The aim of this study was to explore changes in plasma vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in aged patients who undergone transcatheter aortic valve implantation or balloon angioplasty for the treatment of aortic stenosis. Plasma VEGF was measured in subjects with diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM) (n=21, age 79.2±1.6 years) and in non-diabetic subjects (non-DM) (n=23, age 84.4±0.7 years), using an ELISA kit. Before the procedure plasma levels of VEGF were significantly lower in DM than in non-DM patients (P<0.05). Plasma VEGF significantly increased in both groups (DM and non-DM) 24 h (387±64 vs. 440±30 pg/ml, P<0.05) and 72 h (323±69 vs. 489±47 pg/ml, P<0.05) after the endovascular procedure. However, the VEGF in DM patients was significantly lower compared to non-DM subjects up to one month after the endovascular procedure (283±47 vs. 386±38 pg/ml, P<0.05). We conclude that increased plasma VEGF in aged patients associates with atherosclerotic aortic valve stenosis. In spite of that plasma VEGF in DM was constantly significantly lower than in non diabetic patients, both before and after the endovascular procedure, possibly reflecting a disturbance of angiogenic/antiangiogenic balance in diabetes., V. Bláha, J. Šťásek, J. Bis, J. Fortunato, C. Andrýs, V. Pavlík, P. Polanský, M. Brtko, L. Sobotka., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Zpráva o konferenci, která se uskutečnila na Universitě v Birminghamu 6. - 8. ledna 2014., Miloš Zapletal., Rubrika: Konference, and Cizojazyčné resumé není.
We investigated the factors that impose an upper limit of salinity tolerance to the unicellular freshwater cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942. Above approx. 0.4 M NaCl, Synechococcus cells cease to proliferate, after having accumulated 0.3 M sucrose. Cells that pre-accumulated sucrose could tolerate up to 0.5 M NaCl, but not 0.6 M NaCl. After exposure to 0.5 M NaCl or higher, the cells were irreversibly modified becoming unable for osmotic volume adjustments. and N. P. Ladas, G. C. Papageorgiou.
Double-regulated vertical axial water turbine with conical distributor, which is worldwide known as a Saxo-type turbine, is the main subject of this paper. Due to continuous research, development and improvement, advance and compact structure, simplified civil construction works, reliability, ecological design and versatile applicability, the turbine became very recognizable product of company Litostroj Power, with over 30 successfully commissioned units in North American and Canadian market mainly. Authors see the Saxo turbine as one of the most interesting and suitable solutions for small and medium size hydro power plants. This paper aims to draw attention on this unique and interesting turbine design especially because experiences show that hydro power plant investors are somehow conservative and they mainly prefer and trust in more conventional turbine types i.e. Kaplan turbines and tubular turbines. The paper enlightens important design, hydraulic, economic and operation advantages of the Saxo-type turbines and points out most obvious advantages comparing to tubular and Kaplan type turbines. As an evidence of safe and reliable operation, there is a special section at the end of the paper which is focused on field-feedback experiences obtained during exptensive turbine testing at commissioning tests, final field performance acceptance tests and operation experiences. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The paper deals with mathematical modelling and computer simulation of the seismic response of chosen components of hte nuclear WWER 1999 reactor. The seismic response is investigated by numerical integration method in time domain. The seismic excitation is given by two horizontal and one vertical synthetic accelerograms at the level of the pressure vessel seating adjusted for a certain damping vallue 5 %. The main aim of the paper is seismic response assessment for two variants of nuclear fuel assemblies - VVANTAGE 6 and TVSA-T. The maximal values of displacements and linkages or component deformations are compared for both fuel assembly variants. and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Man’s spirituality is part of individual inner experience e.g. awareness of making one’s own choices, subjectivity, aspirations, preferred values and their criteria, open-mindedness towards oneself and others, readiness to contradict evil, and striving to realize the purpose of life. The multifaceted construct of SoL embraces: 1) life affirmation, 2) self-acceptance, 3) goal awareness, 4) sense of freedom, 5) valuation of future, and 6) attitude towards death. The objective of my empirical research was to determine the intensity of SoL among students of pedagogy and to establish which components of meaning of life co-condition the level of SoL intensity. Test group : a representative group of pedagogy students at the University of Szczecin: 683 people. The designed SoL test is based on the PIL (Purpose in Life) format- Crumbaugh-Maholick Purpose-in-Life Test. The results of research prove empirical theses stated on the grounds of logotheory and logotherapy (e.g. about the significance of the attitude towards death for the attitude towards life, and the sense of freedom as a mechanism facilitating transcendence).
This study was undertaken to attempt to identify correlations between microsporidial seroprevalence data in man, clinical diseases and groups of people at the risk of HIV/AIDS infection. Groups of patients were selected according to the predilection of members of the genus Encephalitozoon for nervous and kidney tissue. Female prostitutes and alcohol and intravenous drug abusers were selected as groups at risk of HIV/AIDS infections. A total of 401 samples of human sera were examined for the presence of antimicrosporidial IgG antibodies by ELISA test with a titre of 600 considered borderline positivity. The highest occurrence of antimicrosporidial antibodies was found in the groups of alcohol abusers (16 % from 43 patients), intravenous drug abusers (11 % from 9 patients) and prostitutes (10 % from 80 women) for E. cuniculi antigen and in the groups of psychiatric patients (14 % from 44 patients), malaria patients (11 % from 38 patients) and alcohol abusers (7 % from 43 patients) for E. hellem antigen. The occurrence of specific antibodies of the six examined diagnostic units (glomerulonephritis chronica, pyelonephritis chronica, schizophrenia, dementia, multiple sclerosis and cerebral stroke) was statistically significant only in patients with pyelonephritis chronica and dementia (p < 0.05), No cases of microsporidial infection were found among the female prostitutes by parasitological examination, although one case of giardiasis was identified. Sera of patients with high anti-/:, cuniculi and anti-fc'. hellem antibodies (titres in ELISA of 600 and above) were confirmed by Western blot using E. cuniculi and E. hellem polypeptides, respectively. These results suggest that the examined patients could show residual antibodies from past or latent infections.
a1_Sarcopenia is defined as an age-associated loss of skeletal muscle function and muscle mass and is common in older adults. Sarcopenia as a disease is currently of interest not only to orthopedists and surgeons but also to internists, endocrinologists, rheumatologists, cardiologists, diabetologists, gynaecologists, geriatricians and paediatricians. In cooperation with the 5th Internal Medicine Clinic, we, as a unit of clinical research, aimed to describe a sarcopenic specific miRNA expression profile for disease diagnostics and classification of the severity of muscle performance deterioration. This study included a total of 80 patients (age 55-86 years) hospitalized at the V. Internal medicine clinic of LFUK and UNB with different severity of muscle performance deterioration. The study participants were evaluated and classified according to short physical performance battery score (SPPB). In this study, we investigated the role of circulating miRNAs in sarcopenia in the elderly. We hypothesized that sarcopenia effects the expression of muscle tissue-specific miRNAs (MyomiRNAs), which could be potentially reflected in the blood plasma miRNA expression profile. The expression of specific circulating miRNAs in patients with different muscle performances was analyzed. Patients’ blood plasma was evaluated for the expression of myomiRNAs: miRNA-29a, miRNA-29b, miRNA-1, miRNA-133a, miRNA-133b, miRNA-206, miRNA-208b and miRNA-499, and the data were correlated with diagnostic indicators of the disease. We showed a specific sarcopenia miRNA profile that could be considered a possible biomarker for the disease. Patients with low muscle performance showed increased miRNA-1, miRNA-29a and miRNA-29b expression and decreased for the miRNA-206, miRNA-133a, miRNA-133b, miRNA-208b and miRNA-499 expression., a2_ We show that the severity of muscle performance deterioration in sarcopenia correlates with specific miRNA expression. We also propose the profile of miRNAs expression in blood plasma as a specific biomarker for sarcopenia diagnostics. Future clinical studies will be necessary to eventually naturally have to elucidate the underlined molecular mechanism responsible for specific miRNAs expression in sarcopenia pathology and progression of the disease., Simona Valášková, Andrea Gažová, Petra Vrbová, Tomáš Koller, Barbara Šalingova, Adriana Adamičková, Nikola Chomaničová, Nikoleta Hulajová, Juraj Payer, Ján Kyselovič., and Obsahuje bibliografii
To assess the short- and long-term impacts of UV radiation (UVR, 280-400 nm) on the microalga Scrippsiella trochoidea, we exposed cells to three different radiation treatments (PAB: 280-700 nm, PA: 320-700 nm, and P: 400-700 nm). A significant decrease in the photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII) at high irradiance (100% of incident solar radiation, 216.0 W m-2) was observed. Photoinhibition was reduced from 62.7 to 10.9% when the cells were placed in 12% solar radiation (26.1 W m-2). In long-term experiments (11 days) using batch cultures, cell densities during the first 5 days were decreased under treaments P, PA, and PAB, reflecting a change in the irradiance experienced in the laboratory to that of incident solar irradiance. Thereafter, specific growth rates increased and UV-induced photoinhibition decreased, indicating acclimation to solar UV. Cells were found to exhibit both higher ratios of repair to UV-related damage, shorter period for recovery and increased concentrations of UV-absorbing compounds (UVabc), whose maximum absorption was found to be at 336 nm. Our data indicate that S. trochoidea is sensitive to ultraviolet radiation, but was able to acclimate relatively rapidly (ca. 6 days) by synthesizing UVabc and by increasing the rates of repair processes of D1 protein in PSII. and W. C. Guan, S. H. Lu.