The aim was search for and analyze published researchs dealing with self-efficacy and care burden in informal caregivers and to assess whether there is a relationship between self-efficacy and care burden. The source of the obtained data were licensed and freely available electronic databases. Based on the set criteria, 13 foreign studies published in the period 2010–2020 were included in the detailed analysis and subsequent processing. The results of the found studies have shown that lower self-efficacy is associated with higher care burden, increased stress, and a higher incidence of depressive syndrome in the informal caregivers. On the other hand high self-efficacy is related to the well-being of caregivers and the quality of life of patients. Self-efficacy appears to be an important phenomenon in influencing the care burden and therefore it is necessary to support caregivers to increase their self-efficacy. Appropriately chosen training and education can increase self-efficacy in various areas of care. and Cílem bylo vyhledat a analyzovat publikované výzkumy zabývající se self-efficacy a pečova-telskou zátěží u neformálních pečovatelů a po-soudit, zda existuje vztah mezi self-efficacy a pečovatelskou zátěží. Zdrojem získaných dat byly licencované a volně dostupné elektronické databáze. Na základě stanovených kritérií bylo do podrobné analýzy a následného zpracování zařazeno 13 zahraničních studií publikovaných v období 2010–2020. Výsledky vyhledaných studií poukazují, že nižší self-efficacy souvi-sí s vyšší pečovatelskou zátěží, se zvýšeným stresem a s vyšším výskytem depresivního syndromu u neformálního pečovatele. Vysoké self-efficacy naopak souvisí s pocitem pohody pečovatele a zlepšením kvality života pacienta. Self-efficacy se jeví jako významný fenomén v rámci ovlivňování pečovatelské zátěže, a pro-to je nutné podporovat pečovatele ve zvyšování jejich self-efficacy. Zvýšit self-efficacy v růz-ných oblastech péče mohou vhodně zvolená školení a edukace.
This paper aims to examine whether self-reported home valuations can be a substitute for objective market data in studies on the level of housing wealth inequality. In order to achieve this aim, information on subjective values of flats and their features in Warsaw (Poland) and Prague (Czechia) was used. Next, hedonic models were estimated to calculate the objective values of these residential properties. The results indicated that, on average, homeowners overestimated their real estate by 2.10% in Warsaw and underestimated by 5.49% in Prague. Finally, using tests for the equality of variances, it was examined whether the level of housing wealth inequality differed significantly when calculated using subjective and objective home values. The findings showed that self-reported home values cannot serve as a perfect proxy for market values when assessing the level of housing wealth inequality in both cities.
Trematode sporocysts and rediae reproduce by parthenogenesis, forming clonal groups in the molluscan host. It has recently become popular to consider these groups as eusocial colonies, with division of labour between rediae morphs: small 'soldiers' incapable of reproduction defend the colony, while large rediae reproduce. Alternatively, clonal groups can be considered as self-sustaining infrapopulations. We tested these two hypotheses in the light of new data on rediae of Himasthla elongata (Mehlis, 1831) from snails Littorina littorea (Linnaeus) concerning ultrastructure, growth character and composition of their groups. Clonal groups under study contained rediae of different age and maturity stages: small (young) rediae, rediae with early cercarial embryos, rediae with late embryonic cercariae, rediae with fully formed motile cercariae, rediae with redial embryos and degenerating rediae. Small rediae had a reproductive organ, the germinal mass, whereas most large rediae with developing cercariae did not, which contradicts the eusocialconcept. Overall distribution of rediae by size and by gut to body length ratio was bimodal, which agrees with the eusocial concept ('soldiers' and 'reproductives' as modal size classes). On closer inspection, however, the bimodal size-frequency distributions (SFD) turned out to be the sum of unimodal SFD of rediae at various stages of maturity. The overall bimodality was determined by the character of redial growth resulting in a relatively low occurrence of intermediate morphs and by the developmental arrest in young rediae. The facts that small rediae can attack other rediae and concentrate in the anterior parts of the mollusc can be explained by age-related feeding preferences and niche segregation. They are unlikely to be associated with the 'colony' defence against invaders. To sum up, clonal groups of H. elongata rediae in our study represented self-sustaining infrapopulations., Kirill V. Galaktionov, Irina M. Podvyaznaya, Kirill E. Nikolaev, Ivan A. Levakin., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Sensing and classification of drought stress levels are very important to agricultural production. In this work, rice drought stress levels were classified based on the commonly used chlorophyll a fluorescence (ChlF) parameter (Fv/Fm), feature data (induction features), and the whole OJIP induction (induction curve) by using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The classification accuracies were compared with those obtained by the K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) and the Ensemble model (Ensemble) correspondingly. The results show that the SVM can be used to classify drought stress levels of rice more accurately compared to the KNN and the Ensemble and the classification accuracy (86.7%) for the induction curve as input is higher than the accuracy (43.9%) with Fv/Fm as input and the accuracy (72.7%) with induction features as input. The results imply that the induction curve carries important information on plant physiology. This work provides a method of determining rice drought stress levels based on ChlF.
The Fish Embryo Acute Toxicity (FET) Test was adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development as OECD TG 236 in 2013. The test has been designed to determine acute toxicity of chemicals on embryonic stages of fish and proposed as an alternative method to the Fish Acute Toxicity Test performed according to OECD TG 203. In recent years fish embryos were used not only in the assessment of toxicity of chemicals but also for environmental and wastewater samples. In our study we investigated the acute toxicity of treated wastewater from seven hospitals in the Czech Republic. Our main purpose was to compare the suitability and sensitivity of zebrafish embryos with the sensitivity of two other aquatic organisms commonly used for wastewater testing – Daphnia magna and Aliivibrio fischeri. For the aim of this study, in addition to the lethal endpoints of the FET test, sublethal effects such as delayed heartbeat, lack of blood circulation, pericardial and yolk sac edema, spinal curvature and pigmentation failures were evaluated. The comparison of three species demonstrated that the sensitivity of zebrafish embryos is comparable or in some cases higher than the sensitivity of D. magna and A. fischeri. The inclusion of sublethal endpoints caused statistically significant increase of the FET test efficiency in the range of 1-12 %. Based on our results, the FET test, especially with the addition of sublethal effects evaluation, can be considered as a sufficiently sensitive and useful additional tool for ecotoxicity testing of the acute toxicity potential of hospital effluents.
An IgM murine monoclonal antibody (MAb) was obtained against the excretory-secretory antigen (ES-Ag) of in vitro reared protoscoleces of Echinococcus granulosus (Batsch, 1786). Western blotting revealed that the MAb recognised a 20.6 kDa protein of this ES-Ag. The MAb was used in sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (s-ELISA) for selective sensitisation of the solid phase with the protoscolex-specific protein from its ES-Ag and somatic antigen (S-Ag) to examine serum samples of 108 cows from a cystic echinococcosis (CE) endemic area for specific antibodies and to compare the results with those from necropsies and an indirect ELISA (i-ELISA). The sensitivity of s-ELISA/ES-Ag, s-ELISA/S-Ag and i-ELISA/S-Ag was 48%, 52% and 62%, respectively. The low sensitivity of the ELISA was probably caused by the fact that 13 cows (62%) were infected with sterile cysts (acephalocysts and/or calcified foci) only. A relatively high specificity (80%) of s-ELISA/ES-Ag was observed in cows with fertile cysts. It also detected antibodies in the serum of two cows that had recovered from the disease according to the necropsy. The i-ELISA/S-Ag gave false results in testing sera from a healthy animal and from a cow with tubercular foci. Further analysis will be necessary to define more precisely the value of this study, because the duration of antibody elimination from the bloodstream of recovered cattle remains unknown. The solution of this problem will increase the specificity of the proposed test in monitoring herbivorous animals for CE., Aitbay K. Bulashev, Zhanbolat A. Suranshiev, Orken S. Akibekov, Zhanara Zh. Akanova, Gulmira A. Abulgazimova., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Growing evidence suggests that diabetes mellitus is associated with impairment of the intestinal barrier. However, it is not clear so far if the impairment of the intestinal barrier is a consequence of prolonged hyperglycemia or the consequence of external factors influencing the gut microbiota and intestinal mucosa integrity. Aim of the study was to perform an estimation of relationship between serological markers of impairment of the intestinal barrier: intestinal fatty acid-binding protein (I-FABP), cytokeratin 18 caspase-cleaved fragment (cCK-18), and soluble CD14 (sCD14) and markers of prolonged hyperglycemia, such as the duration of diabetes mellitus and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) via a correlation analysis in patients with diabetes mellitus. In 40 adult patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and 30 adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus the estimation has been performed. Statistically significant positive correlation was found between cCK-18 and HbA1c (r=0.5047, p=0.0275) in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus with fading insulitis (T1D). In patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus with ongoing insulitis (T1D/INS) and in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), no statistically significant positive correlations were found between serological markers of intestinal barrier impairment (I-FABP, cCK-18, sCD14) and duration of diabetes or levels of HbA1c. Similarly, in cumulative cohort of patients with T1D/INS and patients with T1D we revealed statistically positive correlation only between HbA1c and cCK-18 (r=0.3414, p=0.0311). Surprisingly, we found statistically significant negative correlation between the duration of diabetes mellitus and cCK-18 (r=-0.3050, p=0.0313) only in cumulative group of diabetic patients (T1D, T1D/INS, and T2D). Based on our results, we hypothesize that the actual condition of the intestinal barrier in diabetic patients is much more dependent on variable interactions between host genetic factors, gut microbiota, and environmental factors rather than effects of long-standing hyperglycemia (assessed by duration of diabetes mellitus or HbA1c).
Hunting dogs have probably a higher level of exposure to Neospora caninum Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 and Toxoplasma gondii Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908 than other canine populations for their different lifestyle. The aim of our survey was to determine the seroprevalence of N. caninum and T. gondii in hunting dogs from southern Italy and assess risk factors related to these protozoan infections. Blood samples were collected from 398 hunting dogs (19 different breeds, aged from 5 month to 14 years). The sera were screened by indirect fluorescence antibody test; a titre ≥ 50 was considered positive. Antibodies to N. caninum and T. gondii were detected in 59 (15%) dogs with titres from 50 to 3 200 and in 94 (24%) dogs with titres from 50 to 1 600, respectively, with co-infection in 25 (6%) dogs. Statistical difference (p ≤ 0.05) was found only for infection with T. gondii between two age groups: ≥ 2-4 years (16%) and ≥ 4-7 years (33%); other observed characteristics were without statistical significance. Our results suggest that the hunting dogs could play an important role in the transmission cycle of N. caninum between wild animals and livestock. This is the first detection of antibodies to T. gondii in hunting dogs in Italy., Tereza Machačová, Eva Bártová, Kamil Sedlák, Radka Slezáková, Marie Budíková, Diego Piantedosi, Vincenzo Veneziano., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The consumption of horse meat has been epidemiologically linked to clinical toxoplasmosis in humans and neosporosis that may cause clinical illness in horses. Here we determined seroprevalence of antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908 and species of Neospora Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in horses from Italy. Blood samples were collected from 643 apparently healthy horses from 60 farms of 51 municipalities in southern Italy. The presence of antibodies against T. gondii and Neospora spp. were detected by indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT); a titre ≥ 50 was considered positive. The same sera were also tested for antibodies against Neospora spp. by a competitive-inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA); samples with ≥ 30% inhibition were considered positive. Antibodies against T. gondii and Neospora spp. were detected in 19 (3.0%) and 15 (2.3%) horses by IFAT, respectively, without statistical difference between gender, age and breeds (p-value ≥ 0.05). Antibodies against species of Neospora were detected in 70 (10.9%) horses by cELISA with statistical difference in gender (6.0-18.5%, p-value ≥ 0.05) and breeds (0-19.4%, p-value ≥ 0.05). Although T. gondii infection rates were low, the risk of human infection should not be dismissed, particularly in Italy where consumption of raw or undercooked horse meat has a long tradition., Eva Bártová, Tereza Machačová, Kamil Sedlák, Marie Budíková, Ugo Mariani, Vincenzo Veneziano., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908) is an obligate intracellular, parasitic protozoan within the phylum Apicomplexa that causes toxoplasmosis in mammalian hosts (including humans) and birds. Since meat of wild boar, Sus scrofa (Linnaeus), has been demonstrated to be a potential source of human infection, a careful evaluation of the prevalence of infection with T. gondii in hunted animals is needed to protect public health. In the Var area in southeastern France, we performed a spatio-temporal survey in order to investigate the prevalence of IgG antibodies in wild boars shot by hunters in the Canjuers military camp during two subsequent hunting seasons. Of 841 wild boars screened, antibodies (IgG) to T. gondii (modified agglutination test, cut-off 1 : 6) were found in 141 (16.8%) muscle extract samples. A significant association (p < 0.001) was found between positivity and age, but not gender, and hunting districts. The results obtained indicate that consumption of raw or undercooked meat from wild boars carries an important risk of infection with T. gondii. Wild boars may be considered as a bioindicator of parasite circulation in this ecosystem., Cédric Roqueplo, Radu Blaga, Jean-Lou Marié, Isabelle Vallée, Bernard Davoust., and Obsahuje bibliografii