[Algo-bacterial communities of the Kulunda steppe (Altai region, Russia) soda lakes].

The composition and macroscopic structure of the floating oxygenic phototrophic communities from Kulunda steppe soda lakes (Petukhovskoe sodovoe, Tanatara VI, and Gorchiny 3) was described based on the data of the 2011 and 2012 expeditions (Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology). The algo-bacterial community with a green alga Ctenocladus circinnatus as an edificator was the typical one. Filamentous Geitlerinema sp. and Nodosilinea sp. were the dominant cyanobacteria. Apart from C. circinnatus, the algological component of the community contained unicellular green algae Dunaliella viridis and cf. Chlorella minutissima, as well as diatoms (Anomeoneis sphaerophora, Brchysira brebissonii, Brachysira zellensis, Mastogloia pusilla var. subcapitata, Nitzschia amphibia, Nitzschia communis, and Nitzschia sp.1). The latter have not been previously identified in the lakes under study. In all lakes, a considerable increase in salinity was found to result in changes in the composition and macroscopic structure of algo-bacterial communities.

[Obtainment of chimeric blastocysts of mice by methods of laser nanosurgery].

The procedure of obtainment of chimeric blastocysts of mice by laser nanosurgery methods without using any other techniques is described. To perform the experiments, a special laser micromanipulator was invented. The murine embryonic stem cells (ESC), which were transformed with pEF-GFP vector, encoding the green fluorescent protein, were used in the experiments. ESC were introduced into the perivitelline space of murine embryos at the stage of 8 cells using the laser micromanipulator. The operated embryos were cultured in vitro until the stage of emergence from zona pellucida. The fluorescence and its precise localization were registered using a confocal microscope. It was shown for the first time that the inclusions of ESC introduced with the lased micromanipulator were found not only in the inner cell mass (ICM) but also in the trophectoderm of the chimeric blastocyst. The technology of nanosurgical operations at early stage preimplanted mammalian embryos using laser techniques opens great opportunities not only for solution of fundamental tasks of experimental embryology of mammals but also for obtainment of chimeric and transgenic animals with predetermined genotype.

[Study of optical absorption of sensitizers in vivo].

The subject of the paper is study of optical absorption of sensitizers in biological tissue. The study shows that absorbance can be used as a tool that allows studying biodistribution of sensitizers and their interaction with tissue in vivo. The article presents a simple technique of determining biological tissue absorption in vivo, and discusses the results of experimental animal studies of some sensitizers.

[Efficacy and tolerability of felodipine based antihypertensive therapy in hospitalized patients with hypertension]. / Effektivnost' i perenosimost' antigipertenzivnoi terapii, osnovannoi na felodipine, u bol'nykh arterial'noi gipertoniei v usloviiakh statsionara.

AIM: To compare efficacy and tolerability of felodipine based antihypertensive therapy with those of standard hospital treatment of hypertension. MATERIAL: Inhospital patients were randomized 1:2 to standard antihypertensive therapy or to therapy which included felodipine (n=50 and 100, 36 and 35% men, mean age 66.0+/-8.4 and 64.3+/-8.1 years, initial blood pressure 162.4+/-9.3/99.3+/-6.4 and 163.2+/-10.3/98.2+/-6.5 mm Hg, respectively). Felodipine was used: (1) as first drug with subsequent addition of other drugs as required; (2) after cessation of previously ineffective therapy; (3) in cases of intolerance to previous therapy, (4) as supplementation to previously insufficiently effective therapy. Results. At discharge in felodipine group 6, 25, 29 and 40% of patients received mono- (felodipine 10 mg/day), 2, 3 and 4 component therapy, respectively. In standard treatment group all patients received combination therapy with 3 (48%) or 4 (52%) drugs. Felodipine group compared with group of standard therapy was characterized by less frequent correction of antihypertensive therapy (0.8+/-0.6 and 2.2+/-0.9, p<0.05), smaller number of drugs used (3.03+/-0.95 and 3.52+/-0.5, p<0.01), more frequently achievement of target blood pressure level (88 and 64%, p=0.0075), less pronounced difference between morning and evening self-measured blood pressure. CONCLUSION: The use of felodipine in hospitalized patients with hypertension allowed achieving target blood pressure with fewer drugs. Felodipine was safe and well tolerated.