Functional human endogenous retroviral LTR transcription start sites are located between the R and U5 regions

AbstractHuman endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) occupy about 5% of human DNA and are thought to be remnants of ancient retroviral infections of human ancestors' germ cells. HERVs can modify expression of host cell genes through their cis-regulatory elements concentrated in their long terminal repeats (LTRs). Although numerous HERV-related RNAs were identified in the human transcriptome, for most of them, it remains unclear whether they are LTR-promoted or read-through products initiated from neighboring genomic promoters. Here, we describe mapping of transcriptional start sites within solitary and proviral LTRs of the HERV-K (HML-2) human-specific subfamily of endogenous retroviruses. Surprisingly, the transcription was initiated predominantly from the very 3′ termini of the LTR R regions. The data presented here may shed light on adaptive coevolution of human endogenous retroviruses with their host cells

Assessment of News Items Objectivity in Mass Media of Countries with Intelligence Systems: the Brexit Case

The role of mass media in society keeps the problem of manipulative influence distinction and the contiguous phenomena, chief among which is objectivity and authenticity of news items, current. The research provides a detailed study of the information broadcasting mechanisms in the media area, defines the problems, impeding an impersonal reproduction and disclosure of information, clarifies the verification methods, and gives their topology. In this research, we examined how the mass media of different countries presented the same event to the public. The publications of four mass media, concerning such an event as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit), have been determined as an object of the analysis. The chosen mass media refer to the countries, which are not the direct participants of that process: Russia, the USA, and Ukraine. D. Brewer’s criteria were used to define the objectivity of the news items. A relative sentiment of the news, which became the objective analysis basis, has been identified using linguistic rate with Eureka Engine intelligence system. The obtained results predominantly confirmed the hypothesis, that the mass media of different countries would represent the process of the UK withdrawal from the EU according to the country’s policy and interpret the facts in their favor. All the four mass media demonstrate the partiality when broadcasting the current situation in the matter of Brexit. The concepts being the semantic kernel elements of mass media publications have emotional coloring. The sentiment analysis of the publications resulted in the conclusion that only one of the four mass media gave a neutral assessment of the Brexit situation. The other three held to the political stance of their edition or government. The research results indicate that the problem of mass media objectivity remains relevant. The correctional impact on public opinion through mass media is extremely high. Therefore, forming the personal attitude toward the situation or event should occur with using several verifications methods and mass media sources at once

Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Training in Organization of Open Education

The modern concept of open education modifies the traditional learning format through advanced information and communications technology. This fact imposes special requirements for all participants in the learning process and makes it necessary to reconsider the tasks and functions of students and teachers. This is relevant, therefore, to find a way of making a gradual transition to the model of open education. Based on an experiment with introductory training, the authors perform an empirical assessment of teachers’ preparedness to organize open education and use open educational resources (OER). The effectiveness of the introductory training of teachers was checked by means of interviewing and testing respondents. The research results showed that there were significant changes in the training criteria: according to the motivational and value-based criterion, virtually all teachers displayed a positive shift in their attitude to organization of open education; in terms of the cognitive criterion, the teachers acquired thorough knowledge of open education tools; according to the operational criterion, the teachers acquired the necessary skills in developing and introducing OER. In the process of observation, we recorded a rise in the number of teachers with a sufficient (by 60.5% compared with the verification stage) and high (by 16.6%) level of preparedness. The introductory training, therefore, is a principal component in the stable system of open education

SMART technologies as the innovative way of development and the answer to challenges of modern time

One of the promising tasks in education lies in reforming it into the knowledge economy, integrating and creating a market oriented towards results of intellectual activity. On the other hand, globalization process requires transition of the educational environment to the format of information, communication and digital space. Primarily these areas are set as the nodal tasks, which directs authors of this article to the comparative analysis of educational system making it possible to identify general and particular, positive or negative consequences and characteristics of digitalization in the higher education system. In accordance with current trends and processes of globalization and informatization, the authors are considering the prospects for interaction and mutual influence of Smart technologies used in building a future educational model in the higher education area. Technological innovations today are called upon not only to qualitatively change methods, forms and technologies in the education content, but rather to train personnel capable of operating in the new information and telecommunication community. Therefore, studying the influence and the capabilities of modern digital technologies that meet needs of society, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, contribute to formation of professional competencies in students, which requires major alterations in the learning process, changes in its state towards flexibility, adaptation, personalization, continuity, multidimensionality and systematicity, becomes of specific relevance for authors of this article

Assessment of News Items Objectivity in Mass Media of Countries with Intelligence Systems: the Brexit Case

TThe role of mass media in society keeps the problem of manipulative influence distinction and the contiguous phenomena, chief among which is objectivity and authenticity of news items, current. The research provides a detailed study of the information broadcasting mechanisms in the media area, defines the problems, impeding an impersonal reproduction and disclosure of information, clarifies the verification methods, and gives their topology. In this research, we examined how the mass media of different countries presented the same event to the public. The publications of four mass media, concerning such an event as the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit), have been determined as an object of the analysis. The chosen mass media refer to the countries, which are not the direct participants of that process: Russia, the USA, and Ukraine. D. Brewer’s criteria were used to define the objectivity of the news items. A relative sentiment of the news, which became the objective analysis basis, has been identified using linguistic rate with Eureka Engine intelligence system. The obtained results predominantly confirmed the hypothesis, that the mass media of different countries would represent the process of the UK withdrawal from the EU according to the country’s policy and interpret the facts in their favor. All the four mass media demonstrate the partiality when broadcasting the current situation in the matter of Brexit. The concepts being the semantic kernel elements of mass media publications have emotional coloring. The sentiment analysis of the publications resulted in the conclusion that only one of the four mass media gave a neutral assessment of the Brexit situatio

Novel strong tissue specific promoter for gene expression in human germ cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tissue specific promoters may be utilized for a variety of applications, including programmed gene expression in cell types, tissues and organs of interest, for developing different cell culture models or for use in gene therapy. We report a novel, tissue-specific promoter that was identified and engineered from the native upstream regulatory region of the human gene <it>NDUFV1 </it>containing an endogenous retroviral sequence.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among seven established human cell lines and five primary cultures, this modified <it>NDUFV1 </it>upstream sequence (mNUS) was active only in human undifferentiated germ-derived cells (lines Tera-1 and EP2102), where it demonstrated high promoter activity (~twice greater than that of the SV40 early promoter, and comparable to the routinely used cytomegaloviral promoter). To investigate the potential applicability of the mNUS promoter for biotechnological needs, a construct carrying a recombinant cytosine deaminase (RCD) suicide gene under the control of mNUS was tested in cell lines of different tissue origin. High cytotoxic effect of RCD with a cell-death rate ~60% was observed only in germ-derived cells (Tera-1), whereas no effect was seen in a somatic, kidney-derived control cell line (HEK293). In further experiments, we tested mNUS-driven expression of a hyperactive <it>Sleeping Beauty </it>transposase (SB100X). The mNUS-SB100X construct mediated stable transgene insertions exclusively in germ-derived cells, thereby providing further evidence of tissue-specificity of the mNUS promoter.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We conclude that mNUS may be used as an efficient promoter for tissue-specific gene expression in human germ-derived cells in many applications. Our data also suggest that the 91 bp-long sequence located exactly upstream <it>NDUFV1 </it>transcriptional start site plays a crucial role in the activity of this gene promoter <it>in vitro </it>in the majority of tested cell types (10/12), and an important role - in the rest two cell lines.</p

Formation and modern state of ecosystem in Tolmachevskoye reservoir (Kamchatka) and the acclimatized there population of kokanee ( <i>Oncorhynchus nerka kennerlyi</i>)

Evolution of local ecosystem in Tolmachevskoye reservoir and changes in its artificial population of kokanee salmon are traced on the data of authors’ observations in 2009-2013 and previous archival and cited data. Decreasing of inorganic phosphorous, nitrogen, and bioavailable iron is detected in the water against a background of water warming. As the result, phytoplankton production and abundance decrease, its species composition becomes simpler, chlorophyll а concentration becomes lower. Zooplankton abundance is stable (1-2 g/m3), as before the reservoir appearance, but species structure of plankton crustaceans is changed, and the copepods Cyclops scutifer , small cladocerans Holopedium gibberum, Bosmina longirostris , and Daphnia ( Daphnia ) cristata group prevail recently. The salmon food spectrum is wide and includes a lot of unedible fractions as wood chips and plant detritus; coefficient of consumption is high - these factors indicate a deficiency of forage resources for fish. The fish condition indicates a chronic malnutrition. The state of female gonads is satisfactory, without any visible pathology, as in 2003-2007, but the oocytes resorption goes concurrently with maturation of gonads that is a sign of hard competition for the food within the kokanee population. The current stable state of the population differs from preceded stages of its development by lower stock add smaller size of fish, the age of spawning is now 4-7 years. Among other freshwater fish, the kokanee salmon is distinguished by high content of ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Artificial populations in Kamchatka could be considered as a resource for both amateur or sport fishing and commercial aquaculture

Wolf Creek Cold Regions Model Set-up, Parameterisation and Modelling Summary

Non-Peer ReviewedWolf Creek Research Basin is in the Upper Yukon River Basin near Whitehorse, Yukon and is representative of headwaters in the northern Coast Mountains. It was established in 1993 to better develop northern hydrological models, and related hydrological process, ecosystem and climate science. Yukon Environment maintains Wolf Creek hydrometeorological and hydrometric stations and conducts regular snow surveys in the basin. A number of hydrological models have been tested on Wolf Creek and all have had great difficulty in simulating the cold regions hydrological processes that dominate its streamflow response to snowmelt and rainfall events. Developments in understanding hydrological processes and their interaction with terrestrial ecosystems and climate at Wolf Creek have lead to the development of the Cold Regions Hydrological Model (CRHM) by a consortium of scientists led by the University of Saskatchewan and Environment Canada. CRHM comprehensively incorporates the blowing snow, intercepted snow, sublimation, melt energetics, infiltration to frozen soils, organic terrain runoff and other cold regions hydrological phenomenon and discretizes the catchment on a hydrological response unit basis for applying water and energy balance calculations. The model is intended for prediction of ungauged basins with parameter selection from physically measurable properties of the river basin or regional transference of calibrated values. In Russia, a long tradition of cold regions hydrological research has led to the development of the Hydrograph model by the State Hydrological Institute, St. Petersburg. The Hydrograph model contains several promising innovations regarding the formation and routing of runoff, discretizes the basin using hydrological response units and addresses some (but not all) cold regions hydrological processes. Hydrograph parameter selection is made from both physically measured properties and those that are calibrated, but the calibrations can be easily regionalized. Test simulations of runoff processes using CRHM and Hydrograph for Wolf Creek Research Basin was undertaken using data archives that had been assembled and cleaned up in a related project by the University of Saskatchewan. The test simulations are a demonstration of model capabilities and a way to gain familiarity with the basin, its characteristics and data and to better compare model features. Data available included a GIS database of basin characteristics (topography and vegetation distribution) and the hydrometeorological and hydrometric observational dataset from Yukon Environment. The sub-surface hydrology presented a formidable unknown in parameterising the model. Hydrograph performed well in initial simulations of the basin hydrograph for multi-year runs. Several issues with observational data quality created substantial uncertainty in evaluating the model runs

Altimetry for the future: Building on 25 years of progress

In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the ‘‘Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion