Synthesis of Samarium OxysulfateSm2O2SO4 in the High-Temperature Oxidation Reaction and Its Structural, Thermal and Luminescent Properties.

The oxidation process of samariumoxysulfide was studied in the temperature range of 500-1000 °C. Our DTA investigation allowed for establishing the main thermodynamic (∆Hºexp = -654.6 kJ/mol) and kinetic characteristics of the process (Ea = 244 kJ/mol, A = 2 × 1010). The enthalpy value of samarium oxysulfate (ΔHºf (Sm2O2SO4(monocl)) = -2294.0 kJ/mol) formation was calculated. The calculated process enthalpy value coincides with the value determined in the experiment. It was established that samarium oxysulfate crystallizes in the monoclinic symmetry class and its crystal structure belongs to space group C2/c with unit cell parameters a = 13.7442 (2), b = 4.20178 (4) and c = 8.16711 (8)Å, ß = 107.224 (1)°, V = 450.498 (9)Å3, Z = 4. The main elements of the crystalline structure are obtained and the cation coordination environment is analyzed in detail. Vibrational spectroscopy methods confirmed the structural model adequacy. The Sm2O2SO4luminescence spectra exhibit three main bands easily assignable to the transitions from 4G5/2 state to 6H5/2, 6H7/2, and 6H9/2 multiplets.

Relativistic transfer ionization and the Breit interaction.

We consider correlated transfer ionization in relativistic collisions between a highly charged ion and a light atom. In this process two quasifree electrons of the atom interact with each other during the short collision time that results in the capture of one of them by the ion and emission of the other. We show that this process is strongly influenced by the generalized Breit interaction already at modest relativistic impact energies.

Test of many-electron QED effects in the hyperfine splitting of heavy high-Z ions.

A rigorous evaluation of the two-photon exchange corrections to the hyperfine structure in lithiumlike heavy ions is presented. As a result, the theoretical accuracy of the specific difference between the hyperfine splitting values of H- and Li-like Bi ions is significantly improved. This opens a possibility for the stringent test of the many-electron QED effects on a few percent level in the strongest electromagnetic field presently available in experiments.

Insecticidal toxins from the bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens.

Transgenic plants expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins are currently being deployed for insect control. In response to concerns about Bt resistance, we investigated a toxin secreted by a different bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens, which lives in the gut of entomophagous nematodes. In insects infected by the nematode, the bacteria are released into the insect hemocoel; the insect dies and the nematodes and bacteria replicate in the cadaver. The toxin consists of a series of four native complexes encoded by toxin complex loci tca, tcb, tcc, and tcd. Both tca and tcd encode complexes with high oral toxicity to Manduca sexta and therefore they represent potential alternatives to Bt for transgenic deployment.

The influence of spermidine (polyamines) on DNA depurination in vitro.

The influence of the spermidine, spermine and putrescine on the DNA depurination rate was studied. These polyamines protect DNA against depurination. The rate of Col EI DNA depurination at pH 4.3 was decreased over 10-fold by addition of 10 mM polyamines.

Rigor cross-bridges bind to two actin monomers in thin filaments of rabbit psoas muscle.

The mode of binding of myosin subfragment-1 (S1) to actin is known to depend on their molar ratio: when actin is in excess, S1 binds to two actin monomers within the actin filament, and when S1 is in excess or is equimolar with actin, each S1 binds to one actin monomer. Since in vertebrate striated muscle actin is in molar excess over myosin, we expect that in fibers each myosin head binds to two actin monomers. To test this idea, we compared the conformation of the heads in native muscle with the conformation of S1 in fibers that were loaded with either high (S1 equimolar with actin) or low (excess of actin over S1) concentration of extrinsic S1. Conformation was assessed by the accessibility of heads to trypsin (measured by the rate of trypsinolysis) and by their orientation with respect to the muscle axis (measured by a combination of polarization of fluorescence and linear dichroism). In muscle fibers loaded with a high concentration of S1, the region of the heavy chain of the myosin head at the junction of 20 and 50 kDa proteolytic fragments was readily digested by trypsin and its orientation was approximately perpendicular to an axis of a thin filament. In contrast, when muscle fibers were loaded with a low concentration of S1, the 20/50 kDa junction of S1 was protected from trypsinolysis and its orientation was more parallel with a filament axis. Native muscle in rigor behaved like muscle irrigated with a low concentration of S1, i.e. the 20/50 kDa junction of the myosin head was protected from trypsinolysis and the orientation of the heads was parallel to the filament axis. We conclude that in rigor rabbit psoas muscle each myosin head binds to two actin monomers in a thin filament, and that this binding is different from the binding of S1 to actin in equimolar solutions.

[The dynamics of the direct current potentials of the brain during sustained attention in 10-11-year-old children].

The dynamics of direct current potentials of the brain was studied in 10-11-year-old children during sustained attention to successive presentation of series of Shulte tables. Children were examined twice: before and after the series of training to fast reading. A gradual increase in the level of direct current potentials during sustained attention was observed. The increase was more pronounced in children with excessive than in children with moderate reactions to the loading. After the series of training to fast reading, the increase in the level of direct current potentials was reduced in both groups. This aftertraining neurophysiological phenomenon was combined with a transformation of psychophysiological characteristics: a decrease in the time of viewing of Shulte tables and increase in the speed of reading. It is suggested that the shifts of direct current potentials reflects the dynamics of intensity of the cerebral energy metabolism.

The sequence of a Drosophila Cyp4e2 cytochrome P450-encoding cDNA.

A composite 1458-bp cDNA that encodes cytochrome P450 (P450) Cyp4e2 has been constructed from clones isolated from two Drosophila embryonic cDNA libraries. The Drosophila cDNA open reading frame encodes a protein of 486 amino acids that is 40% identical and 61% similar to Cyp4d1 from Drosophila. The predicted protein is unusual in that it appears to lack the hydrophobic N-terminus typical of microsomal P450s and also contains a small insertion at its C-terminus.

Cytochrome P450 genes from Helicoverpa armigera: expression in a pyrethroid-susceptible and -resistant strain.

The molecular basis of metabolic resistance to pyrethroids in Helicoverpa armigera is currently under debate. Substantial indirect evidence supports a role for both esterase- and cytochrome-P450-mediated metabolism. However, the relative roles played by these two mechanisms in field-based resistance is uncertain. Our understanding of the importance of P450-mediated metabolism is hindered by the paucity of cloned genes from this species, and the corresponding absence of data on rates of insecticide metabolism by functionally expressed P450s. To facilitate P450 gene isolation from H. armigera we used degenerate primers in the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to clone P450 gene fragments from the RNA of a pyrethroid-resistant strain. Here we report the isolation of eight new P450 genes: seven from the CYP4 family and one CYP9. One of these genes, CYP4G8, is two-fold over-expressed in the resistant strain, whereas the other CYP4s showed either similar or undetectable levels of expression. CYP9A3 appears to be a homolog of the putatively resistance-associated CYP9A1 of Heliothis virescens. However, no difference in expression between the H. armigera strains was detected. CYP6B2, a gene previously reported to be over-expressed in a different pyrethroid-resistant strain of H. armigera, also revealed non-detectable levels of expression in both strains. These observations suggest that different P450s may be over-expressed in different resistant strains, and emphasize that recombinant expression will be necessary in order to define precisely their individual substrate specificities and ability to metabolize pyrethroids. The gene fragments described here represent an important first step in this direction.

The interdomain motions in myosin subfragment 1.

The interdomain motions in myosin subfragment 1 (S1) were studied by steady-state and time-resolved fluorescence of tryptophan residues and N-(iodoacetyl)-N'-(5-sulfo-1-naphtyl)ethylenediamine (AEDANS) attached to Cys178 of alkali light chain 1 (A1) exchanged into S1. The efficiency of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from tryptophan residues of motor domain to AEDANS at A1 decreased dramatically after addition of ATP to S1A1-AEDANS. The efficiency of FRET calculated from the crystal structure of chicken S1 corresponded to the experimental one measured in the presence of ATP. The results showed that AEDANS at Cys178 of A1 became more mobile and distant from the motor domain of S1 upon ATP binding. These findings led to the suggestion that a release of the products of ATP hydrolysis and power stroke might be associated with movement of light chain-binding domain towards the N-terminal domain of S1.

The identification of tryptophan residues responsible for ATP-induced increase in intrinsic fluorescence of myosin subfragment 1.

ATP binding to myosin subfragment 1 (S1) induces an increase in tryptophan fluorescence. Chymotryptic rabbit skeletal S1 has 5 tryptophan residues (Trp113, 131, 440, 510 and 595), and therefore the identification of tryptophan residues perturbed by ATP is quite complex. To solve this problem we resolved the complex fluorescence spectra into log-normal and decay-associated components, and carried out the structural analysis of the microenvironment of each tryptophan in S1. The decomposition of fluorescence spectra of S1 and S1-ATP complex revealed 3 components with maxima at ca. 318, 331 and 339-342 nm. The comparison of structural parameters of microenvironment of 5 tryptophan residues with the same parameters of single-tryptophan-containing proteins with well identified fluorescence properties applying statistical method of cluster analysis, enabled us to assign Trp595 to 318 nm, Trp440 to 331 nm, and Trp 13, 131 and 510 to 342 nm spectral components. ATP induced an almost equal increase in the intensities of the intermediate (331 nm) and long-wavelength (342 nm) components, and a small decrease in the short component (318 nm). The increase in the intermediate component fluorescence most likely results from an immobilization of some quenching groups (Met437, Met441 and/or Arg444) in the environment of Trp440. The increase in the intensity and a blue shift of the long component might be associated with conformational changes in the vicinity of Trp510. However, these conclusions can not be extended directly to the other types of myosins due to the diversity in the tryptophan content and their microenvironments.

[Accuracy of determining sarcomere lengths in contracted muscle by laser diffraction method]. / O tochnosti izmereniia dliny sarkomerov sokrashchaiushcheisia myshtsy metodom lazernoi difraktsii.

The method of laser diffraction by cross-striated muscle was used to investigate changes of sarcomere lengths during contraction. The development of muscle tension was recorded simultaneously with length measurings. The changes of the sarcomere length were determined from angular displacement between the left (+1)- and right-(-1)-first order maximums. The absolute error is less than 0.65 micrometer for the sarcomere lengths 1.8--2.8 micrometers and for the lengths 2.8--3.3 micrometers it is less than 0.1 micrometer. The resolution of length changes is under 0.003 micrometer over the whole range. It was shown that not only the positions of (+1)- and (-1))-diffraction maximums were displaced, but the position of zero order diffraction maximum might be changed. We explained this phenomenon in terms of form changes of the illuminated region of the fiber.

[Analysis of log-normal components of fluorescence spectra of prodan and acrylodan bound to proteins]. / Analiz log-normal'nykh komponent spektrov fluorestsentsii sviazannykh s belkami prodana i akrilodana.

Steady-state fluorescence spectra of prodan and acrylodan covalently bound to cystein residue of Lys-Cys-Phe tripeptide in solvents of different polarity were analyzed. It was shown that the shape of spectral bands is well described by a log-normal function. Linear relations between three shape-determining parameters of the log-normal function (namely, the positions of spectral maximum and two half-maximum amplitudes) were revealed and evaluated for both fluorophores. This finding enabled us to present the shape of spectral bands of these fluorophores in any environment as analytical log-normal functions depending on only two parameters, the maximum position and the peak amplitude. The empirical uniparametric log-normal curve was used for the analysis of composite fluorescence spectra of prodan bound to bovine serum albumin and acrylodan covalently attached to actin or subfragment 1 of myosin.

[Two-dimensional reconstruction of birefringence map of the skeletal muscle sarcomere in relaxed and rigor states studied by interference microscopy]. / Dvumernaia rekonstruktsiia karty dvulucheprelomleniia sarcomera skeletnoi myshtsy v relaksirovannom i rigornom sostoianii po dannym interferentsionnoi mikroskopii.

A new method of automatized quantitative interferometry of skeletal muscle fibers was developed for the investigation of birefringence. A device based on the Linnic microscope was constructed to obtain phase images, which are two-dimensional pictures of birefringence. For the first time, two-and-three-dimensional maps of both total birefringence and birefringence for individual sarcomeres in the central part of muscle fiber were visualized using large databases. It was shown that total birefringence of fibers at rest length in the rigor state was lower as compared with the relaxed. Birefringence values from individual sarcomere interferograms revealed also that normalized A-disk birefringence was lower in the rigor state. The results obtained could be explained by a decrease of thick filaments anisotropy, due to the moving away of myosin heads from the rod during transition into the rigor state.

[The treatment of unformed intestinal fistulae]. / Lechenie nesformirovannykh kishechnykh svishchei.

Experience in the treatment of 33 patients with unformed intestinal fistulas is discussed. The choice of the method for surgical management was determined by the localization of the fistulas, the possibility of their occlusion, and the severity of the patient's condition. Complex therapy included selective administration of antibacterial agents and extracorporeal detoxification by means of biohemosorption. Rational surgical tactics and complex treatment including extracorporeal detoxification in patients with unformed external intestinal fistulas made it possible to reduce the mortality rate from 33.4% to 21.2% (7 patients died).

Structure of the wake of a magnetic obstacle.

We use a combination of numerical simulations and experiments to elucidate the structure of the flow of an electrically conducting fluid past a localized magnetic field, called magnetic obstacle. We demonstrate that the stationary flow pattern is considerably more complex than in the wake behind an ordinary body. The steady flow is shown to undergo two bifurcations (rather than one) and to involve up to six (rather than just two) vortices. We find that the first bifurcation leads to the formation of a pair of vortices within the region of magnetic field that we call inner magnetic vortices, whereas a second bifurcation gives rise to a pair of attached vortices that are linked to the inner vortices by connecting vortices.