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19-Norspongia-13(16),14-diene-3-one (1) was isolated for the first time from a natural source, along with a series of known spongiane diterpenoids (2-11) and sesquiterpene (12) from two unidentified species belonging to the genus Spongia. The effects of 1, 4, 5, 8-12 on biosynthesis of nucleic acids and embryonic development of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius have been studied. All the compounds inhibit sea urchin embryo development at concentration of 20 microg/mL and above and DNA biosynthesis at the dose of 10 microg/mL. The inhibitory effect of diterpenoids at least partly may be explained by the inhibition of thymidine kinase activity.

Influence of thermolabile lethal toxin of Y. pseudotuberculosis on the development of embryos of sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus intermedius) and on biosynthesis of nucleic acids in embryonic cells was studied. Thermolabile lethal toxin affected metabolic processes of cells by inhibiting DNA and RNA synthesis. It had damaging action on developing embryos of sea urchin causing morphological changes and, as a consequence, death of embryos.

Thymidine and thymidylate kinases were isolated from the gonads of scallop Mizuhopecten yessoensis. The enzymes were purified 537- and 100-fold, respectively, and were free of phosphatase and ATPase impurities. Ions of bivalent metals and ATP were necessary for both the nucleoside and nucleotide kinase activities; the pH optimum fall into the range of 7.5-8.5. KCl and NaCl at a concentration of up to 100 mM had no inhibiting effect on the activities of these scallop enzymes. Thymidine kinase catalyzed thymidine, and, at a lower rate, deoxycytidine phosphorylations did not utilize ribo- and deoxyribonucleosides, as well as pyrimidine ribonucleosides, as a phosphate acceptor. Thymidylate kinase phosphorylated TMP and dCMP with an efficiency of about 30%. In addition to ATP, these enzymes can also utilize with different efficiencies dATP, dGTP, GTP, UTP, and CTP as a donor of phosphate groups. Thymidine kinase activity was inhibited by TMP, TTP, and dCTP.

The paper analyzes the impact of various millimeter-range electromagnetic radiation schedules on immunological parameters in 152 patients with new-onset respiratory sarcoidosis. It shows that the immunomodulatory effect of millimeter-range therapy depends on the treatment regimen chosen. There is evidence for the advantages of millimeter-range noise electromagnetic radiation.

Enzyme capable of catalyzing the phosphorylation of thymidine and uridine was isolated from Y. pseudotuberculosis cells by fractionation with the use of ammonium sulfate, ion exchange and affinity chromatography. The degree of purification of thymidine- and uridine-kinase was approximately 350 times, and at all stages of isolation the activity of both nucleoside-kinases was detected in the same peaks. The purified enzyme was capable of the phosphorylation of thymidine and uridine at temperatures of 8-10 degrees C to 50 degrees C and exhibited the maximum enzymatic activity at pH 8-8.5 and 45 degrees C in the presence of 0.5-1.0 mM MgCl2 and 2 mM ATP. The enzyme was found to have no strict substrate specificity and transferred the phosphate group from ATP to radiolabeled thymidine, uridine and desoxycytidine with different effectiveness, but did not use thymidine-monophosphate as phosphate acceptor.

The results of the in vitro action of Y. pseudotuberculosis heat stable lethal toxin on the biosynthesis of protein are presented. The toxin was shown to inhibit the inclusion of exogenous amino acid into newly synthesized peptides. The degree of the inhibition of the biosynthesis of protein in the in vitro system depends on the amount of the toxin added to the incubation mixture. The use of the conjugated transcription and translation system confirms our earlier data on the influence of the lethal toxin on the biosynthesis of protein in eukaryotic cells in vivo.

Y. pseudotuberculosis cells cultivated at temperatures of 37 degrees C and 8 degrees C were found to be capable of incorporating exogenic precursors into DNA, RNA and protein. The linear growth of thymidine incorporation occurred during 8 hours of cultivation at 37 degrees C, then the amount of the incorporated label decreased. At 8 degrees C the level of thymidine incorporation into DNA gradually increased for 80 hours and longer, but not reaching the level of incorporation observed at 37 degrees C. The incorporation of uridine into RNA of Y. pseudotuberculosis cells reached its maximum after 4 hours of cultivation at 37 degrees C, at a lower temperature of cultivation the incorporation of uridine into bacterial cells was almost linear, though slower, and lasted for 20 hours. The content of radioactive alanine in Y. pseudotuberculosis protein increased during 16 hours of cultivation at a high temperature, while at 8 degrees C the growth of the incorporation level lasted for at least 40 hours. For all precursors under study the incorporation rate into the cell biopolymers at the initial stages of cultivation was higher at 37 degrees C, than at a lower temperature.

A technological process for oxybiosorption of sewage was developed. The process and a self-contained unit using it are described.

The conception of oxybiosorption treatment of sewage in antibiotic production is discussed. The conception is based on the data obtained and published by the authors earlier. The main principles of the process substantiation are the generation of active oxygen during the catalytic sorption in the sewage treatment and the formation of active oxygen metabolites (AOM) in the biological systems. Interaction of the AOMs with the organic contaminants in aerobic biological systems provides intensive submerged treatment of the sewage.

The results of the study on the treatment of sewage containing high concentrations of hardly oxidizable organic compounds are presented. The procedure for the sewage treatment is highly efficient because of interaction of the resultant active oxygen with both the pollutants and the microorganisms providing the sewage treatment.

A technological process is described for the submerged biological treatment of household and industrial sewage and in particular pharmaceutical industry and pooled sewage. The submerged biological treatment of the sewage to the maximum permissible concentrations adopted for the water in fish farming is achieved by the use of submerged and immobilized microorganisms in a multistage process under anaerobic and aerobic conditions and the use of chemically active and inert materials as carriers of the microorganisms inducing certain biological processes. The data on the ecological estimation of the treated sewage by the stages of the technological process are presented.

Thymidine kinase was isolated and purified 1600-fold from sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus intermedius) oocytes. The molecular mass of the enzyme is 66 kDa, pI is 5.2. The enzyme activity needs Mg2+, ATP and the corresponding phosphate acceptor. The pH optimum of the enzyme activity is at 9.0-9.5. The isolated enzyme does not exhibit any strict substrate specificity and can phosphorylate thymidine, deoxycytidine and some other pyrimidine nucleosides and their derivatives, the phosphorylation rate being maximal for thymidine, ATP or dATP. The TMP formed via the enzymatic reaction does not influence the thymidine kinase activity.

Using DEAE-cellulose chromatography, three peaks of the DNA-polymerase activity were found in a homogenate of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius embryos at stage 32 of the blastomer. The isolation and purification of DNA-polymerase making up the bulk of he DNA-synthesizing activity of the sea urchin embryo cells included fractionation by ammonium sulfate, chromatography on DEAE-cellulose, hydroxyapatite and DNA-cellulose, resulting in a 2750-fold purification of the enzyme. The enzyme activity requires the presence of two-chain DNA activated by pancreatic DNAse, four dNTP and Mg2+. The enzyme is inhibited by a high ionic strength (150 mM KCl or NaCL) and the sulfhydryl reagent--N-ethylmaleimide; the pH optimum is 8.0. The molecular weight of the enzyme as determined by gel-filtration is about 150 000. It is assumed that the enzyme under study can be related to DNA-polymerases of the alpha-type.

DNA-polymerase beta was isolated from embryonic cells of the sea urchin S. intermedius and purified 1040-fold. The molecular weight of the enzyme is 40 000, sedimentation coefficient 3.2S, pI 8.5. The SH-reagent--N-ethylmaleimide--has no appreciable influence on the enzyme activity. The enzyme is thermolabile and needs four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates, bivalent metal ions (Mg2+ or Mn2+) and primer template for its activity. The maximal activity is observed when a synthetic polymer--poly(dA).oligo(dT) is used. DNA-polymerase performs DNA synthesis via a distributive mechanism. In terms of physico-chemical properties, the enzyme can be related to DNA-polymerases beta.

The embryos of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius possess the ability to incorporate into their DNAs 2'-deoxynucleosides together with all their bases, i.e., adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. This incorporation is inhibited by 3'-amino-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides with the same bases. 5'-Amino-5'-deoxynucleosides and 5'-amino-2',5'-dideoxynucleosides moderately inhibit the incorporation of [3H]2'-deoxynucleosides into the DNAs by competing with the latter, presumably at the phosphorylation stage. The most potent inhibiting effect is exerted by 2'-amino-2'-deoxynucleosides and 2'-asido-2'-deoxynucleosides; the mechanism of this inhibition is still obscure, however.

Clinico-roentgeno-morphological investigation established a marked regression of tumor in as many as 86.1% out of 230 patients with stage IIB and III breast cancer who had undergone radiothermotherapy. Morphologically confirmed complete regression was observed in 12.6% of patients with lesions smaller than 3 cm in diameter at presentation. Treatment was followed by massive necrosis, dystrophic changes and inhibition of mitotic activity of tumor cells in patients with stage III cancer and those with stage IIB who had presented with tumors larger than 3 cm in diameter. However, in all these cases viable tumor cells were still observed at the periphery of tumor.

The results of the study on intensive treatment of sewage are presented and the general approach to it is proposed. Formation of oxygen active forms in biological systems, their generation during physico-chemical treatment under definite conditions and interaction with organic substances provide higher purity levels in treatment of sewage.