[The application of the computer technologies for the mathematical simulation of the ethmoidal labyrinth]. / Komp'iuternye tekhnologii dlia matematicheskogo modelirovaniia reshetchatogo labirinta.

The objective of the present work was to study the relationship between the dimensions of the ethmoidal labyrinth and the skull in the subjects differing in the nose shape by means of the factorial and correlation analysis with the application of the modern computer-assisted methods for the three-dimensional reconstruction of the skull. We developed an original method for computed craniometry with the use the original program that made it possible to determine the standard intravital craniometrics characteristics of the human skull with a high degree of accuracy based on the results of analysis of 200 computed tomograms of the head. It was shown that the length of the inferior turbinated bones and the posterior edge of the orbital plate is of special relevance for practically all parameters of the ethmoidal labyrinth. Also, the width of the choanae positively relates to the height of the ethmoidal labyrinth.

Investigation of the regulatory function of archaeal ribosomal protein L4.

Ribosomal protein L4 is a regulator of protein synthesis in the Escherichia coli S10 operon, which contains genes of 11 ribosomal proteins. In this work, we have investigated regulatory functions of ribosomal protein L4 of the thermophilic archaea Methanococcus jannaschii. The S10-like operon from M. jannaschii encodes not 11, but only five ribosomal proteins (L3, L4, L23, L2, S19), and the first protein is L3 instead of S10. We have shown that MjaL4 and its mutant form lacking an elongated loop specifically inhibit expression of the first gene of the S10-like operon from the same organism in a coupled transcription-translation system in vitro. By deletion analysis, an L4-binding regulatory site has been found on MjaL3 mRNA, and a fragment of mRNA with length of 40 nucleotides has been prepared that is necessary and sufficient for the specific interaction with the MjaL4 protein.

[The Thermus thermophilus 5S rRNA-protein complex: Identifications of specific binding sites for proteins L5 and L18 in 5S rRNA]. / 5S rRNK-belkovyi kompleks Thermus thermophilus. Opredelenie spetsificheskikh uchastkov sviazyvaniia belkov L5 i L18 na 5S rRNK.

Three 5S rRNA-binding ribosomal proteins (L5, L18, TL5) of extremely thermophilic bacterium Thermus thermophilus have earlier been isolated. Structural analysis of their complexes with rRNA requires identification of their binding sites in the 5S rRNA. Previously, a TL5-binding site has been identified, a TL5-RNA complex crystallized, and its structure determined to 2.3 A. The sites for L5 and L18 were characterized, and two corresponding 5S rRNA fragments constructed. Of these, a 34-nt fragment specifically interacted with L5, and a 55-nt fragment interacted with L5, L18, and with both proteins. The 34-nt fragment-L5 complex was crystallized; the crystals are suitable for high-resolution X-ray analysis.

[Deoxyribonuclease from Corynebacterium diphtheriae: dynamics of synthesis and properties]. / Dezoksiribonukleaza difteriinykh bakterii: dinamika obrazovaniia i nekotorye svoistva.

Diphtheritic bacteria of PW-8 Massachusetts strain produced into cultural medium only one nucleotidase--endoDNAase. The enzyme was synthesized by the cells during the exponential phase of growth. The DNAase was purified 500-fold and exhibited properties specific to neutral-alkaline DNAases (pH optimum about 7.5, absolute requirements for Me2+, single-step mechanism of substrate hydrolysis). The following properties were typical for the enzyme: absence of distinct specificity to structure of bases surrounding the hydrolyzed bond, formation of 5'-end phosphate groups and slightly higher preference to denatured DNA.

[Determination of antimicrobial activity of wound discharge for assessing wound healing]. / Opredelenie antimikrobnoi aktivnosti ranevogo otdeliaemogo dlia otsenki zazhivleniia rany.

The authors studied the dynamics of changes of antimicrobial activity of the wound discharge in 70 patients, aged from 18 to 83 years, who underwent operations for emergency diseases of the abdominal organs with postoperative suppuration of the wound. The study was conducted at the peak of suppuration, in the regeneration phase, and before closure of the wound with sutures. The antimicrobial activity of the wound discharge was found to be low at the peak of wound suppuration with marked necrotic changes of the tissues, as well as in poor granulations, and good in uncomplicated course of the wound process. Changes of antimicrobial activity of the wound discharge, both in uncomplicated and complicated course of the wound process, correlated with the clinical signs of healing. The obtained data make in possible to determine antimicrobial activity of the wound discharge for evaluation of healing, prognostication of bacterial complications in the wound, and control over the efficacy of the treatment.

[Persistence of opportunistic Staphylococcus and disorders of immune homeostasis in frequently sick children]. / Persistentsiia uslovno-patogennogo stafilokokka i narushenie immunnogo gomeostaza u chasto i dlitel'no boleiushchikh detei.

Clinical, microbiological and immunological examinations were made of ailing children with localized (fauces) and spread (fauces, skin, intestine) staphylococcal lesions. The clinicogenealogical analysis revealed considerable hereditary aggravation as regards immune pathology, the presence of immunopathological diatheses, and a high level of dysembryogenesis stigmas in the given children's group. S. aureus and S. epidermidis were identified. In ailing children, the authors proved the persistence of ubiquitary staphylococcus, giving rise to the deficiency of immune factors consumption as related to the characteristics of antigenic adaptation of such children. Immunologic tolerance was found to fail at one of the crucial periods of immunity, with the opsonocytophagic component appearing to be the site of application of the suppressant action of Staphylococcus.

Structural studies of ribosomal proteins.

Crystal and solution structures of fourteen ribosomal proteins from thermophilic bacteria have been determined during the last decade. This paper reviews structural studies of ribosomal proteins from Thermus thermophilus carried out at the Institute of Protein Research (Pushchino, Russia) in collaboration with the University of Lund (Lund, Sweden) and the Center of Structural Biochemistry (Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden). New experimental data on the crystal structure of the ribosomal protein L30 from T. thermophilus are also included.