The lichen genera Thelidium and Verrucaria in the Leningrad Region (Russia)

Lichens from the genera Thelidium and Verrucaria in the Leningrad Region (including Saint-Petersburg) are revised. Altogether five species of Thelidium and 31 of Verrucaria are confirmed for this region. Four species (Thelidium minimum, T. olivaceum, Verrucaria maculiformis and V. trabalis) are new to the Leningrad Region, and 17 species (Thelidium aphanes, T. fontigenum, Verrucaria christiansenii, V. elevata, V. epilithea, V. helsingiensis, V. illinoisensis, V. inaspecta, V. invenusta, V. ligni- cola, V. pilosoides, V. polystictoides, V. pseudovirescens, V. rejecta, V. tectorum, V. tornensis and V. transfugiens) are new to Russia. Dubious records for the Leningrad Region include Verrucaria acrotella, V. floerkeana, V. fusca, V. nigrescens, V. obnigrescens, V. umbrinula and V. viridula.

Additions to the lichen biota of Berezovye Islands, Leningrad Region, Russia

66 species of lichens, 9 lichenicolous fungi and 4 non-lichenized saprobic fungi are reported as new to the Berezovye Islands (Leningrad Region, Russia). The updated lichen biota of the archipelago comprises 356 species. Caloplaca maritima, Lecanora compallens, Verrucaria boblensis and Xanthoriicola physciae are reported for the first time for Russia, Lecanora aitema – for European Russia, Lecanora semipallida and Lichenodiplis lecanorae – for North-Western European Russia. Absconditella sphagnorum, Chaenothecopsis vainioana, Lempholemma polyanthes and Opegrapha niveoatra are new to the Leningrad Region, Arthonia byssacea and Lecanora subrugosa – to the Western Leningrad Region.

A new species of the genus Amphilagus (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) from the Middle Miocene of south-eastern Siberia

Amphilagus tomidai n. sp. is a new species of the genus Amphilagus (Lagomorpha, Mammalia) erected on the fossil materials from the deposits of Aya Cave (Middle Miocene, Aya Bay, mid-western coast of Baikal Lake, south-eastern Siberia), previously identified as Amphilagus cf. fontannesi (Erbajeva MA, Filippov AG. 1997. Miocene small mammalian faunas of the Baikalian region. In: Actes du Congrès BiochroM'97. Aguilar J-P, Legendre C, Michaux J, editors. 21. Mémoires et Travaux de L'Institut de Montpellier, E.P.H.E. p. 249–259). Amphilagustomidai n. sp. is the northernmost Eurasian record of the genus. It differs from the other Asian species of the genus by its larger size and slightly higher crown, by some peculiar advanced features of the upper teeth the evidence of which are: width of teeth became significantly larger with wear stage, hypostria became deeper, flexids on the occlusal surface of teeth covered by deep cement; in P3 both anterior folds filled with cement. The main trend in the evolutionary development of Amphilagus lineage probably is an enlargement of size and crown height, increasing hypsodonty, rather high developing of cement

Taxonomic Diversity of Late Cenozoic Asian and North American Ochotonids (an Overview)

Ochotonids (pikas) are an ancient group of mammals originating in the Oligocene of Asia and flourishing in the Miocene of the Old World. During the Pliocene they reduced both their diversity and abundance, Only the Pleistocene genus Ochotona survived to the present. Their current geographic diversity is concentrated in Asia, where 28 species exist today. Outside of Asia, ochotonids are represented by one living species in Europe and two living species in North America. There were likely three main immigrations to North America since the Miocene: (1) at the beginning of the Miocene represented by the appearance of Oreolagus; (2) at the Miocene- Pliocene boundary represented by the appearance of Ochotona spanglei; and (3) during the Early Pleistocene with the appearance of Ochotona whartoni, and small pikas close to the Ochotona pusilla group . Extant, endemic North American species appear in the Pleistocene

SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS: CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS. PART 1

The article presents current data on the etiology, pathogenesis, and epidemiology of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The SLE diagnosis details are considered with a description of each examination technique. Moreover, an assessment of reliability level of both evidence and recommendations for each thesis-recommendation are discussed thoroughly. The aspects of differential diagnosis and criteria for the diagnostic quality of SLE are revealed

Hadron calorimetry test bench

A reconfigurable sampling hadron calorimetry test bench was built. Different scintillator-absorber stack configurations can be easily constructed within the test bench for extensive detector performance studies. Three configurations, with absorber layers of uniform thicknesses of 48 mm, 24 mm, and 16 mm, and with scintillator layers of uniform thicknesses of 4 mm, were studied with electron and hadron beams

SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS: CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS. PART 2

The article presents modern ideas about the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The details of the management of patients with SLE during immunosuppressive and genetically engineered therapy is given. The article also reflects the aspects of rehabilitation, prevention of exacerbations, and follow-up care of children with SLE. The criteria for assessing the quality of medical care for children with SLE are presented. The detailed information on systemic lupus erythematosus for patients with SLE and their parents is outlined specifically

Effects of the lercanidipine - Enalapril combination vs. The corresponding monotherapies on home blood pressure in hypertension: Evidence from a large database

103siObjective: To compare a combination of a dihydropyridine calcium-channel blocker with an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor vs. monotherapy with one or the other drug and placebo for their effects on home blood pressure (HBP). Methods: After a 2-week placebo wash-out, patients with an elevated office blood pressure (BP) (diastolic 100–109 and systolic <180 mmHg) and HBP (diastolic 85 mmHg) were randomized double-blind to a 10-week treatment with placebo, lercanidipine, 10 or 20mg daily, enalapril, 10 or 20mg daily, or the four possible combinations. In addition to office BP, HBP was self-measured via a validated semiautomatic device twice in the morning and twice in the evening during the 7 days before randomization and at the end of treatment. Baseline and treatment HBP values were separately averaged for each day, morning, evening or the whole monitoring period, excluding the first day. Day-by-day HBP variability was defined as the SD or the variation coefficient of the daily BP averages. Results: Eight hundred and fifty-four patients with valid HBP recordings at baseline and at the end of treatment were analyzed (intention-to-treat population). From the baseline value (147.011.6 mmHg) systolic/diastolic HBP showed a small reduction (average baseline-adjusted change: –1.8/–1.6 mmHg) with placebo, a more marked significant fall with monotherapies (8.8/5.9 mmHg, P<0.001/<0.001 vs. placebo) and even more with combination treatment (11.6/7.6 mmHg, P<0.001/ <0.001 vs. placebo and P<0.01/<0.05 vs. monotherapy). A similar pattern was observed for each of the days of the BP self-monitoring period as well as for either morning or evening values, although the difference between mono and combination treatment appeared to be consistently significant for the morning values only. Dayby- day systolic BP-SD was unaffected by placebo and slightly reduced by drug treatments, with no, however, significant changes in SBP-variation coefficient. Baseline and end of treatment HBP values showed a limited correlation with office BP values, this being particularly the case for treatment-induced changes (correlation coefficients: 0.37 for systolic and 0.45 for diastolic BP). Conclusion: This large HBP database shows that the lercanidipine–enalapril combination lowers HBP more effectively than the corresponding monotherapies and placebo, and that this greater effect is consistent between days.reservedmixedMancia, Giuseppe; Omboni, Stefano; Chazova, Irina; Coca, Antonio; Girerd, Xavier; Haller, Hermann; Parati, Gianfranco; Pauletto, Paolo; Pupek-Musialik, Danuta; Svyshchenko, Yevgeniya; Boye, Alain; Charrier, Bruno; Couffin, Yvon; Marmor, Philippe; Marty, Jacques; Navarre, Jean Louis; Ansari, Anwar; Büttner, Claudia; Kropp, Maximilian; Mehling, Heidrun; Paschen, Christine; Schenkenberger, Isabelle; Schneider, Helmut; Sperling, Karsten; Stübler, Petra; Von Behren, Volker; Lembo, Giuseppe; Scanferla, Flavio; Sechi, Leonardo Alberto; Gębala, Andrzej; Hoffmann, Andrzej; Janik, Krzysztof; Klimza-Masłowska, Anna; Kaczmarek, Barbara; Koźminski, Piotr; Makowiecka-Cies̈la, Magdalena; Mordaka, Robert; Nowakowski, Tomasz; Pasternak, Dariusz; Skibińska, Elzbieta; Sulik, Piotr; Szpajer, Michał; Walczewska, Jolanta; Zaczek, Marcin; Zienciuk-Krajka, Agnieszka; Alexeeva, Nadezhda; Bokarev, Igor; Chazova, Iina; Conrady, Alexandra; Emelyanov, Alexander; Galustyan, Anna; Idrisova, Elena; Khasanov, Niyaz; Khokhlov, Alexander; Libov, Igor; Reshetko, Olga; Sokurenko, German; Stryuk, Raisa; Tereshchenko, Sergey; Trofimov, Vasily; Zrazhevsky, Konstantin; Carlos Calvo, S.; De Teresa, Luis; Ferre, Raimon; García, Juan; Gil, Apolonia; Gil, Blas; Montenegro, Jesús; Oliván, Josefina; Ortiz, Jacinto; Pascual, José María; Rivera, Antonio; De Quevedo, José Antonio Sainz; Zúñiga, Manuel; Martinez, Valentin; Pujol, Montserrat; Bazylevych, Andriy; Gyrina, Olga; Ignatenko, Grygoriy; Kazymyrko, Vitaly; Khomazyuk, Tetyana; Kononenko, Lyudmyla; Korzh, Oleksii; Kovalenko, Volodymyr; Kuryata, Oleksander; Kushnir, Mykola; Lishnevska, Viktoriia; Lymar, Iurii; Ostrovska, Lidiia; Popik, Galyna; Rudyk, Yuriy; Shershnyova, Oxana; Sierkova, Valentyna; Storozhuk, Borys; Tseluyko, Vira; Vatutin, Mykola; Vayda, Myroslava; Vizir, Vadym; Volkov, Volodymyr; Voloshyna, Olena; Yagensky, Andriy; Zhurba, Svitlana; Zorin, ValeriiMancia, Giuseppe; Omboni, Stefano; Chazova, Irina; Coca, Antonio; Girerd, Xavier; Haller, Hermann; Parati, Gianfranco; Pauletto, Paolo; Pupek Musialik, Danuta; Svyshchenko, Yevgeniya; Boye, Alain; Charrier, Bruno; Couffin, Yvon; Marmor, Philippe; Marty, Jacques; Navarre, Jean Louis; Ansari, Anwar; Büttner, Claudia; Kropp, Maximilian; Mehling, Heidrun; Paschen, Christine; Schenkenberger, Isabelle; Schneider, Helmut; Sperling, Karsten; Stübler, Petra; Von Behren, Volker; Lembo, Giuseppe; Scanferla, Flavio; Sechi, Leonardo Alberto; Gębala, Andrzej; Hoffmann, Andrzej; Janik, Krzysztof; Klimza Masłowska, Anna; Kaczmarek, Barbara; Koźminski, Piotr; Makowiecka Cies̈la, Magdalena; Mordaka, Robert; Nowakowski, Tomasz; Pasternak, Dariusz; Skibińska, Elzbieta; Sulik, Piotr; Szpajer, Michał; Walczewska, Jolanta; Zaczek, Marcin; Zienciuk Krajka, Agnieszka; Alexeeva, Nadezhda; Bokarev, Igor; Chazova, Iina; Conrady, Alexandra; Emelyanov, Alexander; Galustyan, Anna; Idrisova, Elena; Khasanov, Niyaz; Khokhlov, Alexander; Libov, Igor; Reshetko, Olga; Sokurenko, German; Stryuk, Raisa; Tereshchenko, Sergey; Trofimov, Vasily; Zrazhevsky, Konstantin; Carlos Calvo, S.; De Teresa, Luis; Ferre, Raimon; García, Juan; Gil, Apolonia; Gil, Blas; Montenegro, Jesús; Oliván, Josefina; Ortiz, Jacinto; Pascual, José María; Rivera, Antonio; De Quevedo, José Antonio Sainz; Zúñiga, Manuel; Martinez, Valentin; Pujol, Montserrat; Bazylevych, Andriy; Gyrina, Olga; Ignatenko, Grygoriy; Kazymyrko, Vitaly; Khomazyuk, Tetyana; Kononenko, Lyudmyla; Korzh, Oleksii; Kovalenko, Volodymyr; Kuryata, Oleksander; Kushnir, Mykola; Lishnevska, Viktoriia; Lymar, Iurii; Ostrovska, Lidiia; Popik, Galyna; Rudyk, Yuriy; Shershnyova, Oxana; Sierkova, Valentyna; Storozhuk, Borys; Tseluyko, Vira; Vatutin, Mykola; Vayda, Myroslava; Vizir, Vadym; Volkov, Volodymyr; Voloshyna, Olena; Yagensky, Andriy; Zhurba, Svitlana; Zorin, Valeri