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This article presents the results of studies of the content of heavy metals (zinc, copper, lead, cadmium, and nickel) in the muscles and liver of the main commercial fish of different levels of the trophic chain, e.g., pike, perch, roach, and bream, caught in the Astrakhan region, Chernoyarsk district in the water of the Volga River. The distribution of metals in the body of hydrobionts is uneven and depends on the properties of the metal itself and the functional characteristics of the organs. It was found that the content of these metals in the Volga water and the muscles of hydrobionts does not exceed the maximum permissible concentration. The goal of our work was to determine the content of heavy metals in the tissues (muscles) and organs (liver) of the most important commercial fish of the Volga basin within the Astrakhan region (Chernoyarsk region) and to assess the safety of their use as food raw materials. For the research, water samples were taken according to GOST 31861-2012. The content of heavy metals in water was determined via inversion voltammetry on a TA-2M analyzer and in the muscle tissue and liver via atomic absorption spectrometry on a Quant-2A instrument. The highest concentration of heavy metals, 0.14–39.6 mg/kg, is found in the internal organs (liver), and the lowest concentration, 0.038–8.13 mg/kg, is found per unit mass of muscle tissue.

After four decades of reforms, China has become one of the biggest economies of the world and its exchange rate policy is a key factor in this process. The paper focuses on the conditions that have shaped the directions of China’s exchange rate policy at every stage of its evolution, the measures taken and the results achieved in terms of the policy’s effect on the economic growth and balance of payments. It is shown that active state interference in the exchange market policy in the early stages resulted in the undervalued yuan exchange rate and also encouraged positive dynamics of internal production due to the enhanced national export competitiveness. In subsequent stages, liberalization of China’s economy, its integration in the global economic relations, its bigger contribution to the global product manufacturing and export led to the increased role of market forces in the yuan exchange rate formation. Some practical measures taken in this direction encouraged the balanced yuan exchange rate, lower surplus of current accounts and increase in balance volatility of capital and financial accounts. Currently, the yuan exchange rate is still controlled. China’s monetary authorities mostly use international reserves to regulate the yuan exchange rate. The paper concludes that it is necessary to further increase the influence of market factors in the yuan exchange rate formation and diversification of the yuan stability instruments in order to maintain export growth rates, to develop China’s financial market and to expand the scope and international spheres of the yuan use.

The paper describes a long-term experiment (2008–2018) on the influence of shrub coulisses on the vegetation cover of semidesert, degraded pastures. Changes in the height of the snow cover in winter, the reserve of productive moisture in the soil, the species composition, and the productivity of arid pastures in the dynamics of growth and development of shrub coulisses were studied. The experiments were carried out according to the methods of the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Agroforestry (Pavlovsky, 1973), the All-Russia Scientific Research Institute of Feed (Metodika…, 2015), and Dospekhov (1985). As a result, it was found that, with an increase in the height of teresken bushes, the snow-cover height increased on average by 3.5–11 times in comparison with a natural pasture without coulisses, depending on the amount of precipitation. In the first five years, the productive moisture reserve in the soil increased by 7.2–9.1 mm. When the coulisse height reached more than 1 m, it increased by 8.8–24.8 mm. Ten years later, on the site with coulisses, the number of dominants in the plant association increased by four species. Starting from the third year of teresken vegetation, the productivity of the pasture with coulisses grew 1.3–3.9 times over the years of research.

The article shows the most promising forage crops of Legume family and Poaceae for the natural and climatic conditions of the North Pre-Caspian region. They have a high nutritional value and a significant level of potential yield. According to the results of three years of research, it has been established that all experimental herbs have high nutritional value both for feed units and for digested protein, therefore they can be successfully used for creation ofintensive hayfields. The following forage long-term grasses were identified to create intensive hayfields under irrigation conditions: clover –Veteran, Marusya, Ternopilsky 3; canary grass - Donskoy-18 and Kievskiy; festulolium – Kenchy and Regin. Rostov’s roost and sainfoin Petushok can also be used, but only in grass mixtures due to their low winter hardiness.

This article presents the results of two years of development of technological methods to create fodder agrophytocenoses in natural environments under arid climatic conditions in order to restore the ecology and improve the productivity of degraded pasturable ecosystems. The dynamics of the phytopotential performance of agrophytocenoses have been studied in different variants according to plant species, sowing times, and sowing methods. The experiments have been conducted with methods developed by the All-Russia Research Institute of Fodder (2015) and Dospekhov (1985). Therefore, the experiments conducted with the different pasturable plants investigated that the winterfat (Eutoria ceratoides) was reputed to be the most productive of all of the sown species. Its annual average crop yield was three times higher than that for the native pasture in the first year and 3.6 times in the second year. The experiments conducted with wheatgrass (Agropyron) sown at different times have proved that the pasture was generally (71–76%) occupied by wheatgrass (Agropyron) sown in autumn in the first year of vegetation, while the spring-sown wheatgrass crop had a projective cover of only 49–54% up to the second year of vegetation. The experiments conducted with wheatgrass sown by different methods proved that the spring- and autumn-sown projective cover crops of agrophytocenoses with the use of the broadcasting method represented increases of 7% and 17%, respectively, as compared to the drilling method.

The article presents the results of studies on the adaptive potential of sorghum used for restoration of degraded pasture ecosystems, increasing their biodiversity and nutritional value. The region chosen for the experiment is a semi-desert arid part of southern Russia. The aridity coefficient is 0.11–0.30 which is typical of the arid zone. The annual volume of precipitation is 125-265 mm. Two varieties of sorghum – Travinka and Caravan – were studied. They were grown with different thickness: 10 thousand, 20 thousand and 40 thousand plants per 1 hectare. During the growing season, there was soil and atmospheric drought. The best indicators of green mass yield were recorded for Travinka for the variant “40 thousand plants per hectare – 7.9 tons per hectare, and for Caravan for the variant “20 thousand plants per hecrate – 3.9 tons per hectare. Compared with natural pasture, sorghum productivity is 18 times higher by green mass yield and 26 times higher by dry mass yield (the best options). The analysis of the chemical composition and nutritional value of sorghum showed that compared to the plants of natural pasture, sorghum is a more nutritious fodder plant. Its nutritional value is more by 0.24 feed units per 1 kg and by 1.9 % by the mass of crude protein. It is better than other plants by the content of sugar content (79 g per 1 kg) and macronutrients.

The regenerative potential of stem and progenitor cells from ischemic testes of C57Bl/6 mice was studied in vitro (cell culture) and in vivo (mouse model of busulfan-induced suppression of spermatogenesis). Spermatogonial stem cells with phenotypes CD117-CD90+ and CD51-CD24+CD52+ from ischemic testes demonstrated 33-fold and 7-fold increments of cell mass and generated colonies in vitro. Epithelial (CD45-CD31-Sca-1+CD49f+) and endothelial (CD45-CD31+) precursors exhibited lower self-renewal capacity. On day 30 after injection of stem and progenitor cells from ischemic testes to the rete testis zone of the testes of busulfantreated animals, an increase in the count of CD117-CD90+ spermatogonial stem cells, total count, and mobile sperm count in the testes of recipient mice was observed. In addition, we observed an increase in Sca-1+ cell count, recovery of the spermatogenic epithelium in the seminiferous tubules, and appearance of immature Leydig cells in "busulfan" testes; the level of tissue testosterone and fertility index also increased.

The advertising of medicines has an omnipresent prevalence and it is used by health practitioners as the most accessible source of information. Considering this fact, a study was carried out related to informational fullness of advertisements of pharmaceuticals in popular journals and for medical professionals. The analysis of obligatory sections of information was implemented considering requirements and ethical criteria of the WHO that is necessary for effective application of advertisements as a source of information about pharmaceuticals with the purpose of rational application of medicines.

The work is devoted to the study of the influence of folk architecture on the professional practice of housing design by modern architects. The study focuses on the use of traditional heritage techniques in the design of social housing in modernism in the period 1910-1970. The procedure of reproducing the experience of traditional (vernacular) architecture is described as a process of translation, which involves the decoding of folk heritage by professional architects in order to identify the characteristics and techniques relevant to the “modern movement”. The task of designing housing for the working class is observed throughout the period of modernism in various regional areas, from European countries and America to Egypt, Algeria and India. Historical analysis of the architecture of modernism helped to identify such valuable for its representatives’ qualities and properties of traditional architecture as: functionality, utilitarianism and archetypal. It has been proven that modernists were inspired by the architecture of traditional Mediterranean cities. It is shown that in the period of modernism, along with engineering innovations, architects introduced traditional design systems, materials, technologies and rethought their compositional potential, which significantly diversified the morphology of social construction and enriched its symbolic language. Thanks to the borrowing of traditional features, modern architecture has become clear to the consumer, and such morphological elements as a flat roof, white walls, simple rectangular columns and so on have become a new and quite understandable language of modern architecture.

The article considers nominations of cubs of wild and domesticated animals and birds in Don Cossack dialects, generating word-stems and the peculiarities of such nominations’ word-formation are determined.

Course administration streptozotocin to male C57Bl/6 mice induces a complex of symptoms typical of type 1 diabetes mellitus: hyperglycemia and insulin deficiency, focal inflammatory infiltration of the pancreas, destructive changes in the Langerhans islets, damage to the insular apparatus (reduced number of PDX1+ cells and insulin expression by the secreting cells). Male reproductive disorder are serious complications of type 1 diabetes mellitus. In "diabetic" mice, interstitial edema with inflammatory infiltration and microvascular disorders in the testicular tissue are observed, the number of endothelial precursors (CD45-/CD31+) and the total number and percentage of motile spermatozoa decreased, immature spermatogenic epithelium cells are desquamated of into the lumen of the tubules. Disturbances in the proliferation and differentiation of various spermatogonial stem cell populations (c-kit-/CD90+, c-kit+/CD90+, and CD51-/CD24+/CD52+) in diabetes can be explained by the inhibitory influence of inflammatory factors on testosterone-producing Leydig cells.

The properties of spermatogonial stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells, and the epithelial progenitors of C57Bl/6 mice under conditions of metabolic disorders were studied using the model of busulfan-induced suppression of spermatogenesis and in vitro culture technique. Spermatogonial stem cells CD117—CD90+ and epithelial progenitors CD45—CD31—Sca-1+CD49f+ derived from the testes of mice with metabolic disturbances demonstrated 17- and 28-fold increase in the respective cell mass and generated cell colonies in vitro. In contrast, spermatogonial stem cells with immune phenotype CD51—CD24+CD52+ had reduced selfrenewal capacity. Spermatogonial stem cells CD117—CD90+ and CD117+CD90+ as well as endothelial progenitors CD45—CD31+ derived from the testes of donor mice with metabolic disorders demonstrated high transplantation capacity in C57Bl/6 mouse testes damaged by cytostatic busulfan.

The paper gives data on the fauna of chigger mites (Thrombiculinae), the ectoparasites of small mammals in Mongolia. The ecological and geographic analysis could reveal the major abiotic and biotic determinants of the spread of the chigger mites and make a map of their potential area.

Using the model of hypogonadism in C57Bl/6 male mice, we showed that injection of streptozotocin to newborn animals and high-fat diet induced serum IFN-γ and IL-17 elevation, glucose metabolism disturbances, insulin resistance, destructive changes of the Langerhans islets (deficit of PDX1+β cells), while the number of oligopotent β cell precursors (CD45-TER119-CD133+CD49flow) increased. Diabetes played the role of an inducer of testicular tissue inflammation (pan-hemopoietic cell infiltration, increase of IL-2, IL-17, and IL-23 content) and reproductive system disturbances in mice (decrease in free testosterone concentration, suppression of spermatogenesis, and infertility). The development of hypogonadism was paralleled by an increase in the count of spermatogonial stem cells (CD117+CD29+CD90+), multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (CD45-CD31-CD90+CD106+), hemangiogenesis precursors (CD45-CD117+Flk1+), and epithelial cells (CD45-CD31-CD49f+CD326+).

The title of the article should read: “Role of β Cell Precursors in the Regeneration of Insulin-Producing Pancreatic β Cells under the Influence of the Pegylated Form of Glucagon-Like Peptide 1”.

The modern classification of trombiculid mites from the family Trombiculidae (Acariformes: Parasitengona) is briefly reviewed on the subfamily and tribe level based on the larval characters. Some taxonomical and evolutionary aspects are briefly discussed. The family Trombiculidae is divided into four subfamilies: Leeuwenhoekiinae — Apoloniinae — Trombiculinae — Gahrliepiinae, from which Leeuwenhoekiinae should be placed at the base and Gahrliepiinae at the top of phylogenetic tree. Host-parasite relationships of trombiculid larvae are examined from the point of view that host-parasite specificity is low in trombiculids. Some physiological questions with respect to the realization of the life strategy of trombiculids are considered.

Stem and progenitor cells were studied on mouse model of testicular ischemia. Testicular ischemia led to a decrease in free testosterone concentration. Hemodynamic changes, interstitial edema, and destruction of spermatogenic epithelium, Leydig, and Sertoli cells were observed in the testicular tissue. Accumulation of degenerative germ cells was accompanied by reduction in the count of spermatogonial stem cells with immunophenotype CD117(-)CD29(+)CD90(+) and CD117(+)CD29(+)CD90(+). Simultaneously with pathomorphological changes in the testes and suppression of spermatogenesis, ischemia reduced the count of hematopoietic progenitor cells, hematopoietic stem cells with immunophenotype Lin(-)CD117(+)Sca-1(+)c-kit(+)CD34(+) and Lin(-)CD117(+)Sca-1(+)c-kit(+)CD34(-), and multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (CD45(-)CD31(-) CD90(+)CD106(+)) in the testicular tissue. The population of CD45(-)CD31(+)-endothelial cells in ischemic testicular tissue increased.

The fraction of total pyruvate dehydrogenase in the active, dephosphorylated form is much lower in the glucose-perfused isolated hearts of two myopathic strains of Syrian hamster (BIO 14.6 and TO-2) than in the hearts of healthy control animals (F1B). The myopathic hearts also develop significantly less pressure under these conditions. Experiments with isolated myocytes from the BIO 14.6 heart reveal that intramitochondrial free Ca2+ ([Ca2+]m), a positive effector of pyruvate dehydrogenase interconversion, rises much less in response to a protocol of increased frequency of electrical stimulation and adrenergic stimulation than does [Ca2+]m in cells from the healthy control animals (viz from 248 +/- 15 to 348 +/- 44 nM in BIO 14.6 vs. from 241 +/- 35 to 830 +/- 124 nM in F1B, at 4 Hz). As the concentration of Ca2+ that produces half-maximal activation of pyruvate dehydrogenase within mitochondria is 650 nM, this difference between strains is likely the mechanism of the altered enzyme interconversion. The lesser response of [Ca2+]m to electrical stimulation in the BIO 14.6 cells probably results mainly from smaller systolic transients in cytosolic free Ca2+ in response to excitation of single myocytes from the BIO 14.6 animal. Lowered values of [Ca2+]m within the range described would compromise not only pyruvate dehydrogenase activity, but also flux through the tricarboxylate cycle in the myopathic heart, owing to the sensitivity of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase to Ca2+. This may explain the decreased activity of oxidative phosphorylation and performance of work in the myopathic heart.

The synthesis and pharmacological properties of a new taurine amide derivative, N-(l-methyl-2-phenylethyl) aminoethanesulfonic acid isopropylamide hydrochloride (I), are described. Pronounced antiarrhythmic effect of compound I was observed in animals with experimental ventricular arrhythmias (early postocclusive and calcium chloride models). The drug significantly decreased the frequency and intensity of paroxysmal tachycardia attacks and ventricular fibrillation after coronary artery occlusion. Simultaneous administration of calcium chloride and compound I increased the arrhythmogenic dose of calcium chloride, inducing lethal heartbeat disorder and asystolia, and decreased the frequency of ventricular flutter and fibrillation. The antiarrhythmic effect of the drug was similar to that of lidocaine. The antifibrillatory activity is the most important manifestation of the antiarrhythmic action of the taurine derivative studied. These data suggest that compound I is a potential drug for urgent aid in myocardial infarction.

The ontogenetic threshold related to the large size difference between heteromorphic larva and post-larva has inevitably led to larval parasitism and regression of nymphal instars in trombiculid mites. It is most likely that mammals are primary hosts of trombiculid larvae, whereas the use of other terrestrial vertebrates as hosts arose later. An association with a host takes only a short time from the entire life cycle of a trombiculid mite; a mite spends the rest of its life as a free-living soil-dweller. As a result, host selection by a trombiculid larva is determined mainly by habitat distribution of a host rather than by its taxonomic affinity.

1. The nature of the crude oil from which asphalts are produced is the determining factor in the aging of the asphalts. The greatest changes in structural-group composition are undergone by an asphalt with a high malthene content (asphalt from Ust' -Balyk crude), the smallest changes by an asphalt with a high asphaltene content (asphalt from Romashkino crude). 2. Typically, the greatest rate of conversion of the oils and asphaltenes is experienced in the initial stages of the aging (5–18 days), regardless of the nature of the original raw material. 3. An accelerated evaluation of the asphalt aging process can best be obtained by exposing thin films of the asphalt to natural irradiation.

In this r e p o r t we give the r e s u l t s of an i n v e s t i g a t i o n c a r r i e d out at the Moscow Ins t i tu t e of Chemica l Me ta l l u rgy (MIKhMe) on the c o r r o s i o n behav io r of a l u m i n u m in d i lu te so lu t ions of ace t i c ac id for v a r i o u s d i r e c t i o n s and a m o u n t s of heat flow. T e s t s w e r e c a r r i e d out in 5, 10, 15, and 20% ace t i c ac id so lu t ions on d i sks of 20 m m d i a m e t e r and 4 m m th i ckne s s m a d e f r o m A1 qua l i ty a l u m i n u m (99.5% A1). The hea t t r a n s f e r agent was d i s t i l l e d water . We have p r e v i o u s l y s tud ied the behav io r of A1 a l u m i n u m in d i lu te ace t i c ac id so lu t ions a t v a r i o u s t e m p e r a t u r e s without heat t r a n s f e r [1].