Ectoparasites are an important factor in bat health due to emergent diseases and their associated threats to global public health. The diverse foraging habits of bats expose them to different surfaces which may influence ectoparasite infestations. In spite of these, most studies often overlook dietary specialisations when observing ectoparasite loads. The present paper quantitatively investigates whether foraging strategies as well as other host characteristics (sex, age, trunk and patagial area) influence ectoparasite (nycteribiids and mites) loads of bats. Ectoparasite counts and morphometric data were taken from mist net captures of bats. We then developed and compared models for modeling bat ectoparasite abundance under various distributions using generalised linear models. The negative binomial distribution consistently proved to be adequate for modeling mite, nycteribiid and total ectoparasite abundance based on information-theoretic approaches. Generally, females and frugivores had higher ectoparasite loads conditional on bat sex and diet, respectively. Contrary to nycteribiid abundance, mite abundance was positively related to patagial area. Thus, our findings suggest that dietary guild, sex and patagia of hosts (as well as age-nycteribiid abundance) are significant determinants of ectoparasite abundance., Albert Luguterah, Eric Adjei Lawer., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Aldosterone blocker Spironolactone has antiinflammatory, antiproliferative and antioxidative effects, that is why pathogenetically it is expedient to use it in complex therapy of rheumatoid arthritis. Material and methods: 46 patients with RA took 2550 mg/day of Spironolactone during 12 months as an addition to standard therapy, the comparison group consisted of 47 patients that got only standard therapy, all the patients were fully examined prior and post the treatment. Results: complex RA therapy leads to improved VAS, HAQ, the antioxidative potential index F; decreased blood concentrations of TNFα, ICAM1, FGF and VEGF in contrast to standard therapy. Complex therapy made reduced the DAS 28 more > 0.6. Conclusions: applying of Spironolactone in complex therapy of rheumatoid arthritis contributes to more pronounced improvement in indices of articular syndrome and patients life quality, reduce of antiinflammatory, antiproliferative and angiogenic cytokines, and more effectively reduces the activity of the disease comparing to standard therapy., Elena Komarova, Borys Rebrov, and Literatura
Vojtěch Bartoš, Michal Bauer, Julie Chytilová, Ian Levely., Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy, Anglické resumé, and On-line verze: Appendix v rozsahu str. 41-62.