Electrochemical Reduction of LaO, NdO, and CeO in LiCl-LiO Melt.

The reduction of pellets composed of individual CeO, NdO and a LaO-NdO-CeO mixture by lithium extracted on a cathode during lithium chloride electrolysis at 650 °C was studied. The methods of cyclic voltammetry, electron microscopy, including determination of the elemental composition of the studied objects, and X-ray diffraction analysis were applied for the present study. The reduction degree of rare-earth metal (REM) oxides was determined using both the bromine method and reduction melting of the samples in the graphite crucible.

Investigation of the Quasi-Binary Phase Diagram FLiNaK-NdF.

The NdF solubility in molten eutectic FLiNaK, which is a conceivable medium for a molten salt reactor (MSR), was determined by the quasi-binary phase diagram FLiNaK-NdF. The eutectic mixture FLiNaK was prepared by direct melting of components LiF, NaF and KF·HF. The acidic anhydrous salt (KF·HF) was used instead of the hygroscopic KF.

Mast cells and aging.

Mast cells (MC) are present in the skin and mucous membranes, lymphoid organs, intestine wall and brain, where they are located close to the blood and lymphatic vessels and nerve terminals. As a source of a large number of biologically active substances, many of which are released quickly into the environment as a result of degranulation process, mast cells play an essential role in the regulation of physiological processes in the tissues where they are present. Changing the MC population and activity in the tissues during aging is associated with age-related changes of the skin and mucous membranes, the development of central nervous system disorders such as itching, headache, joint and muscle pain, memory loss, attention deficits, depression, anxiety and depressive disorders, autism, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis.

[Academician V.E. Sokolov is the head of the General Biology Department].

This paper considers the activity of Academician V.E. Sokolov as head of the General Biology Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which he headed from 1985 to 1998.

[A pH-dependent mechanism of energy transformation in joint fluid cells in osteoarthrosis of the knee joint and benefits of chondroitinsulfate].

Aim: To study bioenergetic processes in the synovial fluid (SF) in osteoarthrosis and to study relevant effects of chondroitinsulphate (structum).

Material And Methods: Changes in bioenergy parameters of SF were analysed in the course of 3-month structum treatment of 15 osteoarthrosis (OA) patients. Classic enzymatic tests and polarographic test of SF cells oxygen absorption rate were used.

Intracellular Ca(2+) release triggers translocation of membrane marker FM1-43 from the extracellular leaflet of plasma membrane into endoplasmic reticulum in T lymphocytes.

Stimulation of T cell receptor in lymphocytes enhances Ca(2+) signaling and accelerates membrane trafficking. The relationships between these processes are not well understood. We employed membrane-impermeable lipid marker FM1-43 to explore membrane trafficking upon mobilization of intracellular Ca(2+) in Jurkat T cells.

Role of mitochondria in intracellular calcium signaling in primary and secondary sensory neurones of rats.

The participation of different calcium-regulated mechanisms in the generation of cytosolic Ca(2+) transients during neuronal excitation has been compared in isolated large and small primary (dorsal root ganglia (DRG)) and secondary (spinal dorsal horn (DH)) rat sensory neurones. As it was shown before in murine primary sensory neurones the application of mitochondrial protonophore CCCP by itself induced only small elevation of [Ca(2+)](i). However, its preceding application substantially increased the peak amplitude of depolarization-induced transients.

Diabetes-induced changes in calcium homeostasis and the effects of calcium channel blockers in rat and mice nociceptive neurons.

Aims/hypothesis: Distal neuropathy is the most common complication of diabetes mellitus, making it important to reveal the cellular mechanisms leading to its development, one of which might be the alteration in intracellular calcium homeostasis in primary and secondary nociceptive neurons. We aimed to investigate these possible changes.

Methods: Control and streptozotocin-treated diabetic rats and mice were used.

[The importance of radionuclide tests in postop monitoring of patients with differentiated thyroid cancer].

The results of postoperative dynamic examination of 270 patients with differentiated cancer (DC) of thyroid gland (TG) using radionuclide method were analysed. In 74.7% of patients the residual TG tissue was revealed, in 21.

Mitochondrial participation in modulation of calcium transients in DRG neurons.

The effects of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchange blocker tetraphenylphosphonium (TPP+) and the permeability transition blocker cyclosporinA (CysA) on the ability of mitochondria to participate in the regulation of intracellular calcium were investigated on freshly isolated mice sensory DRG neurons. The free intracellular calcium level ([Ca2+]in) was measured using indo-1 based microfluorimetry. The characteristics of depolarization-induced [Ca2+]in transients were changed in the presence of 25 microM TPP+.

Role of mitochondrial dysfunction in calcium signalling alterations in dorsal root ganglion neurons of mice with experimentally-induced diabetes.

The role of mitochondrial dysfunction in alterations of calcium signalling in primary sensory neurons has been studied in mice with streptozotocin-induced and genetically predisposed diabetes mellitus before and after additional treatment with insulin infusions. Cytosolic calcium transients triggered by membrane depolarization were measured using a membrane-permeable form of fluorescent indicator indo-1, and their changes after application of mitochondrial uncoupler carbonyl cyanide m-chlorphenylhydrazone were compared in cells of control and diabetic animals. Considerable prolongation of residual elevation of cytosolic calcium after termination of membrane depolarization was observed in diabetic mice, which was expressed mainly in small-sized (nociceptive) neurons.

Changes in mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis in primary sensory neurons of diabetic mice.

Changes in neuronal Ca2+ homeostasis were studied on freshly isolated dorsal root ganglion neurons of adult control mice and mice with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. The cytoplasmic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]in) was measured using indo-1 based microfluorimetry. The participation of mitochondria in [Ca2+]in homeostasis was determined by investigation of changes which occurred after addition of mitochondrial protonophore (CCCP) to the extracellular solution.

[Changes in the levels of tumor markers in those working with different chemically active substances].

Groups at risk for malignant neoplasia were identified among workmen occupationally exposed to different chemical substances, using immunoradiometric and enzyme immunoassays of tumor-associated antigens. Exposure to the above occupational hazard was found to affect the workmen and cause certain chronic illness accompanied by some increase in concentration of a number of tumoral markers. Increase in tumour antigens suggests indirectly that the chemical substances may have carcinogenic activity.

[Diagnosis and surgical treatment of reflux esophagitis].

Operations were performed on 192 patients with reflux esophagitis, 23 of them had peptic stricture of the esophagus. Esophago-fundoplication was the main operation. Nissen's (106), Tupe (47), Belsi's (3), Dor's (5), and atypical methods were applied.

[The effect of medium-wave UV-radiation on the photosynthetic apparatus and the productivity of higher plants].

In laboratory and field experiments, the effect of medium-wave (290-320 nm) UV-radiation (UV-B) on the build-up of photosynthetic pigments, growth and productivity of higher plants was investigated. It was found that UV-B of 5-9 W/m2 in intensity applied daily (at a daily dose of 15-20 kJ/m2) or singly (at a daily dose of 24 or 36 kJ/m2) inhibited the formation of chloroplast pigments. The pattern and magnitude of changes depended on the plant species and leaf age.

[The pentosephosphate pathway of carbohydrate metabolism in evaluating the pharmacologic correction of immuno-inflammatory processes in systemic connective tissue diseases].

Treatment with roxicam, rengasil and flugalin tended significantly to normalize the activity of enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism pentosophosphate pathway in the blood of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis. The dynamics of the change in the activity of enzymes of pentose phosphate pathway in the blood of patients with systemic connective tissue diseases against the background of treatment with roxicam, rengasil and flugalin is the enzymological criterion in assessing efficacy of pharmacological correction of the inflammatory process in the diseases.

[A clinical case of botulism].

A patient with botulism (type E) has been subject to complex therapy, which involved specific serotherapy, infusion therapy, and controlled lung ventilation with the following assisted lung ventilation.

[Pentose phosphate pathway of carbohydrate metabolism in various systemic diseases of the connective tissue].

Ratios of activities of oxidative and nonoxidative enzymes involved in the pentose phosphate pathway of carbohydrate metabolism were altered in blood plasma and cells of the patients with systemic impairments of connective tissue. In rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus the enzymatic activity was increased in blood plasma and cells, while the most distinct activation of the enzymes was found in granulocytes. In systemic sclerodermia total activity of the enzymes involved in metabolism of pentose phosphates in granulocytes exceeded 2.

[Prostaglandins in the pathogenesis of various systemic diseases of the connective tissue].

A study was made of the content of prostaglandins E, A, F2 alpha and malonic dialdehyde (MDA) in the blood plasma and urine of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, systemic scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and healthy persons. The levels of plasma and urine prostaglandins and MDA were significantly elevated in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis, and in systemic scleroderma they did not differ from those in normal. The ratio of pressor and depressor prostaglandins in systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis did not change, and in systemic scleroderma there was a strong shift to pressor prostaglandins.

[Polarographic method for determining activity of dehydrogenases of the pentosephosphate pathway of carbohydrate metabolism].

A procedure is developed for estimation of glucose-6-phosphate and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenases activity in human erythrocytes. The procedure involved polarographic registration of oxygen consumption, which is directly related to content of NADPH formed, in a coupled enzymatic system containing peroxidase and Mn2+.