Trichloroacetic acid (TCA), secondary air pollutant (SAP) and a product of photooxidation of volatile chlorinated C-i-hydrocarbons has phytotoxic properties and negatively influences on the state of forest health in general. The present knowledge shows the uptake of TCA by the spruce from the atmosphere by precipitation over soil, roots, and transpiration stream up into needles, where it effects the photosynthetic apparatus of the plant. To judge the role of TCA in forest ecosystems its effects along with other stressors must be followed. Those include, above all, emissions of sulphur oxides and fluoride from burning energetic coal. From monitoring the selected stressors - the content of total sulphur, fluorine and chlorine besides TCA - in spruce needles on selected stands, a positive correlation between the needle loss (as a measure of the spruce forest damage) and the content of S, F, and TCA was found. In this way the negative effect of TCA was conflrmed.
The HLA allelic frequency was determined in three groups of autoimmune endocrinopathies: A) 30 patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, B) 20 patients with polyglandular activation of autoimmunity, and C) 10 patients with the autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type II. The groups were defined by the clinical state and serological parameters. Healthy blood donors of Caucasian population from the US database of HLA frequencies served as the controls. In group A, a higher occurrence of HLA-A24 (21.7 %) was found as compared to group B (5.0 %) and to the controls (8.5 %), of HLA-B27 (15.0 %) and of HLA-DR-11 (20 %) as compared to the controls (4.2 % and 8.5 %). In group B, a higher occurrence of HLA-A3 (25.0 %) was found as compared to group A (10 %) and to the controls (11.8 %), and of HLA-B8 (22.5 %) as compared to group A (8.3 %) and to the controls (8.6 %). In this group the occurrence of HLA-DR3 (30.0 %) was higher as compared to group A (10.0 %) and to the controls (9.8 %) and of HLA-B8 (30.0 %) as compared to group A (8.3 %) and to the controls (8.6 %). Genetic markers indicate a similarity of groups B and C. Patients in these groups could be at different stages of the same disease, however, some distinctions between them lead us to consider the possibility whether different epigenetic factors could extend the difference between these groups in the course of clinical development.
IGF-I, HGF, TGFβ1, bFGF and VEGF are involved in the pathogenesis of thyroid gland tumors and their growth. We decided to find whether changes in the production of these cytokines by thyroid tumor cells are reflected by changes of their peripheral blood. Using ELISA kits, we measured the concentrations of growth factors in the peripheral blood serum in 28 patients with thyroid gland tumors (14 adenomas, 14 papillary carcinomas) and compared these concentrations with those in healthy people. We found significantly lower serum levels of IGF-I in patients with thyroid adenoma compared to the healthy population. Serum levels of HGF and bFGF were significantly higher in patients with thyroid adenoma and papillary carcinoma compared with those in healthy subjects. Serum concentrations of TGFβ1 and VEGF were not significantly different in any groups of investigated subjects. Changes in the production of these cytokines by thyroid gland tumor cells are reflected in their peripheral blood levels, but these levels also depend on a number of other physiological and pathological processes in the organism. However, significant differences of HGF and bFGF serum levels can be explained by their very high production by thyroid tumor cells and by their strong effect on the follicular and endothelial cell proliferation.