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The modifying effect of 1-β-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (AraC) and hydroxyurea (HU) on the formation frequency of DNA double-strand breaks (DSB) in human U87 glioblastoma and murine B16 melanoma cells after accelerated proton and nitrogen ion (15N) exposure has been studied. The DNA comet assay and immunocytochemistry methods were used to determine the dependences of the frequency of DNA DSB formation and kinetics of their repair in tumor cells upon irradiation with particles of a wide linear energy transfer (LET) range under normal conditions and in the presence of modifiers. The combination of AraC and HU has the strongest modifying effect on the DSB yield. Under the influence of radiomodifiers, the dose change factor is ~2. Under normal conditions, DSB repair proceeds with exponential kinetics. In the presence of modifiers, a certain increase in the DNA DSB yield is observed after 6 h of post-irradiation incubation, followed by a decrease after 24 h of observation. The strongest modifying effect of AraC on the formation of radiation-induced foci (RIF) in glioblastoma cells is observed for proton exposure compared with nitrogen ions. In the presence of AraC, 24 hours after proton irradiation the RIF yield was 2.3 times higher than after exposure without it. For nitrogen ions with LET = 81 keV/μm and 180 keV/μm, the RIF yield in glioblastoma cells in the presence of AraC increases by 1.7 and 1.5 times 24 hours after irradiation, respectively, compared with the control samples. Possible mechanisms of tumor cell response to exposure to radiations with different LET in the presence of radiomodifiers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A first insight into the bryophyte flora of the Mashpi Ecologica Reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador - Notes on the bryophytes of Ecuador V. Nova Hedwigia. & Ilk.-Borges from Colombia has pointed leaf lobes and is also very similar to I R. flagelliformis i , but the latter differs by the absence of ocelli in underleaves, flagelliform branches with squarrose underleaves (flat and appressed to stem in I R. halinae i ) and mostly rounded leaf tips (Gradstein and Ilkiu-Borges [31]). However, the following combination of characters allows an unambiguous identification with this species: the presence of a well-delimited vitta in the leaf lobe, the dorsally unipapillose leaf lobe cells (including the vitta cells), the broadly rounded leaf apex, the irregularly denticulate to dentate leaf margin and the unipapillose cells of the lower half of the lobule (Ilkiu-Borges et al. [41]). However, it can be recognised as a moss by its asymmetrical and dimorphic leaves, which are separately arranged along the stem, pluripapillose leaf cells with 3 to 5 papillae per cell, and true moss sporophyte. I Solmsiella biseriata i is a small moss that may be confused with a liverwort owing to its complanate dimorphic leaves in 4 rows. [Extracted from the article]

Additions and corrections to the bryophyte flora of Ghana, including a new species of Cololejeunea (Spruce) Schiffn. The species was recorded during exploration of the North Macedonian bryophyte flora in the Jablanica Mountains (western North Macedonia, near to the border with Albania) a few miles within the montane belt. The work Rayna Natcheva was partly supported by the Bulgarian National Science Fund, project "Cryptic species in Bulgarian flora - molecular species delimitation in the I Aneura pinguis i complex". A first insight into the bryophyte flora of the Mashpi Ecological Reserve, Pichincha, Ecuador - Notes on the bryophytes of Ecuador V. Nova Hedwigia 111 (1/2): 59 - 76. 14 Câmara PE, Carvalho-Silva M. 2020. Periodically inundated shores of dams are an underexplored habitat for bryophytes in Bulgaria that have proved to harbour a number of previously unrecorded species. [Extracted from the article]

The effect of the force field, atomic charges of sulfolane and perchlorate anion, and scale of ionic charges on the results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation of the physicochemical properties of a 1 M LiClO4 solution in sulfolane was evaluated. The simulation was performed using the OPLS-AA, Amber (GAFF), Charmm, and Gromos force fields. The best correlation between the calculated and experimental physicochemical properties of the solution was obtained using the OPLS-AA force field, the atomic charges calculated by the B3LYP/aug-cc-pVTZ method, and with ionic charges scaled by 80% as default charges (±1.0). The coordination number of the lithium cation with respect to sulfolane was calculated: 5.3 with ionic charges scaled by 100% and 4.7 for 80%. It was shown that sulfolane is coordinated to the lithium cation by one oxygen atom of the sulfone group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 1846 until the end of 2020 the moss flora of Azerbaijan included some 419 taxa (368 species, 33 varieties, 18 formas) (Weinmann [82]; Brotherus [13]; Ignatov and Afonina [45]; Ignatov et al. [46]; Gasimov and Novruzov [32]). I Ulota macrospora i Baur & Warnst. stands out among the European Orthotrichaceae species for being both one of the few strict continental endemics and a rare species considered threatened (Hodgetts et al. [42], [44]). In the eastern Baltic region, I C. tenuirostre i is a Red-Listed species: in Latvia, it is very rare (Hodgetts [41]); in Estonia, the species is designated as Endangered (Ingerpuu et al. [49]). Dicranella staphylina H.Whitehouse, a new species in the moss flora of Poland. This pleurocarpous moss is distinguished from the other species of the family recorded in Colombia by leaves usually ± complanate when wet, with apices broadly obtuse to rounded and lamina cells pluripapillose. [Extracted from the article]

I Aloina brevirostris i is a bipolar boreo-arctic montane species, mainly distributed in northern and Central Europe (Hodgetts [111]), and also reported from North America, Asia and North Africa and Lesotho in southern Africa (Hogetts et al. [114]), southern South America (Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra, Ochyra, Duckett, et al. [27]) and Antarctica (Ochyra, Bednarek-Ochyra, et al. [180]) in the Southern Hemisphere. B I Bucklandiella striatipila i b (Cardot) Bedn.-Ochyra & Ochyra B Contributors. b H. Bednarek-Ochyra and V. Plásek B Chile. b Region de Los Lagos (X), Chiloé Province, Chonchi Commune, Isla Grande de Chiloé, Cucao, near Puente Cucao on the right side of the Cucao River close to Lago Cucao, 42°37'48"S, 74°06'22"W, 5 m a.s.l., sterile moss forming extensive patches on dry and exposed boulders on the river bank near the bridge, associated with I Bucklandiella didyma i (Mont.) Bedn.-Ochyra & Ochyra, I Zygodon menziesii i (Schwägr.) It is typical of a group of bryophyte species occurring in southern South America and recurring on the remote islands in the Southern Ocean in Kerguelen province (e.g. Ochyra [165], [166]; Bednarek-Ochyra et al. [17]; Cano [40]; Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra, Ochyra, Cykowska, et al. [30]; Bednarek-Ochyra and Ochyra [19], [20], [21], [22]; Ellis, Bednarek-Ochyra, Cykowska, et al. [81]; Ellis, Aleffi, Bakalin, et al. [73]; Ochyra, Crabtree et al. [172]; Ellis, Asthana, Srivastava, et al. [78]). [Extracted from the article]

The study involved 91 patients (48 women and 43 men), aged from 18 to 70 years with GERD. All patients underwent the clinical dental examination according to a single scheme including general clinical manifestations (nausea, single vomiting, belching, heartburn, pain in the epigastrium and around the navel, and poor appetite) and dental manifestations of GERD. The objective assessment of the dental status of the examined patients included the measurement of the functional parameters of the mixed saliva, buffer capacity (BC) of saliva, and the detection of the nitric oxide metabolites (NOx) content in saliva from the right parotid salivary gland ("SRPSG") and in blood serum using the indirect method based on the determination of the stable metabolites: nitrates and nitrites using the Griess reaction. It was established that salivation rate among patients with GERD with the prevailing of ACR and SACR was at the lower limit of normal values (0.32 + 0.19 ml/min), and the salivation rate among patients with the prevailing of SALCR was low (0.10 + 0.04 ml/min). The BC of saliva among patients with the prevailing of ACR and SACR was high (9.07 + 1.23 mmol eq/l and 9.40 + 1.71 mmol eq/l, respectively) and was reduced among patients with the prevailing of SALCR (7.63 + 0.18 mmol eq/l). The NOx level in SRPSG among patients with GERD was increased (especially in Group 3 (20.93 + 11.23 umol/l)). The direct correlation between the indicators of sialometry, the level of the BC of saliva, and the NOx level in SRPSG were established during the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

& Wilson) Mitt., 19 January 2015, I leg. i H. Bednarek-Ochyra & R. Ochyra I 845/15 & 848/15 i , with V. Plásek (KRAM B-245670 & B-245673); (3) on banks of Río Ñirehuao east of El Gato between Ñirehuao and Villa Mañihuales at Ruta X-423, 512 m a.s.l., 45°13'07"S, 71°45'33"W, on wet muddy soil in stream bed, associated with I Philonotis vagans i , 19 January 2015, I leg. i H. Bednarek-Ochyra & R. Ochyra I 851/15 i , with V. Plásek (KRAM B-245675). It exhibits an amphiatlantic distribution pattern, typical of austral cool-adapted bryophytes (e.g. Ochyra and Lewis Smith [146]; Bednarek-Ochyra and Ochyra [22], [23], [24], [25]; Ochyra et al. [142], [143]; Li S-P et al. [118]; Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra et al. [33]; Ellis, Bednarek-Ochyra et al. [68]; Ellis, Bakalin et al. [67]; Ochyra and van Rooy [147]; Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra [141]; Ellis, Asthana et al. [65]; Ochyra et al. [145]; Saluga et al. [173]). It was subsequently discovered in the Central and East African mountains (Ochyra [139]), but interestingly, this species had not been described earlier in Africa under different names (Bednarek-Ochyra and Ochyra, [26]). The bryophyte flora of Ethiopia is still understudied and in recent decades a number of liverwort (e.g. Ellis, Aleffi, Asthana, et al. [62]) and moss (e.g. Blockeel, Matcham, et al. [37]; Ochyra and Bednarek-Ochyra [140]; Blockeel, Bednarek-Ochyra, et al. [32]; Ellis, Asthana, et al. [66]) species have been newly found in this country, especially in the Bale Mountains. Herein, the species is recorded from the fourth mountain range in these vast mountains, namely from the Polica Range where the Racomitrioideae are represented by three species of I Niphotrichum i Bedn.-Ochyra & Ochyra and three species of I Bucklandiella i Roiv. [Extracted from the article]

Herein, we present an overview of the approaches for the synthesis of phthalocyanines bearing electron-withdrawing halogen-, nitro- and N-substituted imide functional groups in different positions of the phthalocyanine macrocycle. Some approaches for synthesis of the corresponding substituted phthalonitriles are also covered. This review includes unusual techniques for the synthesis of phthalocyanines, such as microwave-assisted approaches, synthesis in ionic liquids and synthesis under mild conditions based on the double-addition of oximes. The synthesis and optical and magnetic peculiarities of the surprisingly stable anionic forms of double-decker phthalocyanine complexes with electron-withdrawing substituents are also highlighted. Finally, the various applications of phthalocyanines with electron-withdrawing functional groups (optical limiters, gas sensors, organic thin-film transistors, memory elements, single-molecule magnets, and medicinal chemistry) and the preparation of hybrid nanoparticles coated with a phthalocyanine shell are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statements and analysis are presented of nonselfadjoint eigenvalue problems for elliptic equations and systems, including singular Sturm-Liouville problems on the line, that arise in mathematical models of the wave propagation in open metal-dielectric waveguides. Existence of real and complex spectra are proved and their distribution is investigated for canonical structures possessing circular symmetry of boundary contours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Birmingham Cognitive Screen (BCoS) is designed for use with individuals who have acquired language impairment following stroke. Our goal was to develop a Russian version of the BCoS (Rus-BCoS) by translating the battery following cultural and linguistic adaptations and establishing preliminary data on its psychometric properties.Method: Fifty patients with left-hemisphere stroke were recruited, of whom 98% were diagnosed with mild to moderate aphasia. To check whether the Rus-BCoS provides stable and consistent scores, internal consistency, test–retest, and interrater types of reliability were determined. Eight participants with stroke and 20 neurologically intact participants were assessed twice. To inspect the discriminative power of the battery, 63 participants without brain impairment were tested with the Rus-BCoS. Additionally, the Russian version of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Quantitative Assessment of Speech in Aphasia, and Luria’s Neuropsychological Assessment Battery were used to examine convergent validity, sensitivity, and specificity of the Rus-BCoS.Results: The internal consistency as well as test–retest and interrater reliability of the Rus-BCoS satisfied criteria for the research use. Performance on a majority of tasks in the battery correlated significantly with independently validated tests that putatively measure similar cognitive processes. Critically, all patients with aphasia returned nonzero scores in at least one task in all the Rus-BCoS sections, with the exception of the Controlled Attention section where two patients with severe executive control deficits could not perform.Conclusions: The Rus-BCoS shows promise as a comprehensive cognitive screening tool that can be used by clinicians working with Russian-speaking persons experiencing poststroke aphasia after much further validation and development of reliable normative standards. Given a lack of quantitative neuropsychological assessment tools in Russia, however, we contend the Rus-BCoS offers potential benefits to clinicians and patients. However, data from research studies with a broader sample of Russian speakers are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]