Ionosphere researching by GSO satellite beacon signals in Ku-band

Рассмотрена методика построения приемного тракта устройства для приема служебных сигналов геосинхронных спутников в Ku-диапазоне для экспериментального исследования неоднородностей верхних слоев атмосферы Земли. Приведены возможности использования полученных результатов измерений для изучения процессов распространения радиоволн.This paper describes the design and development of a digital satellite beacon receiver for the different kinds of atmospheric researches. Satellite beacons are frequently available to assist pointing large antennas. Software Defined Radio (SDR) as a terminal device gives possibility to make a cheap tuner for receiving the CW (continuous wave) 3 cm length radio wave which is usually used as the beacon frequency. Some energy equations and formulas help to understand the readers the basic energy performance of the GSO satellite communication. There are practical recommendations how to operate the LNB (low noise block) to achieve the optimal result. The practical circuit has been tested and might be successfully replicated The article gives some ideas for scientific and technical application of the GSO satellite link for the measurement of microwave propagation

Spatial variability of ice drift on the northeastern shelf of Sakhalin

Spatial heterogeneity of the sea ice drift is investigated for the northeastern shelf of Sakhalin around Veninsky and Kirinsky oil fields on the data of speсtroradiometers MODIS mounted on the satellites Terra and Aqua obtained in January-May, 2015. The ice drift is calculated for the time intervals of 105 min and one day. For the former case, its velocity was evaluated as 0.2-0.4 m/s (max 1.0 m/s, registered in 2.5 km from the coast of the Nabil Bay on May 22) that is twice faster than the values for daily intervals. All possible directions of the drift were observed, with the highest frequency of the southern ones. The drift wasn’t spatially uniform by its direction in conditions of weak, unstable winds

Potassium Ions are More Effective than Sodium Ions in Salt Induced Peptide Formation

Prebiotic peptide formation under aqueous conditions in the presence of metal ions is one of the plausible triggers of the emergence of life. The salt-induced peptide formation reaction has been suggested as being prebiotically relevant and was examined for the formation of peptides in NaCl solutions. In previous work we have argued that the first protocell could have emerged in KCl solution. Using HPLC-MS/MS analysis, we found that K(+) is more than an order of magnitude more effective in the L-glutamic acid oligomerization with 1,1'-carbonyldiimidazole in aqueous solutions than the same concentration of Na(+), which is consistent with the diffusion theory calculations. We anticipate that prebiotic peptides could have formed with K(+) as the driving force, not Na(+), as commonly believed

Regime characteristics and patterns of the sea ice drift on the shelf at Magadan in the Okhotsk Sea

The sea ice characteristics and drift patterns are considered for the Okhotsk Sea shelf at Magadan on retrospective data of the ice observations and satellite images. Spatial heterogeneity of the sea ice parameters and its drift is shown. Phases of the sea ice seasonal variation in this area could differ from year to year in 10-20 days on spatial scale of hundreds kilometers and the ice age, form and concentration vary in 10-50 % within the seasonal cycle. The ice drift velocity averaged for 6 or 10 days varied from 1.3 to 12.5 km/day in the winter of 2015; the highest velocity 0.75 m/s was registered on March 12 by comparing two satellite images with time interval of 110 min

Resonant raman scattering in complexes of nc-Si/SiO₂ quantum dots and oligonucleotides

We report on the functionalization of nanocrystalline nc-Si/SiO2 semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) by short d(20G, 20T) oligonucleotides. The obtained complexes have been studied by Raman spectroscopy techniques with high spectral and spatial resolution. A new phenomenon of multiband resonant light scattering on single oligonucleotide molecules has been discovered, and peculiarities of this effect related to the nonradiative transfer of photoexcitation from nc-Si/SiO2 quantum dots to d(20G, 20T) oligonucleotide molecules have been revealed

МАЛЫЕ ИНТЕРФЕРИРУЮЩИЕ РНК – НОВОЕ НАПРАВЛЕНИЕ ПРОТИВОВИРУСНОЙ ТЕРАПИИ РЕСПИРАТОРНО-СИНЦИТИАЛЬНОЙ ВИРУСНОЙ ИНФЕКЦИИ

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of morbidity in infants, young children, and the elderly worldwide. Presently, there are no explicit recommendations for RSV treatment apart from supportive care. Recent progress in studies of the mechanism of RNA interference suggests the formation of a new class of antiviral drugs in the treatment of RSV infection and related respiratory diseases.Респираторно-синцитиальный вирус (РСВ) является ведущей причиной смертности среди новорожденных, детей раннего возраста и пожилых людей во всем мире. Подходы в отношении терапии РСВ-инфекции недостаточно эффективны и базируются на применении симптоматических методов лечения в связи с отсутствием эффективной противовирусной терапии. Современный прогресс в исследованиях механизма РНК-интерференции позволяет говорить о становлении нового класса противовирусных лекарственных средств в терапии РСВ-инфекции

Геномные технологии в пульмонологии: роль микроРНК в развитии бронхиальной астмы и хронической обструктивной болезни легких

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNA molecules that affect gene expression and thus take part in the epigenetic regulation of almost all physiological and pathological processes. About 1,800 human miRNAs have been discovered to date; however, biological functions and protein targets for the majority remain to be unknown. Within the respiratory system, miRNAs contribute to the lung growth and lifelong maintenance of pulmonary homeostasis. Recently, the leading role of miRNAs in pathogenesis of various pulmonary diseases has been found, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung cancer. Due to a significant progress in studying interactions between genes and their products and environmental factors, a great role of epigenetic variability, which is gene expression change not related to DNA damage, but could be inherited consistently, became apparent. There are three levels of epigenetic regulation corresponding to three main mechanisms: genomic (DNA methylation), proteomic (histone modification) and transcriptomic (regulation through RNA, primarily miRNA). Extending our knowledge on a role of miRNAs for the respiratory system could open new therapeutic targets and diagnostic markers for respiratory diseases, particularly asthma and COPD.МикроРНК – это малые некодирующие молекулы РНК, которые влияют на экспрессию генов и таким образом участвуют в эпигенетической регуляции практически всех физиологических и патологических процессов. Примерно 1 800 микроРНК человека на сегодняшний день открыты, однако биологическая функция и белки-мишени для большинства из них остаются неизвестными. В рамках дыхательной системы микроРНК необходимы для развития легких и поддержания легочного гомеостаза на протяжении всей жизни. В последние годы была открыта главнейшая роль микроРНК в патогенезе различных заболеваний, в т. ч. бронхиальной астмы (БА), хронической обструктивной болезни легких (ХОБЛ) и рака легкого. Благодаря значительному прогрессу в изучении взаимодействий между генами и их продуктами с факторами окружающей среды стала очевидной огромная роль эпигенетической изменчивости – изменений экспрессии генов, не связанных с нарушением структуры ДНК, однако способных устойчиво передаваться в ряду поколений. Существуют 3 уровня эпигенетической регуляции и соответственно – 3 ее основных механизма: геномный (метилирование ДНК), протеомный (модификация гистонов) и транскриптомный (регуляция посредством РНК, в первую очередь микроРНК). Успехи в понимании роли микроРНК в дыхательной системе помогут пролить свет на новые перспективы в поиске терапевтических мишеней и диагностических маркеров для заболеваний респираторной системы, в частности БА и ХОБЛ