The aim of this study was to compare the central and peripheral components of cardiorespiratory fitness during incremental to maximal exercise between older men who were either recreational athletes (RA) or leisurely active (LA) men, i.e., those who fall between trained and untrained. This was a crosssectional study in which all subjects completed an exercise test on a cycle ergometer. Maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and ventilatory threshold (VT) were assessed using gas analysis, and central components of VO2max were assessed using a non-invasive thoracic bio-impedance device. VO2max (RA: 45.1±4.8 ml/kg/min; LA: 32.2±4.6 ml/kg/min, p≤0.001) and SV at maximal exercise (RA: 133.5±24.96 ml/beat; LA: 107.9±17.6 ml/beat, p=0.005) were higher in the RA group compared to the LA group. A plateau in SV occurred between 30-45 % of maximal exercise capacity in the RA group. No differences in SV were observed across workloads in the LA group. No differences in the calculated arterio-venous oxygen difference ((a-v)O2diff) were observed between groups. In conclusions, training volume appears to influence central components of cardiorespiratory fitness among a matched sample of older men who are neither trained nor untrained. This builds a case for increasing the volume of training to preserve cardiorespiratory fitness among older men., C. D. O'neill, D. S. Kimmerly, S. Dogra., and Obsahuje bibliografii
It is assumed that the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is associated with the central autonomic dysregulation, however, the studies are rare. Analysis of pupillary light reflex represents a non-invasive tool to provide information related to the central autonomic regulation; thus, we aimed to evaluate potential disturbances in the central autonomic integrity using pupillary light reflex examination in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. We have examined 20 children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (10 boys, 13.0±2.3 years) and 20 age/gender-matched healthy subjects. Pupillary light reflex was examined at rest for both eyes using Pupillometer PLR-2000 (NeurOptics, USA). Evaluated parameters were: diameter of the pupil before the application of light stimulus and after illumination at the peak of the constriction, the percentual change of the pupil diameter during constriction, average constriction velocity, maximum constriction velocity and average dilation velocity. We found significantly lower percentual change of the pupil diameter during constriction for both eyes in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder group compared to controls (right eye: -25.81±1.23 % vs. -30.32±1.31 %, p<0.05, left eye: -25.44±1.65 % vs. -30.35±0.98 %, p˂0.05). The average constriction velocity and maximum constriction velocity were significantly shortened in left eye in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder group compared to controls (p˂0.05). Our findings revealed altered pupillary light reflex indicating abnormal centrally-mediated autonomic regulation characterized by parasympathetic underactivity associated with relative sympathetic predominance in children suffering from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
UVB radiation from sunlight induces an acute corneal inflammation, photokeratitis, accompanied by changes in corneal hydration. We employed a method of ultrasonic pachymetry for daily examination of central corneal thickness as an index of corneal hydration of the rabbit cornea repeatedly irradiated by UVB radiation (312 nm, daily dose of 0.25 J/cm2 during three or four days) as influenced by UVB absorber (actinoquinol combined with hyaluronic acid) dropped on the ocular surface during irradiation. One day after the third irradiation procedure the animals were sacrificed and corneas examined immunohistochemically for peroxynitrite formation, a marker of oxidative damage, the antioxidant aldehyde dehydrogenase 3A1 and endothelial nitric oxide synthase, an enzyme generated nitric oxide. Results show that UV absorber combined with hyaluronic acid protected the cornea against UVB-induced changes in corneal thickness and microscopical disturbances to the cornea (both seen after buffered saline application) until the fourth experimental day. These UVB doses are equivalent to a daily exposure of 2.5 hrs of the human cornea to solar UVB radiation for three consecutive days. It is suggested that actinoquinol/ hyaluronic acid drops might be helpful for the human eye in the defence against photooxidative and other oxidative processes. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The author summarizes the life and in particular scientifi c career of historian Bedřich Loewenstein, describes areas of his professional interest and his intellectual orientation, reminds of his most important works published in Czech and German, and assesses his contribution. Loewenstein was born in 1929 in Prague, in a Czech- -German-Jewish family, lived through the German occupation in diffi cult conditions, and started studying history and philosophy at what was then the Faculty of Arts and History of the Charles University, but was expelled two years later for political reasons. He was allowed to complete his studies later, and in 1957 started working at the Institute of History of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, where he remained until his dismissal in 1970. He started intensive contacts with West German historians and other intellectuals during the 1960s, and organized an important international symposium, ''Europe and Fascism'', in Prague in 1969. Since the early 1970s, he was not allowed to publish and was employed as an interpreter/translator of the trade mission (since 1973 embassy) of the Federal Republic of Germany. Although watched by the State Security, he managed to make use of his position to establish an important connection between domestic dissenters and their supporters abroad, which was used to exchange publications and other documents. In 1979, he accepted an offer of professorship of recent history at the Free University in West Berlin, where he remained until 1994 and where he could develop and expand his research interests and devote himself to intensive publication activities. For a long time, Bedřich Loewenstein was focusing on the German history of the 19th and 20th centuries; since the 1960s, he was also studying ideological, psychological, and social prerequisites of Nazism and later also more general issues of crises of the 20th century, modernism and modernity, civic society, European nationalism, and civilization. In this respect, he was able to integrate approaches and knowledge of other social sciences - sociology, social psychology, anthropology, philosophy, political science, and economy - in a prolifi c manner. He was a long-time and intensive intermediary of views and ideas between the Czech (or Czechoslovak) and German historiographies. His works, written in a concise, scientifi c-essayist style, earned him respect among colleagues both at home and abroad. His principal works include Plädoyer für die Zivilisation (Hamburg, Hoffmann und Campe 1973), Entwurf der Moderne: Vom Geist der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft und Zivilisation (Essen, Reimar Hobbing 1987; in Czech in 1995), Problemfelder der Moderne: Elemente der politischen Kultur (Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1990), My a ti druzí: Dějiny, psychologie, antropologie [We and the others: History, psychology, anthropology] (Brno, Doplněk 1997; in German in 2003). A synthesis of Loewensteinʼs thinking about a broad spectrum of issues is presented in his book Der Fortschrittsglaube: Geschichte einer europäischen Idee (Göttingen,Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2008; in Czech: Víra v pokrok: Dějiny jedné evropské ideje [Faith in progress: The history of a European idea]. Praha, OIKOYMENH 2009). and Překlad: Jiří Mareš
Vegetation analyses (phytosociological relevés) of 20 peat bogs arranged along an altitudinal gradient in the southern part of the Czech Republic, Central Europe, revealed relationships between vegetation and environmental gradients. Six of the peat bogs were investigated in detail. The bogs were dominated by Pinus rotundata, a species endemic to Central Europe, and its hybridogenous populations with P. mugo (the hybrid is called P. ×pseudopumilio), with increasing proportions of the latter at higher altitudes. Data were processed using indirect (DCA) and direct (CCA) gradient analyses. Environmental variables (depth of the water table, mean and minimum temperatures, precipitation, pH, conductivity, NH4 and PO4 concentrations, total P, but not total N nor NO3 concentration), as well as biotic characteristics of the sites, such as species composition, and growth form of the dominant pines, were closely correlated with altitude. Woody species, herbs and bryophytes responded to the altitude similarly. Results also indicated the unique characteristics of each bog.
The airn of the research described in this work is to find the estimator of the fatigue level of a huiiian operátor driver. The deniand of nonintrusive approach constraiiits the existing possibilities. It is demonstrated that a small steering wheel movement compeiisating heading error carry Information on driver fatigue. The biological origin of fatigue is described and a simple method for calibration of fatigue based on the fuzzy approach is submitted. With the help of one type of fatigue indicators a possibility to identify the fatigue caused by sleep deprivacy is demonstrated.
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) as well as their inhibitors (TIMPs) play a crucial role in controlling extracellular matrix turnover and have recently been associated with atherosclerosis, myocardial and vascular injury. Moreover, the genetic variability of MMP genes has been suggested to play an important role in vascular remodeling and age-related arterial stiffening. This study aims to describe associations of 14 selected polymorphisms in genes for MMPs and TIMPs with selected cardiovascular parameters (including central pulse pressure), clinical conditions and drug treatment profiles in 411 stable ischemic patients with preserved systolic function of the left ventricle. The genotyping of 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 8 genes was carried out either using 5′ exonuclease (TaqMan®) reagents or by restriction analysis. Numerous associations of the investigated polymorphisms with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, maximum left ventricular end diastolic pressure and ejection fraction were observed. While some of the observed effects were found to be age-dependent, associations with clinical conditions (hypertension, diabetes mellitus, angina pectoris) were only observed in women and associations with four groups of drugs (statins, nitrates, calcium channel blockers, anti-aggregation drugs) were only observed in men. The results of this study indicate that the genetic variability of MMPs and TIMPs is an important factor which influences cardiovascular functions and may have important consequences for individual therapy customization in the future.
Slovanský a Orientální ústav prošly od svého vzniku do roku 1953 mnohými obměnami a to jak ve smyslu organizačním, tak změnami hlavního směřování badatelských záměrů, násilnou obměnou členské základny i změnami ve financování. Studie se zabývá otázkou příčin a důsledků organizačních změn vedení obou ústavů v průběhu jejich vývoje od skončení druhé světové války po začlenění do Československé akademie věd. Studie se zabývá problematikou vybraných jevů - jak se tyto změny promítly například v nahlížení na samotné začlenění obou ústavů do Akademie věd, jak a kdy probíhala změna těchto zpočátku spíše ''prestižních'' ústavů v ústavy vědecké a co ústavům toto začlenění v širší vědecké organizaci dalo či naopak vzalo. and From their establishment until 1953 the Slavonic and Oriental Institutes underwent numerous changes in the organizational sense, as well as involving the primary direction of research objectives, the compulsory replacement of the membership base and funding. This study deals with the issues surrounding selected phenomena - how these changes were reflected e.g. taking into account the actual incorporation of both institutes in the Academy of Sciences, how and when these initially rather ''prestigious'' institutes turned into ''scientific institutes'' and what they won and lost from this incorporation within larger scientific organizations