3D-aligned tetrameric ion channels with universal residue labels for comparative structural analysis.

Despite their large functional diversity and poor sequence similarity, tetrameric and pseudotetrameric potassium, sodium, calcium, and cyclic-nucleotide gated channels, as well as two-pore channels, transient receptor potential channels, and ionotropic glutamate receptor channels, share a common folding pattern of the transmembrane (TM) helices in the pore domain. In each subunit or repeat, two TM helices connected by a membrane-reentering P-loop contribute a quarter to the pore domain. The P-loop includes a membrane-descending helix, P1, which is structurally the most conserved element of these channels, and residues that contribute to the selectivity-filter region at the constriction of the ion-permeating pathway.

Spatial memory impairment is associated with decreased dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity in the brains of rats exposed to manganese chloride.

Chronic exposure to manganese compounds leads to accumulation of the manganese in the basal ganglia and hippocampus. High levels of manganese in these structures lead to oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, imbalance of brain neurotransmitters, and hyperactivation of calpains mediating neurotoxicity and causing motor and cognitive impairment. The purpose of this work was to study the effect of excess manganese chloride intake on rats' spatial memory and on dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DβH) activity under conditions of calpain activity suppression.

Protective effect of calpain inhibitors against manganese-induced toxicity in rats.

Development of manganism is a major complication of manganese exposure in which neurological dysfunction is linked to accumulation of metal in the brain. Current therapies do not prevent progression of the disease. Therefore, development of effective therapeutic strategies for treatment of manganism is of utmost importance.

[An associations of possible genetic risk markers for Internet addiction with childhood trauma experience and personality traits in young adults : preliminary results].

Objective: To study was to test an associations of the preliminary genetic risk markers for Internet addiction (IA) with clinical, psychological and personality characteristics, taking into account the childhood traumatic experience, in 44 IA persons compared with 120 healthy individuals.

Material And Methods: The study included 164 participants: 44 individuals with IZ (group IZ), male and female, aged 16 to 30 years in the absence of diagnoses of mental health problems. diseases from rubrics F00-09 and F20-29 (ICD-10) and 120 healthy (control group).

Structure of the bacteriophage PhiKZ non-virion RNA polymerase.

Bacteriophage ΦKZ (PhiKZ) is the archetype of a family of massive bacterial viruses. It is considered to have therapeutic potential as its host, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is an opportunistic, intrinsically antibiotic resistant, pathogen that kills tens of thousands worldwide each year. ΦKZ is an incredibly interesting virus, expressing many systems that the host already possesses.

Plantar Stimulations during 3-Day Hindlimb Unloading Prevent Loss of Neural Progenitors and Maintain ERK1/2 Activity in the Rat Hippocampus.

Adult neurogenesis is a flexible process that depends on the environment and correlates with cognitive functions. Cognitive functions are impaired by various factors including space flight conditions and reduced physical activity. Physically active life significantly improves both cognition and the hippocampal neurogenesis.

Multigene Expression Assay for Assessment of the Immune Status of Atlantic Salmon.

We report the development of a multigene gene expression assay on the BioMark HD platform for the evaluation of immune competence (ImCom) in farmed Atlantic salmon. The first version of the assay included 92 genes selected on the basis of transcriptome analyses in 54 trials that challenged the immune system; annotations were taken into account to represent the key pathways of innate and adaptive immunity. ImCom was tested on samples collected from seven independent projects.

Maturation of Pseudo-Nucleus Compartment in Infected with Giant phiKZ Phage.

The giant phiKZ phage infection induces the appearance of a pseudo-nucleus inside the bacterial cytoplasm. Here, we used RT-PCR, fluorescent hybridization (FISH), electron tomography, and analytical electron microscopy to study the morphology of this unique nucleus-like shell and to demonstrate the distribution of phiKZ and bacterial DNA in infected cells. The maturation of the pseudo-nucleus was traced in short intervals for 40 min after infection and revealed the continuous spatial separation of the phage and host DNA.

Gene regulatory networks in Drosophila early embryonic development as a model for the study of the temporal identity of neuroblasts.

Genes belonging to the "gap" and "gap-like" family constitute the best-studied gene regulatory networks (GRNs) in Drosophila embryogenesis. Gap genes are a core of two subnetworks controlling embryonic segmentation: (hunchback, hb; Krüppel, Kr; giant, gt; and knirps, kni) and (hb; Kr; pou-domain, pdm; and, probably, castor, cas). Of particular interest is that (hb, Kr, pdm, cas) also specifies the temporal identity of stem cells, neuroblasts, in Drosophila neurogenesis.

GC-MS and LC-MS/MS pilot studies on the guanidine (N)-dimethylation in native, asymmetrically and symmetrically N-dimethylated arginine-vasopressin peptides and proteins in human red blood cells.

Protein-arginine methyltransferases catalyze the methylation of the guanidine (N) group of proteinic L-arginine (Arg) to produce monomethyl and dimethylarginine proteins. Their proteolysis releases the free amino acids monomethylarginine (MMA), symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), respectively. MMA, SDMA and ADMA are inhibitors of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS) activity.

Noise model estimation with application to gene expression.

Algorithms for the estimation of noise level and the detection of noise model are proposed. They are applied to gene expression data for embryos. The 2D data on gene expression and the extracted 1D profiles are considered.

[Neo-oogenesis in the adult ovary: What do we know?].

For more than a decade, the existence of ovarian stem cells that can contribute to neo-oogenesis in the adult ovary is reported by some teams, challenging the dogma according to which mammalian females are born with a fixed and non-renewed germinal cell pool. The presence of germinal stem cells with mitotic activity suggests the possibility of potential postnatal oogenesis. These cells have both germ-line and stem cell markers in culture.

[Changes in characteristics of sleep-wake cycle and motor activity at the preclinical stage of Parkinson's disease in old rats].

Aim: To assess the changes in temporal characteristics and total motor activity (MA) during the sleep-wake cycle in old rats in the model of the preclinical stage of Parkinson's disease (PD).

Material And Methods: Progressing inhibition of proteasome system and prolonged (up to the 21st day) development of the preclinical stage of PD in 19-20-month Wistar rats was caused by the specific proteasomal inhibitor lactacystin administered twice with a week interval. Telemetric monitoring of sleep-wake cycle was performed along with the video recording of MA.

[The treatment of non-chemical addictions].

Today, there are no standards of therapy for non-chemical (behavioral) addictions. The article examines in detail modern psychological (classes in the 12 step program groups, various psychotherapeutic interventions) and pharmacological (antidepressants, opioid receptor antagonists, normotimics, glutamatergic agents, etc.) approaches to the treatment of pathological gambling.

SURGICAL PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF POSTOPERATIVE HYPOPARATHYROIDISM IN PATIENTS OPERATED ON THYROID GLAND.

The objective of the research was to develop and evaluate the algorithm of prevention and treatment of postoperative hypoparathyroidism (PHPT) based on determining parathyroid glands (PTG) viability and the use of antihypoxant-antioxidant therapy in the postoperative period. The research was based on the results of a comprehensive examination and treatment of 60 patients who were operated for thyroid gland diseases. The patients underwent inpatient treatment at the surgical department of Ivano-Frankivsk Central City Clinical Hospital and Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Oncology Center from 2015 to 2017.

Relative sensitivity analysis of the predictive properties of sloppy models.

Commonly among the model parameters characterizing complex biological systems are those that do not significantly influence the quality of the fit to experimental data, so-called "sloppy" parameters. The sloppiness can be mathematically expressed through saturating response functions (Hill's, sigmoid) thereby embodying biological mechanisms responsible for the system robustness to external perturbations. However, if a sloppy model is used for the prediction of the system behavior at the altered input (e.

Robustness of expression pattern formation due to dynamic equilibrium in gap gene system of an early Drosophila embryo.

The first manifestation of a segmentation pattern in the early Drosophila development is the formation of expression domains of genes belonging to the gap class. In our previous research the phenomenon of the gap system's robustness, exhibited as the ability to reduce highly variable gene expression in the course of development, was explained as a result of gene cross-regulation. In this paper we formulate the rigorous robustness conditions using the inherent properties of gap gene family.

Spectral coding in auditory midbrain neurons.

The data of frequency properties of single neurons in the auditory midbrain center, central nucleus of the inferior colliculus and morphologic aspects of its functional ordering are reviewed. On the basis of reconstruction of single units frequency receptive fields and morphophysiologic mapping of their location within the frequency-band lamina of the central nucleus the model of spectral coding by auditory midbrain neurons is developed. The main structural basement of spectral coding in the auditory midbrain is the tonotopic organization of its central nucleus as well as the order in its morphological structure expressed in alternation of layers of disc-shaped neurons and neuropil.

A fluorescence vital assay for the recognition and quantification of excitotoxic cell death by necrosis and apoptosis using confocal microscopy on neurons in culture.

An automated fluorescence method for the detection of neuronal cell death by necrosis and apoptosis with sequential acridine orange (AO) and ethidium bromide (EB) staining using confocal microscopy is described. Since cell nuclei during apoptosis become acidic, AO staining was utilized to distinguish live neurons from neurons undergoing apoptosis, using the AO property to shift its fluorescence from green at normal pH toward brilliant orange-red in the process of acidification. Further EB application labels nuclei of necrotic neurons in red.