The Arctic Crossroads: Environmental Challenges for Russia

The Arctic region – a northern polar region of the Earth occupies an area down from the Arctic Pole and comprises the Arctic Ocean, northern parts around the Northern Pole.[1] It consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean surrounded by permafrost. The Arctic is known for its rich reserves of natural resources – oil, gas minerals, fresh water, fish, the economic significance of which is growing. Since late 19th century the sea route named as a Northeast Passage (now the North Seaway) along the Russian Northern seashore has been used as a transportation route. Being an area where the territorial boundaries of the Arctic States pass, its role in providing national security both through military presence upkeep may not be ignored. At the same time it is a unique ecosystem comprising most extensive continuous wilderness areas, rare reproduction places of animals and northern fragile landscapes. Its continental areas still home indigenous peoples who have managed to preserve traditional and environmentally favorable lifestyles. Due to such unique natural, economic, social, geographical and political features the Arctic region has become now a crossroad for various interests of states, economic activities, peoples and communities. Growing pressures on the ecosystem of the Arctic have noticeable environmental implications with already existing and expected problems of environmental degradation. All this makes both international cooperation and national efforts in environmental protection a vital task. Internationally, several initiatives have been undertaken in this direction[2], however, they do not have yet a high priority on the background of territorial and economic ambitions of states. Many internal interests meet at the Arctic crossroad of Russia. The country has jurisdiction over the largest EEZ as compared to other Arctic states, has well-developed fishing and oil extraction activities and claims to have control over the extended continental shelf. Its military fleet with nuclear weapons is based here, and it exploits ever more actively the North Seaway. Since early 20th century Russia has been developing economics at its continental part of the Arctic, where now such industries as minerals extraction, forest production, ship-building are based. The present policy views further growth of these interests and respectively activities aimed to reach them. This perspective sets important environmental challenges for Russia. For the recent time certain steps to create the adequate legal basis for environmental protection of the Arctic have been undertaken in Russia. In addition to the federal laws, like the Law on the Continental Shelf (1995 with amendments), On the Exclusive Economic Zone (1998), On Internal Sea Waters, Territorial Sea and Adjacent Zone (1998) that implement certain provisions of the Law of the Sea (ratified by the RF in 1997), in 2008 the president Medvedev approved “The Fundamentals of the National Policy of the RF in the Arctic for the Period up to 2020 and Further Perspectives” (Fundamentals), under which conservation of the unique environmental system together with the use of the Arctic as a strategic resource base, use of the North Seaway as a national transportation communication route and protection of the Arctic as a region of peace and international cooperation were declared as national interests of the state. As to environmental protection the document provides for implementing such measures as eliminating of stocked environmental pollution and addressing climate change. Implementing the Fundamentals in respect to environmental protection of the Arctic requires adoption of specific legislation. The law-making activities are now underway. The draft law on eliminating the stocked environmental damage is aimed to address the problem of dealing with pollution that has been stocked in certain regions under past economic activities. Such regions also comprise the continental part of the Russian Arctic and radioactive pollution of sea by defense activities. The draft law On conservation of the marine environment and its protection against oil pollution that is underway is intended to set rules aimed to prevent oil spills and provide for obligations of tankers to eliminate pollution. The discussion of drafts go with disagreements between various interested groups, change in approaches to deal with problems and in fact in putting off adoption of decisions.[3] At the moment general legal rules on environmental protection are applied in respect to Arctic problems. Practical steps to improve the environmental situation and address other interests of the country in the Russian Arctic are provided for in the Federal Programme “Global Ocean” approved by the Governmental Decree in 1998 that has a section “Development and Use of the Arctic”. The programme provides for removing the risks and consequences of environmental pollution, widening of the sea scientific expeditions, improving of the environmental monitoring system for the sake of addressing climate change problems. The activities are to get funding from the budget and other sources. [1] The Arctic. http://ru/wikipedia.org; Kolodkin A.L. and others. Outer Sea. International Legal Regime. Main Problems. Moscow. Status Publishers. 2007. P. 257-258. The southern boundaries of the Arctic Region are counted differently and this is critical for determining the list of the Arctic states and their respective rights. Roughtly there are two approaches. One is to count the Arctic region from the Northern Pole down up to the southern line of tundra - 27 million square km that comprises as Arctic countries Canada, Denmark (via Greenland), Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland. Iceland and the USA, or down to the Arctic Circle comprising states that directly border the Arctic Ocean – (Russia, USA, Canada, Denmark, Norway) – 21 million square km. [2] E.g. cooperation within the Arctic Council (1996), under the Treaty over the Svalbard (Spitsbergen) Archipelago (1920), the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy (1991), Illulissat Declaration (2008). In 2011 Russia and Norway ratified the Treaty on Marine Delimitation and Cooperation in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean [3] Meeting of the Presidium of the State Council on Environmental Security and Elimination of Stocked Environmental Damage. 10 June 2011. http://blog.ecoaudit.ru/2011/06/blog-post.htm

Elastin Barrier Membranes for Guided Tissue Regeneration Technologies

This article discusses the prospects for the use of new elastin barrier membranes manufactured using adapted technologies for the selective isolation of the elastin component from the extracellular xenogenic matrix of the pericardium ligamentous apparatus: (1) by high-temperature extraction under pressure; (2) cyanogen bromide method. A commercial material, Geistlich Bio–Gide® membrane (BG), was used as a control comparison group. It is shown that the materials of group (1) have a high degree of biocompatibility, exceeding the indicators of the control group BG. Based on the results of an study in a model of subcutaneous heterotopic implantation in rats, it was shown that elastin BM has a chemoattractant effect on the mesenchymal recipient cells and, unlike the control, is able to integrate to a high degree into the surrounding recipient tissues. At the same time, the materials of group (1) had a pronounced proangiogenic effect. Thus, it has been shown that elastin BM groups (1) have a medium-term barrier function and are able to induce full-fledged cellular repopulation and local neoangiogenesis, which can be useful in clinical practice, primarily in GTR technologies (with gingival flap augmentation) or when used together with other BM as an angiogenesis inducer to ensure formation of the vascular bed in GBR technologies of bone tissue

Compulsive methamphetamine taking in the presence of punishment is associated with increased oxytocin expression in the nucleus accumbens of rats

Methamphetamine addiction is mimicked in rats that self-administer the drug. However, these self-administration (SA) models do not include adverse consequences that are necessary to reach a diagnosis of addiction in humans. Herein, we measured genome-wide transcriptional consequences of methamphetamine SA and footshocks in the rat brain. We trained rats to self-administer methamphetamine for 20 days. Thereafter, lever-presses for methamphetamine were punished by mild footshocks for 5 days. Response-contingent punishment significantly reduced methamphetamine taking in some rats (shock-sensitive, SS) but not in others (shock-resistant, SR). Rats also underwent extinction test at one day and 30 days after the last shock session. Rats were euthanized one day after the second extinction test and the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and dorsal striatum were collected to measure gene expression with microarray analysis. In the NAc, there were changes in the expression of 13 genes in the SRvsControl and 9 genes in the SRvsSS comparison. In the striatum, there were 9 (6 up, 3 down) affected genes in the SRvsSS comparison. Among the upregulated genes was oxytocin in the NAc and CARTpt in the striatum of SR rats. These observations support a regional role of neuropeptides in the brain after a long withdrawal interval when animals show incubation of methamphetamine craving

How Morphology of the Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Determines the Selection of the Best Clone

The application of patient-specific human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has a great perspective for the development of personalized medicine. More than 10 hiPSCs clones can be obtained from one patient but not all of them are able to undergo directed differentiation with the same efficiency. Beside, some clones are even refractory to certain directions of differentiation. Therefore, the selection of the “best” or “true” hiPSC clone is very important, but this remains a challenge. Currently, this selection is based mostly on the clone’s morphological characteristics. Earlier, using methods of mathematical analysis and deep machine learning, we showed the fundamental possibility for selecting the best clone with about 89% accuracy based on only two to three morphological features. In this chapter, we will expand on how the morphological characteristics of various hiPSCs clones, the so-called “morphological portrait,” are reflected by their proteome. By reviewing previously published data and providing the new results, we will highlight which cytoskeletal proteins are responsible for the establishment of the “good” morphological phenotype. Finally, we will suggest further directions in this research area

Methamphetamine Self-Administration Is Associated with Persistent Biochemical Alterations in Striatal and Cortical Dopaminergic Terminals in the Rat

Methamphetamine (meth) is an illicit psychostimulant that is abused throughout the world. Repeated passive injections of the drug given in a single day or over a few days cause significant and long-term depletion of dopamine and serotonin in the mammalian brain. Because meth self-administration may better mimic some aspects of human drug-taking behaviors, we examined to what extent this pattern of drug treatment might also result in damage to monoaminergic systems in the brain. Rats were allowed to intravenously self-administer meth (yoked control rats received vehicle) 15 hours per day for 8 days before being euthanized at either 24 hours or at 7 and 14 days after cessation of drug taking. Meth self-administration by the rats was associated with a progressive escalation of daily drug intake to 14 mg/kg per day. Animals that self-administered meth exhibited dose-dependent decreases in striatal dopamine levels during the period of observation. In addition, there were significant reductions in the levels of striatal dopamine transporter and tyrosine hydroxylase proteins. There were also significant decreases in the levels of dopamine, dopamine transporter, and tyrosine hydroxylase in the cortex. In contrast, meth self-administration caused only transient decreases in norepinephrine and serotonin levels in the two brain regions, with these values returning to normal at seven days after cessation of drug taking. Importantly, meth self-administration was associated with significant dose-dependent increases in glial fibrillary acidic protein in both striatum and cortex, with these changes being of greater magnitude in the striatum. These results suggest that meth self-administration by rats is associated with long-term biochemical changes that are reminiscent of those observed in post-mortem brain tissues of chronic meth abusers