The Warsaw Autumn International Music Festival — Overcoming the Boundaries between East and West

In the late 1940s — early 1950s, a huge gap appeared between the development of musical cultures of Western and Eastern Europe, and it was Poland that initiated bridging it. Therefore, the emergence of the Warsaw Autumn Festival of contemporary music, which has become the largest, was not coincidental. The article is devoted to studying this cultural phenomenon, which has a significant scientific novelty, because the Warsaw Autumn has not yet been subjected to a detailed scientific analysis in Russian musicology. According to the organizers of the new festival — young Polish composers Tadeusz Baird and Kazimierz Serocki, — Warsaw was to become a center of contemporary music, no less important than the avant-garde music festivals in Darmstadt, Donaueschingen, Cologne or Milan. However, the purpose of the Warsaw Autumn is more ambitious — to provide a complete aesthetic and stylistic picture of modern music, and not just avant-garde music, as was the case in Western European countries. The repertoire policy of the festival covered several areas: avantgarde music, more traditional music, the classics of the 20th century, and promotion of Polish music. The festival laid claim to being a reliable display of contemporary music in the world, reacted to the changes in global music, and soon became the largest music arena of the 20th century. It was attended by the most prominent composers of the East and West. For the socialist countries, it became a true “window on Europe” and a platform for mastering new techniques of composition. Without the Warsaw Autumn festival and its profound influence on composers of socialist countries, it would be utterly impossible to imagine the development of musical art of the entire region. This article suggests focusing on the early period of the festival, from 1956 (when it was established) to the early 1980s

Innovative quality improvements in hotel services

The paper is devoted to the development of approaches for the improvement of quality of hotel services on innovative basis. It has been established that in the market of hotel services, innovations are being introduced successfully for the purpose of attracting as many customers as possible. All this ensures development of new technologies of constructing hotels, appearance of new market segments satisfying a diverse demand of visitors. It has been proved that to improve the quality of hotel services, it is necessary to develop a strategy and tactics of development of hotel business on innovative basis. It has been determined that introduction of innovations must be realised both at the level of the state and at the level of separate hotels. Further innovative growth will allow improving the quality of hotel services in the world market of hotel real estate. However, this is possible in case of normalization of the economic and political situation in the country and creation of conditions for investment attractiveness in hotel business.peer-reviewe

Why do Sequence Signatures Predict Enzyme Mechanism?:Homology versus Chemistry

We identify, firstly, InterPro sequence signatures representing evolutionary relatedness and, secondly, signatures identifying specific chemical machinery. Thus, we predict the chemical mechanisms of enzyme catalysed reactions from “catalytic” and “non-catalytic” subsets of InterPro signatures. We first scanned our 249 sequences with InterProScan and then used the MACiE database to identify those amino acid residues which are important for catalysis. The sequences were mutated in silico to replace these catalytic residues with glycine, and then again scanned with InterProScan. Those signature matches from the original scan which disappeared on mutation were called “catalytic”. Mechanism was predicted using all signatures, only the 78 “catalytic” signatures, or only the 519 “non-catalytic” signatures. The noncatalytic signatures gave results indistinguishable from those for the whole feature set, with precision of 0.991 and sensitivity of 0.970. The catalytic signatures alone gave less impressive predictivity, with precision and sensitivity of 0.791 and 0.735, respectively. These results show that our successful prediction of enzyme mechanism is mostly by homology rather than by identifying catalytic machinery.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Сравнительный анализ фармакокинетических параметров трансдермальной и инъекционной форм никотинамида

In recent years, oxidative stress, characterized by excess free radicals in the body, has been called the cause of many diseases. There is an active search for drugs with antioxidant properties that are suitable for long-term maintenance therapy. Nicotinamide (NAM), an antioxidant, is used to treat a variety of diseases, usually in oral or injectable form. Given the peculiarities of the drug regimen (dose, prolonged administration), a new dosage form of NAM, a microemulsion-based transdermal patch (TP), containing 20 mg/10 cm2 of NAM, has been proposed.The objective of this work is to compare the pharmacokinetic parameters of intramuscular and transdermal NAM administration in animal experiments for 24 hours.Materials and methods. We used laboratory samples of nicotinamide TP based on a microemulsion-based transdermal delivery emulsion (TDS) with different content of sodium docusate transfer activator. The pharmacokinetics of transdermal and intramuscular injections were studied in male Chinchilla rabbits weighing 3.5–4.0 kg. Plasma NAM levels of the experimental animals were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography using a specially designed method on NUCLEODUR PFP columns (5 μm, 250 × 4.6 mm) using the mobile phase acetonitrile: deionized water. The samples were preliminarily purified by solid-phase extraction using Chromabond C18 Hydra cartridges.Results. When administered intramuscularly, the maximum blood NAM level was 13.3±1 μg/mL; when NAM transdermal forms were applied in the same dosage with different contents of the transfer activator, the levels did not differ significantly – 3.1 and 3.2 μg/mL. It was shown that in transdermal administration of NAM, concentration of the active substance remained at a constant level for ~6 hours. The bioavailability of NAM with transdermal administration was calculated relative to intramuscular administration: 1.43 for TP with 9.8% docusate sodium and 1.84 with 3.3% docusate sodium.Conclusion. NAM has a higher bioavailability when administered transdermally at 20 mg than when administered intramuscularly in the same dose. With transdermal administration, NAM concentration can be maintained at a constant level for a long time, without the jumps that are typical of intramuscular administration.В последние годы окислительный стресс, характеризующийся избыточным содержанием свободных радикалов в организме, называют причиной многих заболеваний. Ведется активный поиск лекарственных средств, обладающих антиоксидантными свойствами и подходящих для длительной поддерживающей терапии. Антиоксидант никотинамид применяют при лечении самых разных заболеваний, как правило, в пероральной или инъекционной форме. Учитывая особенности режима приема препарата (доза, длительный прием), предложена новая лекарственная форма никотинамида – эмульсионная трансдермальная терапевтическая система (ТТС), содержащая 20 мг/10 см2 никотинамида.Целью данной работы является сравнение фармакокинетических параметров внутримышечного и трансдермального введений никотинамида в экспериментах на животных на протяжении 24 ч.Материалы и методы. В работе использовали лабораторные образцы ТТС никотинамида на основе эмульсионной системы чрескожной доставки (СЧД) с различным содержанием активатора переноса докузата натрия. Изучение фармакокинетики при транс дермальном и внутримышечном введениях выполняли на кроликах-самцах породы Шиншилла массой 3,5–4,0 кг. Определение концентрации никотинамида в плазме крови экспериментальных животных проводили методом высокоэффективной жидкостной хроматографии по специально разработанной методике на колонках NUCLEODUR PFP (5 мкм, 250 × 4,6 мм) с использованием подвижной фазы ацетонитрил : вода деионизированная. Предварительно проводили очистку образцов методом твердофазной экстракции с использованием патронов Chromabond С18 Hydra.Результаты. При внутримышечном введении максимальная концентрация никотинамида в крови составила 13,3 ± 1 мкг/мл, а при аппликации трансдермальных форм никотинамида в той же дозировке с разным содержанием активатора переноса достоверно не отличалась и составила 3,1 и 3,2 мкг/мл. Показано, что при трансдермальном введении никотинамида концентрация действующего вещества поддерживалась на постоянном уровне на протяжении ~6 часов. Рассчитана биодоступность никотинамида при трансдермальном введении относительно внутримышечного: 1,43 для ТТС с 9,8% докузата натрия и 1,84 с 3,3% докузата натрия.Заключение. В ходе фармакокинетических исследований показана более высокая биодоступность исследуемого вещества при использовании трансдермальной терапевтической системы никотинамида 20 мг, чем при его внутримышечном введении в той же дозе. Также при трансдермальном введении выявлена возможность поддержания концентрации никотинамида на постоянном уровне длительное время, без скачков, характерных для внутримышечного введения

MicrobesOnline: an integrated portal for comparative and functional genomics

Since 2003, MicrobesOnline (http://www.microbesonline.org) has been providing a community resource for comparative and functional genome analysis. The portal includes over 1000 complete genomes of bacteria, archaea and fungi and thousands of expression microarrays from diverse organisms ranging from model organisms such as Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae to environmental microbes such as Desulfovibrio vulgaris and Shewanella oneidensis. To assist in annotating genes and in reconstructing their evolutionary history, MicrobesOnline includes a comparative genome browser based on phylogenetic trees for every gene family as well as a species tree. To identify co-regulated genes, MicrobesOnline can search for genes based on their expression profile, and provides tools for identifying regulatory motifs and seeing if they are conserved. MicrobesOnline also includes fast phylogenetic profile searches, comparative views of metabolic pathways, operon predictions, a workbench for sequence analysis and integration with RegTransBase and other microbial genome resources. The next update of MicrobesOnline will contain significant new functionality, including comparative analysis of metagenomic sequence data. Programmatic access to the database, along with source code and documentation, is available at http://microbesonline.org/programmers.html.United States. Dept. of Energy (Genomics: GTL program (grant DE-AC02-05CH11231)

К механизму активации восстановительных процессов в печени при использовании общей РНК клеток костного мозга

Objective: to study the cellular mechanisms of activation of regenerative processes in the liver when using total RNA (tRNA) of bone marrow cells (BMCs) based on an extended liver resection (ELR) model. Materials and methods. Male Wistar rats (n = 80) with ELR model (70%) were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (control group) had a single saline injection, while group 2 (experimental group) received a single tRNA injection at a 30 μg/100 g dose of animal weight. The biochemical parameters of liver function and weight were monitored over time. Also monitored were microstructural changes in hepatocytes 48 hours after ELR by examining mitotic activity, caspase-9 expression and morphometric parameters. Results. It was found that in group 2, in comparison to group 1, there was faster normalization of biochemical parameters (by 10–14 days), a higher mitotic index of hepatocytes (23.45‰ versus 5.37‰), and initially sharper decrease and then faster recovery of liver mass (by 10–12 days versus 18–20 days). Both groups showed almost total expression of caspase-9, including in mitotically splitting hepatocytes. Group 1 demonstrated decreased values of morphometric parameters of single and binuclear cells, decreased number of binucleated hepatocytes and increased total density of hepatocytes as compared to the intact liver. Intraperitoneal administration of tRNA increased morphometric parameters of mononuclear hepatocytes, did not affect their number, but increased the area of the nuclei of binuclear hepatocytes as compared to the control group. Conclusion. The proven capability of cell-bone marrow total RNA to simultaneously support apoptosis in liver cells after ELR and induce mitotic activity indicates that tRNA can switch activated apoptosis to cell proliferation at the early phase of the regenerative process. This effect may be due to the presence of regulatory RNA molecules in tRNA, including numerous non-coding RNAs.Цель – на модели обширной резекции печени (ОРП) изучить клеточные механизмы активации восстановительных процессов в печени при использовании общей РНК (оРНК) клеток костного мозга (ККМ). Материалы и методы. Крыс-самцов породы Вистар (n = 80) с моделью ОРП (70%) разделили на 2 группы: группа 1 – контроль с однократным введением физиологического раствора и группа 2 – опытная с однократным введением оРНК в дозе 30 мкг/100 г веса животного. Контролировали в динамике биохимические показатели функции и массу печени, а также микроструктурные изменения гепатоцитов через 48 часов после ОРП, исследуя митотическую активность, экспрессию каспазы 9 и морфометрические показатели. Результаты. Установлено, что в группе 2 по сравнению с группой 1 имеет место: более быстрая нормализация биохимических показателей (к 10–14-м суткам), более высокий митотический индекс гепатоцитов (23,45‰ против 5,37‰), первоначально более резкое снижение, а затем более быстрое восстановление массы печени (к 10–12-м суткам против 18–20-х суток). В группах 1 и 2 выявлена практически тотальная экспрессия каспазы 9, в том числе в митотически делящихся гепатоцитах. В группе 1 выявлено уменьшение значений морфометрических показателей одно- и двухъядерных клеток, уменьшение количества двухъядерных гепатоцитов и увеличение общей плотности гепатоцитов по сравнению с интактной печенью. Внутрибрюшинное введение оРНК приводило к увеличению значений морфометрических показателей одноядерных гепатоцитов, не влияло на их количество, но увеличивало площадь ядер двухъядерных гепатоцитов по сравнению с контролем. Заключение. Доказанное свойство оРНК из ККМ одновременно поддерживать в клетках печени после ОРП процессы апоптоза и индуцировать митотическую активность свидетельствует о том, что оРНК способна на ранней фазе регенерационного процесса переключать активировавшийся апоптоз на пролиферацию клеток. Обнаруженный эффект может быть обусловлен наличием в составе оРНК регуляторных молекул РНК, в том числе многочисленных белок-некодирующих РНК