编号 6 (2021)

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is the causative agent of a serious disease that involves the central nervous system. Recently, we have sequenced the TBEV genome fragments isolated from Ixodes ticks, collected in Karelia in 2008–2018. In one village, the genetic diversity of viruses of the Baltic TBEV group turned out to be comparable to their diversity over a vast territory from Finland in the west to Chelyabinsk Oblast in the east. Moreover, the diversity of viruses is equitable in every region. In other words, active virus mixing took place and, possibly, still occurs over a vast territory. The most plausible explanation is the involvement of flying animals (birds) in the TBEV distribution.

The life of amphibians in Northern Eurasia is possible only because of their specific adaptations to extreme temperatures on land or to hypoxia in water. This aspect of amphibian ecology is still little studied; even the wintering places of many amphibians are not well-known. A good example of such a situation in the Amur region is the Asiatic toad. Finds of animals wintering on land and in water in late autumn are rare. It is unclear whether the toads survive until spring. Like other toad species in Northern Eurasia, this one does not tolerate cooling below –3°C. However, such temperatures are typical at a depth up to 1.5 m in the soils of flat areas from Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Blagoveshchensk. It turned out that the place of mass wintering of toads is the Open Secret (Le secret de Polichinelle): toads regularly enter the nets of fishermen under the ice on the Amur (between Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur) along with fish. Observations have shown that in spring, adults and subadults, females and males come out from the water simultaneously before the ice drift or immediately after it. In autumn, the toads do not go to wintering at the same time, so this is not so evident. Probably, in the north, in the Russian part of their range, the main place of their wintering is in the plains of rivers, while in the south (in Central and Southwestern China), mainly in the upper soil horizons.

Zirconosilicate eudialyte is not only one of the most complex mineral in composition and structure, but also a very mysterious. Since its discovery 200 years ago, it has been of constant interest to researchers. The uniqueness and practical importance of eudialyte ores is determined by their complexity. They are a source of rare earths and many rare elements including zirconium, hafnium, titanium, and niobium. Different chemical composition, structure, and conditions of origin of this mineral lead to a variations in its crystal chemical properties. The article discusses the crystal chemical features of eudialyte formed under specific conditions of slow crystallization at low temperatures at the last stages of cooling of the residual melt. Such conditions allowed the composition to be ordered according to the positions of the structure with a decrease in symmetry from rhombohedral to primitive. This paper describes eudialyte, first studied within the P3 symmetry, and the obtained information about its structure, which is close to real.

The work of engineer Robert Runeberg (1846–1919) in the late 19th — early 20th century contributed in many ways to the technical progress in both Finland (his homeland) and Russia. He mostly focused on icebreaker building, aviation, construction, exhibitions, etc. This paper gives a description of an interesting and intense life of this outstanding engineer.