Armas arrojadizas de caza de yacimientos del Paleolítico Superior Final de Byki (centro de Europa del Este): Coexistencia de puntas de hueso y puntas de sílex

The article deals with a specific Late Upper Paleolithic Byki site complex, situated in the Seim river basin, in the center of Eastern Europe. Main feature of Byki 1, 2, 3, 7 (cultural layers I and Ia) sites is presence of geometric microliths (triangles) in their flint assemblages. The sites’ radiocarbon uncalibrated dates are in between 18000 and 16 000 BP. Late Upper Paleolithic human visitors at Byki sites have been not living for a long time there. Byki site fauna collections are characterized by a dominance of ungulate and fur game species, while the rest known Late Last Glacial sites in the center of Eastern Europe and in the Seim river basin show a clear prevalence of mammoth. The aim of the present study was to understand a relationship between bone and flint hunting projectile weaponry at Byki sites. Our study showed a singleness of bone points there, although rather numerous and various bone / antler and ivory artifacts are well known in the Byki assemblages. At the same time, serial flint triangles serving, high likely, as arrowheads, have been basic hunting projectile weaponry elements for Byki site human inhabitants.El artículo trata de un complejo específico de yacimientos de Byki del Paleolítico Superior Reciente, situado en la cuenca del río Seim, en el centro de Europa del Este. La característica principal de los yacimientos Byki 1, 2, 3, 7 (horizontes culturales I y Ia) es la presencia de microlitos geométricos (triángulos) en su industria de sílex. Las fechas de radiocarbono sin calibrar se distribuyen entre 18000 y 16000 BP. Losvisitantes humanos del Paleolítico Superior Reciente en los yacimientos de Byki no han estado viviendo allí durante mucho tiempo. Las colecciones de fauna se caracterizan por el predominio de especies de ungulados y animales de caza, mientras que el resto de los yacimientos conocidos del final del último Glacial en el centro de Europa del Este y en la cuenca del río Seim muestran una clara prevalencia del mamut. El objetivo del presente estudio es comprender la relación entre los proyectiles de caza de hueso y de sílex de los yacimientos de Byki. Nuestro estudio muestra una singularidad de las puntas óseas, aunque se conocen bastante numerosos y diversos artefactos de huesos/ asta y marfil de los conjuntos de Byki. Al mismo tiempo, las series de triángulos de sílex que probablemente sirvieron como puntas de flecha, han sido los elementos básicos de los proyectiles de caza para los habitantes de Byki.

Dostignuća u istraživanju na vaviloviji (Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.), samoniklom srodniku gajenih mahunarki

Vavilovia (Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.) belongs to the tribe Fabeae along with peas, vetchlings, vetches and lentils. It prefers high mountain areas in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Russia, Syria and Turkey. A true success in the ex situ conservation has recently been achieved, within the display plot Flora and Vegetation of Armenia in the Yerevan Botanic Garden. The hybridization between vavilovia and other Fabeae was done in the N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry with F1 seeds and F1 plants that did not produce the next generation. The recent molecular research showed that vavilovia belongs to a Lathyrus-Pisum-Vavilovia clade with a clearly distinct status.Vavilovija (Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.) pripada tribusu Fabeae, zajedno sa graškovima, grahorima, grahoricama i sočivima. Vavilovija raste u visokoplaninskim oblastima Jermenije, Azerbejdžana, Gruzije, Iraka, Irana, Libana, Rusije, Sirije i Turske. Pravi uspeh u ex situ konzervaciji postignut je nedavno u okviru izložbenog polja 'Flora i vegetacija Jermenije' u botaničkoj bašti u Jerevanu. Hibridizacija između vavilovije i graška izvršena je u institutu Vavilov, sa F1 semenima i F1 biljkama koje nisu uspele da daju sledeće pokoljenje. Skorašnja molekularna istraživanja pokazala su da vavilovija pripada grupi Lathyrus - Pisum - Vavilovia sa jasno izraženim posebnim statusom

Reports on establishing an ex situ site for ‘beautiful’ vavilovia (Vavilovia formosa) in Armenia

Vavilovia (Vavilovia Fed.) is one of the five genera in tribe Fabeae and consists of only one species, ‘beautiful’ vavilovia (Vavilovia formosa (Stev.) Fed.). The main centre of distribution is the Central and Eastern Caucasus, with a disjunct distribution among high alpine areas in the region, extending as far as West Turkey, Lebanon and Iran. In Armenia, in situ studies on Vavilovia started in the late 1930s. In July and August 2009, three expeditions were conducted to two locations: two to the Ughtasar Mountain and one to the Geghama Mountains. The first expedition to Ughtasar resulted in fresh plant collections and soil analysis for one of the sites. The expedition to Geghama established the existence of Vavilovia in the region of Lake Aknalitch. The second expedition to Ughtasar provided immature fruits and seeds. Collected plant material was transplanted into the Flora and Vegetation of Armenia plot of the Yerevan Botanic Garden established in 1940. Today, along with other plants the plot contains more than 200 species of wild relatives of cultural plants from 130 genera, including indiginous species of tribe Fabeae such as Vavilovia. The transplanted plants will continue to be monitored to see if the plants go on to successfully flower and set seed or whether further sites, possibly at higher altitudes might need to be tested to meet the long term conservation requirements of this iconic legume. These co-ordinated efforts provide a good example of an ex situ conservation strategy for Vavilovia formosa, which, if successful will improve access and utility for the whole legume research community

Selection and Validation of Reference Genes for Quantitative Real-Time PCR in Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) Based on Transcriptome Sequence Data

Quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) is one of the most precise and widely used methods of gene expression analysis. A necessary prerequisite of exact and reliable data is the accurate choice of reference genes. We studied the expression stability of potential reference genes in common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) in order to find the optimal reference for gene expression analysis in this economically important crop. Recently sequenced buckwheat floral transcriptome was used as source of sequence information. Expression stability of eight candidate reference genes was assessed in different plant structures (leaves and inflorescences at two stages of development and fruits). These genes are the orthologs of Arabidopsis genes identified as stable in a genome-wide survey gene of expression stability and a traditionally used housekeeping gene GAPDH. Three software applications – geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper - were used to estimate expression stability and provided congruent results. The orthologs of AT4G33380 (expressed protein of unknown function, Expressed1), AT2G28390 (SAND family protein, SAND) and AT5G46630 (clathrin adapter complex subunit family protein, CACS) are revealed as the most stable. We recommend using the combination of Expressed1, SAND and CACS for the normalization of gene expression data in studies on buckwheat using qRT-PCR. These genes are listed among five the most stably expressed in Arabidopsis that emphasizes utility of the studies on model plants as a framework for other species

Genetic modifiers of CHEK2*1100delC-associated breast cancer risk

Purpose: CHEK2*1100delC is a founder variant in European populations that confers a two-to threefold increased risk of breast cancer (BC). Epidemiologic and family studies have suggested that the risk associated with CHEK2*1100delC is modified by other genetic factors in a multiplicative fashion. We have investigated this empirically using data from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). Methods: Using genotype data from 39,139 (624 1100delC carriers) BC patients and 40,063 (224) healthy controls from 32 BCAC studies, we analyzed the combined risk effects of CHEK2*1100delC and 77 common variants in terms of a polygenic risk score (PRS) and pairwise interaction. Results: The PRS conferred odds ratios (OR) of 1.59 (95% CI: 1.212.09) per standard deviation for BC for CHEK2*1100delC carriers and 1.58 (1.55-1.62) for noncarriers. No evidence of deviation from the multiplicative model was found. The OR for the highest quintile of the PRS was 2.03 (0.86-4.78) for CHEK2*1100delC carriers, placing them in the high risk category according to UK NICE guidelines. The OR for the lowest quintile was 0.52 (0.16-1.74), indicating a lifetime risk close to the population average. Conclusion: Our results confirm the multiplicative nature of risk effects conferred by CHEK2*1100delC and the common susceptibility variants. Furthermore, the PRS could identify carriers at a high lifetime risk for clinical actions.Peer reviewe

Flexible Strain-Sensitive Silicone-CNT Sensor for Human Motion Detection

This article describes the manufacturing technology of biocompatible flexible strain-sensitive sensor based on Ecoflex silicone and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The sensor demonstrates resistive behavior. Structural, electrical, and mechanical characteristics are compared. It is shown that laser radiation significantly reduces the resistance of the material. Through laser radiation, electrically conductive networks of MWCNT are formed in a silicone matrix. The developed sensor demonstrates highly sensitive characteristics: gauge factor at 100% elongation −4.9, gauge factor at 90° bending −0.9%/deg, stretchability up to 725%, tensile strength 0.7 MPa, modulus of elasticity at 100% 46 kPa, and the temperature coefficient of resistance in the range of 30–40 °C is −2 × 10−3. There is a linear sensor response (with 1 ms response time) with a low hysteresis of ≤3%. An electronic unit for reading and processing sensor signals based on the ATXMEGA8E5-AU microcontroller has been developed. The unit was set to operate the sensor in the range of electrical resistance 5–150 kOhm. The Bluetooth module made it possible to transfer the received data to a personal computer. Currently, in the field of wearable technologies and health monitoring, a vital need is the development of flexible sensors attached to the human body to track various indicators. By integrating the sensor with the joints of the human hand, effective movement sensing has been demonstrated

The relative expression level of flower development genes.

<p>(a) <i>ap2-14</i> mutant analysis, (b) <i>ag-1</i> mutant analysis, (c) <i>clv3-2</i> mutant analysis. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. Asterisks indicates what values are significant to p<0.05. <i>AP2</i> - <i>APETALA2</i>, <i>AP3</i> - <i>APETALA3</i>, <i>PI</i> - <i>PISTILLATA</i>, <i>AG</i> - <i>AGAMOUS</i>, <i>CLV1</i> - <i>CLAVATA1</i>, <i>CLV2</i> - <i>CLAVATA2</i>, <i>WUS</i> – <i>WUCSHEL.</i> Dashed line indicates 1.0 expression level.</p

Flowers of wild type (wt) and of three single mutants of <i>A. thaliana</i>.

<p>Scale bar = 5 mm.</p

Polyhydroxyalkanoate synthesis based on glycerol and implementation of the process under conditions of pilot production

The present study addresses the synthesis and properties of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) of different composition synthesized by Cupriavidus eutrophus B-10646 using glycerol as a carbon substrate. Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [P(3HB)] was effectively synthesized in fed-batch culture in a 30-L fermenter on glycerol of various purification degrees, with 99.5, 99.7, and 82.1% content of the main component. Purified glycerol (99.7%) was used for 150-L pilot scale fermentation. The total biomass and P(3HB) concentration reached 110 and 85.8 g/L, respectively, after 45 h of fed-batch fermentation. An average volumetric productivity of P(3HB) was 1.83 g/(L h). The degree of crystallinity and molecular weight of P(3HB) synthesized on glycerol were lower than and temperature characteristics were the same as those of P(3HB) synthesized on sugars

Efficacy of embedded metribuzin and tribenuron-methyl herbicides in field-grown vegetable crops infested by weeds

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the efficacy of the experimental formulations of the metribuzin (MET) and tribenuron-methyl (TBM) herbicides embedded in the matrix of degradable poly-3-hydroxybutyrate blended with wood flour in field-grown tomato and beet crops infested by weeds. There is a necessity to develop environmentally friendly and effective means to protect plants because of the shortcomings of the free herbicide forms such as the environmentally unsafe spray application of solutions and suspensions of the widespread metribuzin and tribenuron-methyl herbicides, removal from soil during watering events and rains, and transport to natural aquatic environments, where the herbicides accumulate in the trophic chains of biota. Free TBM is also rapidly inactivated in soil and metabolized to nontoxic products in plants. The efficacy of experimental formulations of metribuzin and tribenuron-methyl embedded in the matrix of degradable poly-3-hydroxybutyrate blended with wood flour was tested in field-grown tomato and beet crops infested with weeds. Application of metribuzin resulted in the highest productivity of tomatoes (2.3 kg/m2) and table beet (3.4 kg/m2), improved biometric parameters of tomato fruits and beet roots, and caused reduction in nitrate nitrogen concentrations in them. The mode of herbicide delivery did not affect sugar contents, but application of both metribuzin and tribenuron-methyl induced a 1.7-fold and 1.4-fold, respectively, increase in vitamin C concentrations in tomato fruits and beet roots relative to the vegetables grown on the subplots treated with free herbicides and the intact plants. Embedded herbicides can be used as preemergence herbicides in the field