Influence of chemical pollutants on stability of forest soil microbiocenoses (natural model experiments)

The influence of different concentrations (10, 30, 50, 100, 150, 300) of the maximum permissible concentrations of fluoride and sulfide pollutants (Na₂SO₄, NaF and Na₂SO₃ + NaF) on highly buffered soils of larch forest of Pogorelskii pine wood in Krasnoyarsk forest-steppe was studied. As a result of the influence of treatment with high concentrations of fluoride and sulfide compounds, the intensity of respiration of microorganisms and values of the microbe metabolic coefficient increased, and the biomass of microorganisms and enzymatic activity decreased compared to the control by 1.3–2.7 times. By the end of vegetation, the ecophysiological condition of microbiocenoses of the studied experimental plots had stabilized.     

Europium complexes of 1,10-phenanthrolines: Their inclusion in liposomes and cytotoxicity

Cytotoxic effect of a series of 1,10-phenanthroline coordination complexes with europium tris-β-diketonate (EuCs) against HBL-100 human breast carcinoma cells was determined. Cytotoxicity of liposomal formulation of V12, the most active EuC, was also studied. In vivo testing of this formulation on a started ASF-LL lethal murine model of T-cell leukemic lymphoma showed that the inclusion of V12 in liposomes did not result in enhancement of its antitumor activity in a local mode of administration.     

Bacterial expression of the water-soluble domain of lynx1, an endogenous neuromodulator of human nicotinic receptors

The membrane-associated protein Lynx1 is expressed in the human central nervous system and plays an important role in the regulation of the activity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. In the present study, ws-Lynx1 encoding the water-soluble domain of human Lynx1 was cloned and studied by heterological expression in E. coli. In milligram quantities, the ws-Lynx1 protein could only be obtained in cytoplasmic inclusion bodies of bacterial cells. To optimize the yield of ws-Lynx1 recombinant protein, a system was developed that allowed retrieving functionally active ws-Lynx1 from the inclusion bodies. After renaturation, the protein was characterized by mass spectrometry and by circular dichroism spectroscopy. ws-Lynx1 was shown to inhibit the binding of [¹²⁵I]-α-bungarotoxin to membranes from the electric organ of the Torpedo californica ray containing muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (α1₂βγδ) in a competitive manner.     

Crystalline islands of semiconductor films

Silicon carbide (SiC) nucleation in the form of powder in a discharge plasma and the formation of thin film islands on a Si(100) substrate in the course of gas-phase epitaxy are simulated numerically. Models of plasma-like media and nonequilibrium processes accompanying phase transitions of the first kind (such as condensation and crystallization) in the initial fast (fluctuation) stage are described. The nonstationary evolution of nuclei size distribution functions is modeled by solving kinetic equations in partial derivatives and stochastic Ito-Stratonovich analog equations. This makes it possible to refine the formation mechanisms of microcrystalline state polytypes and calculate the nucleation rate and the initial roughness of a SiC coating.