Analysis of the interferon status and cytokine profile in patients with genital herpes.

The present work is dedicated to the investigation and complete characterization of the interferon (IFN) and cytokine profile in 8 patients with genital herpes caused by the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). The control group included 42 healthy individuals. The patients with genital herpes showed a significant reduction in the ability to produce IFN-alpha and a slight decrease in the ability to produce IFN-gamma.

Small artificial ecosystems: response to variation of environmental factors (CO2 enrichment).

Response of "wheat plants--rhizospheric microorganisms--artificial soil"--a simple terrestrial ecosystem--to carbon dioxide increased in its atmosphere to 0.06% has been studied. It has been experimentally demonstrated that a simple ecosystem develops and functions different from its individual elements (components), in this case "plants-artificial soil" without microorganisms.

Plants--rhizospheric organisms interaction in a manmade system with and without biogenous element limitation.

The effect has been studied of inoculation of seeds of wheat with two species of rhizospheric microorganisms--Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas putida--on young plant growth with complete and with nitrogen deficit mineral nutrition. With complete mineral medium, plants grown from seeds inoculated with bacteria of Pseudomonas genus (experiment plants) have been found to have better growth over plants not inoculated with these bacteria (control plants). The experiment plants had increased transpiration and their biomass had higher organic nitrogen content.