Population genomics of the Viking world.

The maritime expansion of Scandinavian populations during the Viking Age (about AD 750-1050) was a far-flung transformation in world history. Here we sequenced the genomes of 442 humans from archaeological sites across Europe and Greenland (to a median depth of about 1×) to understand the global influence of this expansion. We find the Viking period involved gene flow into Scandinavia from the south and east.

Diverse variola virus (smallpox) strains were widespread in northern Europe in the Viking Age.

Smallpox, one of the most devastating human diseases, killed between 300 million and 500 million people in the 20th century alone. We recovered viral sequences from 13 northern European individuals, including 11 dated to ~600-1050 CE, overlapping the Viking Age, and reconstructed near-complete variola virus genomes for four of them. The samples predate the earliest confirmed smallpox cases by ~1000 years, and the sequences reveal a now-extinct sister clade of the modern variola viruses that were in circulation before the eradication of smallpox.

[Molecular serological characteristics of weak D antigen types of the Rhesus system].

Aim: to estimate the spread of weak D antigen types of the Rhesus system in the citizens of the Russian Federation and a possibility of serologically identifying these types.

Subjects And Methods: The red blood cells and DNA of people with weakened expression of D antigen were investigated using erythrocyte agglutination reaction in salt medium (2 methods); agglutination reaction in the gel columns containing IgM + IgG anti-D antibodies, indirect antiglobulin test with IgG anti-D antibodies (2 methods); polymerase chain reaction to establish the type of weak D.

Results: A rhesus phenotype was determined in 5100 people in 2014-2015.

[Antiulcer activity of furoxanopyrimidine derivatives].

A series of four new furoxanopyrimidine derivatives was synthesized and studied with respect to antiulcerous, antisecretory, and antibacterial activity. Two compounds exhibit antiulcerous effect not accompanied (in contrast to the well-known H2 receptor blockers, quiditene, and other antiulcerous drugs) by inhibition of gastric acid secretion. No one of the studied compounds exhibited antibacterial activity in the tests with Helicobacter pylori.