous play “The Storm” on the interpretation of the female protagonist and the genre characteristics of “Without a Dowry”. The analysis demonstrates that Chinese translators, literary critics, and playwrights collectively perceive this psychological drama by Ostrovsky as a social drama within the historical and cultural context of 1940s China.

Вопрос развития культурологии в России с точки зрения диалектики абсолютного духа

The present article is a literature review and analysis of the problem of cultural development in Russia and ex-plores the role of the dialectic of absolute spirit in cultural studies. The literature review describes the main con-cepts of cultural development and examines Hegel's theory of absolute spirit and its influence on cultural stud-ies. The article examines the reasons and factors hindering cultural development in Russia, such as inade-quate funding for culture, lack of support for young talents, restrictions on artistic freedom, insufficient integra-tion into the global cultural community, and insufficient attention to culture from authorities. Furthermore, the article discusses the dialectics of absolute spirit and its significance for cultural studies in Russia. The article describes the basic concepts of the dialectics of absolute spirit and its application in cul-tural studies. The dialectics of absolute spirit allows for an understanding of culture as a holistic system, recog-nition of the interaction between society and culture, analysis of the interaction between cultural traditions and innovations, and the interaction between culture and society. In conclusion, the article summarizes the literature review and analysis of the problem of cultural devel-opment in Russia. It examines the successful application of the dialectics of absolute spirit in Russian cultural studies, such as the project “Contemporary Art in Traditional Museums” and the creation of cultural centers that bring together various directions of art and culture.

‘Gogol’s uneasy truth:’ The end of the journey

The article is written in memory of Yury Mann and follows the life and work of the prominent scholar, whose books not only constitute a landmark phenomenon of Russian literary studies but also offer a new perspective on a number of episodes in the history of literature. Mann’s scholarly career was shaped in the years after WWII. In his book of memoirs, written towards the end of his life, Mann attempts an analysis of his philological pursuits and how, trying to keep up with contemporary trends, he would still occasionally find himself to be an outsider. The article sets out to explain how Mann’s personal and scholarly journey eventually resulted in his remarkable achievements.The author pays special attention to a lesser-known sphere of Mann’s interests: his analytical studies of modern literature (among fellow philologists, he is mostly known as an expert on Gogol and Russian romanticism), his thoughts on conventionality in art, and compelling evidence that Mann’s works follow traditions of Russian formalism.

Stress incontinence in women of reproductive age. modern rehabilitation methods for improving the quality of life (literature review)

The article presents the data of scientific and clinical studies of Russian and foreign authors on modern approaches to the use of nondrug technologies (behavioral therapy, Kegel exercises, electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor muscles, biofeedback, physiotherapy, reflexology) in the conservative treatment of stress incontinence in women of reproductive age.

Safety and toxicity of cabozantinib monotherapy in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma: a Russian multicenter observational study

Aim. To assess the safety and to analyze an influence of cabozantinib monotherapy toxicity on treatment efficacy in unselected Russian patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC).
 Materials and methods. Medical data of 92 patients with verified mRCC were included in the study. The median age of the patients was 56 (1979) years, most of them - 60 (65.2%) were of male gender. Twenty five (27.2%) persons had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG PS). At the time of cabozantinib monotherapy start 5 (5.4%) patients had favorable, 54 (58.7%) intermediate, and 33 (35.9%) unfavorable prognosis by International Metastatic Renal Cancer Database Consortium (IMDC) model. Eighty-three (90.2%) patients were pretreated, including 76 (82.6%) patients who previously received anti-angiogenic agents. All patients were administered with cabozantinib monotherapy (60 mg/day); dose adjustment was performed according to the instruction.
 Results. Adverse events (AEs) were reported in 81 (88.0%) of 92 patients; 30 (32.6%) AEs were grade 34. Toxicity-related dose reduction of cabozantinib was required in 28 (30.4%), treatment interruption in 15 (16.3%), and discontinuation in 2 (2.2%) patients. The most common AEs were hypertension (69 patients, 75.0%), asthenia (47 patients, 51.1%), diarrhea (43 patients, 46.7%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (43 patients, 46.7%). The most common severe AEs were: arterial hypertension (17 patients, 18.5%), diarrhea (6 patients, 6.5%), and palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia (2 patients, 2.2%). The most frequent laboratory abnormalities during therapy were elevated serum transaminases (33 patients, 35.9%), anemia (13 patients, 14.1%), and thrombocytopenia (10 patients, 10.9%). No previously unreported AEs or laboratory abnormalities were observed. There was a significant increase in progression-free survival (hazard ratio 2.5; 95% confidence interval 1.05.9; p=0.046) and overall survival (hazard ratio 3.0; 95% confidence interval 1.28.3; p0.025) in patients with treatment-related arterial hypertension.
 Conclusion. The observational study confirmed the acceptable safety profile of cabozantinib in the first and subsequent lines of treatment in mRCC patients. No new safety signals were identified. Treatment-related arterial hypertension may be a favorable predictor of survival.

Giovanni Boccaccio. Filostrato; Diana’s Hunt

The review is devoted to a seminal event in Russian studies of Italian literature — the publication of a versified translation of Filostrato and Diana’s Hunt, Boccaccio’s first two works. Such a translation appears in the Russian language for the first time, thanks to the work of A. Triandafilidi and V. Oslon. Diana’s Huntis Boccaccio’s first completed poem in terza rima, a verse form previously used only by Dante. Filostrato holds a special place not only in Boccaccio’s legacy but also inworld literature. With its Graecised title and written in ottava rima, this narrative poem marks the departure from the classical literary canon in favour of folk urban culture and features the narrative devices and types of characters that would permeate subsequent Renaissance works. At the core of the poem is the story of Troilus and Cressida, one of literature’s archetypal couples of doomed lovers (along with Tristan and Isolde and Romeo and Juliet). The story later inspired Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida.

The Image of a Fountain in the Selected Lyrics of Pernette du Guillét and Maurice Scève

The article is dedicated to the image of a fountain – or a spring – in the lyrics of the poets of the Lyon School Pernette du Guillet and Maurice Scève. A clear spring as a symbol of love became widely known thanks to “The Romance of the Rose”, a French allegorical poem of the 13th century. The article provides a comparative analysis of selected lyrics by Pernette du Guillet and Maurice Scève, mostly from poetry collections “Rymes” and “Délie”. The purpose of the study is to compare the artistic motifs and imagery built by the poets around a fountain, which is a significant topos of courtly poetry. For this purpose, detailed comparative analysis of the lyrics of Maurice Scève, the head of the Lyon School of Poets, and Pernette du Guillet, his student, is carried with the help of poems with the image of a fountain. The novelty of the study is attributed to the fact that the lyrics of Pernette du Guillet with its problems and interpretation are practically unexplored in Russian literary studies. “Délie” by Scève is analyzed and interpreted in the dissertation of V.P. Avdonin dated 2013. The lyrics of Lyon poets' and the comparison of the concepts of love philosophy are topical themes in Russian literary studies. A fountain has several guises in the studied poems. The first is the healing from the fire of pernicious passion that can be found in its waters. While the water does save the lyrical heroine of Pernetta from the flames (as can be seen in the elegy plot), Scève pictures inextinguishable flames (continuing to burn even in water). They both – in their own way based on their gender roles – touch upon the motif of a naked lady bathing, which traces back to the myth of Actaeon. The fountain water is a soul mirror and a vessel of divine wisdom, it is an intermediary between a lover and a loved one.

Interactive documentaries: definition of the concept in Russian and foreign studies

The article provides an overview of modern Russian and foreign studies considering the concept of "interactive documentary" (interactive documentary, i-docs, idoc) and related terms: "web documentary" (web documentary, web-doc, webdoc), "interactive documentary". Theoretical foundations are given, approaches to the definition of these concepts are briefly described. The study uses descriptive, informative, comparative and structural-functional methods to solve a scientific problem. The research material was the works of Russian, American, British, Spanish, Turkish and Chinese scientists from 2011-2023. The most common, frequently cited and used definitions were selected for the review. The author of the article draws attention to the terminological uncertainty in the field under study, identifies the problems associated with defining the boundaries of the concept of "interactive documentaries", highlights the most promising aspects in identifying the characteristics of this new phenomenon and outlines directions for further research. As a result of the research, the author comes to the conclusion that due to the multimodality, complexity, openness and dynamism of the form of interactive documentaries, it would be appropriate to designate this phenomenon as a meta-genre. The proposed research lays the prerequisites for further search for the most accurate definition of interactive documentaries, corresponding to the current level of media development, accumulated theoretical and creative experience.

Lingua Franca and Information Technology in Foreign Language Acquisition: Competitive Advantages of Multilingual Instruction

The paper describes digital strategies helping to boost the competitiveness of Russian as a foreign language. The authors argue that it is impossible to deny the universal popularity of the English language. Knowledge of English is important to learners of Russian as a foreign language since it functions as a social language facilitating their transition to multilingualism. Thus, to improve the competitiveness of Russian courses, it is beneficial to supplement them with instructions in English and modern online tools with English interfaces. The paper offers two scenarios of in-class activities for beginner and intermediate-to-advanced learners of Russian, featuring key strategies utilized for students from Kazakhstan and the People’s Republic of China. The authors argue that the described activities are also useful for students from other countries. The scenarios are included in the common framework of the “Working for a Russian Digital Company” business game and enhance the competitive advantages of Russian studies programs expanding the limits of teaching language and culture in the field of online technologies and Java programming basics.

Еarly splenic response to ruxolitinib correlates with survival: a russian retrospective multicenter study in patients with myelofibrosis

We retrospectively analyzed the effectiveness of ruxolitinib in patients with myelofibrosis (MF) in real clinical practice in Russia. The study included 42 patients with MF with an average age of 56 years from 10 inpatient and outpatient clinics. The majority of patients (55 %) belonged to the intermediate risk group 1 on the DIPSS scale, 86 % had massive splenomegaly and 88 % had constitutional symptoms. The average initial dose of ruxolitinib was 15 mg twice a day. At the time of analysis, 74 % of patients continued taking ruxolitinib with an average duration of therapy of 20 months. A decrease in the palpable size of the spleen by at least 50 % was recorded in 36 % and 46 % of patients assessed after 3 and 6 months of treatment, respectively. A correlation was found between OV, initial splenomegaly and splenic response after 3 months of therapy. It should be noted that no deaths were recorded in patients with a decrease in the size of the spleen by ≥ 50 %. There were no cases of discontinuation of treatment due to side effects. In general, in our retrospective study, ruxolitinib effectively controlled constitutional symptoms and reduced the size of the spleen in patients with MF. An early splenic response after 3 months of therapy is apparently a prognostic factor for OS, and a decrease in the size of the spleen by less than 25 % should be considered as treatment ineffectiveness in patients with MF taking ruxolitinib.