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Over the past 20–30 years, the consumption of milk and dairy products in Russia has been steadily declining. An online survey was carried out to find out the reasons for this. The questionnaire was created on the Yandex forms platform with automatic counting of answers. The questionnaire contained 34 questions about the inclusion of dairy products in the diet, the reasons for refusing dairy products, the nutritional value of dairy products, etc. Statistical data processing was performed by the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The significance level was taken equal to 0.05. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high nutritional value of whey proteins explains the widespread use of their dry forms in the composition of various food products. Liquid whey protein concentrates obtained by membrane methods can serve as an alternative. The purpose of the work was the thickening of a liquid concentrate of acid whey proteins obtained by nanofiltration (nanofiltrated concentrate – NF concentrate). A positive result in terms of gelation was obtained, first by increasing the total solid content in the experimental samples to 34% compared with 18% in the NF concentrate and second by increasing the mass fraction of κ‐carrageenan to 0.5% or by combining κ‐carrageenan with xanthan gum. The total solids of the samples was increased by the introduction of dry whey protein concentrate and maltodextrin. Organoleptical, rheological and microstructural studies have demonstrated the positive effect of a combination of milk whey proteins, maltodextrin, κ‐carrageenan and xanthan gum on the gelation of NF concentrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the state-sanctioned and state-led formation of memories related to economic development in the service of post-colonial nation-building. Looking at North and South Korea in the 1940s through the 1960s as a case study, it examines the different strategies utilized by the "pedagogical states" on opposite sides of the Cold War divide to create in the national consciousness a lasting historical myth, in this case -- the myth that both countries' economic development was truly national and had no relation to their former metropole Japan. Based on primary sources, including public speeches by North and South Korean leaders and archival documents, this article explores the importance of public historical education to the formation of memories related to economic development, ways of achieving that, and the role played by nationalism in each country as the memories were formed. Finally, it assesses the role of public historical education in nation-building, its long-term efficacy, and its influence on the present day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recently fibroblasts of many mammalian species have been reprogrammed to pluripotent state using overexpression of several transcription factors. This technology allows production of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells with properties similar to embryonic stem (ES) cells. The completeness of reprogramming process is well studied in such species as mouse and human but there is not enough data on other species. We produced American mink (Neovison vison) ES and iPS cells and compared these cells using transcriptome analysis. Results: We report the generation of 10 mink ES and 22 iPS cell lines. The majority of the analyzed cell lines had normal diploid chromosome number. The only ES cell line with XX chromosome set had both X-chromosomes in active state that is characteristic of pluripotent cells. The pluripotency of ES and iPS cell lines was confirmed by formation of teratomas with cell types representing all three germ layers. Transcriptome analysis of mink embryonic fibroblasts (EF), two ES and two iPS cell lines allowed us to identify 11831 assembled contigs which were annotated. These led to a number of 6891 unique genes. Of these 3201 were differentially expressed between mink EF and ES cells. We analyzed expression levels of these genes in iPS cell lines. This allowed us to show that 80% of genes were correctly reprogrammed in iPS cells, whereas approximately 6% had an intermediate expression pattern, about 7% were not reprogrammed and about 5% had a "novel"expression pattern. We observed expression of pluripotency marker genes such as Oct4, Sox2 and Rex1 in ES and iPS cell lines with notable exception of Nanog. Conclusions: We had produced and characterized American mink ES and iPS cells. These cells were pluripotent by a number of criteria and iPS cells exhibited effective reprogramming. Interestingly, we had showed lack of Nanog expression and consider it as a species-specific feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Syncope, defined as a transient loss of consciousness caused by transient global cerebral hypoperfusion, affects 30–40% of humans during their lifetime. Vasovagal syncope (VVS) is the most common cause of syncope, the etiology of which is still unclear. This review summarizes data on the genetics of VVS, describing the inheritance pattern of the disorder, candidate gene association studies and genome-wide studies. According to this evidence, VVS is a complex disorder, which can be caused by the interplay between genetic factors, whose contribution varies from monogenic Mendelian inheritance to polygenic inherited predisposition, and external factors affecting the monogenic (resulting in incomplete penetrance) and polygenic syncope types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two dozen hybrid clones were produced by fusion of diploid embryonic stem (ES) cells positive for green fluorescent protein (GFP) with tetraploid fibroblasts derived from DD/c and C57BL-I(I)1RK mice. Cytogenetic analysis demonstrated that most cells from these hybrid clones contained near-hexaploid chromosome sets. Additionally, the presence of chromosomes derived from both parental cells was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of polymorphic microsatellites. All hybrid cells were positive for GFP and demonstrated growth characteristics and fibroblast-like morphology. In addition, most hybrid cells were positive for collagen type I, fibronectin, and lamin A/C but were negative for Oct4 and Nanog proteins. Methylation status of the Oct4 and Nanog gene promoters was evaluated by bisulfite genomic sequencing analysis. The methylation sites (CpG-sites) of the Oct4 and Nanog gene promoters were highly methylated in hybrid cells, whereas the CpG-sites were unmethylated in the parental ES cells. Thus, the fibroblast genome dominated the ES genome in the diploid ES cell/tetraploid fibroblast hybrid cells. Immunofluorescent analysis of the pluripotent and fibroblast markers demonstrated that establishment of the fibroblast phenotype occurred shortly after fusion and that the fibroblast phenotype was further maintained in the hybrid cells. Fusion of karyoplasts and cytoplast derived from tetraploid fibroblasts with whole ES cells demonstrated that karyoplasts were able to establish the fibroblast phenotype of the reconstructed cells but not fibroblast cytoplasts. Thus, these data suggest that the dominance of parental genomes in hybrid cells of ES cell/somatic cell type depends on the ploidy of the somatic partner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article reports the results of an online survey distributed among technical writing instructors in 2006. The survey aimed to examine how we teach intercultural communication in basic technical writing courses: our current practices and methods. The article discusses three major challenges that instructors may face when teaching about intercultural communication. These challenges concern teacher preparation, time and proposed goals and objectives, and teaching materials and methods. This article provides some suggestions for addressing the challenges and enriching a technical writing curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article investigates new developments in the representation of the intercultural component in textbooks for a service technical writing course. Through textual analysis, using quantitative and qualitative techniques, I report discourse analysis of 15 technical writing textbooks published during 1993-2006. The theoretical and practical elements of intercultural teaching have been expanded in recent years, but this progress is quite slow. This article provides some directions in which the textbooks can be revised. Such an analysis may be of interest to textbook writers and educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the problem of textbook selection for teaching intercultural communication in the service course. The study analyzes the pedagogical elements of textbooks, using a model of awareness, information, and practice. Applying the Burkean pentad as an analytical tool, the article situates the pedagogical elements of textbooks in four areas: the instructor's experience, course goals, classroom situation, and teaching techniques. It then describes a tool for textbook and context assessment useful for guiding textbook selection. It reports the results of a contextual inquiry to validate the assessment tool. We conclude that the assessment tool offers instructors a valuable predictor of the fitness of a given textbook to a given instructional situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of aging is accompanied by a dynamic restructuring of the immune response, a phenomenon known as immunosenescence. Further, damage to the endothelium can be both a cause and a consequence of many diseases, especially in elderly people. The purpose of this study was to carry out immunological and biochemical profiling of elderly people with acute ischemic stroke (AIS), chronic cerebral circulation insufficiency (CCCI), prediabetes or newly diagnosed type II diabetes mellitus (DM), and subcortical ischemic vascular dementia (SIVD). Socio-demographic, lifestyle, and cognitive data were obtained. Biochemical, hematological, and immunological analyses were carried out, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) with endothelial CD markers were assessed. The greatest number of significant deviations from conditionally healthy donors (HDs) of the same age were registered in the SIVD group, a total of 20, of which 12 were specific and six were non-specific but with maximal differences (as compared to the other three groups) from the HDs group. The non-specific deviations were for the MOCA (Montreal Cognitive Impairment Scale), the MMSE (Mini Mental State Examination) and life satisfaction self-assessment scores, a decrease of albumin levels, and ADAMTS13 (a Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with a Thrombospondin Type 1 motif, member 13) activity, and an increase of the VWF (von Willebrand factor) level. Considering the significant changes in immunological parameters (mostly Th17-like cells) and endothelial CD markers (CD144 and CD34), vascular repair was impaired to the greatest extent in the DM group. The AIS patients showed 12 significant deviations from the HD controls, including three specific to this group. These were high NEFAs (non-esterified fatty acids) and CD31 and CD147 markers of EVs. The lowest number of deviations were registered in the CCCI group, nine in total. There were significant changes from the HD controls with no specifics to this group, and just one non-specific with a maximal difference from the control parameters, which was α1-AGP (alpha 1 acid glycoprotein, orosomucoid). Besides the DM patients, impairments of vascular repair were also registered in the CCCI and AIS patients, with a complete absence of such in patients with dementia (SIVD group). On the other hand, microvascular damage seemed to be maximal in the latter group, considering the biochemical indicators VWF and ADAMTS13. In the DM patients, a maximum immune response was registered, mainly with Th17-like cells. In the CCCI group, the reaction was not as pronounced compared to other groups of patients, which may indicate the initial stages and/or compensatory nature of organic changes (remodeling). At the same time, immunological and biochemical deviations in SIVD patients indicated a persistent remodeling in microvessels, chronic inflammation, and a significant decrease in the anabolic function of the liver and other tissues. The data obtained support two interrelated assumptions. Taking into account the primary biochemical factors that trigger the pathological processes associated with vascular pathology and related diseases, the first assumption is that purine degradation in skeletal muscle may be a major factor in the production of uric acid, followed by its production by non-muscle cells, the main of which are endothelial cells. Another assumption is that therapeutic factors that increase the levels of endothelial progenitor cells may have a therapeutic effect in reducing the risk of cerebrovascular disease and related neurodegenerative diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI) as its most severe clinical complication remain the leading causes of mortality in the majority of countries. Despite the progress in the treatment of MI, quite often the patients, after the first-time MI, develop subsequently a variety of adverse cardiovascular events. In this retrospective study we evaluated the contribution of allelic variations in 9p21.3 locus and in 21 atherogenesis-related genes to the development of hard cardiac events in a cohort of patients of Russian ethnicity after the first acute MI during long-term follow-up (7–10 years). Death from cardiac causes and recurrent nonfatal MI were considered as key clinical outcomes. We have shown the association of rs1333049 and rs10757278 in 9p21.3 and MTHFR rs1801133 with recurrent unfavorable events, the latter was observed in time-dependent manner. Multilocus analysis additionally suggested the influence of carriage of the CRP and ENOS genes variants at the development of subsequent adverse events after MI. The composite model built for prediction of the individual genetic risk of postinfarction hard cardiac events included 9p21.3 rs1333049*GG and MTHFR *TT and was characterized by area under the curve (AUC) = 0.65. Our data show that 9p21.3 locus and MTHFR gene polymorphisms could influence long-term prognosis of recurrent hard cardiac events in patients who underwent the first MI. It is possible that addition of genotyping at such loci to existing clinical scores could improve their predictability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The experiments were performed to investigate the influence of the flame suppressants CCl 4 , CF 3 H, and C 2 F 4 Br 2 on the ignition of hydrogen–oxygen, acetylene–oxygen and methane–oxygen mixtures behind shock waves. The temperature dependencies of the ignition delay times and temperature profiles in the induction zone were measured. The experiments show that CCl 4 and C 2 F 4 Br 2 inhibit the ignition of hydrogen and acetylene and promote the ignition of methane. The influence of CF 3 H on the inhibition is much smaller. A qualitative kinetic analysis suggests that at low temperatures typical for hydrogen and acetylene ignition, the flame suppressants participate in only chain termination reactions inhibiting the ignition. For methane ignition at higher temperatures, the pyrolysis of admixture results in the formation of active radicals, which initiate chain reactions of combustion. The results prove that the chemical stability of the suppressants molecules is essential for successive chemical suppression of ignition under given conditions. The strong inhibiting effect of C 2 F 4 Br 2 on ignition of H 2 /O 2 mixtures behind shock waves is notable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expression of the parental Oct4 and Nanog alleles and DNA methylation of their promoters were studied in a set of Mus musculus embryonic stem (ES) cell/ M. caroli splenocyte hybrid cells containing a variable ratio of parental chromosomes 6 and 17. The transcripts of the reactivated splenocyte Oct4 and Nanog genes were revealed in all hybrid cell clones positive for M. caroli chromosomes 6 and 17. We found that 11 CpG sites in the Oct4 promoter were heavily methylated in M. caroli splenocytes (>80%), whereas M. musculus ES cells were essentially unmethylated (<1%). Analysis of the methylation status of the Oct4 promoter in seven hybrid cell clones showed that the splenocyte-derived promoter sequence lost DNA methylation so that its methylation level was comparable with that of the ES cells. Additionally, no preferential de novo methylation was seen in the Oct4 promoters of M. musculus and M. caroli in teratomas developed from two independent hybrid clones. The upstream region of Nanog was heavily methylated in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (66%) and less methylated in M. caroli splenocytes (24%). The Nanog promoter region was completely unmethylated in M. musculus ES cells. We found that both parental alleles of the Nanog gene promoter were essentially unmethylated in five examined hybrid clones. Thus, we have demonstrated that (1) the Oct4 and Nanog genes of splenocytes are activated, and their promoters undergo demethylation in ES cell hybrids; (2) these events are independent of the number and ratio of parental chromosomes carrying these genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute myocardial infarction (MI), the most severe type of coronary heart disease, is a leading cause of disability and mortality worldwide. In order to investigate the involvement of miRNAs in the pathologic processes related to MI, we performed the analysis of circulating miRNAs - stable short noncoding RNA molecules - in the peripheral blood plasma of MI patients compared to healthy controls (all persons were men and lived in European Russia) using next generation sequencing. We observed 20 miRNAs, which levels in plasma more than two-fold differed in MI patients ( p  < 0.05). Among them miR-208b and miR-375 passed threshold for multiple corrections (FC = 49.2, FDR-adjusted p -value = 0.0078 and FC = −6.4, FDR-adjusted p -value = 0.00076, respectively); these data were then validated using RT-qPCR (FC = 5.3, p -value = 0.028 and FC = −2.1, p -value = 0.0039, respectively). While for miR-208b we reidentified earlier observations, miR-375 was found to be associated with MI for the first time. To investigate the reasons for which miR-375 holds a special place among circulating miRNAs in MI, enrichment and network analyses of miR-375 target genes and their interactions were carried out. PIK3CA and TP53 genes, regulated by miR-375, were identified as the key players of MI disease module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In spite of progress in cardiovascular genetics, data on genetic background of myocardial infarction are still limited and contradictory. This applies as well to the genes involved in inflammation and coagulation processes, which play a crucial role in the disease etiopathogenesis. Methods and Results: In this study we found genetic variants of TGFB1, FGB and CRP genes associated with myocardial infarction in discovery and replication groups of Russian descent from the Moscow region and the Republic of Bashkortostan (325/185 and 220/197 samples, correspondingly). We also found and replicated biallelic combinations of TGFB1 with FGB, TGFB1 with CRP and IFNG with PTGS1 genetic variants associated with myocardial infarction providing a detectable cumulative effect. We proposed an original two-component procedure for the analysis of nonlinear (epistatic) interactions between the genes in biallelic combinations and confirmed the epistasis hypothesis for the set of alleles of IFNG with PTGS. The procedure is applicable to any pair of logical variables, e.g. carriage of two sets of alleles. The composite model that included three single gene variants and the epistatic pair has AUC of 0.66 both in discovery and replication groups. Conclusions: The genetic impact of TGFB1, FGB, CRP, IFNG, and PTGS and/or their biallelic combinations on myocardial infarction was found and replicated in Russians. Evidence of epistatic interactions between IFNG with PTGS genes was obtained both in discovery and replication groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ancient Hungarians originated from the Ural region of Russia, and migrated through the Middle-Volga region and the Eastern European steppe into the Carpathian Basin during the ninth century AD. Their Homeland was probably in the southern Trans-Ural region, where the Kushnarenkovo culture was disseminated. In the Cis-Ural region Lomovatovo and Nevolino cultures are archaeologically related to ancient Hungarians. In this study we describe maternal and paternal lineages of 36 individuals from these regions and nine Hungarian Conquest period individuals from today's Hungary, as well as shallow shotgun genome data from the Trans-Uralic Uyelgi cemetery. We point out the genetic continuity between the three chronological horizons of Uyelgi cemetery, which was a burial place of a rather endogamous population. Using phylogenetic and population genetic analyses we demonstrate the genetic connection between Trans-, Cis-Ural and the Carpathian Basin on various levels. The analyses of this new Uralic dataset fill a gap of population genetic research of Eurasia, and reshape the conclusions previously drawn from tenth to eleventh century ancient mitogenomes and Y-chromosomes from Hungary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]