Natural radioactivity of groundwater in Vendian deposits in St. Petersburg Region.

The study is focused on the hydrogeological conditions and the chemistry of groundwater of the Vendian aquifer in the western part of the Leningrad oblast (Karelian Isthmus and the area near Sosnovy Bor town) and St. Petersburg City, where groundwater features higher radioactivity, but nevertheless it is used for drinking water supply. Data on the radiological characteristics, which have been determined in the estimation of the quality of groundwater used for drinking are generalized and analyzed.

Extrafoveal Processing in Categorical Search for Geometric Shapes: General Tendencies and Individual Variations.

The paper addresses the capabilities and limitations of extrafoveal processing during a categorical visual search. Previous research has established that a target could be identified from the very first or without any saccade, suggesting that extrafoveal perception is necessarily involved. However, the limits in complexity defining the processed information are still not clear.

[The administration of interleukin-1beta during early postnatal develop ment impairs FGF2, but not TIMP1, mRNA expression in brain structures of adult rats].

According to the Neurodevelopmental hypothesis, the long-lasting cognitive deficit in schizophrenia and other types of neuropathology may occur by injurious factors, such as hypoxia, traumas, infections that take place during pre- and postnatal development, at least at early stages. These pathological conditions are often associated with the high production of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1B (IL-1B) by the cells of immune and nervous systems. We investigated the expression of genes involved in the neuroplastic regulation (Fgf2 and Timp2) in medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal and ventral regions of hippocampus of adult rats that were treated with IL-1beta between P15 and P21.

The TWIST1 oncogene is a direct target of hypoxia-inducible factor-2alpha.

Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are highly conserved transcription factors that play a crucial role in oxygen homeostasis. Intratumoral hypoxia and genetic alterations lead to HIF activity, which is a hallmark of solid cancer and is associated with poor clinical outcome. HIF activity is regulated by an evolutionary conserved mechanism involving oxygen-dependent HIFalpha protein degradation.

BRCA1 and p53 protein expression in cultured ovarian surface epithelial cells derived from women with and without a BRCA1 germline mutation.

Aim: Mutations in the BRCA1 and TP53 genes are early genetic events leading to (hereditary) ovarian carcinoma. The human ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) is considered the tissue of origin of at least a subset of these tumours. Therefore, OSE cell cultures derived from women harbouring BRCA1 germline mutations can be a potential model to study hereditary ovarian carcinogenesis.