The Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) Experiment.

The Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) experiment was conducted from Guam (13.5° N, 144.8° E) during January-February 2014. Using the NSF/NCAR Gulfstream V research aircraft, the experiment investigated the photochemical environment over the tropical western Pacific (TWP) warm pool, a region of massive deep convection and the major pathway for air to enter the stratosphere during Northern Hemisphere (NH) winter. The new observations provide a wealth of information for quantifying the influence of convection on the vertical distributions of active species. The airborne in situ measurements up to 15 km altitude fill a significant gap by characterizing the abundance and altitude variation of a wide suite of trace gases. These measurements, together with observations of dynamical and microphysical parameters, provide significant new data for constraining and evaluating global chemistry climate models. Measurements include precursor and product gas species of reactive halogen compounds that impact ozone in the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere. High accuracy, in-situ measurements of ozone obtained during CONTRAST quantify ozone concentration profiles in the UT, where previous observations from balloon-borne ozonesondes were often near or below the limit of detection. CONTRAST was one of the three coordinated experiments to observe the TWP during January-February 2014. Together, CONTRAST, ATTREX and CAST, using complementary capabilities of the three aircraft platforms as well as ground-based instrumentation, provide a comprehensive quantification of the regional distribution and vertical structure of natural and pollutant trace gases in the TWP during NH winter, from the oceanic boundary to the lower stratosphere.

[Analysis of changes in the gp120 V3 region as observed in some patients with HIV infected from a common infection source]. / Analiz izmenchivosti oblasti V3 gp120 u otdel'nykh patsientov v kogorte VICH-infitsirovannykh, imeiushchikh edinyi istochnik zarazheniia.

HIV-1 genome regions encoding the gp120 V3 part were sequenced in samples isolated from persons belonging to the category of those infected in the Rostov-Elista outbreak and having the common infection source. Samples were obtained from 5 patients in 1992 and in 2001. A total of 27 sequences obtained in 1992 and 35 sequences obtained in 2001, 2 to 8 sequences for each patient, were analyzed. The diversity level of V3 sequences made, in some patients, 2.2% in 1992 and went up to 4.2% in 2001 samples (p < 0.07). The ratio between the synonymous and non-synonymous substitutions was determined for the gp120 V3 region. The mean ratio value made 0.12 in 1992 samples and 0.23 in 2001 samples. The obtained data confirm the assumption, made previously in a population analysis, on the evolution of the gp120 V3 epitope towards substitution of the Lg initial structure in positions 14 and 15 (through intermediate stages represented by the IG and FG structures) for the FA structure.

[A retrospective analysis of population type variability of the region V3 gp120 in HIV infected patients with a unified infection focus]. / Retrospektivnyi analiz populiatsionnoi izmenchivosti oblasti V3 gp120 v kogorte VICH-infitsirovannykh, imeiushchikh edinyi istochnik zarazheniia.

Regions of HIV-1 genome, encoding the V3 gp120 region, were sequenced in materials that were sampled from persons belonging to the category of individuals infected from a single source during the Rostov-Elista outbreak. The samples were obtained in 1991-1992 (10 pieces) and in 2000-2001 (16 pieces), which amounts to 8% and 13%, respectively, of a total number of patients infected by the beginning of 1990. It was established that the level of the population variability of amino-acid sequences in region V3 amounted, in 1991-1992, to 5.2% and increased to 9.1% in the samples of 2000-2001. A comparison of amino-acid sequences in region V3 from the collections of 1991-1992 and of 2000-2001 revealed the below amino-acid substitutions: from Ser13 to His, from Ley14 to Phe, from Phe to Ley and from Ley to Ala. An analysis of V3 B-epitope showed that the basic trend of its evolution consists in reciprocal transitions of L to F in position 14 and of F to L in position 20. Such substitutions ensure further changes at the "top" of the V3-loop from GPG to APG.