The Relationships Between Cortical Activity while Observing Images Featuring Different Degrees of Ambiguity and Ambiguity Tolerance.

We performed a fMRI study during which 18 healthy subjects passively viewed abstract images and tried to name them. The images were geometric primitives, impossible images (Penrose images), and ambiguous images (Rorschach inkblots). Activation and deactivation areas were revealed for each task.

Exploring the Possibility of Cryopreservation of Feline and Canine Erythrocytes by Rapid Freezing with Penetrating and Non-Penetrating Cryoprotectants.

Efficient application of veterinary blood transfusion approaches for small companion animals requires readily available supply of the donor material. This can be achieved by developing of effective biobanking technologies allowing long-term storage of donor blood components via cryopreservation. Transfusion of an erythrocyte concentrate allows the successful correction of various hematological pathologies, severe bleeding, and etc.

On Methods for the Analysis of Indefinite Stimuli Perception Characteristics: an fMRT Study of Gender-Specific Differences.

Comparative identification of cerebral regions activated in men and women during perception of indefinite images was carried out by fMRT and psychological testing. Nine men and nine women aged 20-26 years took part in the study. The volunteers examined simple geometric figures, slightly structurized images (tables from Rorschach's test), and images of impossible figures.

Association of Apolipoprotein A1 Gene Polymorphisms with Serum Lipid Spectrum in Adolescents in East Siberia.

We studied the incidence of genotypes of polymorphic alleles (-75)G>A and (+83)C>T of apolipoprotein A1 gene in healthy Russian adolescents, residents of East Siberia. Genotyping was carried out by PCR with subsequent restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The incidence of allele (-75)A was 22.

[Association of (192) Q>R polymorphism of the paraoxonase gene with a lipid profile and components of lipid peroxidation and antioxidant protection in populations of Russians and Buryats from Eastern Siberia].

The distribution of genotypes and alleles of Q192R polymorphism of the paraoxonase1 (rs622) gene was studied in Russian and Buryat populations living in Eastern Siberia. Correlations between genotypes and some parameters of the lipid profile and lipid peroxidation indicators were revealed. In the group of Russians, the frequency of genotypes was QQ-0.

Lipid peroxidation and mitochondrial superoxide dismutase-2 gene in adolescents with essential hypertension.

The study of LPO processes in adolescents of different races with essential hypertension revealed that Mongoloids exhibit oxidative stress by altering the level of the formation of diene conjugates, the primary LPO products. Caucasians increased the levels of both primary and end products of LPO, diene conjugates, and malondialdehyde. The revealed differences can be genetically determined because ethnic differences in the frequency of SOD2 gene Ala16Val polymorphism and its contribution to the biochemical phenotype were reported.

[Genes of antioxidant enzymes].

Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis the most of diseases. Important components of protecting cells from oxidative stress are antioxidant enzymes. Antioxidant enzymes are characterized by population differences in enzyme activity.

Stabilin-1 localizes to endosomes and the trans-Golgi network in human macrophages and interacts with GGA adaptors.

Stabilin-1 and stabilin-2 constitute a novel family of fasciclin domain-containing hyaluronan receptor homologues recently described by us. Whereas stabilin-1 is expressed in sinusoidal endothelial cells and in macrophages in vivo, stabilin-2 is absent from the latter. In the present study, we analyzed the subcellular distribution of stabilin-1 in primary human macrophages.

Platelet factor 4/CXCL4 induces phagocytosis and the generation of reactive oxygen metabolites in mononuclear phagocytes independently of Gi protein activation or intracellular calcium transients.

Platelet factor 4 (PF-4), a platelet-derived CXC chemokine, is known to prevent human monocytes from apoptosis and to promote differentiation of these cells into HLA-DR(-) macrophages. In this study, we investigated the role of PF-4 in the control of acute monocyte proinflammatory responses involved in the direct combat of microbial invaders. We show that PF-4 increases monocyte phagocytosis and provokes a strong formation of oxygen radicals but lacks a chemotactic activity in these cells.