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In the continuation of the paper on a funeral rites of the Ostriv graveyard the features of burials without grave goods, burials in coffins fastened with nails, burials with buckets and the accompanying items of male burials are considered. Burials without grave goods, as well as burials in dominiums fastened with nails and burials in which buckets were placed, can be interpreted with great care as an indicator of the worldview of a community that was at a certain stage of Christianization. Regardless of Christian ideas about the equality of everyone in the afterlife, there was no imperative prohibition on burial with objects. After Christianization, individual objects took on new functions and became a part of the so-called Arma Cristi (instrument of the Lord’s Passion — tools for fight against Satan) and already in this capacity are used in the funeral rite. Male burial assemblages in general have much less ethnic indicators than female ones. Rather, their grave goods point not to a specific ethnic group but to a specific macro region of the origin of tradition — Scando-Baltic and Northern Rus as well as to a social focus on military subculture. This is evidenced by the presence of weapons, certain types of fibulae, details of the belt set, which have a lot of parallels just in the North of Europe and sharply dissonant with the antiquities of Southern Rus. The presence of weapons was typical for male burial assemblages of the Ostriv graveyard. The main type of weapon the battle axes can be considered of so-called IV type according to A. Kirpichnikov, most of which were placed near the right knee with the handle up but other weapons were also discovered — axes of type III according to A Kirpichnikov and type M according to Y. Peterson and lancet-shaped spear-heads. In the burials the elements of a belt set — buckles and portupey rings — were found. At the same time the absence of other details of the men’s belt set, first of all, the applique plates for status belts which have been worn according to the Orient tradition and became widespread in the Eastern and Northern Europe during the Viking Age draws attention. It is notable that living on the border with the steppe led to the appearance in the burial practice of certain objects inherent in the material culture of nomads, first of all, primarily the single mouth-piece bit.

In 2017—2018 researchers of Architectural and Archaeological Expedition (Institute of Archaeology of Ukraine) conducted investigations in the Ostriv village Rokytne district Kyiv region. As a result, 53 inhumation burials of the graveyard unique for Southern Rus were investigated. Analysis of the burial equipment allowed us to date the graveyard to the end 10th — 11th c. Funeral rite detected in the graveyard differs considerably from usual Kyivan Rus burials of this period. Vast majority of burials were oriented to the north with small season deviations. There were individual burials oriented to the south and to the west. Most were buried lying on their back with outstretched limbs in variety of wooden structures (coffins). Remains of a stone structure have been discovered. It can be reconstructed as the remains of an altar. Remains of funeral food were found in burials, among them chicken bones, eggshells, buckets for liquids and powders. The graveyard is characterized by wide range distinctive accompanying equipment, not typical to synchronous Kyivan Rus graveyards, but close to funeral rite of people living in the southern-east coast of Baltic sea, basically the Western Baltic tribes of Curonians, Prussians, Scalvians. It should be noted that the funeral tradition recorded on the Ostriv graveyard does not fit directly into the synchronous antiquities of Eastern Europe. It has no direct analogies among the Baltic sites known today either. This looks a bit odd, as the grave goods discovered at Ostriv cemetery have direct analogies in the Western Balts monuments. The absence of cremation burials typical to the Western Balts is still under the question here. This situation can reflect the restrictions of Kyiv princely Christian administra-tion. Possibly Ostriv cemetery illustrates Primary chronicle reports on state activity of first Kyiv dukes, particularly Volodymyr the Great and Yaroslav the Wise, who straightened and pushed further the southern borders of Kyiv Rus.

At the Black Sea research site Gelendzhik of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (IO RAS), a technique has been established for joint current velocity profile measurements using towed ADCP and periodic CTD soundings from on board of the mini R/V Ashamba with high spatiotemporal resolution. In this case, CTD soundings are taken from the sea surface to the bottom layer according to an original method recently proposed by V.T. Paka and tested by him and his colleagues on the Baltic Sea. Simultaneous measurements of this kind are important due to the insufficient knowledge of the effect of submesoscale eddies on the hydrological structure and vertical mixing processes. On the other hand, a promising aspect of fast joint ADCP and CTD surveys from the mini R/V is that their measurements can be automatically recorded to the ship’s server in real time. It’s connected transmitter can relay measurement data to a coastal data center, and they can be assimilated into numerical models for now- and hindcast calculations of the state of the marine environment. Thus, in the future, this technique can be considered an operational oceanograpic tool, the development of which is one of the main tasks being solved at the Gelendzhik research site.

The article describes a technique for studying the spatiotemporal variability of the temperature of the water medium in the Black Sea shelf zone using a cluster of anchored temperature sensor chains (thermoresister chains). The cluster consists of three spaced thermoresister chains situated on the inner shelf of the northeastern Black Sea and operating as a part of the Gelendzhik Site of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IO RAS). It is shown that the cluster makes it possible to effectively record the short-period spatiotemporal variability of the temperature field. The quantitative characteristics of this variability, as well as external factors determining it, are established. One of the factors is internal waves. The temperature variability can be used to determine the fluctuation amplitude, and recording these fluctuations at spaced thermoresistor chains makes it possible to find the velocity and propagation direction of internal waves. Some examples of recording trains of short-period internal waves are presented. Different methods are used to visualize the temporal variability of the vertical temperature distribution.

—In 2019, a new instrument was included in the multifunctional measuring complex at the Gelendzhik Research Site (Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, IO RAS), which allows automatic measurement of the hydrophysical parameters of the aquatic environment from the bottom layer to the surface of the waterbody with on-line transfer of data to the coastal center. This is a stationary station that uses a bottom winch for automatic vertical profiling of natural waterbodies. The model of the station was developed in 2018. It measures temperature profiles with temperature and pressure sensors located in a streamlined body: a carrier that moves according to a programmed algorithm. The carrier has positive buoyancy and is connected by a thin strong coaxial cable to the station’s bottom unit. The bottom unit includes a winch and electronic control units. The cable provides power to the carrier sensors and transmission and recording of measurement data in the station’s solid-state memory. Parameter measurements with a fine-structure vertical resolution are carried out with probes moving up and down. The data obtained are transmitted via a fiber-optic cable laid along the sea bottom to the coastal center located at the end of the pier of the Southern Branch of IO RAS. This cable also supplies the station with power. The first results demonstrated the qualitatively new possibilities of the station for measuring the parameters of the marine environment in the entire water column, including the near-surface layer.

The most general problem of determining the concentration composition of mixtures of substances and products of chemical transformations by the data of multidimensional spectroscopy under the conditions of time-varying spectra and component concentrations is formulated. Only a combination of theoretical spectroscopy methods, measurement techniques, and mathematical methods offers, in principle, a solution of such problems, even for the case of a single measurement. A promising and the only way is the use of standardless methods of spectral analysis. Methods and algorithms for solving the problem are developed. A large set of model calculations corresponding to real molecular structures and their experimentally observed photochemical transformations demonstrated the efficiency of the proposed approach. The solution of the problem converges to the exact values, and the obtained values of the concentrations are tolerant to the possible errors in specifying the initial spectral data. The degree of confidence is determined by the calculated value of the variance, which can serve a criterion for the correctness of the initial hypothesis about the qualitative composition of a multicomponent mixture.

The acoustic wave gauge was developed by the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IAP RAS) for long-term all-weather monitoring of wind waves. The instrument can be used to validate remote sensing data. Currently the instrument is being tested in various conditions and compared with different buoys. The acoustic wave gauge “Kalmar” was installed at the Gelendzhik test site of the Southern Branch of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS (IO RAS) in 2019 and has worked successfully till December of 2020. The ADCP RDI WH-600 device was also installed at the landfill. Both instruments are installed underwater and use ultrasound to scan the water surface, they are able to measure omnidirectuinal wave spectrum. The parameters of large waves (up to 12 m) can be calculated from the measured wave spectrum. In the paper both the wave spectra themselves and the significant wave heights are compared for February 1–10, 2020. It is shown that the wave heights measured by the two instruments are close and the difference between the measurements of the acoustic wave gauge and the results of two different ADCP data processing algorithms (Echo and Velocity) do not differ more than the results of the two algorithms differ from each other. The spectra measured by the two instruments differ in the peak region, and fall off in the same way. However, the spectra recovered by different methods from ADCP measurements also differ, so that the shape of the recovered spectrum depends significantly on the processing algorithm. In the future, it is planned to consider this issue in more detail and compare the measurements of the acoustic altimeter with the measurements of the string wave gauge.

A.M. Getmanova1, A.Yu. Brezhnev2, A.V. Kuroyedov3,4, V.I. Baranov2, A.S. Dvornikov4 1Bryansk Regional Hospital, Bryansk, Russian Federation 2Kursk State Medical University, Kursk, Russian Federation 3Mandryka Military Clinical Hospital, Moscow, Russian Federation 4Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University, Moscow, Russian Federation The prevalence of multimorbidity defined as the presence of two or more chronic diseases increases with ageing. Multimorbidity which is associated with a decline in the quality of life and functional abilities results in the increase in the rate of various physiological disorders and hospital treatment and, therefore, growing healthcare costs. Glaucoma treatment, in particular, in elderly patients, is often accompanied by systemic comorbidities and the intake of multiple systemic drugs. Some systemic agents are known to affect the development of glaucoma (i.e., corticosteroids, some of cardiovascular drugs etc.). However, the data on the effect of systemic medications on the levels of intraocular pressure (IOP) and glaucoma progression remain controversial. Understanding the mechanisms of the effects of systemic medications on IOP levels is of crucial importance. Hence, well-designed prospective randomized controlled studies are required to evaluate these effects. This review paper summarizes published data on the effects of common systemic drugs on IOP levels as well as the risks of the development and progression of primary open-angle glaucoma. Keywords: glaucoma, systemic medications, risk factors, comorbidity, polypharmacy. For citation: Getmanova A.M., Brezhnev A.Yu., Kuroyedov A.V. et al. Systemic therapy a risk factor for glaucoma development and progression. Russian Journal of Clinical Ophthalmology. 2020;20(4):191–196. DOI: 10.32364/2311-7729-2020-20-4-191-196.

On June 7, 2018, a sub-mesoscale anticyclonic eddy induced by the wind (north-east) was registered on the shelf in the area of the city of Gelendzhik. With the help of field multidisciplinary expedition ship surveys, it was shown that this eddy exists in the layer above the seasonal thermocline. At the periphery of the eddy weak variability of hydrochemical parameters and quantitative indicators of phytoplankton were recorded. The result of the formation of such eddy structure was a shift in the structure of phytoplankton – the annual observed coccolithophores bloom was not registered.

This model provides a periodic measurement of temperature profiles from the bottom layer to the water surface in a programmable mode using temperature and pressure sensors placed in a single streamlined body (probe). The probe is connected by a thin resistant cable to the bottom block of the station, including a winch and an electronic unit. This cable provides power to the probe sensors, and transmits data to the station’s solid-state memory. Initially, the cable is wound on the winch drum, and the probe is located near the bottom block of the station. The probe has positive buoyancy. When turning on the winch to unwind the cable, the probe starts to go up. After it reaches the water surface and stays there for a short time, the winch turns back, the cable is wound onto the drum, and the probe is pulled down until it reach the bottom block. Measurements of parameters are carried out when the probe moves up and down with fine-scale vertical resolution. During regular use of the station in the water area of the IO RAS Gelendzhik Research Site on the Black Sea, the measurement data will not only be recorded in the station’s memory, but also promptly transmitted to the coastal center via a cable laid across the sea floor. This cable will also provide power to the station. Preliminary laboratory and field tests of the main components of the station are conducted. In the developed version, the station is designed for long-term monitoring of the hydrological structure of the marine coastal zone in operative mode. It may be retrofitted with bio-optic and hydrochemical sensors for environmental monitoring of reservoirs, the depth of which does not exceed 50-100 m.

We analyzed the possibility of explaining empirical relations in the evolution of the biosphere using mathematical models based on the use of the information entropy of event chains and transformation probabilities. It was shown that the requirement of a monotonous increase in entropy is satisfied, if the probability of transitions in such chains increases, especially strongly at the first stages of development. It was demonstrated that a feedback corresponding to death has to be introduced into the chains of implications, and its probability must be significantly higher than that of transitions between evolutionary stages. The problems of the existence of limits of major evolutionary stages and connections of this phenomenon with fundamental physical principles were discussed. The obtained results agree with the observed characteristics of evolutionary processes, which indicates the plausibility of the mathematical model.

Thermochains for Black Sea hydrophysical studies are described, and the features of their displacement at the moored buoy station with subsurface buoyancy are considered. A technique for calibrating the temperature sensors is described and their stability is estimated by comparing the obtained calibration coefficients with the values established in previous calibrations. The characteristics of the temperature sensors, including the time constant are specified, as well as their reading error with respect to the reference thermometer. The performed metrological studies prove that the temperature sensors used in the thermochains work rather stably and make measurements with an accuracy of ± 0.01 °C for several months of operation in marine conditions. This allows to determine adequately the temperature at various horizons in the water environment of the shelf-slope zone of the Black Sea and to study not only its short-period, but also long-term variability.

Basic aspects of the choice of parameters entering a system of differential equations that simulate the sequence of chemical transformations in the case of initiation of a reaction by electromagnetic pulse excitation of reactant molecules are discussed. These parameters are the probabilities of spontaneous and stimulated dipole–dipole transitions and the frequency of quantum beats that lead to the reaction. A method for an a priori estimation of optimum values of these frequencies on the basis of fundamental characteristics of intramolecular processes has been specified. It has been noted that in theoretical prediction of the course of chemical reactions, the solution of the problem in the natural coordinate system (distance between the atoms), rather than Cartesian coordinates, can be more appropriate.

Photochemical transformations induced by long-term continuous exposure to light have been studied. Using the developed theory and methods for calculating photochemical processes, computer experiments have been performed and their results have been analyzed for a large number of model systems and particular reactions. The excitation process has been considered in an explicit form, and the population of energy levels in excited states by absorption of light quanta has been taken into account. It has been shown that continuous optical excitation qualitatively changes the situation in comparison with pulsed excitation: the quantum yield is not zero even at very low quantum beat frequencies. For fast reactions, the kinetics of the process is exponential; in the case of slow reactions, concentration oscillations (on the order of 25% or more) arise, which are clearly manifested in the stationary state of the molecular system. The choice of the optimal photoirradiation time is an important factor in experimental design aimed to obtain a desired amount of the product. Molecular modeling makes it possible to a priori evaluate this quantity.

Electronic, vibrational, and electronic vibrational spectra of the 7-azaindole dimer, the 7-azaindole complex with a water molecule, and their tautomers are calculated. Transition states are considered based on the analysis of frequencies and shapes of low-frequency vibrations and the Mulliken charge redistribution. The performed quantum chemical calculation of chemical reactions enabled the determination of the structure of transition states and proton transfer conditions. It is shown that in the 7-AzI dimer the proton transfer has a character consistent with the formation of a zwitterionic form. The structure of excited states is calculated and the fluorescence spectra of the first electronic transitions that can be used as a criterion of the formation of 7-AzI tautomers as a result of chemical reactions proceeding through a proton transfer in the 7-azaindole dimer and the 7-azaindole complex with a water molecule, are interpreted.

The paper describes a possible mechanism for the transformation of a desalinated water lens in the Kara Sea under the action of vertical turbulent mixing induced by wind. Using a simple one-dimensional model, we show that the strongest transformation occurs at the edge of the lens—its frontal zone, where the thickness of the desalinated layer is the smallest. Because of the strong (cubic) nonlinear dependence of the turbulent energy flux on the wind speed, significant transformation of the frontal zone of the lens occurs during storm events. A series of consecutive storms can cause horizontal lens fragmentation into several zones in which the salinity increases spasmodically towards the edge of the lens.

We consider general questions arising in formulation of the problem of determining the quantitative composition of mixtures of substances and chemical reaction products as a function of time, using multidimensional spectroscopy data. We have analyzed the basic variants of the problem of quantitative standardless spectral analysis that are of practical importance, and propose algorithms for their solution. We show that the solution of the problem over the entire time interval is robust with respect to possible uncertainties in specifying the initial spectral data. The result obtained is quite satisfactory even when quantum beats are not only present but can even be observed. This allows us, based on the spectral data, to obtain a complete picture of the course of the chemical reaction and to determine the probability of chemical interconversions. The proposed algorithm allows us to construct time-dependent multidimensional surfaces of histograms showing the distribution of the concentrations found. The performance of the algorithms has been studied using computer experiments.

The ultrasonic location technique was used to measure the intima-media thickness (IMT) as well as the internal systolic diameter of and the linear blood velocity (LBV) in the cervical arteries in subjects with initial stages of hypertension. Correlation analysis elicited a temporal contingency between these parameters and daily average values of atmospheric pressure. Thus, the common carotid artery IMT tended to increase on high-pressure days. In addition, diameters of the common and internal carotid arteries and vertebral artery were narrowed and, consequently, LBV in these vessels increased. This relationship is more evident in men than women and in elderly subjects than young. These results are suggestive of a vasoconstrictive effect of high atmospheric pressure on these arteries. The relationship is not universal, as it is nonlinear for the diameter of the internal carotid artery and inverse for the external one. This implies different sensitivity of arteries to the factor under study and possible blood redistribution in the arterial tree depending on external pressure. The relationship was observed equally on the day of investigation and previous days, which points to its temporal stability.

We analyzed the possibility of explaining empirical relations in the evolution of the molecular world on the basis of fundamental physical laws and theories of the behavior of the entropy of a system. Quantitative expressions were evaluated describing the entropy of internal motion of atoms in a molecular ensemble (vibrational entropy), which is a term of total entropy with a clear physical meaning. It was shown that vibrational entropy is controlled primarily by the structure of the compound rather than the number and identity of atoms in the molecule. During the early stages of evolution, the appearance of acyclic structures is more advantageous than that of cyclic structures. An increase in the complexity of the molecular world inevitably leads to the appearance of molecules with a complex skeleton formed mainly by bonds of the same elasticity as C–C. The necessity of helical structures, whose spatial elasticity is provided by hydrogen bonds, was explained.

We analyzed the character of molecular transformations under conditions of condensed media, in which intermolecular interactions always occur. It was shown that, instead of discrete transfer of external energy into the molecule, the energy characteristics of the condensed medium (appearance of zones) could result in gradual accumulation of internal energy in reaction centers owing to sequential thermal collisions with particles of the medium initiating the chemical reaction. This does not require high temperatures. The established physical properties related to the energy characteristics of condensed media could play an important role in molecular transformations and, consequently, formation of complex molecular objects at early stages of biosphere formation.

Fluorescence spectra of two long-wavelength electron transitions S 0 ← 1 L b and S 0 ← 1 L a in uncharged and zwitterionic forms of L-tryptophan (Trp) in aqueous solution and in the complex of Trp with water molecule were calculated using the Frank–Condon approximation. Geometric parameters of Trp in electronically excited states were determined, and the vibrational structure of vibronic spectra was analyzed. It was shown that the relative position of structural fragments of alanine (R-Ala) and indole (R-In) could have a determining effect on the fluorescence and formation of the vibrational structure of electronic spectra. The increase of the rotation angle between the R-Ala and R-In, which depends on the Trp environment, results in the Trp fluorescence originating only from the singlet excited state 1 L a .

The problem of standardless molecular spectral analysis of multicomponent mixtures with allowance for photochemical reactions of their molecules has been formulated and its formal procedure has been developed. The case when the time dependence of the spectrum of the mixture is determined only by the change in the concentrations of the components with time and the spectra of the individual components remain constant has been considered. The corresponding requirements for the physicochemical properties of the molecules have been identified and shown to be met for quite a wide range of polyatomic molecules and their reactions. The exception is molecules with metastable excited electronic states. A large set of model calculations relevant to the actual molecular entities and their experimentally observed photochemical transformations have shown the practicability of the approach. The solution of the problem converges to exact values and is resistant to uncertainty in setting the initial spectral data due to the peculiarities of the experimental procedure, the choice of theoretical models, and other factors. The resulting theoretical values of the concentrations meet the least squares test and their errors are measured by the variance per unit weight. The variance makes it possible to evaluate the noise level of the spectral data used in the analysis and reliability of the result and can serve as a criterion for the correctness of the initial hypotheses about the qualitative composition of a multicomponent mixture.

The results of a test experiment comparing quasi-synchronous data of three adjacent acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) deployed on the shelf bottom of the Black Sea in September 2014 are considered. The direct aim of the experiment was quantitative comparison of data from different ADCPs placed in maximally similar conditions to simultaneously measure the sea current parameters at one geographic point. The goals and the scheme of the experiment, methods for processing the measurement results, main results, and their interpretations and analysis, including practical results and conclusions, are described.

A topological defect in a carbon nanotube grown by chemical vapor deposition from methane onto a silicon substrate with thermal oxide has been investigated and visualized (with a resolution of about 1.5 μm) by confocal Raman spectroscopy. Vibrational Raman spectra of molecular fragments of a single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) without a defect and with Stone–Wales defects (two pentagonal and two heptagonal cells) are calculated. The influence of defects on the shape of G-band components (G+ and G–), which makes it possible to determine the nanotube conductivity type, is considered.