Natural and medical sciences

The macro-region Nonblack Soil Zone plays an important role in the development of the Russian economy, ensuring its food security. With the transition of the country to market relations, the distribution of agricultural production in all its regions has been transformed. These changes for the Nonblack Soil Zone have not been properly studied. This study focuses on the patterns of change in the location of agricultural production in the Nonblack Soil Zone. Research methodology relies on a combination of statistical analysis methods with heuristic methods (taking into account zonal and azonal factors) based on the use of fundamental works on agricultural zoning. The study has established trends towards a decrease in the role of the Nonblack Soil Zone in the all-Russian production of crop products and towards its growth for livestock products. An excessive concentration of production in pig and poultry farming has been revealed. On the basis of zonal factors, the northern, central, and southern groups of regions are identified. Taking into account the azonal factors, the central regions are divided into two subgroups: the main agricultural regions and those with suburban agriculture. The research has established Tendencies in changing the location of agricultural production. The authors have concluded that the main zone of commercial production of grain (except rye) and industrial crops (except fiber flax) is the group of southern regions, and the commercial production of winter rye, oats, fiber flax is the agrarian regions of the central zone. For the southern regions, there is a trend of high growth rates of corn for grain, sugar beet, sunflower. The group of central regions is the main producer of livestock goods. Given the trends, the role of the southern regions in the production of beef cattle and poultry products will increase in the future. In regions with suburban farming, the dairy specialization of cattle breeding is on the rise and the production of eggs and all types of livestock for slaughter is decreasing. Meanwhile, in the group of northern regions, the development of dairy and meat cattle breeding, the production of potatoes and vegetables is likely to improve.

The patterns of development and distribution of production, including agricultural production, common to the country, are also characteristic of the exclave Kaliningrad region. However, spatial isolation from other Russian regions causes, firstly, a greater dependence on external geoeconomic and geopolitical factors and, secondly, a clearer manifestation of the patterns of spatial differentiation in the economy. Research methods are based on the spatio-temporal analysis of statistical data, using methods of comparative geographic diagnostics. The article shows a deeper decline in agricultural production in the region during the crisis years of the 1990s and increased rates of development in more favorable decades of the 21st century, as well as an acute manifestation of the polarization concepts and location of agricultural production within a separate territory compared to the country’s interior regions. The study which relied on the level of agricultural development and specialization of the territory of the region, the degree of use of land and labor resources in crop production, animal husbandry, hunting and the provision of services in these areas, substantiated to distinguish four types of municipalities according to the factors of agricultural development. Given each type, the author noted the need for a special socio-economic policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a serious challenge for the whole world. All sectors of the economy suffered damage to a certain degree, taking all possible measures to prevent the aggravation of the epidemiological situation. The tourism and recreation sector found itself among the most affected industries. This article is devoted to the urgent problems of transformation in the tourist and recreational sphere of the Russian-Belarusian border areas, in the context of changes in the volume and structure of the flow of tourists, the reasons for their appearance and possible development prospects in the context of the geopolitical and economic crisis. The purpose of the article is to characterize and analyze the state of the tourism and recreation industry in the period from 2019 to 2021. To achieve this goal, the paper presents and analyzes the statistical data of tourist activities in Russia, Belarus and the regions of the Russian-Belarusian border within the specified period. The main criteria for the transformation were selected indicators of the tourist flow in general by country, as well as separately by border regions. The author proposes a typology of border regions in terms of their potential for adaptation to crisis conditions and prospects for increasing this potential through the development of natural and nature-oriented tourism.

Structuring information is critical to learning the difference between the countries of the world. The typology is one of the scientific methods of systematizing information. Selecting a typological attribute becomes a major challenge of methodology for creating a typology due to the richness of information. This article provides an example of the typology of the countries based on their types of sectoral composition of the economy. The research attempts at assessing the degree of the information richness of sectoral composition of the economy as typological attribute for economy typology. The article concern definitions «typology», «GDP», «sectoral composition of the economy», «servicization» and «tertiarization». The author offers some methodology to determine the types of sectoral composition of the economy and the thresholds for GDP. The article also analyzes relation between type of sectoral composition of the economy and income of the population expressed in GDP per capita. The economic types proposed the article form homogeneous areas, which include several countries. Types of sectoral structure of the world’s economies are located on the world map with certain patterns.

Currently, soybeans and soybean derivatives are widely used for food and animal feed. A significant content of carbohydrates in soy molasses makes it possible to use it as a component of a nutrient medium for cultivating microorganisms that produce feed amino acids. The aim of this work was to study the process of biosynthesis of feed amino acids on a soy molasses medium using bacterial strains of the genus Corynebacterium glutamicum. The following research methods were used: microscopy, spectrometry, refractometry, pH-metry and high-performance liquid chromatography. It has been established that when cultivating on soy molasses, the strains C. glutamicum B-1002 and C. glutamicum B-1722 have the greatest ability to assimilate the components of the medium. The addition of such growth components as nicotinic acid and NaCl had no significant effect on the accumulation of C. glutamicum B-1002 and C. glutamicum B-1722 biomass. It has been proven that the best medium for cultivation of C. glutamicum is molasse that has gone through the entire technological process and contains the maximum amount of components necessary for the cultivation of C. glutamicum and the production of feed amino acids. The production of feed amino acids by C. glutamicum is influenced by such factors as dry matter content and active acidity of the medium. It was found that the best producers of feed acids are C. glutamicum B-1002 and C. glutamicum B-1722 strains cultivated on media composed of soy molasses and distilled water at a dilution of 1 : 9.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a significant public health problem due to its widespread prevalence. It becomes a medical and social burden for both society and the patient. To what extent comorbid alcoholism is able to influence the features of the clinical course of COPD remains an open issue. The study aimed to reveal the impact of alcoholism on the level of COPD subjective symptoms in patients with different compliance. Materials and methods. 147 men with COPD in the age of 40―88 years were examined. The study relied on spirometry criteria, mMRC, CAT, domestic questionnaire of adherence to therapy, 6-minutes walking tests. It also established the stage of alcohol disease. The inhalation therapy was clarified during the interview, the episodic and systemic omissions fixed. Results and discussion. We observed the trend to subjective COPD symptoms underestimation in patients with the II, III stages of alcohol disease. Alcohol disease did not affect subjective symptoms in patients with stages III, IV of COPD. The compliance level and subjective symptoms severity showed no interrelation in patients suffering from alcoholism. This emphasized the absent association between the high level of compliance and critical self-state perception in patients with concomitant diseases. Regardless of the concomitant dependence, systemic omissions were rarely observed in patients receiving inhalers with a lower dosage frequency. Conclusion. The poor informativity of mMRC dyspnea scale and CAT-test was demonstrated in patients with mild and moderate COPD and severe alcoholism. The high level of compliance showed no impact on this tendency. Using single dose per day regimen was associated with a better compliance to recommendations, regardless of alcohol adherence.

To maintain the normal state of the immune system, the processes of cell proliferation must be strictly regulated and balanced by the processes of apoptotic death to prevent the development of autoimmune and neoplastic reactions. T-lymphocytes of immune memory are under strict control from the immune system.

The role of γc-cytokines (IL-2, IL-7, and IL-15) in the regulation of maturation, differentiation, and apoptotic death of memory T-lymphocytes under in vitro cultivation conditions was evaluated.

The study revealed the ability of γc-cytokines to increase the content of CD3+HLA-DR+CD95+ T cells in the effector populations of immune memory cytotoxic lymphocytes, which may indicate the processes of cell differentiation and maturation under the influence of γc-cytokines.

The authors also showed that in CD3+CD4+CD45RO+ T-lymphocytes have a relative resistance to the action of γc-cytokines, in comparison with cytotoxic CD45RO+ T-cells.

Thus, maintaining homeostatic concentrations of γc-cytokines plays an important role in maintaining the normal functioning of the immune system by maintaining the balance of homeostatic proliferation and apoptotic death. We also noted that cytokine imbalance contributes to an increase in the surface expression of late activation molecules (HLA-DR) and apoptosis (CD95), which is necessary to control excessive proliferation of lymphocytes, and, ultimately, prevents the breakdown of immune tolerance mechanisms and the development of hyperproliferative pathologies of the immune system.

There is a large number of ways to measure the size of the spleen by ultrasonography. Methodically correct examination is the key to the accurate determination of splenomegaly. The article describes well-known methods for determining its size and volume, which are used in sonography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. The aim of the study is to identify the most accurate way to measure the volume of the spleen during ultrasound examination. Therefore, the authors performed the ultrasound examination of the spleen of 40 patients, the measurement was carried out in three positions of the patient’s body, in each of the positions three methods of measuring and calculating the volume of the organ were used. During the processing of the results, it was revealed that optimal visualization was provided in the patient’s supine position, the orientation of the ultrasound transducer along the long axis of the spleen. One patient obtained different volume values — the average difference was 40—70 ml, and in some cases reached 150 ml. This indicates the influence of additional factors on visualization — these include the somatic type of the patient, the variability of the shape of the spleen when changing the position of the body, the shape of the spleen.