a1_With hypoxic stress, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) are elevated and their responses are altered in skeletal muscles of plateau animals [China Qinghai-Tibetan plateau pikas (Ochotona curzoniae )] as compared with control animals [normal lowland Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats]. The results indicate that HIF-1α and VEGF are engaged in physiological functions under hypoxic environment. The purpose of the current study was to examine the protein levels of VEGF receptor subtypes (VEGFRs: VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2 and VEGFR-3) in the end organs, namely skeletal muscle, heart and lung in response to hypoxic stress. ELISA and Western blot analysis were employed to determine HIF-1α and the protein expression of VEGFRs in control animals and plateau pikas. We further blocked HIF-1α signal to determine if HIF-1α regulates alternations in VEGFRs in those tissues. We hypothesized that responsiveness of VEGFRs in the major end organs of plateau animals is differential with insult of hypoxic stress and is modulated by low oxygen sensitive HIF-1α. Our results show that hypoxic stress induced by exposure of lower O2 for 6 h significantly increased the levels of VEGFR-2 in skeletal muscle, heart and lung and the increases were amplified in plateau pikas. Our results also demonstrate that hypoxic stress enhanced VEGFR-3 in lungs of plateau animals. Nonetheless, no significant alternations in VEGFR-1 were observed in those tissues with hypoxic stress. Moreover, we observed decreases of VEGFR-2 in skeletal muscle, heart and lung; and decreases of VEGFR-3 in lung following HIF-1α inhibition. Overall, our findings suggest that in plateau animals 1) responsiveness of VEGFRs is different under hypoxic environment; 2) amplified VEGFR-2 response appears in skeletal muscle, heart and lung, and enhanced VEGFR-3 response is mainly observed in lung; 3) HIF-1α plays a regulatory role in the levels of VEGFRs. Our results provide the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for hypoxic environment in plateau animals, having an impact on research of physiological and ecological adaptive responses to acute or chronic hypoxic stress in humans who living at high attitude and who live at a normal sea level but suffer from hypoxic disorders., H.-C. Xie, J.-G. Li, J.-P. He., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Difuzně vážené zobrazení tkání je zásadní součástí vyšetřovacích protokolů magnetické rezonance. Snížení jeho kvality na 3T přístrojích v porovnání s 1, 5T je při použití konvenčních metod náběru dat významné a vyžaduje hledání nových postupů. Technika RESOLVE (REeadout Segmentation Of Long Variable Echo-trains) představuje volbu, která zmenšuje geometrické distorze a poskytuje vyšší prostorové rozlišení obrazu, nicméně při prodloužené době vyšetření., Diffusion-weighted tissue imaging is very important part of magnetic resonance examination protocols. There is significant decrease of its quality in 3T compared to 1,5T machines if conventional techniques of data collections are used, and new methods are needed to be applied. RESOLVE (REadout Segmentation Of Long Variable Echo-trains) technique represents an option reducing geometric distortions and providing higher spatial resolution, however, with prolonged examination duration., Radek Tupý, Jiří Ferda, Radek Süss, Jan Kaster, and Literatura
This paper provides an overview of findings from recent analyses of a part of the rare book collection possessed by the First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University that encompasses Johannes Marcus Marci of Cronland’s work. The collection of Marci’s texts as a whole had not been studied thus far. The rigorous research conducted revealed that ten publications bound in six volumes represent a full cross-section of Marci’s work. Moreover, this collection is remarkable because of its exceptional artistic value and fine typography. Marci’s texts were published by prestigious Prague printers - either individual ones or by institutional print shops (the Jesuit print shop or the Archbishop’s print shop). These printers were able to meet the need for complicated typesetting and to produce the demanded number of copper engravings to accompany the text with fine illustrations so the result would be worthy of the author’s status. The present study also gives a full bibliographical description of the “sammelband” bound together as a single volume with the other four titles (shelfmark K2508a). This collection of Marci’s major works (originally only four) had a fifth added after 1654. The handwritten notes in the margin showed renewed interest in this scholar that appeared in the Czech lands in the 18th and 19th centuries. The First Medical Faculty’s collection of Marci’s works is not complete and does not include all his medical treatises, but it does reflect the breadth of his oeuvre. The provenance research proved that three volumes were part of a carefully curated book collection built up by Friedel Pick, a professor at Charles University. These print artefacts significantly enrich the faculty’s collection of early printed books and deserve further inquiry., Markéta Ivánková., Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy, and Jan Pulkrábek [překladatel]
Dinocampus coccinellae is a parasitoid wasp usually parasitizing ladybird beetles of the tribe Coccinellini. A field survey conducted between March and November 2016 revealed three hosts of this parasitoid in the Srinagar district of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir: two members of the Coccinellini (Oenopia conglobata and Coccinella undecimpunctata) and one of the Chilocorini (Priscibrumus uropygialis). Proportion of the latter (atypical) host that were parasitized was 0.09 and intermediate between that recorded for C. undecimpunctata (0.06) and O. conglobata (0.14). A series of laboratory experiments revealed that while a member of Coccinellini (O. conglobata) was more often attacked by D. coccinellae than a member of Chilocorini (P. uropygialis), the proportions of each species from which parasitoids emerged did not differ significantly. There were no significant differences between D. coccinellae females bred from O. conglobata and P. uropygialis, with respect to selection of the two host species and their suitability for the development of the parasitoid. However, members of the Chilocorini other than P. uropygialis (Chilocorus infernalis and Simmondsius pakistanensis) were rarely attacked by D. coccinellae and parasitoid larvae did not emerge from any of those attacked. The results of our experiments indicate that in Kashmir Himalayas D. coccinellae is adapted to parasitize hosts belonging to both Coccinellini and Chilocorini., Amir Maqbool, Imtiaz Ahmed, Piotr Kiełtyk, Piotr Ceryngier., and Obsahuje bibliografii