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Stratiolaelaps scimitus (Womersley, 1956) (Acari, Mesostigmata, Laelapidae) is a predatory soil mite massively produced in laboratories in many countries of the world. The existing spheres of S. scimitus application vary in many parameters, especially temperature and relative humidity. In this article, we analyzed temperature and humidity appropriate for fastest spread of soil predatory mite S. scimitus. Mites should be released to a new environment in such a way that they would distribute in a greenhouse, garden or field as fast as they can (i.e. providing maximum migration activity of S. scimitus), on the one hand, and provide maximum efficient control of number of target phytophage species (i.e. providing maximum trophic activity), on the other hand. In our experiment, at 14 ºC temperature, most specimens of S. scimitus did not leave the migratory circle for 10 seconds. In 15–19 ºC range, only 14.7% of mites left the migratory circle, and their examined activity in 10 s was only 5–10 mm. In 20–24 ºC range, 27.5% of mites left the migratory circle, their migratory activity increased to 15–23 mm. In 25–33 ºC range, the moving activity increased even more, the mites left the migratory circle at the first opportunity that had (some even jumped off the circle to the experimental field), 95.8% of the mites left the circle in 10 s, their examined activity reached 25–60 mm in 10 seconds. Study of thermo- and hygro-preferences for various groups of invertebrates helps to better describe their ecological niche in multidimensional space of ecologic factors.

The article discusses some circumstances, under which the Ural Republic was proclaimed in 1993 on the territory of the Sverdlovsk region. This mainly concerns the political motives for its creation and the legal procedures for its proclamation. It is noted that when preparing the Constitution of the Russian Federation 1993, the Sverdlovsk regional leadership intentionally strived to ensure the constitutional equality of the federalsubjects. To achieve this aim, it was initially proposed to abandon the idea of territorial subdivision into national-state and administrative constituent entities, and to turn allsubjectsinto equalstatus territorial units - provinces. Having encountered resistance to these intentions both from the federal center and the leaders of the national republics, the Sverdlovsk authorities embarked on another, less preferable option to achieve the desired result - they proclaimed the Ural Republic. However, as the article shows, the legal procedures were carried out incorrectly. Thus, the opinion poll held on April 25, 1993, was not related to the change in the constitutional and legal status of the Sverdlovsk region, and therefore could not be considered a sufficient basis for the proclamation of the Ural Republic. The second necessary condition - the consent of the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation to the establishment of the Republic - was not satisfied at all, although due to circumstances beyond the control of the Sverdlovsk authorities. In this respect, the authors of the project violated deliberately the legislation in force at that time and were justly politically punished for this. It is concluded that the proclamation of the Ural Republic and its subsequent liquidation by the federal center became not only a notable event in post-Soviet Russia, but also an important page in the history of the Sverdlovsk region.

The current status of the theoretical investigation of the bound-electron g factor in lithium-like and boron-like highly charged ions is reported. Some tension between the several theoretical values and measurements is discussed. Then, prospects for future investigations are briefly reviewed.

Abstract Finding novel biomarkers for human pathologies and predicting clinical outcomes for patients is challenging. This stems from the heterogeneous response of individuals to disease and is reflected in the inter-individual variability of gene expression responses that obscures differential gene expression analysis. Here, we developed an alternative approach that could be applied to dissect the disease-associated molecular changes. We define gene ensemble noise as a measure that represents a variance for a collection of genes encoding for either members of known biological pathways or subunits of annotated protein complexes and calculated within an individual. The gene ensemble noise allows for the holistic identification and interpretation of gene expression disbalance on the level of gene networks and systems. By comparing gene expression data from COVID-19, H1N1, and sepsis patients we identified common disturbances in a number of pathways and protein complexes relevant to the sepsis pathology. Among others, these include the mitochondrial respiratory chain complex I and peroxisomes. This suggests a Warburg effect and oxidative stress as common hallmarks of the immune host–pathogen response. Finally, we showed that gene ensemble noise could successfully be applied for the prediction of clinical outcome namely, the mortality of patients. Thus, we conclude that gene ensemble noise represents a promising approach for the investigation of molecular mechanisms of pathology through a prism of alterations in the coherent expression of gene circuits.

The lack of organs for transplantation is an important problem in medicine today. The growth of organs in chimeric animals may be the solution of this. The proposed technology is the interspecific blastocyst complementation method in combination with genomic editing for obtaining “free niches” and pluripotent stem cell production methods. The CRISPR/Cas9 method allows the so-called “free niches” to be obtained for blastocyst complementation. The technologies of producing induced pluripotent stem cells give us the opportunity to obtain human donor cells capable of populating a “free niche”. Taken together, these technologies allow interspecific blastocyst complementation between humans and other animals, which makes it possible in the future to grow human organs for transplantations inside chimeric animals. However, in practice, in order to achieve successful interspecific blastocyst complementation, it is necessary to solve a number of problems: to improve methods for producing “chimeric competent” cells, to overcome specific interspecific barriers, to select compatible cell developmental stages for injection and the corresponding developmental stage of the host embryo, to prevent apoptosis of donor cells and to achieve effective proliferation of the human donor cells in the host animal. Also, it is very important to analyze the ethical aspects related to developing technologies of chimeric organisms with the participation of human cells. Today, many researchers are trying to solve these problems and also to establish new approaches in the creation of interspecific chimeric organisms in order to grow human organs for transplantation. In the present review we described the historical stages of the development of the blastocyst complementation method, examined in detail the technologies that underlie modern blastocyst complementation, and analyzed current progress that gives us the possibility to grow human organs in chimeric animals. We also considered the barriers and issues preventing the successful implementation of interspecific blastocyst complementation in practice, and discussed the further development of this method.

Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) increasingly occupy the study of human reproduction. In addition, in developed countries they contribute to breeding of more than 50 % of cattle. In the management of collections of genetic lines of laboratory animals, these technologies are obligatory components of cryopreservation and rederivation. ART procedures include the development of early embryos outside the mother’s body and the high probability of incomplete synchronization of the physiological state of the surrogate mother and transplanted embryos. Since all this occurs at the stage of the highest susceptibility of embryos to epigenetic reprogramming, the full cycle of ART and its individual components can lead to stable phenotypic changes in the offspring. Their reality is confirmed by studies of the morphological and functional characteristics of sexually mature offspring of CD1 outbred mice, obtained using different variants of early embryo transplantation. Comparative studies of body mass and body composition, basal glucose level and response to glucose load (glucose-tolerance test – GTT) have been done on sexually mature males and females. Animals were separated in 4 groups according to the variant of embryo transplantation: group (control) – natural mating; group (2cl-bl) – incubation of 2-cell up to blastocysts; group (2cl-2cl) – removal and transplantation of the 2-cell embryo without incubation; group (Bl-bl) removal and transplantation of the blastocysts without incubation. All embryos were transplanted to recipient females of the same line. It was found that sexually mature offspring obtained with all variants of transplantations had a higher relative fat content and, correspondingly, lower lean mass compared to the control. This effect was more pronounced in females than in males. Unlike body compositions, embryo transplantations had a greater effect on basal glucose concentration and GTT in males than in females. In this case, the offspring of the 2cl-2cl and 2cl-bl groups were characterized by a higher tolerance to glucose load (GTT) compared with the control and the Bl-bl group. Stable deviations of body compositions and glucose homeostasis indices detected in experimental groups of progenies indicate the phenotypic significance of the embryo transplantations per se.

Background: Q fever is a zoonotic infectious disease characterized by fever, malaise, chills, significant weakness, and muscle pain. In some cases, the disease can become chronic and affect the inner membranes of the heart, such as the valves, leading to endocarditis and a high risk of death. Coxiella burnetii (C. burnetii) is the primary causative agent of Q fever in humans. This study aims to monitor the presence of C. burnetii in ticks collected from small mammals and cattle in the Republic of Guinea (RG). Methods: Rodents were trapped in the Kindia region of RG during 2019–2020, and ticks were collected from cattle in six regions of RG. Total DNA was extracted using a commercial kit (RIBO-prep, InterLabService, Russia) following the manufacturer’s instructions. Real-time PCR amplification was conducted using the kit (AmpliSens Coxiella burnetii-FL, InterLabService, Russia) to detect C. burnetii DNA. Results and Conclusions: Bacterial DNA was detected in 11 out of 750 (1.4%) small mammals and 695 out of 9620 (7.2%) tick samples. The high number of infected ticks (7.2%) suggests that they are the main transmitters of C. burnetii in RG. The DNA was detected in the liver and spleen of a Guinea multimammate mouse, Mastomys erythroleucus. These findings demonstrate that C. burnetii is zoonotic in RG, and measures should be taken to monitor the bacteria’s dynamics and tick prevalence in the rodent population.