Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Chemical, biological and toxicological parameters of the soils (gray-humus stratozems, or Hortic Anthrosols, and urbostratozems, or Urbiс Technosols) of the Russian Museum’s gardens have been studied (Summer Garden, Mikhailovsky Garden, and Engineering Square). It has been shown that these soils are highly fertile, environmentally sustainable and have a high buffering capacity for pollutants. The content of pollutants (petroleum products, heavy metals, and benzo(a)pyrene) in the soils of the Russian Museum’s gardens exceeds the MAC and APC standards established in the Russian Federation. However, according to biotesting on daphnia, unicellular algae and higher plants, all the soils studied are nontoxic. Water extracts from the studied soils have a reliable stimulating effect on the seeds of higher plants and green algae, boosting their growth by 30–50%. This may be due to the richness of the soil in nutrients and water-soluble humus substances. The results on heterotrophic (microbial) respiration show that the studied soils are characterized by stable and balanced functioning, as well as by high environmental sustainability of the microbial cenosis to anthropogenic impact. There is a need to revisit the relevant standards for the pollutants’ content in urban soils, basing such correction on the assessment of the actual quality and health of soils at different levels of pollution.

Photopharmacology is one of the most promising and rapidly developing branches of modern medicine, based on the control of the biological activity of compounds by the light effect. An urgent issue in the development of “smart drugs” (compounds with light-controlled biological activity) is the toxicological assessment of new synthesized substances, determining their safety for humans and animals. This study is related to investigation of toxic properties of vinyl phosphonates, diene compounds with ethyl and isopropyl substituents at the phosphonate group. To determine the toxicity, test organisms from various systematic groups have been used, such as daphnia, ciliates, and green unicellular algae, which makes it possible to obtain the most objective assessment of the considered substances. The performed study of the phosphonates has revealed the differences in the degree of their toxicity for the test organisms. Daphnia have turned out to be the most sensitive to the action of functionalized phosphonates, whereas the unicellular green algae have exhibited slightly lower sensitivity, and the ciliates have shown the least sensitivity to the synthesized agents. Based on experiments on daphnia, considered as the most sensitive test organisms, median lethal dose and and safe concentration of the phosphonates have been determined.

This article explores the development of Professor Maren Mikhailovich Freidenberg’s scholarly interest in the history of the medieval city. It examines his network of contacts with colleagues engaged in related fields and situates these academic exchanges within the broader cultural and historiographical context of the 1950s — 1980s. The analysis is based on Freidenberg’s academic correspondence preserved in his personal papers at the State Archive of the Tver Region. Freidenberg’s intellectual pursuits brought him into contact with both Soviet and foreign scholars working on similar themes. His correspondence reflected the development of his academic perspectives not only on Dalmatian cities, which he studied directly, but also on the phenomenon of the medieval city in general. The correspondence reveals a rich scholarly dialogue, marked by discussion of urgent issues in medieval urban history and by critical exchanges. This criticism, however, remained academic in nature and did not compromise personal relationships. It also mirrored broader debates among Soviet medievalists during the 1960s—1970s about the nature of the medieval city. Letters from Soviet colleagues provide insight into the specific characteristics of medieval urban historiography in the USSR, offering a window into the intellectual and collaborative spaces of these historians. They allow us to reconstruct the internal world and creative laboratories of the scholars involved. The article demonstrates that Professor Freidenberg serves as an example of how a historian working outside the capital could, through a carefully cultivated network of communication, overcome not only geographical constraints but also difficulties related to access to sources and contemporary scientific information. The effectiveness of his academic network is evidenced by the fact that Freidenberg’s work attracted attention not only within Soviet science but also abroad.

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The novel strain SR-1.3 with algicidal properties and the ability to remove microcystin-LR (MC-LR) has been isolated from the water of Lake Sestroretsk Razliv during active cyanobacteria vegetation. Based on the morphological and cultural characteristics and the results of sequencing the ITS region of DNA, strain SR-1.3 was identified as Penicillium chrysogenum. The SR-1.3 strain exhibits algicidal activity against cyanobacteria and green algae. A dose-dependent and species-specific nature of the algicidal action of the P. chrysogenum SR-1.3 strain has been established. Cyanobacteria show the highest sensitivity to strain SR-1.3. The complete lysis (100%) of cyanobacteria cells is observed when 10% (vol) of the culture liquid or the micromycete filtrate are added to the medium. The algicidal effect of strain SR-1.3 on green algae is 30–70%, depending on the culture. According to the level of sensitivity to the algicidal effect of SR-1.3, the test cultures can be arranged in the series Planktothrix agardhii > Microcystis aeruginosa > Aphanizomenon flos-aquae = Anabaena cylindrica > Scenedesmus quadricauda > Oocystis parva. The inhibitory effect of the strain SR-1.3 mycelium on cyanobacteria and green algae growth does not exceed 3–6%. Based on the results, a conclusion was made about the indirect mechanism of the algicidal action of P. chrysogenum SR-1.3 by excretion into the medium of metabolites that inhibit and/or lyse cells of cyanobacteria and green algae. When toxigenic strains M. aeruginosa and P. agardhii are cultivated on a medium containing exometabolites of strain SR-1.3, the concentrations of microcystins in the medium decreases 3.3 and 1.8 times, respectively, compared with control variants. The ability of P. chrysogenum SR-1.3 to remove the highly toxic MC-LR from the cultivation medium is revealed. The MC-LR content is found to decrease from 1.2 to 0.79 μg/mL over 48 h during the cultivation of strain SR-1.3 on a medium with microcystin.

Microfungi are promising objects for bioremediation due to their ability to convert metals into forms that are less mobile and accessible to organisms. The study showed that the fungi Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus niger have physiological mechanisms of extracellular Zn detoxification at its initial concentration of 250 µmol – 2 mmol in the medium. At concentrations of 250–500 µmol Zn promotes the accumulation of biomass and abundant sporulation of A. niger and Penicillium chrysogenum, and at concentrations of 1–2 mmol inhibits the growth of fungi. Extracellular Zn detoxification in Aspergillus niger culture occurs by the formation of dihydrate zinc oxalate katsarosite, due to the active biosynthesis of oxalic acid in A. niger. The main mechanism of zinc detoxification in Penicillium chrysogenum culture was the formation of zinc phosphate hopeite. The formation of zinc phosphate hopeite under the action of the fungus was established for the first time. The key factors that determine the direction of the processes of formation of extracellular mineral phases are the amounts of EPS and oxalic acid produced by fungi, as well as changes in the pH of the medium during the growth of cultures.

The review presents the long-awaited book, based on years of thinking by authors about the fate of the national humanities. The dictionary has already become a fact of literary and cultural life, and its protagonists are not only the people described in it, but also the authors of essays and the editorial board, constantly discovering threads of continuity with St. Petersburg classicists. 43 authors of various philological specializations participated in the building of this, without any exaggeration, epochmaking work, which includes articles devoted to 250 St. Petersburg classicists in the 19th - early 20thcentury (scholars, tutors, translators, managers). To recreate the true image of the personage, the authors attracted a wide range of sources, namely, research papers, memoirs, correspondence and still unpublished archival materials. Collected together (although with varying degrees of detail depending on the number of extant sources), these portraits give us a comprehensive picture of the development of St. Petersburg classicism in its heyday and at the same time allow us to assess the state of intellectual forces and spiritual life of Russian society as a whole. The dictionary is convenient to use, because it is equipped with various indexes that make up a separate volume, which ends with a review essay written by the responsible editor and inspirer of the publication A.K. Gavrilov, where, among other things, the principle of material selection is analyzed in detail. The book is convenient and indispensable for work and at the same time is a fascinating reading.

The article considers the place of the famous argument of Severus of Antioch on the absurdity of confessing two common natures in Christ in the structure of the "Arbiter" by John Philoponus. In compliance with the general formula of this argument, the confession of two natures in Christ, taken as common natures of deity and humanity, necessarily entails agreeing that the incarnation of Christ signifies the incarnation of the whole Trinity in the whole humankind, namely, the incarnation of all the hypostases of the Trinity in each human being. John Philoponus supplements it with the distinction of common and particular natures: the common essence of deity, as represented by the aggregate of particular natures (Father, Son=Word, Saint Spirit), being incarnated in Christ, would lead to the incarnation of the mentioned particular natures in the common essence of humanity, i. e. in the aggregate of all whenever lived, living now and still not come into being people. In the article, a detailed analysis is given of the functional mode of Severus’ argument and of the concept of “particular nature” in the philosophical writings of John Philoponus, as well as that of the sense and the mechanism of transmission of this concept to the theological context of his substantiation of the Monophysite Triadology and Christology. On the grounds of scrutinizing these issues, the dependence is exposed of the procedures of substantiation of theological problems, applied in the “Arbiter”, on the methodology of school Neoplatonic philosophy.