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Abstract  Two types of chelating sorbents with different types of addition of iminodipropionate groups to a polymeric matrix were synthesized: carboxyethylated aminopolystyrene (sorbent 1) based on linear polystyrene and carboxyethylaminomethylpolystyrene (sorbent 2) based on the copolymer of styrene and divinylbenzene. The ionization constants and concentrations of functional groups of the sorbents (exchange capacity for hydrogen ions) were determined. The sorbents exhibit high selectivity for copper(II) ions with the maximum of sorption from ammonia—acetate buffer solutions lying in a range of pH 5.0–7.5. The time needed for a solution of copper(II)—sorbent system with continuous stirring to reach exchange equilibrium is 3.5 and 2 h for sorbents 1 and 2, respectively. The exchange capacity for copper(II) ions is 2.54 and 0.10 mmol g−1, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a new interpretation of Joseph Brodsky’s “Great Poem” titled “Triton” (1994, originally named “Mollusk”) and its titular imagery. It is noted that previous scholars have exclusively interpreted the titular image metaphorically, relying on the poem’s poetic imagery and allusively linking the mollusk and triton images to the symbolism of the marine element or, more concretely, to the historical and architectural context of the poem. This study adopts a different approach, suggesting a connection between the poem’s creation and real events in Brodsky’s life, particularly a heart attack he experienced shortly before writing. It demonstrates that the image of the mollusk has a specific source of metaphorization in Brodsky’s work — the human heart, which, like a living mollusk, opens and closes its valves, filling its chambers, and is intricately linked to the vital aorta. The article traces how seemingly incidental “medical” details accumulate additional connotations, providing semantic and meaningful support for the entire poetic structure. Various reasons and origins for the change in the poem’s title and the transformation of its titular imagery are proposed. It is shown that the “mystery” of the titular image in Brodsky’s poem possesses both existential and quotidian dimensions. The authors note that the context of Soviet literature in which the poet was formed did not hinder him from creating a profound philosophical work.

Single crystals of nitramine fillers for special-purpose polymeric composites are characterized by the surface energy and its constituents and also by the acidity of their surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The susceptibility of seven species of chestnuts to the horse chestnut leaf miner was studied in the arboretum of the Main Botanical Garden of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MBG RAS), taking into account their interspecific characteristics. Using pheromone delta traps, the highest number of Cameraria ohridella moths was shown for Aesculus hippocastanum and the lowest for Aesculus chinensis. A number of anatomical parameters of leaves were investigated, such as the thickness of the epidermal cell wall and the thickness of the palisade and spongy parenchyma layers. As a result, it was shown that the most infected chestnut species had a greater thickness of the nutritious parenchyma tissue. No dependence was found between the degree of susceptibility to the horse chestnut leaf miner and such indicators as the content of chlorophyll a + b and carotenoids in the leaves of seven species of chestnuts. Nevertheless, resistance of different species of the genus Aesculus to Cameraria ohridella under increased tannin content in leaves has been shown. Evaluation of phenolic compounds and flavonoids has not established their reliable role as repellents. The high levels of carbohydrates found during the study contributed to increased susceptibility to the horse chestnut leaf miner.

A new interpretation of Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “Family Man” from the collection of stories “Lazorevaya Step” (“Don Stories”) is proposed. Traditionally, the image of the central character — the Cossack ferryman Mikishara — has been interpreted as a portrayal of a sinful hero, a criminal, a patricide. However, the author of the article considers the leading character’s image in light of biblical motifs and parallels. It is demonstrated that the old ferryman’s night confession is permeated with allusions to sacred biblical texts, specifically to the image of God the Father who sent his own Son to death. The image of the Cossack father is constructed by the writer in projection to the sacred image of the Father-Spirit, and in this comparison, new semantic markers of the character’s nature are explicitly revealed. The temporal constant of the confessional narrative — Easter — is supplemented by Sholokhov with motifs such as dove, soul, willow, river, fish, and others. Thus, an unexplored layer of meaning in the work emerges in which new components of the motif system begin to appear: not sin and guilt, but misfortune and sacrificialness, torment and suffering that the Cossack-father faced in the conditions of a terrible fratricidal civil war. The analysis demonstrates how the poethological components of the story (title, change of title, composition “story within a story”, plot dynamics and narrative pauses, symbolized landscape, portraiture techniques, etc.) are oriented by the writer towards authorial evaluative meanings.

This article offers an interpretation of the well-known poem by Joseph Brodsky, ‘Great Elegy for John Donne’ (1963). While traditionally elegy is analyzed in comparison with texts of the English medieval poet and preacher, where echoes of poetic and prose lines of John Donne are identified in Brodsky’s verses, the authors propose a different approach — viewing ‘Great Elegy...’ as an independent work by Brodsky, loosely connected to the verses and sermons of the abbot of St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is shown that at the time of creating the elegy, the young poet knew very little about Donne, leading the elegy to be an extension of Brodsky’s own ideas and beliefs that were already present in his previous works. None of the allusions to Donne suggested by critics were genuinely Donnesque but rather organic to the poet’s worldview at that time. The genre specificity of “Great Elegy for John Donne” is clarified during the analysis, demonstrating its connection to Brodsky’s genre of “great poems.” It is argued that the elegy was not a model of discipleship to Donne but an embodiment of the painful reflections prompted by a terrifying early diagnosis of “heart defect.” In this grand elegy, Brodsky donned Donne’s mask and through such mystification attempted to touch upon the mysteries of life-death, sleep-death, and grasp that “choral height” which transcends the Lord.

The article proposes an interpretation of the well-known, but rarely analyzed elegy by I. Brodsky, “In the village, God does not live in corners...” (1964). While traditional analyses of Brodsky’s text focus on its “dark places,” “difficulties,” and “inconsistencies,” and note its “eclecticism of worldview,” the authors suggest a different perspective — the need to view the text as the realization of a verbal metaphor, which allows us to abandon notions of “secret writing” and “encryption” in the text. This approach removes critics’ claims regarding the “chaotic” and “overloaded” nature of the verse, and instead demonstrates the coherence and clarity of the lyrical subject’s reflections. According to Brodsky, in villages, God lives in the hearts of ordinary people, participating in all the most mundane events of life (construction, plowing, cooking, weddings, etc.), sharing their joy, helping them in times of trouble, and comforting them in grief. Brodsky creates a unique image not of the canonized biblical God, but of a “folk” house spirit, a host God, a friendly and companionable God who accompanies the Russian person in all their endeavors. It is argued that the poem “In the village, God does not live in corners...” was not an attempt at “seeking God,” but rather an awareness of a “sense of community” with the common people and an understanding of important “foundations of life” for the young poet.

Wheat is one of the main food crops, the value of which lies in the high content of protein and carbohydrates in the kernel. To improve the quality of kernel processing, it is desirable that all kernels are uniform in shape and quantitative parameters. However, the kernel technological properties are affected by agricultural technology, environmental conditions and genetic characteristics, for example, even within one ear; kernels vary in size and the degree of ripening. Therefore, the aim of this work is to test the relationship between the coefficients (indices) of kernel shape variability in winter wheat lines that were pre-selected in long-term competitive variety trials and to select the best variety accession for further targeted selection to improve the uniformity of kernels. This work examined seven lines and a control variety of winter wheat grown during 2022–2023. Sampling in the field experiment was carried out randomly. The variability of quantitative traits was assessed by the analysis of variance method. It is noted that symmetrical kernels are mainly characteristic of 188h, the intermediate position is occupied by Moskovskaya 56, 150h, 152h, 171h, 184h, 187h and variety sample 151h has clearly expressed asymmetry. Index 5 of the kernel cut has a strong correlation with gluten content (r = 0.74, p = 0.05), index 4 with kernel test weight (r = 0.84, p = 0.01), index 3 with a tillering coefficient (r = 0.83, p = 0.05) and index 1 with plant height (r = 0.81, p = 0.05). An inverse relationship was found for index 2 with kernel vitreousness (r = −0.74, p = 0.05). The kernel test weight has an inverse relationship with the grain area (r = −0.71, p = 0.05). Predictive regression equations on the relationship of plant height, tillering ratio, gluten content and indices are given. While limited by its one-year duration, this study reveals intriguing correlations between grain shape parameters and economically valuable traits in wheat, offering valuable insights for high-throughput phenotyping applications in rapidly advancing agricultural technologies. This article will be useful for breeding for kernel uniformity and, consequently, for increasing the kernels in the ear and the weight of 1000 seeds.

The class B scavenger receptor CD36 is known to bind and mediate the transport of lipid-related ligands and it functions as a pattern recognition receptor (PRR) for a variety of pathogens, including bacteria and viruses. In this study, we assessed CD36’s role as a PRR mediating pro-inflammatory effects of several known Danger-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMPs) used either as a single preparation or as a combination of DAMPs in the form of total cell/skeletal muscle tissue lysates. Our data demonstrated that multiple DAMPs, including HMGB1, HSPs, histone H3, SAA, and oxPAPC, as well as cell/tissue lysate preparations, induced substantially higher (~7–10-fold) IL-8 cytokine responses in HEK293 cells overexpressing CD36 compared to control WT cells. At the same time, DAMP-induced secretion of IL-6 in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM) from CD36−/− mice was markedly (~2–3 times) reduced, as compared to macrophages from normal mice. Synthetic amphipathic helical peptides (SAHPs), known CD36 ligands, efficiently blocked CD36-dependent inflammatory responses induced by both cell and tissue lysates, HMGB1 and histone H3 in CD36+ cells. IP injection of total cellular lysate preparation induced inflammatory responses that were assessed by the expression of liver and lung pro-inflammatory markers, including IL-6, TNF-α, CD68, and CXCL1, and was reduced by ~50% in CD36-deficient mice compared to normal mice. Our findings demonstrate that CD36 is a PRR contributing to the innate immune response via mediating DAMP-induced inflammatory signaling and highlight the importance of this receptor as a potential therapeutic target in DAMP-associated inflammatory conditions.

An interpretation of the semantic unity of the poetic cycle of Joseph Brodsky “Mexican Divertissement” (1975), consisting of 7 (15) lyrical texts, is proposed. If earlier researchers considered one or another poem of the cycle in isolation, then the problem of the integrity of the entire lyrical work is actualized in the work, the question of the relationship of individual cyclic texts is raised. It is shown how the same characters (emperor Maximilian, Huaretz, lyrical hero), images (ducks, parrot, lizard, cancer, etc.), motives (loneliness, death, delirium), details (geometry of figures, etc.), words and signs (explicated and implied) pass from text to text, ensuring the unity of the whole variety of melodic “pictures” of the divertissement. It is traced how “random” details appearing in one text are overgrown with additional connotations in another, providing semantic and logical support for the whole. Brodsky’s intertextual references to classical Russian literature are revealed, which translate the code of the text from “Mexican divertissement” to “Leningrad / Petersburg”, allowing one to discern the contours of the history of Russia and the fate of the hero himself (alter ego of the author) behind the exotic realities of Mexico. Some “dark places” of the cycle are deciphered, new interpretations of those already reflected by criticism are proposed. It is shown that the intention of the hero-narrator is focused not on the position of the scriptertraveler, but the creator-thinker.