Foreign trade turnover by the most important positions in January-July 2020 (export).
Ukrainian scientists hope to continue testing the method of early instrumental diagnostics of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by ophthalmic biomarkers – specific eye movements.
“The results obtained confirmed the hypothesis of scientists about the presence of certain abnormal changes in the diameter of the pupils and eye movements in patients with PTSD in response to the applied stimuli, the possibility of its diagnosis by these signs and, accordingly, prevention,” head of the department of inflammatory eye pathologies and microsurgical treatment of the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy, Oleksandra Zborovska, said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.
She stressed that Ukrainian ophthalmologists began to study the possibility of diagnostics based on ophthalmological indicators in 2012, and in 2018 clinical studies of a new method of objective hardware diagnostics of PTSD were carried out.
These studies included ophthalmologic examination of patients with established PTSD and controls for a number of indicators. The study revealed a number of typical diagnostic signs inherent in people with PTSD.
“We are the first in the world to work on PTSD with the Eye-tracker. To continue our work, we need an Eye-tracker – until now it was provided for research by third parties, as well as participation in research of non-ophthalmological specialists – psychologists, psychiatrists, as well as the involvement of enough non-ophthalmic patient participants with an established diagnosis and participants for a control group,” she said.
Zborovska noted that the ophthalmological part of the method was patented, a declarative patent of Ukraine was obtained. At the same time, a similar study by British scientists, widely covered in the media, was carried out six to seven years after the discovery of Ukrainian scientists.
“An international patent is a very costly business. We planned to get involved in obtaining an international patent so that there would be no such thing that our developments would be stolen from us – the problem of academic integrity is urgent all over the world,” she said.
According to the chief psychiatrist of the Ministry of Defense, Oleh Druz, currently “100% of the servicemen who are in the east are under the influence of psycho-traumatic factors.” At the same time, since 2015, military doctors have been observing these changes, developing protocols for their treatment and detection.
“Now specialists in psychiatry and ophthalmology have joined forces and with the help of instrumental studies on ophthalmological signs with a 98% probability can predict the likelihood of developing PTSD and prevent it,” he said.
Druz noted that over the past five years for this development “there are two patents, several articles have been written in scientific journals, there are articles in the Scopus database, articles in foreign journals where we covered the problems of PTSD.”
“There are sad statistics when military personnel commit suicide, commit crimes, go to jail, lead an immoral lifestyle. Thanks to the timely preventive diagnosis of PTSD, we can prevent this,” he said.
The head of the Main Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense, Anatoliy Kazmiruk, in turn, noted that at present there is no corresponding state program providing for the use of methods for early diagnosis of PTSD by ophthalmological indicators.
“We hope that the NSDC will be interested in the results of our work. Applying this technique, we managed to almost threefold reduce the treatment time for patients with PTSD. If in 2014-2015, the bulk of patients with PTSD or with suspected PTSD were treated for at least 60 days and actually fell out from an active professional life for three to four months, then with the use of this method, the duration of treatment can be reduced to 22-25 days, almost threefold,” he said.
According to Major General, Doctor of Technical Sciences Yuriy Danyk, “the research has been carried out so far as an initiative development, but the authors have done everything that is needed to describe and publish it in the relevant scientific editions.”
He also said that the authors of the development have applied to participate in the innovative platform Sikorsky Challenge.
“Development continues on the basis of Sikorsky Challenge, we hope to receive funding from investors who are interested in this development, I think that there will also be government attention,” he said.
Danyk noted that ophthalmic stress diagnostics can be used to assess the impact of stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mobile operator Kyivstar has launched the beta testing of the Kyivstar Open Telecom (KOT) project for testing API products based on mock data (have a structure identical to the real one, but are not valid).
“In Kyivstar we have 25.4 million subscribers, 4 million website users per month, 514 stores, 300 terabytes of data per day, and we are trying to become more and more open every day, so we launch the Kyivstar Open Telecom project,” the head of R&D & Digital at the company, Ivan Pasichnyk, said.
The KOT API allows using Kyivstar’s capabilities for developing new products, creating applications and automating business processes with a minimum Time to First Successful API Call indicator.
The company’s website reports work with mock data is free of charge, while the use of API products with real data and a debug server will be paid.
“In the next releases, we will add a sandbox in which you can work with real data: with a limit of five numbers, the ownership of which you confirmed with one-time password, and the number of requests. This format will be useful to test integration with real data,” he said.
The operator emphasizes that now Kyivstar Open Telecom is in a closed beta, so not all functions may be available, at the same time, the functionality of the KOT user account will expand.
As reported, on October 9, Kyivstar announced the launch of the Open Telecom Platform, an online platform for interaction with IT companies, which allow connecting to the operator’s services and using its datasets for developing and testing products.
Kyivstar also plans to transform from a traditional telecoms operator into a digital company.
The Cabinet of Ministers will approve a resolution facilitating the registration of international technical assistance and will replace the wording “donors” with “partners in development,” Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“We are planning to approve a resolution that will relax the registration procedure for international technical assistance… In addition, now the concept of “donors” has been replaced by “partners in development,” Shmyhal said, opening a government meeting on Friday.
“This is the kind of relationship we want to develop with colleagues – partnership for the sake of development,” he said.
Polish-based PGNiG has postponed the start of gas exploration in Ukraine from the previously announced third quarter of 2020 to the first half of 2021, head of the company Jerzy Kwieciński has said.
“PGNiG also intends to more actively participate in projects related to production of hydrocarbons in Ukraine. The company plans to start exploration for natural gas in this country in the first half of 2021,” the company said in a press release.
As reported, in February 2020 Vice President of the Board of Directors of PGNiG Robert Perkowski said that PGNiG intends to start developing hydrocarbons in Lviv region in the third quarter of 2020.
Earlier, in early December 2019, the Polish company PGNiG SA and the Ukrainian group of companies ERU signed an agreement on the exploration and production of natural gas in Lviv region.
PGNiG is the largest oil and gas company in Poland, engaged in the development of gas and oil fields, production, storage and transportation of energy resources, as well as construction and development of oil and gas transport networks, export and import of gas.
On October, 14, 17 and 18 near Kyiv, in the «Kyivan Rus Park» a large-scale and spectacular celebration of Pokrova and the Defender of Ukraine Day will take place.
The wonderful medieval architecture and, in addition, an entertaining program, museums, master-classes and amusements will be waiting for the guests of Ancient Kyiv.
The action will start with the solemn parade of the flags of the Kyivan Rus princes, horse lava and the appearance of the Kyivan prince Volodymyr the Great himself. The guests will be invited to take part in the solemn procession to the st. Basyl’s church, the reconstructed wooden temple of the Х century.
The program will continue with theatrical stagings on the Kyivan Rus theme, the performances of the horse-trick theatre, and demonstrative fights of the princely druzhinniks and also the competitions of the horseback archers.
Till the very evening the guests will be surprised with the medieval amusements. The guests will get a chance not only to observe the action but to take part in it by participating in merry games and competitions, games and fiery round dances.
The event will be carried out in accordance with the quarantine measures.
Ancient Kyiv opens at 10:00. The program starts at 13:30.
The ticket price: a full adult ticket – 225 UAH, for pensioners and students – 150 UAH, for schoolchildren – 80 UAH, for preschool children – for free.
Ancient Kyiv in the «Kyivan Rus Park» is located in Kyiv region, Obukhiv district, the vill. Kopachiv.
Details on the website www.parkkyivrus.com
The Interfax subscribers can save money with the “openbusiness-20” promo code for a 20%-discount for a full price adult ticket to the Principality of Kyivan Rus:
– by previous order by tel.: +38 044 461-99-37, +38 050 385-20-35
– or at the cash desk at the entrance to the «Kyivan Rus Park».
