Adipose tissue is a hormonally active tissue, producing adipocytokines which may influence activity of other tissues. Adiponectin, abundantly present in the plasma increases insulin sensitivity by stimulating fatty acid oxidation, decreases plasma triglycerides and improves glucose metabolism. Adiponectin levels are inversely related to the degree of adiposity. Anorexia nervosa and type 1 diabetes are associated with increased plasma adiponectin levels and higher insulin sensitivity. Decreased plasma adiponectin levels were reported in insulin-resistant states, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes and in patients with coronary artery disease.Activity of adiponectin is associated with leptin, resistin and with steroid and thyroid hormones, glucocorticoids, NO and others.
Adiponectin suppresses expression of extracellular matrix adhesive proteins in endothelial cells and atherosclerosis potentiating cytokines. Anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammatory properties of adiponectin and the ability to stimulate insulin sensitivity have made adiponectin an important object for physiological and pathophysiological studies with the aim of potential therapeutic applications.
Excessive LDL cholesterol concentration together with subclinical inflammation, in which macrophages play a central role, are linked pathologies. The process starts with the accumulation of macrophages in white adipose tissue and the switch of their polarization toward a pro-inflammatory phenotype. The proportion of pro-inflammatory macrophages in adipose tissue is related to the main risk predictors of cardiovascular disease. The cholesterol content of phospholipids of cell membranes seems to possess a crucial role in the regulation of membrane signal transduction and macrophage polarization. Also, different fatty acids of membrane phospholipids influence phenotypes of adipose tissue macrophages with saturated fatty acids stimulating pro-inflammatory whereas ω3 fatty acids antiinflammatory changes. The inflammatory status of white adipose tissue, therefore, reflects not only adipose tissue volume but also adipose tissue macrophages feature. The beneficial dietary change leading to an atherogenic lipoprotein decrease may therefore synergically reduce adipose tissue driven inflammation.
We investigated the effects of telmisartan, the blocker of angiotensin II receptor 1, on the regulation of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and oxidative stress through endothelial nitric oxide (NO) release in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). SHRs randomly received placebo, oral feeding of telmisartan (5 mg/kg or 10 mg/kg) every day and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKYs) served as normotensive control. The SBP of rat was measured before and weekly thereafter. After a total of 8-week treatment, rats were killed for experimental measurements. Parameters that subject to measurements in isolated aorta endothelial cells include: NO concentration, protein expression levels of angiotensin II receptor 1, nitrotyrosine, 8-isoprostane, SOD, PI3K, Akt, AMPK and eNOS. In addition, L-NMMA, a general inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, was also applied to test the inhibition of NO concentration. We found that SBPs were significantly lower in telmisartan therapy group than in placebo treated hypertensive rats and WKYs (p<0.05). The NO concentration was significantly higher in telmisartan-treated group with increased activity of the PI3K/Akt pathway and activated eNOS signaling. Blockade of Akt activity reversed such effects. Activation of AMPK also contributed to the phosphorylation of eNOS. L-NMMA treatment reduced less NO concentration in SHR rats than the telmisartan co-treated groups. Oxidative stress in SHRs was also attenuated by telmisartan administration, shown by reduced formation of nitrotyrosine, 8-isoprostane, and recovered SOD protein level. Telmisartan enhanced NO release by activating the PI3K/Akt system, AMPK phosphorylation and eNOS expression, which attenuated the blood pressure and oxidative stress in SHRs., L. Xu, Y. Liu., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Christian Hartmann, Thomas Vordermeyer, Othmar Plöckinger, and Roman Töppel (eds.). Hitler, Mein Kampf: Eine kritische Edition. Munich and Berlin: Institut für Zeitgeschichte, 2016, vols 1-2, 947 + 1019 pp., ISBN 978-3-9814052-3-1. With Edith Raim, Pascal Trees, Angelika Reizle, and Martina Seewald-Mooser. Includes illustrations, maps, a list of all known translations of Mein Kampf before 1945, a list of abbreviations, a detailed bibliography in three parts (before 1932, 1933-45, after 1945), and four indexes (a biographical index and indexes of persons, places, and subjects).In the form of an essay, the author comments here on the 2016 critical edition of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (1925-26), edited by a team of historians from the Institute of Contemporary History in Munich, with additional assistance from others. He contemplates the nature and importance of this book and discusses its author and his meaning in the history of twentieth-century central Europe. He then discusses some of the ideas of Mein Kampf, and clarifi es the historical context of the work, returning to the circumstances that led to its being written and published. He also discusses some of Hitler’s fellow travellers in the Nazi movement, who were of importance for this key work. The author brings up episodes in Hitler’s life, and pays particular attention to his still unclear transformation from an apolitical soldier into a zealous antisemite and political agitator of exceptional rhetorical skill, who was able to bewitch the German people and become their Führer. The author also discusses the diffi culties that the editors of this critical edition had to struggle with, and he praises their work as utterly solid and astonishingly thorough, particularly the commentaries in the huge critical apparatus. The author concludes by discussing reactions both to the fi rst edition of Mein Kampf and to this critical edition, and he discusses various attempts to publish a Czech edition.
Abstrakt: Mezi představitele filosofické antropologie bývá řazen také švýcarský biolog a zoolog Adolf Portmann. Studie zkoumá legitimitu tohoto zařazení prostřednictvím analýzy filosofické relevance Portmannova myšlení, a to na příkladu dvou nejznámějších motivů jeho díla: jednak původního a objevného konceptu „extra-uterinálního“ prvního roku života lidského mláděte v tzv. sociálním uteru, jednak převzatého konceptu „niternosti“, který je charakteristický pro všechny živočichy. Během „extra-uterinálního“ roku lidské mládě postupně vrůstá do lidského světa prostřednictvím osvojování tří základních lidských rysů. Jde o vzpřímené držení těla, které osvobozuje ruce a vede k zaujetí frontální pozice vůči nyní se otevírajícímu světu, dále o osvojování si řeči prostřednictvím slov a znaků a konečně o rozvíjení „technické“ inteligence či jednání na základě vhledu. V těchto třech výlučně humánních formách vedení života se podle Portmanna rovněž demonstruje i „niternost“, která je typicky lidským způsobem sebe-manifestace. Na základě definování souvislostí obou výše zmíněných Portmannových konceptů by bylo možné koncipovat takové určení člověka jakožto osoby, které by se stalo fundamentálním prvkem klasicky pojaté filosofické antropologie. Toto určení však Portmann sám nikdy nevypracoval, a zůstává tedy v odborné literatuře doposud pouhým desideratem., Adolf Portmann is counted among the key protagonists of philosophical anthropology, although he was formerly a biologist and zoologist. Thus, the paper presented here poses the question of the legitimacy of such a claim and investigates the philosophical relevance of Portmann’s work. Two of his most renowned conceptions serve as examples: First, the “extra-uterine” year in the “social uterus,” during which the human child grows into the upright carriage of body, learns of speech through words and signs and learns of “technical intelligence,” all of which together make the child become a genuine human being. Second, the conception of “Innerlichkeit,” which is rendered into English as “centricity,” is a common feature of all living beings and is significant through self-manifestation. The two conceptions are intertwined with one another and offer the basis for an eventual conception of the human being as a person. This is a fundamental tenant of classical philosophical anthropology, something which Portmann himself never elaborated on, and it thus remains a desideratum in the scholarship., and Adolf Portmann wird allzu selbstverständlich unter die Protagonisten der philosophischen Anthropologie gerechnet, obwohl er eigentlich vom Fach her Biologe und Zoologe war. Deshalb stellt die vorliegende Studie die Frage nach der Legitimität dieser Meinung und der philosophischen Relevanz Portmanns anhand einer Überlegung über zweierlei Grundkonzeptionen, durch welche Portmann bekannt wurde: Einerseits das „Extra-uterine“ Jahr im „Sozial-Uterus“, während dessen das frühzeitig geborene Kind sich sowohl die aufrechte Haltung des Körpers als auch die Wort- und Zeichensprache und schließlich das „technische Denken“, bzw. „einsichtige Handeln“ aneignet, die alle zusammen laut Portmann das Kind überhaupt erst zu einem Menschen machen. Andererseits die „Innerlichkeit“, die als ein Grundzug aller Lebewesen in der „Selbstdarstellung“ besteht und sich vollzieht. Beide Grundkonzeptionen hängen miteinander zusammen und können zur Grundlage einer möglichen Konzeption des Menschen als einer Person dienen, welche zwar für die klassische philosophische Anthropologie grundlegend ist, die jedoch von Portmann nie vorgelegt wurde und die deshalb als ein eventuelles Desiderat in der Fachliteratur aussteht.
Ve střední Evropě (Česko, Maďarsko a Polsko) jsme zaznamenali 9 případů zajímavé adopce mláďat káně lesní (Buteo buteo) v hnízdech orlů mořských (Haliaeetus albicilla). Adoptovaná mláďata byla v dobré kondici, dospělí orli mořští se o ně starali a mláďata byla nakonec úspěšně vyvedena., Nine interesting cases of young Common Buzzards (Buteo buteo) adopted in nests of White-tailed Sea Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) in central Europe (Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) are reviewed. The B. buteo nestlings adopted were in good condition, the adult H. albicilla fed and cared for them properly, and the young birds successfully fledged., and Ivan Literák, Jakub Mráz.
The method of cellular immobilization and perfusion was applied to adipocytes. The lipolytic effect of isoprénaline, whose action is produced as a result of receptor-drug interaction, was followed. An agarose solution kept at at 37 °C was mixed 1:1 with the cell suspension. Thereafter, adipocytes were immobilized in the agarose threads. The lipolytic effect of 0.1 ml of isoprénaline (1x10~4 mol/1), that was rapidly introduced to the cell perfusion inlet in a non-recirculating system, was monitored by assessing glycerol production. The immobilized and perfused adipocytes exhibited significant lipolytic activity. After reaching the maximum effect, 0.1 ml of propranol (lxl 0-3 mol/1) that was applied to the bioreactor inlet, abolished the isoprénaline effect. The present data demonstrate the potential applicability of immobilized perfused adipocytes for various kinds of studies.
Adrenergic receptors (ARs) are the primary targets of catecholamines released from the sympathetic nerve endings during their activation. ARs play a central role in autonomic nervous system and serve as important targets of widely used drugs. Several ARs gene polymorphisms were found to be associated with cardiovascular disease in previous clinical studies. Although more precise mechanism of the polymorphisms influence on autonomic control of cardiovascular system was studied in many previous physiological studies, their results are not unequivocal. This paper reviews the results of clinical and physiological studies focused on the impact of selected common single nucleotide polymorphisms of ARs genes involved in sympathetic control on cardiovascular system and its control. In summary, many studies assessed only a very limited range of cardiovascular control related parameters providing only very limited view on the complex cardiovascular control. The overview of partially contradicting results underlines a need to examine wider range of cardiovascular measures including their reactivity under various stress conditions requiring further study. It is expected that an effect of one given polymorphism is not very prominent, but it is suggested that even subtle differences in cardiovascular control could – on a longer time scale – lead to the development of severe pathological consequences.