Two mechanisms contribute in the development of pulmonary hypertension in pulmonary embolism (PE) - obstruction of pulmonary blood vessels and vasoconstriction. We hypothesize that hypoxia, increased shear stress and/or activation of gathered leukocytes in the PE may cause a release of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Therefore our aim was to determine the influence of the ROS scavenger Tempol on pulmonary hypertension and to d escribe NO synthase activity and production of NO oxidative products (NOx) after PE. In general anesthesia sephadex microspheres suspended in PSS were applied in right jugular vein as the pulmonary microembolism. Than we measured in isolated salt solution -perfused lungs the changes in perfusion pressure, activity of NO synthase and NOx plasma concentration in 7 groups of rats: C: control group (n=5), CN: C + sodium nitroprusside (SN) (n=5), EN: PE + SN (n=5), ETN: Tempol + PE + SN (n=5), CL : C + L -NAME (n=5 ), EL: PE + L-NAME (n=5), ETL: Tempol + PE + L -NAME (n=5). Tempol was applied intraperitoneally before PE. Animals that received Tempol (groups TN, TL) had significantly lower basal perfusion pressure than those which did not rec eive Tempol (EN, EL). Overa ll we measured a higher decrease of perfusion pressure than in the control group (C) after applica tion of SN. Administration of L-NAME after PE (EL) increased the pressure more than in the control group (NL). NOx concentration was higher after PE. We found that preventive administration of Tempol decreases the increase in perfusion pressure after PE. PE increased NO release and concentration of NOx., R. Mizera, D. Hodyc, J. Herget., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Diabetes mellitus is associated with increased inflammatory response, which may contribute to atherosclerosis progression. Experimental results demonstrated anti-inflammatory activity of glitazones; their effect on leukocyte adhesion molecules has not been studied to date. We therefore studied the effect of rosiglitazone treatment on leukocyte surface expression of adhesion molecules in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and compared our results with findings in healthy subjects. 33 subjects with type 2 diabetes and 32 healthy controls were included; patients were examined at baseline and after 5 months of rosiglitazone treatment (4 mg /d). Leukocyte expression of adhesion molecules LFA-1, CD 18 and ICAM-1 was quantified using flow cytometry; in addition, CD14 (lipopolysaccharide receptor) expression was analyzed as a marker of nonspecific immunity. The expression of examined molecules at baseline was higher in patients compared to controls. Despite only mild decrease in blood glucose, ro siglitazone treatment induced substantial decrease of CD18 and CD14 expression and borderline decrease of LFA-1 and ICAM-1 expression (on monocytes only). We thus observed improvement in the expression of leukocyte inflammatory markers after rosiglitazone treatment. This effect is supposed to be mediated by direct effect of rosiglitazone on PPAR- γ receptors on leukocytes., T. Štulc, H. Svobodová, Z. Krupičková, R. Doležalová, I. Marinov, R. Češka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Recently, we derived “humanized” spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR-CRP) in which transgenic expression of human CRP induces inflammation, oxidative stress, several features of metabolic syndrome and target organ injury. In addition, we found that rosuvastatin treatment of SHR-CRP transgenic rats can protect against pro-inflammatory effects of human CRP and also reduce cardiac inflammation and oxidative damage. In the current study, we tested the effects of rosuvastatin (5 mg/kg) on kidney injury in SHR-CRP males versus untreated SHR-CRP and SHR controls. All rats were fed a high sucrose diet. In SHR-CRP transgenic rats, treatment with rosuvastatin for 10 weeks, compared to untreated transgenic rats and SHR controls, was associated with significantly reduced systemic inflammation which was accompanied with activation of antioxidative enzymes in the kidney, lower renal fat accumulation, and with amelioration of histopathological changes in the kidney. These findings provide evidence that, in the presence of high CRP levels, rosuvastatin exhibits significant anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and renoprotective effects., J. Šilhavý, V. Zídek, V. Landa, M. Šimáková, P. Mlejnek, O. Oliyarnyk, H. Malínská, L. Kazdová, M. Mancini, M. Pravenec., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Content-based image retrieval (CBIR) of images, especially those with different orientation, scale changes and noise affects, are a challenging and important problem in the image analysis. This paper proposes an effective scheme for rotation and scale invariant antinoise retrieval using pulse-coupled neural network (PCNN) features. The PCNN generates series of pulse images, which are binary and represent different features of the original image. The series of pulse images can be then calculated to an entropy sequence called the feature of the image. The experimental results show that the retrieval scheme is effective in extracting rotation and scale invariant features and it also performs better robustness to noise.
Akutní průjmová onemocnění jsou celosvětovým problémem. Ročně je evidováno přibližně 3- 5 miliard případů akutního průjmu, který je následkem velké dehydratace a ztráty elektrolytů. V rozvojových zemích je příčinou 5- 10 milionů úmrtí. Akutní průjmy jsou vyvolávány celou řadou původců včetně parazitů, bakterií a virů. Viry nabývají na významu v posledních letech a konkrétně rotaviry (poprvé identifikovány v roce 1973) se vyskytují bez ohledu na socioekonomický status nebo přírodní podmínky. Důsledky onemocnění jsou však signifikantně rozdílné v rozvinutých a rozvojových zemích. Rotavirová infekce nejčastěji postihuje děti do pěti let věku. Stejně vážná rizika však nese toto onemocnění i pro dospělé imunologicky oslabené osoby a hlavně pro osoby staršího věku. Zejména pak při společném umístění starších lidí v domovech důchodců, LDN či v nemocnicích nahrává řada různých faktorů snadnému šíření fekálně-orálně přenosných infekcí. Preventivní a event. při výskytu infekce represivní proti epidemická opatření jsou postavena na dobré orientaci v epidemi ologických charakteristikách a znalosti vlastností rotavirů včetně sledování jejich změn., Acute diarrhoeal diseases are a global problem. Approximately 3-5 billion cases of acute diarrhoea are recorded each year causing 5-10 million deaths in developing countries as a result of severe dehydration and loss of electrolytes. Acute diarrhoea can have a wide range of causes including parasites, bacteria and viruses. Viruses have been increasing in importance in recent years and rotaviruses in particular (first identified in 1973) occur independent of socio-economic status or environmental conditions. The effects of the illness differ significantly, however, in developed and developing countries. Rotavirus infections most frequently affect children up to five years of age. The illness also represents a serious risk for adults with weakened immune systems and especially persons of advanced age. The accommodation of older people in close proximity to each other in retirement homes, long-term care facilities and hospitals provides a number of channels that facilitate transmission of infection via the faecal-oral route. Preventative and, in the event of an outbreak of infection, anti-epidemic measures are based on good orientation in epidemiological characteristics and a knowledge of the properties of rotaviruses including the monitoring of their changes., Marie Kolářová, and Lit.: 12