Scientific Retrospective of the Farm Irrigation Systems Efficient Use

This article presents the results of a scientific-practical research on Russian agribusiness ameliorative department efficiency. There are the results of the analysis and retrospective of domestic and foreign views on the agriculture effectiveness and, in particular, the irrigated agriculture efficiency, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries’ experience. The methodological approaches to understanding the economic development effectiveness are clarified and an extended classification of efficiency types is proposed. The author’s approach to the farm irrigation systems efficient use concept is presented. The agricultural economic efficiency structure has been determined. The factors that can contribute to increasing the investment attractiveness and efficiency of irrigated agriculture are identified. Theoretical and methodological approaches to assess the irrigated agriculture effectiveness, considering the problems identified in the process of this study, are proposed

Camelid VHHs Fused to Human Fc Fragments Provide Long Term Protection Against Botulinum Neurotoxin A in Mice

The bacterium Clostridium botulinum is the causative agent of botulism—a severe intoxication caused by botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) and characterized by damage to the nervous system. In an effort to develop novel C. botulinum immunotherapeutics, camelid single-domain antibodies (sdAbs, VHHs, or nanobodies) could be used due to their unique structure and characteristics. In this study, VHHs were produced using phage display technology. A total of 15 different monoclonal VHHs were selected based on their comlementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) sequences. Different toxin lethal dose (LD50) challenges with each selected phage clone were conducted in vivo to check their neutralizing potency. We demonstrated that modification of neutralizing VHHs with a human immunoglobulin G (IgG)1 Fc (fragment crystallizable) fragment (fusionbody, VHH-Fc) significantly increased the circulation time in the blood (up to 14 days). At the same time, VHH-Fc showed the protective activity 1000 times higher than monomeric form when challenged with 5 LD50. Moreover, VHH-Fcs remained protective even 14 days after antibody administration. These results indicate that this VHH-Fc could be used as an effective long term antitoxin protection against botulinum type A