The prevalence of lipodystrophy was 25% (95% confidence interval 14.8-34.6) with lipohypertrophy being the commonest pattern. Clinical fat redistribution was significantly associated with older age, duration of antiretroviral treatment and highly active antiretroviral therapy and hypertriglyceridaemia.

The interest to shift pest management strategies from the intensive use of agrochemicals to more sustainable and ecologically friendly practices has increased in recent years. One alternative to conventional farming systems is the implementation of diversification practices that increase diversity inand aroundthe field to increase the incidence of natural enemies, reduce pest pressure and enhance crop production. In this review we illustrate the theoretical framework on which diversification practices are based and contrast it with the empirical evidence. The detailed review of 62 original studies published in the last ten years, shows that diversification practices (a) enhance natural enemies in 52%, (b) reduce pest pressure in 53% and (c) increase yield in only 32% of the cases where this was examined. We discuss these results on the basis of the reviewed studies providing key elements that should be taken into account to design diversification practices that can be implemented as competitive pest management strategies that cover the farmers’ needs, reducing the intensive use of agrochemicals.

In the present study, the growth and the Cu 2+ accumulation by roots, shoots and leaves of Zea mays were examined using copper sulphate in the range of 10 −4 to 10 −2 M. Plants of Z. mays did not show inhibition of growth in the presence of 10 −4 to 10 −2 M Cu 2+ ; however, it was observed growth effects on root when different Cu 2+ solution concentrations were used. Only the seedlings exposed to 10 −2 M exhibited substantial root growth reduction, yielding only 56% of length with respect to the control. Seedlings exposed to 10 −4 M Cu 2+ exhibited 16% and 42% growth increase in shoots and leaves, respectively, when compared with the controls. The seedlings treated with 10 −3 and 10 −2 M Cu 2+ were inhibited in shoot and leaf growth. The fresh weights in roots, shoots and leaves significantly decreased at 10 −2 M Cu 2+ . The tolerance index, based on root length, was not significantly different for the three different treatments with copper. However, the total accumulation rate was very low at 10 −4 and 10 −3 M compared to 10 −2 Cu treatments. The capacity of copper accumulation by roots, shoots and leaves of Z. mays plants increased concomitant to the copper concentration, arriving to 382 times more in roots, 157 in shoots and only 16 in leaves, all compared to the controls. Cu could be accumulated by roots, shoots and leaves when the initial concentrations were 10 −3 and 10 −4 M. However, when it was 10 −2 M, the metal could not be accumulated by leaf and shoot levels; the roots could increase their copper accumulation capacity three times compared to the control. Z. mays has potential ability to accumulate Cu without being overly sensitive to Cu toxicity.

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The aims of the work presented here were to evaluate a commercial system based on DNA hybridization technology on nitrocellulose strips (GenoType MTBC; Hain Diagnostika, Nehren, Germany) for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates to the species level and to compare the results with those obtained using the RFLP-PCR and multiplex PCR molecular techniques, biochemical tests and susceptibility testing. The commercial system correctly identified 102 of 103 (99.03%) strains studied, indicating it is capable of discriminating among the tuberculosis complex species.