The bitcoin rate rose above $35 thousand on Tuesday for the first time since May last year.
As of 18:15, it gained 9% and amounted to $34.362 thousand. During the session, the rate reached $35.142 thousand.
The rise in the value of bitcoin is driven by growing investor expectations that the United States will soon approve the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for direct investment in cryptocurrencies, Market Watch reports.
In the past, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has repeatedly rejected applications from investment companies to launch such ETFs, arguing that there are high risks of market price manipulation. However, cryptocurrency industry experts believe that the situation will soon change.
On Monday, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that its August decision, which overturned the SEC’s earlier ban on the conversion of the Grayscale Investments cryptocurrency trust into a spot bitcoin ETF, should come into force.
Experts note that the emergence of such products on the market will facilitate the wider adoption of bitcoin.
If bitcoin ETFs are approved, we may see a “historic jump in the value of the cryptocurrency” and a market shift to a bullish trend, says Alex Adelman, CEO and co-founder of Lolli.
BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments are among the companies ready to offer similar products.
This tool “will give institutional and retail investors new ways to grow their bitcoin investments within the current regulatory framework”, Adelman says.
The stock prices of cryptocurrency companies Coinbase Global Inc., MicroStrategy Inc., Riot Platforms Inc. and Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. are up 13%, 14.8%, 14.5% and 17.5%, respectively.
Ukraine exported 41 thsd tonnes of barley of the new harvest due to the intensification of the work of Odesa ports, but the main demand is demonstrated by the domestic market. This was discussed on October 24 during the weekly briefing, according to the analytical cooperative “Start”, created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (AAC).
“Export demand for barley has intensified. In Odesa, the demand for barley with certification for deliveries to China at the price of about 118-120 USD/ton is recorded. These prices are announced for delivery to Odesa by November 10. As of November, 50 thsd tonnes of barley have already been sold for delivery to China. Therefore, we can expect further movement of the grain through Odesa ports. There will not be a big price increase, but the prices may rise by $5/ton,” the experts said.
According to their information, the Danube ports are not trading barley yet. Although the indicative price is 125-130 USD/ton, there is no real movement. Higher liquidity is recorded at the western borders (CPO) – 135-140 USD/ton on DAP terms, but the demand in this direction is low.
“The main demand is focused on the domestic market, with the main buyers of barley being the processing plants. So far, the purchase prices are at the level of 4500-4800 UAH/ton, no significant changes are expected in the coming weeks,” the UGA summarized.
“Chernihivgaz” JSC has come under the management of “Naftogaz” Group, the company’s press service said on Tuesday.
“Chernihivgaz” became the 18th enterprise to come under state control.
The company delivers gas to almost 360,000 homes, regulates its distribution to budgetary and religious organizations, industrial facilities and municipal heating enterprises,
“Chernihivgaz” joined the “Naftogaz” Group as part of the transfer of gas distribution companies to state control. At present, personal accounts of customers, as well as tariffs for distribution services, remain unchanged”, the statement said.
As reported, at the end of May 2022, at the request of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the court transferred the seized private corporate rights to 26 regional and city gas distribution system operators to the management of the ARMA.
In September 2022, “Naftogaz” of Ukraine registered Gas Distribution Networks of Ukraine LLC (“Gazomerezhi”), whose main activity is gas distribution through local pipelines.
By Resolution No. 1335 dated November 25, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers transferred state-owned gas distribution networks to “Gazomerezhy” for operation.
In September this year, Ukrainian steelmakers increased steel production by 64.2% year-on-year to 558 thousand tons from 340 thousand tons.
At the same time, Ukraine took 21st place in the ranking of 63 countries – the world’s major producers of this product, compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel).
According to Worldsteel, in September 2023, steel production increased compared to September 2022 in half of the top ten countries, except for China, Japan, Brazil and Iran.
The top ten steel producing countries in September are as follows: China (82.110 million tons, down 5.6% by September 2022), India (11.632 million tons, up 18.2%), Japan (7.020 million tons, down 1.7%), the United States (6.718 million tons, up 2.6%), and the Russian Federation (6.2 million tons, up 9.8%), South Korea (5.456 million tons, up 18.2%), Germany (2.902 million tons, up 2.1%), Turkey (2.890 million tons, up 8.4%), Brazil (2.630 million tons, down 5.6%) and Iran (2.397 million tons, down 12.7%).
Overall, in September this year, steel production decreased by 1.5% year-on-year to 149.316 million tons.
In the first nine months of 2023, the top ten steel-producing countries are as follows: China (795.070 million tons, up 1.7%), India (104.090 million tons, up 11.6%), Japan (65.387 million tons, down 3.6%), the United States (60.566 million tons, down 1.4%), and the Russian Federation (57.148 million tons, up 4.8%), South Korea (50.430 million tons, minus 0.4%), Germany (27.231 million tons, minus 3.6%), Turkey (24.489 million tons, minus 10.1%), Brazil (23.965 million tons, down 8%) and Iran (22.069 million tons, minus 0.6%).
In total, 63 countries produced 1 billion 406.376 million tons of steel in January-September, up 0.1% compared to the same period in 2022.
At the same time, Ukraine produced 4.590 million tons of steel in the first nine months of 2023, which is 16.9% lower than in January-September 2022. The country ranks 23rd in the first nine months of 2023.
As reported, in 2022, the top ten steel-producing countries looked like this: China (1.013 billion tons, down 2.1%), India (124.720 million tons, up 5.5%), Japan (89.235 million tons, -7.4%), the United States (80.715 million tons, -5.9%), and the Russian Federation (71.5 million tons, -7.2%), South Korea (65.865 million tons, -6.5%), Germany (36.849 million tons, -8.4%), Turkey (35.134 million tons, -12.9%), Brazil (33.972 million tons, -5.8%) and Iran (30.593 million tons, +8%).
In 2022, Ukraine ranked 23rd with the production of 6.263 million tons of steel (minus 70.7%).
In total, 64 countries produced 1 billion 831.467 million tons of steel in 2022, which is 4.3% less than in 2021.
The management of FC Shakhtar presented the new head coach. Bosnian Marino Pusic became him, the club’s press service reports.
“The contract with the mentor is designed until the end of the season-2025/26”, – is indicated in the message.
Pušić was born August 18, 1971 in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina). At the professional level played for Dutch “De Grafshap” (1989-1990, 1992-1993) and “Gow Ahead Eagles” (1990), Serbian “Crvena Zvezda” (1990-1991), Bosnian “Velež” (1991-1992), “Reden” (1993-1994), German “Cologne” (1994-1995), Belgian “Eupen” (1995-1996), Dutch “Babberich” (1996-2000) and “De Trefers” (2000-2001). After finishing his career as a soccer player he played for futsal teams.
He started his coaching path also in futsal, then worked as a mentor at Vitesse Academy (2010-2013), assistant head coach at NAC Breda (2013-2014), Inter (Azerbaijan, 2015), Twente (2015-2018), was head coach of Twente (2018-2019), assistant head coach at AZ Alkmaar (2019-2021) and Feyenoord (2021-2023).
As head coach he won the Eerste Divisie (2019), as assistant head coach he won the Dutch Championship (2023).
A veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes in America. One of the key reasons is PTSD. What will happen to Ukrainian veterans, and whether we will face similar disappointing statistics, depends on the ability to identify PTSD and its treatment. Viktor Dosenko, professor at the Bogomolets Institute of Physiology, head of the development and innovation department at CSD LAB medical laboratory, pathophysiologist, MD, told Interfax-Ukraine about the peculiarities of diagnosis, course and prospects for treatment of PTSD.
Text: Anna Levchenko
– Currently, Ukraine is just beginning to study the issue of PTSD. How relevant is this problem for Ukraine? When will we face the manifestations of PTSD, when will its impact be visible?
– Both extremes – that everyone has PTSD, or that there is no PTSD – certainly do not correspond to the real state of affairs, do not correspond to scientific data, and have negative consequences. How should the scientific and medical community approach this issue? In a balanced, logical, scientific way: Not everyone will have PTSD, of course, and not everyone has it, not even half of the population. Many military men do not have any PTSD. But at the same time, the number of people with PTSD in Ukraine is quite large – unfortunately, we do not have a register of patients with this pathology, so there are no exact figures.
To detect PTSD in a person, there is a screening. In particular, CSD LAB has taken a serious interest in this problem and has a separate section on the medical laboratory’s website where anyone can take a screening test for PTSD. Because in order to treat, you need to identify the patients. The task of finding such people is not an easy one. No one will come to the hospital and say: “I have PTSD, treat me”. A person may not know about his or her condition.
I want to note that the world celebrates the International PTSD Screening Day every year. Currently, the problem of diagnosis is relevant all over the world, because it occurs not only in countries where there are hostilities. Many other factors can also lead to the development of this serious mental illness. The earlier we detect this disease, the better and more effective the therapy will be. Therefore, screening programs to detect PTSD are currently being practiced around the world. In particular, experts from the US National Center for PTSD Research have developed the so-called five questions of perception. If a person gives a positive answer to at least three of them, this does not mean that he or she has PTSD, but it does mean that he or she needs to see a specialist.
– Can we say that PTSD is a mental illness, or is it just a situational problem of a spoiled mood?
– It is a mental illness. In the international classification of diseases, it is classified as a mental health disorder. The diagnosis of PTSD is made by a psychiatrist.
– But in practice, as psychiatrists say, a person with mental health problems usually believes that everything is fine, it’s just that the world around them is different. How do you get a person to pay attention to their condition and start treatment?
– A person needs to take a test and answer these five questions of perception. Our task now is to bring this information to the public. This is a free, evidence-based and very accurate way of screening. Not diagnosis, but screening, which, if necessary, will refer a person to a specialist for treatment.
PTSD is a serious problem. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, a veteran commits suicide every 65 minutes in America. Healthy men who have returned from serving in the U.S. military, with all the support programs and rehabilitation centers, face this problem. We are not saying that all veterans in the United States have PTSD and are suicidal, but if we compare veterans with other men, the presence of PTSD increases the likelihood of suicide six times. For women, this figure is even higher. This is terrible data and, unfortunately, there is no reason to think that it will be any different in Ukraine.
– When, according to your forecasts, can we expect, say, a surge in cases or symptoms of PTSD? Should we expect this now, or will it take some time after the war?
– Most likely, we should expect a surge after returning from the war. A significant number of soldiers may already have PTSD, but unfortunately, we don’t have statistics. Actually, this data is not collected, there are no statistics on mental illnesses. We do not know how many people we have with PTSD and what the dynamics are. To understand the picture, veterans must undergo diagnostics and, if necessary, rehabilitation. But most veterans do not have this opportunity. After defeating the enemy, most of them will return to normal life. And it is then that we can expect this disease to manifest itself and there will be an avalanche-like increase in the number of diagnoses of PTSD. Because now PTSD exists, but there is no screening. Or it is not effective enough.
– What is the root cause of PTSD?
– There are two factors that trigger the development of PTSD. The first is direct contact with death. Not on television, not in photos, not in telegram channels, but direct, visual contact with death. A person sees death, and it strikes at what is called the core of the personality, at their own beliefs about what is good and what is evil. The second factor that can trigger PTSD is indirect contact with death, even without contact. These are two established factors. Everything else is a risk factor that increases the probability. That is, a person with existing mental illness is more likely to have PTSD. People who have used or are using drugs have a higher probability. People who have weak social support, no family, no children, or a traumatic personal life are more likely to have PTSD. Of course, there is also a genetic predisposition. But these are not causes, they are factors that increase the probability.
– How does PTSD differ from other reactions to a stressful situation?
– The fact that this horror of contact with death stays in the brain, in the psyche. It does not leave a person, and they keep returning to the traumatic situation. This event already exists exclusively in memories, it is detached from life, it has nothing to do with the current situation, but it is imprinted in the psyche and begins to dominate consciousness. The situation that caused PTSD has already happened, it does not repeat itself, and the person is still in it. This makes PTSD very different from other diseases, including chronic stress.
PTSD leads to hormonal disruptions. To a certain extent, PTSD is a neurohumoral disease. When the hormonal background changes, when stress is “lame” by one hormone. What this means is that under stress, the level of both adrenaline and cortisol in the blood should increase. But in PTSD, only the level of adrenaline rises, and cortisol is even lower than in healthy people. It’s like stress, but inferior – adrenaline dominates, and there is no cortisol, which should provide negative feedback and stop the stress response.
– And how does this threaten the human body?
– This is fraught with the fact that the body does not receive communication. Cortisol is supposed to come to the brain after stress and trigger recovery mechanisms. But there is no cortisol, the brain believes that the order to mobilize has not been fulfilled, so it gives commands to produce adrenaline and a stress response again and again. This exhausts the body. In medicine, this is called a “vicious circle,” from which the psyche cannot break free on its own.
– If we’re talking about hormones, hormonal levels, are there any tests, such as blood tests, that would allow us to detect the presence of PTSD as a chemical reaction of the body?
– We are on the way to this. We are currently working on this task together with the specialists of the Lisova Halyana psycho-rehabilitation center. We are trying to find the best solution, because the existing solutions are very expensive, and screening should be cheap.
– What does “expensive solution” mean?
– It takes a lot of money to identify people with PTSD. And this is a problem. Because screening means a cheap test that can be done to millions of people: all military personnel, all military families. But when the cost of the test is significant, it significantly complicates the ability to fight PTSD.
– How much is significant?
– According to our calculations, it was about 5 thousand UAH for one test. Therefore, if we talk about determining PTSD “by a drop of blood,” the methodological basis already exists, but there is a nuance – screening should be affordable. The whole world is looking for opportunities to conduct such screenings, but nowhere in the world have PTSD biomarkers been introduced. CSD LAB has developed them, but we hope to find a solution to reduce their cost. On the way to this solution, we have already introduced a test for biomarkers of chronic stress. This is no less dangerous pathology, which is certainly related to the war. Not everyone has contact with death, but the war introduces a state of uncertainty. This is what is happening now: news, traumatic information and sympathy trigger the so-called chronic stress. This is very well known in medicine. And all a person needs to do is take a test and see a psychotherapist, who will prescribe medication if necessary.
But I emphasize that chronic stress and PTSD are different things.
– Are there any medications being developed for PTSD?
– Currently, there are only two antidepressants that have been proven to work and improve the condition. Other drugs are being studied. There are quite a few of them, so we expect that new drugs will appear and be researched. In particular, medicines based on medical cannabis and psychotropic drugs. But, unfortunately, Ukraine is currently outside of these studies not only because of the war, but also because it is forbidden to study these drugs in Ukraine.
However, there is currently a demand for such research in Ukraine and around the world. There are international organizations that are ready to collaborate with Ukrainian experts and institutions to study these issues. For example, we are preparing a number of applications for participation in international research and hope that these studies will eventually begin. This, in my opinion, is a very good solution, because instead of standing with our hand out and asking for money, we will be able to develop it ourselves.
– Once upon a time, young Ukrainians were forced to take part in wars waged by the former Soviet Union, particularly in Afghanistan. Now these people are about 50-55 years old, they are a fairly active category of citizens, but they have a complicated history. We’ve seen many stories of guys returning from Afghanistan with crippled lives, crippled psyches, and not all of them were able to adapt to peaceful life. Are there any studies conducted among Afghanistan veterans?
– In the USSR and in all post-Soviet countries, unfortunately, this diagnosis was ignored. In Ukraine, there used to be no legal definition of PTSD. In this aspect, the question was not raised at all. That is, if a person had the consequences of a military injury or contusion, they could be offered treatment and rehabilitation in a sanatorium, and restored in neurological terms. Psychiatry and psychological assistance were out of the question. Currently, we also do not see work with those who may have suffered from PTSD 30 years ago. Only now have we begun to pay attention to these people. The first diagnoses of PTSD appeared in America in the 80s of the last century, and for quite a long time in other countries, even in Europe, it was believed that it was not a disease. That is, it took decades for PTSD to be accepted. Now it is necessary to develop diagnostic criteria and to communicate these criteria to doctors.
– Can PTSD be cured, or is it a chronic disease that stays with a person for life?
– PTSD is treatable, of course! In half of the cases, it will go away on its own. But this information is dangerous, because people will think that they don’t need to see a doctor, they say, PTSD will go away on its own. This is a mistake! You need to see a doctor to treat PTSD. In half of the people, PTSD can go away on its own, and in half of them it will not. And no one knows which half a person belongs to. PTSD is perfectly treated with psychotherapy, of course, if you start in time and if there are qualified specialists. In some cases, pharmacotherapy is required. Experts around the world are looking for new techniques, new drugs, new approaches to the treatment of this complex, dangerous disease. I hope that Ukrainian scientists will successfully join this research and together we will find effective methods of screening, diagnosing and treating PTSD.
