Российская наука и мир (дайджест)

На Юго-западе Приморского края международной группой специалистов отловлен первый зверь в рамках проекта по изучению экологии и взаимоотношений между тиграми и леопардами. На юго-западе Приморья живут менее 20 тигров, которые изолированы от основной популяции, поэтому возникают вопросы о генетическом составе и жизнеспособности этой группы. Еще большее беспокойство внушает популяция дальневосточного леопарда. Их в природе осталось всего 30 особей, и все они обитают на юго-западе Приморского края.

World's most endangered big cat is assessed by experts then released.
Just three days after catching a Siberian tiger in the Russian Far East, an international team led by biologists from the Wildlife Conservation Society captured another species last week that carries the dubious distinction of being the world's most endangered big cat: an extremely Far Eastern leopard.
One of only 30 left in the wild, the animal was captured in a "trapline" - a series of snares set out by scientists to temporarily catch big cats for genetic analysis. The 45 kg (100 pound) male was captured in Southwest Primorski Krai in the southern Russian Far East less than 20 miles from the Chinese border, and just a mile from where a large male Siberian tiger had been caught days earlier.
Before the leopard was released, a team of scientists from WCS, Institute of Biology and Soils of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity of the National Cancer Institute conducted a suite of medical evaluations including the collection of sperm to asses its capacity to reproduce. Genetic analyses, used in conjunction with other bio-medical evaluations, will be used to determine whether leopards and tigers suffer from the effects of inbreeding by closely related individuals, a common problem in small wildlife populations.
Although more than 400 Siberian tigers occur in the wild, less than 20 tigers in Southwest Primorye are isolated from the main population of Siberian tigers to the east and north, raising questions about their genetic composition and vigor of this subpopulation. With only 30 individuals remaining in the wild, all in Southwest Primorye, the Far Eastern leopard is far more endangered than the tiger, and hence concerns about the genetic status of this animal are even greater. Up to now, no information on these wild animals has been available to assess the risk of disease or inbreeding.
"This capture represents a milestone in our cooperative efforts to save the Far Eastern leopard and Siberian tiger from extinction," said Dale Miquelle, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Russia Program, which has led coordination of this project. "With the information gained from these animals, and others to come, we will be in a much better position to determine appropriate conservation actions."
If inbreeding is considered a serious problem, new genetic material may be introduced into this population, as was done for the Florida panther. In that situation, when poor reproduction and physical abnormalities suggested that inbreeding was the culprit, pumas from Texas were introduced into Florida, resulting in increased reproductive rates and greater vitality of the Florida population. Such actions may be necessary for the Far Eastern leopard, but decisions will be made only after analyses of a representative sample of the remaining population.

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AlphaGalileo / 16 November 2006

Mercurial Breathing Of The Earth

Байкальская рифтовая зона характеризуется высокой сейсмической, термальной и гидротермальной активностью. Поэтому здесь удобно исследовать явление, известное как "ртутное дыхание Земли", ведь ртуть, как серу и некоторые другие элементы выносят из глубин Земли тепловые потоки и термальные источники, газы и вулканические выбросы. Исследования проводят ученые из Института геохимии им. А.П.Виноградова и Института земной коры в Иркутске.

The Baikal rift zone is characterized by high seismic, thermal and hydrothermal activity. Therefore, this area is very convenient for investigation of geochemical activity of fractures, in particular for "mercurial breathing". As the substances from fractures accumulate in the soil, the Irkutsk researchers measured mercury content in the soil profiles that cut the fracture zones.
The background content of mercury in the soil humus level of the Baikal region lies within the range of 16 through 29 thousandth of milligram per kilogram of soil. All active fractures of the Bailak rift zone, regardless of their type, are accompanied by mercurial anomalies in the water, soil, soil and surface air. Mercurial streams in the fracture zones are extremely changeable in time and space. Their intensity depends on seismic activity and, probably, powerful atmospheric disturbances (cyclones). In the state of seismic rest, the fractures' background exceeds by 2 to 10 times the background of sections adjacent to the fracture. But during seismic activity, mercury content bursts may exceed the background by 20 to 30 and more times. Mercury emission from fractures reaches the maximum values on the eve of major earthquakes.
Mercury is present not only in the soil air, but accumulates in the humus layer and forms strong complexes with humus. Although in the regions of man-caused contamination, much higher amount of mercury is connected with the humus layer.
Thus, human beings confidently surpass the nature in terms of soil contamination.
The researchers have counted that in quiet conditions the mercury stream in the Baikal rift zone makes approximately 4 grams per square kilometer per year. In the seismically quiet period, the stream value varies by approximately five times, during the earthquakes, it can jump up to 1,200 grams per square kilometer per year. Drastic increase of mercury stream should be expected in case of catastrophic seismic events. The example is seismoactive 2003 in the Yellowstone Park, when annual mercury emission was equal to about 20 kilograms per square kilometer.
Being aware of active zone sites within the bounds of the Baikal rift zone, the researchers evaluated the total mercury inflow from the fracture zones. In quiet conditions, mercury emission is equal to 170 through 430 kilograms per year, but in extraordinary seismic activity conditions it can theoretically reach 65 tons, which is somewhat higher than the natural emission of the entire territory of Siberia. However, such turn of events seems unlikely to the researchers.

© AlphaGalileo Foundation 2003

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innovations-report / 17.11.2006

Anti-Ageing Drug Restores Vision (Only to animals so far)

Директор Института физико-химической биологии им. А.Н.Белозерского академик Владимир Скулачев считает, что процессы старения можно замедлить и даже обратить вспять.

According to the opinion of V.P. Skulachev, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the A.N. Belozersky Research Institute of Physicochemical Biology, ageing of living organisms is not an inevitability at all.
The overwhelming majority of animal and plant species do grow old indeed: the organism starts to function worse than before, stops reproducing, catches up various diseases and, finally, dies. Ageing is necessary from the evolution point of view: ageing living things become noncompetitive and give way to the young. According to the most clear definition, "ageing of the organism is weakening of its vital functions in the course of time, thus increasing the probability of death".
However, non-aging living creatures do exist in the world, points out V.P. Skulachev. For example, gigantic turtles can live for two hundred years, they preserve the ability to reproduction and continue to grow, and they die because their shell becomes too heavy to move and get food. Albatrosses live for about 50 years without aging and die suddenly. The Greenland whale lives for about 200 years. All these animals evolve very slowly, but they even do not need evolution. Other examples demonstrate that aging is caused by some external necessity. The Pacific salmon begins to grow old rapidly right after spawning is completed, fish die, thus attracting numerous maxillopods, which for their turn serve as food to fry. And the Atlantic salmon can prolong its active life owing to a parasite - pearl-oyster larva - settled in it.
It appears from this, believes V.P. Skulachev, that ageing is a program, which may be slowed down or cancel completely. This is the global target of the research work under the project sponsored by the Russian-Asian Investment Company (RAInKo) under control of Oleg Deripaska. This international project involves 32 research groups, more than 210 persons altogether, including several young researchers who returned to Russia from foreign laboratories.
It seems that if researchers strive to cancel the ageing program, they should start acting at the genome level. Such experiments are already being carried out: researchers have found the gene, switching off of which prolongs the life of the nematode worm and the laboratory mouse. But "we do not want to interfere in the human genome, because this can cause unexpected consequences", says V.P. Skulachev. The researchers decided to interfere not in the program itself, but in its execution at the very early stage. At this stage, aging is connected with accumulation of free radicals in the organism, this taking place initially in the mitochondrion - a power substation of a cell. The SkQ substance synthesized in the course of the research, acts as a very efficient antioxidant, which is fighting against free radical oxygen at the mitochondria level.
Hundreds of antioxidants are already being applied in the world, but not all of them are efficient as they get quickly destroyed. The peculiarity of a new substance is that the so-called "Skulachev's ion" (the name was given by foreign colleagues) is part of it, the ion penetrating through the cell's membrane and accumulating inside mitochondria thanks to its positive charge (the charge inside the mitochondrion is negative). This ion "drags" behind itself the proper antioxidant part. The result is that the substance saves mitochondria's lipids from oxidation.
The SkQ influence on the life span was studied in experiments on mice. Laboratory mice were given to drink "life-giving water" with SkQ, the substance being contained in this water in nanodoses (5 nanomoles). The life time of such mice increased by one third on average as compared to that of the reference group mice. Even more demonstrative are experiments with mutant rats, where accelerated ageing - progeria - was observed. SkQ prolonged their life span by three times, besides, it cured them from a large number of senile diseases. They include infarctions, strokes, osteoporosis, hemogram abnomality, reproductive system disorders, behavior change, visual impairment.
The latter is interesting to dwell on in more detail as the SkQ drug successfully fights against cataract and retinal degeneration only of animals so far. Moreover, it does not only prevent but also cures the disease, ophthalmologists being unable yet to explain the phenomenon. The list of animals that regained their sight after the SkQ instillation into the eyes includes dogs, cats, rabbits and a horse. However, these animals are not numerous so far - they are 19 altogether. In the film shot by the researchers, owners of dogs and cats bring out clearly how their pets became blind, and the 2-3 week course of treatment turned out to be sufficient to recover their vision. "It is still early to discuss how this drug will affect human eyes, says V.P. Skulachev. But we have scheduled clinical trials for 2007." He emphasizes that at the stage of complete loss of sight, when ophthalmologists do not give any hope, there is nothing to lose, and one may not be afraid of possible side effects.
It remains only to wish the researchers good luck in continuation of their effort, and the entire humanity - to obtain in the future if not immortality but the extension of active life.

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Futura Sciences - Agay, France / le 16/11/2006

Le tourisme spatial sauvera-t-il le vaisseau Soyouz ?

Par Jean Etienne

Президент и генеральный конструктор Ракетно-космической корпорации "Энергия" Николай Севастьянов о перспективах развития космического туризма.

Nikolaï Sevastianov, patron du groupe RKK Energuia, a révélé que le constructeur russe travaille actuellement à une nouvelle version du vaisseau habité Soyouz, capable de transporter 500 kg de charge utile en plus de son équipage habituel.
"La NASA n'a pas encore lancé son nouveau programme de vols habités Orion et il y aura un vide à combler entre la mise à la retraite des navettes américaines en 2010 et les premiers tirs d'Orion programmés pour 2014. Seuls les Soyouz russes pourront alors acheminer équipages et charges utiles vers la Station Spatiale Internationale pendant cette période", a-t-il déclaré lors d'une vidéoconférence organisée entre Moscou et Pékin.
Les Etats-Unis n'ont actuellement ni l'intention ni les moyens d'abandonner l'exploitation des vaisseaux Soyouz, dont ils continueront de financer la construction en échange du transport de leurs équipages d'astronautes vers l'ISS.
Mais la NASA n'est pas seule à apporter son obole au constructeur russe, le tourisme spatial prend une part de plus en plus importante au point qu'il est permis de se demander s'il ne suffirait pas à permettre la poursuite des vols Soyouz lorsque les Américains pourront disposer de leur propre vaisseau Orion.
"Quand nous lançons un Soyouz avec trois membres d'équipage, deux d'entre eux financent le vol. Il s'agit généralement d'un astronaute de la NASA qui règle à Roskosmos le prix de son voyage comme membre d'équipage et d'un astronaute amateur envoyé dans l'espace grâce à des fonds privés. Le commandant de bord est toujours un cosmonaute russe dont le séjour dans l'espace est financé dans le cadre du programme spatial fédéral russe", précise Sevastianov.
Il ajoute cependant que la récente augmentation du prix des matériaux et des pièces détachées a contraint Roskosmos à augmenter le prix du billet, le portant de 20 à 21 millions de dollars. Mais il estime que cela ne devrait pas refroidir l'ardeur des candidats au vol spatial, toujours aussi nombreux, d'autant que ceux-ci sont très souvent pris en charge par des investisseurs privés et réalisent un programme scientifique important à bord de la Station Spatiale Internationale.

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