Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology

Publications

• Book

  Alshanskaia E., Martynova O.

  2023 Fifth International Conference Neurotechnologies and Neurointerfaces (CNN) 18-20 Sept. 2023

   Cognitive and emotional load in the course of increasing the complexity of tasks leads to the activation of various parts of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and can be accompanied by an increase in the efficiency of problem solving. An increase in cognitive load under the condition of high motivation is a stress factor and is expressed in a different reaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic links in response to the load. This study explored the ANS reactions by measuring the pupil size of 61 healthy sub-clinical volunteers in response to the gradually increasing complexity of tasks. The experiment included 3 blocks of a combined visual search and 1-back task with six levels of difficulty. K-mean clustering method was used for the analysis. An increase in the complexity of the task from the first to the sixth level led to different dynamics of the pupil size in the three clustered groups. In one group, an intense high switchability and an active reaction with a large amplitude of changes were visible, in the second group the dynamics of changes was minimal, and a third intermediate group was also identified. Our results highlight individual differences in the reaction of the sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of ANS under cognitive workload depending on biometric and psychometric parameters. 

  IEEE, 2023.

• Article

  Boldyreva M., Zubkova E., Agareva M. et al.

  Osteogenic shift in the adipose-derived stem cells of Acomys cahirinus is linked to impaired adipose tissue self-renewal

  Over the past two decades, interest in spiny mice (Acomys species) has increased significantly, as they represent a unique model for experimental work (Gaire et al., 2021; Sandoval et al., 2020). In the process of evolution, Acomys sp. have retained an amazing ability to regeneration of various body tissues in adulthood. A number of studies have demonstrated the ability of Acomys sp. for complete regeneration and regrowth of tissues such as full-thickness skin (Seifert et al., 2021; Jiang et al., 2019; Brant et al., 2016), ear tissues (Santos et al., 2016; Gavrilyuk et al., 2016), skeletal muscles (Maden et al., 2018). Acomys sp. can even completely recover after a complete severing of the spinal cord (Nogueira-Rodriguez et al., 2022; Streeter et al., 2019). The regenerating tissue formed at the site of injury has no scars, which ensures a unique structural integrity.

  According to some physiological and behavioral characteristics, spiny mice are more similar to humans than to rodents, which explains the increased interest in using them in experimental work on the study of early development, brain behavior (Fricker & Kelly, 2024), hormonal background and the study of reproduction. Thus, the spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus) is the only known rodent with human-like menstruation (Bellofiore et al., 2021; McKenna et al., 2022) and can synthesize cortisol as the major circulating glucocorticoid (Quinn et al., 2013)

  Moreover, Acomys sp. are of great interest as a model for dietary experiments, studying metabolic processes, feeding behavior, and the development of obesity in conjunction with diabetes. It was found that spiny mice exhibit a reduced capacity for insulin secretion, despite the presence of pancreatic islet hypertrophy and hyperplasia, before the onset of overt diabetes. In laboratory conditions with ad libitum feeding, Acomys sp. rapidly gained weight, developed obesity, diabetes with ketosis, and glucose intolerance, but without a gradual onset of pronounced insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, which may be related to their natural desert lifestyle (Shafrir E. et al., 2000; 2006). The developed diabetes was associated with the destruction of pancreatic β-cells due to their hypertrophy, but not related to excessive insulin secretory load. In dietary experiments conducted with Acomys sp., it was shown that a sucrose-rich diet did not lead to the onset of overt diabetes and ketosis, but resulted in an increase in T3 levels, which was presumably attributed to energy loss and thermogenic processes. The use of a high-fat diet revealed hypertrophy of pancreatic islets, as well as increased insulin content within them (Shafrir E., 2000).

  A significant part of the studies of adipose tissue were carried out using mouse models. However, more and more evidence suggests that there are species-specific differences, and the characteristics of adipose tissue in rodents differ significantly from those in humans. This does not always allow for a direct projection of experimental results and often leads to contradictory findings (Börgeson et al., 2022). Considering this fact, the use of Acomys as an experimental model may prove to be very promising for studying the properties of adipose tissue.

  Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. 2025. Vol. 13.

• Book chapter

  Панков Н. С., Pozanenko A. S., Belkin S. et al.

  AWARE: Alert Watcher and Astronomical Rapid Explorer

  We present the software aware for automatic scheduling the observations with the ground based network of optical telescopes GRB-IKI-FuN (extendable on other facilities). It was designed to provide the optimal coverage of large uncertainty contours of LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA (LVK) gravitational wave events, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), detected by space missions, which is crucial for fast look-up for their optical counterparts. In addition, aware provides capabilities for notifying users on new alert messages received from General Coordinate Network (GCN), and sharing final products generated by the planner via Telegram bot. The implementation of the software allows both scheduler, and Telegram bot to run concurrently in near real-time. In this paper, we discuss main follow-up tactics of LVK events, and GRBs. We overview the automatic planning software aware in terms of an architecture and algorithms. The example products made by aware since the beginning of the LVK O4 run on 25 May 2023 are given. The plans for future work are briefly discussed.

  In bk.: Data Analytics and Management in Data Intensive Domains: 25th International Conference, DAMDID/RCDL 2023, Moscow, Russia, October 24–27, 2023, Revised Selected Papers. Vol. 2086: Communications in Computer and Information Science. Springer, 2024. P. 225-245.

• Working paper

  Liutsko L., Malova Y., Vinokurova E. et al.

  Stress Resilience (Proprioceptive and Verbal Individual Differences) in Onco-Patients, Sportsmen and Controls

  The characteristics of response to stressful situations depend on a complex of factors such as personality traits, emotional regulation, health state, features of the nervous system, motor functions and proprioception. In cases of disruption of the brain's dopamine system due to disease or chemotherapy, hormone discharge due to stress, changes in emotions and proprioception may occur. The aim of our study was to find the relationship of stress resilence in verbal test and individual differences performed in proprioceptive test in onco-patients, sportsmen and group of control; as well as to observe the differences between these groups in the verbal stress resistance and individual differences proprioceptive tests. The results showed that onco-patients were less resistant as per verbal stress resistance outcomes for a major part of variables compared to other groups. The sportsmen were superior in verbal Risk and Control dimensions compared to other groups; but less in Positive Affectiveness. The proprioceptive test perfomance revealed the only statistically significant difference in performance in the dimension related to Mood, showing more Pessimism in the sportsmen group, but more Optimism in the oncopatients at temperamental (or intrisinc) level. The obtained results can be used by psychologists, therapists, coach and healthcare when needed to attend the specific needs of public, being pateints or sportsmen, etc.

  public health and health services. 20944. MDPI, 2023