Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) display considerable phenotype plasticity which can be studied in vivo on vascular remodeling which occurs during acute or chronic vascular injury. In differentiated cells, which represent contractile phenotype, there are characteristic rapid transient changes of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), while the resting cytosolic [Ca2+]i concentration is low. It is mainly caused by two components of the Ca2+ signaling pathways: Ca2+ entry via L-type voltagedependent Ca2+ channels and dynamic involvement of intracellular stores. Proliferative VSMC phenotype is characterized by long-lasting [Ca2+]i oscillations accompanied by sustained elevation of basal [Ca2+]i. During the switch from contractile to proliferative phenotype there is a general transition from voltagedependent Ca2+ entry to voltage-independent Ca2+ entry into the cell. These changes are due to the altered gene expression which is dependent on specific transcription factors activated by various stimuli. It is an open question whether abnormal VSMC phenotype reported in rats with genetic hypertension (such as spontaneously hypertensive rats) might be partially caused by a shift from contractile to proliferative VSMC phenotype., E. Misárková, M. Behuliak, M. Bencze, J. Zicha., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Excitation-emission maps were constructed by measuring emission spectra from tobacco thylakoids and from thylakoids and intact cells of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803. The measurement of such maps is greatly facilitated by the current diode-array detector technology. We show that excitation-emission maps are valuable tools for studies of the structure and energy transfer pathways in photosynthetic systems. and Mika Keränen, Eva-Mari Aro, Esa Tyystjärvi.
The effects of Lathyrus sativus neurotoxin were studied on the cell membrane potential and cellular cation composition in Retzius nerve cells of the leech Haemopis sanguisuga, with ion-selective microelectrodes using liquid ion-exchangers. Bath application of 10-4 mol/l Lathyrus sativus neurotoxin for 3 min depolarized the cell membrane potential and decreased the input resistance of directly polarized membrane in Retzius neurons. At the same time the cellular Na+ activity increased and cellular K+ activity decreased with slow but complete recovery, while the intracellular Ca2+ concentration was not changed. Na+-free Ringer solutions inhibited the depolarizing effect of the neurotoxin on the cell membrane potential. Zero-Ca2+ Ringer solution or Ni2+-Ringer solution had no influence on the depolarizing effect of the neurotoxin on the cell membrane potential. It is obvious that the increase in membrane conductance and depolarization of the cell membrane potential are due to an influx of Na+ into the cell accompanied by an efflux of K+ from the cell., D. Cemerikić, V. Nedeljkov, S. Lopičić, S. Dragović, B. Beleslin., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Activation of autophagy suppresses ovarian cancer (OC). This in vitro study investigated whether the anti-tumour effect of exendin-4 against OC involves modulation of autophagy and figured out the possible mechanisms of action. SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells (1 × 105/ml) were cultured in DMEM medium and treated with exendin-4 in the presence or absence of chloroquine (CQ), an autophagy inhibitor. In some cases, cells were also treated with exendin- 4 with or without pre-treatment with compound C (CC), an AMPK inhibitor, or insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), a PI3K/Akt activator. Exendin-4 increased expression of beclin-1 and LC3I/II, suppressed expression of p62, reduced cell survival, migration, and invasion, and increased cell apoptosis and LDH release in both SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells. Besides, exendin-4 reduced phosphorylation of mTORC1, 6SK, 4E-BP1, and Akt but increased phosphorylation of AMPK in both cell lines. These effects were associated with down-regulation of Bcl-2, suppression of nuclear phosphorylation of NF-κB p65, and increased expression of Bax and cleaved caspases 3/8. Chloroquine completely prevented the inhibitory effects of exendin-4 on the cell survival, Bcl-2, NF-κB, and cell invasiveness and abolished its stimulation of cell apoptosis and LDH release. Moreover, only the combined treatment with IGF-1 and CC completely abolished the observed effect of exendin-4 on the expression of beclin-1, LC3I/II, p62, as well as on cell survival, apoptosis, and LDH release. Exendin-4 exhibits a potent anti-tumour cytotoxic effect in SKOV-3 and OVCAR-3 cells by activating the markers of autophagy, mediated by activation of AMPK and inhibition of Akt.
It is known that excessive sympathetic activity and oxidative stress are enhanced in obesity. This study aimed to clarify whether exercise training (ET) attenuates sympathetic activation and oxidative stress in obesity. The obesity was induced by highfat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to four groups: regular diet (RD) plus sedentary (RD-S), RD plus ET (RD-ET), HFD plus sedentary (HFD-S), and HFD plus ET (HFD-ET). The rats in RD-ET and HFD-ET groups were trained on a motorized treadmill for 60 min/day, five days/week for 8 weeks. The sympathetic activity was evaluated by the plasma norepinephrine (NE) level. The superoxide anion, malondialdehyde and F2-isoprostanes levels in serum and muscles were measured to evaluate oxidative stress. The ET prevented the increases in the body weight, arterial pressure and white adipose tissue mass in HFD rats. The NE level in plasma and oxidative stress related parameters got lower in HFD-ET group compared with HFD-S group. We have found decreased mRNA and protein levels of toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and TLR-4 by ET in HFD rats. These findings suggest that ET may be effective for attenuating sympathetic activation and oxidative stress in diet-induced obesity., G. Li, J.-Y. Liu, H.-X. Zhang, Q. Li, S.-W. Zhang., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This section contains information about two exhibitions realized in the year 2007. The first review is devoted to the exhibition named
White Beauty which took place in Frenštát pod Radhoštěm. A set of embroidered textiles from the private collection of Mr and Mrs Divín from Zubří was presented within the framework of the exhibition.
This collection covers the development of patterns and variants of Zubří embroidery within the past 100 years. The displayed set of embroidered textiles is significant because it assembles a number of objects connected to one locality - Zubří and its immediate vicinity. The collection also documents work of several generations of embroiderers from this locality. Several dozens of covers, blankets, fancy handkerchiefs, headdresses and other objects decorated by Zubří embroidery, were presented there. The atmosphere was intensified by a quantity of photographs and reproductions of working embroiderers and women dressed in traditional costumes.
In 2007, the Museum of Southeastern Moravia in Zlín opened a new permanent exhibition in Luhačovice called Luhačovice Known and Unknown. The aim of the exhibition is to show visitors Luhačovice at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries as a town at the centre of
traditional ethnographical region Luhačovické Zálesí, to point out that Luhačovice is a health resort, and to introduce it as a place between a village and a spa. Presented material is placed in seven exhibition spaces. It gives an idea of different aspects of the material and non-material culture of the town, reminds of prominent personalities as well as specific features of this locality. and Tento abstrakt je společný pro 2 zprávy uvedené v oddílu Výstavy
The section containing reviews of exhibitions informs us about five shows in 2006 and 2007. At the turn of 2006/2007 the Institute of Ethnography of the Moravian Museum in Brno prepared an exhibition titled The World Under the Glass; it was the first time the museum was able to show off its rich collection. It showed the transformations of wax from processing to the wide range of finished products and their different uses. Special attention was paid to little wax statues and objects under glass cover. The exhibition About the Work of Human Hands was compiled by the Wallachian Open-Air Museum in Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. It was devoted to handicrafts in the Wallachia and Těšín region. It connected presentation of historic handicrafts in the area at the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries with introduction of contemporary craftsmen awarded the prestigious title Bearer of the Folk Craft tradition., The exhibition in Luhačovice, I’ve Lost My Little Apron, dealt with the traditional costume in Luhačovické Zálesí region. Collections assembled by the Václavík brothers in the first half of the 20th century were used - many of them had not been shown before. The exhibition Photo Koukal Uherský Ostroh was created through co-operation between the city of Uherský Ostroh and the Institute of Ethnography of the Moravian Museum in Brno. It tracked the thirty-year history of a local photographic studio. It is possible to identify changes in people’s clothing in the town as well as in the village thanks to the well-preserved studio and portrait production. The long period of time even allows us to see changes within one family or of one person. The exhibition For Czech Daughters in the Institute of Ethnography of the Moravian Museum in Brno introduced the history of the Ladies’ Educational Association Vesna. the exhibition shows different aspects of the association’s work, individual spheres of interest, personalities and other external collaborators involved in the association’s activities., and Abstrakt je společný pro 5 zpráv o výstavních akcích uvedených v oddílu Výstavy
An exhibition by the Museum of Moravian Slovakia in Uherské Hradiště Aj to sú maléři od boha samého. Lidoví malíři rodu Hánů z Blatnice pod Svatým Antonínkem (Oh, What Painters, Sent by God Himself: Folk Painters of Hána Family from Blatnice pod Svatým Antonínkem), documenting the production of folk painters, father and son, František and Josef Hána, was acknowledged in the year 2008 by Ethnographical society members as the exhibition of the
year. The exhibition, which was also exposed in Brno in 2008, was supplemented with a colour publication of the same title. Alena
Křížová reviewed the exhibition as well as the catalogue. As part of her contribution, Anna Oláhová introduced an exhibition entitled
Národopisnou kresbou (Ethnographical Drawing) which took place in 2007 at the Slovak National Museum, Martin. The exhibition took place on the occasion of PhDr. Štefan Mruškovič, CSc. anniversary.
It had opened an interesting perspective on the possibility of using documentary drawing in the field of ethnographical documentation. Further accounts include the review of Od kolébky po rakev aneb rodinné obyčeje a obřady v běhu lidského života (From the Cradle to the Coffin - Family Customs and Rituals in the Flow of Human Life)
by Vanda Vrlová, an exhibition displayed in Valašské Meziříčí in the division of the Museum of region of Wallachia; and Biedermeier - umění a kutura v českých zemích 1814-1848 (Biedermeier -art and culture in Czech Lands 1814-1848). and Tento abstrakt je společný pro všechny 4 zprávy o výstavách uvedené v oddílu Výstavy
The first exhibition review highlights the exhibition On St. Nicolas Day (Na svatého Mikuláše) opened by the Museum of South Eastern Moravia in Zlín in winter 2009-2010. The visitors were introduced to the St. Nicolas tradition in quite remote localities of Eastern Moravia - the South Wallachian Horní Lideč, Žlutava, eastern Haná, Karolín and contemporary Zlín. Very old traditional masks and characters have been preserved in the selected localities. From December 2009 until February 2010, the Jewish Museum in Prague organized an exhibition May God Let Him Grow: A Child’s Birth in the Culture and Customs of Bohemian and Moravian Jews (Nechť mu Bůh dá vyrůst. Narození dítěte v kultuře a zvycích českých a moravských Židů.). The author of the exhibition Dana Veselská presented via three-dimensional objects various aspects of preparation for the child’s birth, the actual birth and the first days of a new human being’s existence. Particular attention was paid to the collection of circumcision diapers. Processing of this collection has brought an interesting observation that floral motifs from the Slovacko area embroidery were an inspiration for embroided designs of these Jewish cloths., On the marking of 150th birth and 80th death anniversary of František Kretz (1859-1929), the Museum of Moravian Slovakia in Uherské Hradiště organized an ethnographical exhibition entitled Veteš nebo poklad? František Kretz a Slovácké museum (Junk or Treasure? František Kretz and the Museum of Moravian Slovakia) between 14 May and 20 September 2009. Its success above all rested in the presentation of original exhibits from the collection of F. Kretz, which are now deposited in the collection of the Museum of Moravian Slovakia. An exhibition Josef Šíma - painter and photographer (1859-1929) (Josef Šíma - kreslíř a fotograf (1859-1929)) in the Moravian Museum open since December 2009 until May 2010 presented an interesting person that dealt with documentation of traditional Moravian culture - a painter and photographer Josef Šíma. In the period of his life, he was able to make use of technology and apart from his painting work he also captured landscape realia with a photographic camera. Exhibition curator Helena Beránková conceived Šíma’s personality in a more complex way (as a photographer, painter and collector, thanks to personal correspondence it was also possible to introduce Šíma as a human being)., and Tento abstrakt je společný pro všechny 4 články uvedené v oddílu Výstavy
By providing the genuinely new „networked“ understanding of exile, this study aims to rewrite significantly the story of Czechoslovak political emigration and re-assess its functioning mostly by means of a tool so far ignored in this field: The Social Network Analysis. According to the dominant historiographical narrative, the Czechoslovak exile followed mostly political goals and was structured as an hierarchy with the Council of Free Czechoslovakia being the supreme body initially respected by most (though not by all) fractions within the exile movement across the globe. That is why the historical research, rather one-sidedly, focused upon the institutional history, biographies of political leaders and ideological debate within political parties in exile. The study argues that the traditional approach needs a substantial revision. Though initially designed as a state-like hierarchy with pyramidal decision-making procedures (with coordinating power vested in the Council of Free Czechoslovakia) the exile soon transformed itself into a horizontal and rather informal network of loosely interconnected and mutually collaborating units and individuals across the globe. The „network thesis“ is demonstrated upon the model analysis of František Váňa’s and Přemysl Pitter’s communication webs being part of the long-term research of Czechoslovak exile networks, 1948–1989.