The upgraded TOMAS device: A toroidal plasma facility for wall conditioning, plasma production, and plasma-surface interaction studies.

The Toroidal Magnetized System device has been significantly upgraded to enable development of various wall conditioning techniques, including methods based on ion and electron cyclotron (IC/EC) range of frequency plasmas, and to complement plasma-wall interaction research in tokamaks and stellarators. The toroidal magnetic field generated by 16 coils can reach its maximum of 125 mT on the toroidal axis. The EC system is operated at 2.

In situ measurements of the spectral reflectance of metallic mirrors at the H line in a low density Ar-H plasma.

The efficient and reliable control and monitoring of the quality of the optical properties of mirrors is an open problem in laboratory plasmas. Until now, the measurement of the reflectance of the first mirrors was based on the methods that require additional light calibration sources. We propose a new technique based on the ratio of the red- and blue-shifted emission signals of the reflected hydrogen atoms which enables the in situ measurement of the spectral reflectance of metallic mirrors in low-density Ar-H or Ar-D plasmas.

[Genetic characterization of Vibrio cholerae strains emerging in Russian Federation during 7th cholera pandemic].

Aim: Comparative molecular-genetic analysis of clinical Vibrio cholerae eltor biovariant strains isolated in Russia during various years.

Materials And Methods: Microbiological and biochemical methods were used for studies of 25 clinical strains of classic and eltor biovariant cholera, PCR testing and sequencing of various genes was also performed.

Results: Phenotypic and genetic analysis of clinical V.

[Variation in the genome of CTXphi prophage of Vibrio cholerae biovar El Tor caused by Tn5-Mob transposon].

A key pathogenicity factor of the cholera etiologic agent is cholera toxin (CT) whose synthesis is encoded by the ctxAB operon forming apart of the CTXphi ptophage. Alterations in the virulent properties of the cholera vibrios are based on the variability of the CTXphi prophage containing the genes for ctxAB, zot, ace, cep, orfU, and psh in its core region. At the same time, the mechanism of the porophage genome reorganization needs further and more profound analysis.