Statistical Mechanics of Horizontal Gene Transfer in Evolutionary Ecology

The biological world, especially its majority microbial component, is strongly interacting and may be dominated by collective effects. In this review, we provide a brief introduction for statistical physicists of the way in which living cells communicate genetically through transferred genes, as well as the ways in which they can reorganize their genomes in response to environmental pressure. We discuss how genome evolution can be thought of as related to the physical phenomenon of annealing, and describe the sense in which genomes can be said to exhibit an analogue of information entropy. As a direct application of these ideas, we analyze the variation with ocean depth of transposons in marine microbial genomes, predicting trends that are consistent with recent observations using metagenomic surveys.Comment: Accepted by Journal of Statistical Physic

Efficiency of dental caries prevention with the use of polymer-based toothpastes modified by the electromagnetic field

The most important problems of modern dentistry cover not only the early diagnosis but also prevention of dental caries, including the one based on the use of various hygienic products and therapeutic agents. Normally, the processes of re- and demineralization in the oral cavity are in a state of dynamic. However, in the presence of cariogenic factors, the balance is shifted towards demineralization. In the event of initial caries, enamel remineralization is possible only to a certain extent, and specifically, for a reversible degree of carious lesion. There was an idea about structural changes in polymer-based consumable dental materials including toothpastes. The purpose of the study is to increase the efficiency of dental caries prevention based on the activation of metabolic processes in dental hard tissues with the use of R.O.C.S. Active Calcium toothpastes (Russian-Swiss “DRC-Group” company) modified by an electromagnetic field. As a result of the experimental part of the study, certain changes in the properties of the R.O.C.S. Active Calcium toothpastes under the electromagnetic field influence including microstructural transformation of the toothpaste (an increase in the size of the polymer matrix particles and a decrease in the distance between them confirmed by the electron microscopy findings), confirmed by the transmission electron microscopy results. The investigations with the help of X-ray microanalysis made it possible to clarify the chemical composition of the surface layer of the tooth enamel, for the first time to reveal in detail the concentration of micro- and macroelements of organic and inorganic nature, to trace the changes occurring under controlled tooth cleaning with the R.O.C.S. Active Calcium toothpaste treated with an electromagnetic field. The obtained results promote the further studies of laws in change of physical and mechanical properties of treatment-and-prophylactic means under the electromagnetic field influence in respect of dental caries preventive maintenance efficiency increase. © 2018, European Association for Predictive, Preventive and Personalised Medicine (EPMA).Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation: 1, 1, 1, 1 Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation: 1, 1, 1, 1The study was approved by the local committee for ethics in research of State Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education BVoronezh N.N. Burdenko State Medical University^ of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Protocol No. 1, February 25, 2016) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The written informed consent was obtained from all the patients. The participants were randomly selected from a pool of patients (18–35 years old) who had sought dental treatment.Ethical approval All the patients were informed about the purposes of the study and consequently have signed their Bconsent of the patient.^ All investigations conformed to the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki and were performed with permission by the responsible Ethics Committee of State Funded Educational Institution of Higher Education BVoronezh N.N. Burdenko State Medical University^ of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Protocol No. 1, February 25, 2016)