The use of classical and modern methods in rapeseed (Brassica napus) breeding at VNIIMK

Introduction. Rapeseed is a facultative autogamous plant; its percentage of cross-pollination is 10–50%, so rapeseed breeding engages the line and population breeding methods as well as the development of hybrids and all innovative research approaches.Material and methods. Among the main techniques used for the development of parent material and, eventually, cultivars at the Pustovoit Institute (VNIIMK) is the pedigree method (individual selection from intraspecific and interspecific hybrid populations, combined with inbreeding). Physical and chemical mutagenesis is also employed in rapeseed breeding at VNIIMK. The material with yellow-colored seed coat has been obtained by exposing rapeseed seeds to various doses of gamma rays (50, 100 and 150 kR). Seed treatment with chemical mutagens is primarily aimed at changing the fatty acid composition of oil.Results. Breeding achievements for winter and spring rapeseed, registered by VNIIMK in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation over the past 15 years, are highly productive line cultivars with a seed yield of 4–5 t/ha for winter rapeseed, and 2–3 t/ha for spring rapeseed. Promising experimental interline hybrids, significantly exceeding the reference in seed yield (by 1.61–2.26 t/ha), have been developed. Yellowseeded lines, which exceed the black-seeded reference cv. ‘Tavrion’ in seed yield by 0.08–0.15 t/ha, have been selected. We developed the material with an oleic acid level of 78.9–80.5%

Breeding of winter rapeseed inbred lines for the development of parent forms for hybrids

Introduction. The V.S. Pustovoit All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops (VNIIMK) performs the breeding of interline rapeseed hybrids using the Ogura CMS. The program of interline winter rapeseed hybrid development was aimed at studying the efficiency of self-pollinated line breeding from population cultivars, assessing the impact of inbreeding depression on economically important traits, analyzing the changes in the lines’ traits after their transition to the sterile basis, and obtaining fertility restorer lines with an acceptable level of glucosinolate content in seeds.Materials and methods. Intraspecific hybrids, cultivars developed at the Pustovoit Institute and those of foreign breeding were employed as parent material for the development of self-pollinated lines. Self-pollination of rapeseed plants was performed using spunbond isolators. Over 1000 plants were self-pollinated every year. Generations of self-pollinated lines S1 –S4 were planted on 2.25 m2 plots, and during the growth season their visual screening was undertaken to assess their morphobiological traits. Starting with S5, the lines were evaluated for their yield on 7.5 m2 plots.Results. The inbreeding depression was found to not exceed 3–15% of the seed yield. The transition of the lines to sterile cytoplasm did not have any negative consequences. A series of experimental hybrids were developed, exceeding the reference cultivar ‘Loris’ in seed yield by 23–48%. New hybrid combinations also exceeded the reference in seed yield by 21–54%

Kaon pair production in proton-nucleus collisions at 2.83 GeV kinetic energy

The production of non-phi K+K- pairs by protons of 2.83 GeV kinetic energy on C, Cu, Ag, and Au targets has been investigated using the COSY-ANKE magnetic spectrometer. The K- momentum dependence of the differential cross section has been measured at small angles over the 0.2--0.9 GeV/c range. The comparison of the data with detailed model calculations indicates an attractive K- -nucleus potential of about -60 MeV at normal nuclear matter density at a mean momentum of 0.5 GeV/c. However, this approach has difficulty in reproducing the smallness of the observed cross sections at low K- momenta.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

On micro-structural effects in dielectric mixtures

The paper presents numerical simulations performed on dielectric properties of two-dimensional binary composites on eleven regular space filling tessellations. First, significant contributions of different parameters, which play an important role in the electrical properties of the composite, are introduced both for designing and analyzing material mixtures. Later, influence of structural differences and intrinsic electrical properties of constituents on the composite's over all electrical properties are investigated. The structural differences are resolved by the spectral density representation approach. The numerical technique, without any {\em a-priori} assumptions, for extracting the spectral density function is also presented.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure and 7 tables. It is submitted to IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulatio

Preclinical study of innovative peptides mimicking the tertiary structure of the α-helix B of erythropoietin

The aim of this study was to examine the effectiveness of innovative peptides obtained by addition of polypeptide motifs with antiaggregation activity (Arg-Gly-Asp, Lys-Gly-Asp and Pro-Gly-Pro) to a peptide mimicking the tertiary structure of the α-helix B of erythropoietin pHBSP (Pyr-Glu-Gln-Leu-Glu-Arg-Ala-Leu-Asn-Ser-Ser

The production of K+K- pairs in proton-proton collisions at 2.83 GeV

Differential and total cross sections for the pp -> ppK+K- reaction have been measured at a proton beam energy of 2.83 GeV using the COSY-ANKE magnetic spectrometer. Detailed model descriptions fitted to a variety of one-dimensional distributions permit the separation of the pp -> pp phi cross section from that of non-phi production. The differential spectra show that higher partial waves represent the majority of the pp -> pp phi total cross section at an excess energy of 76 MeV, whose energy dependence would then seem to require some s-wave phi-p enhancement near threshold. The non-phi data can be described in terms of the combined effects of two-body final state interactions using the same effective scattering parameters determined from lower energy data.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

The Straw Tube Trackers of the PANDA Experiment

The PANDA experiment will be built at the FAIR facility at Darmstadt (Germany) to perform accurate tests of the strong interaction through bar pp and bar pA annihilation's studies. To track charged particles, two systems consisting of a set of planar, closed-packed, self-supporting straw tube layers are under construction. The PANDA straw tubes will have also unique characteristics in term of material budget and performance. They consist of very thin mylar-aluminized cathodes which are made self-supporting by means of the operation gas-mixture over-pressure. This solution allows to reduce at maximum the weight of the mechanical support frame and hence the detector material budget. The PANDA straw tube central tracker will not only reconstruct charged particle trajectories, but also will help in low momentum (< 1 GeV) particle identification via dE/dx measurements. This is a quite new approach that PANDA tracking group has first tested with detailed Monte Carlo simulations, and then with experimental tests of detector prototypes. This paper addresses the design issues of the PANDA straw tube trackers and the performance obtained in prototype tests.Comment: 7 pages,16 figure

CONTENTS DIPHTHERIA ANTITOXIC AND ANTIBACTERIAL ANTIBODIES IN THE SERUM OF HEALTHY ADULTS

In the article using the binomial distribution analysis of the intensity of рориlation antitoxic (AT) and antibacterial (AB) of immunity to diphtheria in terms of specific diphtheria antibodies in the sera of healthy adults aged 20 to 51 years and. older, living in Russia and. Italy. The latter, in contrast to Russia, during the epidemic was only a few cases of diphtheria. For the population of people from Italy the optimal parameters of tension antibody immunity (bimodal distribution of the concentrations of AT antibodies) are determined, whereas for the adult population of Russia experienced an abnormally high, overvoltages antibody immunity (lack of bimodal distribution). The level of concentration of antibody isotypes AB M, G, A in both countries match the total synthesis of immunoglobulin isotypes in the ontogeny of these: thus, in the sera of adults aged 20 to 40 years AB antibody IgG prevail. Low concentrations of antitoxin in the blood of most adults living in Italy, recharged high AB IgG in these same serum, and. optimal concentrations of AB IgM and. IgA. This indicates the possibility lifting the mass revaccination of adults, and. creating an individual approach to their boosters. Optimal bimodal distribution of AB antibodies in the population of healthy adults, both in Russia and. in Italy, is an additional protection to the diphtheria antitoxic resistance