[Effects of inactivated influenza vaccine on postvaccination immunity against tuberculosis]. / Vliianie inaktivirovannykh grippoznykh vaktsin na postvaktsinal'nyi immunitet protiv tuberkuleza.

The importance of inactivated influenza virus vaccines (IIVV) as a risk factor leading to a change of immunologic reactivity in persons earlier revaccinated with BCG once, twice or thrice was studied. The condition of T system was investigated by blast-transformation reaction with PPD-L and PHA in 1 and 3 months after administration of different types of IIVV. If all types of IIVV are administered, there is an inhibition of a specific activity of T cells with a certain stimulation of their nonspecific functions. The intensity of IIVV impact depends on the type, number, and duration of prior BCG vaccinations, as well as the initial condition of T-link.

[Survival of bacteria in the Artificial Mars unit]. / Vyzhivaemost' bakterii v ustanovke "Iskusstvennyi Mars".

The survival of bacteria was studied in the "Artificial Mars" apparatus reproducing a complex of physical extreme factors. Bacteria isolated from microbiocenoses subjected to the action of chemical extreme factors (hydrogen peroxide, catalytically active minerals) were shown to be most resistant among soil heterotrophic bacteria. Cells in the resting state caused by dehydration survived better than vegetative cells. It has been concluded that microorganisms quite different in their physiological requirements and ecological properties can exist in the habitats extreme for life conditions.

[Use of a method of concentrating microorganisms in an electric field in the search for life in Mars]. / Primenenie metoda kontsentrirovaniia mikrooranizmov v élektricheskom pole dlia poiskov zhizni na Marse.

The paper describes a technique of concentrating microorganisms from filtrates obtained from mixtures of the Martian ground analogs and desert soil using electroretention on polarizable carriers (sterilized cotton wool or gauze). The degree of retention can reach 99.9% at a field intensity of 50 V/cm and a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min. A high concentration of microorganisms in a suspension can be reached when the current is switched off and a small volume of the fresh nutrient medium is passed through the suspension.

[Effect of hydrogen peroxide and hydrated ferric oxides on the metabolism of soil microflora]. / Vliianie perekisi vodoroda i gidratirovannykh okislov zheleza na metabolizm pochvennoi mikroflory.

The effect of hydrogen peroxide and the mineral limonite on the rate of microbial processes was studied in poor and rich soils. The dynamics of CO2 evolution can be registered upon addition of hydrogen peroxide to chernozem samples, which confirms the existence of metabolism of soil microorganisms. In experiments with desert soil, the evolution of O2 increases rather than that of CO2, which is probably due to an increase in the number of microorganisms producing catalase. Limonite stimulates the metabolic activity of microrganisms. The cultural and morphological properties of microflora are described, which are typical of soils incubated in the presence of limonite and hydrogen peroxide. This work supports the conclusion that, theoretically, the ground of Mars may contain microorganisms which have adapted, in the course of evolution, to high concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and hydrated iron oxides (of the limonite type) in the surrounding medium.

[Possibility of the nonbiological binding of CO2 and CO by the components of Martian soil]. / O vozmozhnosti nebiologicheskogo sviazyvaniia CO2 i CO komponentami marsianskogo grunta.

A mixture of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide was irradiated in the presence of limonite and hydrogen peroxide at 340 nm. As has been demonstrated by gas chromatography, chemical reactions occurring in this case yield organic compounds which could be synthesized in the experiments conducted by the Viking stations. Consequently, this method cannot discriminate between the chemical and biological processes which possibly accounted for positive signals registered in the experiments of the Viking stations.

[Origin of the oxygen detected by the Viking stations in an analysis of Mars soil]. / O proiskhozhdenii kisloroda, obnaruzhennogo stantsiiami Viking pri analize grunta Marsa.

Reactions between the mineral limonite and hydrogen peroxide were studied and gases produced thereupon were analysed by gas chromatography. Oxygen did not evolve if limonite was added to hydrogen peroxide frozen at a temperature of dry ice. However, at room temperature, a vigorous chemical reaction occurred and a large amount of oxygen evolved. Apparently, the ground of Mars contains not only hydrated iron oxides but also frozen hydrogen peroxide whose thawing in the incubation chamber of Viking resulted in its catalytic degradation under the action of iron ions. The evidence thus obtained and its comparison with the data of American scientists account for considerable evolution of oxygen detected by Viking upon analysis of the Mars ground.