Christian Context of Historical Novel (Zakhar Prilepin’s “Abode”)

The specificity of the synthesis of elements included in the historical narrative, and Christian motives, images in the novel of the largest contemporary Russian prose writer Zakhar Prilepin is comprehended in the article. The relevance of the article is due to the need to build a coherent and consistent history of the development of Russian literature over the past two decades, an important part of which is the legacy of the popular writers. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time in Russian literary criticism “Abode” is considered from the proposed perspective: its genre specificity is analyzed in a Christian context. It has been established that, despite the presence of elements of documentary, adventurous, love-psychological novels, in terms of genre, “The Abode” can be attributed to a historical novel (it depicts a turning point in Russian history through a conflict between historical figures and fictional “average” heroes, combines historical facts and fiction). At the same time, an interest in eternal moral issues, problems of life and death, conscience and duty, love and fidelity in their Christian understanding becomes a feature of Prilepin’s understanding of the historical theme. In their work, the authors of the article used comparative historical, biographical, socio-cultural methods, as well as the method of a holistic analysis of a work of art

Capacitive sensor based on molecularly imprinted polymers for detection of the insecticide imidacloprid in water

This manuscript reports on the development of a capacitive sensor for the detection of imidacloprid (IMD) in water samples based on molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). MIPs used as recognition elements were synthesized via a photo-initiated emulsion polymerization. The particles were carefully washed using a methanol (MeOH) / acetic acid mixture to ensure complete template removal and were then dried. The average size of the obtained particles was less than 1 mu m. The imprinting factor (IF) for IMD was 6 and the selectivity factor (alpha) for acetamiprid, clothianidin, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam were 14.8, 6.8, 7.1 and 8.2, respectively. The particles were immobilized on the surface of a gold electrode by electropolymerization. The immobilized electrode could be spontaneously regenerated using a mixture of MeOH/10 mM of phosphate buffer (pH = 7.2)/triethylamine before each measurement and could be reused for 32 times. This is the first-time that automated regeneration was introduced as part of a sensing platform for IMD detection. The developed sensor was validated by the analysis of artificially spiked water samples. Under the optimal conditions, the linearity was in the range of 5-100 mu M, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 4.61 mu M

Study of trends in the life of society based on two world pandemics (“Black Death” / plague, coronavirus)

Представлен сопоставительный анализ экономических, социальных и психологических последствий эпидемий бубонной чумы в XIX в. и вируса COVID-19 в XXI в. Сделан вывод о сходных паттернах поведения людей в разные эпохи.A comparative analysis of the economic, social and psychological consequences of the bubonic plague epidemics in the 19th century and the COVID-19 virus in the 21st century is presented. The conclusion is made about similar patterns of human behavior in different eras

Site-Selective Artificial Ribonucleases: Oligonucleotide Conjugates Containing Multiple Imidazole Residues in the Catalytic Domain

Design of site-selective artificial ribonucleases (aRNases) is one of the most challenging tasks in RNA targeting. Here, we designed and studied oligonucleotide-based aRNases containing multiple imidazole residues in the catalytic part and systematically varied structure of cleaving constructs. We demonstrated that the ribonuclease activity of the conjugates is strongly affected by the number of imidazole residues in the catalytic part, the length of a linker between the catalytic imidazole groups of the construct and the oligonucleotide, and the type of anchor group, connecting linker structure and the oligonucleotide. Molecular modeling of the most active aRNases showed that preferable orientation(s) of cleaving constructs strongly depend on the structure of the anchor group and length of the linker. The inclusion of deoxyribothymidine anchor group significantly reduced the probability of cleaving groups to locate near the cleavage site, presumably due to a stacking interaction with the neighbouring nucleotide residue. Altogether the obtained results show that dynamics factors play an important role in site-specific RNA cleavage. Remarkably high cleavage activity was displayed by the conjugates with the most flexible and extended cleaving construct, which presumably provides a better opportunity for imidazole residues to be correctly positioned in the vicinity of scissile phosphodiester bond

Properties of the VT1-0 titanium surface modified by a pulsed ion beam

The physicomechanical properties of the VT1-0 titanium surface modified by a pulsed carbon ion beam at a pulse duration of 80 ns, an energy of 200 keV, a current density of 120 A/cm2, an energy density of 1.92 J/cm2, and various numbers of pulses (four regimes) are studied. Irradiation by the beam leads to hardening of a 1.8-μm-thick surface layer in titanium, a decrease in the hydrogen sorption rate, a decrease in the grain size, and the formation of twins

Right heart condition in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

Aim. To assess right heart condition in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia.Material and methods. One hundred and five patients with COVID-19 pneumonia were divided into 3 groups depending on the involvement of lung parenchyma: group I — 0-25%, II — 25-50%, III — 50-75%. The clinical status of patients was assessed using the NEWS2 and SHOKS-COVID scales. A complete blood count and biochemical blood tests were performed to determine the level of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and troponin I. Echocardiography was performed to assess the right heart structural, hemodynamic and functional parameters.Results. In patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, with an increase in lung parenchyma involvement, the intensity of systemic inflammatory response increased: C-reactive protein, group I — (4 [1,9; 35] mg/l), in III — (70,5 [33; 144] mg/l) (pI-III=0,012); myocardial stress marker level increased: NT-proBNP, group I — 77 [48; 150] ng/l, group III — 165 [100; 287] ng/l (pI-III=0,047). The dependence of NT-proBNP on C-reactive protein level was revealed (r=0,335, p=0,03). Intergroup comparison did not reveal significant differences between the main right heart functional parameters: TAPSE, Tei index (PW and TDI), FAC of the right ventricle (RV) (p>0,05). However, differences in the tricuspid annular peaks were found as follows: group I — 0,14 [0,12; 0,14] m/s, group II — 0,14 [0,12; 0,15] m/s, group III — 0,16 [0,14; 0,17] m/s (pI-II=0,012, pI-III=0,014) and RV global longitudinal strain: group I — 19,63±7,72%, group III — 27,4±5,93% (pI-III=0,014). The relationship between the RV global longitudinal strain and SHOKS-COVID score was confirmed (r=0,381; p=0,024).Conclusion. Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia showed no signs of right heart dysfunction. The development of RV hyperfunction was noted. Most likely, this is a compensatory mechanism in response to acute RV afterload. NT-proBNP increase under conditions of an inflammatory response may indicate myocardial stress. The results obtained allow to expand our understanding of the right heart condition in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia

Cleavage of pyrene-stabilized RNA bulge loops by trans-(±)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine

Chemical agents that cleave HIV genome can be potentially used for anti-HIV therapy. In this report, the cleavage of the upper stem-loop region of HIV-1 TAR RNA was studied in a variety of buffers containing organic catalysts. trans-(±)-Cyclohexane-1,2-diamine was found to cleave the RNA with the highest activity (31%, 37°C, 18 h). Cleavage of the RNA in trans-(±)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine buffer was also studied when the RNA was hybridized with complementary DNAs. A pyrene-modified C3 spacer was incorporated to the DNA strand to facilitate the formation of a RNA bulge loop in the RNA/DNA duplex. In contrast, unmodified DNAs cannot efficiently generate RNA bulge loops, regardless of the DNA sequences. The results showed that the pyrene-stablized RNA bulge loops were efficiently and site-specifically cleaved by trans-(±)-cyclohexane-1,2-diamine