Elytroderma baikalense is described herein as a species new to science, based on material collected from dying needles of Pinus sylvestris in the Lake Baikal region of Siberia. Images of ascomata, asci and ascospores are provided.

The article analyzes one of the problems of inter-party interaction in Russia in 1917–1924, which was not studies either intentionally or occasionally by Russian or foreign scholars. The subject of the research is the admission of socialists, who quit other parties, to the RSDLP(b) - RCP(b): more specifically who resigned the membership of Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (of Internationalists), Mensheviks, Right and Left wings of Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, Socialist-Revolutionaries-autonomists, Union of Socialists-Revolutionaries Maximalists, Party of Revolutionary Communism, anarchists and so on. Based on the wide range of published materials, including data from the central and local periodicals, as well as unique archival sources that were added to the ever-growing aggregate of scientific knowledge for the first time, the article investigate, when, how and on what conditions former members of socialist parties (so-called “vykhodets”) were accepted for the RSDLP(b) – RCP(b) membership. The authors conclude that during 1917-1924 the conditions of admitting to Bolshevik Party changed crucially. At different moments, the Communist leadership solved different problems allowing former socialists to join the Bolshevik ranks. In 1917-1919 the admission of former socialists was initiated in order to rise the number of members of the RSDLP(b) - RCP(b), and the target audience mainly consisted of revolutionaries who had extensive experience in party and social work. After the October Revolution in 1917, the entering former members of the other parties to the Bolshevik party was considered as a tool of splitting and fragmentation of socialist parties and groups that were opponents and / or competitor for the Bolsheviks. Since the end of 1919, the admission of socialists to the RCP(b) had been gradually lost its significance as a source of recruiting and transformed mainly into an instrument for the destruction of the Mensheviks and Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries, as well as a mechanism for the adoption and incorporation of small groups with socialist and communist orientation. Since 1921, the admission of former socialists to the RCP(b) actually ceased to play the role into the process of increasing membership, but became one of the most important implement of degrading and defeating the Mensheviks and Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries. From the beginning of 1924, it was used exclusively as a factor of discrediting the socialists.

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Objective – to compare the efficacy of various molecular genetic methods for diagnosing tuberculosis and determining drug susceptibility to rifampicin (RIF). Materials and Methods. We conducted a retrospective study of the sputum analysis results on 1,992 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis treated at Saratov Oblast Clinical Tuberculosis (TB) Dispensary from 2014 through 2018. The following methods were used: real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), biological microarrays, automated Xpert® MTB/RIF technology. Statistical processing of the research results was carried out using the Bayes formula based on contingency tables (four-field table) and the χ2 test. When evaluating the significance of differences between relative values, we employed the critical significance level of 0.05. Results. In terms of etiological diagnosis of TB, higher diagnostic sensitivities of the real-time PCR and biological microarray methods (73.9% and 70.3%, correspondingly) were established, as compared with the Xpert® MTB/RIF method (34.2%) (p<0.001). The sensitivity of all methods depended on the massiveness of bacterial excretion and clinical form of TB. Conclusions: The Xpert MTB/RIF method exhibited lower diagnostic sensitivity in verifying the diagnosis of TB, whereas its operational characteristics in terms of determining RIF-resistance were sufficiently high (sensitivity at 89.7%, specificity at 89.1%, and efficacy at 89.4%), which was comparable with the characteristics of biological microarray method (93.9%, 71.8%, 82.9%; p=0.127, p<0.001, p=0.139, respectively).

A number of cross-border national parks have been established in the border areas of Russia. On the basis of the studies carried out, it is possible to outline a number of current forest pathology challenges facing the national parks. A full picture of sanitary state of the forest can only be obtained by detailed special surveys. It is necessary to organise monitoring of insects and phytopathogenic fungi on permanent touristic routs and model sites. When determining the situation with forest pathology in a vast region, a systematic approach is required. It includes a consistent study of the composition of pathogens, the selection among them of species causing epiphytotics, identification of their biological and ecological characteristics, assessment of the ecological and economic significance, a study of factors that increase the harmfulness. This makes it possible to determine the range of pathogens to be monitored, to identify forest areas with the highest probability of disease outbreak.