A registry for exposure and population health in the Altai region affected by fallout from the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site

A registry of the rural population in the Altai region exposed to fallout from nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site (STS) was established more than four decades after the first Soviet nuclear explosion on August 29, 1949. Information about individuals living in an exposed and a control area was collected using all available local sources, such as kolkhoz documentation, school registries, medical treatment records and interviews with residents. As a result, a database comprising an exposed group of 39 179 individuals from 53 Altai region villages, 6769 external and 3303 internal controls was compiled. For several settlements, effective dose estimates reached the level of 1.5 Sv, while the average effective dose estimate in the exposed group was 340 mSv. Dosimetric data, vital status information and health records gathered at rayon and village medical facilities are held in the registry. Cause-of-death information for deceased residents is obtained from death registration forms archived at the Altai region vital statistics office. At present, a follow-up of approximately 40% of the population exposed in 1949 has been done. More will be added by searching for migrants to the larger towns of the Altai region, i.e. Barnaul, Rubtsovsk and Biisk. In order to assess the influence of radiation exposure, analytical studies with a case-control design for stomach and lung cancer are currently being prepared. The number of known cases is sufficient to detect an odds ratio of 1.5 at the 95% confidence level. Epidemiological studies in populations affected by fallout from STS may be equally important to the atomic bomb survivors’ study for the direct quantification of radiation effects. The range of exposure rates experienced will extend the acute high-dose-rate findings from Hiroshima/Nagasaki towards acute and protracted lower exposures, which are more relevant for radiation protection issues. Received: 3 March 1999 / Accepted in revised form: 8 June 1999     

Cowpea mosaic virus chimeric particles bearing the ectodomain of matrix protein 2 (M2E) of the influenza a virus: Production and characterization

The epitope presentation system for the ectodomain of the M2 protein (M2e) of the influenza A virus was constructed on the basis of the cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) for expression in the plant Vigna unguiculata. CPMV is widely used as a vector to produce immunogenic chimeric virus particles (CVPs) bearing epitopes of various infectious human and animal pathogens. To produce chimeric CPMV particles in plants, two binary vectors were constructed to bear a modified gene coding for the CPMV S-coat protein with insertions of M2e epitopes of human influenza and bird influenza viruses. Antigenic and immunogenic properties of CVPs were investigated in mice immunization experiments. CVPs were shown to induce anti-M2e IgG production and to partly protect mice against a challenge with low doses of the influenza virus. However, low infectivity and immunogenicity of chimeric CPMV particles indicate that the plant virus-based systems for M2e epitope presentation requires further optimization in order to use plants as a possible source of flu vaccines.     

Late Cenozoic insects of northern Eurasia

Quaternary and Late Tertiary fossil insects from different regions of Eurasia are studied. The main areas are northeastern Eurasia (Part 1) and Belarus and adjacent regions (Part 2). Paleoenvironmental and climatic reconstructions for these regions are provided and compared with other parts of Europe, Asia, and North America. Hundreds of fossil insect localities are described; thousands of insect sclerites are recognized.     

Perspectives for production and application of resveratrol

The polyphenol trans-resveratrol (3,5,4′-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene) is one of the best known plant secondary metabolites. The number of articles devoted to trans-resveratrol has been steadily increasing. Trans-resveratrol is a molecule that is beneficial to human health; this explains the high level of interest in trans-resveratrol among different research groups. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective method to produce this compound commercially. The applicability of biotechnology for trans-resveratrol extraction is still uncertain. This review describes and compares the available biotechnological methods of trans-resveratrol production, focusing on their advantages and disadvantages.     

Hydrogen bonding analysis of phosphoric acid–N,N-dimethylformamide mixtures

Crizotinib is the most effective and the only drug that has been approved for the treatment of anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK)-positive lung cancer. Reports suggest that there is a development of an acquired resistance against crizotinib action due to the emergence of several mutations in the ALK gene and F1174L is one such mutation. In this study, we used molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) approach to decipher the effect of F1174L mutation in drug–target binding. Docking results suggest that crizotinib was found to adopt the most promising conformations to the native-type ALK by identifying the M1199 residue as a prospective partner for making a hydrogen bond as compared to the mutant-type ALK. MD results showed that the average atom, especially atoms of the native-type ALK-crizotinib complex, movements were less, displayed less fluctuation, fast convergence of energy, and changes in geometry. This shows the stable binding of crizotinib with the native-type ALK in comparison to the mutant-type ALK. We believe that this study could be useful for the logical design of stronger, more selective, and more consistent ALK inhibitor against drug-resistant F1174L mutation.