The goal of this study was to characterize the synaptic organization of the normal human adult striatum for comparison with other species and with the diseased human striatum. Samples of striatal tissue from the Maryland Brain Collection obtained at autopsy with postmortem intervals of less than 4 hours were prepared for electron microscopic analysis according to standard techniques. The caudate nucleus and the putamen were similar in terms of the proportions of synaptic subtypes, the lengths of synaptic subtypes, and the area of most types of axon terminals. The proportions of major striatal synaptic subdivisions, such as axospinous synapses (83.5%) and asymmetric synapses (77.5%), were similar to that of the monkey (82% and 77%, respectively) but slightly lower than found in the rat (90% and 89%, respectively). Interestingly, the proportion of synapses with perforated postsynaptic densities (23%), a type of synapse thought to represent synaptic plasticity, was much higher in humans than in rats (5-8%). The lengths of asymmetric synapses (0.697 micron) were significantly longer than that of symmetric synapses (0.423 microns), a relationship found in other mammals. Also, the areas of terminals forming asymmetric synapses (0.707 micron2) were larger than those forming symmetric synapses (0.401 micron2), also consistent with data from other species. The length of axospinous synapses (0.656 micron) and the area of the terminals forming them (0.611 micron2) were not significantly different from the length of axodendritic synapses (0.523 micron) or the area of terminals forming them (0.602 micron2). This study is the first quantitative study on synaptic organization in human postmortem striatum. The results indicate that the synaptic organization of the human striatum is similar, but not identical, to that of other mammalian species.

The article reviews the strategic trends of transport development that meet the modern requirements of the economy and society. It was revealed that the key trend is to increase the speed of traffic. To achieve breakthrough results in this direction, it is proposed to use magnetic levitation in combination with the use of a vacuum environment - the creation of vacuum-levitation transport systems. It is noted that the Joint Scientific Council of JSC Russian Railways formed the requirements for the creation of such systems and focused attention on the problem of the socio-economic efficiency of its creation. It is concluded that rail transport, in the interests of its strategic competitiveness, should be the initiator and active participant in the creation of vacuum-levitation transport systems, which, in turn, can become an important incentive for integrating the efforts of the world scientific community.

Combining transport and technological elements of transportation, provided by different transport modes in a single transport service, providing maximum passengers’ expectations should be referred to the smooth seamless transport system’s feature but transportation carried out within the framework of such a system to the smoothseamless transport service or product. Throughout the smooth seamless transportation chain should be provided the same proposal quality in all its links.

The authors analyze infrastructural, economic, traditional peculiarities of passenger services in rail transport functioning in Russia. The article covers the world trends of high-speed railway revolution and social and economic preconditions of its creation in Russia. The authors reveral ecological compatibility and energy efficiency of high-speed railway as well as the ability to generate macroeconomic effects due to speeding-up the passenger trips.