Fatty acid composition of odonate's eyes.

We have studied the fatty acid composition of eyes of amphibiotic insects, namely, the odonate Sympetrum flaveolum. The main polyunsaturated fatty acid of odonate's eyes has been found to be 20:5n-3 (eicosapentaenoic fatty acid, EPA) rather than 18:2n-6 and 18:3n-3, which usually dominate in eyes of terrestrial insects, or 22:6n-3, which dominates in eyes of vertebrates. The prevalence of EPA in odonate's eyes probably provides a more effective transmission of light signal in this animal compared to terrestrial insects. It is important for odonates because vision plays a decisive role in finding and catching prey.

[Influence of industrial pollution of ambient air on health of workers engaged into open air activities in cold conditions].

The article presents the results of a study on assessment of occupational exposure to air pollutants and related health effects in3792 outdoor workers engaged in operations performed in the vicinity of non-ferrous metallurgical facilities in Far North. Findings are that during cold season repeated climate and weather conditions are associated with higher level of chemical hazards and dust in surface air. At the air temperature below -17 degrees C, maximal single concentrations of major pollutants can exceed MAC up to 10 times. With that, transitory disablement morbidity parameters and occupational accidents frequency increase significantly. The workers with long exposure to cooling meteorological factors and air pollution demonstrate significantly increased prevalence of respiratory and circulatory diseases, despite relatively low levels of sculpture dioxide and dust in the air, not exceeding the occupational exposure limits. It has been concluded that severe cold is to be considered asa factor increasing occupational risk at air polluted outdoor worksites dueto more intense air pollution, higher traumatism risk and lower efficiency of filter antidust masks respiratory PPE and due to modification of the toxic effects.

Targeted delivery of doxorubicin: drug delivery system based on PAMAM dendrimers.

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers of the second generation (G2) are branched polymers containing 16 surface amino groups that allow them to be used as universal carriers on creating systems for drug delivery. G2 labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) efficiently bound with the surface of tumor cells at 4°C and was absorbed by the cells at 37°C. The covalent binding to G2-FITC of a vector protein, a recombinant fragment of the human alpha-fetoprotein receptor-binding domain (rAFP3D), increased the binding and endocytosis efficiency more than threefold. Covalent conjugates of G2 with doxorubicin (Dox) obtained by acid-labile linking of cis-aconitic anhydride (CAA) without the vector protein (G2-Dox) and with the vector protein rAFP3D (rAFP3D-G2-Dox) were accumulated by the tumor cells with high efficiency. However, a selective effect was observed only in rAFP3D-G2-Dox, which also demonstrated high cytotoxic activity against the human ovarian adenocarcinoma SKOV3 cells and low cytotoxicity against human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Based on these results, rAFP3D-G2 conjugate is promising for selective delivery of antitumor drugs.

[Adaptive reactions of external respiration in workers of European North].

Studies covered changes in external respiration system of young able-bodied males and females exposed to ambient air of negative temperature in natural climate of European North. Findings are that breathing cold air causes significant changes in static respiratory volumes and capacities, so vital lung capacity, inspiratory reserve volume and expiratory reserve volume were decreased, respiratory capacity was increased, respiratory level was decreased. Changes in the females appeared to be more than those in the males.

[Urokinase-type plasminogen activator and its inhibitor type 1 in the diagnosis of evolving complications in coronary heart disease].

Fibrinolytic system components are important in the regulation of thrombogenesis therefore the aim of the investigation was to compare the level of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1) in the monocytes of patients with stable coronary heart disease (CHD) and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) to reveal an association of the content of these proteins with the severity of disease, by applying two different techniques: immunocytochemistry and flow cytofluorimetry. The counts of uPA- and PAI-1-expressing monocytes were equal in each case and accounted for 81.9-99.9% in all groups. At the same time, the level of PAI-1 was higher than that of uPA and significantly higher in patients with ACS than in those without ACS and in the controls. No significant differences were found in uPA levels between the ACS and stable CHD groups; however, it was significantly higher in the patient groups than in the control one. The detection of the higher expression of PAI-1 in the peripheral blood monocytes of patients with ACS suggests that it can be used as a marker of disease severity.

[External respiration system reaction to local cooling of skin of young able-bodied persons].

Changes in the external respiration system during local cooling of hands and feet of young able-bodied men and women have been studied. Local cooling of hands' and feet's skin results in significant and statistically reliable changes of spirometric indices.

Identification of a human erythroid cell surface antigen by monoclonal antibody HAE9.

A noncytotoxic monoclonal antibody (IgM) HAE9 that selectively binds to 36% CFU-E and more than 90% nucleated erythroid cells in human bone marrow is described. This antibody recognizes a 70-kDa-membrane protein. It is suggested that HAE9 is directed to a human epitope of Ag-Eb, an interspecies mammalian erythroid-specific cell surface marker.

Nerve growth factor stimulates protein kinase C translocation in PC12 cells.

The effect of nerve growth factor (NGF) on the activity and intracellular localization of protein kinase C (PKC) in pheochromocytoma PC12 cells was studied. By using immunoblotting, immunofluorescence method and phorbol ester binding, NGF was found to induce PKC translocation from the cytoplasm into the cell membrane. This process was accompanied by an increase in the protein kinase activity in the membrane fraction. Translocation was completely blocked by H-7, a protein kinase inhibitor potentiating the neurite-stimulating activity of NGF.

The monitoring of herbaceous seeds in the 30-km zone of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Species of wild herbaceous plants growing over a period of 3 years under chronic irradiation resulting from the Chernobyl accident were studied. Examining the mass of 1000 seeds and their germination did not yield any significant differences between groups of seeds of the same species collected from different contaminated zones. Nor did the frequency of aberrant cells in roots of germinated seeds reveal any significant differences between zones. Seeds of Plantago lanceolata, growing in areas with higher levels of radiation, did appear to be more sensitive to additional gamma-irradiation.

Root absorption of 222Rn and its transfer into above-ground plant organs.

Experimental data are given on the content of genetically related pairs of radionuclides (226Ra and 222Rn; 224Ra and 220Rn) in soils and the above-ground phytomass of plants growing on plots with differing genesis of the higher concentrations of natural radionuclides in soils. Methods for determining gaseous radionuclides in the above-ground phytomass are described. Different transport routes of 222Rn and 220Rn into above-ground plant organs are considered. The noted absence of balance between 222Rn and 226Ra in plants as well as higher 222Rn/226Ra ratios in the above-ground phytomass as compared to that of the root-containing soil layer (25- to 185-fold) appears to be accounted for by the root pathway of 222Rn uptake and transport of this radionuclide to above-ground plants organs. The existence of the root pathway for 222Rn uptake is proved by direct observations of daily radionuclide movement with bleeding sap in experiments on pumpkins. For the short-lived Rn isotopes, 220Rn and 219Rn, the root pathway of uptake and transport to the above-ground phytomass is less probable, and this causes a notable redistribution of gaseous radionuclides during their movement along the soil-plant route.

[An ecological and geographical test of the seed offspring of Viola matutina Klok. from a 30-kilometer area of the accident at the Chernobyl Atomic Electric Power Station]. / Ekologo-geograficheskoe ispytanie semennogo potomstva Viola matutina Klok. iz 30-kilometrovoi zony avarii na Chernobyl;skoi AES.

The generation of seeds of two populations of Viola matutina Klok. sampled from plants growing within the thirty-kilometers zone of the Chernobyl accident (the reproduction of seeds in 1988) was investigated in the north nursery in Syktyvkar. The decrease of sterile pollen and embryonic lethality among the plants from the strongly contaminated site (exposure rate (1075-1434) pC/(kg.s) May 1987) was registered. It is suggested that this phenomenon is the result of the elimination of genetic damages in the course of seed forming in this population under radiation stress.

[Results of the studies on radiation ecology and radiation biology at the Institute of Biology of Komi Science Center of Ural division of Russian Academy of Science (on 40th anniversary of the Department of Radiation Ecology)]. / Itogi issledovanii po radioékologii i radiobiologii v Institute Biologii Komi Nauchnogo tsentra Ural'skogo otdeleniia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk (k 40-letiiu otdela radioékologii).

Information about the foundation and history of the Radiation Ecology Department and results of the researches on the effect of increased background radiation level on plant and animal populations, migration of radionuclides in natural biocoenosies with increased radiation level are presented.

[Expression of the erythroblast antigen on hematopoietic and nonhematopoietic mouse cells. 1. The flow cytofluorimetric analysis of stem, committed and differentiated bone marrow cells]. / Ekspressiia antigena éritroblastov na krovetvornykh i nekrovetvornykh kletkakh myshi. 1. Protochnyi tsitofluorimetricheskii analiz stvolovykh, kommitirovannykh i differentsirovannykh kletok kostnogo mozga.

Expression of the erythroblast antigen (AG-EB) on the membrane of the mouse hemopoietic cells was studied using a FACS II flow cytofluorimeter with monoclonal antibodies MAE15. It was shown that AG-EB was present on the surface of 14% of the late committed erythroid precursors (CFU-3) and of practically all more mature erythroid cells. The role of AG-EB in maturation of the erythroid cells is discussed.

[The proliferative activity of myelokaryocytes and the cellular composition of the bone marrow]. / Proliferativnaia aktivnost' mielokariotsitov i kletochnyi sostav kostnogo mozga.

Flow cytometry was used to study myelokaryocyte distribution according to the stage of the cellular cycle in 167 bone marrow specimens 94 of which were taken by puncture from hemoblastosis and anemia patients. The results obtained were compared with myelogram data. It has been established that the method provides stable and reliable values, irrespective of cellular composition of the puncture specimens. Basing on the recurrent algorithm of J. H. Fridman's classification, a computer program has been derived that permitted differential diagnosis to be made based on the data of cytometry and myelogram.

Localization of Mullerian inhibiting substance receptors in various human cancer cell lines.

Recombinant human MIS (rhMIS) produced in transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells has been purified by immunoaffinity chromatography. In the absence of reducing agents, 140 kD homodimer and several oligomers with molecular masses from 280 to 1000 kD are present. Homodimer, tetramer, and higher-molecular-weight rhMIS fractions reduced survival of tumor cells. For these experiments, FITC-labeled rhMIS was used for binding and endocytosis studies by flow cytometry. Flow cytometry performed on MIS-sensitive cancer cell lines demonstrated specific binding of rhMIS. The majority of rhMIS receptors have cytosolic localization. Thus, the level of MIS receptors on the cell membrane was proportional to the content of MIS-binding proteins in the whole cell and defines a level of receptor-mediated endocytosis. The immunopurified rhMIS caused significant growth inhibition of ovarian and prostate adenocarcinoma and melanoma human cell lines in inhibition assays.

[Monitoring the seeds of chronically irradiated indigenous populations of Plantago lanceolata L. Variability in the progeny]. / Monitoring semian khronicheski obluchaiushchikhsia prirodnykh populiatsii Plantago lanceolata L. Izmenchivost' v potomstve.

The results of the morphometric study of Plantago lanceolata L. grown, in nursery, from seeds of the first and second post-accident reproductions within the thirty-kilometer zone around the crippled Chernobyl reactor show no relationship between the alterations in some quantitative indices and the variability of gamma-radiation background in places where maternal plants grow.

[Seed regeneration in a natural population of Plantago lanceolata L. in areas with different gamma background levels]. / Semennoe vozobnovlenie v prirodnoi populiatsii Plantago lanceolata L. na uchastkakh s razlichnym urovnem gamma-fona.

On the basis of the individual analysis of Plantago lanceolata L. nonhomogeneity of its natural population within the thirty-kilometer zone of Chernobyl (reproduction of 1989) has been revealed. It is displayed by lower levels of seed productivity of plants growing in the areas with a high level of radioactive contamination.

[The demonstration of environmental radioactive contamination by its gametocidal action]. / Indikatsiia radioaktivnogo zagriazneniia okruzhaiushchei sredy po ego gametotsidnomu deistviiu.

Two Viola matutina Klok. populations growing in two areas of the thirty-kilometer zone of Chernobyl varying in gamma radiation background have been studied. Stable, repeated (during a period of 1987-1988) differences between the populations with respect to the amount of sterile pollen and the pattern of anther distribution curves have been revealed. It is suggested that the increased radiation loading is the cause of the increased occurrence of sterile pollen in one of the populations.