Angiomyolipom ledviny (AML) je benigní mezenchymový nádor, který se vyskytuje sporadicky nebo v rámci komplexu tuberózní sklerózy (TSC). Celková prevalence AML je 0,44 % a vyskytuje se čtyřikrát častěji u žen. Prevalence v ženské populaci je tedy 0,6 %, zatímco u mužů 0,28 %. Jeho diagnostika je založena na přítomnosti tukové složky v nádoru a lze tedy identifikovat předoperačně pomocí zobrazovacích metod. Morfologie AML je velmi variabilní a někdy tedy tuková složka chybí, což může způsobit diagnostické rozpaky. Zcela zásadní roli má aktivní sledování pacientů s jasnou diagnózou AML, jehož růst je pomalý s minimální morbiditu. Pacient však může přijít ve stadiu komplikací, které zahrnují hematurii, bolest či krvácení do retroperitonea způsobené rupturou nádoru. Mezi hlavní rizikové faktory krvácení jsou velikost nádoru, procento zastoupení cévní složky, kterou tvoří aneuryzmatické cévy a přítomnost TSC. Selektivní arteriální embolizace úspěšně řeší hemoragické komplikace a redukuje objem AML. V rámci dlouhodobých výsledků však selhává díky revaskularizaci a dalšímu růstu AML. Zde pak mají lepší výsledky chirurgické operace, kde se snažíme v maximální míře šetřit funkci ledviny. Slibné dlouhodobé výsledky má též radiofrekvenční ablace, která je ale silně limitována velikostí AML. U objemnějších AML se zdá být dobrou alternativou resekčního výkonu kryoablace, která však vyžaduje hůře dostupné speciální přístrojové vybavení. Novinkou je pak systémová léčba mTOR inhibitory (everolimus, sirolimus), které mají nezastupitelné místo u nemocných s TSC, kde jsou AML mnohočetné a recidivující. Tato terapie může pomoci redukovat celkový objem AML a umožnit případný resekční výkon., Renal angiomyolipoma (AML) is a benign mesenchymal tumor, which occurs sporadically or is associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). The overall prevalence of AML is 0.44 %, its incidence in women is 4 times higher than in men. Prevalence in the female population is thus 0.6 %, but male rates 0.28 %. Diagnosis is based on the presence of fat in the tumor. In most cases AML can be identified preoperatively. AML morphology is highly variable and in cases where fat is missing, preoperative diagnostic based on imaging methods is not possible. Active monitoring of patients with AML is crucial, because AML grows slowly and with minimal morbidity. Patient can present with haematuria, pain or retroperitoneal bleeding by tumors rupture. The main risk factors for bleeding are tumors volume, percentage of the vascular component in the tumor and the presence of TSC. Selective arterial embolization resolves hemorrhagic complications and reduces the volume of the tumor. The long-term outcomes of embolisation are poor due to tumor revascularization and growth. Nephron sparring surgery is associated with better long term outcomes. Radiofrequency ablation is another option, but strongly restricted by the volume tumor. An additional option is cryoablation, which has better results in cases where tumor is large, but this requires special equipment. Systematic treatment using mTOR inhibitors (everolimus, sirolimus, has recently been introduced, which are essential in patients with TSC, where the disease is often complicated by multiple and recurrent lesion. This therapy can help reduce the total volume of AML and allow eventual resection., Tomáš Ürge, Tomáš Pitra, Zdeněk Chudáček, Jiří Baxa, Petr Stránský, Viktor Eret, Ondřej Hes, Milan Hora, and Literatura
An essential part of the ESFRI roadmap to foster the European science in the field of large laser systems, the project ELI-Beamlines is to be built in the Czech Republic. The project has been submitted by the Institute of Physics to the European Commision and it is expected to be financed from the structural funds just due. The facility, which consists of several laser beamlines delivering a very high power density (up to 1023 W/cm2) on the target in a repetitive regime, should be ready by 2015. A smaller sister-project HiLASE should support the ELI-Beamlines by providing high average power repetitive ns lasers as an intermediate pumping element of the ELI laser chains, but, at the same time, of interest for various laser assisted technologies. and Karel Rohlena.
Fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21) has been recently characterized as a new adipokine. The aim of this study was to assess FGF-21 levels in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) and to study the relationship between FGF-21, disease activity and metabolic status. The levels of FGF- 21 in serum and synovial fluid samples from 38 patients with RA and 42 control individuals with OA were determined by ELISA. Patients were assessed for disease activity using the disease activity score (DAS28), a serum glucose and lipid profile. Age, sex and BMI-adjusted FGF-21 levels in the serum (p=0.024) and synovial fluid (p=0.010) samples were significantly higher in patients with RA when compared with OA. The levels of FGF-21 in the serum significantly correlated with the levels in the synovial fluid. Serum and synovial fluid FGF-21 levels adjusted for confounders correlated positively with C-reactive protein. The levels of FGF-21 were positively correlated with BMI in patients with RA; however, the levels were not associated with disease activity or lipid profiles. Furthermore, serum FGF-21 levels were significantly higher in seropositive compared with seronegative RA patients. This work shows that patients with seropositive RA have increased levels of FGF-21. The results suggest that FGF-21 is related to BMI but not disease activity or lipid profiles in patients with RA., H. Hulejová ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Haemagglutination activity (HA) was found and characterized in a midgut homogenate of Ixodes ricinus (L.). HA was induced by tick feeding; it was not detected in starved ticks. In a haemagglutination inhibition test, HA showed an affinity for some carbohydrates (N-acetyl-D-galactosamine, N-acetyl-D-glucosamine, rhamnose, and dulcit) and glycoconjugates (especially lipopolysaccharides). Midgut protein components of 37, 60, 65, and 73 kDa were identified by immunoblotting as potential structural subunits of the new agglutinin.
Spatial tasks in rodents are commonly used to study general mechanisms of cognition. We review two groups of novel spatial tasks for rodents and discuss how they can extend our understanding of mechanisms of spatial cognition. The first group represents spatial tasks in which the subject does not locomote. Locomotion influences neural activity in brain structures important for spatial cognition. The tasks belonging to the first group make it possible to study cognitive processes without the interfering impact of locomotion. The second group represents tasks in which the subject approaches or avoids a moving object. Despite this topic is intensively studied in various animal species, little attention has been paid to it in rodents. Both groups of the tasks are powerful tools for addressing novel questions about rodent cognition., D. Klement, K. Blahna, T. Nekovářová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
This paper investigates the mean square stability of a class of stochastic neural networks with time-varying delays. By virtue of the stochastic analysis method and linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, a new sufficient condition is proposed where the feasibility of the conditions can be readily checked by the Matlab LMI control toolbox. Moreover, our method has the advantage of removing the restrictions on the time varying delays, so the derived results are less conservative than the previous works. A numerical example with simulations are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the developed results.
The viviparous gyrodactylid genus Macrogyrodactylus Malmberg, 1957 is endemic to Africa, composed of nine species from hosts of four freshwater fish families, including catfishes (Siluriformes: Clariidae). Three species, Macrogyrodactylus clarii Gussev, 1961; M. congolensis (Prudhoe, 1957) and M. karibae Douëllou et Chishawa, 1995, are primarily known to parasitise the African sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus (Burchell) in various African countries. From November 2017 to September 2019, a total of 184 individuals of C. gariepinus were collected from selected localities in southern Africa and their skin, fins and gills were surveyed for monogeneans. Three species of Macrogyrodactylus (M. clarii, M. congolensis and M. karibae) were found parasitising C. gariepinus from five localities in South Africa and Zambia. Overall prevalence was 50% to 100% with intensities of up to 109 parasites per host individual. New locality records in southern Africa, morphological observations and additional molecular data on the complete Internal Transcriber Spacer (ITS-1-5.8S-ITS-2) regions of the rDNA gene for the three gyrodactylid species are presented in this study.
A novel hybrid rule network based on TS fuzzy rules is proposed to resolve the problems of fuzzy classification and prediction. The proposed model learns by using genetic algorithm and is able to cover the whole distribution regions of the samples. In the learning process: (1) fuzzy intervals of each dimension of the samples are partitioned evenly; (2) computing intervals (CIs) are established based on the even intervals; (3) linear weighted model of several normal probability distributions is used to describe the sample probability distribution on CIs; (4) membership degree of each CI is learnt to evaluate the importance of each CI, avoiding the problem that the optimal intervals are difficult to cover the original sample spaces; (5) dynamic rule selection mechanism is used to dynamically combine a small number of optimal rules linearly to achieve nonlinear approximation, reducing the computation load. Three experiments are performed: the experiments on Iris and Mackey-Glass chaotic time series show that HRN can achieve satisfactory results and is more effective in terms of generalization ability, whereas the experiment on exhaust gas temperature demonstrates that HRN can predict the EGT of aero engine effectively.
Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous disease states. However, direct measurement of in vivo ROS in humans has remained elusive due to limited access to appropriate tissue beds and the inherently short half-lives and high reactivity of ROS. Herein, we describe a novel technique by which to measure in vivo ROS in human skeletal muscle. Microdialysis probes were inserted into the vastus lateralis of eight healthy volunteers. Amplex Ultrared, a highly specific fluorogenic substrate for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and horseradish peroxidase (HRP), were perfused through microdialysis probes, and outflowing dialysate was collected and fluorescence was measured. Extracellular H2O2 that crossed the microdialysis membrane was measured via fluorescence of the dialysate. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) was then added to the inflowing perfusion media to convert any superoxide crossing the microdialysis membrane to H2O2 within the microdialysis probe. Fluorescence significantly increased (P=0.005) upon SOD addition. These data demonstrate the feasibility of measuring both in vivo H2O2 and superoxide in the extracellular environment of human skeletal muscle, providing a technique with a potential application to a wide range of circulatory and metabolic studies of oxidative stress., J. D. La Favor, E. J. Anderson, R. C. Hickner., and Obsahuje bibliografii