Major depressive disorder is associated with abnormal autonomic regulation which could be noninvasively studied using pupillometry. However, the studies in adolescent patients are rare. Therefore, we aimed to study the pupillary light reflex (PLR), which could provide novel important information about dynamic balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system in adolescent patients suffering from major depression. We have examined 25 depressive adolescent girls (age 15.2±0.3 y ear) prior to pharmacotherapy and 25 age/gender-matched healthy subjects. PLR parameters were measured separately for both eyes after 5 min of rest using Pupillometer PLR-2000 (NeurOptics, USA). The constriction percentual change for the left eye was significantly lower in depressive group compared to control group (-24.12±0.87 % vs. - 28.04±0.96%, p˂0.01). Furthermore, average constriction velocity and maximum constriction velocity for the left eye were significantly lower in depressive group compared to control group (p˂0.05, p˂0.01, respectively). In contrast, no significant between-groups differences were found for the right eye. Concluding, this study revealed altered PLR for left eye indicating a deficient parasympathetic activity already in adolescent major depression. Additionally, the differences between left and right eye could be related to functional lateralization of autonomic control in the central nervous system., A. Mestanikova, I. Ondrejka, M. Mestanik, D. Cesnekova, Z. Visnovcova, I. Bujnakova, M. Oppa, A. Calkovska, I. Tonhajzerova., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Ornithine carbamoyltransferase has been purified from the liver of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta by a single-step procedure using chromatography on an affinity column to which the transition-state analogue, d-N-(phosphonoacetyl)- L-ornithine (d-PALO), was covalently bound. The procedure employed yielded an enzyme which was purified 373-fold and was judged to be homogeneous by nondenaturing and sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The enzyme showed a specific activity of 224. The molar mass of the C. caretta enzyme was approximately 112 kDa, the single band obtained by SDS-PAGE indicated a subunit molar mass of 39.5 kDa; hence, the enzyme is a trimer of identical subunits. It catalyzes an ordered sequential mechanism in which carbamoyl phosphate binds first, followed by L-ornithine. The Michaelis constants were 0.858 mM for L-ornithine and 0.22 mM for carbamoyl phosphate, the dissociation constant of the enzyme-carbamoyl phosphate complex was 0.50 mM., E. Bellocco, C. Di Salvo, G. Lagan, U. Leuzzi, E. Tellone, A. Kotyk, A. Galtieri., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The paper examines origin and professional background of the scribes of the 18th century Bohemian manuscripts and follows the changes in the social structure of their readers, using the information from several hundred handwritten books and documents. Received data show that the number of scribes is rising immensely in the last decades of the 18th century. The most distinct growth might be observed within the number of scribes working in the rural areas. In the first half of the 18th century the most productive group of scribes are monks. In the last quarter of the century this role goes to teachers and parish priests. Their production, however, often has commercial or official character. Besides in the late period of the century strongly increases representation of craftsmen and farmers among the scribes. Also growth of the number of readers living in the countryside, especially women, might be observed. These changes seem to be the results of educational, administrative and Church reforms performed by Maria Theresa and Joseph II in the late 18th century., Dmitrij Timofejev., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
V našem článku prezentujeme případ podkovovité ledviny s jedním sběrným systémem a jediným zkříženým močovodem a pyelolitiázou. V anglickém jazyce byly dosud celosvětově uveřejněny pouze čtyři publikace popisující případ podkovovité ledviny s jediným zkříženým močovodem. Prezentujeme náš postup při léčbě třicetiletého pacienta s touto vzácně se vyskytující vrozenou malformací a objemnou nefrolitiázou, uvádíme přehled dostupné literatury a nabízíme možná vysvětlení., The present study reports a horseshoe kidney with a single collecting system and a crossed single ureter associated with pyelolythiasis. An association of a crossed single ureter and a horseshoe kidney has only been mentioned in four previous reports in the available English literature worldwide. We present our management of a 30‑year‑old patient with this rare congenital malformation and a large stone burden together with a review of the current available literature and suggest explanation., and Sabler I. M., Stav K., Cooper A., Siegel I. Y.
This paper presents a new method for the determination of the volume, surface area and depth of skin defects. The method is based on the description of a spatial defect using a pyramid (made, for example, from injection needles), which is placed over the defect. The projection of the pyramid on to the defect is photographed using a digital camera and subsequently compared with the projection of the same pyramid on to a sheet of grid paper. The defect is mathematically reconstructed on a computer, and an optimal body shape describing the defect is found, using a number of simplifications and assumptions. The method was then validated using a plaster mold of a real foot with 19 defects simulating real wounds. These plaster wounds were molded using alginate hydrocolloid, and the volume, surface area and depth were measured and compared with the results of the pyramid projection by means of regression analysis. This method correlates in all variables with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9. It can be concluded that the projection pyramid method correlates well with the reference mold method and can be used with good results for a whole range of variables., J. Růžička, P. Nový, F. Vávra, L. Bolek, J. Beneš., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The aim of the study was to detect changes of both the QT dispersion and T-loop morphology resulting from the changed spatial position of the heart during pregnancy. Electrocardiographic and vectorcardiographic recordings were obtained from 37 healthy women 19-36 years old in the 36th to 40th week of physiological pregnancy and 2 to 6 days after delivery. The same recordings were obtained from 18 healthy women of the same age. The average QT dispersion (±S.D.) in normal subjects was significantly lower (34±12 ms) than in those in late pregnancy (73±18 ms) (P<0.001). The average amplitude of T-loop (Ta) in women in late pregnancy was significantly (P<0.001) smaller (532±98 mV) and the width of T-loop (Tw) was wider (21.24±11.48 deg) than in the control group (793±114 mV and 7.17±3.02 deg, respectively). The partial post-partum restoration of all parameters was not significant. In all groups, the QT dispersion was significantly correlated with Tw but not with Ta. According to these results we can conclude that the QT dispersion is an indirect reflection of the complete process of ventricular repolarization, reflected in the morphology of the T-loop., M. Lechmanová, O. Kittnar, M. Mlček, J. Slavíček, A. Dohnalová, Š. Havránek, J. Kolařík, A. Pařízek., and Obsahuje bibliografii
We discuss the representability almost everywhere (a.e.) in C of an irreducible algebraic function as the Cauchy transform of a signed measure supported on a finite number of compact semi-analytic curves and a finite number of isolated points. This brings us to the study of trajectories of the particular family of quadratic differentials A(z − a)(z − b)×(z − c)−2 dz2. More precisely, we give a necessary and sufficient condition on the complex numbers a and b for these quadratic differentials to have finite critical trajectories. We also discuss all possible configurations of critical graphs., Mohamed Jalel Atia, Faouzi Thabet., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
The aim of this study was to evaluate macroscopically, histologically and immunohistochemically the quality of newly formed tissue in iatrogenic defects of articular cartilage of the femur condyle in miniature pigs treated with the clinically used method of microfractures in comparison with the transplantation of a combination of a composite scaffold with allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) or the composite scaffold alone. The newly formed cartilaginous tissue filling the defects of articular cartilage after transplantation of the scaffold with MSCs (Group A) had in 60 % of cases a macroscopically smooth surface. In all lesions after the transplantation of the scaffold alone (Group B) or after the method of microfractures (Group C), erosions/fissures or osteophytes were found on the surface. The results of histological and immunohistochemical examination using the modified scoring system according to O’Driscoll were as follows: 14.7±3.82 points after transplantations of the scaffold with MSCs (Group A); 5.3±2.88 points after transplantations of the scaffold alone (Group B); and 5.2±0.64 points after treatment with microfractures (Group C). The O’Driscoll score in animals of Group A was significantly higher than in animals of Group B or Group C (p<0.0005 both). No significant difference was found in the O’Driscoll score between Groups B and C. The treatment of iatrogenic lesions of the articular cartilage surface on the condyles of femur in miniature pigs using transplantation of MSCs in the composite scaffold led to the filling of defects by a tissue of the appearance of hyaline cartilage. Lesions treated by implantation of the scaffold alone or by the method of microfractures were filled with fibrous cartilage with worse macroscopic, histological and immunohistochemial indicators., A. Nečas ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
In the seventies of the past century ballistocardiography had been thought to be obsolete in cardiology for impossibility of objective calibration. In the present work the quantitative ballistocardiography (Q-BCG) for measurement of systolic force (F) and minute cardiac force (MF) in sitting subject was described. The new principle of piezoelectric transducer enabled to register the force caused by the heart and blood movement, which was not measured before. The calibration proved that the action of the force on the transducer was expressed quantitatively without the amplitude-, time-, and phase deformation. The close relationship of skeletal muscle force and F was proved. The F and MF changed under different physiological conditions (age, partial pressure of oxygen, body weight, skeletal muscle force). It was shown that the systolic force (F) and minute cardiac force (MF) are the physiological parameters neurohumorally regulated similarly as the heart rate or systolic volume., Z. M. Trefný ... [et al.]., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The periodic motion of the Earth's spin axis in space (nutation) is dominantly forced by external torques exerted by the Moon, Sun and planets. On the other hand, long-periodic geophysical forces (with periods longer than several days), mostly caused by the changes in the atmosphere and oceans, have dominant effects in polar motion (in terrestrial frame) and Earth's speed of rotation. However, even relatively small short-periodic (near-diurnal) motions of the atmosphere and oceans can also have a non-negligible influence on nutation, thanks to the resonance that is due to the existence of a flattened outer fluid core. The retrograde period, corresponding to this resonance, is roughly equal to 430 days in non-rotating quasi-inertial celestial reference frame, or 23h 53min (mean solar time) in the terrestrial frame rota ting with the Earth. The aim of the present study is to use the geophysical excitations in the vicinity of this resonance to estimate their influence on nutation, based on recent models of atmospheric and oceanic motions. To this end, we use the numerical integration of Brzezinski's broad-band Liouville equations and compare the results with VLBI observa tions. Our study shows that the atmospheric plus oceanic effects (both matter and motion terms) are capable of exciting free core nutation; both its amplitude and phase are compatible with the observed motion. Annual and semi-annual geophysical contributions of nutation are of the order of 100 microarcseconds. They are slightly different for different at mospheric/oceanic models used, and they also differ from the values observed by VLBI - the differences exceed several times their formal uncertainties., Jan Vondrák and Cyril Ron., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy