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The article is devoted to the first head of the Central Research Laboratory, long-term head of the Department of Operative Surgery with Topographic Anatomy of the Voronezh State Medical Institute (VSMI), Doctor of Medical Sciences, Professor Vladimir Nikolaevich Gryaznov. V.N. Gryaznov was an excellent teacher and researcher. He was known in the institute staff as a principled, demanding leader, a sympathetic and sensitive comrade, a person with an active life position.

Sesame is an ancient oilseed crop grown throughout the arid and subarid climates. Sesame oil has a good taste and is appreciated for its beneficial properties. The genus Sesamum L. (Pedaliaceae Lindl.) includes up to 38 species. The only cultivated species is S. indicum L. (2n = 26). It is grown in areas located between 45° N and 45° S. South Africa is considered the homeland of S. indicum. Sesame seeds contain 50–63% of oil, 25–27% of protein, 20% of carbohydrates, and are sources of such micronutrients as copper, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, vitamins A, B1, C and E. Sesame seeds and oil are used not only in the food industry but also in medicine. Sesame meal is a good animal feed. Recently, thanks to the deciphering of the sesame nuclear genome and the development of various genomic resources, including molecular markers for qualitative and quantitative characters, molecular breeding has become possible for such agronomic traits as high oil content and its composition, drought resistance, resistance to waterlogging, disease resistance, and high yield. The world production of sesame seeds according to FAO estimates for 2019 was about 7 million tons. The largest cropping areas are located in Africa, India, and China. In Russia, sesame can be grown in southern regions: Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, Rostov and Astrakhan Provinces. Breeding work on sesame was carried out at the All-Union Research Institute of Oil Crops, where cultivars resistant to bacterial blight and Fusarium wilt were developed. Currently, sesame breeding programs are absent in Russia. There are over 25,000 sesame accessions in the world’s genebanks, including about 1,500 accessions in the VIR collection.

A novel combination of advanced gas-chromatography and detection systems coupled to a buffer-gas cell was characterized on-line to allow gas-phase chemical studies of accelerator-produced short-lived α -decaying mercury, francium, and astatine isotopes. These were produced in 40Ar- and 48Ca-induced nuclear fusion–evaporation reactions, subsequently isolated in the recoil separators MARS at Texas A&M University, USA, and TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany, before being thermalized in a buffer-gas-stopping cell. From the latter, the nuclear reaction products were extracted into gas-phase chromatographic systems, suitable for registering α -decaying short-lived radionuclides, such as isotopes of superheavy elements. Efficiencies of 21(3)% for 204-209Fr were reached for the extraction into the optimized miniCOMPACT gas-chromatography setup, indicating that this technique enables the identification of isotopes of volatile as well as non-volatile elements. These studies guide the path towards chemical investigations of superheavy elements beyond flerovium, which are out of reach with currently used setups.

A review of the anthology prepared by N. Lopatina, a renowned Russian bibliographer. The collection includes 187 translations of Goethe’s 78 poems, which are quoted in the original language, and of several poetic fragments from the tragedy Faust, the novel Wilhelm Meister, as well as the cycle West-Eastern Divan, made by 63 Russian 19th-c. poets, representatives of various traditions — from Classicism and Sentimentalism to Symbolism and Acmeism. The collection showcases the high achievements of the country’s school of poetic translation and acute cultural awareness of the Russian society in the 19th c., and focuses on the part of Goethe’s poetic oeuvre that was especially popular with the Russian reader. Another role of the anthology is to bridge a gap in our knowledge and uncover names, often unfairly forgotten, of Russian poets and philologists of the past in their interaction with the Western European literature.

The technical passport for the X-ray room in accordance with the current sanitary legislation is a mandatory document certifying the technical condition of X-ray diagnostic equipment, devices for developing, fixing and drying X-ray films, additional equipment and accessories for performing special types of X-ray diagnostics, means of protection against ionizing radiation of workplaces of the office staff and adjacent to the office of the premises and confirming the compliance of their characteristics with the normative and technical documentation and domestic standards. The purpose of this work was to assess the relevance and necessity of issuing a technical passport for the X-ray room and to coordinate the project of the X-ray room with the X-ray department in the light of the current sanitary legislation. Registration of a technical passport by organizations that have special permits for these types of work, and not only by the X-ray and radiological department, would increase the legal value of the technical passport. The information contained in the technical passport is duplicated in the rest of the documentation for the X-ray room, the requirements for which are enshrined in the sanitary legislation, which generally casts doubt on the need for a technical passport as a mandatory document.

Flax is one of the oldest oil crops, but only since the end of the twentieth century nutritional use of its whole seeds and flour has been resumed. This crop has been evaluated for its oil fatty acid composition, content of sterols and tocopherols, carbohydrate composition of mucilage, but a comprehensive study has never been carried out, so the aim of the work was to identify differences in the metabolomic profiles of flax lines contrasting in color and size of seeds. The biochemical composition of seeds from 16 lines of the sixth generation of inbreeding was tested using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. In total, more than 90 compounds related to sugars (78% of the identified substances), free fatty acids (13%), polyatomic alcohols (5%), heterocyclic compounds, free amino acids, phytosterols and organic acids (no more than 2.5% in total) were identified. Statistical analyses revealed six main factors. The first is a factor of sugar content; the second one affects most of organic acids, as well as some free fatty acids, not related to reserve ones, the third factor is related to compounds that play a certain role in the formation of “storage” substances and resistance to stress, the fourth factor is influencing free polar amino acids, some organic and free fatty acids, the fifth one is a factor of phenolic compounds, the sixth factor combined substances not included in the first five groups. Factor analysis made it possible to differentiate all 16 lines, 10 of which occupied a separate position by one or two factors. Interestingly, the first two factors with the highest loads (20 and 15% of the total variability, respectively) showed a separate position of the gc-432 line, which differed from the others, not only by chemical composition, but also by the phenotype of the seeds, while gc-159 differed from the rest ones by the complex of organic acids and other substances taking about 1% of the extracted substances of the seed. Thus, the analysis of metabolomic profiles is promising for a comprehensive assessment of the VIR flax genetic collection, which has wide biochemical diversity.

The relevance of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, is related to the fact that at the present stage the field of public policy is expanding. Within its framework, the most significant problem-research issues of both practice and the science of public policy management are intensely updated.

A search for production of the superheavy elements with atomic numbers 119 and 120 was performed in the 50Ti+249Bk and 50Ti+249Cf fusion-evaporation reactions, respectively, at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, Germany. Over four months of irradiation, the 249Bk target partially decayed into 249Cf, which allowed for a simultaneous search for both elements. Neither was detected at cross-section sensitivity levels of 65 and 200 fb for the 50Ti+249Bk and 50Ti+249Cf reactions, respectively, at a midtarget beam energy of Elab=281.5 MeV. The nonobservation of elements 119 and 120 is discussed within the concept of fusion-evaporation reactions including various theoretical predictions on the fission-barrier heights of superheavy nuclei in the region of the island of stability. peerReviewed

Background . Cotton production, processing and trade are essential part of the world economy. The acreage under cultivated cotton over the world has expanded during the past five years, while total production of cotton fiber has increased almost twice. Cotton is the most demanded natural fiber in Russia: the share of pure cotton in Russian commercial textile trade is up to 54%. Effective use of Russia's diverse climate conditions to solve priority tasks of the domestic industry and agriculture has high innovative importance, considering that the share of imported cotton in the country's total textile inputs used by its light industry is 40%. Therefore, it is urgent and important enough to evaluate the effect of soil and climate conditions in the south of Russia on cotton yield and fiber quality. Materials and methods. In 2016, a research was accomplished to evaluate the accessions of Gossypium hirsutum L. listed in the introduction catalogue in the steppe areas of Prikubanskaya Plain, Krasnodar Region (Kuban Experiment Station of VIR, Gulkevichi District), according to VIR's guidelines. The most important features of cotton fiber were estimated in the context of the trends existing on the world market (HVI testing). Results and conclusions . Accessions that produced 75 -100% of mature plants after 120 days of vegetation were described. Fiber yield of the studied white fiber accessions was not high. With some exceptions, accessions yielding naturally colored fiber had lower productivity than white fiber ones. The accession i-604984 exceeded the reference in fiber productivity, boll weight, and fiber harvest. The results of HVI tests showed that the evaluated accessions yielded fiber of good quality (4-5th type of the O'zDSt604-2001 standard, Uzbekistan). Fiber of the accessions i-604971 and i-604975 had the best strength. The fibers of all accessions demonstrated high or very high degree of uniformity in length. All white fiber accessions demonstrated normal micronaire values, quite acceptable for textile industry. Micronaire indicators of colored cotton accessions were only slightly lower than those of white fiber ones in maturity and fineness, but these differences were not significant when compared with the references.

The isotopic distribution of nuclei produced in the 50Ti + 249Cf reaction has been studied at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA at GSI Darmstadt, which separates ions according to differences in magnetic rigidity. The bombardment was performed at an energy around the Bass barrier and with the TASCA magnetic fields set for collecting fusion-evaporation reaction products. Fifty-three isotopes located “north-east” of 208Pb were identified as recoiling products formed in non-fusion channels of the reaction. These recoils were implanted with energies in two distinct ranges; besides one with higher energy, a significant low-energy contribution was identified. The latter observation was not expected to occur according to kinematics of the known types of reactions, namely quasi-elastic, multi-nucleon transfer, deep-inelastic collisions or quasifission. The present observations are discussed within the framework of two-body kinematics passing through the formation of a composite system.

The kinematics of multi-nucleon transfer reactions in 48Ca + 248Cm collisions at 262 MeV (center of target) was investigated by using a stacked-foil technique and radiochemical separations of trans-curium elements. Trans-curium isotopes were identified by α-particle spectroscopy. For Fm isotopes, by comparing the centroids of the measured post-neutron emission isotope distributions with the most probable primary mass number predicted by Volkov's generalized Q g g systematics, the missing mass (number of evaporated neutrons) is estimated. The latter is compared with that deduced from the measured centroid of the laboratory angular distribution peaked closely to the grazing angle and the centroid of the range distribution, being used to determine the average total kinetic energy loss (TKEL) and the average excitation energy. The latter agrees within the uncertainties with the missing mass so that a consistent picture of the reaction mechanism emerges. For products closer to the target Z, e.g., Cf and Bk, the distributions of kinetic energies are much broader than for Fm, reflecting the fact that in the former, values of TKEL reach from quasi-elastic scattering all the way to deep inelastic scattering. The measured laboratory angular distribution and the average laboratory kinetic energy of the Fm isotopes, being the prototypes for multi-nucleon transfer products, are benchmark values for the design of electromagnetic separators to be constructed for the separation and detection of unknown neutron-rich transactinides produced in this nuclear reaction type.

For characterization of targets and foils prepared at the target laboratory as well as for characterization of e.g. degrader or windows of internal customers, different analytical devices are available. Besides a lot of standard equipment, the target laboratory of GSI holds a 3D-measurement system (MicroProf®) equipped with optical sensors for measuring surface parameters as well as total thickness variations contact-free. In the paper the measuring principle including the possibilities and features of the MicroProf®-system are explained and some different applications are shown.

The heaviest currently known nuclei, which have up to 118 protons, have been produced in 48Ca induced reactions with actinide targets. Among them, the element tennessine (Ts), which has 117 protons, has been synthesized by fusing 48Ca with the radioactive target 249Bk, which has a half-life of 327 d. The experiment was performed at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA. Two long and two short α decay chains were observed. The long chains were attributed to the decay of 294Ts. The possible origin of the short-decay chains is discussed in comparison with the known experimental data. They are found to fit with the decay chain patterns attributed to 293Ts. The present experimental results confirm the previous findings at the Dubna Gas-Filled Recoil Separator on the decay chains originating from the nuclei assigned to Ts.

A comparative analysis of the radiation dose rates of medical workers of the Samara region during medical procedures for the period from 2016 to 2018 was carried out. The results of the average annual individual dose of personnel working with sources of ionizing radiation showed stable values of radiation exposure comparable to the dose limit for the population.

The neutron-deficient isotopes 254,255Rf were produced in the fusion-evaporation reaction 50Ti + 206Pb at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA. Decay properties of these nuclei were investigated by applying fast digital electronics. A search for isomeric states in both isotopes was performed by using the accompanying conversion electron emissions. Isomeric states with half-lives of 4(1) μs and >30 μs were measured for 254Rf and 255Rf, respectively, which confirm the findings at different separators. The present experimental results demonstrate the great potential of fast digital electronics for measurements of isomeric states in the heaviest nuclei, which are only producible in small quantities.

Self-supporting layers of metal and metal oxides are the most desirable form of targets and films for heavy-ion applications. If the self-supporting film cannot be produced in the wanted size or thickness, then typically a thin, self-supporting carbon backing is employed. But nevertheless there are applications where carbon as a backing does not offer the optimal properties as a backing. Then very often plastic backings are wanted. Several plastics are available commercially as a standard backing with very good quality and homogeneity. We report on the deposition of metals and metal oxides on various backings, when a standard commercial alternative is not available.

For a special application, carbon-backings with a very flat surface, microscopically as well as macroscopically, were needed as backings for targets of enriched isotopes. However, betaine-sucrose routinely applied at GSI as parting agent for carbon deposition results in a microscopically rough surface which was not perfectly satisfying the experimental requirements. For these targets we investigated the carbon-backing quality in relation to the applied different parting agents and different deposition processes. In this paper we report on the yield, on the structure of the carbon layers and the deposited target layer of 208PbS, 206PbS, and 142NdF3 depending on the parting agent, the thickness and the deposition methods. We report on elastic scattering experiments with a 48Ti-beam demonstrating the influence of the structure of the carbon backing on the experimental results.

We report on the development of processes for pretreatment, coating, and tempering of structured layers on diamond surfaces for detector applications. The different steps were developed and processed in close collaboration with the GSI detector laboratory and with feedback from the experiment. Beginning with thermal evaporation and electron beam evaporation we currently use magnetron sputtering as standard coating technique for diamonds in a system especially equipped for this purpose. The layers of choice are mostly chromium–gold or titanium–platinum–gold; sometimes also single layers of aluminum, copper or palladium. The application of the coated diamonds in a detector for the HADES-experiment is described.

Uranium targets are very important for accelerator-based research of nuclear properties. Depending on the reaction to be studied and on the conditions during the experiments different restrictions on the target material have to be met; as for example, durability, melting temperature, reactivity or a possible contribution of the additional compounds present to the reaction. Therefore, we are developing processes to produce uranium targets in the elemental form as well as in different compounds. Here we report on the production and application of targets from metallic uranium, UF4 and UO2.

Levels of IgM autoantibodies (AAbs) to native (double-stranded) and denaturated (single-stranded) DNA were studied in blood serum of sixty patients with hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and twenty-five healthy persons, using an ELISA technique. The median levels of IgM AAbs to double-stranded DNA in blood serum of healthy persons and HFRS patients corresponded to 0.41 and 0.53 arbitrary units, respectively. Thus, the difference between the samples from HFRS and healthy persons proved to be non-significant. The median level of IgM AAbs to single-stranded DNA in blood sera of HFRS patients (0.71 arbitrary units) did significantly exceed serum values of healthy persons (0.57 arbitrary units). A probable involvement of IgM AAbs into regulation of IgG AAbs' production during virus-induced activation of autoimmune events in HFRS patients is discussed.

Titanium-50 (50Ti) is an important and often requested ion beam for nuclear physics’ experiments. While natural titanium of very high purity is available in different forms; enriched material can only be bought as the dioxide or the tetrachloride. These compounds cannot be processed from currently available ion sources with a sufficient beam quality and sufficient beam intensity for a long time. We describe here the process of converting titanium dioxide into the metal, the material analysis of the starting material as well as of the reduced material. Despite varying contamination levels of silicon, chlorine, and tin in the primary materials, we obtained high yields of metallic titanium with different contamination levels. The obtained metallic 50Ti was applied at the accelerator UNILAC for the production of a high intensity ion beam for several month of beam time.

The new neutron-deficient nuclei 240 Es and 236 Bk were synthesised at the gas-filled recoil separator RITU. They were identified by their radioactive decay chains starting from 240 Es produced in the fusion–evaporation reaction 209 Bi( 34 S,3n) 240 Es. Half-lives of 6 ( 2 ) s and 22 − 6 + 13 s were obtained for 240 Es and 236 Bk, respectively. Two groups of α particles with energies E α = 8.19 ( 3 ) MeV and 8.09 ( 3 ) MeV were unambiguously assigned to 240 Es. Electron-capture delayed fission branches with probabilities of 0.16 ( 6 ) and 0.04 ( 2 ) were measured for 240 Es and 236 Bk, respectively. These new data show a continuation of the exponential increase of ECDF probabilities in more neutron-deficient isotopes.

Dependence of the conductivity of a thin-film gas sensor on the concentration of the ethanol or acetone vapors in air has been studied. We found that power law describes this dependence only in a part of the whole vapor concentration range. Theoretical model of the gas response of thin-film gas sensor has been proposed. The basic model parameters, such as desorption heat of the gas particles from the sensor surface or the separation between the energy levels induced by the gas species and levels induced by the oxygen particles in the energy gap of the sensor film material, can be used as identifying agents. The identification ability of a single-gas sensor based on SnO2 thin film is demonstrated by processing the concentration dependence of the sensor conductivity.

The interaction of isothiocyanates with amino acids may proceed to yield both low-molecular-mass products and polymer compounds. The structure of these compounds depends on the nature of isothiocyanate, and amino acid is strongly affected by the basicity of the medium.

Two short-lived isotopes ^{221}U and ^{222}U were produced as evaporation residues in the fusion reaction ^{50}Ti+^{176}Yb at the gas-filled recoil separator TASCA. An α decay with an energy of E_{α}=9.31(5) MeV and half-life T_{1/2}=4.7(7) μs was attributed to ^{222}U. The new isotope ^{221}U was identified in α-decay chains starting with E_{α}=9.71(5) MeV and T_{1/2}=0.66(14) μs leading to known daughters. Synthesis and detection of these unstable heavy nuclei and their descendants were achieved thanks to a fast data readout system. The evolution of the N=126 shell closure and its influence on the stability of uranium isotopes are discussed within the framework of α-decay reduced width.

Variation of the conductivity of a thin film of tin dioxide (SnO2) in response to a stepwise change in the content of various impurities present in the gas phase has been studied in a broad range of concentrations. The experimental data are interpreted within the framework of the Roginskii-Elovich model of adsorption kinetics. A gas-pressure-independent parameter characterizing the sensor conductivity variation is established. Using the phenomenon under consideration, it is possible to identify adsorbed gas species.

The nonlinearity of the current–voltage characteristics has been observed in thin films of the tin oxide exposed to strong electric fields. The experimental data are discussed assuming the drift-type behavior of the absorbed ions along the surface. The observed phenomena allow application for both air contamination detection and the contamination identification.

Chromium is a shiny, hard and malleable metal, which can be cold rolled in good quality to a thickness below a micrometer. Thinner foils can be obtained by electron-beam gun evaporation or by electroplating. Isotopically enriched material typically has not the quality for cold rolling processes. As 50Cr has a natural abundance of only 4.5 % the enriched material is rather expensive so electron-beam deposition is not a good option because of the inherently low yield of the method. In this contribution we present the preparation of self-supporting 50Cr thin films by thermal evaporation out of a tantalum crucible as an alternative to electrodeposition. With the described method we obtained self-supporting films with a thickness between 250 and 620 μg/cm².