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Esophageal cancer is an oncological disease with a poor prognosis due to late diagnosis and detection of the tumor at a late stage. At present, the combined method of treatment is generally accepted for this pathology, starting from stage IIA. Preoperative chemoradiation therapy in this approach helps to achieve not only partial but also complete regression of the tumor. The question of the necessity of surgical tactics in this group of patients, due to the lack of clear recommendations, remains controversial at present. The article presents a successful case of neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy, which made it possible to achieve not only clinical, but also complete pathomorphological regression of the tumor. This tumor response to chemoradiation therapy occurs in less than a third of all patients with esophageal cancer. Despite this, complete regression of the tumor does not mean recovery.

Objective: to study the evolution of the industrial policy of the Union State of Russia and Belarus from 1999 to 2024. Methods: analysis of strategic documents, statistical analysis of macroeconomic indicators and study of regional aspects of economic integration. We studied the statistics of joint ventures with Belarusian capital in Russia and with Russian capital in Belarus, which indicates the changing economic conditions in the Union State. Results: the industrial policy of the Union State is systematically developing and is aimed at deepening the economic integration of the two countries. It relies on the implementation of strategic agreements, planning and financing of joint scientific and technical programs. The study shows that despite the existence of strategic agreements, such as the 1999 Agreement on a Common Structural Industrial Policy and the 2023 Agreement on a Common Industrial Policy, a significantpart of the planned activities and projects has remained only partially implemented. The article elaborates on the key changes in the content of industrial policy, including increased emphasis on integration projects, import substitution and development of new types of competitive products. The study of the statistics of joint ventures with Belarusian capital in Russia and with Russian capital in Belarus points to changing economic conditions in the Union State. Since 2017, the number of joint ventures has been decreasing, which can be a consequence of both the reduction of barriers in international trade and economy and the decreased interest of enterprises in bilateral relations. The industrial policy of the Union State is currently aimed at overcoming dependence on the supply of foreign equipment and components, creating a common economic and scientific-technical space, financing and developing scientific-industrial cooperation based on union programs and projects. Scientific novelty: it consists in analyzing the evolution of the common industrial policy of the Union State for more than two decades. For the first time such a detailed analysis covered the whole period from the signing of the initial agreement in 1999 to the last intergovernmental agreement in 2023. This allows getting a holistic view of the development of approachesand transformation of the Union State industrial policy. Practical significance: for the first time, the study provides an insight into the dynamics of economic integration of the Russian and Belarus regions within the Union State through the statistics of joint Russian-Belarusian enterprises in the regions. This can be useful for researchers, business community and authorities to understand the processes of industrial policy impact on the real sector of the economy.

Background. One of the causes of complications in breast cancer patients after immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is postmastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT).Aim. Retrospective analysis of the results of IBR, and evaluating the effect of PMRT on the frequency and type of complications.Materials and methods. Between 2015 and 2021, 798 patients underwent IBR with tissue expander or implant in N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center of Oncology, Ministry of Health of Russia. PMRT was performed in 375 patients (group 1). The remaining 423 patients did not receive PMRT (group 2). Complications, including reconstructive failure (RF), Baker grade III/IV capsular contracture (CC), were recorded and analyzed.Results. Finally, cosmetic result analyzed in 521 patients. In 281 patients of PMRT group (group 1) IBR with expander or implant were performed in 144 and 137 cases, respectively. In the 240 patients without PMRT (group 2), IBR with expander was performed in 81 patients, with implant – in 159 cases. Pooled analysis revealed that overall rate of complications in the PMRT group was 33.8 % (in 95 of 281 patients), in non-irradiation patients – 22.9 % (in 55 of 240 patients), p 0.05. CC in group 1 were detected in 28 (10 %) patients, in group 2 in 11 (4.6 %) patients, p 0.2). On the contrary, CC were mentioned in 22 (16.1 %) of irradiated patient and in 8 (5 %) patients that didn’t receive PMRT, p 0.2. CC were observed in 6 (4.2 %) patients from PMRT group and in 3 (3.7 %) patients treated without PMRT, p >0.2.Conclusion. PMRT in patients after IBR with simultaneous installation of a permanent implant is characterized by a decrease in the incidence of RF, but an increase in the incidence of CC.

Background. The accurate and early diagnosis of breast cancer can improve efficacy of the treatment. The standard diagnostic methods such as mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance tomography have a pivotal role in the detection of breast tumors, however, in some cases, they have low diagnostic accuracy. Mammoscintigraphy (MSG) / molecular breast imaging (MBI) with tumor-specific radiopharmacy 99mTc-Technetril in patients with breast cancer can considerably increase the accuracy of diagnosis. However, the diagnostic performance of MSG / MBI in the detection of different biological subtypes of breast cancer is still under investigation.Aim. To evaluate the accuracy of MSG / MBI with 99mTc-Technetril in diagnosis of different biological subtypes of breast cancer.Materials and methods. The analysis included the results of MSG / MBI of 1080 patients (2154 mammary glands), who were examined for suspected breast cancer. MSG / MBI were performed 5–15 min after intravenous injection into the vein of one of the feet of 370–740 MBq of tumor-specific radiopharmacy 99mTc-Technetril. Examinations performed from 2007–2020 was carried out on the emission computed tomography Forte (Philips); since 2020 the molecular visualization has been providing on the special gamma-camera Discovery NM750b (General Electric). The obtained data were evaluated by 2 experienced radiologists. Verification of changes in breasts was provided by morphological examination (1060 cases) or dynamic observation.Results. The sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of MSG / MBI were 90 %, 98 %, 95 % correspondingly. When diagnosing tumors with a diameter of up to 10 mm, the sensitivity of MSG / MBI was decreased to 83 %. In patients with various biological subtypes, the sensitivity of MSG / MBI was as follows: luminal A – 88 %; luminal B– – 91 %; luminal B+ – 92 %; triple negative – 93 %; HER2-positive – 96 %. The intensity of tumor uptake depended on the biological subtype of breast cancer. The average values of the 99mTc-Technetril uptake coefficient were as follows: luminal A – 1.59; luminal B– – 1.71; luminal B+ – 1.95; triple negative – 1.93; HER2-positive – 2.22.Conclusion. Retrospective analysis indicate high diagnostic performance of MSG / MBI: sensitivity – 90 %, specificity – 98 %, accuracy – 95 %. There are significant differences in the intensity of 99mTc-Technetril accumulation in tumors in patients with different biological subtypes of breast cancer (p = 0.01–0.004). MSG / MBI characterized by significant differences in the sensitivity in the diagnosis of luminal A and HER2+ breast cancer subtypes: 88 % and 96 %, respectively (p = 0.02).

Mycoplasma bovis is considered one of bovine mycoplasmosis pathogens responsible for respiratory diseases, mastitis, arthritis and keratoconjunctivitis. The paper presents results of the study on optimizing the component composition of the culture medium for Mycoplasma bovis “Kaluga 2020” isolate, as well as the study of this pathogen’s growth stages. The color-changing units assay and the culture method combined with colony-forming unit quantification were used for determination of Mycoplasma activity. It was found that when cultured in an optimized nutrient medium based on modified Hayflick broth, the microorganism enters a logarithmic growth phase after first 24 hours ofgrowth, in 72 hours the Mycoplasma culture enters astability phase, and adecline phase is recorded in 84 hours. The effect of percentage content of glucose, fresh yeast extract and horse serum in the nutrient medium on accumulation of Mycoplasma bovis “Kaluga2020” isolate was evaluated using the one-factor-at-a-time approach. It was found that the greatest effect on Mycoplasma accumulation was exerted by such growth factors as fresh yeast extract and horse serum in the nutrient medium (p < 0.05), while changes in the amount of glucose did not stimulate Mycoplasma bovis growth. Based on results of the conducted studies, the appropriate composition was determined and the optimal content of growth factors in the medium for culturing Mycoplasma bovis “Kaluga 2020” isolate was selected: 12.5%of fresh yeast extract and 25% of horse serum. The use of the optimized nutrient medium based on modified Hayflick broth allowed 5-fold increase in accumulation of Mycoplasma biomass (3.98 × 109CFU/ml)compared to the standard medium (0.79 × 109CFU/ml).

In density estimation, generative models are usually categorized under unsupervised learning due to the lack of labeled data. These models apply various indirect loss functions to refine neural network training, yet face specific challenges. Issues like mode collapse and instability in generative adversarial networks are notable, while normalizing flows are constrained by the need to calculate the Jacobian matrix's determinant, limiting network design. While neural networks are well-suited for handling very high-dimensional data, they can be overly complex for moderately high dimensions. Here, traditional sparse polynomial approximation offers advantages by avoiding complex training requirements. This research employs a score-based diffusion model combined with sparse grid interpolation to estimate the unknown density function. The method involves generating labeled data pairs linking samples from the standard Gaussian distribution to the target distribution using the diffusion model. This model transports the Gaussian distribution to the target density through a backward stochastic differential equation, where a Monte Carlo method approximates the score function at any point, facilitating function interpolation for the transport model. A sparse grid interpolant can be built based on the labeled data. We leverage the Tasmanian library [32] for building this sparse-grid-based generative model. We demonstrate the performance of our method using a set of multi-dimensional benchmark distributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: to compare cosmetic result of two techniques of boost delivery to the tumor bed after breast concerving treatment.Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of the results of treatment of patients with stage IA–IIIA breast cancer from three groups was carried out: 1) 45 women received tumor bed boost with interstitial brachytherapy; 2) 48 women with electrons (energies from 6 to 18 MeV); 3) 59 women did not receive additional irradiation of the removed tumor bed. The analysis of the cosmetic results of treatment was carried out using subjective and objective methods using mammographic data, including information about the most common complications from the skin, subcutaneous fat and remaining breast tissue, such as telangiectasias, fibrosis, and fatty necrosis.Results. According to the results of self-assessment by patients and assessment by independent expert (oncologist), carried out on a 4-point Harvard scale, the cosmetic result in most cases was characterized as “excellent” or “good”. Frequency and grade of telangiectasia were used for objective evaluation of skin complications and were similar in all 3 groups. The incidence of localized fibrosis also did not differ and was most often observed as absent or moderate (grade 1–2). There were no significant differences between the severity and incidence of fatty necrosis on both physical examinations and when it was evaluated on mammography.Conclusions. additional irradiation of the tumor bed does not compromise cosmetic result of the treatment. In most cases (57–78 %) estimated as “good” and “excellent”. The cosmetic result of the treatment does not depend on the technology of boost delivery.

Several strains of a Gram-negative, anaerobic photoautotrophic, motile, rod-shaped bacterium, designated as B14B, A-7R, and A-7Y were isolated from biofilms of low-mineralized soda lakes in central Mongolia and Russia (southeast Siberia). They had lamellar stacks as photosynthetic structures and bacteriochlorophyll a as the major photosynthetic pigment. The strains were found to grow at 25–35 °C, pH 7.5–10.2 (optimum, pH 9.0), and with 0–8% (w/v) NaCl (optimum, 0%). In the presence of sulfide and bicarbonate, acetate, butyrate, yeast extract, lactate, malate, pyruvate, succinate, and fumarate promoted growth. The DNA G + C content was 62.9–63.0 mol%. While the 16S rRNA gene sequences confirmed that the new strains belonged to the genus Ectothiorhodospira of the Ectothiorhodospiraceae, comparison of the genome nucleotide sequences of strains B14B, A-7R, and A-7Y revealed that the new isolates were remote from all described Ectothiorhodospira species both in dDDH (19.7–38.8%) and in ANI (75.0–89.4%). The new strains are also genetically differentiated by the presence of a nitric oxide reduction pathway that is lacking from all other Ectiothiorhodospiraceae. We propose to assign the isolates to the new species, Ectothiorhodospira lacustris sp. nov., with the type strain B14BT (=DSM 116064T = KCTC 25542T = UQM 41491T).

See the retraction notice E3S Web of Conferences 420, 00001 (2023), https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202342000001

Currently, among the various areas of targeted wastewater treatment, great attention is being given by researchers to the solid-phase extraction of organic dyes using metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). In this work, a mixed-ligand Zr-MOF containing terephthalic acid and 1,10-phenanthroline as linkers was used for this purpose. The limiting adsorption of the dyes Congo red and methylene blue, according to experimental data, is 40 mg/g. The influence of various parameters (time, temperature, adsorbent dosage, pH, and coexisting ions) on adsorption characteristics was studied. The sorbent was tested for the removal of dyes from drinks in water and in artificial seawater. The possibility of the separation of dyes by column chromatography using a sorbent as a filler was studied.

A key event in the cytochrome c-dependent apoptotic pathway is the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane, resulting in the release of various apoptogenic factors, including cytochrome c, into the cytosol. It is believed that the permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane can be induced by the peroxidase activity of cytochrome c in a complex with cardiolipin. Using a number of mutant variants of cytochrome c, we showed that both substitutions of Lys residues from the universal binding site for oppositely charged Glu residues and mutations leading to a decrease in the conformational mobility of the red Ω-loop in almost all cases did not affect the ability of cytochrome c to bind to cardiolipin. At the same time, the peroxidase activity of all mutant variants in a complex with cardiolipin was three to five times higher than that of the wild type. A pronounced increase in the ability to permeabilize the lipid membrane in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, as measured by calcein leakage from liposomes, was observed only in the case of four substitutions in the red Ω-loop (M4 mutant). According to resonance and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, the mutations caused significant changes in the heme of oxidized cytochrome c molecules resulting in an increased probability of the plane heme conformation and the enhancement of the rigidity of the protein surrounding the heme. The binding of wild-type and mutant forms of oxidized cytochrome c to cardiolipin-containing liposomes caused the disordering of the acyl lipid chains that was more pronounced for the M4 mutant. Our findings indicate that the Ω-loop is important for the pore formation in cardiolipin-containing membranes.

Abstract ‘Candidatus Chloroploca asiatica’ B7–9 and ‘Candidatus Viridilinea mediisalina’ Kir15-3F are mesophilic filamentous anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria from alkaline aquatic environments. Both bacteria became available in the last few years and only in stable enrichment culture. In this study, we report the draft genomic sequences of ‘Ca. Chloroploca asiatica’ B7–9 and ‘Ca. Viridilinea mediisalina’ Kir15-3F, which were assembled from metagenomes of their cultures with a fold coverage 86.3× and 163.8×, respectively. The B7–9 (5.8 Mb) and the Kir15-3F (5.6 Mb) draft genome harbors 4818 and 4595 predicted protein-coding genes, respectively. In this article, we analyzed the phylogeny of representatives of the Chloroflexineae suborder in view of the appearance of new genomic data. These data were used for the revision of earlier published group-specific conserved signature indels and for searching for novel signatures for taxons in the Chloroflexineae suborder.

The article presents the results obtained by field tectonophysical methods applied to study tectonic stresses of the Northern Eurasia regions, including young and ancient platforms (West European, Timan–Pechora, Turan, West Siberian, East European, and East Siberian) and orogenic frame structures (Caucasus, Northern Tien Shan, Mongolia-Okhotsk system of mesozoids, and Sakhalin Island). Tectonic stress reconstructions provided the basis for analysing the influence of spreading in the North Atlantics and the Arctic on the stress state of the platforms in Northern Europe. A spatial boundary of the influence goes approximately along the margins of the Fennoscandian shield and the Russian plate in the north. Further southwards, the boundary is submeridional and extends from the western wing of the Byelorussian anteclise almost to the Eastern Carpathians. The stress reconstructions for this boundary show the WNW and W-E-trending axes of compression. The boundary line does not coincide with the Teisser-Tornquist line that represents the boundary between the platforms with heterochronous basements. However, it correlates well with heat flow anomalies. The boundary area is confined to the Baltic coast [Sim, 2000. Along the boundary area, near the Baltic Sea, there is an area wherein faulting is mainly caused by extension [Sim, 2000. In this setting, helium permeability is the highest, as shown by the crust map of the European part of the USSR [Eremeev, 1983. Extension in this area is probably related to formation of young grabens in the Baltic shield. Changes in the compression axis orientation may be due to the alternating activations of the grabens in the submeridionalBotnicGulf and the latitudinalGulf of Finland. Reconstructions for individual faults show contradictions in the directions of shear displacements: both right- and left-lateral displacements are possible on the same fault segments, and the axes of compression can have either latitudinal or meridional orientations. The focal mechanisms of the Osmussaar andKaliningrad earthquakes (meridional and latitudinal axes of compression, respectively) give evidence of specific current neotectonic stresses in this area. Another zone is distinguished at 52°N from the above-described area. It is mainly sublatitudinal and detected along the southern flank of the Byelorussian anteclise. Further to the east, its orientation changes to SSW, and it roughly follows the SW boundary of theVoronezh anteclise. Reconstructions for the Ukrainian Shield, located south of this zone, show mainly the unstable orientations of the axes of compression. For the platforms inNorthern Eurasia, the tectonophysical methods reconstructed neotectonic stresses in the structures formed under the influence of intraplatform tectonic stresses. These are the residual gravitational horizontal compression stresses released by long-term denudation and uplifting of the structures, including the Khibiny massif of the Baltic Shield, theOlenek and Munsky massifs of the East Siberian platform. These structures are composed of the ancient Archaean-Proterozoic rock complexes, which have been subjected to predominantly vertical displacements for a long time, from the Paleozoic to the modern stage. Special attention should be given to the tectonic stresses ofSakhalin located at the boundary between the Eurasian and North American lithospheric plates. At the edges of these two largest plates, there are the Amur and Okhotsk microplates separated by theCentral Sakhalin fault, as described in some publications. Neotectonic stress reconstructions forSakhalinIsland show sublatitudinal compression and submeridional extension in the common stress field of shearing. The tectonophysical studies show that the neotectonic stresses differ in large structures: horizontal compression and shearing are typical of the uplifts (Kola Peninsula, Tien Shan, Sakhalin), while horizontal extension and extension with shearing are characteristic of depressions (Kandalaksha graben, depressions of theTatarGulf and theSea ofOkhotsk). Our studies provide the data on spacious ‘white spots’ in the modern stress maps ofNorthern Eurasia. The stress reconstructions for practically all the studied structures show that shearing is the dominant geodynamic regime in the study region.

The article substantiates the urgent need for the formation of import-substituting clusters in the agro-industrial complex to ensure food security. In modern reality, carrying out business activities, agro-industrial organizations are already using the advantages of integration to a certain extent, but at the same time, the key interests and guidelines of allied participants in entrepreneurial activities are insufficiently balanced. The authors have identified the methodological features of the formation of the subject of integration (agri-food polycluster formation), using the cluster tools of intersectoral reengineering. The basis for the introduction of the subjects of integration - allied participants in entrepreneurial activity - was their initial assessment and analysis of the factors and conditions of business activity, where the negative results of import substitution, which is an effective threat to food security, can be traced as much as possible. Evaluation of the target pairing through the integration of related business participants allows one to quantitatively assess the predominance of the target points of integration subjects - related business participants using information at the macro and micro levels.

The paper describes the neotectonics of the Sakhalin Island and analyzes the latest and recent tectonic stresses in the study area in order to establish their differences in the Amur and Okhotsk microplates, which boundary is confined to the Tym-Poronaisk fault, the largest NS-striking fault in the Central Sakhalin (Fig. 1). Our map of the structural geomorphological features of the study area (Fig. 2) shows three longitudinal zones: the western and eastern uplifts, and the Central Sakhalin basin between the uplifts. In the Southern Sakhalin, neotectonic stresses were studied by a combination of tectonophysical methods and the method of structural geology (Figures 3 to 6, and Table). Our study shows that the regional axes of maximum and minimum compressive principal normal stresses are primarily of the subhorizontal orientations (Fig. 5, Д). In the Northern and Central Sakhalin, neotectonic stresses were reconstructed by the structural geomorphology method. The compression axes are oriented sublatitudinally, with the NE-trending strike in the Northern Sakhalin (Fig. 7, A), and the extension axes are oriented submeridionally; in the Northern Sakhalin, respectively, they are oriented in the NW direction. The results of our study of neotectonic stresses were used to construct a map of recent geodynamics of Sakhalin (Fig. 7, Б), which shows zones differing in the geodynamic settings of the most recent faulting. According to the analysis of the recent tectonic stress with respect to the earthquake focal mechanisms in the period from 1978 to 2015 (Fig. 8), recent stresses dominating in Sakhalin have mainly the sublatitudinal low-angle orientations of the deviatoric compression axis. The submeridional low-angle orientations of the deviatoric extension axes are observed in the Northern Sakhalin and partly in the north of the Southern Sakhalin (see Fig. 8). The high-angle axes of deviatoric extension are typical of the western and central parts of the Southern Sakhalin, and such extension leads to horizontal compression and reverse faulting. In some areas of the recent stress field, the deviatoric axes of compression and extension have unstable orientations. The latitudinal boundaries of such areas are nearly coincident with the boundaries of the zones that differ in the geodynamic settings of the most recent faulting, which means that these areas and zones are reliably identified. The relative inhomogeneity of the neotectonic and recent stress fields in the Southern Sakhalin does not give grounds to distinguish differences in the state of crustal stresses in the areas located on the sides of the Southern Sakhalin fault. As a consequence, a boundary between the Amur and the Okhotsk Plate in the South Sakhalin cannot be drawn along this fault. It is most likely that this boundary coincides with the Western-Sakhalin fault in the southern areas of the study region. Our data on the Central and Northern Sakhalin does not contradict with the conclusion in [Savostin et al., 1982] concerning this boundary.

The secondary structure of horse cytochrome c with mutations in the P76GTKMIFA83 site of the Ω-loop, exhibiting reduced efficiency of electron transfer, were studied. CD spectroscopy studies showed that the ordering of mutant structure increases by 3–6% compared to that of the WT molecules due to the higher content of β-structural elements. The IR spectroscopy data are consistent with the CD results and demonstrate that some α-helical elements change into β-structures, and the amount of the non-structured elements is decreased. The analysis of the 1H-NMR spectra demonstrated that cytochrome c mutants have a well-determined secondary structure with some specific features related to changes in the heme microenvironment. The observed changes in the structure of cytochrome c mutants are likely to be responsible for the decrease in the conformational mobility of the P76GTKMIFA83 sequence carrying mutations and for the decline in succinate:cytochrome c-reductase and cytochrome c-oxidase activities in the mitoplast system in the presence of these cytochromes c. We suggest that the decreased efficiency of the electron transfer of the studied cytochromes c may arise due to: (1) the change in the protein conformation in sites responsible for the interaction of cytochrome c with complexes III and IV and (2) the change in the heme conformation that deteriorates its optimal orientation towards donor and acceptor in complexes III and IV therefore slows down electron transfer. The results obtained are consistent with the previously proposed model of mitochondrial cytochrome c functioning associated with the deterministic mobility of protein globule parts.