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Objective: assessing the association of sequence variants rs8192678, rs1801282, rs9939609, rs7799039 and rs1137101in PPARGC1A, PPARG2, FTO, LEP and LEPR genes, respectively,with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) inyounger adults (18-44 years old) of the Russian Federation. Materials and Methods. Our case-control study encompassed 100 patients distributed between two groups: Group 1 (cases) with patients suffering from NAFLD (n=50) andGroup 2 (controls) with individuals without it (n=50). All subjects underwent a conventional sonography of their liver and shear wave elastography (Aixplorer®, France): both ultrasound examinations assessed the severity of liver steatosis and fibrosis. Results. We discovered two sequence variants associated with an increased risk of NAFLD in women: rs9939609 and rs7799039: A/A rs9939609 genotype (OR 5.33, 95% CI 1.14-24.90,p=0.041) and G/G rs7799039genotype (OR 7.5, 95% CI 1.04- 54.12,p=0.026). Conclusion.The A/A genotype of the rs9939609 gene in younger women of the Russian population yielded the fivefold increase in the likelihood of NAFLD, whereas the G/G genotype of the rs7799039 gene resulted in a 7.5-fold likelihood ofNAFLD occurrence

With its exclave status, the Kaliningrad region has been drawing attention of many researchers in different fields. Yet the prospects for cooperation between the region and neighbouring communities in Poland and Lithuania, which once constituted an integrated social, economic and political space, remain unclear. Media analysts and scholars alike tend to view the Kaliningrad region as “double periphery”, since it is excluded from major modernisation processes both in the European integration zone and in the Russian Federation. However, a detailed study involving polyscale socioeconomic indices, expert interviews, and surveys run contrary to this viewpoint. A look at the key indices of the Kaliningrad region and the neighbouring communities of Poland and Lithuania showed that both socioeconomic situation and standards of living are comparable in these areas, which indicates the prerequisites for mutually beneficial interregional cooperation. We have analysed factual information on socioeconomic development of cross-border regions and surveyed the students from the leading universities of Gdansk, Kaliningrad and Klaipeda. We were thus able to conclude that the reasons behind the delapidated cross-border relations are rather subjective and lie in the field of geopolitical orientation, information and institutional policy, as well as persistent stereotypes that shape public opinion. In this light, integration between the Kaliningrad region and mainland Russia is seen not only as an economic, but also as a sociocultural objective. An analysis of the stages of the region’s exclavisation, and policies of social support stemming from the uniqueness of the economic and geographical position of the region substantiate this conclusion.

Using the approaches of critical geopolitics, the authors compare Russian official, expert and media discourses on Russian-Chinese relations and China including such issues as its domestic and foreign policies, its role in the world, economic development and military potential. To study the official political discourse, more than 300 official documents were collected, including speeches, presentations and interviews by Russian leaders from 2012 to 2019. The screening of the Vesti news programme at the "Russia-1" state federal TV channel served a basis for the media discourse analysis. A scrutiny of about 2,900 articles on China and Russian-Chinese relations found in course of screening of 2012–2019 issues of the Nezavisimaya Gazeta, a daily federal "intellectual" newspaper destined to highly educated audience that pays much attention to foreign policy, was selected as a source of information on the expert discourse. The authors conclude that there is a clear gap between the official and expert discourse on China. While most of the participants agree that there is no alternative to a partnership with the great eastern neighbour, many experts express their concerns about the growing asymmetry in the two countries' potential. This difference arises from the lack of confidence at the grassroots level as well as from the fact that some Russian partners seek to excuse their failures by blaming them on China's unwillingness to compromise. In conclusion the authors consider the influence that different discourses have on Russian public opinion using the results of national surveys and focus groups. They show that part of the elite itself, accustomed to certain doubts about the possibility of strategic cooperation with China, reproduces a sceptical attitude towards the Chinese partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first selective process of formal [2+2]‐cycloaddition of donor–acceptor cyclopropanes (DAC) to multiple C–C bonds to form a four‐membered ring in the product has been developed. Bicyclobutylidene is used do demonstrate this reaction. The process is promoted by GaCl3 and occurs through generation of 1,2‐zwitterionic intermediates. A carbocationic rearrangement occurs in the bicyclobutylidene moiety. It results in expansion of both cyclobutane rings into five‐membered ones and formation of a [2.3.3]propellane skeleton in the final product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient and scaled-up synthesis of the imidazol-2-ylidene-based unsymmetrical NHC precursors bearing the sterically demanding hexafluoroisopropylalkoxy group [(CF3)2(OR)C−] at the ortho position of the N-aryl substituent was developed. The key step of the method involved the transformation of a Mes-substituted oxazolinium tetrafluoroborate salt through the reaction with the corresponding binucleophilic fluoroalkyl-substituted aniline. The subsequent post-modification of the resulting hydroxyl-containing salt through a simple one-step O-alkylation protocol provided access to a new family of unsymmetrical fluorinated NHC precursors. These compounds were successfully utilized for the preparation of several novel metal complexes. The molecular structures of some NHC precursors and their metal complexes have been unambiguously characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. A preliminary evaluation of the catalytic activity of the palladium complexes was performed on a Buchwald-Hartwig amination reaction. As a result, two PEPPSI-type (PEPPSI=pyridine-enhanced pre-catalyst preparation stabilization and initiation) Pd complexes have demonstrated promising activity in alkane solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient approach to a new family of highly functionalized P analogues of α-trifluoromethyl-substituted phenylalanine and its homologues using ruthenium-catalyzed intermolecular ene-yne metathesis as a key step of the reaction sequence has been developed. The method includes cross metathesis of α-alkynyl-α-trifluoromethyl-α-aminophosphonates with alkenes under catalysis by second-generation Grubbs carbene complex to afford the corresponding aminophosphonates with 1,3-diene backbone followed by one-pot Diels-Alder reaction-aromatization step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An efficient access to novel trifluoromethyl-substituted phosphonate analogues of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid (TIC) derivatives based on regioselective rutheniumcatalyzed co-cyclotrimerization of functionalized 1,7-diynes with various alkynes has been developed using RuClCp"cod and preferably Grubbs second-generation catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An efficient route to new α-CF3-α-aminophosphonic acid derivatives bearing an arylalkynyl moiety at the α-carbon atom has been developed. The method is based on palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling of the corresponding α-propargyl (ethynyl) α-aminophosphonates with aryl iodides to afford the aminophosphonic acid derivatives with an internal triple bond that is suitable for further modifications. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A new process of "inverted" formal [3 + 2]-cycloaddition of donor-acceptor cyclopropanes (DACs) to allylic systems to give polyfunctionalized cyclopentanes has been developed. Unlike the classical version of formal [3 + 2]-cycloaddition, a DAC acts in this process as a two-carbon synthon (1,2-zwitterionic reactivity type), while an alkene acts as a three-carbon synthon. Tetramethylethylene, allylbenzenes, homoallylbenzene, terminal and internal aliphatic alkenes, and methylenecyclobutane were successfully used as alkenes. Furthermore, in order to suppress annulation at the aromatic ring in 2-arylcyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylates and enhance the selectivity of the reaction with the allylic system of alkenes, we suggested a new approach for managing the reactivity of DACs involving substitution at both ortho positions of the aromatic ring. Multinuclear NMR spectroscopy was used to study the structure of the 1,2-zwitterionic gallium complexes generated and their properties and to examine the mechanisms of the occurring reactions.