TEACHING SPEAKING COMMUNICATION IN PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY TO FOREIGN STUDENTS: METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT

Рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с формированием профессиональной компетенции у иностранных студентов неязыковых вузов в процессе их подготовки к будущей профессиональной деятельности. Аргументируется, что разработка и создание специальных учебных пособий во многом облегчат процесс обучения иностранных студентов языку специальности.=The article deals with the questions of development of the foreign students’ professional competence at non-lingual universities in the process of training for the future professional activity. The authors consider that special teaching textbooks will make the process of professional language training easier

The Importance of Creating Habilitation Programs for Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Aim of the study: to analyze the data of studies aimed at studying and substantiating the urgent need to create in Russia comprehensive habilitation programs for people with fetal alcohol syndrome, fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and other mental disorders.Methods. The results of Russian and foreign studies have been analyzed concerning the following problems: observation and diagnosis of people with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders; studying the experience of foreign countries in addressing issues of prevention and overcoming of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders; studying the experience of Russian specialists (obstetricians-gynecologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, correctional teachers, etc.) working with the diagnosis of “Alcohol syndrome in the fetus”; assessing the socio-economic impact of organizing programs for the prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders by comparison with similar indicators in other countries.Results. The presented analysis of the data indicates that there is an urgent need for timely diagnosis of the disease, the search/creation of new drugs, for the treatment of the consequences of alcohol syndrome and the organization of training of specialists in this area. The article shows the importance of providing lifelong medical and social assistance to people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, as well as to their families. The effectiveness of the creation of a system of measures for the prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders throughout the country has been confirmed.Conclusion. The development at the state level and implementation of prevention programs will significantly reduce the birth rate of children diagnosed with “Alcohol syndrome in the fetus” and, thus, reduce the costs of the state and society on overcoming the consequences of FAS/FASD. At the same time, timely and well-organized habilitation of people with FAS/FASD will significantly improve the social situation in society as a whole, as well as reduce the psychological burden on every family faced with this problem

TEACHING SPEAKING COMMUNICATION IN PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY TO FOREIGN STUDENTS: METHODOLOGICAL SUPPORT

Рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с формированием профессиональной компетенции у иностранных студентов неязыковых вузов в процессе их подготовки к будущей профессиональной деятельности. Аргументируется, что разработка и создание специальных учебных пособий во многом облегчат процесс обучения иностранных студентов языку специальности.=The article deals with the questions of development of the foreign students’ professional competence at non-lingual universities in the process of training for the future professional activity. The authors consider that special teaching textbooks will make the process of professional language training easier

Structure–Activity Study, Characterization, and Mechanism of Action of an Antimicrobial Peptoid D2 and Its d- and l-Peptide Analogues

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus pseudintermedius (MRSP) constitutes an emerging health problem for companion animals in veterinary medicine. Therefore, discovery of novel antimicrobial agents for treatment of Staphylococcus-associated canine infections is urgently needed to reduce use of human antibiotics in veterinary medicine. In the present work, we characterized the antimicrobial activity of the peptoid D2 against S. pseudintermedius and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is another common integumentary pathogen in dogs. Furthermore, we performed a structure–activity relationship study of D2, which included 19 peptide/peptoid analogs. Our best compound D2D, an all d-peptide analogue, showed potent minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) against canine S. pseudintermedius (2–4 µg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (4 µg/mL) isolates as well as other selected dog pathogens (2–16 µg/mL). Time–kill assays demonstrated that D2D was able to inhibit MRSP in 30 min at 1× MIC, significantly faster than D2. Our results suggest that at high concentrations D2D is rapidly lysing the bacterial membrane while D2 is inhibiting macromolecular synthesis. We probed the mechanism of action at sub-MIC concentrations of D2, D2D, the l-peptide analog and its retro analog by a macromolecular biosynthesis assay and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our data suggest that at sub-MIC concentrations D2D is membrane inactive and primarily works by cell wall inhibition, while the other compounds mainly act on the bacterial membrane

Membrane‐acting biomimetic peptoids against visceral leishmaniasis

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is among the most neglected tropical diseases in the world. Drug cell permeability is essential for killing the intracellular residing parasites responsible for VL, making cell-permeating peptides a logical choice to address VL. Unfortunately, the limited biological stability of peptides restricts their usage. Sequence-specific oligo-N-substituted glycines (‘peptoids’) are a class of peptide mimics that offers an excellent alternative to peptides in terms of ease of synthesis and good biostability. We tested peptoids against the parasite Leishmania donovani in both forms, that is, intracellular amastigotes and promastigotes. N-alkyl hydrophobic chain addition (lipidation) and bromination of oligopeptoids yielded compounds with good antileishmanial activity against both forms, showing the promise of these antiparasitic peptoids as potential drug candidates to treat VL

Potent antiviral activity against HSV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 by antimicrobial peptoids

Viral infections, such as those caused by Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1) and SARS-CoV-2, affect millions of people each year. However, there are few antiviral drugs that can effectively treat these infections. The standard approach in the development of antiviral drugs involves the identification of a unique viral target, followed by the design of an agent that addresses that target. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) represent a novel source of potential antiviral drugs. AMPs have been shown to inactivate numerous different enveloped viruses through the disruption of their viral envelopes. However, the clinical development of AMPs as antimicrobial therapeutics has been hampered by a number of factors, especially their enzymatically labile structure as peptides. We have examined the antiviral potential of peptoid mimics of AMPs (sequence-specific N-substituted glycine oligomers). These peptoids have the distinct advantage of being insensitive to proteases, and also exhibit increased bioavailability and stability. Our results demonstrate that several peptoids exhibit potent in vitro antiviral activity against both HSV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 when incubated prior to infection. In other words, they have a direct effect on the viral structure, which appears to render the viral particles non-infective. Visualization by cryo-EM shows viral envelope disruption similar to what has been observed with AMP activity against other viruses. Furthermore, we observed no cytotoxicity against primary cultures of oral epithelial cells. These results suggest a common or biomimetic mechanism, possibly due to the differences between the phospholipid head group makeup of viral envelopes and host cell membranes, thus underscoring the potential of this class of molecules as safe and effective broad-spectrum antiviral agents. We discuss how and why differing molecular features between 10 peptoid candidates may affect both antiviral activity and selectivity

Personalizing the Way of Teaching LSP

Introduction. The problem of effective teaching language for special purposes (LSP) to the students of non-linguistic professions has been discussed for a long time and in full details by academicians both in Russia and foreign countries. As the result of multiple and thorough surveys general problems of the given situation have been revealed, the way out being defined as special training/retraining of LSP teachers. But in language education publications it is hardly possible to find the description of the program aiming at the training of the above mentioned teachers. The aim of the article is to present effective approaches to teaching LSP and offer the developed master program “Methods of teaching LSP” as a means to solve the problems mentioned above. Materials and Methods. The research methods used are a combination of analytical review of studies by Russian and foreign researchers and interpretation of the results obtained by interviewing university teachers specializing in teaching foreign languages to students completing Bachelorʼs or Masterʼs degree programs. The survey was conducted to assess the level of readiness of professional educators to design the structure and content of programs for teaching LSP, and actually conduct classes within the specified language-teaching area, 81 teachers being responders. Results. As a result of the undertaken review of theoretical works and analysis of the conducted survey a master program “Methods of teaching LSP” was designed for training graduates who will then teach English or Russian as a foreign language at industry-specific higher schools. The developed program focuses on instructing future LSP educators to work out a personalized educational route adjusted to the level of foreign language skills of a student and their prospective professional activities. Discussion and Conclusion. The master program developed by the authors as well as the content of the subjects suggested as its integral part are expected to become a productive way of training LSP educators who are supposed to acquire a number of special skills and competences described in the article. Distant learning and e-learning technologies are also engaged in the program to facilitate learners’ more efficient independent activities. The master program is seen as one of the means of modernizing LSP teachers’ professional training which meets the long-term needs of the Russian education system

Use of national and international growth charts for studying height in european children: Development of up-to-date european height-for-age charts

Background: Growth charts based on data collected in different populations and time periods are key tools to assess children's linear growth. We analyzed the impact of geographic factors and the secular trend on height-for-age charts currently used in European populations, developed up-to-date European growth charts, and studied the effect of u

Anti-persister and Anti-biofilm Activity of Self-Assembled Antimicrobial Peptoid Ellipsoidal Micelles

[Image: see text] Although persister cells are the root cause of resistance development and relapse of chronic infections, more attention has been focused on developing antimicrobial agents against resistant bacterial strains than on developing anti-persister agents. Frustratingly, the global preclinical antibacterial pipeline does not include any anti-persister drug. Therefore, the central point of this work is to explore antimicrobial peptidomimetics called peptoids (sequence-specific oligo-N-substituted glycines) as a new class of anti-persister drugs. In this study, we demonstrate that one particular antimicrobial peptoid, the sequence-specific pentamer TM5, is active against planktonic persister cells and sterilizes biofilms formed by both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria. Moreover, we demonstrate the potential of TM5 to inhibit cytokine production induced by lipopolysaccharides from Gram-negative bacteria. We anticipate that this work can pave the way to the development of new anti-persister agents based on antimicrobial peptoids of this class to simultaneously help address the crisis of bacterial resistance and reduce the occurrence of the relapse of chronic infections