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Biodiesel as renewable, environmental friendly, less toxic, and biodegradable is an attractive alternative to fossil fuels and is produced mainly from vegetable oils and animal fats. It is expected, globally, that the use of renewable biofuels, in general, will increase rapidly in the near future. The growing biodiesel production and usage have encouraged assessment of its impact on the environment. The present paper reviews various aspects of biodiesel production using commercial processing technology and biodiesel use through evaluation and analysis of the studies concerning environmental impacts of biodiesel. As a general conclusion, it can be said that biodiesel has the potential to offer a series of perceived benefits such as political, economical, and agricultural, as well as environmental (due to its biodegradability, less toxicity, renewability) and health (greenhouse gas-saving, less harmful exhaust emissions).

Besides other already established health-promoting effects, wild garlic could be useful in treatment of mild gastrointestinal disturbances.

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Gonadotropin-induced ovulation is associated with oocyte maturation and preovulatory increases of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) expression. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), an angiogenic factor found in many organs including the ovary, modulates steroidogenesis in granulosa cells and increases PA activity in endothelial cells. Here studies were performed to examine the possible roles of bFGF as an intragonadal regulator of tPA expression and oocyte maturation. In cultured granulosa cells, bFGF caused a time-dependent (onset at 24 h) and dose-dependent (ED50 = 0.6 nM) increase (up to 5-fold) in tPA enzyme activity as measured by the fibrin overlay technique. Northern blot hybridization also revealed that treatment of cells with bFGF (2 nM) increased the level of the 22S tPA messenger RNA. Slot blot analysis indicated that the effects of bFGF were time dependent and dose dependent; tPA message levels increase before tPA activity levels. bFGF (0.6 nM) also significantly increased granulosa cell cAMP production in both the absence and presence of a phosphodiesterase inhibitor. In follicle-enclosed oocytes incubated for 24 h in media with or without increasing concentrations of LH or bFGF, germinal vesicle breakdown was observed in only 1.6% of controls, but 85% of LH (1 microgram/ml)-treated oocytes underwent maturation. Likewise, bFGF induced germinal vesicle breakdown (10-80%) over a dose range of 0.6 to 333 nM. In the same follicles, bFGF, like LH, also stimulated prostaglandin E production. These results, coupled with the identification of bFGF in growing follicles, suggest that bFGF acts as an intraovarian inducer of granulosa cell tPA gene expression and oocyte maturation.