This article analyses anti-obesity discourse in post-war Czechoslovakia, particularly in the country’s late socialist period. The article conceives of the discourse on obesity as a tool of biopolitical, rather than totalitarian, power, examining the ways expert knowledge, power, and morality worked together to produce a socialist subject. On the first level, it analyses the expert anti-obesity discourse as an example of the expertisation of public discourse in socialist Czechoslovakia. Second, it shows the construction of obesity in contrast to bodily ability, and the stigmatisation of the ‘fat’ body. On the last level, the article focuses on the gendered aspects of the discourse and demonstrates the ways in which the anti-obesity campaign supported the heteronormative framework of late socialism. By examining expert and media discourses, the article argues that the campaign against obesity served as a means to construct a proper socialist body and induce a moral panic about the state of socialism.
Knowledge about the influence of latent toxoplasmosis on development and general biological condition of children is scant and thus the aim of the present study was to investigate these aspects in some detail. We compare school children in rural area seropositive and seronegative to the apicomplexan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) in terms of their developmental age, body mass and body height, physical fitness and end-of-term grades. Additionally, we evaluated the risk factors of infection with T. gondii such as the presence of cats in the household and eating raw meat products. With IFAT and ELISA tests, the prevalence of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies was 41% (190 children examined) and the rate of infection was higher in girls (44%) than in boys (36%). No significant differences were observed in morphological features and physical fitness of examined children. In girls the level of developmental age measured with electrophoretical mobility of nuclei method was significantly higher and school performance significantly lower for those infected with Toxoplasma than for uninfected; this finding was particularly intriguing. Only boys who ate raw meat products were more likely to be seropositive. The study provides some new information on gender differences in reaction to Toxoplasma infection.
Despite the demonstrated exercise -induced increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, growing epidemiological evidence indicates that habitual, moderate physical activity reduces the incidence of several oxidative stress-based diseases. This apparent paradox can be explained taking into account that ROS produced during repeated ex ercise bouts may act as mild stressors able to trigger physiological and biomolecular hormetic responses through a number of redox-sensitive transcription pathways. Unfortunately, much more limited information is available from general population-based research, which could better reflect the condition of common people interested in achieving and maintaining good fitness levels. The present work aimed at investigatin g whether and how exercise-related habits in non-professional regular runners (n=33) can affect the systemic anti-oxidative capacity, and the resting serum levels of typical lipid peroxidation-related by-products and oxidatively- damaged proteins, in comparison with untrained sedentary individuals (n=25). We also anal yzed in both groups the redox response elicited by a modified Bruce-based maximal exercise test on the same parameters. Our findings indicated that long- term regular and moderate practice of aerobic physical activity can increase antioxidant defense systems, lower the resting protein oxidation processes and reduce the immediate up- regulation of lipid-targeting oxidative stress in response to an acute bout of exercise., S. Falone, A. Mirabilio, A. Pennelli, M. Cacchio, A. Di Baldassarre, S. Gallina, A. Passerini, F. Amicarelli., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Hypokalemia as a typical feature of primary aldosteronism (PA) is associated with muscle weakness and could contribute to lower cardio pulmonary fitness. The aim of this study was to describe cardiopulmonary fitness and exercise blood pressure and their determinants during a symptom-limited exercise stress test in patients with PA. We performed a cross-sectional study of patients with confirmed PA who were included before adrenal vein sampling on whom a symptom-limited exercise stress test with expired gas analysis was performed. Patients were switched to the treatment with doxazosin and verapamil at least tw o weeks befor e the study. In 27 patients (17 male) the VO 2peak was 25.4± 6.0 ml/k g/min which corresponds to 80.8 ±18.9 % of Czech national norm. Linear regression analysis shows that VO 2peak de pends on doxazosin dose (DX) (p=0.001) and kal emia (p= 0.02): VO 2peak = 4.2 - 1.0 * DX + 7.6 * Ka lemia. Patients with higher doxazosin doses had a longer history of hypertension and had used more antihypertensives before examination, thus indicating that VO 2peak also depends on the severity of hypertension. In patients with PA, lower cardiopulmonary fitness depends inversely on the severity of hypertension and o n lower plasma potassium level., V. Tuka, M. Matoulek, T. Zelinka, J. Rosa, O. Petrák, O. Mikeš, Z. Krátká, B. Štrauch, R. Holaj, J. Widimský Jr., and Obsahuje bibliografii