Experiment K-6-23. Effect of spaceflight on levels and function of immune cells

Two different immunology experiments were performed on samples received from rats flown on Cosmos 1887. In the first experiment, rat bone marrow cells were examined in Moscow for their response to colony stimulating factor-M. In the second experiment, rat spleen and bone marrow cells were stained in Moscow with a variety of antibodies directed against cell surface antigenic markers. These cells were preserved and shipped to the United States where they were subjected to analysis on a flow cytometer. The results of the studies indicate that bone marrow cells from flown rats showed a decreased response to colony stimulating factor than did bone marrow cells from control rats. There was a higher percentage of spleen cells from flown rats staining positively for pan-T-cell, suppressor-T-cell and innate interleukin-2 receptor antigens than from control animals. In addition, a higher percentage of cells that appeared to be part of the myelogenous population of bone marrow cells from flown rats stained positively for surface immunoglobulin than did equivalent cells from control rats

Antibodies to myofibril antigens in cosmonauts after spaceflights

Serum samples obtained from 15 astronauts before and after spaceflights were studied with the use of the indirect immunofluorescent method. In seven astronauts antibodies to different elements of the human heart muscle appeared after flights. Strong and very strong luminescence of the elements of heart muscle tissue was detected in the astronauts after the third space flight. In a study of the sera on sections of bovine heart muscle tissue the reactions of the sera taken before and after flight were found to show no essential differences

The use of SSR-markers in rice breeding for resistance to blast and submergence tolerance

Received: March 16th, 2022 ; Accepted: July 20th, 2022 ; Published: September 6th, 2022 ; Correspondence: [email protected] identification of effective specialized DNA markers providing the clear control of target locus inheritance by the trait of submergence tolerance has been conducted. Among the studied set of microsatellite markers, two the most informative SSR-markers - RM 7481, PrC3 showed high efficiency in detecting intraspecific polymorphism of rice varieties and lines used in the work. With the use of these markers the clear genotype marking the obtained hybrid rice plants by this trait has been conducted and it is has been verified by phenotype evaluation as a result of laboratory trials. The plant samples carrying the target gene in heterozygous and homozygous state has been selected. About 400 backcrossed self-pollinated rice lines with introgressed and pyramided resistance genes Pi-1, Pi-2, Pi-33, Pi-ta, Pi-b to Pyricularia oryzae Cav. were obtained within the frameworks of program to develop genetic rice sources resistant to blast. The conducted testing for resistance to blast and the assessment by economically valuable traits have allowed to select the prospective rice samples. The plant samples of F2 and BC1F1 generations with combination of resistance to blast genes (Pi) and submergence tolerance gene (Sub1A) in homozygous and heterozygous state that is confirmed be the results of analysis of their DNA have been obtained. The obtained hybrid plants are being tested in breeding nurseries for a complex of economically valuable traits. The best plants will be selected and send to State Variety Testing system. Their involving in rice industry will reduce the use of plant protection chemicals against diseases and weeds, thereby increasing the ecology status of the rice industry

Application of remote monitoring and ground-based sensing in pastoralism

The development and implementation of an innovative system applying digital aerospace technologies in pastoralism constitute one of the current trends in agricultural development designed to solve numerous problems associated with soil fertility restoration in grazing pastures. Here, a promising line of research is to explore the feasibility of using satellite systems for an overall nutrient yield assessment per hectare of grazing land. The present article describes a comprehensive approach to the optimization of pastoralism that is based on remote methods for assessing pasture fertility using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and artificial Earth satellites. An analysis of existing methodological approaches reveals that the formalization of prediction processes is complicated by the lack of a theoretical basis for creating appropriate model-algorithmic support. The data on vegetation index dynamics and the nutritional values of forage plants obtained by interpreting imagery from a UAV camera and the multispectral cameras of a satellite service, as well as data from a portable handheld nitrogen sensor, were compared with the actual nutritional values of pasture plants. The study results provide a means to optimize the grouping of grazing animals, taking into account the actual possibility of achieving an increase in live weight. The provided findings indicate the possibility of achieving an additional 11.06% increase in daily live weight gain in young sheep (Jalgin Merino) when keeping them in pasture areas having a vegetation index of at least 0.5. Remote monitoring based on satellite service allows more efficient use of pastures. Study shows a positive relationship between remote sensing NDVI and feed nutritional value. Animal grazing optimization provides an additional 11.06% increase in live weight gain

Lewis acid complexes: synthesis and application in polymerization processes

The published works by the present authors on the synthesis of organoaluminium compounds and complexes there of are summarized. The study of the reactivity of these latter in stereospecific and alternating polymerization made it possible to produce effective catalysts for synthe-sizing superhigh molecular weight polyolefins, alternating copolymers. The detailed investigation of the properties of the organoaluminium complexes with ethers allowed working out new catalytic systems capable of initiating styrene living cationic polymerization. The revealed regularities of living polymerization of styrene allows to realize for the first time the controlled polymerization of industrial C9-fraction, with the obtained results being used for developing technology for production of aromatic hydrocarbon resins from C9-fraction. An industrial process was developed and employed to produce oligopiperylene and aromatic hydrocarbon resins, which are used as film-forming components in paint and varnish compositio

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ МЕТОДІВ МАТЕМАТИЧНОГО МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ ДЛЯ ПІДВИЩЕННЯ ЕФЕКТИВНОСТІ ЕКСТРАКОРПОРАЛЬНОГО ЗАПЛІДНЕННЯ. ПОСТАНОВКА ПРОБЛЕМИ

There were presented the results of patterning a mathematical multifactor model of efficiency of the method of extracorporal fertilization.Представлена классификация методов математического моделирования, используемых для повышения эффективности экстракорпорального оплодотворения. Проанализированы результаты использования подобных моделей.Представлена класифікація методів математичного моделювання, що використовуються для підвищення ефективності екстракорпорального запліднення. Проаналізовані результати застосування подібних моделей

Flexible and fragmentable tandem photosensitive nanocrystal skins

We proposed and demonstrated the first account of large-area, semi-transparent, tandem photosensitive nanocrystal skins (PNSs) constructed on flexible substrates operating on the principle of photogenerated potential buildup, which avoid the need for applying an external bias and circumvent the currentmatching limitation between junctions. We successfully fabricated and operated the tandem PNSs composed of single monolayers of colloidal water-soluble CdTe and CdHgTe nanocrystals (NCs) in adjacent junctions on a Kapton polymer tape. Owing to the usage of a single NC layer in each junction, noise generation was significantly reduced while keeping the resulting PNS films considerably transparent. In each junction, photogenerated excitons are dissociated at the interface of the semi-transparent Al electrode and the NC layer, with holes migrating to the contact electrode and electrons trapped in the NCs. As a result, the tandem PNSs lead to an open-circuit photovoltage buildup equal to the sum of those of the two single junctions, exhibiting a total voltage buildup of 128.4 mV at an excitation intensity of 75.8 μW cm⁻² at 350 nm. Furthermore, we showed that these flexible PNSs could be bent over 3.5 mm radius of curvature and cut out in arbitrary shapes without damaging the operation of individual parts and without introducing any significant loss in the total sensitivity. These findings indicate that the NC skins are promising as building blocks to make low-cost, flexible, large-area UV/visible sensing platforms with highly efficient full-spectrum conversion

Bio-nanohybrids of quantum dots and photoproteins facilitating strong nonradiative energy transfer

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Utilization of light is crucial for the life cycle of many organisms. Also, many organisms can create light by utilizing chemical energy emerged from biochemical reactions. Being the most important structural units of the organisms, proteins play a vital role in the formation of light in the form of bioluminescence. Such photoproteins have been isolated and identified for a long time; the exact mechanism of their bioluminescence is well established. Here we show a biomimetic approach to build a photoprotein based excitonic nanoassembly model system using colloidal quantum dots (QDs) for a new bioluminescent couple to be utilized in biotechnological and photonic applications. We concentrated on the formation mechanism of nanohybrids using a kinetic and thermodynamic approach. Finally we propose a biosensing scheme with an ON/OFF switch using the QD-GFP hybrid. The QD-GFP hybrid system promises strong exciton-exciton coupling between the protein and the quantum dot at a high efficiency level, possessing enhanced capabilities of light harvesting, which may bring new technological opportunities to mimic biophotonic events

Anisotropic Emission from Multilayered Plasmon Resonator Nanocomposites of Isotropic Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We propose and demonstrate a nanocomposite localized surface plasmon resonator embedded into an artificial three-dimensional construction. Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots are assembled between layers of metal nanoparticles to create a highly strong plasmon-exciton interaction in the plasmonic cavity. In such a multilayered plasmonic resonator architecture of isotropic CdTe quantum dots, we observed polarized light emission of 80% in the vertical polarization with an enhancement factor of 4.4, resulting in a steady-state anisotropy value of 0.26 and reaching the highest quantum efficiency level of 30% ever reported for such CdTe quantum dot solids. Our electromagnetic simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental characterization data showing a significant emission enhancement in the vertical polarization, for which their fluorescence decay lifetimes are substantially shortened by consecutive replication of our unit cell architecture design. Such strongly plasmon-exciton coupling nanocomposites hold great promise for future exploitation and development of quantum dot plasmonic biophotonics and quantum dot plasmonic optoelectronics

Epidemiology of osteoporotic fracture in Kazakhstan and development of a country specific FRAX model

Summary Retrospective and prospective population-based survey in a region of the Republic of Kazakhstan determined the incidence of fractures at the hip, proximal humerus and distal forearm. The hip fracture rates were used to create a FRAX® model to enhance fracture risk assessment in Kazakhstan. Objective This paper describes the epidemiology of osteoporotic fractures in the Republic of Kazakhstan that was used to develop a country specific FRAX® tool for fracture prediction. Methods We carried out a retrospective population-based survey in Taldykorgan in the Republic of Kazakhstan representing approximately 1% of the country’s population. Hip, forearm and humerus fractures were identified retrospectively in 2015 and 2016 from hospital registers and the trauma centre. Hip fractures were prospectively identified in 2017 from the same sources and additionally from primary care data. Age- and sex-specific incidence of hip fracture and national mortality rates were incorporated into a FRAX model for Kazakhstan. Fracture probabilities were compared with those from neighbouring countries having FRAX models. Results The difference in hip fracture incidence between the retrospective and prospective survey indicated that approximately 25% of hip fracture cases did not come to hospital attention. The incidence of hip fracture applied nationally suggested that the estimated number of hip fractures nationwide in persons over the age of 50 years for 2015 was 11,690 and is predicted to increase by 140% to 28,000 in 2050. Hip fracture incidence was a good predictor of forearm and humeral fractures in men but not in women. Conclusion The FRAX model should enhance accuracy of determining fracture probability among the Kazakh population and help guide decisions about treatment