This study used an experimental early rehabilitation model combining an enriched environment, multisensory (visual, acoustic and olfactory) stimulation and motor training after traumatic brain injury (via fluid-percussion model) to simulate early multisensory rehabilitation. This therapy will be used by brain injured patients to improve neural plasticity and to restore brain integration functions. Motor dysfunction was evaluated using a composite neuroscore test. Direct structural effects of traumatic brain injury were examined using Fluoro-Jade staining, which allows identification of degenerating neural cell bodies and processes. Animals in the rehabilitation model group performed significantly better when tested for neuromotor function than the animals in standard housing in the 7-day and 15-day interval after injury (7d: p=0.005; 15d: p<0.05). Statistical analysis revealed significantly lower numbers of Fluoro-Jade positive cells (degenerating neurons) in the rehabilitation model group (n=5: mean 13.4) compared to the standard housing group (n=6: mean 123.8) (p<0.005). It appears that the housing of animals in the rehabilitation model led to a clear functional increase in neuromotor functions and to reduced neural loss compared with the animal group in standard housing., M. Lippert-Grüner. M. Maegele, J. Pokorný, D. N. Angelov, O. Švestková, M. Wittner, S. Trojan., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
Reduced physical activity and abundant energy intake are two most common factors leading to uncontrolled body weight gain. But these factors are not under entire internal consciousness control; they are also partially genetically determined and are affected by for example food marketing practices. In addition to these two widely accepted factors, there are some other factors, whose could also contribute to the recent increase of obesity prevalence. For example, non-exercise activity thermogenesis, sleeping habits, more stable inside room temperatures (using of heating and air conditioning), high prescription of medications with weight gain as side effect, psychosocial factors, unfavourable socioeconomic status and unpleasant urban environment are the background factors which should not be omitted if obesity/BMI determination should be fully understood and kept under control. In conclusion, unhealthy life style is necessary, but not sufficient for obesity development., J. A. Hubáček., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The effect of increased coronary flow on transmural ventricular repolarization was investigated in six pentobabital-anesthetized sheep. Fresh blood at 10 ml/min was injected into the left circumflex coronary artery (LCX) in addition to the normal coronary flow. Unipolar electrocardiograms were simultaneously registered from epicardium, mid-myocardium and endocardium with fine plunge needles. Activation-recovery interval (ARI) was measured from the unipolar electrocardiograms and was used for estimating the ventricular repolarization duration. It was found that intracoronary blood injection (n=3) prolonged ARI in the epicardium, mid-myocardium and endocardium by an average of 34 ± 16, 28 ± 18 and 25 ± 13 ms, respectively (p<0.01). Pretreatment with nitro-L-arginine (n=3), a nitric synthase inhibitor, diminished the flow-induced ARI prolongation across the ventricular wall. In conclusion, an increase in coronary flow lengthens the duration of transmural ventricular repolarization. These effects appear to be mediated by nitric oxide from the coronary endothelium., Y.-Z. Zhang, B. He, L.-X. Wang., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of combination of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and an antioxidant on permanent focal cerebral ischemia. Male Wistar rats underwent permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Then, animals were randomly assigned to one of four groups: the control group (n=9) received no treatment, HBO group (n=9) was treated for 90 min at 2.5 absolute atmosphere for 3 days, the U-74389G group (n=8) received single U-74389G injection (3 mg/kg), the HBO + U-74389G group (n=8 ) received both HBO and U-74389G treatments. Treatments were initiated within the first 10 min after MCAO. After 3 days, the infarct volumes in rat brains were measured. The infarct ratios were 25.6±6.5 % for the control group, 21.9±6.4 % for the HBO group, 15.7±5.7 % for U-74389G group and 12.5±3.8 % for HBO + U74389G group. The infarct volumes were significantly reduced in rats treated with U-74389G (p< 0.05) and combination therapy (p <0.05). HBO failed to reduce infarct volume significantly. We concluded that 1) U-74389G is more beneficial than HBO on permanent MCAO in rats, and 2) a combined therapy failed to significantly improve infarct volume more than either single treatment., G. Acka, A. Sen, Z. Canakci, S. Yildiz, A. Akin, G. Uzun, H. Cermik, I. Yildirim, S. Kokpinar., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The aim of this study was to assess the influence of regular daily consumption of white wine on oxidative stress and cardiovascular risk markers. Forty-two healthy male volunteers consumed 375 ml of white wine daily. Each participant provided three venous blood samples (before wine consumption, following the wine consumption period and again a month later). Levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, reduced glutathione, total antioxidant capacity, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein A I, apolipoprotein B, triglycerides, paraoxonase 1, C-reactive protein, homocysteine, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) were measured. Immediately following the month of white wine consumption there was a significant increase in HDL-cholesterol (p<0.0001), paraoxonase 1 (p<0.001), glutathione peroxidase (p<0.001) and reduced glutathione (p<0.01) levels, a decrease in superoxide dismutase activities (p<0.0001), and a decrease in oxidation protein products (p<0.001) and TBARS (p<0.05) concentrations. However, there was also a clear increase in homocysteine (p<0.0001) after a month of white wine consumption. The results of our non-placebo controlled trial suggest that regular daily white wine consumption is associated not only with both antioxidative and antiatherogenic effects but also with a potentially proatherogenic increase of homocysteine concentrations. and D. Rajdl, J. Racek, L. Trefil, K. Siala.
Because insulin resistance is inevitably associated with cardiovascular complications, there is a need to further investigate the potential involvement of oxidative stress and the cyclo-oxygenase (COX) pathway in the vascular modifications associated to this pathological context. Endothelial function was evaluated in control and fructose-fed rats (FFR) by i) in vitro study of endothelium-dependent an d-independent relaxations of aortic rings, and ii) in vivo telemetric evaluation of pressor response to norepinephrine. After 9 weeks of diet, FFR displayed hypertriglyceridemia, hyperinsulin emia and exaggerated response to glucose overload. Aortic rings from control rats and FFR exhibited comparable endothelium-dependent relaxations to Ach. In the presence of indomethacin , relaxations were significantly reduced. FFR showed exaggerated pressor responses to norepinephrine that were abolis hed with indomethacin. Urinary nitrites/nitrates, 8-isoprostanes and thromboxane B2 excretion levels were markedly enhanced in FFR, whereas the plasma levels of 6-keto prostaglandin F1α were unchanged. In conclusion, fructose overload in rats induced hypertriglyceridemia and insulin resistance associated with an enhanced oxidative stress. This was associated with COX pathway dysregulation which could be one of the contributors to subsequent vascular dysfunction. Consequently, reduction of oxidative stress and regulation of the COX pathway could represent new potential therapeutic strategies to limit vascular dysfunction and subsequent cardiovascular complications associated with insulin resistance., A. Outdot ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The activity of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) is increased after alcohol consumption and can contribute to an increased level of HDL-cholesterol, which is considered to play a key role in the ethanol-mediated protective effect against cardiovascular disease. The increase in HDL-cholesterol concentration can be also due to an ethanol-enhanced synthesis and secretion of apolipoprotein A-I (apo A-I) from hepatocytes. Therefore, the hypothesis that ethanol consumption affects the LPL and apo A-I gene (LPL and APOA1, respectively) expression was tested in male C57BL/6 mice drinking 5 % ethanol or water and fed a standard chow or high-fat (HF) diet for 4 weeks. The LPL expression was determined in the heart, epididymal and dorsolumbal adipose tissues, the APOA1 expression in the liver. Alcohol consumption did not affect lipid and lipoprotein concentrations in the serum. The LPL expression was increased in the heart of mice given ethanol and HF diet compared to mice on chow and ethanol (p<0.001) and was also increased in epididymal fat in mice given ethanol and HF diet compared to mice on water and HF diet (p<0.05). Neither LPL expression in dorsolumbal fat nor APOA1 expression in the liver were affected by ethanol consumption. Our data suggest that ethanol consumption upregulate LPL expression in a tissue- and diet-dependent manner., E. Mudráková, J. Kovář., and Obsahuje bibiografii a bibliografické odkazy
Reliable diagnosis of congenital heart defects and arrhythmias in utero has been possible since the introduction of fetal echocardiography. The nation-wide prenatal ultrasound screening program in the Czech Republic enabled detection of cardiac abnormities in 1/3 of patients born with any congenital heart disease and up to 83 % of those with critical forms. Prenatal frequency of individual heart anomalies significantly differed from the postnatal frequency. Fetal isolated complete atrioventricular block and supraventricular tachycardia may lead to heart failure and are important causes of fetal mortality. The regression of heart failure was achieved by a conversion to the sinus rhythm in the supraventricular tachycardia and by increase of ventricular rate in the complete atrioventricular block., V. Tomek ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM 1A) is an autoimmune disease belonging to the most frequent chronic diseases of the childhood and young adults. DM 1A results from immune-mediated destruction of the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas. It is a genetically determined disease and many genes or genetic regions were found to be associated with its induction. In addition to the insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus 1 (IDDM1) gene, which marks the HLA region, and IDDM2 which marks the insulin gene, significant associations of DM 1A to other IDMM genes or genetic regions we reported. We shortly review recent achievements in the field, and the state of current knowledge., D. Kantárová, M. Buc., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The aim of the study was to evaluate skin microvascular reactivity (MVR) and possible influencing factors (fibrinolysis, oxidative stress, and endothelial function) in patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Twenty-nine patients with active Cushing’s syndrome (ten of them also examined after a successful operation) and 16 control subjects were studied. Skin MVR was measured by laser Doppler flowmetry during post-occlusive (PORH) and thermal hyperemia (TH). Malondialdehyde and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase were used as markers of oxidative stress. Fibrinolysis was estimated by tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and its inhibitor (PAI-1). N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, E-selectin, P-selectin, and ICAM-1 were used as markers of endothelial function. Oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction was present in patients with hypercortisolism, however, increased concentration of ICAM-1 was also found in patients after the operation as compared to controls (290.8±74.2 vs. 210.9±56.3 ng.ml-1, p<0.05). Maximal perfusion was significantly lower in patients with arterial hypertension during PORH and TH (36.3±13.0 vs. 63.3±32.4 PU, p<0.01, and 90.4±36.6 vs. 159.2±95.3 PU, p<0.05, respectively ) and similarly the velocity of perfusion increase during PORH and TH was lower (3.2±1.5 vs. 5.2±3.4 PU.s-1, p<0.05, and 0.95±0.6 vs. 1.8±1.1 PU.s-1, p<0.05, respectively). The most pronounced impairment of microvascular reactivity was present in patients with combination of arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus., M. Prázný, J. Ježková, E. Horová, V. Lazárová, V. Hána, J. Kvasnička, L. Pecen, J. Marek, J. Škrha, M. Kršek., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy