Reduced levels of vitamin or its metabolites have been reported in various psychiatric disorders. Insufficient levels of vitamin D in depressive patients have been confirmed by many authors, but there have been conflicting results in subjects with anxiety disorders. In the present cross-sectional study, levels of calcidiol were determined in groups of depressive men and women and in men and women with anxiety disorders and compared with age matched controls. Significantly lower levels of calcidiol were found in men and women with depression as well as in age matched patients with anxiety disorders., M. Bičíková, M. Dušková, J. Vítků, B. Kalvachová, D. Řípová, P. Mohr, L. Stárka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Insufficient levels of vitamin D have been demonstrated by many
authors as a risk factor for autistic patients, however, the
causality has not been reliably elucidated. In the present study,
levels of calcidiol were determined in group of autistic children
and compared with age matched healthy children as controls.
Suboptimal levels of calcidiol in more than 60 % of both autistic
patients as well as of control group were found. No significant
differences in vitamin D between autistic children and healthy
controls were observed.
In women with chronic autoimmune thyroiditis and vitamin D deficiency we have found reference levels of relevant metabolichormonal parameters except for parathormone and total calcium. Three months supplementation with vitamin D (4300 IU/day, cholekalciferol) did not lead to significant changes of investigated hormonal parameters, while the levels of parathormone and calcium reached normal levels. However, a correlation analysis revealed marked changes in mutual relations. First, an inverse correlation of vitamin D with parathormone, insulin secretion (C peptide, insulin) and its efficiency (HOMA IR) disappeared. Relationships of vitamin D to hepatic insulin resistance (insulin/C peptide), to DHEA (both negative), and to DHEAS/DHEA ratio (positive) were newly found. Second, a positive correlation of CRP with insulin secretion remained, while its relation to insulin efficiency (HOMA IR, insulin/ C peptide) was newly observed. Analogical positive correlations appeared also among anti TPO and insulinemia, insulin/C peptide, HOMA IR, and anti Tg to C peptide. A relationship of the CRP with anti TPO became significant (+). Third, out of glucose metabolism parameters only insulin/C peptide and glycemia did not correlate with vitamin D during its deficiency, while after supplementation insulin/ C peptide alone correlated positively with both DHEAS and DHEA, and negatively with vitamin D., K. Vondra, R. Bílek, P. Matucha, M. Salátová, M. Vosátková, L. Stárka, R. Hampl., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We examined the upregulation of ET-1/ETBR/eNOS signaling in renoprotective effect of vitamin D in kidney fibrosis model in mice using unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). One group was treated with intraperitoneal injection of 0.125 mg/kg of Calcitriol (UUO+VD). Vascular remodeling was quantified based on lumen area and lumen/wall area ratio (LWAR) of intrarenal arteries using Sirius Red staining. ET-1, ETBR, eNOS, CD31 and VEGF mRNA expressions were quantified using qRT-PCR. Focusing on endothelin-1 (ET-1) signaling in endothelial cells (EC), siRNA of ET-1 was performed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) for reducing ET-1 expression. Then HUVECs were treated with and without 100 nM Calcitriol treatment in hypoxic and normoxic conditions to elucidate ET-1/eNOS signaling. Our in vivo study revealed vascular remodeling and renal ischemia attenuation after Calcitriol treatment. Vascular remodeling was attenuated in the UUO+VD group as shown by increasing lumen areas and LWAR in intrarenal arteries. These findings were associated with significant higher CD31 and VEGF mRNA expression compared to the UUO group. Vitamin D treatment also increased ET-1, ETBR and eNOS mRNA expressions. Our in vitro study demonstrated Calcitriol induced ET-1 and eNOS mRNA expressions upregulation in HUVEC under normoxic and hypoxic condition. Meanwhile, siRNA for ET-1 inhibited the upregulation of eNOS mRNA expression after Calcitriol treatment. Vitamin D ameliorates kidney fibrosis through attenuating vascular remodeling and ischemia with upregulating ET-1/ETBR and eNOS expression., N. Arfian, M. H. H. Kusuma, N. Anggorowati, D. B. Nugroho, A. Jeffilano, Y. Suzuki, K. Ikeda, N. Emoto., and Seznam literatury
Vitamin D had been for a long time investigated for its effects on bone metabolism. Recently has been observed that the incidence of some neurodevelopmental disorders (including autism) increases hand in hand with vitamin D deficiency. Indeed, vitamin D was reported to modulate the biosynthesis of neurotransmitters and neurotrophic factors; moreover, its receptor was found in the central nervous system. Vitamin D deficiency was therefore assessed as a risk factor for autism, however the biological mechanism has not yet been revealed. In our review we focused on potential connections among vitamin D, steroids and autism. Potential mechanisms of vitamin D action are also discussed., L. Máčová, M. Bičíková, D. Ostatníková, M. Hill, L. Stárka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Studie se zabývá principem vizualizace v raněnovověké kultuře. Vychází z teoretického přístup k obrazu a jeho funkci v západní křesťanské kultuře, tak jak se rozvinul od raného středověku, a ukazuje, jak se toto chápání odráží především v náboženské literatuře modlitebního a meditačního charakteru. Na dobových textech dokládá jejich vizualizační potenciál, který slouží nejen k názornosti, ale především k vytváření fyzických vnitřních paměťových obrazů, které mají další důležité kultické uplatnění. Ukazuje tak provázanost vizuálních i literárních památek, jejichž společnými východisky jsou již z antiky jdoucí teorie vnímání a paměti, spojené raněnovověkým chápáním obrazu v katolické zbožnosti. Studie nabízí nové úhly pohledu na raněnovověké slovesné památky, ukazuje určité mechanismy, které jsou v nich skryty, a vybízí k jejich mezioborovému studiu. and This article is concerned with visualization in Early Modern culture. It is based on the theoretical approach to the image and its function in Western Christian culture from the Early Middle Ages onwards. The article demonstrates how this understanding is reflected chiefly in devotional literature in the form of prayers and meditation. Using period texts it demonstrates their potential for visualization, which serves not only to illustrate, but also, indeed mainly, to form the mnememes, which have other important uses in religion. The article also demonstrates the links between visual and literary documents, of which the theory of perception and memory have been its shared starting points since Classical Antiquity, linked by an Early Modern understanding of the image in the Roman Catholic religion. The article offers new perspectives on Early Modern documents of literature, reveals certain mechanisms concealed within them, and calls for their interdisciplinary study.