The Pazyryk Style

This study demonstrates that certain similarities in the domestic artifacts, clothing, and weapons in the Pazyryk burials of the Altai, those in the oases of Xinjiang (Subashi, Yanghai, Jumbulak Kum, Wupu, Keriya, etc.), and those in the piedmont of the southern Altai Mountains, do not evidence a single culture. Such parallels in basic items are caused only by spatial proximity and contacts. Personal ornaments, decoration of utensils, weapons, and horse harness, and signs such as tattoos are more reliable cultural indicators. Every member of the Pazyryk society, regardless of age, was marked by a set of outward signs, distinguishing him or her from the neighbors. This set included tattoos, and also ornaments worn on the clothing, headgear and belt, and decorating the horse. The elaborate Pazyryk traditions of woodcarving enabled everyone to have equally meaningful ornaments, which, like the artistic tattoos, made him or her recognizable. The term “Pazyryk style” is proposed. Being the most exact cultural indicator, it extends to all elements of culture, uniting the Pazyryk people despite the fact that their lifestyle, subsistence, etc., were identical to those of their neighbors.

Yi Shen Juan Bi Pill Regulates the Bone Immune Microenvironment via the JAK2/STAT3 Signaling Pathway in Vitro

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is characterized by an impaired articular bone immune microenvironment, which is associated with regulatory T cells (Tregs) hypofunction and osteoclasts (OCs) hyperfunction and leads to articular bone erosion and systemic bone loss. Studies have shown that Tregs slow bone loss in RA by regulating the bone resorption function of OCs and the JAK/STAT signaling pathway can regulate the immunosuppressive function of Tregs and reduce the bone erosion function of OCs. Yi Shen Juan Bi Pill (YSJB) is a classic Chinese herbal compound for the treatment of RA. However, whether YSJB regulates bone immune microenvironment homeostasis through JAK/STAT signaling pathway remains unclear. Based on in vitro OC single culture, Treg single culture and OC-Treg coculture systems, treatments were performed using drug-containing serum, AG490 and JAK2 siRNA to explore whether YSJB-containing serum regulates the homeostasis of the bone immune microenvironment through the JAK/STAT signaling pathway. In vitro, YSJB treatment decreased the number of TRAP+ cells and the areas of bone resorption and inhibited the expression of RANK, NFATc1, c-fos, JAK2, and STAT3 in both the OC single culture system and the OC-Treg coculture system. Tregs further reduced the number of TRAP+ cells and the areas of bone resorption in the coculture system. YSJB promoted the secretion of IL-10 while inhibiting the expression of JAK2 and STAT3 in Tregs. Moreover, inhibiting the expression of JAK2 with the JAK2 inhibitor AG490 and JAK2 siRNA improved the immunosuppressive functions of Treg, inhibited OC differentiation and bone resorption. Our study demonstrates that YSJB can regulate OC-mediated bone resorption and Treg-mediated bone immunity through the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. This study provides a new strategy for regulating the bone immune microenvironment in RA with traditional Chinese medicine.

Genomic and Metabolomic Insights into Secondary Metabolites of the Novel Bacillus halotolerans Hil4, an Endophyte with Promising Antagonistic Activity against Gray Mold and Plant Growth Promoting Potential

The endophytic bacterial strain Hil4 was isolated from leaves of the medicinal plant Hypericum hircinum. It exhibited antifungal activity against Botrytis cinerea and a plethora of plant growth promoting traits in vitro. Whole genome sequencing revealed that it belongs to Bacillus halotolerans and possesses numerous secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters and genes involved in plant growth promotion, colonization, and plant defense elicitation. The Mojavensin cluster was present in the genome, making this strain novel among plant-associated B. halotolerans strains. Extracts of secreted agar-diffusible compounds from single culture secretome extracts and dual cultures with B. cinerea were bioactive and had the same antifungal pattern on TLC plates after bioautography. UHPLC-HRMS analysis of the single culture secretome extract putatively annotated the consecutively produced antimicrobial substances and ISR elicitors. The isolate also proved efficient in minimizing the severity of gray mold post-harvest disease on table grape berries, as well as cherry tomatoes. Finally, it positively influenced the growth of Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0 and Solanum lycopersicum var. Chondrokatsari Messinias after seed biopriming in vitro. Overall, these results indicate that the B. halotolerans strain Hil4 is a promising novel plant growth promoting and biocontrol agent, and can be used in future research for the development of biostimulants and/or biological control agents.

LET’S JOIN OUR HANDS, MY DEAR FRIENDS: BULAT OKUDZHAVA IN THE INTERTEXTUAL THESAURUS OF THE YOUNG

Введение. Рассматривается проблема культурного диалога представителей разных поколений. Прецедентные тексты, связанные с совокупностью знаний и представлений людей, принадлежащих к одной культуре, анализируются в связи со структурой языковой личности. Прецедентные феномены различных типов являются важной составляющей интертекстуального тезауруса. В процессе коммуникации немалую роль играют культурные аллюзии коммуникантов, их оперирование культурным багажом, в частности составляющими интертекстуального тезауруса. Цель – анализ той части тезауруса русской языковой личности, которая связана с крылатыми словами одного из значительных авторов XX века – Булата Окуджавы. Материал и методы. Постоянно воспроизводимые песни Булата Окуджавы формировали культурный код поколения 70–80-х гг. Многие фразы из его песен приобрели статус фольклорных, о чем свидетельствуют материалы словарей и Национального корпуса русского языка. Для исследования динамических процессов, характеризующих различия в культурной памяти поколений отцов и детей, был произведен эксперимент, в ходе которого были отобраны 10 популярных высказываний из поэзии Б. Окуджавы. Они легли в основу опроса, в котором участвовало около 1 000 человек. Респонденты должны были определить авторство высказываний и продолжить некоторые из них. Результаты и обсуждение. Анализ результатов опроса показал, что даже самые распространенные высказывания из песен Б. Окуджавы в большинстве случаев не соотносятся в сознании респондентов с именем автора. Приписывание авторства самым неожиданным именам свидетельствует о глубоких лакунах в культурной памяти молодых людей, в то же время строки Б. Окуджавы присутствуют в интертекстуальном тезаурусе языковой личности, что во многом связано с взаимодействием вербальной и аудиовизуальной информации. Заключение. Результаты анализа лексикографических источников и корпусные данные свидетельствуют о прецедентности многих поэтических строк Б. Окуджавы, в то же время анализ данных массового опроса отражает существенные изменения в интертекстуальном тезаурусе молодежи. Introduction. The article deals with the issue of the cultural communication between representatives of different generations. The precedent texts associated with the common knowledge of people belonging to a single culture are studied in line with the structure of a linguistic personality. Precedent phenomena of various types are an important part of an intertextual thesaurus. In the process of communication, the cultural allusions of communicants play a great role, as well as the application of their cultural backgrounds that include components of the intertextual thesaurus. Aim and objectives. The purpose of the article is to analyze the area of the Russian linguistic personality thesaurus that contains the catchphrases by Bulat Okudzhava – a prominent 20th century Russian author. Material and methods. Being constantly played out in the 1970–1980s, Bulat Okudzhava’s songs were shaping the cultural values of the generation. Many phrases from the songs got a folklore status, which is witnessed both by the dictionaries and by the Russian National Corpus. In order to study the dynamics characterizing the differences in the cultural memory of generations of fathers and sons an experiment has been carried out based on the 10 popular catchphrases from Okudzhava’s verse. These phrases underlie the survey covering an audience of approximately 1,000 people. Those surveyed had to determine the authorship of the phrases and to continue some of them. Results and discussion. The analysis showed that in most cases there are no links in the mind of respondents between the name of Bulat Okudzhava and even the most widespread phrases from his songs. The authorship was often attributed to fully unexpected names, which shows serious gaps in the cultural memory of the young. However, it was proven that Okudzhava’s catchphrases definitely exist in the intertextual thesaurus of the linguistic personality, which is surely determined by the interaction of verbal and multimedia information. Conclusion. The analysis of the dictionary entries and the corpus data proves the precedent status of many of the Okudzhava’s phrases. Nevertheless, the results of the mass survey reflect a significant change in the intertextual thesaurus of the young.

Proteomic Analysis Explores Interactions between Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Saccharomyces cerevisiae during Sourdough Fermentation

Sourdough is a fermentation culture which is formed following metabolic activities of a multiple bacterial and fungal species on raw dough. However, little is known about the mechanism of interaction among different species involved in fermentation. In this study, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum Sx3 and Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sq7 were selected. Protein changes in sourdough, fermented with single culture (either Sx3 or Sq7) and mixed culture (both Sx3 and Sq7), were evaluated by proteomics. The results show that carbohydrate metabolism in mixed-culture-based sourdough is the most important metabolic pathway. A greater abundance of L-lactate dehydrogenase and UDP-glucose 4-epimerase that contribute to the quality of sourdough were observed in mixed-culture-based sourdough than those produced by a single culture. Calreticulin, enolase, seryl-tRNA synthetase, ribosomal protein L23, ribosomal protein L16, and ribosomal protein L5 that are needed for the stability of proteins were increased in mixed-culture-based sourdough. The abundance of some compounds which play an important role in enhancing the nutritional characteristics and flavour of sourdough (citrate synthase, aldehyde dehydrogenase, pyruvate decarboxylase, pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 and acetyl-CoA) was decreased. In summary, this approach provided new insights into the interaction between L. plantarum and S. cerevisiae in sourdough, which may serve as a base for further research into the detailed mechanism.

Circa-SCOPE: high-throughput live single-cell imaging method for analysis of circadian clock resetting

Circadian clocks are self-sustained and cell-autonomous oscillators. They respond to various extracellular cues depending on the time-of-day and the signal intensity. Phase Transition Curves (PTCs) are instrumental in uncovering the full repertoire of responses to a given signal. However, the current methodologies for reconstructing PTCs are low-throughput, laborious, and resource- and time-consuming. We report here the development of an efficient and high throughput assay, dubbed Circadian Single-Cell Oscillators PTC Extraction (Circa-SCOPE) for generating high-resolution PTCs. This methodology relies on continuous monitoring of single-cell oscillations to reconstruct a full PTC from a single culture, upon a one-time intervention. Using Circa-SCOPE, we characterize the effects of various pharmacological and blood-borne resetting cues, at high temporal resolution and a wide concentration range. Thus, Circa-SCOPE is a powerful tool for comprehensive analysis and screening for circadian clocks’ resetting cues, and can be valuable for basic as well as translational research.

Oily sludge degrading potentials of single and consortium of autochthonous bacterial species

Oily sludge (OS) degrading potentials of single and consortium autochthonous bacterial population was carried out using standard analytical procedures. Three autochthonous bacterial species; Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cibi and Bacillus subtilis were associated with the OS. The isolates exhibited varying OS utilizing and biosurfactant producing potentials. P. aeruginosa was the best OS utilizer while B. subtilis was the best biosurfactant producer (emulsification index of 15.6%). Degradation of the OS with single culture of the best OS utilizer (P. aeruginosa) and consortium of the best OS utilizer and best biosurfactant producer (B. subtilis) revealed that the consortium exhibited a remarkable potential to reduce the total petroleum concentration in the OS from 100.73 ppm to 41.39 ppm (58.91% degradation) as compared to 51.74 ppm (48.7% degradation) achieved by the single culture. The saturated fraction of the OS was the most susceptible to degradation followed by the aromatic faction while the NSO and asphaltene fraction were the least degraded. P. aeruginosa was able to reduce the saturated hydrocarbon content in the OS by 87.4% while a 95.5% reduction was recorded for the consortium. Similarly, the concentration of PAH in the OS was reduced from 27.94 ppm to 16.74 ppm by the single culture and 12.75 by the consortium. The potentials of these bacterial communities can be explored for broader use in remediating oily sludge contaminated soil as well as managing oily sludge waste in the oil and gas industry.

Analysis of the signal cross talk via CCL26 in the tumor microenvironment in osteosarcoma

Interaction with surrounding healthy cells plays a major role in the growth and metastasis of osteosarcoma. In this study, we hypothesized that humoral factors, which do not require direct contact with cells, are involved in the interaction between osteosarcoma and the surrounding cells. We identified the humoral factor involved in the association between tumor cells and surrounding normal cells using a co-culture model and investigated the significance of our findings. When human osteosarcoma cells (MG63) and human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were co-cultured and comprehensively analyzed for changes in each culture group, we found that the expression of chemokine (CC motif) ligand 26 (CCL26) was significantly enhanced. We also analyzed the changes in cell proliferation in co-culture, enhanced interaction with administration of recombinant CCL26 (rCCL26), reduced interaction with administration of anti-CCL26 antibodies, changes in invasive and metastatic abilities. CCL26 levels, motility, and invasive capability increased in the co-culture group and the group with added rCCL26, compared to the corresponding values in the MG63 single culture group. In the group with added CCL26 neutralizing antibodies, CCL26 level decreased in both the single and co-culture groups, and motility and invasive ability were also reduced. In a nude mice lung metastasis model, the number of lung metastases increased in the co-culture group and the group with added rCCL26, whereas the number of tumors were suppressed in the group with added neutralizing antibodies compared to those in the MG63 alone. This study identified a possible mechanism by which osteosarcoma cells altered the properties of normal cells to favorably change the microenvironment proximal to tumors and to promote distant metastasis.