Structural and functional units in the pial microvascular system

A study was made of the pial arterial microcircles formed upon successive branching and anastomosing of the terminal pial vessels on the brain cortex surface at different levels of the phylogenetic development of the vertebrata. It was discovered that the pial arterial microcircles progressively become more complicated in the following order: chicken, rabbit, cat, dog, monkey. The morphological signs of the microcircles undergo progressive development: 1) they are formed primarily from small pial arterial branches possessing high vasomotor activity; 2) the area of each circle becomes less and less and their amount per unit of the brain surface increases respectively; 3) the quantity of the feeding arterial branches rises despite the reduction of the circle size; 4) the number of outgoing precortical and radial arteries entering the brain cortex increases; 5) the areas of the brain cortex supplied by individual radial arteries become less and less. This ensures increasingly delicate regulation of adequate blood supply of the smallest areas of the brain cortex.     

The submolecular structure of the Carnation Mottle virus

The model of the tertiary structure of the CMtV subunit was suggested and the mode of its packaging into the capsid was determined on the basis of electron microscopy small-angle X-ray scattering and X-ray diffraction data. The i-ray diffraction data on the crystal of the native virion of Carnation Mottle Virus were obtained on the automatic diffractometer supplied with two-dimensional detector.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">M. tuberculosis</Emphasis> genotypic diversity and drug susceptibility pattern in HIV- infected and non-HIV-infected patients in northern Tanzania

Background  

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem and HIV is the major cause of the increase in TB. Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic for both TB and HIV infection. Determination of the prevalence of M. tuberculosis strains and their drug susceptibility is important for TB control.     

Differences in the concentration of erythrocytes and the hematocrit value in the blood in relation to the location of the vessels and the intensity of the blood flow

The experiments in adult rabbits revealed that in the blood flowing in cerebral veins the red cell concentration and hematocrit are much greater than in the veins of hind legs of the same animals. In blood samples taken from the heart these values are higher than in those taken from the hind leg, but usually lower than in blood samples taken from the brain. Under conditions of reduced cerebral blood flow (ischemia) the red cell concentration and hematocrit in the brain vessels decrease significantly as compared to the control conditions. Thus, the red cell distribution in arterial branching sequence is irregular, depending both on the localization of the vascular bed and the blood flow rate in it.     

Combined prime-boost vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) using a recombinant vaccinia virus and a bacterial plasmid both expressing TBE virus non-structural NS1 protein

Background  

Heterologous prime-boost immunization protocols using different gene expression systems have proven to be successful tools in protecting against various diseases in experimental animal models. The main reason for using this approach is to exploit the ability of expression cassettes to prime or boost the immune system in different ways during vaccination procedures. The purpose of the project was to study the ability of recombinant vaccinia virus (VV) and bacterial plasmid, both carrying the NS1 gene from tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) virus under the control of different promoters, to protect mice against lethal challenge using a heterologous prime-boost vaccination protocol.     

Intracellular localization and characteristics of monophenol monooxygenase in the leaves of tea plants

The intracellular localization and some properties of monophenol monooxygenase (MPMO) from fresh tea leaves have been studied. It has been demonstrated that MPMO activity is located in cytosole and chloroplasts. These two forms have different properties. Molecular weights of cytosole and chloroplasts MPMO are 41 and 28 kD respectively. The chloroplasts and cytosole forms of MPMO reveal maximum activity at pH 5.3 and 7.1 respectively.