Internal and external factors of food security policy in Russia

The article substantiates that food security and food independence of Russia is accompanied by new internal and external factors. Counter-measures from Russia include quickened import substitution, modernization of agriculture, and investments for increase of efficiency and competitiveness under the conditions of growing economic, social, political, and natural & climatic turbulence. As to foreign policy, these counter-measures include membership in the WTO, integration into the Eurasian Economic Union, globalization of agricultural sphere, foreign sanctions against or limiting food import in Russia, and exchange of partners in export and import. Policy of food security and independence is conducted under the conditions of high inflation and is rather costly. Vectors of food security of Russia are differently directed, though there is economic growth of agriculture. Food security and food independence become a part of national security and independence. Innovational strategy of modernization of agriculture should be considered to be the highest priority of country’s development. Increase of support for Russian agriculture from state budget, regional budget, federal and regional programs, and subsidies are especially important.peer-reviewe

Optimum Forward Light Scattering by Spherical and Spheroidal Dielectric Nanoparticles with High Refractive Index

High-refractive index dielectric nanoparticles may exhibit strong directional forward light scattering at visible and near-infrared wavelengths due to interference of simultaneously excited electric and magnetic dipole resonances. For a spherical high-index dielectric, the so-called first Kerker's condition can be realized, at which the backward scattering practically vanishes for some combination of refractive index and particle size. However, Kerker's condition for spherical particles is only possible at the tail of the scattering resonances, when the particle scatters light weakly. Here we demonstrate that significantly higher forward scattering can be realized if spheroidal particles are considered instead. For each value of refractive index exists an optimum shape of the particle, which produces minimum backscattering efficiency together with maximum forward scattering. This effect is achieved due to the overlapping of magnetic and electric dipole resonances of the spheroidal particle at the resonance frequency. It permits the design of very efficient, low-loss optical nanoantennas.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure

Nuclear Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein co-regulates T cell factor 1-mediated transcription in T cells

Background: The Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome protein (WASp) family of actin-nucleating factors are present in the cytoplasm and in the nucleus. The role of nuclear WASp for T cell development remains incompletely defined. Methods: We performed WASp chromatin immunoprecipitation and deep sequencing (ChIP-seq) in thymocytes and spleen CD4+ T cells. Results: WASp was enriched at genic and intergenic regions and associated with the transcription start sites of protein-coding genes. Thymocytes and spleen CD4+ T cells showed 15 common WASp-interacting genes, including the gene encoding T cell factor (TCF)12. WASp KO thymocytes had reduced nuclear TCF12 whereas thymocytes expressing constitutively active WASpL272P and WASpI296T had increased nuclear TCF12, suggesting that regulated WASp activity controlled nuclear TCF12. We identify a putative DNA element enriched in WASp ChIP-seq samples identical to a TCF1-binding site and we show that WASp directly interacted with TCF1 in the nucleus. Conclusions: These data place nuclear WASp in proximity with TCF1 and TCF12, essential factors for T cell development. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13073-017-0481-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

An intronic deletion in megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 is associated with hyperproliferation of B cells in triplets with Hodgkin lymphoma

Megakaryoblastic leukemia 1 (MKL1) is a coactivator of serum response factor and together they regulate transcription of actin cytoskeleton genes. MKL1 is associated with hematologic malignancies and immunodeficiency, but its role in B cells is unexplored. Here we examined B cells from monozygotic triplets with an intronic deletion in MKL1, two of whom had been previously treated for Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). To investigate MKL1 and B-cell responses in the pathogenesis of HL, we generated Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines from the triplets and two controls. While cells from the patients with treated HL had a phenotype close to that of the healthy controls, cells from the undiagnosed triplet had increased MKL1 mRNA, increased MKL1 protein, and elevated expression of MKL1-dependent genes. This profile was associated with elevated actin content, increased cell spreading, decreased expression of CD11a integrin molecules, and delayed aggregation. Moreover, cells from the undiagnosed triplet proliferated faster, displayed a higher proportion of cells with hyperploidy, and formed large tumors in vivo. This phenotype was reversible by inhibiting MKL1 activity. Interestingly, cells from the triplet treated for HL in 1985 contained two subpopulations: one with high expression of CD11a that behaved like control cells and the other with low expression of CD11a that formed large tumors in vivo similar to cells from the undiagnosed triplet. This implies that pre-malignant cells had re-emerged a long time after treatment. Together, these data suggest that dysregulated MKL1 activity participates in B-cell transformation and the pathogenesis of HL

The origins and spread of domestic horses from the Western Eurasian steppes

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: All collapsed and paired-end sequence data for samples sequenced in this study are available in compressed fastq format through the European Nucleotide Archive under accession number PRJEB44430, together with rescaled and trimmed bam sequence alignments against both the nuclear and mitochondrial horse reference genomes. Previously published ancient data used in this study are available under accession numbers PRJEB7537, PRJEB10098, PRJEB10854, PRJEB22390 and PRJEB31613, and detailed in Supplementary Table 1. The genomes of ten modern horses, publicly available, were also accessed as indicated in their corresponding original publications57,61,85-87.NOTE: see the published version available via the DOI in this record for the full list of authorsDomestication of horses fundamentally transformed long-range mobility and warfare. However, modern domesticated breeds do not descend from the earliest domestic horse lineage associated with archaeological evidence of bridling, milking and corralling at Botai, Central Asia around 3500 BC. Other longstanding candidate regions for horse domestication, such as Iberia and Anatolia, have also recently been challenged. Thus, the genetic, geographic and temporal origins of modern domestic horses have remained unknown. Here we pinpoint the Western Eurasian steppes, especially the lower Volga-Don region, as the homeland of modern domestic horses. Furthermore, we map the population changes accompanying domestication from 273 ancient horse genomes. This reveals that modern domestic horses ultimately replaced almost all other local populations as they expanded rapidly across Eurasia from about 2000 BC, synchronously with equestrian material culture, including Sintashta spoke-wheeled chariots. We find that equestrianism involved strong selection for critical locomotor and behavioural adaptations at the GSDMC and ZFPM1 genes. Our results reject the commonly held association between horseback riding and the massive expansion of Yamnaya steppe pastoralists into Europe around 3000 BC driving the spread of Indo-European languages. This contrasts with the scenario in Asia where Indo-Iranian languages, chariots and horses spread together, following the early second millennium BC Sintashta culture

Porous Carbons Obtained from Lignite, Anthracite and Graphite in a Bed of Slag and Catalyst Particles

This paper describes the influence of solid fuel nature and conditions of thermal treatment in a flow reactor with a fluidized and fixed bed of slag and catalyst particles on the porosity of obtained carbon products. Lignite, anthracite and natural graphite were used as starting raw materials. Optimal conditions of thermal treatment providing the formation of porous carbons were selected for the each type of a raw material: pyrolysis with high rate of heating (flash pyrolysis) for lignite, the same combined with steam activation for anthracite and chemical modification and flash pyrolysis for natural graphite