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The article is devoted to the design of reclamation works after completion of construction works on the construction/reconstruction of the railway line of the enterprise. The authors described the current regulatory framework, as well as types of reclamation works and stages of project implementation. Within the premises of the experimental area after the construction and installation works were completed the authors conducted the survey and design of reclamation procedures, which included planning, construction of a drainage ditch (as part of the technical stage), landscaping (as part of the biological stage). The authors, after analyzing the survey materials and comparing design solutions, believe that the designers superficially reacted to the task at hand, they did not sufficiently take into account the impact of atmospheric and surface water on the site under consideration. Since the site is located in an urban area, the identified problem will definitely require a solution in the future.

Quality of life is among the basic components of sustainable development of a municipality. In turn, the level of housing provision is the most important indicator of life quality of the population in a certain area. Providing housing for such a category of citizens as young families is one of the priority tasks of the socio-economic development of Russia and its administrative-territorial units. At the present stage, the solution to this problem is carried out within the framework of a program-targeted approach. This article examines the functions of regional and municipal bodies in relation to improving the living conditions of young families. The article contains proposals for improving the implementation of certain measures carried out by authorities when providing social support measures to provide housing for citizens of this category. The research site was a municipality such as Yekaterinburg.

This article addresses age variability in some Azerbaijani cephalometric features, based on study of the population of two closely related and neighbouring villages (Lower and Upper Askipara). They represent the Azerbaijani enclave in the territory of Armenia. The majority of this population is native to the area. Research took place in 1985 and studied approximately 40 % of the adult population (equally men and women) using the parameters of programmes of ethnic anthropology. Attention was paid only to the measurement characteristics that are relevant in relation to their correlation with the age of the studied group (there were 11 correlations). Six of them characterize the skull, which is forming in ontogenesis by ossification of connective tissue the bubble (nota textus bulla). The other five characteristics are formed as a result of cartilaginous tissue substitution. The analysis of the studied group leads to the following conclusions. Age variability of some measured features of the head is detected. Age-related variability of the measured characteristics of the arched part of the skull usually showed a reliable negative correlation in their values with age. It means that the older generation had smaller values than the younger ones had. The values of the facial bone structure did not show such a clear correlation with age, except the zygomatic and mandibular diameters. They usually showed a small reliable positive correlation with age. So, these features had a larger value in older age than in younger. These results were observed in both men and women of both villages, but more clearly expressed in the population of Lower Askipara (this village is larger than Upper Askipara). Of all the studied signs the highest and most stable negative correlation with age showed the greatest head width, cephalic index, the degree of sphericity and the relative height of the cranial vault (pointer lipsiense). For a short time (about 50 years) variability of the metric parameters of the head were investigated in a small, isolated population of Azerbaijanis showing the same temporal vector, which is characteristic of evolutionary changes (secular trend) in a significant part of the population of Eurasia: brachycephalidae, spherisation of the cranium and the increase of the cranial vault. To determine at what age there was the greatest variability of va-lues, the study divided the population of both villages (separately by sex) into three age groups: younger age — from 19 to 39 years (born after 1945), average age — from 40 to 54 years (born between 1930 and 1945), older age — 55 years or more (born before 1930). In both men and women, the selected age groups were close in number. When the studied sample was divided into three age groups, it was found that the greatest variability of values and their correlation with age were recorded in both men and women in the younger aged group: 19–39 years (born after 1945).

Ensuring food security and promoting the development of agriculture are included in the priority goals of sustainable development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation until 2035. The structural complexity and multidimensionality of food security in the region requires a clear methodology for its assessment. The article presents the results of a study of food security in the regions of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. This study is based on an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods for assessing food security in the regions of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation. The authors proposed a methodology for assessing the food security of the regions of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, which makes it possible to translate a phased multivariate analysis (the methodology was tested on the example of the Chukotka Autonomous Region).

Ensuring food security and promoting agricultural development are included in the priority goals of sustainable development until 2030. The structural complexity and multidimensionality of food security in the region requires a clear methodology for its assessment. The article provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of existing methods for assessing the food security of a region in the Russian Federation. The authors proposed a methodology for assessing the food security of a region, which makes it possible to translate the qualitative characteristics of indicators into a unified quantitative characteristic, by considering three possible options for interpreting the indicators. This makes it possible to form a final aggregate assessment of the level of food security in the region and track it in dynamics through the prism of the development of the agro-industrial complex.

Digitalization determines the development of all processes in the economic and public areas, including the issue of strengthening economic security. The article discusses the problem of digitalization of one of the types of economic activity of the region. The relationship between the development of agriculture and economic security of the region is presented. The authors identify the degree of damage and threshold values in the estimation of the economic security of the region and approbate the original method in the Sverdlovsk region. The article discusses the aspects of the existing level of economic security of the Sverdlovsk region and identifies the problems. The paper provides recommendations for solving these problems and makes calculations of benefits from the introduction of certain Russian digital technologies into operation.

Food security issues are among the priority areas for the development of the regions of the Arctic zone, both on the territory of the Russian Federation and abroad. The sustainable development of the territory largely depends on the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population. For a detailed and comprehensive assessment of the situation on this issue, a qualitative methodology is required, which will most objectively reflect the state of food security in the regions of the Arctic zone. The study analyzes the existing methods of assessing food security, justifies their main advantages and disadvantages. The authors propose their own methodology for assessing the food security of the regions of the Arctic zone, which uses the most common indicators used in previous methods, and is also based on the main socially significant features of the regions of the Arctic zone (small population, limited opportunities for food production).

Within the framework of achieving several sustainable development goals, the construction of high-quality and affordable housing for citizens is considered. According to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation “On national goals and strategic objectives of the development of the Russian Federation for the period up to 2030”, it is necessary to increase the volume of housing construction to at least 120 million square meters per year. The construction of standard-class housing contributes to the achievement of these goals. The article uses regression analysis to determine the main factors affecting the construction of standard-class housing in the city of Yekaterinburg. The problems and prospects for the development of housing construction at the expense of the standard-class segment are also identified.

The article examines the dependence of the “smart home” technology on the technical capabilities of the engineering infrastructure. Home automation ideas have been evolving since the early 20th century. However, this technology is not widespread yet due to a number of features of the system. We consider the dependence of the reliability of the system on the characteristics of external power grids. There are technological developments in housing construction sphere that make it possible to maximize the satisfaction of the needs of residents. At the same time, the irrational distribution of capacities, the unpredictability (for operating organizations) of territorial development plans, and increased consumer demands hinder the use of modern technologies.

Zeolites stand apart among the many families of porous materials. Due to their structure, they have a number of important practical properties such as a high adsorption capacity and the ability to cation exchange. However, the main feature distinguishing them from other porous bodies and inherent only for zeolites is the ordering of the pores in their size, orientation, and mutual locations. Pore diameters for the crystalline structures of various zeolites may vary from 0.25 to about 15 nanometers. The crystalline arrangement of these pores in space converts zeolites in the naturally existing nanostructured materials, possessing the unique property to present ordered location of stabilized nanoparticles.

Abstract Au was loaded (1 wt%) on a commercial MgO support by three different methods: double impregnation, liquid-phase reductive deposition and ultrasonication. Samples were characterised by adsorption of N2 at -96°C, temperature-programmed reduction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Upon loading with Au, MgO changed into Mg(OH)2 (the hydroxide was most likely formed by reaction with water, in which the gold precursor was dissolved). The size range for gold nanoparticles was 2-12 nm for the DIM method and 3-15 nm for LPRD and US. The average size of gold particles was 5.4 nm for DIM and larger than 6.5 for the other methods. CO oxidation was used as a test reaction to compare the catalytic activity. The best results were obtained with the DIM method, followed by LPRD and US. This can be explained in terms of the nanoparticle size, well known to determine the catalytic activity of gold catalysts.

The non-ideal accuracy and insufficient selectivity of CRISPR/Cas9 systems is a serious problem for their use as a genome editing tool. It is important to select the target sequence correctly so that the CRISPR/Cas9 system does not cut similar sequences. This requires an understanding of how and why mismatches in the target sequence can affect the efficiency of the Cas9/sgRNA complex. In this work, we studied the catalytic activity of the Cas9 enzyme to cleave DNA substrates containing nucleotide mismatch at different positions relative to the PAM in the "seed" sequence. We show that mismatches in the complementarity of the sgRNA/DNA duplex at different positions relative to the protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) sequence tend to decrease the cleavage efficiency and increase the half-maximal reaction time. However, for two mismatches at positions 11 and 20 relative to the PAM, an increase in cleavage efficiency was observed, both with and without an increase in half-reaction time. Thermodynamic parameters were obtained from molecular dynamics results, which showed that mismatches at positions 8, 11, and 20 relative to the PAM thermodynamically stabilize the formed complex, and a mismatch at position 2 of the PAM fragment exerts the greatest stabilization compared to the original DNA sequence. The weak correlation of the thermodynamic binding parameters of the components of the Cas9/sgRNA:dsDNA complex with the cleavage data of DNA substrates containing mismatches indicates that the efficiency of Cas9 operation is mainly affected by the conformational changes in Cas9 and the mutual arrangement of sgRNA and substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uncontrolled use of antibiotics has led to a global problem of antimicrobial resistance. One of the main mechanisms of bacterial resistance is the formation of biofilms. In order to prevent the growth of antimicrobial resistance, it is crucial to develop new antibacterial agents that are capable of inhibiting the formation of biofilms. This makes this area of research highly relevant today. Promising candidates for these antibacterial agents are new bionanomaterials made from natural humic substances and silver nanoparticles. These substances have the potential to not only directly kill microorganisms but also penetrate biofilms and inhibit their formation. The goal of this study is to synthesize active pharmaceutical substances in the form of bionanomaterials, using ultradispersed silver nanoparticles in a matrix of coal humic substances, perform their characterization (NMR spectroscopy, TEM, and ICP-AES methods), and research their influence on biofilm formation in the most dangerous opportunistic pathogens (E. coli, Methicillin-resistant St. Aureus, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, St. aureus, A. baumannii, and K. Pneumonia). The results showed that all of the studied bionanomaterials had antibacterial activity against all of the opportunistic pathogens. Furthermore, they were found to have a suppressive effect on both pre-existing biofilms of these bacteria and their formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial biofilm formation poses significant consequences in the treatment of infections, leading to increased virulence and antibiotic resistance of bacteria and evasion of immune responses. Various methods aimed at preventing biofilm formation were investigated, including the use of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). However, the previous studies were focused on the efficacy of AgNPs in vitro. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of AgNPs in vivo in treating 700 cows with subclinical mastitis. The results obtained with AgNP therapy were compared with results obtained with first-line antibiotic-containing drug therapy. The biofilm formation index was quantified by using the crystal violet test. The number of isolates with strong and weak biofilm formation activities was assessed. Our findings demonstrate that therapy with AgNPs resulted in a reduction in the average index of biofilm-forming activity of six bacteria by 20.4% for strong biofilms and by 16.4% for weak biofilms across six bovine mastitis-causing pathogens (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus dysgalactiae, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus pyogenes). Conversely, treatment with antibiotic-containing drug led to a 40.4% increase in the average index of biofilm-forming activity for isolates with strong biofilms and an 8.7% increase for isolates with weak biofilms. Additionally, the number of strong biofilm isolates increased by an average of 232% after the antibiotic treatment. Therefore, our study identified the fourth reason for the recently revealed phenomenon of the decrease of bacterial resistance caused by animal therapy with AgNPs, highlighting as well the potential of AgNPs as a therapeutic intervention against biofilm-associated infections. This translational research represents a significant advancement from laboratory studies to real-world applications of AgNP therapy for the decrease of bacterial antibiotic resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study Design: Cadaveric specimens. Objective: To perform a pathomorphological analysis of the degree of facet joint (FJ) degeneration utilizing fresh cadaveric models and correlating these structural changes with imaging findings. Methods: L1-L5 FSU including all tissue between the anterior longitudinal ligament to the posterior spinal structures were obtained on 28 patients at a mean of 5.7 hours post-mortem. The samples were fixed in an agar medium and CT and MRI were performed. The level of FJ degeneration was identified based on prior classifications Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI), as was the facet angle and tropism. Pathomorphological assessment including articular cartilage cell density was performed according to prior established methodology. Results: Radiographically, a direct association was identified between FJ degeneration and patient age. Facet angle and tropism did not significantly vary by patient age. Pathomorphologically, there was a decrease in the cellular density of articular cartilage with increasing patient age. Similarly, there was a significant direct correlation between radiographic degree of degenerative changes in FJs with the age of cadavers and the degree of degeneration of FJs according to the morphological classification of OARSI, as well as a significant inverse correlation with cell density. Conclusion: A comprehensive assessment of various signs of FJ degeneration using cadaveric material has established that, based on radiographic imaging, it is possible to assess the microstructural state of FJ, including at an early stage of the disease. This data may be useful for surgeons in guiding therapeutic strategies based on individual biometric parameters of the FJ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]