Excess mortality in Belarus during the COVID-19 pandemic as the case study of a country with limited non-pharmaceutical interventions and limited reporting.

Public health intervention to contain the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic significantly differed by country since the SARS-CoV-2 spread varied regionally in time and in scale. Since vaccinations were not available until the end of 2020 non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) remained the only strategies to mitigate the pandemic spread at that time. Belarus in Europe is one of a few countries with a high Human Development Index where no lockdowns have ever been implemented and only limited NPIs have taken place for a period of time.

Improved procedure for separation and purification of Arthronema africanum phycobiliproteins.

A rapid, inexpensive and reliable procedure for separation and purification of C-phycocyanin (C-PC) and allophycocyanin (APC) from Arthronema africanum based on a previously described rivanol-sulfate method for C-PC purification was developed. Exclusion of NaCl from the extraction buffer resulted in complete separation of APC and C-PC, two-fold reduction of rivanol treatments, and a higher yield and purity of C-PC. Pure C-PC (A(620)/A(280) of 4.

Mapping development-related and age-related chromatin remodeling by a high throughput ChIP-HPLC approach.

Common to numerous differentiation pathways in vertebrate organisms is the regulation of key genes through epigenetic mechanisms. Less well studied is to what extent cells of a given differentiation state, but examined at different points within the life history of an organism, are distinct at the level of the epigenome. A few instances of such variation have been reported, and it would be of considerable value to have at hand a means to characterize additional examples more efficiently.

Purification of C-phycocyanin from Spirulina (Arthrospira) fusiformis.

C-phycocyanin was purified from Spirulina (Arthrospira) fusiformis by a multi-step treatment of the crude extract with rivanol in a ratio 10:1 (v/v), followed by 40% saturation with ammonium sulfate. After removal of rivanol by gel-filtration on Sephadex G-25, the pigment solution was saturated to 70% with ammonium sulfate. After the last step of purification, C-phycocyanin had an emission and absorption maxima at 620 and 650 nm, respectively and absorbance ratio A(620)/A(280) of 4.

Characterization of the type IV restriction modification system BspLU11III from Bacillus sp. LU11.

We report the characterization and cloning of the genes for an unusual type IV restriction-modification system, BspLU11III, from Bacillus sp. LU11. The system consists of two methyltransferases and one endonuclease, which also possesses methyltransferase activity.

An IgA, IgG and IgM-containing human immunoglobulin for oral administration to high-risk bottle-fed newborns. I. Immunochemical characterisation and antibody activity.

Antibodies to a wide spectrum of infectious agents belonging to the IgA, IgM and IgG isotypes are thought to be one of the protective factors in human milk. Cow milk-fed newborns are at an increased risk of infections as well as of allergic diseases and of necrotising enterocolitis. A reasonable approach would be to add to the milk formula fed to them the immunoglobulins present in human milk.

Lambda phagemids and their transducing properties.

Two recombinant lambda DNAs, lambda gt::pMB9 and lambda NM::pBR322, containing, respectively, the pMB9 and pBR322 replicon were constructed and characterized. Both constructs (phagemid DNAs) transfect Escherichia coli cells, producing mature infectious phage progenies. Alternatively, drug-resistant colonies of transductants can be selected upon infection with these phages (phagemid particles) that maintain phagemid DNA in the cell in the form of covalently closed circular plasmids.

Physical mapping of cleavage sites recognized by restriction endonucleases on the genome of bacteriophage T5.

The DNA of bacteriophage T5 has been treated with restriction endonucleases EcoRI, HindIII, BamI, SmaI, PstI, SalI, KpnI and the electrophoretic pattern obtained in agarose gel has been analyzed in order to localize the specific cleavage sites on the T5 DNA. The localization of cleavage sites has been reduced from the electrophoretic pattern of double and partial digests, the digests of isolated restriction fragments and the digests of deletion mutant T5st(o) DNA. Four BamI cleavage sites have been found and localized on the physical map of T5 DNA at 0.