Cognitive and mnestic impairments have a significant negative impact on the quality of parkinsonian patients’ life. Memory impairment causes changes in the mechanisms of information processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics of transformations undergone by memorized visual and semantic content during memory consolidation and reconsolidation in patients with Parkinson’s disease. The study was conducted on 32 male patients with PD (ICD code: G20). Among the patients, 9 had rigidity/bradykinesia-d ominant PD, 11 had tremor-dominant PD, and 12 suffered from a mixed type of PD. Short-term  memory span was assessed using the 10 words and the visual memory tests proposed by Luria. As stimulus materials we used a symbolic representation of the old Greek letter resembling an owl and a translated excerpt from a Canadian aboriginal epic. Regardless of the PD form, the quality of the memorized information was either altered or completely lost. The mechanisms underlying such transformations differed quantitively depending on the PD form. Transformation of the memorized information occurred in the conditions of both incidental and deliberate memorization and was represented by distortions (substitution of the original content with confabulations) and simplifications of the structural and semantic organization. We consolidated significantly lesser amount of auditory verbal (р = 0.018) and visual (p = 0.029) information. This trend was consistent with the pronounced distortion of content during its retrieval.
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The significant proportion of the Russian population are active online social media users. Changes in alcohol consumption in this target group during the COVID-19 pandemic remain understudied. The aim of this survey was to investigate changes in alcohol consumption and factors associated with the increase in alcohol use among online social media users in Russia during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted among 1,518 users of online social networking services popular in Russia from June to September 2020. The survey revealed that 35.4% of men and 25.6% of women started drinking more frequently during the first months of the pandemic; 24.9% of men and 17.7% of women increased their usual consumption (volume) of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion, whereas 28.5% of men and 27.9% of women increased the frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Adjusted binary logistic regression analysis revealed a positive association between the increase in the frequency of alcohol consumption and the following factors: age from 18 to 29 years (OR: 1.710; 95% CI: 1.002–2.917), severe restrictions in everyday private life (OR: 3.127; 95% CI: 1.011–9.675) and severe negative professional or financial consequences due to the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (OR: 2.247; 95% CI: 1.131–4.465). The odds of an increase in the frequency of heavy episodic drinking were more than twice higher (OR: 2.329; 95% CI: 1.001–5.428) among those who had experienced severe negative consequences of the pandemic to their professional and financial situation. Higher typical frequency and usual consumption (volume) of alcohol on a typical drinking occasion and higher typical frequency of heavy episodic drinking before the pandemic were positively significantly associated with the increase in these parameters of alcohol consumption during the first months of the pandemic. In times of large-scale epidemics and public health crises, it is advisable to consider the possibility of implementing screening and brief interventions, including via online social media, to prevent problems associated with alcohol use.
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Omics technologies hold great potential as the basis for development of the new diagnostic approaches in obstetrics. Cervicovaginal fluid (CVF) as part of the mother-placenta-fetus system can be used to diagnose obstetric complications. This study aimed to identify the features of lipid composition of the cervical canal secretion peculiar to Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR) and preeclampsia (PE). We took CVF samples from 57 pregnant women and subjected them to an in-depth clinical-anamnestic and mass-spectrometric analysis. Lipid extracts of CVF were analyzed with a liquid chromatography system coupled with a mass analyzer. As a result, we identified 239 lipid compounds. In case of 17 lipids, mathematical analysis revealed significant differences between samples from women with normal pregnancy indicator values (normal group) and patients from the IUGR group (p < 0.05). As for the normal group and PE group patients, there were significant differences identified for 3 lipids (p < 0.05). Comparison of samples from the PE and IUGR groups yielded statistically significant differences in levels of two lipids (p < 0.05). Mainly, the lipids were oxylipins, sphingomyelins, triglycerides, and cardiolipins. The developed diagnostic model had the sensitivity of 0.81 and specificity of 0.91 (cut-off level — 0.50; AUC — 0.85). The data obtained are valuable in the context of development of the new methods of diagnosing placentaassociated complications of pregnancy and for understanding new mechanisms of pathogenesis of these complications.
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