The cytotoxicity of 18 new 1,2,6-thiadiazin-3,5-dione 1,1-dioxides was evaluated. This group of products was previously assayed against epimastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi and some of them showed a high antiprotozoal activity. Thereafter 13 compounds with a high anti-epimastigote activity and low cytotoxicity were selected to be assayed against amastigotes. Some of the products showed the same or even lower cytotoxicity than nifurtimox and benznidazole, but most of them were very toxic for macrophages at 100 µg/ml. Only one of the compounds had an anti-amastigote activity similar to that of reference drugs at 10 µg/ml, but unfortunately this disappeared at lower concentrations.
We found unusual digenean intramolluscan stages, sporocysts and cercariae, in gastropods Sulcospira dautzenbergiana (Morelet) (Caenogastropoda: Pachychilidae) from Southern Vietnam and named them Cercaria cattieni 1. These cercariae have a stylet and thus belong to the Xiphidiata. However, such combination of characters as extremely large body size and I-shaped excretory bladder has not been found before in any other xiphidiocercariae. We obtained COI, ITS1, 5.8S + ITS2, and 28S rDNA sequences for C. cattieni 1. The latter allowed us to specify the phylogenetic position of the discovered cercariae: C. cattieni 1 falls within the superfamily Microphalloidea and is most closely grouped to Pachypsolus irroratus (Rudolphi, 1819) (Pachypsolidae), the sea turtle parasite. Information on the family Pachypsolidae is limited. Judging from the molecular phylogeny, C. cattieni 1 might be the larva of the Pachypsolidae, documented for the first time.
Animal studies (on transgenic and knock-out mice) and human association analysis assessed the importance of APOAV gene for plasma triglyceride determination. New APOAV missense variants (Val153 → Met and Cys185 → Gly) have been detected recently. We have analyzed these variants in 83 unrelated patients with extreme lipid parameters (triglycerides of 20.4±12.8 mmol/l and total cholesterol of 10.4±3.7 mmol/l) and in a control population group consisting of 2,559 unrelated Caucasians. In patients, the frequency of the Met153 carriers was slightly but not significantly higher (9.64 % vs. 6.49 %) compared to the population sample. This suggested that Val153 → Met polymorphism in the APOAV gene does not represent an important risk factor for developing the extreme levels of plasma triglycerides. We did not detect carriers of the Gly185 allele among patients or 420 healthy individuals. We suppose that this variant is probably not present in Caucasian populations.
The paper deals with the washout algorithms of driving simulators. The simulators enable human beings to test the properties of vehicles or to train their control before they are manufactured in extremely realistic circumstances. The problem is that the movement of the platform is limited by its workspace. The washout algorithm realizes the most realistic movement of the simulator within the limited workspace. New improved washout algorithms are described and their improved properties are demonstrated by simulations. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
A new species, Colchicum asteranthum Vassil. et K. Perss. (Colchicaceae), endemic to the Peloponnese in Greece, is described. It is a small winter-flowering plant with synanthous leaves and soboliferous corms, the latter a rare feature in the genus. The species has no obvious relations, but it shows some affinity to the S Turkish endemic C. minutum K. Perss.
This article examines Kim Ir-yŏp (金一葉)’s Buddhist works of fiction of the 1920s and 1930s, characterized by a preoccupation with free love (yŏnae). Kim Ir-yŏp was a pioneering New Woman (sin yŏsŏng) in colonial Korea, who advocated free will in relation to love and marriage, something which directly challenged traditional views and customs. Her involvement in Buddhism gave the false impression that she was a New Woman who had met a tragic end, as if she had departed the world and given up all of her literary and social activities. On the contrary, Kim Ir-yŏp, as a Buddhist woman, was even more eager to produce her works, still considering love as an important subject. The presence of love in her Buddhist writings is more than just a lingering attachment. It should be understood as one of the Buddhist responses to modernity, modernity that is epitomized by free love in colonial Korea. A text-analysis of her Buddhist works of fiction demonstrates how she seriously considers love as part of the process of Buddhist modernization and produces discourses on it by re-discovering and revising old Buddhist legends (tales), for instance.