Melting Point and Lattice Parameter Shifts in Supported Metal Nanoclusters

The dependencies of the melting point and the lattice parameter of supported metal nanoclusters as functions of clusters height are theoretically investigated in the framework of the uniform approach. The vacancy mechanism describing the melting point and the lattice parameter shifts in nanoclusters with decrease of their size is proposed. It is shown that under the high vacuum conditions (p<10^-7 torr) the essential role in clusters melting point and lattice parameter shifts is played by the van der Waals forces of cluster-substrate interation. The proposed model satisfactorily accounts for the experimental data.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Adiponectin gene single-nucleotide polymorphisms in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Background. It is generally believed that environmental and genetic factors interact with the formation of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) phenotype and determine its progression. Both NAFLD and type 2 diabetes (T2D) are heterogeneous diseases with common pathogenic pathways. Adiponectin is an adipokine, which increases the sensitivity of hepatocytes and muscle to insulin, modulates energy homeostasis, glucose/lipid metabolism, and inflammatory response. A number of significant adiponectin gene polymorphisms are known in this area. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the possible association between two adiponectin gene (ADIPOQ) variants, +276 G/T (rs1501299) and –11391 G/A (rs17300539), and susceptibility to NAFLD in T2D patients of Ukrainian population. Materials and methods. Case-control study included a total of 155 persons with T2D (males/females: 77/78, age 54.55 ± 0.73 years, T2D duration 6.66 ± 0.49 years, body mass index 32.20 ± 0.43 kg/m2, waist/hip circumference 0.98 ± 0.01 m, HbA1c 7.26 ± 0.11 %) for biochemical characteristics (lipid profile, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), insulin, total adiponectin, etc.), including 90 T2D patients with NAFLD, 245 — with rs1501299 genotyping, 155 — with rs17300539 genotyping, and 51 sex and age-matched control subjects. The +276 G/T and –11391 G/A were determined by polymerase chain reaction — restriction fragment length polymorphism method with endonucleases Mva1269I (BsmI) and MspI (HpaII). Insulin resistance (IR) was assessed using homeostasis model assessment (HOMA) algorithm and as adipose IR (Adipo-IR, NEFAxinsulin). Unpaired Student’s t test, c2 test and Spearman’s rank order were used. To predict the probabilities of genetic risk in NAFLD, the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results. T2D patients were characterized by overweight and obesity, which were more significant in the presence of NAFLD (p < 0.01). It was accompanied by an increase in НОМА-IR (p < 0.05) and triglycerides (p < 0.001) levels. We found that Adipo-IR was higher in patients with T2D as compared to the controls (p < 0.001), and this index was significantly increased in T2D patients with NAFLD in contrast to obesity-matched persons without NAFLD (190.18 ± 22.15 vs 133.32 ± 13.58 mmol/L·pmol/L, p < 0.02), with negative correlation between Adipo-IR and adiponectin level in T2D patients with NAFLD only (rs = –0.350, p = 0.021). Stratification of non-NAFLD patients by +276G/T genotype suggests the prevalence of GT- and TT-genotypes. Thus, the rs1501299 G-allele increased the risk of NAFLD in comparison with T-allele (OR = 4.44, 95% CI = 2.89–6.81, p < 0.05). We also found a significant difference in the frequency of –11391G/A between T2D and control groups, but not between the patients with and without NAFLD. We observed that the haplotype of GT/GG had been more common in T2D with NAFLD, and twice less often detected in patients without hepatic disease (33 and 16.49 %, respectively, p < 0.05). Conclusions. We can recommend Adipo-IR index as a predictive marker for the NAFLD development and the indicator for therapy success in T2D patients. We established new genetic markers (rs1501299 G-allele, rs17300539 and rs1501299 GG/GG and GT/GG haplotypes, respectively) for the risk of NAFLD development in T2D patients

Biological role of fetuin A and its potential importance for prediction of cardiovascular risk in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

The authors’ data and those from literature concerning biological role of fetuin A glycoprotein have been generalized in the article. A direct correlation has been established between fetuin A and some adipokines involved in the formation of insulin resistance and atherogenesis (progranu­lin, omentin-1), and osteoprotegerin (the novel cardiovascular risk factor) as well as an increase of circulating levels of fetuin A in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with high cardiovascular risk metabolic pattern but without manifestations of macrovascular complications. This substantiates the involvement of fetuin A in the complex of biomarkers of subclinical atherosclerosis