Renewable Energy Status in Azerbaijan: Solar and Wind Potentials for Future Development

Azerbaijan has a well-developed hydrocarbon industry backed with abundant domestic resources. Oil and gas have played a crucial role in the economic revival of the country since independence was regained back in 1991. The legal foundation of the transition to carbon-zero energy generation was laid in the 1990s with a number of acts mentioning the importance of the shift. The government has an ambitious plan to improve the situation, though an action plan with targeted renewables share in production and consumption is still to be prepared. This study, based on systematic review methodology for qualitative research, analyzes the potential of renewables in Azerbaijan with a focus on solar and wind power, discusses the deficiencies hindering the development of the renewables industry, and develops recommendations on applicable actions to improve the situation in this regard. It also includes legislative acts of the Republic concerning renewable energy. The main objective of the study is to explore renewable energy potentials and assess the readiness of the country to make a shift towards green energy. The findings of the article demonstrate enough potential to increase the share of renewables. The potential, however, is obscured with a relatively less solid legal framework and a lack of expertise in the industry.

Vitamin D level and hormonal status association in adolescent girls with oligomenorrhea

Research objective: to determine the frequency of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency to identify its association with reproductive hormones in adolescent girls with oligomenorrhea.Materials and methods. The work was carried out according to the results of clinical and instrumental examination of 68 adolescent girls 12–18 years old with oligomenorrhea, who were treated at the Department of Pediatric Gynecology of the State Institution “Institute for Children and Adolescents Health Care of the NAMS of Ukraine”. Patients were divided into two groups depending on the body mass index (BMI): group I – with a body weight deficit (BMI 16.31 ± 0.18 kg/m2), group II – with a BMI within physiological norm (20.0 ± 0.25 kg/m2). All patients underwent a comprehensive clinical and laboratory examination: luteinizing, follicle-stimulating hormones, prolactin, estradiol, testosterone, cortisol, 25(OH)D were determined in blood serum. Multivariate regression analysis was using for analyze the association of gonаdotropic, steroid hormones with vitamin D. The main characteristics of the object discrimination model are presented in the form of tables.Results. The article provides a comparative analysis of the hormonal profile and vitamin D level depending on BMI. It was revealed that a reduced 25(OH)D value was characteristic not only in patients with menstrual dysfunction, but also in peers with normal menstrual function. Schemes that characterize the pituitary-gonadal association with vitamin D were constructed based on the results of multiple regression analysis. Their features were determined in girls with different body weights. In patients with low energy resources there were direct associations between individual indicators of gonadotropins (follicle-stimulating hormone), steroid hormones (estradiol, cortisol) and vitamin D. An inverse association was observed between vitamin D and cortisol and prolactin in girls with balanced energy status.Conclusions. The reduced content of vitamin D is characteristically for patients with menstrual dysfunctions by the type of oligomenorrhea. Associations of gonadotropic, steroid hormones and vitamin D, depending on the energy status (nutrition) of patients with oligomenorrhea were revealed.

Lactiplantibacillus plantarum dfa1 Outperforms Enterococcus faecium dfa1 on Anti-Obesity in High Fat-Induced Obesity Mice Possibly through the Differences in Gut Dysbiosis Attenuation, despite the Similar Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Fat reduction and anti-inflammation are commonly claimed properties of probiotics. Lactiplantibacillus plantarum and Enterococcus faecium were tested in high fat-induced obesity mice and in vitro experiments. After 16 weeks of probiotics, L. plantarum dfa1 outperforms E. faecium dfa1 on the anti-obesity property as indicated by body weight, regional fat accumulation, serum cholesterol, inflammatory cytokines (in blood and colon tissue), and gut barrier defect (FITC-dextran assay). With fecal microbiome analysis, L. plantarum dfa1 but not E. faecium dfa1 reduced fecal abundance of pathogenic Proteobacteria without an alteration in total Gram-negative bacteria when compared with non-probiotics obese mice. With palmitic acid induction, the condition media from both probiotics similarly attenuated supernatant IL-8, improved enterocyte integrity and down-regulated cholesterol absorption-associated genes in Caco-2 cell (an enterocyte cell line) and reduced supernatant cytokines (TNF-α and IL-6) with normalization of cell energy status (extracellular flux analysis) in bone-marrow-derived macrophages. Due to the anti-inflammatory effect of the condition media of both probiotics on palmitic acid-activated enterocytes was neutralized by amylase, the active anti-inflammatory molecules might, partly, be exopolysaccharides. As L. plantarum dfa1 out-performed E. faecium dfa1 in anti-obesity property, possibly through the reduced fecal Proteobacteria, with a similar anti-inflammatory exopolysaccharide; L. plantarum is a potentially better option for anti-obesity than E. faecium.

Perinatal Food Deprivation Modifies the Caloric Restriction Response in Adult Mice Through Sirt1

Variations in the availability of nutritional resources in animals can trigger reversible adjustments, which in the short term are manifested as behavioral and physiological changes. Several of these responses are mediated by Sirt1, which acts as an energy status sensor governing a global genetic program to cope with changes in nutritional status. Growing evidence suggests a key role of the response of the perinatal environment to caloric restriction in the setup of physiological responses in adulthood. The existence of adaptive predictive responses has been proposed, which suggests that early nutrition could establish metabolic capacities suitable for future food-scarce environments. We evaluated how perinatal food deprivation and maternal gestational weight gain impact the transcriptional, physiological, and behavioral responses in mice, when acclimated to caloric restriction in adulthood. Our results show a strong predictive capacity of maternal weight and gestational weight gain, in the expression of Sirt1 and its downstream targets in the brain and liver, mitochondrial enzymatic activity in skeletal muscle, and exploratory behavior in offspring. We also observed differential responses of both lactation and gestational food restriction on gene expression, thermogenesis, organ masses, and behavior, in response to adult caloric restriction. We conclude that the early nutritional state could determine the magnitude of responses to food scarcity later in adulthood, mediated by the pivotal metabolic sensor Sirt1. Our results suggest that maternal gestational weight gain could be an important life history trait and could be used to predict features that improve the invasive capacity or adjustment to seasonal food scarcity of the offspring.

Walker-256 Tumour-Induced Cachexia Altered Liver Metabolomic Profile and Function in Weanling and Adult Rats

Cancer cachexia occurs in up to 85% of advanced cancer patients, affecting different tissues and organs, mainly the liver, which plays a central role in body metabolism control. However, liver responses to cancer cachexia progression are still poorly understood. Considering the possible different challenges provided by the rodent’s phase of life and the cachexia progression, we evaluated the liver metabolic alterations affected by Walker-256 tumour growth in weanling and young-adult rats. For this, we applied a metabolomics approach associated with protein and gene expression analyses. Higher amino acid levels and impaired glucose metabolism were important features in tumour-bearing animals’ liver tissue. The weanling hosts had more pronounced cachexia, with higher carcass spoliation, liver lipid metabolism and impaired CII and CIV mitochondrial complexes. The liver alterations in young adult tumour-bearing rats were related to energy status and nucleotide metabolites, such as uridine, NAD+, xanthosine, hypoxanthine and inosine. In conclusion, the Walker-256 tumour-induced cachexia impaired liver metabolism, being more severe in the weanling hosts. Further studies are needed to correlate these changes in the preclinical model, which can be correlated to the clinical features of cancer cachexia, allowing for a translational potential involving the liver function and its responses to potential treatments.

AMPK modulation ameliorates dominant disease phenotypes of CTRP5 variant in retinal degeneration

Late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by a missense substitution in CTRP5. Distinctive clinical features include sub-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) deposits, choroidal neovascularization, and RPE atrophy. In induced pluripotent stem cells-derived RPE from L-ORD patients (L-ORD-iRPE), we show that the dominant pathogenic CTRP5 variant leads to reduced CTRP5 secretion. In silico modeling suggests lower binding of mutant CTRP5 to adiponectin receptor 1 (ADIPOR1). Downstream of ADIPOR1 sustained activation of AMPK renders it insensitive to changes in AMP/ATP ratio resulting in defective lipid metabolism, reduced Neuroprotectin D1(NPD1) secretion, lower mitochondrial respiration, and reduced ATP production. These metabolic defects result in accumulation of sub-RPE deposits and leave L-ORD-iRPE susceptible to dedifferentiation. Gene augmentation of L-ORD-iRPE with WT CTRP5 or modulation of AMPK, by metformin, re-sensitize L-ORD-iRPE to changes in cellular energy status alleviating the disease cellular phenotypes. Our data suggests a mechanism for the dominant behavior of CTRP5 mutation and provides potential treatment strategies for L-ORD patients.