Lines in the Sacred Landscape : The Entanglement of Roads, Resources, and Informal Practices in Buriatiia

This article discusses how transportation routes affect local relations with place and resources while being simultaneously shaped by the landscape. It focuses on Okinskii district (Oka) of Buriatiia in southcentral Siberia. The Mondy-Orlik road, which connected the district with the rest of Buriatiia, offered extended opportunities for the development of extractive businesses and tourism in the district. For many residents, the greater accessibility of Oka connotes a threat to local traditions and beliefs. The article examines the interconnectedness of economic, social, and cultural changes that the Mondy-Orlik road brought to Oka. The article demonstrates how the new road became entangled with the lines that previously existed in the landscape, the connections between human and nonhuman actors, and the patterns of informal jade extraction.Peer reviewe

Exosomes are natural carriers of exogenous siRNA to human cells in vitro

© 2013 Shtam et al. Background: Exosomes are nano-sized vesicles of endocytic origin that are involved in cell-to-cell communication including shuttle RNA, mainly mRNA and microRNA. As exosomes naturally carry RNA between cells, these particles might be useful in gene cancer therapy to deliver therapeutic short interfering RNA (siRNA) to the target cells. Despite the promise of RNA interference (RNAi) for use in therapy, several technical obstacles must be overcome. Exogenous siRNA is prone to degradation, has a limited ability to cross cell membranes and may induce an immune response. Naturally occurring RNA carriers, such as exosomes, might provide an untapped source of effective delivery strategies. Results: This study demonstrates that exosomes can deliver siRNA to recipient cells in vitro. The different strategies were used to introduce siRNAs into human exosomes of various origins. The delivery of fluorescently labeled siRNA via exosomes to cells was confirmed using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry. Two different siRNAs against RAD51 and RAD52 were used to transfect into the exosomes for therapeutic delivery into target cells. The exosome-delivered siRNAs were effective at causing post-transcriptional gene silencing in recipient cells. Moreover, the exosome-delivered siRNA against RAD51 was functional and caused the massive reproductive cell death of recipient cancer cells. Conclusions: The results strongly suggest that exosomes effectively delivered the siRNA into the target cells. The therapeutic potential of exosome-mediated siRNA delivery was demonstrated in vitro by the strong knockdown of RAD51, a prospective therapeutic target for cancer cells. The results give an additional evidence of the ability to use human exosomes as vectors in cancer therapy, including RNAi-based gene therapy. © 2013 Shtam et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Russian Federal Program “Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Personnel of Innovative Russia”, contract 14.740.11.0754 and Fellowship from the Administration of Leningrad region to Shtam T

On the sources to study the Holocaust (on the example of Belgorodia)

The objective of the paper is to consider some of the problems with the source base available in Russia in the study of the Holocaust on the example of Belgorodia. The primary sources include published documents, archival materials from the State Archive of the Belgorod Region (GABO), as well as reminiscence

Constructing the Not-So-New Normal : Ambiguity and Familiarity in Governmental Regulations of Intimacies during the Pandemic

This article examines the early evidence for the emergence of new governmental regulations of intimacies during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the authors’ experience of hospital treatment in Russia. It discusses the increasingly used notion of ‘the new normal’ and its potential implications for citizen–state relations. Approaching these emerging regulations from both legal and anthropological perspectives, the authors propose the alternative concept of ‘the not-so-new normal’, which combines discursive ambiguity with familiar patterns of control. The notion of lawscape is used to systematise the bodily control practices inside and outside a Russian hospital and to place them in a wider context. Applying the concept of rupture, the authors claim that ‘the not-so-new normal’ obfuscates the break with pre–COVID-19 reality to reinforce existing hierarchies and inequalities.Peer reviewe

Application of the Spores of the Entomopathogenic Fungus Lecanicillium Muscarium for Control of Adelgids on Conifers in the Peter the Great Botanical Garden

This article discusses the possibility of using the entomopathogenic fungus Lecanicillium muscarium R. Zare & W. Gams (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) against the fir adelgid Adelges pectinatae pectinatae (Cholodkovsky, 1888) and Siberian cedar adelgid Pineus cembrae (Cholodkovsky, 1888) on the Siberian fir Abies sibirica Ledeb., and pines Pinus sibirica Du Tour and Pinus banksiana Lamb. The blastospores of the entomopathogenic fungus L. muscarium strain G-033 VIZR, in the concentration of 5x107 spores/ml, showed a high efficiency on both of the species of adelgid. On the 17th day, the mortality of P. cembrae was 73% on P. sibirica and 61% on P. banksiana, and the mortality of the species A. pectinatae pectinatae on A. sibirica was 74%. The effect of the spore application had a prolonged effect over the next month on all treated trees. Keywords: entomopathogenic fungi, Lecanicillium muscarium, adelgid, conifer

DIFFERENTIATION OF PHYSICAL UPBRINGING OF SENIOR PRESCHOOLERS IN CONDITIONS OF A PRESCHOOL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION: FEATURES OF THE TECHNOLOGY AND MATTERS OF EFFICIENCY

The author presents features of the technology of physical upbringing of senior preschoolers, assuming the creation of homogeneous groups on the basis of consideration of individual children’s differences in indexes of motor skills and motivation in physical education and sports activities. The article includes results of an innovative educational project, proving its effectiveness

Концептуальные принципы профессионального становления психотерапевтов: акмеологический подход

У запропонованій статті в акмеологічній концепції професійного становлення психотерапевтів як ключова використовується ідея есенціальної, сутнісної зрілості. Як принципово значущі орієнтири в організації та оптимізації у даній концепції використовуються етапи формування акме: особистісний ріст і розвиток; професійний ріст і розвиток.The problem of the professional development of psychotherapists should be discussed in the framework of the achmeologic approach which functions as an integrative mechanism in science today. The key notion is an idea of personal maturity of the psychotherapist. The motivational foundation of the achmeologic concept of the professional development of psychotherapists is the deep interpretation of the laws of functioning of the psychotherapeutic being as well as purposeful achievement of the professional skills. The conceptual principles are the diagnostic, methodological, communicative and didactic principles.Проблему профессионального становления психотерапевтов необходимо рассматривать в рамках акмеологического подхода, который выполняет в современной науке интегративную функцию. Ключевой является идея сущностной зрелости психотерапевта. Мотивационную основу акмеологической концепции профессионального становления психотерапевтов составляет глубинная интерпретация законов функционирования психотерапевтического бытия, а также целенаправленное достижение ступени профессионального мастерства. Концептуальными принципами являются: диагностический, методический, коммуникативный, дидактический

Remotely Accessing the Field and Building Trust with Distant Sources: Perspectives from Journalism Practice for Ethnographic Research

Journalists and ethnographic researchers, such as anthropologists, sociologists or media scholars, have comparable ways of establishing initial contacts with people from their fields of inter-est. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and consequential travel restrictions and social distanc-ing, it has become increasingly difficult to access a field. Taking inspiration from social anthropolo-gist Ulf Hannerz (2004, p. 226), who compared journalists and anthropologists as “neighboring groups engaged in a somehow parallel pursuit,” this article explores what researchers may learn from practitioners who conduct research without being on-site. Fed by various practical journalists’ expe-riences, the article aims to investigate how information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digitally mediated methods, such as online search tools and social media, can be used to establish contacts and gain trust remotely. Here, the relevance of these methods for accessing a field in general goes beyond the limitations imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and can be of interest to all those who face difficulties of field access of any kind. Ultimately, this article reflects on corresponding ethical challenges that may arise while conducting research remotely

Categorization and Conceptualization of Space in Descriptive Text

The relevance of the article is due to the importance of studying spatial semantics in the new scientific paradigm. The possibility of studying genre varieties of description (description-landscape, description-interior, description-portrait, description of the subject) using frame analysis is indicated in the article. Considerable attention is paid to the classification of spatial verb description predicates. It is noted that the unflagging interest in verbal units in modern linguistics, with unsteady classification grounds, different numbers of distinguished verb classes and terminological differences in describing the object, indicates the need to compile a classification of verb predicates based on the principles of linguocognitology. The study of the semantics of verb predicates of descriptive text, the identification of integrating and differential seme, contributing to the isolation of various lexical-semantic groups of verb predicates and building the patterns implemented in the description of spatial relationships appears to be significant. The attention is focused on the need to integrate linguistic, physiological and psychological knowledge in the study of the predicative component of a descriptive text. Such integration is embodied in the idea of spatial discrimination through all sensory systems and the division of spatial predicates into units of visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile, taste and undifferentiated perception. It is established that in the case of using predicates of intermodal semantics, spatial significance is realized in terms of “proximity” / “remoteness” of the source objects of the corresponding sensations