Visfatin is a multi-functional molecule that can act intracellularly and extracellularly as an adipokine, cytokine and enzyme. One of the main questions concerning visfatin is the mechanism of its secretion; whether, how and from which cells visfatin is released. The objective of this in vitro study was to observe the active secretion of visfatin from 3T3-L1 preadipocytes and adipocytes, HepG2 hepatocytes, U-937, THP-1 and HL-60 monocytes and macrophages. The amount of visfatin in media and cell lysate was always related to the intracellular enzyme, glyceraldehyde-3- phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), to exclude the passive release of visfatin. Visfatin was not found in media of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. In media of 3T3-L1 adipocytes and HepG2 hepatocytes, the ratio of visfatin to the amount of GAPDH was identical to cell lysates. Hence, it is likely that these cells do not actively secrete visfatin in a significant manner. However, we found that significant producers of visfatin are differentiated macrophages and that the amount of secreted visfatin depends on used cell line and it is affected by the mode of differentiation. Results show that 3T3-L1 adipocytes and HepG2 hepatocytes released visfatin only passively during the cell death. U-937 macrophages secrete visfatin in the greatest level from all of the tested cell lines., P. Svoboda, E. Křížová, K. Čeňková, K. Vápenková, J. Zídková, V. Zídek, V. Škop., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The Visio Pauli, one of the most popular ‘Visions’ of the Middle Ages, constitutes the European form of an originally Oriental apocrypha known as ‘The Apocalypse of Paul’. On its journey through the Latin Middle Ages this text was used in many ways, which have fundamentally influenced its textual shape. The article outlines concisely the dissemination of the Visio Pauli in the Medieval West, its incorporation into new, shifting transmission patterns and textual combinations. It will be shown that the Eastern apocrypha from late Antiquity, the Paulus-Apocalypse, and its reworked European version, the Visio Pauli – the first a closed, the second an open text – in their complex transmission histories represent two entirely different realisations of one and the same material. The analysis, however, concentrates on the specific Bohemian redaction and its Old Czech version. The shape of a text will here be conceived in terms of its dissemination and concrete uses. The focus of the investigation consists, therefore, in the ways in which the variable and open were fixed, and the circumstances, consequences and description of this process. From material to text, from text to context, or, the other way round, from context to text – these are the aspects of the literary, structural, and functional analysis of the Visio Pauli in the context of cultural history. This approach constitutes an attempt to describe the text transmission differently from conventional textual criticism, and how to think about the shape of medieval texts in the context of their concrete use and function. The article is a reworking of a lecture given at Prague and Brno in 2008 and is essentially an abridged version of the author’s Ph.D. thesis, Die Visio Pauli: Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter unter Einschlus der alttschechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen, Leiden and Boston: Brill (Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 34), 2006. It is the first written presentation of this research in Czech.
Never before in history data has been generated at such high volumes as it is today. It is estimated that every year about 1 Exabyte (= 1 Million Terabyte) of data are generated, of which a large portion is available in digital form. Exploring and analyzing the vast volumes of data becomes increasingly difficult. This paper describes system Vitamin-S that aims to help when analyzing very large data sets.
Based on the fact that tremors display some distinct 3D spatial
characteristics, we decided to visualize tremor planes in 3D
space. We obtained 3-axial linear accelerometer signals of hand
tremors from 58 patients with Parkinson´s disease (PD), 37 with
isolated resting tremor (iRT), 75 with essential tremor (ET), and
44 healthy volunteers with physiological tremor (Ph). For each
group analysis was done with subsequent spatial 3D regression
of the input data i.e. along the x, y and z axes; the projected
vector lengths in the individual (vertical transversal XY, vertical
longitudinal XZ and horizontal YZ) reference frame planes and
their angles. Most meaningful and statistically significant
differences were found in the analyses of the 3D vector lengths.
The tremor of the PD and the iRT group was oriented mainly in
the horizontal YZ plane. The tremors of the patients with ET and
Ph were oriented approximately in the midway between the all
three referential planes with less tilt toward the vertical
longitudinal XZ plane.