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Here in, we have designed two new unfused non-fullerene small molecules using asymmetric benzo[1,2-b:3.4-b', 6,5-b"]trithiophene (BTT) as the central donor core and different terminal units i. e., 2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene)malononitrile (NFA-4) and 1,3-diethyl-2-thioxodi hydropyrimidine-4,6 (1H,5H)-dione (NFA-5) and examined their optical and electrochemical properties. Using a wide band-gap copolymer D18, organic solar cells (OSCs) based on bulk heterojunction of D18:NFA-4 and D18:NFA-5 showed overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of about 17.07 % and 11.27 %, respectively. The increased PCE for the NFA-4-based OSC, compared to NFA-5 counterpart, is due higher value of short circuit current (J SC ), open circuit voltage (V OC ), and fill factor (FF). Following the addition of small amount of NFA-5 to the binary bulk heterojunction D18:NFA-4, the ternary organic solar cells attained a PCE of 18.05 %, surpassing that of the binary counterparts due to the higher values of which is higher than that for the binary counterparts and attributed to the increased values of J SC , FF, and V OC . The higher value of J SC is linked to the efficient use to excitons transferred from NFA-5 to NFA-4 with a greated dipole moment than NFA-5 and subsequently dissociated into a free charge carrier efficiently., (© 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

The use of complex non-drug technologies at the stage of rehabilitation of metabolic syndrome (MS) includes multifactorial correction of its main manifestations: abdominal obesity, insulin resistance, arterial hypertension and dyslipidemia. A prospective randomized study on the use of low-calorie diet (LCD) and nutraceutical correction of the nutritional status of patients with MS was carried out., Objective: To study the effect of a non-drug complex including LCD, physical exercises, as well as correction of the gut microbiome and hepatic protection in relation to reduction of visceral fat volume in abdominal obesity and the dynamics of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism hormones in metabolic syndrome., Material and Methods: 120 patients with MS were randomized into 2 groups: Group 1 received LCD, physical exercises in the gym, and physical activity like daily walking up to 3-5 km/day. Group 2 received LCD, physical exercises in the gym, physical activity like daily walking up to 3-5 km/day, as well as nutraceutical correction of increased appetite, gut probiotic composition, hepatic protection. The treatment duration was 4 weeks. Anthropometric methods in order to control the body weight, waist and hip circumferences and bioimpedansometry were used., Results: As a treatment result, patients in group 1 represented a reduction in body weight, lean and active cell mass, a decrease in musculoskeletal mass and a decrease in total fluid due to extracellular fluid. A decrease in total cholesterol and blood triglyceride fraction was noted. Leptin decreased by 13.96%. Patients of the 2 nd group represented a decrease in body weight, fat mass, lean mass, total fluid and extracellular fluid. There was a statistically significant increase in active cell mass, skeletal muscle mass. There was a decrease in total cholesterol, triglycerides and transaminases. Due to weight loss and fat mass reduction a decrease in leptin expression by 29.85% and decrease in blood insulin levels by 11.2% were noted., Conclusion: Thus, LCD accompanied by nutraceutical correction of the gut microbiota and hepatic protection can be effectively used in combination with physical training in order to reduce the fat mass without pre-sarcopenia development that was confirmed by positive dynamics of volume indices, bioimpedance measurements and reduction in leptin and insulin expression.

Meat is a source of the most full value protein, which contains all essential amino acids, B group vitamins, minerals, including heme iron and zinc. The development of enteral mixtures produced on the basis of meat raw materials will allow leveling the problem of annoyance with the same product taste and extending an assortment of the supplied products for enteral nutrition. As a result of the experiments on the model and natural objects, the technology was developed for beef-based canned food intended for enteral nutrition of people in the post-operative period as well as in the conditions associated with appetite loss, mandibulofacial injuries, burning injury, chewing and swallowing impairments. The multi-component recipe modules balanced by fatty acid and amino acid composition, enriched with the vitamins and minerals were theoretically substantiated and realized. The minimal score was 0.99 unit fractions, coefficient of utility (0.83 unit fractions), coefficient of comparable redundancy 7.20 g/100 g protein. The obtained values of the balance criteria allow making a conclusion about approximation of the values to the physiologically necessary ratio. The correction of the fatty acid composition of the mixture models was carried out in order to increase the unsaturated fatty acid content by combination of meat fat with vegetable oils. The actual ratio of the fatty acid (SFA:MUFA:PUFA) in the product was 16.1:54.7:29.2, the ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 PUFA was 4:1. When designing the vitamin and mineral composition, the intensity of the thermal effect was taken into account. As a result, the doses for addition of vitamins were established with regard to their destruction during the technological process. Based on the performed research, the technology was developed for meat-containing canned food, adapted to the real conditions of the enterprises engaged in production of meat products for child nutrition. The product can be used as a basis or additional source of nutrition during the necessary period of nutritive support of patients., Competing Interests: Zokhrabyan Petros Rafaelovich is the director general of Tatsel, the holder of the original set of normative and technical documentation for manufacturing of "Emnit" - canned meat-containing product for enteral nutrition., (Copyright© GEOTAR-Media Publishing Group.)

A substantial body of evidence suggests that subsurface water masses in mid-Proterozoic marine basins were commonly anoxic, either euxinic (sulfidic) or ferruginous (free ferrous iron). To further document redox variations during this interval, a multiproxy geochemical and paleobiological investigation was conducted on the approximately 1000-m-thick Mesoproterozoic (Lower Riphean) Arlan Member of the Kaltasy Formation, central Russia. Iron speciation geochemistry, supported by organic geochemistry, redox-sensitive trace element abundances, and pyrite sulfur isotope values, indicates that basinal calcareous shales of the Arlan Member were deposited beneath an oxygenated water column, and consistent with this interpretation, eukaryotic microfossils are abundant in basinal facies. The Rhenium-Osmium (Re-Os) systematics of the Arlan shales yield depositional ages of 1414±40 and 1427±43 Ma for two horizons near the base of the succession, consistent with previously proposed correlations. The presence of free oxygen in a basinal environment adds an important end member to Proterozoic redox heterogeneity, requiring an explanation in light of previous data from time-equivalent basins. Very low total organic carbon contents in the Arlan Member are perhaps the key--oxic deep waters are more likely (under any level of atmospheric O2) in oligotrophic systems with low export production. Documentation of a full range of redox heterogeneity in subsurface waters and the existence of local redox controls indicate that no single stratigraphic section or basin can adequately capture both the mean redox profile of Proterozoic oceans and its variance at any given point in time., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Based on studying venous trunks and their syntopia, previously performed on a total of 160 cadavers we elaborated" methods of "cross" shunting. Clinical application thereof in ten patients presenting with severe arterial hypertension accompanied by type 2 diabetes mellitus made it possible to decrease both mortality and complication rates.

Aim: To substantiate administration of <> for prevention of cerebral ischemia in operations on extracranial arteries., Material and Methods: The present prospective randomized trial included a total of 50 patients having endured various operative interventions on extracranial arteries. Of these, 24 subjects were additionally given <> in order to prevent ischaemic complications. Conventionally accepted methods of protection were used in 26 patients. The degree of cerebral ischaemia during surgery was assessed by means of monitoring the lactate content in the blood from the internal carotid artery and internal jugular vein on the side of the operation performed. Also, as an indirect method aimed at evaluating intraoperative cerebral ischaemia we used monitoring of transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO2) on the side of the surgical intervention with the placement of the appropriate sensor in the temporal region., Results: The patients receiving perftoran additionally in order to prevent cerebral ischaemia showed a statistically reliable decrease in the blood lactate level at all stages of the operation. Besides, with the statistically similar levels of TcPO2 in the both groups at the stage prior to pinching the major arteries amongst the patients given perftoran the decrease in TcPO2 at the subsequent stages was significantly lower., Conclusion: Administration of perftoran during surgery on the extracranial arteries made it possible to substantially improve cerebral oxygenation, rendering it stable at all stages of the surgical intervention. Combining this method with other techniques aimed at protecting the brain makes it possible to increase safety of the operations by promoting additional protection from circulatory hypoxia in multifocal lesions of the carotid arteries and arteries of the circle of Willis.

A new method of electrosurgical intervention, i.e. a high-frequency cold-plasma ablation or coblation-technology, is presented in the article. The method is based on an ionic "bombardment" of the biological tissue at the intervention site, which leads to ruptures of intermolecular cohesions. The method has been widely used in arthrosurgery, cardiosurgery, otorhinolaryngology, spinal surgery and cosmetology. The "ArthroCare" Company (USA) was the first to start developing the discussed method. As for Russia, the Research Institute for Medical Instrument-Making of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and Stavropol State Medical Academy are the leaders in promoting the technology in question.

The paper delves into the main regularities of the distribution of fossil microorganisms in Precambrian rocks, beginning from the Archean Eon about 3.5 billion years ago and ending in the Cambrian Period about 0.5 billion years ago. The paper analyzes facial peculiarities in the lateral differentiation of microfossils in Proterozoic basins and the main stages of temporal changes in fossil cyanobacterial communities, which are based on the irreversible succession of physicochemical conditions on the Earth and the evolution of eukaryotic microorganisms and their incorporation into prokaryotic ecosystems. To gain insight into Proterozoic fossil records, modern stratified cyanobacterial mats built up from layers of prokaryotes are considered. The analysis of phosphatization, carbonatization, and silification processes in modern algal-bacterial communities suggests that analogous processes took place in Proterozoic microbiotas. A comparison of modern and Precambrian living forms confirms the inference that cyanobacterial communities are very conservative and have changed insignificantly both morphologically and physiologically during the past two billion years.

We have constructed plasmids for yeast expression of the fusion protein pre-cytochrome P450scc--adrenodoxin reductase-adrenodoxin (F2) and a variant of F2 with the yeast CoxIV targeting presequence. Mitochondria isolated from transformed yeast cells contained the F2 fusion protein at about 0.5% of total protein and showed cholesterol hydroxylase activity with 22(R)-hydroxycholesterol. The activity increased 17- or 25-fold when sonicated mitochondria were supplemented with an excess of purified P450scc or a mixture of adrenodoxin (Adx) and adrenodoxin reductase (AdxRed), respectively. These data suggest that, at least in yeast mitochondria, the interactions of the catalytic domains of P450scc, Adx, and AdxRed in the common polypeptide chain are restricted.

Site-directed mutagenesis of the ecoRII gene has been used to search for the active site of the EcoRII restriction endonuclease. Plasmids with point mutations in ecoRII gene resulting in substitutions of amino acid residues in the Asp110-Glu112 region of the EcoRII endonuclease (Asp110 --> Lys, Asn, Thr, Val, or Ile; Pro111 --> Arg, His, Ala, or Leu; Glu112 --> Lys, Gln, or Asp) have been constructed. When expressed in E. coli, all these plasmids displayed EcoRII endonuclease activity. We also constructed a plasmid containing a mutant ecoRII gene with deletion of the sequence coding the Gln109-Pro111 region of the protein. This mutant protein had no EcoRII endonuclease activity. The data suggest that Asp110, Pro111, and Glu112 residues do not participate in the formation of the EcoRII active site. However, this region seems to be relevant for the formation of the tertiary structure of the EcoRII endonuclease.

Silicified carbonates of the latest Mesoproterozoic Sukhaya Tunguska Formation, northwestern Siberia, contain abundant and diverse permineralized microfossils. Peritidal environments are dominated by microbial mats built by filamentous cyanobacteria comparable to modern species of Lyngbya and Phormidium. In subtidal to lower intertidal settings, mat-dwelling microbenthos and possible coastal microplankton are abundant. In contrast, densely woven mat populations with few associated taxa characterize more restricted parts of tidal flats; the preservation of vertically oriented sheath bundles and primary fenestrae indicates that in these mats carbonate cementation was commonly penecontemporaneous with mat growth. Eoentophysalis mats are limited to restricted environments where microlaminated carbonate precipitates formed on or just beneath the sediment surface. Most microbenthic populations are cyanobacterial, although eukaryotic microfossils may occur among the simple spheroidal cells interpreted as coastal plankton. Protists are more securely represented by large (up to 320 micrometers in diameter) but poorly preserved acritarchs in basinal facies. The Sukhaya Tunguska assemblage contains 27 species in 18 genera. By virtue of their stratigraphic longevity and their close and predictable association with specific paleoenvironmental conditions, including substrates, Proterozoic cyanobacteria support a model of bacterial evolution in which populations adapt rapidly to novel environments and, thereafter, resist competitive replacement. The resulting evolutionary pattern is one of accumulation and stasis rather than the turnover and replacement characteristic of Phanerozoic plants and animals.

The development of nondrug therapies for bronchial asthma (BA) is highly pressing. The application of respiration-correcting methods and means that implement a principle of biological feedback (BFB) is one of the promising lines. To polish procedures for practical work and to evaluate their efficiency, a respiration corrector has been devised, which visualizes a patient's external respiration rhythm and synchronizes it with the reference rhythm whose parameters are set by a physician or by a patient himself. The efficiency of BFB technique was evaluated in the treatment of BA in children. Studies using the device were done 2-3 times a day with 15-20 min in each session. The treatment regime averaged a fortnight. Its application relieved the occurred episode without drugs in most children with mild and moderate BA, prevented attacks and made them fewer, prolonged remission, and reduced the amount of bronchodilatating agents to be used. BFB correction made under the polyclinic setting is indicated for patients with mild and moderate atopic BA in the episode, postepisode, and interepisode periods and contraindicated for patients with severe BA when they have an episode. Treating BA via BFB correction diminishes psychosomatic disorders: anxiety, bronchodilator dependence, fear of a recurrent episode, whining, irritability, and insomnia.

The principal biological distinction between Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic is the abundance and diversity of eukaryotic fossils in the Neoproterozoic rocks, but the two eras also differ in the composition of preserved cyanobacterial assemblages. Evolving eukaryotes provide a partial explanation for observed differences in prokaryotic fossils, but the taphonomic and environmental influences of shifting carbonate depositional pattern are also important.

Silicified peritidal carbonates of the Mesoproterozoic Kotuikan and Yusmastakh Formations, Anabar Uplift, northeastern Siberia, contain exceptionally well-preserved microfossils. The assemblage is dominated by ellipsoidal akinetes of nostocalean cyanobacteria (Archaeoellipsoides) and problematic spheroidal unicells (Myxococcoides); both are allochthonous and presumably planktonic. The assemblage also includes distinctive mat-forming scytonematacean and entophysalidacean cyanobacteria, diverse short trichomes interpreted as cyanobacterial hormogonia or germinated akinetes, rare longer trichomes, and several types of colonial unicells. Although many taxa in the Kotuikan-Yusmastakh assemblage are long-ranging prokaryotes, the overall character of the assemblage is distinctly Mesoproterozoic, with its major features shared by broadly coeval floras from Canada, China, India, and elsewhere in Siberia. Microfossils also occur in middle to inner shelf shales of the Ust'-Il'ya and lower Kotuikan Formations. Leiosphaerid acritarchs (up to several hundred microns in diameter) characterize this facies. As in other Mesoproterozoic acritarch assemblages, acanthomorphic and other complex forms that typify Neoproterozoic assemblages are absent. The combination in Billyakh assemblages of exceptional preservation and low eukaryotic diversity supports the hypothesis that nucleated organisms diversified markedly near the Mesoproterozoic-Neoproterozoic boundary. The assemblages also demonstrate the antiquity of cyanobacteria capable of cell differentiation and suggest the importance of both changing peritidal substrates and evolving eukaryotes in determining stratigraphic patterns of Proterozoic prokaryotes. The permineralized assemblage contains 33 species belonging to 17 genera. Ten new species or new combinations are proposed: Archaeoellipsoides costatus n. sp., A. elongatus n. comb., A. dolichos n. comb., A. minor n. nom., A. crassus n. comb., A. major n. comb., A. bactroformis n. sp., Veteronostocale medium n. sp., Filiconstrictosus cephalon n. sp., and Partitiofilum yakschinii n. sp.

The genus Archaeoellipsoides Horodyski & Donaldson comprises large (up to 135 micrometers long) ellipsoidal and rod-shaped microfossils commonly found in silicified peritidal carbonates of Mesoproterozoic age. Based on morphometric and sedimentary comparisons with the akinetes of modern bloom-forming Anabaena species, Archaeoellipsoides is interpreted as the fossilized remains of akinetes produced by planktic heterocystous cyanobacteria. These fossils set a minimum date for the evolution of derived cyanobacteria capable of marked cell differentiation, and they corroborate geochemical evidence indicating that atmospheric oxygen levels were well above 1% of present day levels 1,500 million years ago.

The efficiency of two schemes of oligonucleotide-directed insertion mutagenesis was studied in comparison with standard cloning of DNA duplexes based on blunt-end ligation. Using new approaches, the 30-bp consensus-like prokaryotic promoter was inserted in proper orientation in a promoter-testing plasmid at an almost 100% frequency. Data on the marker gal operon expression and S1-nuclease mapping of the transcription initiation points indicate formation of an active promoter in the region of the insertion.

A series of DNA duplexes corresponding to the E. coli consensus promoter with random hexanucleotides in the -35 region have been synthesized and characterized. The library of recombinant plasmids with synthetic promoter-like inserts, oriented in the direction of the marker gal operon of the initial vector, have been obtained. Analysis of the library on indicator medium and S1 mapping of the in vivo transcription initiation points in several plasmids have shown that most constructions exhibit promoter properties, and the structures of their -35 regions may be varied.

A diverse assemblage of well-preserved microorganisms has been detected in black cherts from the approximately 1200 Ma-old Avzyan Formation (Suite) of the southern Ural Mountains, Russian Federation. The lower Kataskin Member contains a diverse, abundant microbiota dominated by mat-forming filamentous cyanobacteria, several types of colonial unicells, and morphologically distinctive stalked cyanobacteria. The upper Revet Member contains a less diverse biota dominated by unicellular cyanobacteria. Palaeoecological evidence indicates that the microbial community of the Kataskin Member inhabited a shallow water, presumably marine, carbonate environment. Revet microorganisms possibly lived in restricted peritidal environments. The biostratigraphic significance of the Avzyan microbiota is limited. Many of the taxa are long-ranging; they were already abundant in Palaeoproterozoic successions and continue into the Neoproterozoic. Nevertheless, in many respects, the Kataskin assemblage is comparable to those reported from the Middle-Late Riphean deposits of Northern America, Australia and Eurasia. The following taxa are here described: Chroococcaceae-Eogloeocapsa avzyanica Sergeev, Gloeodiniopsis lamellosa Schopf emend. Knoll et Golubic; Entophysalidaceae-Eoentophysalis belcherensis Hofmann; Dermocarpaceae-Polybessurus bipartitus Fairchild ex Green et al.; Nostocaceae-Eosphaeronostoc kataskinicum Sergeev; Nostocaceae or Oscillatoriaceae-Siphonophycus robustum (Schopf) emend. Knoll et Golubic emend. Knoll et al., Siphonophycus sp.; Incertae sedis-Eosynechococcus amadeus Knoll et Golubic.

Silicified shallow-water marine carbonate deposits of the Proterozoic Debengda Formation (the Olenek Uplift, northeastern Siberia) contain well preserved microfossils. One or two distinct assemblages consists only of filamentous Siphonophycus microfossils, which are presumably the extracellular sheaths of hormogonium cyanobacteria. The other is dominated by coccoidal microfossils, first by the entophysalidacean cyanobacterium Eoentophysalis. The coccoidal assemblage was recognized in the layered carbonate precipitate structures of a superficially stromatolite appearance. Despite its simple composition, the microfossil assemblage supports the generally accepted Mesoproterozoic (middle Riphean) age of the Debengda Formation. This conclusion corresponds to the available data on isotopic geochronology, and to the composition of columnar stromatolites from the Dehengda Formation. Both the structural features and carbon isotopic composition of its rocks are comparable to those of rocks of known Mesoproterozoic age, but differ from the characteristics of definitely Neoproterozoic deposits.

Chemical ligation of oligonucleotides in double-stranded helices has been considered in its structural-kinetic aspect. A study was made of (i) two series of DNA duplexes with various arrangements of reacting groups in the ligation junction induced by mispairing or by alteration of furanose structure (the replacement of dT unit with rU, aU, IU, xU, dxT ones) and of (ii) eight synthetic water-soluble carbodiimides with different substituents at N1 and N3 atoms. We assumed that some information on the local structure of modified sites in the duplex can be obtained from kinetic parameters of oligonucleotide coupling reaction. The ratio of kinetic constants k3/(k2 + k3) for productive and nonproductive decomposition of the activated phosphomonoester derivative apparently reflects the reaction site structure: for a given duplex this parameter is virtually independent of the condensing agent composition. Based on the analysis of the chemical ligation kinetics a suggestion has been made about the conformation of some modified units in the double helix.

Chemical ligation of oligonucleotides in double stranded complexes has been considered in its structural-kinetic aspect. In a study of the reactivity of eleven synthetic water soluble carbodiimides the reaction rate has been found to be strongly affected by the substituents at N1 and N3 atoms. The chemical ligation appears to involve the linear form of carbodiimide. Model systems have been used to assess the rate constant for the phosphate activation. The ratio of kinetic constants for the productive and nonproductive reactions of the activated derivate apparently reflects the reactive site conformation; for a given duplex this parameter is virtually independent of the condensing agent structure.

To characterize structural factors affecting kinetic parameters of chemical ligation, DNA duplexes with various arrangements of reacting groups in the ligation site have been synthesized and studied. The modifications included replacement of a deoxythymidine with a uridine or a nucleoside having reversed configuration at C2' and/or C3' atoms, the modified residue being phosphate donor or acceptor; introduction of an "extra" nucleotide residue; replacement of a G.C pair second to the junction with a noncomplementary G.G pair. Thermal stability of the anomalous nucleotide duplexes has been characterized. Based on analysis of the kinetic parameters of chemical ligation, a suggestion is made about the conformation of the reactive site.

Experiments were conducted on guinea pigs and rabbits. It was shown that treatment of human femoral vessels with metaperiodate and glutaraldehyde solutions led to a sharp (10-fold) reduction of the amount of water-soluble proteins in the tissue homogenates, to a decrease of the sensitising and anaphylactic activity of the extracts, to inertia in the precipitation test with homologous antiserum to crude tissue.

Application of specially developed physical exercises (an interval for sports, sports minute, a microinterval for sports) and hygienic procedures at the end of the working day resulted in a more rapid restoration of work capacity and in decrease of fatigue in the main group both in the process of work and after office hours, compared to the control one.