Natural and medical sciences

The article considers the forest-park protective belt (FPPB) of Moscow and briefly out­lines the stages of the development of the concept of the forest-park belt and the FPPB of Mos­cow in accordance with the city's master development plans. To assess its current state, a system of indicators is proposed, based on which an integrated index is calculated. A detailed analysis of the indicators and the integrated index has been conducted, allowing for the identi­fication of three most probable scenarios for the further development of different parts of the forest-park protective belt of Moscow.

Contemporary scientific literature lacks clear formulations of the concepts «Arctic city», «city of the Far North», and «Northern city». This is largely due to the vague boundaries between the territories of the North and the Arctic. Within the framework of this study, the main approaches to defining the boundaries of the North were considered, and a comparative analysis of northern cities located in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation, Far North regions, and areas equated to them was conducted to determine the possibility of establishing clear boundaries between the specified concepts and defining their specificity in the conditions of modern zoning of the North. All northern settlements with city status were analyzed, and they were grouped based on territorial features, natural-climatic conditions, and economic specialization. The issue of additional zoning or clustering of northern territories, taking into account the modern economic situation, was also addressed.

The experience of determining the ethnic contrast of the borders of the republics in the Ural-Volga region is presented based on a methodology that relies on assessing interethnic marriage rates between the titular nations of the republics and the Russian population. To achieve this, the study introduces an indicator called the Ethnic Contrast Coefficient, or the Soroko coefficient. The calculation of the coefficient is based on the assessment of «interethnic distances» defined by E. L. Soroko for pairs of major ethnic groups represented in the Ural-Volga region. The research revealed that the most ethnically contrasting borders in the region are those of Bashkortostan (excluding the section with Tatarstan), while the least contrasting are the borders of Udmurtia, Chuvashia, and Mordovia with neighboring Russian regions. The primary factor influencing the ethnic contrast of the borders between the republics of the Ural-Volga region is the religious factor, with the highest Soroko coefficient observed at the border between Chuvashia and Tatarstan.

In the current conditions of increasing geopolitical tension and volatility in the global economy, the development of interregional interaction is increasingly seen as a source of eco­nomic growth for Russian regions. However, the study of such interaction should not only include an analysis of trade flows but also an analysis of network interaction, an attempt to carry out which is presented in this work. The article presents the results of a study analyzing the presence of Saint Petersburg companies with their own brands in the Kaliningrad region. The research covered 33 companies from Saint Petersburg. It was found that in the Kalinin­grad region, only eight Saint Petersburg companies, including federal-level organizations, have regional representations, offices, branches, own stores, or dealer centers. Excluding fed­eral-level organizations, this number is five. The financial services sector turned out to be the most represented, while the least represented were the IT industry, pharmaceuticals, food industry, and agriculture. All of this is happening against the backdrop of the expansion of the presence of Saint Petersburg businesses in the regions of the Russian Federation beyond the Northwestern Federal District.

Submarine discharge of groundwater (SDGW) is a hydrological process that typically occurs in coastal areas and is defined as the underwater inflow of fresh and brackish ground­water from the continent to the sea. The discharge of waters with a composition sharply differ­ent from seawater leads to the formation of hydrochemical anomalies in the near-bottom hori­zon and alters the composition of bottom sediments. Under different regional conditions, dis­charge can occur as a focused flow through cracks in karst and fissured rocks, as a diffuse flow in loose deposits, or through the recirculation of seawater in bottom deposits. Therefore, it is essential to consider local geological and hydrogeological conditions, as they can significantly influence the character and distribution of groundwater and, consequently, the possibility of submarine discharge and the likelihood of its detection. Despite the ubiquity of the SDGW process in the continental shelf zone, practical detection is often a challenging task. The aim of this study is to identify approaches that best allow for documenting the phenomenon of sub­marine discharge of groundwater in the southeast part of the Baltic Sea. Detecting submarine groundwater discharge in the Baltic Sea is crucial for understanding the processes in the wa­ter body and evaluating the ecological situation. The study examines various methods for detecting SDGW: computational-analytical, geophysical, radioisotopic, chemical, and biologi­cal. The expe­rience of their application in the southeastern Baltic Sea is characterized, allow­ing for the identi­fication of areas where submarine discharge of groundwater from Jurassic and Cretaceous hori­zons occurs. The conclusion is drawn that for effective detection of sub­marine discharge foci, a comprehensive approach involving various research methods is neces­sary.

The Vistula Lagoon is a transboundary lagoon of the Baltic Sea that is subject to signifi­cant pollution and water eutrophication. An assessment of the ecological condition of the la­goon was conducted based on the calculation of modern Russian and foreign water pollution indices for the period 2007—2022. The long-term variability of these parameters was ana­lyzed for the lagoon as a whole and separately for four regions characterized by specific condi­tions. The highest level of water pollution is characteristic of the eastern region and the Pri­morskaya Bay. The Russian Water Quality Index (SCWPI) and the widely used world index, the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment Water Quality Index (CCME WQI), demonstrated similar seasonal and long-term variability. The launch of modern treatment facilities in 2016 led to a significant reduction in pollution in the Primorskaya Bay. However, in recent years, an increase in pollution has been observed in the eastern region, where the main river runoff (from the Pregolya River) enters and where the new discharge of Kalinin­grad's treatment facilities is located. The level of eutrophication and phytoplankton abun­dance (chlorophyll concentration) influences the calculated water pollution indices (SCWPI and CCME WQI). The highest values were observed during the period of "water bloom" in the lagoon. The introduction of filter-feeding mollusks and the resulting changes in the plank­ton of the Vistula Lagoon have contributed to the reduction of water pollution indices.

The Kemerovo Region is situated in the Central deciduous-forest, forest-steppe, and steppe soil-bioclimate regions of the Subboreal temperate soil-bioclimate zone. The researched territory of the Kazachensky motor dumping site, which is within the Taldinsky coal mine, according to the soil-geographic zoning data, is located at the intersection of two soil-geographic districts — Kemerovo-Prokopyevsky and Kuznetsko-Alatausky. On the studied technogenic landscape, identified areas are characterized by the presence of technogenic com­plexes with young soil formations. On the surface of the dumping site, signs of initial soil formation are observed. The restoration of the soil cover is at an initial stage, where only young soil-like bodies, embryosols, are found. The soils of the Kemerovo Region, Kuzbass, are identified on the following morphological features: the thickness of the humus horizon is up to 30 cm, a clearly expressed crumbly-granular structure, heavy loamy; the transitional horizon is unevenly colored, with signs of gleying, heavy loamy; the presence of a small amount of sandy fractions throughout the profile; soil-forming rock; stratified sandy loam or loam.

Biologically active peptides are considered as preventive and therapeutic agents for vari­ous diseases. Due to the high cost and complexity of isolating native peptides for use in phar­maceuticals, synthetically produced peptides are increasingly being used in dietary supple­ments. The aim of the research is to confirm the similarity and biological activity of synthe­sized peptides compared to native peptides. Synthesized and native peptides from bovine co­lostrum with the code names T1.1 and mpT2 were used as the objects of the study. The pep­tides were synthesized using the solid-phase method. Peptide T1.1 is similar to the peptide «POSSUM_01-POSSUM-C-EMBRYO-2KB», the biological activity of which has not been studied. Peptide mpT2 is similar to the anti-diabetic peptide «LL-16 Alytes obstetricans». It has been proven that the synthesized peptides do not differ from natural ones in terms of physical and chemical characteristics. Both synthesized and natural peptides are non-toxic. The anti-diabetic effect of natural and synthesized peptide mpT2 on animals with induced type 2 diabetes and the antioxidant activity of synthesized and natural peptide T1.1 have been demonstrated.