Tato recenzní studie sleduje analogii, na níž založil svoji metodu bádání i psaní Douglas R. Hofstadter v knize Gödel, Escher, Bach (Praha: Argo – Dokořán 2012, 830 s.). Proti Hofstadterovu pojetí analogie, kromě jiného ilustrované zavádějícími příklady skladeb J. S. Bacha, je analogie v této studii precizována. Zároveň jsou ve studii napraveny nedostatky hudebních příkladů, jež by patrně neodhalili čtenáři bez přímé vazby na hudební teorii. Tyto aspekty sleduje tato studie až k závěru, že recenzovaná vlivná kniha, neprávem aspirující na metodologii veškerenstva, patří mezi poulárně naučnou literaturu., This book review study observes the analogy, which has formed a basis for Douglas R. Hofstadter’s method of research and writing in the book Gödel, Escher, Bach (Prague: Argo – Dokořán 2012, 830 p.). As opposed to Hofstadter’s concept of analogy, besides other issues illustrated by misleading examples of J. S. Bach’s composition work, the analogy in this study is given a more precise exactitude. At the same time the insufficiencies of musical examples, which would probably not be revealed by readers without direct linkage to the musical theory, are being corrected in this study. These aspects are followed in this study towards the conclusion, that the influential book under this review, wrongfully aspiring to the universal methodology, belongs to the general non-fiction literature., and Alena Hönigová, Jaroslav Mestek.
This study investigates select groups of ''Third World'' students who, came to Czechoslovakia to study during the 1960s, within the wave of revived Soviet internationalism. It analyses the scope, effects and various modes of response to the cultural exchange between representatives of the ''Second World'' with the ''Third World'', whose interaction went beyond a purely political and state-controlled level. The ''responses'' were for the most part products of tensions stirred by Socialist imaginaries on both sides clashing with the lived realities of coexistence, as well as by disagreements in ''varieties of Socialism'' practiced by Czechs and Slovaks on the one side, and different groups of foreign students on the other. The cultural exchange implemented within the framework of the Soviet bloc higher educational programme for foreigners is explored through a comparative analysis of two perspectives - the teachers’ and the students’. Despite implied limits of the propagandistically advertised solidarity, this study argues that the Socialist regime indeed had a certain ''appeal'' for students coming from the ''Third World'', especially those with a deprived social background. In this respect, the paper has an ambition to contribute to explorations of encounters across the nations and borders from Czechoslovakia’s standpoint. and Překlad resumé: Barbora Buzássyová a Melvyn Clarke
Each cell types or tissues contain certain “physiological” levels of R-2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG), as well as enzymes for its synthesis and degradation. 2HG accumulates in certain tumors, possessing heterozygous point mutations of isocitrate dehydrogenases IDH1 (cytosolic) or IDH2 (mitochondrial) and contributes to strengthening their malignancy by inhibiting 2-oxoglutaratedependent dioxygenases. By blocking histone de-methylation and 5-methyl-cytosine hydroxylation, 2HG maintains cancer cells de-differentiated and promotes their proliferation. However, physiological 2HG formation and formation by non-mutant IDH1/2 in cancer cells were neglected. Consequently, low levels of 2HG might play certain physiological roles. We aimed to elucidate this issue and found that compared to highest 2HG levels in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells and moderate levels in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, rat primary fibroblast contained low basal 2HG levels at early passages. These levels increased at late passage and likewise 2HG/2OG ratios dropped without growth factors and enormously increased at hypoxia, reaching levels compared to cancer HepG2 cells. Responses in SH-SY5Y cells were opposite. Moreover, external 2HG supplementation enhanced fibroblast growth. Hence, we conclude that low 2HG levels facilitate cell proliferation in primary fibroblasts, acting via hypoxia-induced factor regulations and epigenetic changes., A. Dvořák, J. Zelenka, K. Smolková, L. Vítek, P. Ježek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Study of bacterial transport and retention in soil is important for various environmental applications such as groundwater contamination and bioremediation of soil and water. The main objective of this research was to quantitatively assess bacterial transport and deposition under saturated conditions in calcareous soil. A series of leaching experiments was conducted on two undisturbed soil columns. Breakthrough curves of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Cl were measured. After the leaching experiment, spatial distribution of bacteria retention in the soil columns was determined. The HYDRUS-1D one- and two-site kinetic models were used to predict the transport and deposition of bacteria in soil. The results indicated that the two-site model fits the observed data better than one-site kinetic model. Bacteria interaction with the soil of kinetic site 1 revealed relatively fast attachment and slow detachment, whereas attachment to and detachment of bacteria from kinetic site 2 was fast. Fast attachment and slow detachment of site 1 can be attributed to soil calcium carbonate that has favorable attachment sites for bacteria. The detachment rate was less than 0.02 of the attachment rate, indicating irreversible attachment of bacteria. High reduction rate of bacteria was also attributed to soil calcium carbonate.
Bacteria isolated from the gut of different developmental stages of Phlebotomus duboscqi Neveu-Lemaire, 1906 belonged almost all to aerobic or facultatively anaerobic gram-negative rods. In females, the highest bacterial counts were observed two days after bloodfeeding; seven days after bloodfeeding the bacterial counts returned to pre-feeding levels. Most isolates were identified phenotypically as Ochrobactrum sp. The distinctiveness and homogeneity of the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of Ochrobactrum isolates indicated that they belonged to a single strain (designated AK). This strain was acquired by larvae from food and passaged transtadially: it was isolated from the guts of fourth-instar larvae shortly before pupation, from pupae as well from newly emerged females. Most other bacteria found in females were acquired from the sugar solution fed to adults. To determine if the midgut lectin activity may serve as antibacterial agent females were membrane-fed on blood with addition of inhibitory carbohydrates. No significant differences in bacterial infections were found between experimental and control groups and we suppose that the lectin activity has no effect on gram-negative bacteria present in sandfly gut.