Many animals obtain reliable information about potential mates, including whether they are parasitised or not, mostly from olfactory cues in urine. Previous experiments with rodents have shown that females can detect parasites in males that arc potentially transmissible during copulation, so that females can directly avoid infection by discriminating against parasitised males. Here, using choice tests, we examine whether female rats can distinguish males infected with the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta Rudolphi, 1819, a parasite with a complex life cycle and thus not directly transmissible among rats. Female rats tended to spend more time investigating the urine of non-parasitised males than that of parasitised males. The magnitude of the parasite burden in the infected males had no effect on the females' preference for the non-parasitised males. We also found that parasitised males had lower testosterone levels in their blood than non-parasitised males, fliese results suggest that females use cues in male urine reflecting cither the presence of the parasite and/or lower testosterone levels to avoid parasitised males and possibly secure resistance genes for their offspring.
Kryptor system was proven to be a rapid, standard method for pregnancy-associated plasma protein A and proform eosinophilic major basic protein (PAPP-A/proMBP) complex detection in coronary artery disease (CAD). No age and/or gender differences in 51 controls and 110 stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) patients were found. SCAD patients did not differ from controls and no difference in PAPP-A/proMBP levels with regards to the number of affected vessels was found. In 21 unstable angina pectoris (UAP), in 35 without and 66 with ST elevation acute myocardial infarctions (NSTEMI, STEMI respectively) patients PAPP-A/proMBP levels were increased (P=0.004 and P<0.0005, respectively). PAPP-A/proMBP levels did not correlate with cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in STEMI and NSTEMI patients. PAPP-A/ proMBP increase was more frequent than cTnI (P=0.036) within the early phase of STEMI. In NSTEMI patients PAPP-A/proMBP positivity was present in 50 % of cTnI negative cases. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed the highest diagnostic accuracy of PAPP-A/proMBP (0.919) in STEMI cTnI positive cases. The highest specificity/sensitivity PAPP-A/proMBP levels for particular acute coronary syndrome (ACS) types were 10.65-14.75 mIU/l. Combination of PAPP-A/proMBP with cTnI increases their diagnostic efficacy within the early phase of ACS. Our results suggest that PAPP-A/proMBP complex is involved in processes preceding vulnerable plaque development in ACS., P. Hájek, M. Macek, M. Hladíková, B. Houbová, D. Alan, V. Durdil, J. Fiedler, M. Malý, P. Ošťádal, J. Veselka,A. Krebsová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The levels of four pregnanolone isomers and their polar conjugates and pregnenolone sulfate were measured in the plasma of 13 and 7 women at delivery with subarachnoidal and epidural analgesia, respectively, and in corresponding samples of umbilical plasma using a simple quadrupole GC/MS system with electron impact ionization (pregnenolone isomers), RIA following HPLC separation (pregnenolone) and specific RIA (pregnanolone sulfate). The concentration of epipregnanolone (3b-hydroxy-5b-pregnan-20-one) in both maternal and umbilical plasma was much lower than that of other pregnanolone isomers. The levels of 3b-hydroxy-pregnanolone isomers were significantly higher in the umbilical plasma than in the maternal, while the differences in 3a-hydroxy-isomers were insignificant. The differences in conjugates were insignificant with the exception of allopregnanolone, the levels of which were lower in umbilical plasma. In all the pregnanolone isomers, a significantly lower conjugated/unconjugated steroid ratio was found in the umbilical plasma than in the maternal plasma. In addition, time profiles of the steroids were measured around parturition and in the postpartum period in the maternal serum. Similarly, the levels of polar conjugates of all pregnanolone isomers were followed during parturition. Changes in concentrations of free steroids exhibited a similar pattern, with a fall primarily within the first hour after delivery. The decrease in conjugated steroids was shifted to the interval within the first hour and first day after delivery, and the changes were more pronounced. The time profiles of the conjugated/free steroid ratio exhibited a significant decrease within the first hour and the first day after delivery in all of the isomers investigated. A decrease was also observed in the ratio of 3a/3b- isomers and 5a/5b- isomers around parturition.The possible physiological consequences of the findings are indicated., J. Klak, M. Hill, A. Pařízek, H. Havlíková, M. Bičíková, R. Hampl T. Fait, J. Šulcová V. Pouzar, R. Kancheva, L. Stárka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Pregnenolone sulfate (PS), an endogenously occurring neurosteroid, has been shown to modulate the activity of several neurotransmitter-gated channels, including the NMDA receptor (NMDAR). NMDARs are glutamate-gated ion channels involved in excitatory synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, and excitotoxicity. In this study, we analyzed the effects of PS on calcium signaling in cultured hippocampal neurons and HEK293 cells expressing NMDAR. The ce lls were loaded with the Ca 2+ sensor Fura-2. In agreement with previous electrophysiological experiments, PS potentiated the increases in intracellular Ca 2+ induced by an exogenous application of glutamate; however, PS also increased intracellular Ca 2+ in the absence of exogenous NMDA agonist. The agonist-independent effect of PS was induced in all neurons studied and in HEK293 cells expressing GluN1/GluN2A-B receptors in a neurosteroid-specific manner. We conclude that PS is an endogenous NMDA agonist that activates the GluN1/GluN2A-B receptors., E. Adamusová ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The prehistory of clay mineralogy is highlighted from the beginnings in ancient Greece to the mineralogical works of Agricola, in particular his famous handbook of mineralogy, entitled De natura fossilium (1546). Starting with a few scattered hints in the works of Archaic and Classic Greek authors, including Aristotle, the first treatment of clays as a part of mineralogy is by Theophrastus. This basic tradition was further supplemented by Roman agricultural writers (Cato, Columella), Hellenistic authors (the ge ographer Strabo and the physicians Diosco rides and Galen), the Roman engineer-architect Vitruvius, and finally summarized in Pliny’s encyclopedia Naturalis historia, which has become the main source for later authors, including Agricola. It is shown to what extent Agricola’s work is just a great summary of this traditional knowledge and to what extent Agricola’s work must be considered as original. In pa rticular, Agricola’s attempt to a rational, combinatorical classification of "earths" is recalled, and aplausible explanation is given for his effort to include additional information on Central European clay depos its and argillaceous raw material occurre nces. However, it is shown that - in contrast to common belief - Agricola was not the first to include "earths" in a mineralogical system. This had been done almost one thousand years earlier by Isidore of Seville., Willi Pabst and Renata Kořánová., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Cílem přehledové práce je popis v současnosti používaných metod primárního uzávěru střední sternotomie v kardiochirurgii dospělých. V přehledu vycházíme z literárně publikovaných údajů a zaměřujeme se na metodiku, indikace, výhody, limity, biomechanické i klinické výsledky jednotlivých metod, ve vztahu k výskytu hlubokých poruch hojení střední sternotomie po kardiochirurgických operacích., The aim of the overview study is to describe the currently used methods of primary median sternotomy closure in adult cardiac surgery. In the review of published literature, we draw on the data and focus on the methodology, indications, advantages, limitations, biomechanical and clinical results of the different methods in relation to the incidence of deep sternal wound complications after median sternotomy in adult cardiac surgery., and D. Nešpor, P. Fila, J. Černý, P. Němec
Český překlad prvního vydání knihy dr. Marka Griffithse "Problem Gambling in Europe: An Overview", publikované Nottingham Trent University v roce 2009. Publikace obsahuje informace týkající se 31 zemí Evropy, včetně České republiky. Česká republika je v přehledu zařazena do skupiny zemí, ve kterých neexistují téměř žádné empirické znalosti hráčství a/nebo problémového hráčství. Napříč zeměmi je za, [Mark Griffiths ; překlad Jiří Bareš], and Obsahuje bibliografii