Increased homocysteine levels in serum are typical features of neurodegenerative brain diseases including hydrocephalus. The most frequent therapeutic approach consists of the insertion of a shunt, connecting the brain ventricles to an alternative drainage site. To decide whether the patient should undergo this, the lumbar drainage test is usually carried out to distinguish patients who can benefit from the shunt insertion. In searching for other potential biochemical markers for shunt indication we determined homocysteine levels in CSF during the lumbar drainage test. Homocysteine in CSF was measured during the 5-day lumbar drainage test in 27 patients with normal-pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and in 25 patients with excluded hydrocephalus. A novelized gas chromatography method with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was developed and evaluated. During the first two days of lumbar drainage, the levels of CSF homocysteine in NPH patients were significantly higher compared to the controls, while on the fifth day, the homocysteine levels in patients with hydrocephalus reached the level of controls. Determination of CSF homocysteine in patients with confirmed or suspected hydrocephalus may serve as an independent marker for deciding on their further treatment strategy., L. Sosvorová, J. Bešťák, M. Bičíková, M. Mohapl, M. Hill, J. Kubárová, R. Hampl., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The mathematical model and algorithms for calculating the position of GLONASS satellites by means of their broadcast ephemeris is presented in the paper. The algorithms are based on the generalized problem of two fixed centers. One of the advantages of the analytical solution obtained from the generalized problem of two fixed centers is the fact that it embraces perturbations of all orders, from the second and also part ly from the third zonal harmonics (Aksenov, 1969). GLONASS broadcast ephemeris - provided every 30 minutes - contain satellite position and velocities in the Earth fixed coordinate system PZ-90.02 (ICD, 2008), and acceleration due to luni-solar attraction. The GLONASS Interface Control Document recommends that a fourth order Runge-Kutta integration algorithm shall be applied. In the Department of Geomatics (AGH UST) a computer program has been established for fitting position and velocity of GLONASS satellites using their broadcast ephemeris. Intermediate GLONASS satellite orbits are calculated consider ing also the second and third zonal harmonics in the gravitational potential of the Earth. In this paper results of the analytical integration of the equation of the motion of the GLONASS satellites compared to the numerical solution are provided., Władysław Góral and Bogdan Skorupa., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
Chemical Quantitative Phase Analysis (CQPA) suggested originally for magmatic rocks (Klika et al., 1986) now is tested for the quantitative mineral determination of coal. This method is based on the optimization procedure. For the evaluation of mineral contents, 5 coal samples were selected and the following analytical data were determined: a) chemical analyses (XRF, titrimetric and gravimetric analytical methods), b) qualitative mineral composition (the X-ray powder diffraction, SEM-EDX and image analyses), c) crystallochemical formulae of minerals. The calculated percentages of minerals obtained by CQPA were compared with calculated percentages of minerals obtained by Raask´s method. Simple statistical evaluation showed that calculation of minerals by CQPA program delivers considerable improvement of results., Michal Ritz and Zdeněk Klika., and Obsahuje bibliografii
A method of determination the apparent resistyvity of the ground’s near-surface la yers from measurements of the mutual impedance of a loop antenna system operating at a high frequency is presented. An analysis of the sensitivity of mutual impedance to variation in the parameters of conducting half space at different frequencies had been carried out. Additionally influence of displacement current on measured mutual impedance values was discussed. A frequency of measuring system was selected in order to obtain a high sensitivity of the measuring system to detection inhomogeneities characterised by small dimensions and low apparent resistyvity contrast. The measuring system and the method of interpreting measurement results were described. The results of field measurements were presented., Grzegorz Beziuk and Remigiusz Mydlikowski., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
PSI trimer to monomer ratio in intact cyanobacterial cells and isolated thylakoids was analysed by two noninvasive, in vivo methods; low-temperature fluorescence emission and circular dichroism spectroscopy. We measured fluorescence emission spectra of cells upon chlorophyll (Chl, 436 nm) excitation. All three species - Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, and Spirulina platensis - showed shifted Chl peak, indicating they have different spectral properties. CD spectroscopy revealed the highest intensity at 515 nm (PSI peak) in Spirulina platensis cells, which may originate from PSI multi-oligomerisation. The most sensitive response to heat treatment in this strain was the oligomerisation of PSI RCs. PSI dimers and tetramers in Anabaena cells showed smaller changes of the CD signal upon the heat treatment compared to that of Synechocystis WT. The lack of γ-linolenic acid affected the filament morphology by the loss of the spiral shape and the PSI monomerisation in Spirulina I22., T. Zakar, L. Kovacs, S. Vajravel, E. Herman, M. Kis, H. Laczko-Dobos, Z. Gombos., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
This study shows the test usage of Mobile Automated Astronomical System No. 1 (M AAS-1) in a local network with an are a of approximately 50 km sq. The network has been built-up especially for experimental purposes to compare the local quasigeoid model determined by three different methods, namely GNSS-levelling, astronomical levelling and gravimetry. The network consists of 34 core points where the astronomic and geodetic coordinates have been measured. Subsequently, the measured data have been processed to obtain vertical deflections and to determine the quasigeoid heights by astronomical levelling. Afterwards, the quasigeoid model has been independently determined also using gravimetric measurements and by the method of GNSS-levelling. In this paper the results of th e comparison of quasigeoid models are being presented. The overall agreement of independently determin ed quasigeoids is on the level of 3 mm. After an overall accuracy evaluation of resulting quasigeoid model authors discuss the benef its of astronomical measur ements using MAAS-1., Tomáš Volařík, Radovan Machotka, Michal Kuruc, Lukáš Puchrik and Josef Jurčík., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In this article, the authors use the existing theoretical foundations and partial solutions to provide a general formula, which can be used to determine the value of horizontal deformation factor B for various applications of the Knothe theory. This applies to the calculation of surface deformation not only in the case of hard coal mining, but also in the case of salt mining by borehole. Convergence resulted from mining may cause deformations of caverns used to store liquid and gaseous fuels or the deformations related to the fluidized bed extraction. The calculations for the new analytical model are presented in the examples of the Etzel cavern (Germany) and the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (Poland). and Sroka Anton, Misa Rafał, Tajdus Krzysztof.
This paper describes the researches upon the precise short-time GPS solutions made in the Centre of Applied Geomatics, Military University of Technology. The data from ASG-EUPOS (Polish Active Geodetic Network) was processed using Bernese 5.0 software and EPN (EUREF Permanent Network) standards and models. In this study, the adopted 3-hour observation window is shifted every hour obtaining geocentric coordinates in ITRF2005 reference frame. The adjusted network consisted of over 130 stations from Poland and the neighbouring countries, the period covered observations collected from 8.06.2008 to 18.06.2010. These two years of observations allowed to examine short-period oscillations which we found as closely related to the tidal (dynamic) frequencies. The analysis of the residua from IERS2003 tidal model was performed using least squares method with the Eterna software upon the idea of Chojnicki. It confirmed existence of the significant energy in the frequencies corresponding to S1, K1 and K2. The effects in S1 frequency reflect thermal influences, but the reasons of K1 and K2 existence could be both: dynamic (liquid core resonance and non-linearity of K1 are very difficult for modelling as well as the annual modulation of S1) or artificial (GPS satellites’ orbiting period, dynamic changes of satellites’ constellation and network geometry, multipath, residual tropospheric and ionospheric errors etc.). Since the phase of K1 for all 130 sites is very inconsistent the local effects could be also taken into account as one of the possible reasons. The paper describes the idea of the data processing and analysis, presents the results of vertical (Up component) oscillations in main tidal frequency bands, but also includes the discussion on the possible explanation of existence of short period oscillations in GPS precise solutions., Janusz Bogusz and Jan Hefty., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Using synthetic data we study the possibility of determining 1-D velocity models of the upper crust from P- and S-wave arrival times in the case of a narrow depth interval of seismic sources and sparse distribution of stations. The test is tailored to a similar real situation in one subregion of the western part of the Corinth Gulf, Greece. Two kinds of models are studied: (i) models composed of layers with constant velocity gradients, and (ii) models composed of homogeneous layers. To derive the structural models from arrival times, the Neighbourhood Algorithm of Sambridge (1999) is used, combined with the grid search for source locations. Weighted P- and S-wave arrival time residuals are used as the misfit function. Accurate and perturbed synthetic arrival times are used. The velocities at medium depths, with a fast velocity increase, are well determined in both models for the accurate data. However, the determination of velocity is less certain in the uppermost 5 km for the gradient model, and in the deepest layer for the model composed of homogeneous layers for the perturbed data. The presence or absence of hypocentres in the uppermost or in the second layer influences notably the obtained velocity in these layers in both models., Jaromír Janský, Vladimír Plicka and Oldřich Novotný., and Obsahuje bibliografii