Location and Conformation of the LK alpha 14 Peptide in Water/Ethanol Mixtures

It is widely recognized that solvation is one of the major factors determining structure and functionality of proteins and long peptides, however it is a formidable challenge to address it both experimentally and computationally. For this reason, simple peptides are used to study fundamental aspects of solvation. It is well established that alcohols can change the peptide conformation and tuning of the alcohol content in solution can dramatically affect folding and, as a consequence, the function of the peptide. In this work, we focus on the leucine and lysine based LK alpha 14 peptide designed to adopt an alpha-helical conformation at an apolar-polar interface. We investigate LK alpha 14 peptide's bulk and interfacial behavior in water/ethanol mixtures combining a suite of experimental techniques (namely, circular dichroism and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the bulk solution, surface pressure measurements and vibrational sum frequency generation spectroscopy for the air-solution interface) with molecular dynamics simulations. We observe that ethanol highly affects both the peptide location and conformation. At low ethanol content LK alpha 14 lacks a clear secondary structure in bulk and shows a clear preference to reside at the air-solution interface. When the ethanol content in solution increases, the peptide's interfacial affinity is markedly reduced and the peptide approaches a stable alpha-helical conformation in bulk facilitated by the amphiphilic nature of the ethanol molecules

Media Project «Heirs of Glory-Keepers of Memory» as a Means of Forming the Patriotic Consciousness of the Youth of Izhevsk

В статье анализируется опыт реализации медиапроекта студентов, обучающихся по направлению подготовки «Организация работы с молодежью» института социальных коммуникаций Удмуртского государственного университета, нацеленного на развитие патриотизма молодежи (школьников, студентов) г. Ижевска.The article analyzes the experience of implementing the media project of students of the training direction «Organization of work with youth» of the Institute of Social Communications of the Udmurt State University, aimed at developing the patriotism of young people (schoolchildren, students) in Izhevsk

VISION OF THE FUTURE OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CLUBS ON THE UNIVERSITY PLATFORM: THE RESULTS OF FORESIGHT SESSION

Introduction: the paper presents the results of the study in the form of foresight session by correspondence. The purpose was to develop a road map to enhance the functioning of practice-oriented scientific and technical clubs for creative development of students and pupils (POSTC) in the universities. The relevance of POSTC as objects of study indicated in the key programme documents at the Federal level. Materials and Methods: the methodological base of the study was Rapid Foresight technique allowing to reduce the resources of the foresight in case of its sufficiently high effectiveness. The foresight logic was formulated taking into account the multidimensional activities of POSTC. It included the following key com¬ponents: resources, activity and result. The “resources” group includes personnel, equipment and software, financing. The “activities” group describes some of the key aspects such as creation, training and motivation. Results: the analysis of the respondents’ answers to the questions of complex questionnaire and existing roadmaps on similar issues was made in terms of study. On the base of this analysis the time cards were created, and then the final roadmap of POSTC efficiency for the period 2017–2020 was created. The basis of the road map were the actions identified during the study as the factors of changing of the system of POSTC in universities. The key initiators and executors of the roadmap activities must be separate POSTC leaders, universities, federal executive authorities via Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation and other interested structures. Discussion and Conclusions: the development of scientific and technical creativity of youth in a fundamentally new format is a topical problem of modern universities. It requires the purposeful administration and understanding of the development prospects by the management of the universities. Intensification of the universities activities on the creation of such structures and their further operation relying on materials prepared during foresight session can provide the optimal trajectory of the development with contribution to the transformation of engineering education system in Russia

In situ surface film evolution during Mg aqueous corrosion in presence of selected carboxylates

Mechanisms of inhibition of Mg aqueous corrosion in presence of chloride by sodium salicylate (Sal), 2,5-pyridinedicarboxylate (PDC) and fumarate (Fum) were studied by in situ Raman spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR, GD-OES and hydrogen collection. In situ detected surface films were composed by Mg(OH)2 nano-crystals and included inhibitors. All carboxylates significantly modified Mg(OH)2 growth kinetics as well as pevented chloride incorporation in the film. Vibrational spectra of the surface films demonstrated specific interactions between the carboxylates and the surface: adsorption of Sal and Fum on the oxide/hydroxide, precipitation of coordination polymer by PDC, dissolution of iron inclusions via formation of iron-Sal soluble complexes.publishe

Expression pattern of arenicins—the antimicrobial peptides of polychaete Arenicola marina

Immune responses of invertebrate animals are mediated through innate mechanisms, among which production of antimicrobial peptides play an important role. Although evolutionary Polychaetes represent an interesting group closely related to a putative common ancestor of other coelomates, their immune mechanisms still remain scarcely investigated. Previously our group has identified arenicins - new antimicrobial peptides of the lugworm Arenicola marina, since then these peptides were thoroughly characterized in terms of their structure and inhibitory potential. In the present study we addressed the question of the physiological functions of arenicins in the lugworm body. Using molecular and immunocytochemical methods we demonstrated that arencins are expressed in the wide range of the lugworm tissues - coelomocytes, body wall, extravasal tissue and the gut. The expression of arenicins is constitutive and does not depend on stimulation of various infectious stimuli. Most intensively arenicins are produced by mature coelomocytes where they function as killing agents inside the phagolysosome. In the gut and the body wall epithelia arenicins are released from producing cells via secretion as they are found both inside the epithelial cells and in the contents of the cuticle. Collectively our study showed that arenicins are found in different body compartments responsible for providing a first line of defence against infections, which implies their important role as key components of both epithelial and systemic branches of host defence

Multifaceted contributions : health workers and smallpox eradication in India

Smallpox eradication in South Asia was a result of the efforts of many grades of health-workers. Working from within the confines of international organisations and government structures, the role of the field officials, who were of various nationalities and also drawn from the cities and rural enclaves of the countries in these regions, was crucial to the development and deployment of policies. However, the role of these personnel is often downplayed in official histories and academic histories, which highlight instead the roles played by a handful of senior officials within the World Health Organization and the federal governments in the sub-continent. This article attempts to provide a more rounded assessment of the complex situation in the field. In this regard, an effort is made to underline the great usefulness of the operational flexibility displayed by field officers, wherein lessons learnt in the field were made an integral part of deploying local campaigns; careful engagement with the communities being targeted, as well as the employment of short term workers from amongst them, was an important feature of this work

Features of shear transformation texture in seamless pipes

Microstructure and texture in seamless 0.08C-Cr-Mo-V, 0.25C-Cr-Mo-V-Nb, 0.08-13Cr-3Ni-Mo-V-Nb, and 18Cr-9Ni steel pipes are studied in the as-rolled and heat-treated states using orientation EBSD microscopy. It has been found that all types of microstructure (ferrite, martensite, and bainite) in products, both after hot rolling and after heat treatment, have well-defined axial crystallographic texture, where the direction is predominately perpendicular to the pipe surface. It is demonstrated that texture formation in heat-treated states is inherited due to the following factors important for the rules of orientation selection during the γ→α phase transformation: 1) occurrence of stable orientation of austenite grains resulted from straining; 2) special misorientation (boundaries) of austenite grains where transformation starts; 3) orientation relationships known for phase transformation; 4) thermal stresses in a product, formed during cooling. The latter can be considered as factor determining special texture in seamless steel pipes. © 2018 Author(s)