Primary hyperaldosteronism (PH) is frequently considered to be a secondary form of diabetes mellitus (DM). In our previous study we attempted to evaluate the prevalence of DM among patients with PH compared to control subjects with essential hypertension (EH). We have noted a relatively high prevalence of DM and impaired glucose tolerance in PH, but the differences between the PH and EH groups did not reach statistical significance. We performed this study to assess whether the effective treatment of PH (surgical and conservative) would improve the glucose tolerance. We have studied 24 patients with PH of the following two subtypes: aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) treated with adrenalectomy and idiopathic hyperaldosteronism (IHA) treated with spironolactone. No significant changes of glucose levels were found in the 60th and 120th min of the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in the APA group. On the other hand, fasting glucose levels were decreased significantly after adrenalectomy. Plasma glucose levels were significantly increased in the 60th min, but no differences were found in fasting values and in the 120th min in the IHA group. There was a significantly higher incidence of impaired glucose tolerance (36 % before, 45 % after treatment) and DM (9 %, 18 %) in the IHA group compared to the APA group (8 %, 32 %; DM 0 %, 0 %). In conclusion, the treatment of PH does not improve glucose tolerance. Mild worsening of glucose tolerance after treatment could be explained by an increase of the body mass index. These data, in accordance with our previous study, do not support the idea that PH is a secondary form of diabetes mellitus., B. Štrauch, J. Widimsky Jr., G. Šindelka, J. Škrha., and Obsahuje bibliografii
According to studies, latent Toxoplasma gondii infection may affect several functions of the human brain. Here we search for the association between latent toxoplasmosis and cognitive performance. We tested 70 individuals for latent T. gondii infection. There were 26 Toxoplasma-infected subjects and 44 Toxoplasma-free subjects. Within these two groups we assessed cognitive performance using a set of standardized, widely recognized neuropsychological tests: Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, Verbal Fluency Test, Digit Span Test and N-back test. The relationship between chronic toxoplasmosis and cognitive performance was assessed, with adjustment for age and sex. Patients with latent toxoplasmosis performed worse on one neuropsychological test, N-back Test - percentage of correct answers (β -8.08; 95%CI -15.64 to -0.53; p<0.05) compared to seronegative patients. However, after adjustment for age and sex, no statistically significant associations between latent toxoplasmosis and the scores on any cognitive tests were noticed. As statistically significant relationship was not observed, this study does not confirm that chronic latent T. gondii infection affects cognition.
Anticonvulsant action of vigabatrin (300, 600, 900 and/or 1200 mg/kg i.p.), an inhibitor of GABA-transaminase, was studied in a model of motor sezures elicited by pentylenetetrazol. Five age groups of rats (7, 12, 18, 25 and 90 days old) received a s.c. injection of pentylenetetrazol 4, 6 and/or 24 hours after vigabatrin administration. The incidence of minimal, predominantly clonic seizures was not changed in any age group, but their latencies were prolonged in 18- and 25-day-old rats. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures were influenced in a more complex manner. Incidence of these seizures was decreased in 7-day-old rat pups 24 hours after vigabatrin administration. Higher doses of vigabatrin exhibited a similar effect in adult rats at all intervals studied. Specific suppression or at least restriction of the tonic phase was observed in all groups of immature rats, the effect was more marked 24 hours after vigabatrin than at shorter intervals. The anticonvulsant action of vigabatrin, which could be demonstrated mainly against generalized tonic-clonic seizures, varies markedly during development., R. Haugvicová, H. Kubová, P. Mareš., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Der überwiegende Teil der Auszeichnungen der Volkslieder aus Mähren und Schlesien ist konzentriert in der Brünner Abteilung des Ethnologischen Instituts der Akademie der Wissenschaften der tschechischen Republik. Seit einigen Jahren bemühen wir uns, Information über ähnliche, in Museen und anderen Institutionen aufbewahrte Sammlungen zu gewinnen; diese Aufgabe wird durchgehend gelöst durchs Versenden von Fragebögen. Die auf diese Weise entstehende Datenbank sollte nicht nur den Fachleuten dienen, sondern auch denjenigen, die sich für lokale kulturelle Erscheinungen interessieren und ihre Wiederbelebung unterstützen.
The efforts and results of the research work of the 19th-century personalities who prepared the Czechoslavic Ethnographic Exhibition was continued by other scientists from ethnography and other disciplines dealing with folk culture in the 20th century. Dušan Jurkovič, Zdeněk Wirth and Václav Mencl as well as others were among the most significant experts in the branch of vernacular architecture. Antonín Kurial, a student of Prof. Groha and a university teacher, followed their traces and learned from their results. He succeeded in developing the theories about the documentation of vernacular architecture into a fully- fledged practice. Together with his students at Brno University of Technology, he tried to achieve the best possible way of documentation. After World War II, he started to make an inventory of and to localize more than 1 300 buildings and to survey the selected vernacular buildings from Moravia and Silesia in the measuring scale 1:50 and 1:25. Eastern Moravia, especially the regions of Luhačovské Zálesí and southern Wallachia as well as the villages with timbered architecture in the Vsetín area are abundantly represented in his collection prepared for the Atlas of Vernacular Architecture. The collected documents are published in the form of a printed Catalogue of Vernacular Architecture in particular districts and they are considered to be a unique form of detailed documentation of vernacular buildings in Central Europe.