[Rare cases of head traumas incited by propeller blades of small vessels]. / Redkie sluchai travm golovy, prichinennykh lopastyami grebnykh vintov malomernykh sudov.

2 cases of death in males due to multiple head impacts by propeller blades of small vessels are given. The set of the following signs provides a basis for confirming the above-mentioned mechanism and properties of the traumatic object: multiplicity, oblong shape, parallel step-like arrangement of injury lengths, acute-angled M-shaped or Y-shaped injury ends, uneven edges, sometimes with the formation of small flaps and abrasion, lumpy wound walls, multi-fragmented nature of fractures in a limited area of the skullcap and facial skull bones, the location of damage to intracranial structures in the projection of external injuries and fractures of the cerebral skull bones.

[Collagenolytic enzymes synthesized by microorganisms]. / Kollagenoliticheskie fermenty, sinteziruemye mikroorganizmami.

The review uses data obtained by the authors and available in the literature to discuss microbial collagenolytic enzymes, widely employed in scientific research, biotechnology, and medicine. Collagenases differing in their structure and the specificity of their action on collagen fibrils were isolated from bacteria (including marine isolates), actinomycetes, and fungi. Collagenases produced by Clostridium histolyticum and Achromobacter iophagus are the best studied enzymes; both are metalloenzymes that contain Zn2+ in their active site and retain collagenolytic activity in the presence of Ca2+. Serine-type collagenolytic proteases were also found in microorganisms. These enzymes differ from "true" collagenases by the structure of their active site. Both serine proteases and metalloproteases with high collagenolytic activities were isolated from the culture liquids of Streptomyces and Actinomyces strains. The biosynthesis of collagenases is induced by the addition of various collagen-containing substrates to the cultivation medium.

[The role of chlamydial infection in the genesis of tuboperitoneal sterility in women]. / Rol' khlamidiinoi infektsii v geneze trubno-peritoneal'nogo besplodiia u zhenshchin.

The incidence of chlamydial infection in women with tuboperitoneal sterility is 49.5%. Clinically inflammatory diseases of the pelvic organs in such an infection are characterized by a primary chronic course with frequent recurrences and involvement of the cervix uteri, urethra, internal genitals, with moderately manifest clinical symptoms. Therapy of chlamydial infection should be combined with individual selection of therapeutic measures with due consideration for the inflammatory process phase and site, for the type of pathologic changes, general and immune status.

An approach to the detection of microbe life in planetary environments through charge-coupled devices.

The use of charge-coupled devices is suggested as a means for detecting growth of micro-organism colonies. The accuracy of the method is determined by channel width and the sensitivity by the signal/noise ratio. The method was tested on a dense nutrient medium, which is to be considered more suitable to micro-organisms of the dry Martian soil than the water solution of nutrients employed in the Viking's strategy.

Drying as one of the extreme factors for the microflora of the atmosphere.

An investigation of the effects of drying and drying-rewetting cycles under vacuum conditions of 10(-2) torr at -30 degrees C on conidia of the atmospheric strain Penicillium chrysogenum from 48-77 km heights, collected by meteorological rockets found that survival and restoration of the initial physiological properties were possible through some very efficient protective cellular mechanisms. Such adaptive possibilities explain the widespread diffusion of microbial cells throughout the biosphere of our planet.

[Specificity of action of extracellular proteases from Streptomyces spp]. / O spetsifichnosti deistviia vnekletochnykh proteaz iz Streptomyces spp.

The ability of an Actinomyces strain--Streptomyces spp. to produce extracellular proteases has been studied under varied cultivation conditions during the growth cycle. The activity of enzyme preparations precipitated from the culture liquid was determined with various substrates--gelatin, casein, fibrinogen, fibrin and collagen. The isolated enzyme complex possessed caseinolytic, fibrinolytic, thrombolytic and collagenolytic activities.

[Fibrinolytic activity of bacteria from Pseudomonas genus]. / O fibrinoliticheskoi aktivnosti bakterii roda Pseudomonas.

A strain of the genera Pseudomonas genera was found to possess hemolytic, fibrinolytic and thrombolytic activities. The fibrinolytic activity of the lyophilized unpurified preparation was 900 conventional units/mg. After incubation in the blood plasma, the activity completely remained. The preparation (1 microgram/ml, 750 micrograms of protein) obtained by precipitation with ammonium sulfate (80% saturation) completely lysed in vitro human blood thrombi for 50 min. The strain studied can find practical applications in medical industry.

[Microorganisms synthesizing enzymes with thrombolytic action]. / Mikroorganizmy, sinteziruiushchie fermenty tromboliticheskogo deistviia.

The literary and experimental data obtained by the authors concerning the ability of various microorganisms to synthesize exoproteases lysing the thrombi of human blood are presented in the article. Various methods of enhancing the thrombolytic activity of microorganisms cultures, the properties of some isolated and purified preparations, methods of enlarging the specificity of the enzymes to fibrin and of reduction of their toxicity are considered.

[The effect of drying on the content of nucleic acids and mutational changes in microorganisms]. / Vliianie vysushivaniia na soderzhanie nnukleinovykh kislot i mutatsionnye izmeneniia u mikroorganizmov.

The literary and own experimental data on the genetic apparatus changes in microorganisms after drying are reviewed. In the survived drying cells the total content of nucleic acids decreases, some amount of mainly high-molecule ribonucleic acid decomposes. The RNA isolation into the suspended medium is also observed in connection with the destructive processes in the cytoplasmic membrane and the decomposition of some intracellular structures. The dehydration of microbial cells violates the normal processes of DNA replication, and sometimes it leads to the conformational changes in molecule structure. In some cases the damage in the genetic apparatus causes the mutation changes of microorganisms. This should be taken into account in experiments where lyophilized cultures are used.

[Isolation of Actinomycetes synthesizing proteases with thrombolytic activity]. / Vydelenie aktinomitsetov, sinteziruiushchikh proteazy s tromboliticheskim deistviem.

Proteases with the thrombolytic activity were studied in 212 strains of actinomycetes isolated from different soils of the Soviet Union. The cultures belonged to the genera Micromonospora, Nocardia and Streptomyces. Proteases were synthesized by 41% of the studied actinomycetes and some of their strains completely dissolved in vitro artificially obtained blood thrombi within 120-240 min. In the Streptomyces genus, more active strains were found in the groups Flavus, Fradia and Globisporus. The groups Olivaceus, Violaceus and Viridis had less active strains.

[Action of dehydration on the survival, morphology and ultrastructure of the conidia of air-borne and culture collection strains of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum]. / Deistvie degidratatsii na vyzhivaemost', morfologiiu i ul'trastrukturu konidii atmosfernykh i kollektsionnykh shtammov Aspergillus niger i Penicillium chrysogenum.

The effect of dehydration on the morphology and fine structure of conidia was studied with the atmospheric and collection strains of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum. Dehydration did not cause changes in the structure of most conidia. However, destructive changes in the conidial wall and membrane were found in some conidia. The cytological changes of conidia were either reversible or irreversible, which determined their survival rate during dehydration.

[Action of desiccation and low temperatures on mesospheric strains of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum]. / Deistvie vysushivaniia i nizkikh temperatur na mezosfernye shtammy Aspergillus niger i Penicillium chrysogenum.

Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum strains were isolated from the mesosphere and characterised. Their properties significant for migration in the atmosphere are discussed. The possibility of the anabiotic state of these fungi under the action of dehydration and low temperatures was studied as well as the degree of their resistance to the aforementioned extreme factors.

[Resistance of mesospheric microorganisms to periodic freezing--thawing]. / Ustoichivost' mikroorganizmov mezosfery k periodicheskomu zamorazhivaniiu-ottaivaniiu.

The object of this work was to study cytological changes caused by periodic freezing-thawing in the conidia of the fungi Aspergillus niger and Penicillium chrysogenum isolated from the mesosphere as well as in the conidia of the same species taken from the collection of microorganisms. The conidia from the mesosphere were found to be highly resistant to the treatment. As was shown by electron microscopy, the outer "backbone" layer of the spore envelope broke down and the membranes of the plasmalemma stratified after ten cycles in A. niger and P. chrysogenum. The percentage of conidia with the damaged ultrastructural organization was higher in mutants of these cultures.

[Characteristics of microorganisms subjected to the action of a vacuum]. / O nekotorykh osobennostiakh mikroorganizmov, podvergnutykh deistviiu vakuuma.

The object of this work was to study the effect of vacuum on Endomyces magnusii, Serratia marcescens, Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium luteum. The zone of tolerance to the water activity was determined for the intact cells of E. magnusii and for the cells subjected to vacuum. Suspensions of the above cells were studied by UV spectroscopy with the aim of detecting changes in the permeability of cell membrane after the action of vacuum.

[Comparative physiological and biochemical characteristics of Aspergillus niger isolated from the mesosphere and of its mutant]. / Sravnitel'naia fiziologo-biokhimicheskaia kharakteristika vydelennogo iz mezosfery griba Aspergillus niger i ego mutanta.

The aim of this work was to study certain physiological-biochemical characteristics of Aspergillus niger, strain 26, isolated from the mesosphere as well as those of its mutant having light-brown conidia. The parent strain and its mutant were grown in a liquid Chapek medium to study accumulation of the biomass, changes in the pH of the medium, as well as assimilation of glucose, nitrogen (NO3-) and phosphorus (PO4-). The content of polysaccharides, protein, RNA and DNA was determined in the biomass. The parent culture and its mutant had the same growth dynamics and changes in the pH of the growth medium. They assimilated nitrogen, phosphorus and glucose at the same rate. No significant differences were found in the content of DNA, RNA, protein and polysaccharides. Lipids were an exception: their content was higher by ca. 26% in the mutant as compared with the parent strain. Apparently, the elevated sensitivity of the mutant to UV is due not only to a loss of certain pigments, but also to a damage of other protective mechanisms of the cell.

[Resistance of microorganisms of upper layers of the atmosphere to ultraviolet radiation and a high vacuum]. / Ustoichivost' mikroorganizmov verkhnikh sloev atmosfery k ul'trafioletovoi radiatsii i glubokomu vakuumu.

Solar radiation and high vacuum are the main factors affecting the incidence of microorganisms in the stratosphere and mesophere. It has been established in experiments that the conidia of Aspergillus niger are most resistant of UV irradiation. The conidia of Penicillium, the spores of Papulaspora anomala and Circinella muscae, and the vegetative cells of Micrococcus and Mycobacterium are more susceptible to UV radiation. All of the isolated microorganisms have been shown to be resistant to high vacuum. Their inactivation varied within the range of 2 to 16%, with an exception of Micrococcus cells (40%).