A study of the actinosporean fauna of oligochaetes from a freshwater salmon farm in Northern Scotland was carried out from October 1996 to August 1998. Following the examination of 28,387 oligochaete worms belonging to the families Tubificidae, Lumbriculidae, Naididae and Enchytraeidae, five types of echinactinomyxon (four previously described), six types of raabeia (five previously described), three types of synactinomyxon (all previously described), four types of aurantiactinomyxon (three previously undescribed), one type of triactinomyxon (previously described), one type of neoactinomyxum (previously undescribed) and one type of siedleckiella (previously undescribed) were identified. The triactinomyxon type was released from unidentified immature oligochaetes. Of the twenty-one types of actinosporeans found, thirteen types were released from Tubifex tubifex (Müller), three types were released from Lumbriculus variegatus (Müller), three types from both L. variegatus and T. tubifex and two types from immature oligochaetes.
Susceptibility of three strains of immunodeficient mice to two related microsporidian species Encephalitozoon cuniculi Levaditi, Nicolau et Schoen, 1923 and Encephalitozoon intestinalis (Cali, Kotler et Orenstein, 1993) was compared. While both, severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) and interferon-gamma knock-out (IFN-γ KO) mice, succumbed to either intraperitoneal (i.p.) or peroral (p.o.) (natural) infection with both parasites, only i.p. infection with E. cuniculi killed interleukin-12 knock-out (IL-12 KO) mice. IFN-γ KO mice died earlier than SCID mice. Adoptive transfer of naive splenocytes from IFN-γ KO mice did not protect the SCID mice from a lethal infection with either of the Encephalitozoon species. However, reconstituted mice survived significantly longer (P<0.05), thus indicating the role of IFN-γ produced by host NK cells in the development of mechanisms of anti-microsporidial protective immunity. Non-lethal outcome of the infection always correlated with the increase in CD8+ T lymphocyte subpopulation. Both E. intestinalis-infected IFN-γ KO and IL-12 KO mice produced comparable levels of specific antibodies, suggesting that antibodies did not protect IFN-γ KO mice from lethal infection.
Diabetic heart is suggested to exhibit either increased or decreased resistance to ischemic injury. Ischemic preconditioning suppresses arrhythmias in the normal heart, whereas relatively little is known about its effects in the diseased myocardium. Our objective was to investigate whether development of diabetes mellitus modifies the susceptibility to ischemia-induced arrhythmias and affects preconditioning in the rat heart. Following 1 and 9 weeks of streptozotocin-induced (45 mg/kg, i.v.) diabetes, the hearts were Langendorff-perfused at constant pressure of 70 mm Hg and subjected to test ischemia induced by 30 min occlusion of the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery. Preconditioning consisted of one cycle of 5 min ischemia and 10 min reperfusion, prior to test ischemia. Susceptibility to ischemia-induced arrhythmias was lower in 1-week diabetics: only 42 % of diabetic hearts exhibited ventricular tachycardia (VT) and 16 % had short episodes of ventricular fibrillation (VF) as compared to VT 100 % and VF 70 % (including sustained VF 36 %) in the non-diabetics (P<0.05). Development of the disease was associated with an increased incidence of VT (VT 92 %, not significantly different from non-diabetics) and longer total duration of VT and VF at 9-weeks, as compared to 1-week diabetics. Preconditioning effectively suppressed arrhythmias in the normal hearts (VT 33 %, VF 0 %). However, it did not provide any additional antiarrhythmic protection in the acute diabetes. On the other hand, in the preconditioned 9-weeks diabetic hearts, the incidence of arrhythmias tended to decrease (VT 50 %, transient VF 10 %) and their severity was reduced. Diabetic rat hearts are thus less susceptible to ischemia-induced arrhythmias in the acute phase of the disease. Development of diabetes attenuates increased ischemic tolerance, however, diabetic hearts in the chronic phase can benefit more from ischem preconditioning, due to its persisting influence., T. Ravingerová, R. Štetka, D. Pancza, O. Uličná, A. Ziegelhöffer, J. Styk., and Obsahuje bibliografii
In this paper, we propose the concept of Suzuki type fuzzy Z-contractive mappings, which is a generalization of Fuzzy Z-contractive mappings initiated in the article [S. Shukla, D. Gopal, W. Sintunavarat, A new class of fuzzy contractive mappings and fixed point theorems, Fuzzy Sets and Systems 350 (2018)85-95]. For this type of contractions suitable conditions are framed to ensure the existence of fixed point in G-complete as well as M-complete fuzzy metric spaces. A comprehensive set of examples are furnished to demonstrate the validity of the obtained results.
Světelné znečistění odjakživa představuje palčivý problém zejména pro astronomy, kterým snižuje viditelnost noční oblohy. V posledních letech je však tomuto fenoménu věnováno mnohem více pozornosti i v jiných vědních oborech vzhledem k jeho negativním důsledkům, například v oblasti ochrany přírody, lidského zdraví, bezpečnosti či financí. V článku jsou tyto dopady stručně nastíněny a podrobněji jsou rozebrány fyzikální aspekty světelného znečištění, možnosti jeho měření a modelování a prognóza do budoucnosti., Light pollution (LP) poses a serious threat in particular, astronomers struggle with limited visibility of natural night sky objects. Due to the negative effects of bad lighting practices in various fields (e.g. environmental protection, human health, safety and security or economy) light pollution problematics have been extensively explored over the past years. This article presents a brief summary of these effects and a closer look into the physical aspects of light pollution, its measurement and quantification as well as future prospects., Milada Moudrá., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Všude kolem nás je přítomno reliktní záření, světlo z období konce velkého třesku, které v sobě nese cenné informace o raném vesmíru a o prostředí, kterým k nám procházelo. Při poznávání vesmíru získáváme většinu informací o vzdálených objektech prostředníctvím elektromagnetického záření nejrůznějších vlnových délek. V mikrovlném oboru sledují dnešní specializované sondy nejen nejchladnější zákoutí vesmíru, ale i světlo dávných časů, které se vydalo na svou pouť v období, kdy se ve vesmíru formovaly první atomy., Cosmic microwave background radiation exists all around us. It is the light from the end of the Big Bang, which carries valuable information about the early universe and the environment, throught which it has passed. Most of the Information about distant objects we obtain through electromagnetic radiation at various wavelengths. In the microwave band today‘s specialised probes watch not only the coldest corners of the universe, but also the light from ancient times, which started its journey during the period when electron shells in atoms formed in the universe., Petr Kulhánek., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Let us look at light used in art from the perspective of art history. Light is important in the methods used for displaying reality and the formation of different styles in painting. During the middle ages painters sought not only to display the real behaviour of light in the world but used light to view transcendental elements. Magister Theodoricus for example seemingly placed the light source inside the volume of figures of saints, and thus strengthened their spiritual presence in the area of the chapel in Karlštejn castle. The master of the Wittingau altar used a shadow to amplify the mystery of the scene, like the Dutch masters from the early 15th century in their night scenes. By using sfumato, Leonardo forced the viewer to start actively looking at indistinct contours of his characters and thus intensified their vividness. Caravaggio from before 1600 put emphasis on the contrasts of light and darkness, thus his chiaroscuro figures sharply emenate into light. The light carves objects out of the surrounding darkness and facilitates composing images. During this time, Galileo through his telescope and his art of drawing identified "spots" of the Moon as craters. Simultaneously, Annibale Carracci, and before him Jan van Eyck and after him Velásquez and many others used mirror optics for various pictorial representations of reality. Together, relations between light phenomena, optics and painting are rich in their complexity. and Ladislav Daniel.
This article discusses light propagation in an optical fibre from the point of view of both geometrical and wave optics. We describe the fibre eigenmodes and their wavefronts, evolution of a general state of light along the fibre, and the modes of a bent fibre. Numerous figures are used to illustrate the presented priciples., Tomáš Tyc., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Zlaté sedmeré světlo, vůkol planoucí, duši ti dává směsice barev..., Light was the symbol of the Enlightenment or the Age of Light. The physics of light was widely studied and popularised at that time. The theoretical description of light inspired Maupertuis and Euler to formulate the Principle of the Least Action., Jiří Langer., and Obsahuje seznam literatury