Natural and medical sciences

This article presents a method to assess the resistance of groundwater resources to anthropogenic impact and the fresh groundwater withdrawal as well as the results of such assessment for different territories of the country ranging from a federal district or a region to an artesian basin. The assessment was carried out with the help of the system of indicators and indexes of groundwater resource sustainability under the influence of groundwater withdrawal developed by the author.

This article offers a concept of an integral CHPP related anthropogenic impact zone (AIZ), representing a complex of industrial units, organizations and communications, which support the life cycle of a CHPP. The author conducted an analysis of the basic features of an integral CHPP AIZ and its elements. This concept may have a certain theoretical significance in solving optimizing environmental problems at the level of individual territories and the country in whole.

This article describes the condition of air in the Bogdino-Baskunchak industrial hub. The authors analyze the atmospheric pollutant emissions by the local enterprises.

The location of thermokarst lakes on the research territory in the permafrost zone of Western Siberia is identified with the use of satellite images. The statistical data analysis shows that the empirical laws of spatial distribution of the lake centers on the plane correspond to the uniform distribution law.

The critical water levels, rises and falls of the Pregolya River are determined on the basis of daily observations performed at the "Vityaz" museum vessel in 1996—2008. The observed phenomena reveal maximum frequency in autumn and winter.

This article aims to discuss the problematic aspects of the technogenesis impact on the river mouth areas (through the example of Baltic rivers). The author comes to a conclusion on the negative geoecological consequences of this process.

This article presents the results a of complex palaeogeographical study of Velikoye peat bog (the Šešupė River basin, the Kaliningrad region). The pollen analysis accompanied by radiocarbon dating, makes it possible to reconstruct the vegetation development, on the basis of which the climate changes in the South-east Baltic region over the Atlantic-Subatlantic periods of the Holocene can be tracked.

This article presents the evidence of the ancient origin of crystalline basement of the platform areas of the Earth developed as a result of global volcanism in the Hadean (more than 4 Ga). In the late Mesozoic-early Cenozoic, another outbreak of volcanism and dehydration of subsoils led to a significant subsidence (8—10 km) of continental masses and the formation of the World Ocean.

The author arrives at a conclusion on the vast biogeographical connections of the Arctic, Atlantic and Pacific faunas in the Phanerozoic faunas on the basis of the comparative analysis of modern and ancient communities of invertebrates and the changes in their habitats.

This article considers the species composition, species biotopic distribution, nutrition, and zoogeographic characteristics of gastropoda in Kaliningrad ponds. The author shows the interplay of ecological factors that determine the species composition of molluscs. The article also presents the data on the impact of the invasive species Potamopyrgus antipodarum (Gray, 1843) on the malacofauna of water bodies.

This article examines the influence of environmental factors on the polyphenol accumulation of the red clover (Trifolium pratense L.) in the coastal and continental areas of the Kaliningrad region. The influence of temperature, light, and mineral nutrition factors on the accumulation activity of anthocyanins, leucoanthocyanidins, and catechins is determined. The coastal and continental area plants did not show any significant differences in the content of the examined polyphenol classes.

The cause of the extinction of the Black saxaul in the East Karakum is established on the basis of the analysis of literature and experimental data collected over the last 100 years.

The solution to the problem of immune memory generation in pathological processes of various kinds is a subject of theoretical investigations of the biomedical science. The role of immune memory in different diseases is ambiguous and may have both positive and negative consequences. It necessitates the search for effective ways of its regulation (by either endocrine or external influence), which, in some cases (infectious and tumourous disease), aim to strengthen and, in other cases (autoimmune diseases and allergy), to suppress (weaken) the immune processes. The factors affecting the formation of immunological memory are numerous and varied. The steroid hormones are considered the most abundant group of biologically active agents. The influence of these agents on proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis of immune system cells is being intensively studied. This review analyses the data on the role of steroid hormones in the immune memory regulation obtained in the recent researches.

This article presents the chemical analysis of integumentary loams in the eluvial landscapes of the Vyatka-Kama Cis-Ural region. The authors focus on the features of microcell migration and the composition of petrogenic oxides. The inheritance of the microcell dispersion features of integumentary loam from the bedding rock was established on the basis of statistics.

This article analyses the hydrogen distribution profiles in the chromium plating and the steel base in the process of chromium electrodeposition in a standard bath, modified by organic compounds.

Mould fungi are of particular interest as metal destroying microorganisms. This paper presents the results of a study on a number of organic compounds as St3 steel corrosion inhibitors and fungicides against the Aspergillus niger. Electrochemical, microbiological and gravimetric analyses helped increase the protective action of modified primer on steel corroding under the effect of Aspergillus niger.

This article focuses on the features of corrosion in Cd-coated st.3 steel in the presence of mycelium minces. The authors show the biocide and inhibitory role of certain N- and O- containing organic compounds in the process of mycelium corrosion and hydrogen absorption of Cd-coated steel.

This article focuses on the three stages of the development of medical geography in the contemporary geopolitical conditions.

This article considers the methodological aspects of implementation of the rural area sustainable development concept in Russia. The authors show the advantages of indicative assessment of sustainable development at the regional level. The article presents a methodological approach to the development of sustainable development indicators for rural areas at the regional level.

This article analyses contemporary lines of research on the rural population distribution systems and offers a review of the contemporary process in rural areas. The factors affecting the population distribution are identified by the authors.

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the territorial features of population change by natural change and migration in the Baltic macroregion and the assessment of the effect of economic development on these processes.

This article focuses on the features of small enterprise development in the municipalities of the Novgorod region. The author analyses the opportunities of applying different geographic research methods to the identification of territorial disproportions. The article offers an assessment of the total and special potential in small business development. A classification of regions according to the total potential and the degree of economic space potential development by small businesses is presented in the paper.

This article considers the notion of confessional space as a subject of social geography. Confessional space is represented as an interrelation of several elements: the religious part of population, the religious-cultural infrastructure, and the attributive-ceremonial component. The authors analyze the manifestation of these elements in different qualitative areas of the territory.

This article analyses the condition of the legal regulation of coastal zone social relations in the current legislation of Russia and other countries.

The Kaliningrad Region is an area of intensive international cooperation including that in the field of environmental education. The article offers an overview of joint projects implemented by educational institutions, NGOs, and local authorities and analyses the prerequisites for their efficiency.