Biodegradation Potential of SteccherinumOchraceum: Growth on Different Wood Types and Preliminary Evaluation of Enzymatic Activities

White-rot fungi isa source of a great variety of oxidative and hydrolytic enzymes suitable for biotechnological applications, e.g. in pulp and paper, textile and food industries, bioethanol production, degradation of recalcitrant environmental pollutants,and others. Steccherinumochraceum is a xylotrophicwhite-rot basidiomycetethat can be found in variousclimatic zones on different woody substrates (mostly well decayed). For this research, seventeenstrains of S. ochraceumwere collected in different regions of Russia from various wood substrates (aspen, alder, oak, hazel, birch and willow). Phylogeneticanalyseswere performedbasedon the nucleotide sequences of ITS1, ITS2, 5.8S rRNA, 28S rRNA, β-tubulin and tef1.Oxidaseandcellulaseactivitieswereassessedbyplate-tests with ABTS and CMC. Forevaluation of biodegradation potential,solid state fermentation on alder and pine sawdust wasperformed. Weightanddensitylossaswellas the C:Nratioweremeasuredafter 90 days of cultivation.All S. ochraceum strains exhibited high oxidative activity towards ABTS, indicating secretion of oxidative enzymes (i.e. laccases and class II peroxidases). Cellulase activity was medium or low for most strains and in some strains – absent. Allstrainswereabletodegradealderandpinesawdust. There was no correlation between the enzymatic activity, biodegradation potential and geographic origin of S. ochraceum strains. However, S. ochraceum strains isolated from the same wood substrates exhibited similar characteristics in most cases. Strain LE-BIN 3398 was the most effective for degrading both alder and pine sawdust and could be regarded as a promising source of oxidative enzymes for biotechnology. Keywords: basidiomycetes, biodegradation, solid state fermentation, oxidase activity, Steccherinumochraceu

Probiotic Potential and Functional Properties of Lactobacillus Reuteri, Lactobacillus Rhamnosus and Lactobacillus Helveticus: A Comparative Study

This study was conducted to evaluate and comparethe probiotic propertiesofLactobacillus helveticusNK1, Lactobacillus rhamnosusF and Lactobacillus reuteriLR1lactobacilli strains.Changes in pH, cell growth, proteolytic activity, antioxidantactivity, and angiotensin-converting enzyme(ACE)inhibitoryactivity were monitored during fermentation ofreconstituted skim milk (RSM) by pure cultures of lactobacilli.Among the tested strains, L. helveticusNK1 showed the highest proteolytic, ACE inhibitoryand antioxidantactivitiesduring milk fermentation,followed by L. rhamnosus F and L. reuteriLR1.The promising capability of all of the lactobacilli strains to release bioactivepeptides from the milk proteins was demonstrated. Keywords: Lactobacillus, probiotic, milk fermentation, bioactive peptide

N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) Gene Polymorphisms and the Effectiveness of Infertility Treatment in Patients with Peritoneal Endometriosis

Today, infertility has become a global issue. WHO ranks it the fifth among the major diseases of those below 60 years, after alcoholism, depression, injuries and eyesight disorders. Numerous studies conducted on the problems of infertility in endometriosis still do not offer clear answers regarding the pathogenesis and mechanisms of this disease and its influences on fertility. According to the survey results, point mutations of the NAT2 gene (NAT2*5 and NAT2*6) have been identified in 75.6% of the patients with infertility problems and the peritoneal form of endometriosis, that create “slow” allelic variants, which exceed the average index in the population. The peculiarities of the NAT2 gene polymorphisms have been proven to be associated with the effectiveness of the infertility treatment of female patients with peritoneal endometriosis. In the group of non-pregnant patients, the presence of с.341Т>C, c.481C>T, c.590G>A and c.803A>G heterozygous point mutations are 73.2, 73.2, 5.4, and 62.5%, respectively. The significant difference in the comparison of the allelic polymorphism during the various stages of the endometriosis was not identified. At stage III-IV endometriosis the frequency of three and more point substitutions was significantly higher. NAT2 gene polymorphisms can find use as an additional criterion for predicting the effectiveness of the infertility treatment of patients with peritoneal endometriosis

Situational modelling of oil pollution risks monitored by distributed monitoring

The work is studying the distributed system of natural environment monitoring points. The purpose of the study is to solve two main problems of optimization: a) optimization of risks of emergency events; b) optimal cessation of environmental monitoring, which allows to reduce the costs of observation. Monitoring of the environment contaminated with petroleum products is relevant. Traditionally used methods and monitoring itself are expensive and technological complex mechanisms, often requiring satellite data. When studying environmental pollution, it is important to consider situational risks and stochastic irreversible changes in nature. For this purpose, it is necessary to apply the methods and methodology of the system approach, which are used in the article for analysis of complex data structures and entropy of the system. For the informativeness of less long monitoring, it's represented by four main subsystems (capture, operation, selection and decision-making) and evaluated using an information-entropy approach. The work will solve the practical task of monitoring the contaminated environment

The use of argon plasma coagulation in mammoplasty as a prevention of postoperative complications

The frequency of reoperations associated with complications after mammoplasty reaches 15 % during the first year. There are many ways and means for processing the soft tissues of the breast during mammoplasty, helping to reduce the risk of postoperative complications. The purpose of this work was to develop an algorithm for the application of the argon plasma technique for tissue treatment in mammoplasty. Material and methods. The study included 30 females aged 23 to 46 who underwent mammoplasty. The patients were divided into 2 groups of 15 people. In group 1, standard methods of processing soft tissues were used, and in group 2, the argon plasma technique was used in conjunction with the use of Aristo glue. Patients were observed in the early, late and distant postoperative period. Results. In the course of the study, in addition to the excellent coagulation and bactericidal action of argon plasma, the effect of “pulling up” the soft tissues of the mammary gland was found, which, in case of ptosis of I and II degrees, made it possible to use a smaller implant to achieve an optimal aesthetic result. Also, when using the argon plasma technology, no inflammatory processes were observed, the amount of exudative fluid in the drains decreased, the pain syndrome was significantly less pronounced in comparison with patients who underwent the standard method of tissue processing. Conclusions. This study confirms the fact that the use of argon plasma coagulation in the processing of breast tissue has a significant number of advantages compared to standard methods

Spatial-temporal coherence of different scale hydrological processes in the Lena River delta

The Lena River delta is one of the hydrologically entertaining objects. Hundreds channels and thousands lakes as well as thawing ice complex and permafrost active layer dynamic allow to investigate spatial-temporal coherence of different scale hydrological processes. During 15 years Russian-German scientific collaboration on hydrological, hydrochemical and hydrobiological studies have been operated on different water objects for cause-effect relation of large and specific micro processes indication. Transient liquid-frozen water phase change is significant not only for active layer runoff forming but also for hydrochemical and biological specific. Thus, maximum of DOC is in the overlaying soil layer than permafrost border [Bobrova et al., 2013]. It could be used for modeling of runoff forming and biological activity estimation. Measured temperature of lacustrine bottom sediment of one thermokarst lake on Samoylov Island shows maximal volume 3,7 °C on 1,75 cm beneath water-sediment border [Skorospekhova, 2015]. It is also can be interpreted as biological processes activity, for example, organic material destruction with additional heating. It could be observed more detail and can be used for modeling of a lake thermic regime. Hydrobiological specificity shows similarity of species in the channels and lakes, poorness of biodiversity, especially in big channel; only stagnant in summer season Bulkurskaya channel has more zooplankton species in four times than the main river channel [Nigamatzyanova et al., 2015]. Decline of water turbidity from the delta top to channel edges is about 5-8 times [Charkin et al., 2009]. Considerable turbidity increase is formed according to permafrost thawing and can reach 500 g l-1 including high concentration of carbon and biogenic elements. Thermokarst lake degradation [Morgenstern et al., 2011] plays also an important role for permafrost hydrology in the delta. Outflow from an ice complex forms a high local suspended supply in adjacent river branches and influences on biological processes consequently [Dubinenkov et al., 2015]. Underestimated effect of water and sediment discharge increase in the middle part of river branches had been marked [Fedorova et al., 2015]. Head flux of the large Lena River forms taliks under channels with more sophisticated affect in the shoreline zone of the Laptev Sea due to aquifer dynamic and mixing of fresh and salt water. Talik effect on hydrology and sedimentation (and suspended material transformation) in the central part of the delta is currently carried out according to geophysical and hydrogeological methods. First field measurements are planned to be done in April 2016 and results will be presented in the ICOP 2016. The studies have been done with support of RFBR grant 14-05-00787 and 15-35-50949, in the framework of Russian-German projects “ CarboPerm” and “Scientific station “Samoylov Island”. The project for both SPBU and DFG funding had also applied for field and scientific investigation as well. References Bobrova, O.; Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.; Runkle, B. and Potapova, T. Input of Dissolved Organic Carbon for Typical Lakes in Tundra Based on Field Data of the Expedition Lena–2012. In Proceedings of the 19th International Northern Research Basins Symposium and Workshop, Southcentral Alaska, USA – August 11–17, 2013, 2013. Charkin, A.N.; Dudarev, O.V.; Semiletov, I.P.; Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.A.; J., Vonk; Sanchez- Garcia, L.; Gustafsson, ö. and Andersson, P. edimentation in the System of the Delta Lena River - the South Western Part of Buor-Haya Gulf (the Laptev Sea). In The 16th International Symposium on Polar Sciences. Incheon, Korea. 2009, 2009. Dubinenkov, I.; Flerus, R.; Schmitt-Kopplin, P.; Kattner, G. and Koch, B.P. [2015]: Origin-specific molecular signatures of dissolved organic matter in the Lena Delta. Biogeochemistry, 123(1):1–14, doi:10.1007/s10533-014-0049-0. Fedorova, I.; Chetverova, A.; Bolshiyanov, D.; Makarov, A.; Boike, J.; Heim, B.; Morgenstern, A.; Overduin, P. P.; Wegner, C.; Kashina, V.; Eulenburg, A.; Dobrotina, E. and Sidorina, I. [2015]: Lena delta hydrology and geochemistry: long-term hydrological data and recent field observations. Biogeosciences, 12(2):345–363, doi:10.5194/bg-12-345-2015. Morgenstern, A.; Grosse, G.; Günther, F.; Fedorova, I. and Schirrmeister, L. [2011]: Spatial analyses of thermokarst lakes and basins in Yedoma landscapes of the Lena Delta. The Cryosphere, 5(4):849–867, doi:10.5194/tc-5-849-2011. Nigamatzyanova, G.; Frolova, L.; Chetverova, A. and Fedorova, I. Hydrobiological investigation of branches of the Lena River edge zone. In Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, Seriya Estestvennye Nauki. 2015. in Russian. Skorospekhova, T. Report of a spring campaign of the expedition “Lena 2015”. AARI’s library stock, 2015

Distribution of cholinergic nerve terminals in the aged human brain measured with [18F]FEOBV PET and its correlation with histological data

Introduction: [18F]fluoroetoxybenzovesamicol ([18F]FEOBV) is a positron emission topography (PET) tracer for the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT), a protein located predominantly in synaptic vesicles in cholinergic nerve terminals. We aimed to use [18F]FEOBV PET to study the cholinergic topography of the healthy human brain. Materials and methods: [18F]FEOBV PET brain data volumes of healthy elderly humans were normalized to standard space and intensity-normalized to the white matter. Stereotactic atlases of regions of interest were superimposed to describe and quantify tracer distribution. The spatial distribution of [18F]FEOBV PET uptake was compared with histological and gene expression data. Results: Twenty participants of both sexes and a mean age of 73.9 ± 6.0 years, age-range [64; 86], were recruited. Highest tracer binding was present in the striatum, some thalamic nuclei, and the basal forebrain. Intermediate binding was found in most nuclei of the brainstem, thalamus, and hypothalamus; the vermis and flocculonodular lobe; and the hippocampus, amygdala, insula, cingulate, olfactory cortex, and Heschl's gyrus. Lowest binding was present in most areas of the cerebral cortex, and in the cerebellar nuclei and hemispheres. The spatial distribution of tracer correlated with immunohistochemical post-mortem data, as well as with regional expression levels of SLC18A3, the VAChT coding gene. Discussion: Our in vivo findings confirm the regional cholinergic distribution in specific brain structures as described post-mortem. A positive spatial correlation between tracer distribution and regional gene expression levels further corroborates [18F]FEOBV PET as a validated tool for in vivo cholinergic imaging. The study represents an advancement in the continued efforts to delineate the spatial topography of the human cholinergic system in vivo

Methodological genesis of the concept “Soft power” in the system of global regionalism

The concept «power» has a significant status in the system of global regionalism. All concepts of political research originated in different branches of knowledge. Despite the great attention of scientists, the specific definition of this concept and the various approaches of the academic community cause the complexity and inconsistency to study the concept «power» in political science. Geopolitical space in this century is changing and the challenge of the phenomenon is to make an attractive country image. The national idea and mission of it can be concentrated and used by soft power mechanism in practice. «Soft power» has a goal to create motivation for action and make a decision by an object that has a «soft» effect. Therefore, to study indirect impact on the countries’ politics becomes the most burning. This work analyses the methodological genesis of the concept «Soft Power», gives the features of some theories considering the concept «power», including: classical, political, offensive realism, liberalism, democratic peace, the theory of international organizations, etc

Formation and Use of Staff Potential of National Economy Формирование и использование кадрового потенциала национальной экономики

The article presents the author’s version of a definition of the essence of the “staff potential of national economy” notion and improved structural and logical model of formation and use of staff potential of a macro level with an expanded range of factors of external environment.В статье представлена авторская версия определения сущности понятия «кадровый потенциал национальной экономики» и усовершенствованная структурно-логическая модель формирования и использования кадрового потенциала макроуровня с расширенной совокупностью факторов внешней среды

Students’ Awareness of the Local Cultural and Historical Heritage in Post-Communist Regional Centers: Yekaterinburg, Gyumri, Timisoara

The article presents an analysis of students’ awareness of the local cultural and historical heritage in post-communist countries, taking the examples of Yekaterinburg (Russia), Gyumri (Armenia), and Timisoara (Romania). A multidisciplinary methodology was applied, including a sociological survey, visualization of city places, and assessment of the respondents’ capacity to engage with the identified historical and cultural items. The provided data visualizations demonstrated the preferences of young people for certain spaces, and allowed assessment of young people’s awareness of selected instances of historical and cultural heritage. An attempt was made to estimate critically how historical and cultural objects are included in youth consciousness. An attractive image of the city and its positive perception can be used as a basis for engaging youth participation in the development and promotion of the city. Results can be useful for city managers and administrators, to promote better engagement with this age group and its involvement in promoting the city brand and in place production