Natural and medical sciences

The article explores the intersection of the concepts of spatial networking and territorial community. The author offers a typology of various forms of spatial networking and describes the main characteristic features of each type. It is substantiated that any form of spatial networking is based on territorial сommunity. The article describes a theoretical approach to studying the formation and transformation of a territorial community. There are different types of proximities within the territorial community: geographic, formative, dominant interaction and development proximities among others. Using clusters as an example the author proves that the formation of unique characteristics of various forms of spatial networking is defined by the essential features of the territorial community underlying them.

The article is devoted to the topical issue of providing innovation security of the Kaliningrad region, Russia’s exclave on the Baltic Sea. The author discusses the importance of creating a favourable innovation environment in the region for sustainable implementation of the innovative model of economic development. The author assesses the innovation environment in the Kaliningrad region and performs a retrospective analysis of its transformation. Special attention is paid to the institutional aspects of the problem. The author explores constraints and threats to the development of innovation and innovation security of the Kaliningrad region.

The authors aim to identify the most optimal formula for calculating the volume of liver based on its linear size ex vivo. The authors measured liver volume in thirty-three corpses by placing the liver in water and calculating the displaced volume of the liquid. Liver was measured in each case. The data were then compared with the ones obtained by using five different formulas comprising linear liver measurements.

The authors propose a method of liver volumetry using anthropometric data and the data obtained during an ultrasound examination. The algorithm is built on the basis of a genetic algorithm with coefficients calculated using linear regression. It is shown that the new formula is more accurate than previously proposed ones. The algorithm can be used to work out volumetric formulas for other organs in radiological studies.

Research works aimed at assessing the interaction in the host-parasite system, pay attention to the products of the vital activity of the parasite. Hemozoin is one of the most promising metabolites that can be used for new methods of parasite diagnostics and treatment. It is known that hemozoin is produced by parasites causing schistosomiasis and malaria. Recent research has shown that hemozoin is produced by the hepatic trematode Opisthorchis felineus, but the effects associated with the presence of hemozoin in the bile ducts of the host have not been studied yet. The authors compare the concentration of hemozoin in various organs of animals and study the ability of the O. felineus hemozoin to modify the bile ducts microbiota. The authors study the bile duct microbiota of infected and healthy animals and perform the metagenomics analysis. The microbiota is assessed by metagenomic analysis of bile duct samples of intact animals and animals with opisthorchiasis. Samples of mature forms of O. felineus are also included in the study. In accordance with the results obtained, hemozoin accumulates mainly in the liver during the invasion of O. felineus. The invasion of O. felineus leads to an increase in the alpha diversity of the bile duct microbiota in animals, and this effect is not associated with the presence of hemozoin in the bile ducts. Metagenomic analysis revealed that the most representative taxa in the mature forms of O. felineus are Sphingomonas, Prevotella, Methylobacterium.