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The paper presents the result of assessing the antiradical status of consumers (in the context of Russia) in connection with their well-being. This approach is based on a multistage study, in which the results of sociological surveys were applied, as well as estimates of the antiradical potential (ARP) of diets obtained using neural networks, bootstrapping the chemical composition of diets, and calculating reference values using mathematical models. The paper presents data collected from residents living in the territories of at least 21 regions and cities of Russia: Magadan, Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar, Lipetsk, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Voronezh, etc. A total of 1001 people were interviewed, which, according to our calculations, gives a margin of error in value of approximately 3.1%. To calculate the lack of vitamins in the diets of residents of the Russian Federation, data on the chemical composition of food products from the FNDDS database were used. The assessment of dietary habits showed a lack of vitamins below the recommended level in 73% of Russians for vitamin D, 59% for retinol, 38% for β-carotenes, 13% for vitamin E, and 6% for ascorbic acid. The study showed that at least 36% of the Russian population has a low antiradical status, while it was found that "poor" consumers are more likely to consume economically more expensive foods (in terms of their nutritional value). The "poor" segments of the population consume 180–305% more canned food and 38–68% more sweet carbonated drinks than other social groups, but their consumption of vegetables is 23–48% lower. On the contrary, "wealthy" consumers consume 17–25% more complex (varied) dishes, 10–68% more fresh vegetables, and 8–39% more fish. From the obtained values it follows that consumers with low levels of ARP in their diets are in a group with an increased probability of a number of "excess" diseases (diseases of the cardiovascular system, obesity, etc.). In general, the ARP values of food consumed for low-income segments of the population were 2.3 times lower (the ratio was calculated as the percentage of consumers below the level of 11,067 equivalents necessary for the disposal of free radicals generated in the human body per day) than for those who can afford expensive food (consumers with high income). A simple increase in consumption of unbalanced foods, in our opinion, will only contribute to the entry of these consumers into the "average diet trap". All this makes it imperative to develop comprehensive measures to create a new concept of public catering; otherwise, we can expect a reduction in both the health of the population and the performance of the economy of the whole country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed a regional analysis of the effect of anthropogenic (acid precipitation) and natural (climatic changes, endogenous methane) factors on the hydrochemical composition and phytoplankton of mountain lakes in East Siberia for the last 210 years. The lacustrine diatom community responded to the intense acid precipitation that led to the acidification of lakes in Europe and North America in 1950–1985: Cyclotella-complex was partly replaced by more pH-tolerant species of diatoms, such as Aulacoseira lirata, A. italica, and Tabellaria flocculosa. This anthropogenic impact, however, was not dramatic for the ecosystem of mountain Lake Oron. The diatom records distinctly show a tendency for the reduction of lacustrine-alga population since the end of the Little Ice Age. We assume that the decrease in the Oron bioproductivity was mainly due to a deficit of nutrients caused by the inflow of ultrafresh waters from the thawing glaciers, snow patches, and seasonal snow cover of the Kodar Ridge during the Recent global warming in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, the changes in the lake ecosystem might have been accelerated by emissions of endogenous methane. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A microwave digestion procedure with the use of specially designed autoclaves and a domestic microwave oven is proposed for the mass-spectrometric determination of the elemental composition of bottom sediments. The throughput of sample preparation in routine analysis was considerably increased because of the elimination of a purification step. Reaction mixture compositions and microwave digestion conditions were chosen to reach complete decomposition (within the limits of error of semiquantitative ICP MS analysis) of Baikal bottom sediments with respect to the majority of elements. It was found that the procedure is unsuitable for the determination of Sn, Zr, Nb, Hf, As, and Sb. The approximate concentrations of elements in a BIL-1 certified reference material of Baikal bottom sediments were found: Tl, 0.52 ± 0.16 ppm; Bi, 0.33 ± 0.10 ppm; I, 14.3 ± 4.3 ppm; Cd, 0.31 ± 0.09 ppm; and Pb, 0.24 ± 0.07 ppm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Wilson's disease (WD) is a rare inherited disorder caused by mutations in the ATP7B gene resulting in copper accumulation in different organs. However, data on ATP7B mutation spectrum in Russia and worldwide are insufficient and contradictory. The objective of the present study was estimation of the frequency of ATP7B gene mutations in the Russian population of WD patients. Materials and methods. 75 WDpatients were examined by next-generation sequencing (NGS). A targeted panel NimbleGen SeqCap EZ Choice: 151012_HG38_CysFib_EZ_HX3 (ROCHE)was designed for analysis of ATP7B gene and possible modifier genes. Retrospective assessment of a diagnostic WD score (Leipzig, 2001) was also performed. Results. 31 mutations in ATP7B gene were detected. Two most frequent mutations were c.3207C > A (51,85% of alleles) and c.3190 G > A (8,64% of alleles). Single rare mutations were detected in 29% of cases. In 96% cases mutations of both copies of the ATP7B were revealed. We also observed 3 novel potentially pathogenic variants which were not previously described (c.1870-8A > G, c.3655A > T (p.Ile1219Phe), c.3036dupC (p.Lys1013fs). For 25% of patients at the time of the manifestation the diagnosis WD could not be established using the earlier proposed diagnostic score. There was a remarkable delay in diagnosis for the majority of patients. Only 33% of patients WD was diagnosed in three months after the first symptoms, 29%patients - in 3–12 months, 30% – in 1–10 years, in 8% – more than 10 years. Generally, clinical appearance of WD may be rather variable at manifestation and genetic profiling at this step is the only way to confirm the presence of WD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A new experimental method for the determination of the isotopic composition of authigenic uranium in Lake Baikal (Siberia) sediments has supplied a record of (234U/238U)aut ratios during the past 150ka with a resolution of ca. 200years. Reconstruction of the (234U/238U)aut activity ratio as a proxy for lake water composition shows that the uranium isotope disequilibrium has not stayed constant throughout this period: it varied greatly in response to regional climate. The 234U/238U activity ratio in Lake Baikal paleowaters was inferred to be high during interglacial time (∼1.85–2 during MIS 5.5 and the Holocene; ∼1.4–1.7 during MIS 5.1 and 5.3) and dropped to ∼1.16±0.01 during glacial time. The variability in the deduced 234U/238U ratios of Lake Baikal waters of the past may have been caused by the climatically-modulated redistribution of contributions of riverine discharges from different provinces of the very large catchment of the lake. Aridity during ice ages was more pronounced in the south of eastern Siberia and in northern Mongolia relative to that in the northern regions of the Lake Baikal watershed. The southern contribution of riverine input into the lake was essentially absent during glacial periods. Records of some elements (Ca/K, Sr/Rb, Si/Al, La/Th, U/Th, CIW) from the bottom sediments of Lake Baikal during the last 0.5Myr with a resolution of ∼2kyr have also been obtained. Coupling these data with records of weathering indices shows that not only riverine waters but also terrigenous material delivered into Lake Baikal from different regions of the very large watershed during interglacial and glacial times. Glacial erosion delivered fine siliciclastic material (“glacial milk”) mainly from the nearest mountain glaciers situated in the northwestern region of Lake Baikal while during warmer periods terrigenous material was sourced from the surrounding river valleys. A conceptual model for the simulation of the fluvial discharge gradient between the northern and southern provinces of the Lake Baikal watershed is proposed and a first-order simulation of past changes in the contribution of the Selenga River to the lake water budget is given. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]