Atypical reactive center Kunitz-type inhibitor from the sea anemone <i>Heteractis crispa</i>

The primary structure of a new Kunitz-type protease inhibitor InhVJ from the sea anemone Heteractis crispa (Radianthus macrodactylus) was determined by protein sequencing and cDNA cloning. InhVJ amino acid sequence was shown to share high sequence identity (up to 98%) with the other known Kunitz-type sea anemones sequences. It was determined that the P1 Thr at the reactive site resulted in a decrease of the Ki of InhVJ to trypsin and a-chymotrypsin (7.38 × 10-8 M and 9.93 × 10-7 M, respectively). By structure modeling the functional importance of amino acids at the reactive site as well as at the weak contact site were determined. The significant role of Glu45 for the orientation and stabilization of the InhVJ-trypsin complex was elucidated. We can suggest that there has been an adaptive evolution of the P1 residue at the inhibitor reactive site providing specialization or functional diversification of the paralogs. The appearance of a key so-called P1 Thr residue instead of Lys might lead to refinement of inhibitor specificity in the direction of subfamilies of serine proteases. The absence of Kv channel and TRPV1-receptor modulation activity was confirmed by electrophysiological screening tests

Oxygen-dependent metabolism of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with intolerance to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

We investigated the oxygen-dependent metabolism of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PML) in peripheral blood of patients with intolerance to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) with different clinical manifestations with methods stimulated barium sulfate luminol- and lucigenin-dependent chemiluminescence. Revealed the violations of oxidative metabolism PML the blood in patients with asthmatic triad, resulting in a decrease in the total production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and production of superoxide anion radical PML compared with healthy donors. In patients with chronic urticaria, worsening after administration of NSAIDs, significant changes in ROS production relative to such a healthy donors were not identified

Socio-demographic portrait of transsexual patients in Russia

Transsexualism is a distress caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and sex assigned at birth. Theme of  transsexualism has a strong resonance in society today. This phenomenon is significant both for the law system and for the health  care system of the state. There is no statistics information on transgender people in Russian Federation. The author’s goal was to  draw a socio-demographic portrait of patients with an established diagnosis of transsexualism. The following conclusions were  made: the number of MtF and FtM patients searching for medical care is equal; age of the transition is 26.6 years; age of selfidentification in the opposite gender is 10.2 years; most MtF take HRT on their own initative; transsexual persons are distinguished  by a high level of education, large variety of professional activities, a low percentage of registered marriages, and comparable to the  general population onset of sexual life

Professional Self-Realization as a Factor in the Psychological Well-Being of Specialists of Caring Professions

Research Objective: the article discusses the mutual influence of professional self-realization and the psychological well-being of specialists of caring professions. Methodology: correlation and comparative analysis in different professional groups of specialists. The study involved 465 volunteers with work experience of 3 to 40 years: teachers, doctors, medical personnel, psychologists of state and private enterprises. Several standardized self-reports were used to collect data: Ryffâ's Scales of Psychological Well-being, Professional Burnout Questionnaire, Kokun's Professional Self-Fulfilment Questionnaire, Gura's Workplace Satisfaction Self-assessment Survey, Tkalych's Work-Life Balance additional scale. The use of the open questions allowed clarifying some phenomenological manifestations of professional self-realization among specialists of caring professions, as well as to clarifying the external and internal determinants of self-realization. The authors tested the hypotheses about the influence of several factors on the level of psychological well-being: belonging to a certain professional group, the degree of self-realization, as well as age, gender, and length of service. The results of the study present the structure of well-being and features of self-realization in different professional groups. We proved that professional self-realization is a significant factor in the formation of individual components of psychological well-being: self-acceptance and competence. However, in some cases, high scores for professional self-realization may be associated with burnout and the desire to leave the job. The conclusions contain recommendations on organizational agency and direct psychological interventions that ensure the psychological well-being of specialists of caring professions

THE DEGREE OF INHIBITION OF BARIUM SULPHATE INDUCED LUMINOL-DEPENDENT CHEMILUMINESCENCE OF BLOOD UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NON-STEROIDAL ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS, TARTRAZINE DEPENDING ON THE LIMITATIONS OF INTOLERANCE TO THESE AGENTS

We investigated the intensity of barium sulfate stimulated luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (SLCHL) blood after pre-incubation of blood samples with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), food dye tartrazine in healthy donors and patients with intolerance to NSAIDS, tarirezine with different clinical manifestations. In patients with bronchial manifestations of intolerance to NSAIDS, tarirezine degree of suppression of SLCHL blood increases with the age of the intolerance. Only patients with skin manifestations of intolerance to NSAIDS (urticaria/angioedema) the degree of suppression of SLCHL blood degrades with the age of the intolerance of these agents

The possibility of using barium sulfate stimulated luminol-dependent chemiluminescence method for diagnostics of food dye tartrazine intolerance

We investigated the intensity of barium sulfate stimulated luminol-dependent chemiluminescence (SLCL) blood after pre-incubation of blood samples with food dye tartrazine used at different concentrations in healthy donors and patients with asthmatic triad combined with tartrazine intolerance. Significant differences indicators SLCL blood from healthy donors and patients with intolerance to this dye allows us to use chemiluminescence method for the diagnosis of tartrazin intolerance

A Study of the Metabolic Profiles of <i>Penicillium dimorphosporum</i> KMM 4689 Which Led to Its Re-Identification as <i>Penicillium hispanicum</i>

Changes in cultivation conditions, in particular salinity and temperature, affect the production of secondary fungal metabolites. In this work, the extracts of fungus previously described as Penicillium dimorphosporum cultivated in various salinity and temperature conditions were investigated using HPLC UV/MS techniques, and their DPPH radical scavenging and cytotoxicity activities against human prostate cancer PC-3 cells and rat cardiomyocytes H9c2 were tested. In total, 25 compounds, including 13 desoxyisoaustamide-related alkaloids and eight anthraquinones, were identified in the studied extracts and their relative amounts were estimated. The production of known neuroprotective alkaloids 5, 6 and other brevianamide alkaloids was increased in hypersaline and high-temperature conditions, and this may be an adaptation to extreme conditions. On the other hand, hyposalinity stress may induce the synthesis of unidentified antioxidants with low cytotoxicity that could be very interesting for future investigation. The study of secondary metabolites of the strain KMM 4689 showed that although brevianamide-related alkaloids and anthraquinone pigments are widely distributed in various fungi, these metabolites have not been described for P. dimorphosporum and related species. For this reason, the strain KMM 4689 was re-sequenced using the β-tubulin gene and ITS regions as molecular markers and further identified as P. hispanicum

Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Are Novel Targets of APETx-like Toxins from the Sea Anemone <i>Heteractis magnifica</i>

The nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are prototypical ligand-gated ion channels, provide cholinergic signaling, and are modulated by various venom toxins and drugs in addition to neurotransmitters. Here, four APETx-like toxins, including two new toxins, named Hmg 1b-2 Metox and Hmg 1b-5, were isolated from the sea anemone Heteractis magnifica and characterized as novel nAChR ligands and acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC) modulators. All peptides competed with radiolabeled α-bungarotoxin for binding to Torpedo californica muscle-type and human α7 nAChRs. Hmg 1b-2 potentiated acetylcholine-elicited current in human α7 receptors expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Moreover, the multigene family coding APETx-like peptides library from H. magnifica was described and in silico surface electrostatic potentials of novel peptides were analyzed. To explain the 100% identity of some peptide isoforms between H. magnifica and H. crispa, 18S rRNA, COI, and ITS analysis were performed. It has been shown that the sea anemones previously identified by morphology as H. crispa belong to the species H. magnifica