Extensive changes in plant transcriptome and metabolome have been observed by numerous research groups after transferring plants from optimal conditions to sulfur (S) deficiency. Despite intensive studies and recent important achievements, like identification of SLIM1/EIL3 as a major transcriptional regulator of the response to S-deficiency, many questions concerning other elements of the regulatory network remain unanswered. Investigations of genes with expression regulated by S-deficiency stress encoding proteins of unknown function might help to clarify these problems. This study is focused on the UP9C gene and the UP9-like family in tobacco. Homologs of these genes exist in other plant species, including a family of four genes of unknown function in Arabidopsis thaliana (LSU1-4), of which two were reported as strongly induced by S-deficit and to a lesser extent by salt stress and nitrate limitation. Conservation of the predicted structural features, such as coiled coil region or nuclear localization signal, suggests that these proteins might have important functions possibly mediated by interactions with other proteins. Analysis of transgenic tobacco plants with silenced expression of UP9-like genes strongly argues for their significant role in regulation of plant response to S-deficit. Although our study shows that the UP9-like proteins are important components of such response and they might be also required during other stresses, their molecular functions remain a mystery.

In the presented study for the first time a new, optimized, fast SFC (supercritical fluid chromatography) method was applied to separate in one run fat-soluble vitamins from waste fish oil, including cis-and trans-retinyl palmitate, cis- and trans-retinyl acetate, retinol, α-tocopherol, β-tocopherol, γ‑tocopherol, δ-tocopherol, ergocalciferol (D₂), cholecalciferol (D₃), cis- and trans-phylloquinone (K₁) and menaquinone-4 (K₂-MK4). Vitamins were baseline separated on an Acquity UPC² (ultra performance convergence chromatography) HSS C18 SB (highly strength chemically modified silica) column within 13 min. The influence of the stationary phase, such as Torus 1-AA (1-aminoanthracene), Torus Diol (high density diol), Torus DEA (diethylamine), BEH (silica with no bonding), BEH-2EP (2-ethylpirydine), CSH Fluoro-Phenyl (silica with fluoro-phenyl groups), column temperature, flow rate and back pressure on the separation of the compounds was described. The application of the modified saponification procedure allowed us to increase concentration in the sample prepared for the analysis of γ‑tocopherol from less than 1% (wt %) to 14% for the first time. In addition, α‑tocopherol, γ‑tocopherol, δ‑tocopherol and retinol were identified in waste fish oil. Vitamin purification and analysis in waste fish oil are reported for the first time here. Due to the short time and effectiveness of the proposed method, it can be easily applied in industrial processes.

This prospective study aimed to analyze whether the patients with pre-diabetes (pre-DM) reach the TC (therapeutic concentration) of the metformin during repeated, low, constant drug dose. The guidelines do not recommend any metformin dose for this group of patients. Based on the previous study after a dose of 1700 mg/day the patients seem to reach the therapeutic drug concentration, which guarantees the glycemic effect. Twenty patients with new-diagnosed pre-DM were treated with a 1500 mg/day regimen of the metformin for 15 weeks. The serum concentration of the drug was assessed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry technique at 6 and 15 week of the treatment. The correlation of the serum metformin concentration with BMI (body mass index) and patients’ weight was also performed. The mean metformin concentration was: 4.65 μmol/L (± 2.41) and 5.41 μmol/L (± 3.44) (p = 0.27) after 6 and 15 weeks of the treatment respectively. There was a positive correlation between the serum concentration of the metformin and body weight (but not BMI) in the 15th week of the therapy (p = 0.04)- the higher body weight the higher concentration of the metformin. Patients with pre-diabetes can be successfully treated with a low dose of metformin, to reach the drug’s therapeutic concentration. Body weight can impact the metformin serum concentration during long-term treatment what should be taken into consideration when choosing the dose because of its pleiotropic effect e.g. on the cardiovascular system via reduction of the oxidative stress and would be not connected with the drug’s hypoglycemic effect.ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT03398356; date of first registration: 01/07/2018.

Recent studies, conducted mainly on the rodent model, have demonstrated that regulatory pathway in the skin provided by glycosaminoglycans, nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5), vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and process of lymphangiogenesis may play an important role in extrarenal regulation of sodium (Na⁺) balance, body water volume, and blood pressure. We aimed to investigate the concentrations and relations among the main factors of this pathway in human skin to confirm that this regulatory axis also exists in humans. Skin specimens from patients diagnosed with arterial hypertension and from control group were histologically and molecularly examined. The primary hypertensive and control groups did not differ in Na⁺ ​concentrations in the skin. However, the patients with hypertension and higher skin Na⁺ concentration had significantly greater density of skin lymphatic vessels. Higher skin Na⁺concentration was associated with higher skin water content. In turn, skin water content correlated with factors associated with lymphangiogenesis, i.e. NFAT5, VEGF-C, and podoplanin (PDPN) mRNA expression in the skin. The strong mutual pairwise correlations of the expressions of NFAT5, VEGF-C, vascular endothelial growth factor D (VEGF-D) and PDPN mRNA were noted in the skin in all of the studied groups. Our study confirms that skin interstitium and the lymphatic system may be important players in the pathophysiology of arterial hypertension in humans. Based on the results of our study and existing literature in this field, we propose the hypothetical model which might explain the phenomenon of salt-sensitivity.