Variations in characteristics of the barents branch of the Atlantic Water in the Nansen Basin under the influence of atmospheric circulation over the Barents Sea

The thermohaline structure of the Arctic Basin (AB) of the Arctic Ocean (AO) is determined to a great extent by an intermediate water layer existing under ice at a depth varying from 100 to 700–1000 m. The water layer is formed by warm North Atlantic Water (AW), which enters the AB by two ways: through Fram Strait and the Barents Sea (Fig. 1). The AW arriving to the AB via Fram Strait extends further eastward along the continental slope of the Eurasian Arctic region and forms the Fram Branch (FBAW). The Barents Branch of the AW (BBAW) was formed by the North Atlantic Water entering the Barents Sea between the Spitsbergen Archipelago and the Scandinavian Peninsula. Both branches merge in the northern Kara Sea

Criminal Liability for Unlawful Actions in Bankruptcy: the Current State, Problems and Methods of Resolution

Bankruptcy is a legally justified mechanism of a market economy and must comply with modern social realities. Despite the fact that the legal field in this area is well developed, the existing problems in implementing the provisions of the insolvency institution make it vulnerable and subject it to criminalization. The article describes the main problems that the law enforcer could find and ways to solve them in the Russian Federation. The Authors propose to define the presence of signs of bankruptcy as identical to the situation in which the crimes committed under Part 1 and Part 2 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation – “if there are signs of bankruptcy”, that is, apply a literal interpretation, guided by the provisions of Art. 3 of the Bankruptcy Law. The legislator has created conditions restricting the application of Part 3 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since it established that criminal liability can only arise in cases where the functions of the head of an organization are either assigned to an arbitration manager or to the head of the provisional administration of a credit organization. To resolve this problem, we believe that the legislator needs to state Part 3 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as amended, which takes into account the possibility for the law enforcer to involve the guilty person at all stages of the bankruptcy procedure. When assessing major damage, arbitration prejudice should be taken into account in the first place, in order to increase the preventive potential of this article, the Authors propose an exception to the category of “major damage” with the corresponding loss of force, Parts 1,2,4 of Art. 14.12 Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation. Particular attention is paid to the issues of determining the subject composition of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Interpretation of Part 2 of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation allows us to conclude that the subject of this crime can also be a creditor who exhibits dishonest behavior, whose property claims are illegally satisfied to the detriment of other creditors. The article also deals with the legal technique of the offense under of Art. 195 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and a number of novel recommendations are proposed for improving this norm and the norms that bind the institution of bankruptcy, as well as for their application

A comparison of different cryoprotectant solutions and thawing methods for cryo­preservation of embryos of mice and rats

The proper choice of cryoprotectant and thawing method affects cryopreservation efficiency. A freezing-thawing method for sparing embryonic cells was evaluated in experiments with ICR mice. Cleavage-stage embryos of ICR mice, GC rats, and OXYS rats were collected on Day 3 of pregnancy and frozen in plastic straws according to a standard protocol. Permeating (ethylene glycol and glycerol) and nonpermeating (sucrose) cryoprotectants and their combinations were compared during the freezing of ICR mouse embryos. With these mice, two thawing methods were compared: rapid (water bath, 10 s, 37 °С) and slow (40 s, room temperature; 40 s, 30 °С). Embryo viability in mice and rats was evaluated by their in vitro culturing after thawing. Our data on mice indicate that slow thawing is more suitable for sparing the integrity of embryonic cells; moreover, supplementation of the main cryoprotectant (either ethylene glycol or glycerol) with sucrose is beneficial for subsequent in vitro culture, especially in the case of glycerol. This freezing-thawing protocol (with glycerol and sucrose as cryoprotectant agents and slow thawing) was applied to rats of the GC and OXYS strains; the survival rate after cryopreservation was 68–83.3 %, and the rate of in vitro development was 64.7–66.6 %

Psycho-emotional stress, folliculogenesis, and reproductive technologies: clinical and experimental data

Modern life, especially in large cities, exposes people to a high level of noise, high density of population, disrupted sleeping, large amount of excessive and controversial information as well as to other negative factors; all this may cause chronic psycho-emotional stress. The latest publications often use the term “Syndrome of megalopolis”, which means disruption of sleeping, high anxiety, and altered reproductive function. Medical treatment of infertility may also be considered as a stress factor, especially when infertility lasts for years and is aggravated with emotional frustration. Long-lasting distress may worsen health in general and suppress reproductive function, in particular. The review presents the data on the effects of maternal stress on folliculogenesis, especially when assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) are used. Clinical data are presented alongside data from laboratory animal experiments. Different maternal stress models are taken into account in respect of their inf luence on oocyte maturation and embryo development. The interfering of psycho-emotional stress and reproductive function is the focus of the review. In these situations, exogenous hormones compensate for the stress-related disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. When ARTs are implemented, stress-induced disruption of oogenesis is realized not via a decrease in hypothalamic and pituitary hormones, but by other ways, which involve paracrine mechanisms described in this review. Based on the literature analysis, one may conclude that stress negatively affects oocyte maturation in the ovary and suppresses subsequent embryo development. The role of some ovarian paracrine factors, such as BDNF, GDF-9, HB-EGF, TNF-α, and some others has been elucidated

Assessment of propensities to dependent behavior among the young population of the Sverdlovsk region

The article presents a comparative analysis of the results of an anonymous survey of adolescents (15-17 years old) and young people (18-21 years old) about the predisposition to addiction syndrome of different types. Information was obtained on the greatest propensity to addictions in age and sex groups, and risk groups for the development of love, food, alcohol, tobacco, and electronic device addiction were identified.В статье представлен сравнительный анализ результатов анонимного анкетирования подростков (15-17 лет) и молодых людей (18-21 лет) о предрасположенности к синдрому зависимости разных типов. Получена информация о наибольшей склонности зависимостям в возрастно-половых группах, выявлены группы риска по развитию любовной, пищевой, алкогольной, табачной и зависимости от электронных устройств

MOLECULAR MARKING OF SUNFLOWER LINES WITH DIFFERENT ABILITY TO SUPPRESSION OF THE CYTOPLASMIC MALE STERILITY PHENOTYPE

Ninety five lines of sunflower genetic collection differing by their ability to suppress the CMS phenotype were molecularly marked with the use of 7 primer pairs. Using the STS marker orfH522, a sterile (PET1) cytoplasmon was identified in 79 lines, which confirmed indirectly the presence of fertility restoration genes in their genotypes. The majority of these lines also have a complex of molecular markers linked to the Rf1 gene. The HRG01, HRG02 and STS115 markers showed the best diagnostic value in revealing the Rf1 gene in the examined material. The data on allelic variation of the microsatellite loci ORS224, ORS511 and ORS799 were obtained for the first time

Cryopreservation of epididymal semen of domestic cat

Domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) is used as a model species for developing effective methods of wild felids’ semen cryopreservation. The present study represents a comparison of domestic cat semen cryopreservation with two commercially available cryoprotectant agents (CPAs): CaniPlus Freeze (CPF) and SpermFreeze (SF). Semen was collected from the caudal epididymises of adult males and frozen with CPF and SF, correspondingly. The viability of frozen-thawed spermatozoa was evaluated by VitalScreen kit, staining with hematoxylin and eosin was performed for analysis of the spermatozoa morphology; both analyses were combined with the light microscopy. The viability rate of the frozenthawed semen cryopreserved with CPF and SF did not differ: 32.3±4.4 % for CPF and 43.3±4.0 % for SF. Total percentage of morphologically normal spermatozoa after freezing and thawing domestic cat semen was 26.0±2.3 % for CPF and 23.9±1.9 % for SF. In both cases, there were no differences from non-frozen semen, in the latter group the total percentage of spermatozoa with normal morphology was 29.0±4.1 %. The most frequent anomalies were the anomalies of tail, and the rarest anomalies were head defects. The percentages of spermatozoa with anomalies of the head, mid piece, tail and combined did not differ in these three groups. Taken together these results suggest that both CPAs are suitable for the purpose of domestic cat semen freezing and cryopreservation, although CPF was designed for Canidae semen cryopreservation and SF was developed for human semen freezing and so far was used exclusively in reproductive medicine. It might be concluded that these two commercially available cryoprotectant media are applicable for the purposes of domestic cat breeds’ semen cryopreservation

Applying reproductive technologies and genome resource banking to laboratory animals

The Genome Resource Bank (GRB) is a repository of frozen biological material, including semen and embryos. Cryo­banking is used in combination with modern reproductive technologies such as rederivation, in vitro culture and embryo transfer. Thirteen mouse and rat strains have been re-derived and 32 are kept frozen in the cryostorage at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk. Some other laboratory animal species have been cryopreserved as well. Embryos of two hamster species (Djungarian and Campbell’s) in the genus Phodopus were cryopreserved and the viability of thawed embryos was proved by their successful development in vitro and in vivo (by transfer to a recipient). A positive effect of the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was demonstrated with both these Phodopus species. Furthermore, semen of Djungarian (Phodopus sungorus) and Campbell’s (Phodopus campbelli) hamsters, domestic cat (Felis catus), amur cat (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus) and bobcat (Lynx rufus) was frozen and cryopreserved. Double staining by SYBR Green/PI and subsequent confocal microscopy demonstrated that more than 40 % of amur cat semen retained viability after cryopreservation. This is the world’s first reported successful freezing of semen of this wild felid (Prionailurus bengalensis euptilurus). This article reviews the results and discusses prospects of using reproductive technologies for conservation of laboratory species