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Russian President Vladimir Putin has chaired a meeting of the State Council presidium on the coal industry at which he stated that work on Russia's energy strategy for the period through 2020 needs by sped up and completed by November 2002. The Russian energy industry needs to deal with a need to replace natural gas use with coal use but Putin has ruled out introducing steep rises in the price of natural gas in order to promote coal use. Putin also ruled out introducing restrictions of the importation of cheaper coal from Kazakhstan.

The centerpiece of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's visit to Russia has been talks about the linking of the Trans-Siberian Railroad with the Trans-Korean Railroad, thereby making it possible to transport freight to and fro between South Korea and Europe in 10-12 days. The project would require the construction of 761 kilometers of railroad in North Korea. On leaving Russia, when asked about the linking of the two railroads, Kim Jong Il gave an answer that implied support for the project.

Abstract: Snake venom phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) display a wide array of biological activities and are each characteristic to the venom. Here, we report on the cDNA cloning and characterization of PLA2s from the steppe viper Vipera ursinii renardi venom glands. Among the five distinct PLA2 cDNAs cloned and sequenced, the most common were the clones encoding a basic Ser-49 containing PLA2 (Vur-S49). Other clones encoded either ammodytin analogs I1, I2d and I2a (designated as Vur-PL1, Vur-PL2 and Vur-PL3, respectively) or an ammodytoxin-like PLA2 (Vurtoxin). Additionally, a novel Kunitz-type trypsin inhibitor for this venom species was cloned and sequenced. Comparison of these PLA2 and Kunitz inhibitor sequences with those in the sequence data banks suggests that the viper V. u. renardi is closely related to Vipera ammodytes and Vipera aspis. Separation of V. u. renardi venom components by gel-filtration and ion-exchange chromatography showed the presence of many PLA2 isoforms. Remarkably, the most abundant PLA2 isolated was Vur-PL2 while Vur-S49 analog was in very low yield. There are great differences between the proportion of cDNA clones and that of the proteins isolated. Two Vur-PL2 isoforms (designated as Vur-PL2A and Vur-PL2B) indistinguishable by masses, peptide mass fingerprinting, N-terminal sequences and CD spectroscopy were purified from the pooled venom. However, when rechromatographed on cation-exchanger, Vur-PL2A showed only one peak corresponding to Vur-PL2B, suggesting the existence of conformers for Vur-PL2. Vur-PL2B was weakly cytotoxic to rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells and showed both strong anticoagulant and anti-platelet activities. This is the first case of a strong anticoagulating ammodytin I analog in Vipera venom. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]