Efficacy of enterocin S760 in treatment of mice with anthrax infection due to Bacillus anthracis M-71

The therapeutic efficacy of enterocin S760, a broad spectrum antimicrobial peptide produced by Enterococcus faecium LWP760 was tested on mice infected with Bacillus anthracis M-71 to induce anthrax (second Tsenkovsky's vaccine). Intraperitoneal four-, two- or one-fold administration of the peptide in a dose of 25 mg/kg for 10 days for prophylactic (1 hour after the contamination) and therapeutic (24 hours after the contamination) purposes prevented or cured the infection in 90-100% of the mice versus the 100-percent lethality in the control (untreated animals). The antimicrobial activity of enterocin S760 against B. anthracis M-71 in vivo correlated with activity in vitro. Enterocin S760 is considered a novel promising antimicrobial for the treatment of grampositive and gramnegative infections.     

Biophysical methods for biochip analysis. Use of wide field digital fluorescent microscopy

This paper discusses an issue on the development of biophysical methods for biochip analysis. A scheme and construction of a biochip analyzer based on wide-field digital fluorescence microscopy are described. The analyzer is designed to register images of biological microchips labeled with fluorescent dyes. The device developed is useful for high-sensitive throughput recording analyses by biochips after interaction of immobilized probes with fluorescently labeled sample molecules as well as it provides the higher rate of the analysis compared to laser scanning devices. With this analyzer a scope where biological microchips can be applied becomes wider, the development of new protocols of the analyses is possible and standard analyses run faster with the use of biochips, the expenses for the analysis performance can be reduced.     

The impact of the high dose-refuge strategy on the Bt-crop yield. Mathematical simulations

A mathematical model is presented, which describes interactions between Bt-plants and pests in terms of the plant growth rate, plant annual reseeding, consumption of plant biomass by pests, the action of Bt toxins, and the emergence of Bt-resistant insects. It has been shown that the migration of Bt-susceptible insects affects the Bt-crop yield dynamics and provides the exclusion of Bt-resistant pests if the migration exceeds the threshold value.     

Monensin A acid complexes as a model of electrogenic transport of sodium cation

New Monensin A acid complexes with water molecule, sodium chloride and sodium perchlorate were obtained and studied by X-ray and (1)H, (13)C NMR and FT-IR methods as well as ab initio calculations. The crystal structure of the complexes indicates the complexation of the water molecule and Na(+) cation in the pseudo-cycle conformation of the Monensin acid molecule stabilised by intramolecular hydrogen bonds. Important for stabilisation of this structure is also the intermolecular hydrogen bonds with water molecule or the coordination bonds with Na(+) cation. It is demonstrated that the counterions forming intermolecular hydrogen bonds with OH groups influence the strength of the intramolecular hydrogen bonds, but they have no influence on the formation of pseudo-cyclic structure. Spectroscopic studies of the complexes in dichloromethane solution have shown that the pseudo-cyclic structure of the compounds is conserved. As follows from the ab initio calculations, the interactions between the Na(+) cation and the electronegative oxygen atoms of Monensin acid totally change the molecular electrostatic potential around the supramolecular Monensin acid-Na(+) cationic complex relative to that of the neutral Monensin acid molecule.     

Phenotypic features of Ferroplasma acidiphilum strains Yt and Y-2

Earlier, we described a new family of mesophilic, strictly autotrophic Fe(2+)-oxidizing archaebacteria, Ferroplasmaceae, which belongs to the order Thermoplasmales and includes the genus Ferroplasma and species F. acidiphilum (strain YT) [1]. The present work is concerned with a comparative study of phenotypic characteristics of the type strain YT and a new strain, F. acidiphilum Y-2, isolated from dense pulps produced during oxidation of arsenogold concentrates from the Bakyrchikskoe (Kazakhstan) and Olimpiadinskoe (Krasnoyarsk Krai) ore deposits, respectively. The G + C content of DNA from strains YT and Y-2 comprised 35.1 and 35.2 mol%, respectively; the level of DNA-DNA homology between the strains was 84%. Restriction profiles of chromosomal DNA from both strains exhibited a similarity coefficient of 0.87. Genotypic characteristics of these strains indicate their affiliation to the same species. The cells of both strains are polymorphic and lack cell walls. Strains of F. acidiphilum oxidized ferrous oxide and pyrite as the sole source of energy and fixed carbon dioxide as the sole carbon source. Strains required yeast extract as a growth factor. Optimum pH for cell growth ranged from 1.7 to 1.8; the temperature optima for the growth of strains YT and Y-2 were 34-36 and 40-42 degrees C, respectively. Comparative analysis of total lipids revealed their close similarity in the strains; two glycophospholipids comprised 90% of total lipids: lipid I, beta-D-glucopyranosylcaldarchaetidylglycerol (about 55%), and lipid II, trihexosylcaldarchaetidylglycerol (26%), whose isopranyl chains contained no cyclopentane rings. The carbohydrate fraction of lipid I hydrolysate contained only D-glucose, whereas hydrolysate of lipid II contained both D-glucose and D-galactose in a molar ratio of 2:1. Thus, it was established that the intraspecific phylogenetic divergence within F. acidiphilum is manifested in two the strains by different temperature optima against the background of similarity in other phenotypic properties.     

The cell composition in the lymphocyte population and the radiation adaptive response

Using lymphocytes of 5 healthy individuals the ability to adaptive response (AR), cell composition of population after PHA stimulation, changes in cell composition population after irradiation in the dose of 1.0 Gy and after irradiation in adaptive (0.05 Gy) and challenge (1.0 Gy) doses have been studied. AR observed in 2 of the 5 individuals only. After PHA stimulation the persons with AR have the total amount of cells after mitosis or during mitosis (the number of binucleated cells + the number of multinucleated cells + the whole cells with micronuclei + the number of mitotic cells) on average is higher than in persons without AR. In individuals with AR the linear correlation between the number of binucleated cells with micronuclei (on the 1000 scored binucleated cells) and the part of binucleated cells in the population is observed with coefficients of correlation -0.89 and -0.91. In the humans without AR this correlation is absent. The correlation observed permits to suppose that AR may occur at the expense of not only the decrease in number of damaged lymphocytes, but also the increase in the share of not damaged binucleated cell with the stable number of damaged cells.     

To the ways of the most reasonable implementation of digital radiography into the practical public health of the Russian Federation

The main idea of the authors' paper is to propose the most reasonable way of actively introducing the digital principle into the traditional roentgenological section of radiation diagnosis. For this, a luminophore digital radiography system has been chosen. The authors of the paper give a full-scale assessment and appropriate recommendations for its use. The paper essentially discusses the entire complex of matters that permit assessment whether its sound use is possible in regional and municipal health care systems. This is both a section devoted to a dose load, by making a comparative assessment of luminophore radiography and the green system and a study of different clinical diseases (456 cases). In their study, the authors have applied an original principle in the formation of an image obtained and some other approaches in order to make a comprehensive assessment of this method. In the authors' opinion, luminophore radiography has a variety of advantages. Firstly, this technique can be simultaneously applied to several nondigital apparatuses, including those available in the ward and it shows a rather diagnostic effectiveness and economic profitability, yields a qualitative image of varying density tissues upon single exposure, and has some other capacities of the CR system as a digital technique. All this things considered, the authors consider that luminophore radiography may be one of the main ways of introducing a digital technique into the conventional roentgenological section of radiation diagnosis at the level of regional and municipal heath care systems.