Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-a protein in the subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue in correlation with adipocyte cell volume, serum TNFa, soluble TNF-receptor-2 (sTNFR-2) and indirect parameters of insulin resistance in overweight/obese and lean healthy persons. Design: A cross-sectional case-control study was used. Patients: Twenty-eight overweight/obese probands with normal glucose tolerance (BMI . 27 kg/m 2 ) and 15 lean people (BMI , 25 kg/m 2 ), all of them undergoing planned surgical operation, participated in the study. Methods: Two to four grams of subcutaneous and visceral adipose tissue were removed and studied using semi-quantitative immunohistochemical staining of the TNF-a protein. Serum TNF-a, sTNFR-2 (ELISA) and fasting C-peptide (RIA) were measured. Results: TNF-a protein was expressed in adipocytes of both depots. The expression was evaluated visually and found to be greater in the obese patients. Significantly higher serum TNF-a (5.58^0.87 pg/ml vs 4.21^0.55, mean^S.D., P , 0.01, Mann -Whitney) and sTNFR-2 levels (7.84^3.56 ng/ml vs 4.59^1.35, P ¼ 0.005) were found in the obese subgroup in correlation with the fasting C-peptide level (r ¼ 0.49, P ¼ 0.003; and r ¼ 0.74, P ¼ 0.001) and the C-peptide/ blood glucose ratio (r ¼ 0.47, Spearman, P ¼ 0.005; and r ¼ 0.70, P ¼ 0.001). The cell volume of both adipocyte depots was found to have a significant positive correlation with serum TNF-a and sTNFR-2 levels in the total group of patients (subcutaneous: r ¼ 0.52, P ¼ 0.0003; r ¼ 0.69, P , 0.0001; visceral: r ¼ 0.65, P , 0.0001; r ¼ 0.63, P , 0.0001) and in both subgroups. Conclusions: Adipocyte cell volume of both the subcutaneous and visceral fat depots may be determinants of TNF-a, sTNFR-2 production and obesity-linked insulin resistance.

Magnesia's high Mg (204 mg/M) and low Na (5.4 mg/L) content makes it an excellent source of Mg for patients suffering from heart problems and/or high blood pressure.

Our results clearly show that the Mg nutrition treatment increased the number of Rhizobium nodules and their Mg-content, resulting in increased N2-fixation and yield.

Mucormycosis is a life-threatening opportunistic infection caused by certain members of the fungal order Mucorales. This infection is associated with high mortality rate, which can reach nearly 100% depending on the underlying condition of the patient. Treatment of mucormycosis is challenging because these fungi are intrinsically resistant to most of the routinely used antifungal agents, such as most of the azoles. One possible mechanism of azole resistance is the drug efflux catalyzed by members of the ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter superfamily. The pleiotropic drug resistance (PDR) transporter subfamily of ABC transporters is the most closely associated to drug resistance. The genome of Mucor circinelloides encodes eight putative PDR-type transporters. In this study, transcription of the eight pdr genes has been analyzed after azole treatment. Only the pdr1 showed increased transcript level in response to all tested azoles. Deletion of this gene caused increased susceptibility to posaconazole, ravuconazole and isavuconazole and altered growth ability of the mutant. In the pdr1 deletion mutant, transcript level of pdr2 and pdr6 significantly increased. Deletion of pdr2 and pdr6 was also done to create single and double knock out mutants for the three genes. After deletion of pdr2 and pdr6, growth ability of the mutant strains decreased, while deletion of pdr2 resulted in increased sensitivity against posaconazole, ravuconazole and isavuconazole. Our result suggests that the regulation of the eight pdr genes is interconnected and pdr1 and pdr2 participates in the resistance of the fungus to posaconazole, ravuconazole and isavuconazole.

We identified alpha-selinene, as a new component in these hairy roots. We studied the growth rate of A4-Y clone on the cited media, containing MgSO4 concentrations: 0; 185; 370 and 740 mg/l. The cultures grew most in medium containing 740 mg/l of MgSO4. Essential oil content was compared from hairy root cultures of different Mg containing media and measured by GC and GC-MS methods. Mg has a similar effect on hairy roots as on organized cultures.