Voting 'against all' in postcommunist Russia

Since the early 1990s voters in Russia (and most of the other post-Soviet republics) have been offered the opportunity to vote ‘against all’ parties and candidates. Increasing numbers have done so. The evidence of two post-election surveys indicates that ‘against all’ voters are younger than other voters, more urban and more highly educated. They do not reject liberal democracy, but are critical of the contemporary practice of Russian politics and find no parties that adequately reflect their views. With the ending of the ‘against all’ facility in 2006 and other changes in the Russian electoral system under the Putin presidency, levels of turnout are likely to fall further and the protest vote will seek other outlets within or outside the parliamentary system

Combination of a Chaperone Synthesis Inducer and an Inhibitor of GAPDH Aggregation for Rehabilitation after Traumatic Brain Injury: A Pilot Study

The recovery period after traumatic brain injury (TBI) is often complicated by secondary damage that may last for days or even months after trauma. Two proteins, Hsp70 and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), were recently described as modulating post-traumatic processes, and in this study, we test them as targets for combination therapy using an inhibitor of GAPDH aggregation (derivative of hydrocortisone RX624) and an inducer of Hsp70 synthesis (the pyrrolylazine derivative PQ-29). The protective effect of the combination on C6 rat glioblastoma cells treated with the cerebrospinal fluid of traumatized animals resulted in an increase in the cell index and in a reduced level of apoptosis. Using a rat weight drop model of TBI, we found that the combined use of both drugs prevented memory impairment and motor deficits, as well as a reduction of neurons and accumulation of GAPDH aggregates in brain tissue. In conclusion, we developed and tested a new approach to the treatment of TBI based on influencing distinct molecular mechanisms in brain cells. © 2022 by the authors.Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Minobrnauka: 075-15-2021-683; Russian Science Foundation, RSF: 18-74-10087, 22-13-00298This research was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, research projects #18-74-10087 and #22-13-00298.Rat glioblastoma C6 cells were obtained from the shared research facility “Vertebrate cell culture collection” supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (Agreement No. 075-15-2021-683). Cells were cultured in DMEM/F12 medium (Gibco, Carlsbad, CA, USA) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS; Gibco, Carlsbad, CA, USA), 100 units/mL penicillin, and 0.1 mg/mL streptomycin (BioloT, St. Petersburg, Russia) at 37 °C and 5% CO.