Development of Biocompatible Glass Substrate With Surface Nanotopography

The work was performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University and funded by the Russian Presidential grant MК-4498.2018.

Fluorescence and cytotoxicity of cadmium sulfide quantum dots stabilized on clay nanotubes

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Quantum dots (QD) are widely used for cellular labeling due to enhanced brightness, resistance to photobleaching, and multicolor light emissions. CdS and CdxZn1−xS nanoparticles with sizes of 6–8 nm were synthesized via a ligand assisted technique inside and outside of 50 nm diameter halloysite clay nanotubes (QD were immobilized on the tube’s surface). The halloysite– QD composites were tested by labeling human skin fibroblasts and prostate cancer cells. In human cell cultures, halloysite–QD systems were internalized by living cells, and demonstrated intense and stable fluorescence combined with pronounced nanotube light scattering. The best signal stability was observed for QD that were synthesized externally on the amino-grafted halloysite. The best cell viability was observed for CdxZn1−xS QD immobilized onto the azine-grafted halloysite. The possibility to use QD clay nanotube core-shell nanoarchitectures for the intracellular labeling was demonstrated. A pronounced scattering and fluorescence by halloysite–QD systems allows for their promising usage as markers for biomedical applications

Raising the Level of Future Teachers' Professional Competence in the Conditions of Informational and Educational Environment

This article discusses the guidelines of the school teachers' professional work in the conditions of informational and educational environment (IEE) and competencies required for its realization, which are grouped into clusters: scientific-theoretical, constructive-designing, organizational-methodical and professional-personal. The ways of increasing of levels of development clusters of professional competence are suggested. They are based on the module-rating technology with techniques of cognitive visualization of teaching material with the use of frames, principles of learning "process is more important than the result" and "learning through teaching", video case lessons which are included in the content of IEE, active learning teaching methods and the technology of mixed teaching

Raising the Level of Future Teachers' Professional Competence in the Conditions of Informational and Educational Environment

This article discusses the guidelines of the school teachers' professional work in the conditions of informational and educational environment (IEE) and competencies required for its realization, which are grouped into clusters: scientific-theoretical, constructive-designing, organizational-methodical and professional-personal. The ways of increasing of levels of development clusters of professional competence are suggested. They are based on the module-rating technology with techniques of cognitive visualization of teaching material with the use of frames, principles of learning "process is more important than the result" and "learning through teaching", video case lessons which are included in the content of IEE, active learning teaching methods and the technology of mixed teaching

Automation system of intellectual activity on creating programs in the language of logical programming

The article presents a developed software package that implements the training system that automates intellectual activity in creating programs in the language of logical programming. The choice of semantic networks as a way of the representation of knowledge in the process of modeling subject domains in the learning system during the formulation of educational logical problems is substantiated. The typology of the learning tasks used to master the logical programming language Prolog is grounded, including the following types of tasks: logical, arithmetic, value analysis tasks with subsequent selection or ordering and creation of knowledge bases on the subject domain. In this case, for each type of problem, the possibility of applying analysis of formal concepts to solve them has been investigated and a set of examples has been compiled. The technique of analysis of formal concepts and their grouping depending on the parameters of objects of the domain is developed, the essence of which is to identify an invariant set of descriptors suitable for representing different subject areas, which allows the generation of rules. The technique for generating domain representation rules based on the declaration of predicates with one or more parameters, which are correlated with the peculiarities of formulations of typical learning tasks, is developed. © 2019, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

Fluorescence and cytotoxicity of cadmium sulfide quantum dots stabilized on clay nanotubes

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Quantum dots (QD) are widely used for cellular labeling due to enhanced brightness, resistance to photobleaching, and multicolor light emissions. CdS and CdxZn1−xS nanoparticles with sizes of 6–8 nm were synthesized via a ligand assisted technique inside and outside of 50 nm diameter halloysite clay nanotubes (QD were immobilized on the tube’s surface). The halloysite– QD composites were tested by labeling human skin fibroblasts and prostate cancer cells. In human cell cultures, halloysite–QD systems were internalized by living cells, and demonstrated intense and stable fluorescence combined with pronounced nanotube light scattering. The best signal stability was observed for QD that were synthesized externally on the amino-grafted halloysite. The best cell viability was observed for CdxZn1−xS QD immobilized onto the azine-grafted halloysite. The possibility to use QD clay nanotube core-shell nanoarchitectures for the intracellular labeling was demonstrated. A pronounced scattering and fluorescence by halloysite–QD systems allows for their promising usage as markers for biomedical applications

Unraveling the Molecular Mechanism of Selective Antimicrobial Activity of 2(5<i>H</i>)-Furanone Derivative against <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

Staphylococcus aureus causes various infectious diseases, from skin impetigo to life-threatening bacteremia and sepsis, thus appearing an important target for antimicrobial therapeutics. In turn, the rapid development of antibiotic resistance and biofilm formation makes it extremely robust against treatment. Here, we unravel the molecular mechanism of the antimicrobial activity of the recently unveiled F105 consisting of three pharmacophores: chlorinated 2(5H)-furanone, sulfone, and l-menthol moieties. F105 demonstrates highly selective activity against Gram-positive bacteria and biofilm-embedded S. aureus and exhibits low risk of resistance development. We show explicitly that the fluorescent analogue of F105 rapidly penetrates into Gram-positive bacteria independently of their cell integrity and viability and accumulates there. By contrast, Gram-negative bacteria remain impermeable and, therefore, insusceptible to F105. Apparently, in bacterial cells, F105 induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and nonspecifically interacts with a number of proteins, including ROS-utilizing ones. Using native and 2D PAGE, we confirm that F105 changes the charge of some proteins by either oxidation or direct interaction with them. Therefore, it seems justified to conclude that being simultaneously a ROS inducer and damaging proteins responsible for ROS utilization, F105 impairs the cellular anti-ROS defense representing a prospective ROS-inducing antibacterial agent

Antimicrobial Effects of Sulfonyl Derivative of 2(5H)-Furanone against Planktonic and Biofilm Associated Methicillin-Resistant and -Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus

The gram-positive opportunistic bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common causatives of a variety of diseases including skin and skin structure infection or nosocomial catheter-associated infections. The biofilm formation that is an important virulence factor of this microorganism renders the antibiotic therapy ineffective, because biofilm-embedded bacteria exhibit strongly increased tolerance to antimicrobials. Here, we describe a novel 3-chloro-5(S)-[(1R,2S,5R)-2-isopropyl-5-methylcyclohexyloxy]-4-[4-methylphenylsulfonyl]-2(5H)-furanone (F105), possessing a sulfonyl group and l-menthol moiety. Minimal inhibitory and bactericidal concentration values (MIC and MBC) of F105 were 10 and 40 mg/L, respectively, suggesting F105 biocidal properties. F105 exhibits pronounced activity against biofilm-embedded S. aureus and increases the efficacy of aminoglycosides (amikacin, gentamicin, and kanamycin) and benzalkonium chloride with fractional inhibitory concentration index values of 0.33–0.44 and 0.29, respectively, suggesting an alternative external treatment option, e.g., for wound infections. Moreover, low concentrations (0.5–1.3 mg/L) of F105 reduced the MICs of these antimicrobials twofold. By using confocal laser scanning microscopy and CFU counting, we show explicitly that F105 also restores the antimicrobial activity of gentamicin and ampicillin against S. aureus biofilms by several orders of magnitude. Biofilm structures were not destroyed but sterilized, with embedded cells being almost completely killed at twofold MBC. While F105 is quite toxic (CC50/MBC ratio 0.2), our data suggest that the F105 chemotype might be a promising starting point for the development of complex topical agents for combined anti-staphylococcal biofilm-therapies restoring the efficacy of some antibiotics against difficult to treat S. aureus biofilm