The aldosterone synthase gene (CYP11B2) is an important candidate gene region in essential hypertension. We therefore studied the association of -344T/C polymorphism of the CYP11B2 gene with the presence and severity of hypertension in a case-control study. We studied 369 individuals, of whom 213 were hypertensive patients (139 controlled hypertensive, 74 resistant hypertensive) and 156 were healthy normotensive subjects. The -344T/C polymorphism of the CYP11B2 gene was determined using polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The distribution of genotypes in normotensive controls and hypertensive subjects were: TT 25.6 vs. 31.9 %, TC 51.9 vs. 57.3 % and CC 22.4 vs. 10.8 %. The -344T/C variant was associated with hypertension. Subjects carrying the -344T allele had a greater risk of hypertension compared to those having C allele (χ2=5.89, p<0.05). The frequency of CC genotype was significantly lower in hypertensive patients than in normotensive controls ( χ2=9.44, p<0.01). A stepwise logistic regression analysis confirmed these findings. We did not find an association of -344T/C variant with the resistance of hypertensive patients to combination therapy, but we observed an association of -344T/C polymorphism of aldosterone synthase gene with increased risk of hypertension. These results support a potential role of -344T/C CYP11B2 gene polymorphism in genetic predisposition to develop hypertension., Z. Hlubocká ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Increasing the biodiversity in plantations of trees is an important issue because plantations have replaced many natural and semi-natural ecosystems worldwide. Therefore, identifying appropriate management techniques and key factors for enhancing biodiversity in plantations is required. We surveyed butterfly assemblages along forest trails in both plantations and natural forests and measured various environmental variables, including canopy, sub canopy and shrub stem densities, percentage of deciduous trees, flower plant richness, host plant richness, canopy openness and distance to forest edge. We hypothesized that (1) flower and host plant richness increase with an increase in the percentage of deciduous trees and canopy openness; (2) butterfly richness and abundance increase with an increase in forest structural complexity, butterfly resources, canopy openness and distance to forest edge; (3) the responses of plants and butterflies to canopy openness differ in plantations and natural forests; and (4) in plantations, tree-feeding butterflies respond to canopy openness less strongly than herbaceous plant feeding butterflies do because of the low diversity of trees in plantations. Our results generally support these hypotheses. Butterfly resources and butterfly richness and abundance all increase with increasing canopy openness; however, the increases were usually more dramatic in natural forests than in plantations and other factors are less important. In plantations, herbaceous plant feeding butterflies responded to increasing canopy openness more strongly than tree-feeding butterflies. The results of the present study indicate the importance of sunlit forest trails in enhancing butterfly resources, butterfly richness and abundance in plantations. Because at the stand-level management is labour- and cost-intensive, labour- and cost-saving trail management options need to be explored further in terms their effectiveness in increasing biodiversity in plantations.
Atrial fibrosis is considered as the basis in the development of long-standing atrial fibrillation (AF). However, in advanced heart failure (HF), the independent role of fibrosis for AF development is less clear since HF itself leads to atrial scarring. Our study aimed to differentiate patients with AF from patients without AF in a population consisting of patients with advanced HF. Myocardial samples from the right atrial and the left ventricular wall were obtained during he art transplantation from the explanted hearts of 21 male patients with advanced HF. Long- standing AF was present in 10 of them and the remaining 11 patients served as sinus rhythm controls. Echocardiographic and hemodynamic measurements were recorded prior to heart transplantation. Collagen volume fraction (CVF), transforming growth factor-beta (TGF- β ), and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression in myocardial specimens were assessed histologically and immunohistochemically. The groups were well matched according to age (51. 9±8.8 vs. 51.3±9.3 y) and co- morbidities. The AF group had high er blood pressure in the right atrium (13.6±7.7 vs. 6.0±5.0 mmHg; p=0.02), larger left atrium diameter (56.1±7.7 vs. 50±5.1 mm; p=0.043), higher left atrium wall stress (18.1±2.1 vs. 16.1±1.7 kdynes/m 2 ; p=0.04), and longer duration of HF (5.0±2.9 vs. 2.0±1.6 y, p=0.008). There were no significant differences in CVF (p=0.12), in CTGF (p=0.60), and in TGF- β expression (p=0.66) in the atrial myocardium between the two study groups. In conclusions, in advanced HF, atrial fibrosis expressed by CVF is invariably present regardless of occurrence of AF. In addition to atrial wall fibrosis, increased wall stress might contribute to AF development in long-standing AF., B. Aldhoon, ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Concentrations of numerous hormones decrease with age. Some authors imply that a syndrome of partial endocrine deficiency may occur in the aging men. Among many lifestyle factors that influence hormonal status is physical activity. Especially interesting are relations between physical activity and the androgenic/estrogenic status of men. The aim of this study was to evaluate age-related changes of serum androgens, estradiol and SHBG in men presenting different levels of physical activity. Hormonal parameters were measured in a cohort of 387 healthy Caucasian men (aged from 24 to 72 years) from one administrative region of Poland. Their level of physical activity was determined by means of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). We have found that contrary to SHBG concentration, total testosterone, free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone, calculated free testosterone and estradiol were negatively associated with age in the investigated subjects. Apart from estradiol, physical activity did not influence concentrations of the studied parameters. In younger (24-48 years), physically active males estradiol was significantly higher than in subjects characterized by a low level of physical activity. The situation was opposite in older males (48-72 years). In this age group low level of physical activity was associated with lower concentration of estradiol. Undertaking physical effort increased the decline of estradiol level with age., M. Slowinska-Lisowska, P. Jozkow, M. Medras., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Objectives.Religiosity and spirituality (R/S) are associated with many dimensions of human life and could contribute to one’s self-esteem; how-ever, there is no certainty that this is also appli-cable to non-religious countries. Therefore, the aim of the study was to explore the association of different aspects of R/S with self-esteem in a secular environment.Participants and setting.An online sample of 464 Czech respondents aged 15 and over (mean age 30.7; SD=12.63; 27.2% men) participated in the survey. Self-esteem, religiosity, religious attendance, frequency of prayer, negative re-ligious coping, image of God and spirituality were measured. Results. Regular prayer, spirituality (per stan-dard deviation, SD), a low level of religious struggles (per SD) and a positive God image (per SD) were associated with higher self-esteem, with odds ratios ranging from 1.28 to 2.16 (p˂0.05 to p˂0.001). In contrast, compared to non-religious respondents, religious respon-dents had an approximately 60% lower chance of having a high level of self-esteem (p˂0.05). However, a combination of R and S showed that while religious/spiritual respondents did not dif-fer significantly from non-religious respondents, religious/non-spiritual respondents had approxi-mately 79% lower chance of having good self-esteem (p˂0.001).Study limitations.The main limitation of this study is that it did not reach a representative sample, which limits the generalizability of the findings to the whole population. This is also the first study using this kind of research approach, which, however, limits the interpretation of re-sults. Moreover, it is a cross-sectional study, so any conclusions on causality cannot be made, and the questionnary used only self-report mea-sures, which could be influenced by a social de-sirability bias. and Cíle. Religiozita a spiritualita (R/S) jsou spojeny s mnoha oblastmi lidského života a mohou mít pozitivní vliv i na lidskou sebeúctu. Přesto není jisté, zda je větší intenzita náboženského a spirituálního prožívání spojena s vyšší sebe-úctou i v ateistických zemích. Cílem studie bylo zkoumat vztahy různých aspektů R/S v sekulárním prostředí. Soubor. Výzkumný vzorek tvořilo 464 českých respondentů starších 15 let (průměrný věk 30,7 let; SD = 12,63; 27,2 % muži). Prostřednictvím online dotazníku byla měřena sebeúcta, religiozita, náboženská účast, četnost modlitby, míra náboženských zápasů, obraz Boha a spiritualita. Výsledky. Pravidelná modlitba, spiritualita (SD), nižší míra náboženských zápasů (SD) a pozitiv-ní obraz Boha (SD) byly spojeny s vyšší sebe-úctou, s odds ratio v rozmezí od 1,28 do 2,16 (p ˂ 0,05 až p ˂ 0,001). Oproti těm nereligiózním měli religiózní respondenti přibližně o 60 % nižší šanci mít vyšší úroveň sebeúcty (p ˂ 0,05). Kombinace R a S ukázala, že zatímco religiózní, ale nespirituální respondenti se od těch nereligiózních v míře sebeúcty výrazně nelišili, religiózní, ale nespirituální respondenti měli přibližně o 79 % nižší pravděpodobnost dobré sebeúcty (p ˂ 0,001). Omezení studie. Tato studie nepracuje s reprezentativním vzorkem populace a výsledky se tudíž nedají zobecnit na celkovou populaci. Jedná se o první studii užívající tento přístup, což ztěžuje interpretaci výsledků. Navíc se jedná o průřezovou studii, nelze tedy dělat závěry ohledně kauzality a studie využívala pouze sebehodnotící dotazníky, které mohou být zkresleny tendencí odpovídat sociálně žádoucím způsobem.
The associativity of n-dimensional copulas in the sense of Post is studied. These copulas are shown to be just n-ary extensions of associative 2-dimensional copulas with special constraints, thus they solve an open problem of R. Mesiar posed during the International Conference FSTA 2010 in Liptovský Ján, Slovakia.
We used the aphid parasitoid Aphidius ervi reared in its host Acyrthosiphon pisum to examine if male sexual attractive responses can be conditioned to an odour (vanilla) that is not present in the natural environment. We used prior mating experience (exposure to females) as a non-conditioning stimulus and vanilla odour as a conditioning stimulus. The behavioural responses were tested in a glass Y-olfactometer just after eclosion (i.e., initial response) and after a training experience (i.e., trained response). During the 10-min training period individual males were allowed to copulate with a virgin female with or without vanilla odour present, or were exposed only to vanilla odour. Wing fanning was a recurrent behaviour which denoted increased sexual attraction to a volatile stimulus. Total time and time doing wing fanning in each olfactometer arm were determined. Vanilla odour, which initially did not elicit sexual-related behaviours, triggered strong sexual attractive responses when males were trained to females plus vanilla odour. Neither copulation only nor vanilla odour only treatments elicited such behaviours in trained males. The results are discussed in terms of parasitoid learning ability and its ecological consequences.
Preliminary results are present of an attempt to define threshold values of eccentricity and inclination for which a second order - fourth degree analytical theory of asteroid moion still provides mean semimajor axes of acceptable accuracy.