Předmětem článku jsou morfologické, taxonomické a ekologické poznámky ke všem sedmi evropských druhům václavek (Armillaria). Určování těchto hub je dosti obtížné, zejména ve skupině A. cepistipes – A. gallica, zatímco druhy A. socialis, A. ectypa, A. ostoyae, A. mellea a do značné míry i A. borealis jsou makroskopicky od sebe odlišitelné. and Morphological, taxonomic and ecological notes are made here on all seven European species of the genus Armillaria. However, their identification is rather difficult, especially in the A. cepistipes – A.gallica group, whereas A. socialis, A. ectypa, A. ostoyae, A. mellea, and partly also A. borealis, are easily distinguishable.
Characterisation of proteases degrading ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO, EC: 4.1.1.39) was studied in the cowpea leaf during monocarpic senescence 3 and 9 d after flowering (DAF), representing early and mid pod fill. The stage at 3 DAF coincided with decrease in the metabolic parameters characterising senescence, i.e., contents of total soluble proteins, RuBPCO, and leaf nitrogen. At 9 DAF, there was a decline in total soluble proteins and an appearance of a 48 kDa cysteine protease. Characterisation of the proteases was done using specific inhibitors. Subcellular localisation at 3 DAF was studied by following the degradation of RuBPCO large subunit (LSU) in the vacuole lysates using immunoblot analyses. Cysteine proteases played a predominant role in the degradation of RuBPCO LSU at the crude extract level. At 9 DAF, expression of cysteine protease isoforms was monitored using polyclonal antibodies against papain and two polypeptides of molecular masses 48 and 35 kDa were observed in the vacuole lysates. We confirmed thus the predominance of cysteine proteases in the vacuoles during different stages of pod development in cowpea leaf. and B. Srivalli, Sudhakar Bharti, Renu Khanna-Chopra.
In the present study, we investigated the effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), a proposed treatment for patients with intractable epilepsy, on cardiac rhythm following seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) in Wistar rats. After a baselinerecording of electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG) and blood pressure (BP), rats in the first group received a single convulsive dose of PTZ (70 mg/kg) (Group 1). In the other
two groups, the Wistar rats were implanted with a cuff electrode on the left cervical vagus nerve. One day after surgery, rats in the second group were treated with VNS (Group 2), whereas rats in the third group were connected to the stimulator but did not receive VNS (Group 3). Ten minutes after VNS onset, 70 mg/kg dose of PTZ was injected. EEG, ECG and BP were continuously recorded during post-injection period. Seizure severity was scored behaviorally. Then, baseline, ictal and postictal periods were analyzed for cardiac rhythms, seizure severity and blood pressure variability. PTZ treatment induced tonic-clonic seizure activity in all animals of Group 1 and Group 3. In these groups a marked increase of mean arterial blood pressure (MABP) but a significant decrease in heart rate and PP interval fluctuations was observed at postictal period. However, in the VNS-treated group the seizure scores and cardiac parameter returned to the baseline level. Present results emphasize that VNS effectively reduces seizure severity and suppress the seizure-induced cardiac rhythm changes.
Reproductive medicine is one of the most progressive and most popular medicine branches. Its success and rapid development, together with the primacy of biological or genetic ties in the western construction of family is considered the main reason for decreasing popularity of adoption as the way of resolving involuntary childlessness. These assumptions are confronted with empirical findings about Czech population. The respondents of the survey conducted in the Czech households were asked about their preferences in the hypothetical situation of being confronted with physical infertility and about their attitudes towards various ways of solving it. The data showed that while infertility is actually constructed as a medical problem requiring high technology medical treatments, the adoption would not be considered a choice of last resort, after the failure of all procedures of artificial reproduction, including using donor gametes or embryo. Further, the data does not support the hypothesis of significant gender differences in these attitudes.
Přiblížení vzhledu a života vakovlka (Thylacinus cynocephalus), historie jeho vyhubení v Austrálii a Tasmánii a pokusů o případné oživení pomocí klonování. and The article describes the appearance and bionomics of the Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus), commonly known as the Tasmanian Tiger, as well as the history of its extinction in Australia and Tasmania and attempts to recover the species by cloning.
Díky trvajícímu tradičnímu hospodaření přežívají v krajině moravských Karpat specializovaní pastvinoví motýli. Kriticky ohrožený modrásek černoskvrnný (Phengaris arion) je vázán na extenzivní pastvu ovcí a zároveň se nabízí jako vhodný deštníkový druh pro ochranu lokálních společenstev denních motýlů. and Carpathians still host specialised butterflies depending on sheep pastures. One of them, the critically endangered Large Blue (Phengaris arion) depends on non-intensive small-scale pastures, and offers an ideal umbrella species for conserving local butterfly communities.