Image quality method as a possible way of in situ monitoring of in-vessel mirrors in a fusion reactor.

The plasma-facing (first) mirrors in ITER will be subject to sputtering and/or contamination with rates that will depend on the precise mirror locations. The resulting influence of both these factors can reduce the mirror reflectance (R) and worsen the transmitted image quality (IQ). This implies that monitoring the mirror quality in situ is an actual desire, and the present work is an attempt towards a solution. The method we propose is able to elucidate the reason for degradation of the mirror reflectance: sputtering by charge exchange atoms or deposition of contaminated layers. In case of deposition of contaminants, the mirror can be cleaned in situ, but a rough mirror (due to sputtering) cannot be used anymore and has to be replaced. To demonstrate the feasibility of the IQ method, it was applied to mirror specimens coated with carbon film in laboratory conditions and to mirrors coated with contaminants during exposure in fusion devices (TRIAM-1M and Tore Supra), as well as to mirrors of different materials exposed to sputtering by plasma ions in the DSM-2 plasma stand (in IPP NSC KIPT).

[Target-cell susceptibility and lung phagocyte activity in mice with influenza virus resistance lowered by glucocorticoidal immunosuppression].

The results of the study showed that subcutaneous kenalog (Kn) lowered the resistance of mice to influenza virus (InV), as was seen by a decrease in 50% lethal dose and an increase in the degree of pulmonary tissue lesion, and the susceptibility of the lungs to InV, seen by the fact that 50% aerogenic infective dose (AID50) was significantly higher in the main group (Kn+InV) than in controls, which received Hanks solution subcutaneously (HS+InV). In vitro, 50% infective doses of InV for suspension of pulmonary and tracheal cells, characterizing their susceptibility to InV, were similar in Kn mice and controls. At the same time, lower resistance and higher degree of pulmonary inflammation noted in Kn mice after receiving a dose of InV that was much higher than an infecting one, was accompanied by the prevalence in the number as well as phagocyte and superoxide-producing activity of neutrophiles (Nph) over the same parameters for alveolar macrophages (AMph) as early as two days after receiving InV dose, vs. InV-infected controls. Evidently, one of the reasons for lower resistance to InV after Kn administration is significant disbalance between the functional activity of AMph and Nph populations. Ineffective AMph clearance of the lungs from InV and excessive number of recruited Nph and products of tissue disintegration may favor the development of respiratory failure and infectious-toxic shock, which leads to lower resistance in animals which receive Kn before InV infection.

[Structural and physicochemical characteristics of DNA from animal tissue subjected to chronic irradiation in the Chernobyl area]. / Strukturnye i fiziko-khimicheskie kharakteristiki DNK iz tkanei zhivotnykh, podvergavshikhsia dlitel'nomu khronicheskomu oblucheniiu v zone chernobylia.

The properties of animal DNAs exposed to prolonged irradiation in the Chernobyl zone, have been studied by the methods of viscometry, thermal denaturation, IR-spectroscopy, and electrophoresis. High content of low-molecular fractions have been observed in the preparations of DNA from liver and spleen, their quantities increasing with age and generation of animals. This effect is especially strong in DNA from liver. Low-molecular fraction of DNA is shown to be enriched with G-C pairs and to consist of the following four fractions: 1) approximately 500 base pairs (B.p.), 2) approximately 1.5 divided by 2 thousand B.p., 3) approximately 4 divided by 5 thousand B.p. and 4) a mixture of approximately 20 thousand B.p. fragments. Further, it has been observed that the DNA preparations from the tissues of experimental animals contain about ten times higher contents of Fe, Zn, Se and other elements as compared to the control preparations.