About 30-50% of the world human population are infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). Latent toxoplasmosis has many specific behavioural and physiological effects on the human body and influences the course of pregnancy, including secondary sex ratio of children of infected mothers. It was suggested that an increased concentration of glucose could be the proximate cause of increased sex ratio. There are some indirect indications of possible association between toxoplasmosis and certain forms of diabetes. Here we searched for a possible link between latent toxoplasmosis and the level of glucose in the blood. In a cross-sectional study, we found that pregnant women with latent toxoplasmosis had significantly higher blood glucose levels during the oral glucose tolerance test (n = 191, p = 0.010; the level of fasting plasma glucose: mean = 5.04 mmol/l vs mean = 4.88 mmol/l; blood glucose level at 1 hour mean = 7.73 mmol/l vs mean = 6.89 mmol/l and blood glucose level at two hours mean = 6.43 mmol/l vs mean = 5.74 mmol/l) and higher prevalence (19.5 %) of gestational diabetes mellitus (n = 532, p = 0.033, odds ratio = 1.78) in the 24-28th gestational weeks than T. gondii-free women (12.0 %). Increased level of glucose and increased incidence of gestational diabetes mellitus could have considerable clinical impact as contributors to the development of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes in T. gondii-infected women. Our results also brought the first empirical support for the hypothesis that the glucose concentration may play a role in T. gondii-associated offspring sex ratio shifts., Šárka Kaňková, Jaroslav Flegr, Pavel Calda., and Obsahuje bibliografii
This article aims to share the results of research conducted in the Fergana chemical plant of furan compounds (FCPFC) in Uzbekistan.19 workers of the Furan compounds plant, in Fergana, Uzbekistan, were tested. By neutron activation analysis method, we have studied microelement composition of saliva, blood, dental hard tissue, and the level of Ca, Zn, Fe, and Ag in these subjects. We have detected that the level of chemical elements in dental hard tissue, blood, and saliva of these workers was subject to negative changes as compared to the analysis results from those in the control group. The research results have practical value for the prophylaxis, treatment, and health resumption of the people living in rugged ecological environment and workers who are engaged with harmful substances in chemical industry. Furthermore,this research also provides recommendations for treatment of dental diseases related to common conditions of pathophysiological processes carried out by living organisms., Sunnatillo Gaffarov, Salim Sharipov, and Literatura
Event history modelling techniques have become increasingly widespread in the social sciences over the last few decades and the range of applications includes demographic and sociological analyses, labour market studies, mobility and migration studies, as well as analyses within political science. In principle, event history analysis represents an extension of the statistical techniques connected with the life table method and can be defined as an analysis of the duration of the non-occurrence of a given event during a risk period. This article devotes attention to the concept of event history analysis in terms of data considerations, basic principles and methods of analysis. In order to discuss the basic methods and their potential to interpret results, the author applied the event-history approach to an analysis of the process of leaving the parental home using data from the Czech Generations and Gender Survey [2005]. The final part of this study discusses some key issues involved in using the event history approach when analysing socio-demographic topics within the Czech context.