Stress, distress, its types and correction

Chronic and acute, physiological, psychological and informational stress are considered. It is noted that stress is a protective reaction of the body in response to a very strong emotional, physical or psychological action from the outside. Instead, distress develops as a result of: prolonged inability to meet their physiological needs, unpleasant, sad and threatening changes in life, unusual, inappropriate living conditions, body damage, illness, injury, prolonged pain or negative emotions. The best way to deal with stress is to prevent it: regular walks in the fresh air, sports, adequate sleep and more. ADAPTOL® anxiolytic helps to curb excessive anxiety and irritability, to restore strength after the transferred stress.

Eurointegration as a Trigger for the Serbian Ethnic Separatism in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The paper provides a retrospective analysis of the European Union’s policy towards Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and its possible outcomes for BiH progress towards positive sovereignty amid growing international tensions in the Western Balkans. The paper draws on a vast body of both Russian and Western academic literature on the collapse of Yugoslavia, BiH under the Dayton Agreements, the possibilities of democracy building in divided societies, as well as on a range of official documents adopted by various EU institutions. On that basis the author assesses the prospects for BiH to survive in its current administrative-territorial borders. The paper examines the outcomes of the Bosnian War, as well as the main effects of the external governance mechanisms implementation in BiH. This allows the author to trace the evolution of the EU policy towards BiH and to reassess the country’s progress in terms of Eurointegration. Since the EU has refused to grant countries, which do not meet the Copenhagen criteria, the status of a member state ‘in advance’, the main conclusions on the prospects of the BiH accession to the EU are drawn from the European Commission’s 2020 Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina. Following the logic and the structure of the report, the author assesses the BiH efforts to meet the set targets and criteria, such as establishing a stable democratic political system, promoting the development of civil society institutions and the rule of law, combating corruption and organized crime, ensuring the protection of human rights and freedoms, migration management, strengthening economy and regional cooperation. The report of the European Commission clearly hints that most obstacles for BiH progress towards EU membership arise from the lack of support from the Republika Srpska and that it is impossible to overcome its obstruction within the framework of Dayton Agreements. However, the author argues that this fixation on revision of the Dayton Agreements, accompanied by excessive pressure on the Serbian community in BiH may provoke protective reaction of the Serbian community, resulting in a rising nationalism and disintegration of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Media behavior of youth in the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine

The COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine measures have transformed the media agenda. The aim of the study is to identify the behavioral characteristics of the youth news audience, which is formed in the context of COVID-19. To solve research tasks, from March 24 to April 5, 2020, an intelligence survey of young Ukrainians as news readers was conducted. 364 respondents aged from 18 to 29, living in different regions of Ukraine, answered the questions of the Google questionnaire. The results of the survey are qualitative in nature and highlight the trends that exist in the youth audience. According to the data, the topic of coronavirus has become a priority for 82% of respondents. Phobias of young respondents increased: more than 70% stated they were worried and afraid. The alarm response to the pandemic has prompted many media consumers (46%) to turn to more information sources than usual. On the other hand, some media consumers have reduced their contact with the media, which is a typical protective reaction. Uncertainty, suspicion, and anxiety shake the confidence of the youth audience in public institutions and the media. The study showed the emergence of new challenges for media companies. The media should anticipate the consequences of disseminating information, fake news, and adjust content strategies accordingly: compliance with journalistic standards, responsible dissemination of news, fact-checking.

METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE HYPER SENSITIVE RESPONSE OF POTATO PLANTS TO CLUSTERS OF THE COLORADO POTATO BEETLE EGGS FOR USE IN BREEDING

The creation of new varieties of potato revealing innate highly effective mechanisms of protection against Colo-rado potato beetle is an urgent task of breeding, which requires the development of methods that allow standardizing certain plant responses to different aspects of the influence of this phytophage under laboratory conditions. The laying of eggs by insects on the surface of plant laves leads to the development of an intense protective reaction and the production of ovicides, intensive death of tissue, followed by the loss of eggs or their drying. To simulate the laying of eggs on the leaves, we used a washout from the surface of the clutches of the Colorado potato beetle containing a pool of elicitors of plant defense reactions. On cultivars Bashkirsky (high resistance to the Colorado potato beetle) and Udacha (medium-resistant cultivar), drying of leaf areas was observed in response to the treatment of the lower surface of the leaf blade, and on cultivar Rannyaya rosa (unstable cultivar), there was no reaction. The dried spots on the leaf blade were strictly limited to the place where the wash was applied. It was found that the formation of reactive oxygen species in response to the application of the washout occurs only on potato varieties Bashkirsky and Udacha with the development of a hypersensitive response, which corresponded to the drying of leaf blades observed under the field conditions at the sites of clutch attachment. Localization of hydrogen peroxide and superoxide anion occurs in the cells of the vascular bundles and adjacent tissues. On the Rannyaya Rosa cultivar, the application of the washout did not lead to the accumulation of reactive oxygen spe-cies in the leaf tissue and the drying of the leaves.

Formation of Biofilms by Natural Microbial Strains in the Presence of Naphtalene and Anthracene

In this work, the effect of low molecular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), naphthalene and anthracene, on the formation of biofilms by the strains of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus VKPM B-10353, Pseudomonas putida, and Vibrio aquamarinus VKPM B-11245 has been studied. The intensity of biofilm formation (staining with crystal violet), the number of viable cells (staining with fluorescein diacetate), as well as the metabolic activity of microbial cells included in biofilms (XTT-assay) were assessed. It was found that the studied strains are characterized by different responses to the introduction of pollutants. The V. aquamarines VKPM B-11245 strain showed mainly a protective reaction; in the presence of the studied PAHs an increase in the total bacterial biofilm biomass was observed, as well as a decrease in the number of living cells and the level of cellular metabolism. The naphthalene concentrations of 0.1% and 0.2% caused a reduction of all studied indicators. The P. putida strain is the most resistant to the action of the examined PAHs: in the presence of naphthalene, an increase in both the total biofilm biomass and cellular metabolism was observed. Anthracene enhanced cellular metabolism in this strain, which allows considering the studied P. putida strain as potentially useful for bioremediation. The A. calcoaceticus VKPM B-10353 strain was highly sensitive to naphthalene; suppression of biofilm formation was observed, as well as a decrease in cellular metabolism at all studied concentrations. However, anthracene increased biofilm biomass and enhanced the metabolism, which may indicate a potential ability of this strain to degrade this PAH. Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, Pseudomonas putida, Vibrio aquamarinus, biofilm, anthracene, naphthalene The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation within the framework of state assignment no. 0852-2020-0029 in the field of scientific activity.

Milovan Djilas on the self-destruction of Communism

The chapter presents the results of an examination of the attitude of Milovan Djilas (1911- 1995), the world's most famous opponent of Communist power and the Communist system during the Cold War, who was removed from the ranks of the political elite in the early 1950s for his critique which predicted the collapse of the Soviet bloc and the monopoly of Communist power. Djilas was convinced of the inevitability of such a finale from the second half of the 1950s, describing in his article “Storm in Eastern Europe” the theoretical beginning of the disintegration of the Soviet bloc. The validity of the three stages and the protective reaction of the USSR he predicted was confirmed in 1968 in Czechoslovakia. His hypotheses about the process of changes in Eastern Europe, the mutual influence of processes in the USSR and Eastern Europe, Stalinism as a logical continuation of Leninism, the futility of returning to Lenin's practice, and the idea of the rotting and decomposition of the governing stratum of the Communist bureaucracy (the “New Class”) as a natural result of its evolution formed the basis for his assessments of processes in the Soviet camp in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Djilas focused in his writing mainly on the activities and personality of the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The complex nature of Djilas's ideas and their evolution from Marxism to critical positivism are also confirmed in the third book of his trilogy Managers and the Collapse of Communism, written in the early 1990s, about the “new class” as the losing stratum of Communists.

Focus on the Role of NLRP3 Inflammasome in Diseases

Inflammation is a protective reaction activated in response to detrimental stimuli, such as dead cells, irritants or pathogens, by the evolutionarily conserved immune system and is regulated by the host. The inflammasomes are recognized as innate immune system sensors and receptors that manage the activation of caspase-1 and stimulate inflammation response. They have been associated with several inflammatory disorders. The NLRP3 inflammasome is the most well characterized. It is so called because NLRP3 belongs to the family of nucleotide-binding and oligomerization domain-like receptors (NLRs). Recent evidence has greatly improved our understanding of the mechanisms by which the NLRP3 inflammasome is activated. Additionally, increasing data in animal models, supported by human studies, strongly implicate the involvement of the inflammasome in the initiation or progression of disorders with a high impact on public health, such as metabolic pathologies (obesity, type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis), cardiovascular diseases (ischemic and non-ischemic heart disease), inflammatory issues (liver diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, gut microbiome, rheumatoid arthritis) and neurologic disorders (Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and other neurological disorders), compared to other molecular platforms. This review will provide a focus on the available knowledge about the NLRP3 inflammasome role in these pathologies and describe the balance between the activation of the harmful and beneficial inflammasome so that new therapies can be created for patients with these diseases.

Itching as the onset of pain (part 1)

PAIN is a psychophysiological reaction of an organism that occurs with severe irritation of the sensitive nerve endings embedded in organs and tissues. And also pain is the body’s protective reaction. It is signaling about a discomfort and triggers an appropriate response by the body to eliminate the cause of the pain. Pain is one of the earliest symptoms of some diseases [84]. ITCHING – an unpleasant sensation of irritation, heartburn and tingling in any area of the skin caused by various factors (exposure to chemicals, bacteria, parasites). This feeling is often manifested by the urgent need to rub or scratch some areas of the skin (or mucous membrane) [85]. When considering the pathogenesis of these concepts, a sufficiently large resemblance to the realization of mechanisms of origin, or a certain identity thereof is revealed. The question naturally arises whether itching is an early manifestation of pain, especially in those groups of diseases that are not characterized by pain. Pathology of the hematopoietic system is not accompanied by a symptom such as pain. But for conditions such as iron overload, iron deficiency or polycythemia, itching is a clear symptom. The unknown etiology of chronic itching of the skin is indicative of histological examination of the skin in order to exclude skin lymphoma. One of the least understood mechanisms of itching is itching associated with malignant solid tumors. What pain that itching is a subjective sensation that can have an acute or chronic course, a clear intensity and a very significant impact on quality of life, especially in the case of comorbidity. In addition, the question arises whether itching is an early manifestation of pain, especially in those groups of diseases that are not characterized by pain. How can a doctor manage itching effectively to prevent complications? To these and other questions, we have attempted to systematize the manifestations of itching in pathologies of organs and systems that are not traditionally accompanied by pain.

Diversity of carotenogenic microalgae in the White Sea polar region

Carotenogenic microalgae are unicellular photosynthetic organisms with the ability to accumulate carotenoids. Carotenoid accumulation is a protective reaction against environmental stress factors, such as bright light, extreme temperatures, etc. It makes the survival of these microorganisms under harsh environmental conditions possible. The diversity of carotenogenic microalgae has been described in detail for Central Europe and North America, as well as for tropical and subtropical latitudes with relatively favorable environmes. However, data about these microorganisms in polar and subpolar latitudes is scarce and restricted to few reports. We isolated several strains of carotenogenic microalgae from the coastal zone of the White Sea, where they were abundant. The obtained microalgae related to four species of Chlorophytes: Haematococcus lacustris, H. rubicundus, Coelastrella aeroterrestrica, and Bracteacoccus aggregatus. The last three species have been reported for polar latitudes for the first time. Most likely, carotenogenic algae in the White Sea coast are abundant due to their high physiological and metabolic plasticity, which is essential for surviving under adverse conditions of the northern regions. Pigment composition of the strains is provided. Their predominant carotenoids were astaxanthin and β-carotene. Further, the obtained strains may be considered as potential producers of natural pigments for biotechnology.

Character and features of morphofunctional reactions of renal vessels in rats at chronic poisoning with acetylsalicylic acid

The prevalence and availability of aspirin-containing analgesic products makes them sources of unintentional overdose, and even suicidal admission. Therefore, the toxic effect of salicylates is an important cause of morbidity and mortality. In this case, as a rule, the target body is the kidneys. The purpose of the study was to identify the structural changes in the kidneys in the process of chronic poisoning with acetylsalicylic acid. In an experiment on rats using the histological methods of the study, it was found that chronic poisoning with acetylsalicylic acid leads to severe organ disorders in the kidneys, which are manifested in the form of congestive venous plethora with reactive ascending vasoconstriction of the arterial part of the blood route of the organ with a decrease in its throughput. At the same time there was a thickening of the walls of the vessels, which occurred both at the expense of increasing their tone, and due to edema, which was confirmed by the enlightenment of the cytoplasm of the leiomyocytes of the medial cover and an increase in the distance between the nuclei of adjacent layers of the smooth muscle cells. The endothelium of these arteries looked swollen as evidenced by the protrusion of its nuclei into the lumen of the vessels in the form of a “palisade”. Such changes can be considered as a protective reaction that partially prevents hemodynamic overload of the hemomicrocirculatory channel, known in the scientific literature as the reflex of Kitaev. However, in spite of this, in the process of chronic poisoning with acetylsalicylic acid, the complete compensation of blood circulation in the kidneys does not occur. Prolonged vasoconstriction leads to the tissue ischemia, which may be the cause of the development and progression of functional and dystrophic changes in the structural components of the organ parenchyma as a morphological substrate of renal insufficiency. Confirmation of this can be considered the changes in the glomerular apparatus found during the study, which consisted in the gradual reduction of the total area of nephrons with the simultaneous decrease in the area of capillary glomeruli. Moreover, the decrease in the area of capillary glomeruli occurred more intensively, which led to the expansion of urinary spaces. In the final stage of the experiment, the capillary glomeruli were often in collaptoid condition, their size significantly decreased, and the contours became uneven-hilly. Thus, because of the chronic poisoning by acetylsalicylic acid in the kidneys appears stagnant disturbances of the organ circulation, which cause ascending vasoconstriction in the arterial part of the blood stream of the organ, which subsequently leads to ischemia and dystrophic changes in its parenchyma.