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Untreated depression during pregnancy has wide spectrum of negative effects on the mother and the child. Recently, the rising numbers of depression in pregnant women were followed with a steep rise of antidepressant use. Mirtazapine is an atypical antidepressant generally considered to be safe to use during pregnancy and lactation.
Aim of our study was to investigate the effect of maternal stress and effect of perinatal mirtazapine treatment on the behavior of rat offspring.
Adult female Wistar rats were randomly assigned to stress and control groups and subjected to three weeks of chronic unpredictable stress schedule and mated with males. From gestation day 10 they were administered mirtazapine (10mg/kg/day) or vehicle until weaning via cookie. Offspring of experimental dams was subjected to battery of behavioral testing. Our results generally show that the offspring of stressed mothers had elevated anxiety-like behavior in different tests for anxiety with different severity depending on the age and sex of the offspring, while mirtazapine treatment generally reduced the negative effect of stress. In forced-swim test the adolescent offspring from stress+mirtazapine groups exhibited lower depression-like behavior compared to control groups. In Y-maze test all experimental groups of adolescent females had lowered spontaneous alternations compared to control, suggesting worsened exploration and spatial memory.
Further investigation is needed to assess the safety of mirtazapine use during pregnancy and post-partum period.

The aim of the article is to review activities of selected European armies during the Covid-19 pandemic aimed at protecting their own forces and supporting societies in danger. The attention is drawn to the importance of protection against the pandemic and its legal and organizational conditions. The analysis is based on the example of the Polish Armed Forces. The method of information exchange in the case of an outbreak of infectious diseases among soldiers and civilians in NATO is presented, taking into account various national solutions. The scope and methods of using chemical troops during disinfection of people, equipment, and infrastructure are analyzed in detail.

Insufficient supply of oxygen to the fetus (prenatal hypoxia) is one of the impacts capable to disrupt the pre- and postnatal development of an affected individual. Even though antioxidant trials largely turned out to be negative, research is still ongoing to find an optimal antioxidant drug to prevent or treat pregnancy related complications. Focus has been on more selective antioxidants and has investigated intracellular sources of oxidative stress during pregnancy. Our study aimed to assess the use of L-Ergothioneine (ERG) as potential new therapy for prenatal hypoxia. ERG serves as an antioxidant and cellular protectant against various kinds of reactive oxygen species.
Pregnant Wistar rats were subjected to hypoxia (10,5% O₂) on gestational day (GD) 20 for 12h. E was administered p.o. in dose 8 mg/kg/day (E1) or 35 mg/kg/day (E2) on GD 6-21. ERG in both doses delayed motor development but facilitated sensory development of hypoxic pups and normalized anxiety- and depression-like behavior of hypoxic males in adulthood. Moreover, E2 normalized the cognitive capacity of hypoxic males. E2 alone, however, delayed sensory development and induced anxiety-like behavior of intact animals. ERG (esp. in dose 35 mg/kg) had a partial compensatory effect on the behavior of rat offspring in adulthood that indicates its possible use in the therapy of behavioral impacts of prenatal hypoxia. Its preventive use, however, does not seem acceptable due to the negative effect of E2 on the behavior of intact animals in our study.

Bisphenols (e.g. bisphenol A, BPA), are chemical compounds used in manufacturing of plastics and polluting the environment worldwide in nanomolar concentrations. Although the direct toxic effects of "environmentally relevant" concentrations are controversial, concerns are associated with their action as chemical disruptors because their structure is similar to estrogens. Several studies reported that BPA may cause adverse effects in humans and animals (1), including an interference with cardiac differentiation (2). Based on these concerns, BPA was gradually replaced during last decade with “next generation” bisphenols. However, little is known about safety of these BPA derivatives. Traditional in vitro models used in cardiovascular research are unable to reliably study the toxicological potential of bisphenols. Therefore, our aim is to develop a reproducible protocol for differentiation of H9c2 cells, a myoblast cell line derived embryonic rat heart tissue, to cardiac muscle phenotype based on previously published protocols (3). We have started a comparison of several protocols based on varying concentration of fetal bovine serum, glucose and all-trans retinoic acid in cultivation media, and the duration of cultivation in differentiating media, with following morphology and expression of tissue-specific markers to describe resulting phenotype. The toxicity of bisphenols is compared between parent and differentiated phenotype, and finally the possible influence of bisphenols on the cardiac differentiation process or cellular stress markers is assessed.

Nerve agents are organophosphorus compounds (OPs) with very potent toxicity due to their irreversible inhibition of the essential enzymeacetylcholinesterase (AChE; EC 3.1.1.7), which is primarily important in the control of neurotransmission in synapses. The related enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (BChE; EC 3.1.1.8) is inhibited by OPs aswell. Compounds with an oxime group act as reactivatorsof the inhibited AChE by the nucleophilic displacement of OP moiety from the enzyme’s catalytic serine and are used as a pharmacological treatment after OP poisoning. However, restoration of the AChE activity is directly related to the oxime structure and standard oximes in medical practice are not equally effective for various OPs (1). It was demonstrated that the chlorine substituent reduce the pKa of the oxime group compared to the non-substituted analogues and result in the higher formation of oximate anion which can be correlated to their increased reactivation ability (2). In this work, the synthesis and thorough evaluation of fluorinated and chlorinated oximes is presented. Firstly, their stability and oximate forming properties (pKa) were determined. Further, the evaluation comprised testing for affinity for human recombinant AChE and human purified plasmatic BChE, the oxime’s efficacy in reactivation of sarin-, cyclosarin-, VX-, tabun-inhibited AChE or BChE. Finally, the antidotal potential of the lead halogenated oxime was tested in mice exposed to sarin and cyclosarin (3).

The history of the use of toxic substances goes back to the distant prehistory of mankind. Over time, man has acquired and perfected the knowledge gained in his life and gradually passed it on from generation to generation. The authors recall the basic milestones before and during the emergence of chemical weapons, focusing on the widespread use of chemical weapons during the First World War. However, other armed conflicts are also mentioned, when chemical weapons were used as an important means of warfare (for example, Vietnam War, the Iraq-Iran War, etc.).
Selected specific cases of misuse of chemical warfare agents for terrorist purposes are also underlined and briefly described. Chemical warfare agents as the main content of chemical weapons have a high toxic potential (basically super-poisons) and their misuse for terrorist attacks is quite high.
The next part of the thesis presents some important acts of international law, such as the so-called Geneva Protocol from 1925 and other legal activities of an international nature and impact. Subsequently, the main principles, requirements and obligations of the ban on chemical weapons under the important international agreement Chemical Weapons Convention 1993 (1), which entered into force in April 1997, are discussed in detail.
National legislation, Czech national law (2) and its implementing decree (3) are presented in detail in the following part of the article. The authors of the article present a brief analysis and evaluation of the current situation in the researched area of the prohibition of chemical weapons. At the same time, in the form of an academic discussion, they present some of their own proposals and recommendations for improving the current situation in the field of chemical weapons bans, focusing on the Czech Republic.

The level of contamination of the aquatic environment with residues of drugs as metoprolol, enalapril and metformin is constantly increasing. One of the reasons is the increasing prescribes and uses of these drugs, second is imperfect purification in wastewater treatment plants. Since the pharmaceuticals are entering water bodies continuously, they represent a potential risk for non-target aquatic biota. In our study, the toxicity of metformin, metoprolol and enalapril on zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos in five different concentrations was tested. The acute toxicity test was performed according to OECD Guideline No. 236: Fish Embryo Acute Toxicity Test. The aim of this experiment was to study toxic effects of typical drugs used for treatment of diseases of affluence as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and hypertension on fish early life stages. Metformin is the most common drug used to treat type II. diabetes, metoprolol and enalapril are used to treat diseases of the cardiovascular system and hypertension. The results showed that the tested substances had a negative effect on hatching of embryos at all tested concentrations and also they have influenced mortality and heartbeat.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive brain disorder with characteristic symptoms and several pathological hallmarks. The concept of “one drug, one target” has not generated any new drugs since 2004. The new era of drug development in the field of AD builds upon rationally designed multi-target directed ligands that can better address the complexity of AD (1). Herewith, we designed ten novel derivatives of 2-propargylamino-naphthoquinone. The biological evaluation of these compounds includes inhibition of monoamine oxidase A/B, inhibition of amyloid-beta aggregation, radical-scavenging, and metal-chelating properties. Some of the compounds possess low cytotoxicity profile with an anti-inflammatory ability in the lipopolysaccharide-stimulated cellular model. All these features warrant their further testing in the field of AD (2).

The number of successful drug development projects has been stagnant for decades despite major breakthroughs in chemistry, molecular biology and genomics. Unreliable translatability of preclinical in vitro and in vivo models has been identified as the cause of most failure. Organotypic and microphysiological culture of primary human cells has emerged as a set of promising tools for preclinical drug development to narrow this translation gap. In this talk I will provide an overview of our recent efforts in developing 3D human tissue cultures and microfluidic models for both efficacy and safety assessments. In addition, the talk will present recent use cases where the use of such organotypic cultures has had direct impacts on market authorizations.

Bile acids (BAs) play a significant regulatory role in the pathophysiology of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). The present study evaluates the modulation of BAs homeostasis by carvedilol, a nonselective blocker beta adrenoreceptor that is routinely used to treat cardiovascular complications accompanying NASH. NASH was induced in mice by a continuous 24-week high-fat diet (HFD) with glucose/fructose in drinking water. At week 21, individual groups of animals received carvedilol (10 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for three weeks. Biochemical and histological analysis has shown the effectiveness of a high-fat diet in inducing NASH. The spectrum of bile acid was analyzed in bile, stool, and plasma by the LC-MS method and the molecular determination of BAs-related enzymes and transporters. Carvedilol significantly increased plasma concentrations of BAs in healthy mice via downregulation of Ntcp and Bsep transporters. Carvedilol did not significantly affect net BAs plasma concentrations or BAs biliary and fecal excretions in animals with developed NASH. However, it shifted spectra of BAs toward more hydrophilic and less toxic αMCA and HCA. Carvedilol also significantly reduced liver fibrosis in NASH mice and in vitro suppressed profibrogenic response in human hepatic stellate cells. Our results suggest the hepatoprotective effect of carvedilol in NASH and support using this agent as a part of cardiovascular regimens in patients with metabolic syndrome and a high risk of NASH development.

Organophosphorous compounds (OPs) such as nerve agents or pesticides are irreversible inhibitors of cholinesterases, namely Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and Butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), causing cholinergic crisis (1). While inhibition of AChE can be lethal, inhibition of BChE has no adverse effects. Therefore, BChE can be used for scavenging OPs before it reaches AChE in CNS. BChE itself has no catalytic activity, but by joint administration of BChE and reactivator we can establish pseudo-catalytic bioscavenger (2). Reactivators cleave the OP moiety from the enzyme by making a covalent bond with it. Reactivators of AChE are already widely used (eg. pralidoxime, asoxime) but there are few disadvantages. Firstly, there is no broad-spectrum reactivator. Second problem is that they have low ability to pass the blood-brain barrier (BBB) due to their double-charged structure. Moreover, when the OP-ChE complex is dealkylated (so called “aging” of ChE), it is no longer possible to reactivate. That is why nowadays the research is focusing to development of reactivators of BChE as well (3).  Promising results were obtained for the novel “K-oximes” K027, K048 and K203. The aim of this research is synthesis and in vitro evaluation of monoquaternary analogues of oxime K203 and observation of the effect of charge on physicochemical properties of compounds and on biological activity.

Pistacia lentiscus L. (PLL) is a wild-growing shrub from the Anacardiaceae family that occurs naturally in the Mediterranean. It has been used in traditional medicine for its many effects since the days of ancient Greece (1). PLL plant and processed products have been largely employed as oral antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and healing agents (2). Today, the scientific interest in these edible and not-edible parts of PLL is wide-spreading, as some studies underlined the potential benefit against inflammation and infections (3). The aim of our work is to find out more details about biological activity of essential oil and aqueous extract prepared from leaves of wild occurring PLL plants growing in North Sardinia. The cytotoxicity of not only the pure essential oil but also of the nanoemulsions with PLL oil, and aqueous extract were tested on three oral cell lines (gingival fibroblasts, periodontal ligament fibroblasts, and dysplastic oral keratinocytes). The viability of human oral cells was the most diminished by lecithin nanoemulsion, less by aqueous extract, and pure essential oil had the lowest influence on the viability – it was non-toxic up to the concentration of 100 μg PLL/ml medium. The anti-inflammatory activity was measured by cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibition. PLL essential oil showed the capacity to inhibit COX1/2 more than LOX. In conclusion, PLL essential oil is not cytotoxic for oral cell lines and show an in vitro anti-inflammatory activity.

A cascade of events, including platelet aggregation, cytokine release, inflammation, fibroblast proliferation, angiogenesis and re-epithelialization, occurs in a healing wound. These processes are necessary for the proper course of healing, scar formation and remodeling.
To accelerate healing of skin wounds, novel advanced, porcine and equine collagen/tencel based dressings, were fabricated. Collagen plays a pivotal role in each phase of healing due to its chemotactic role. It attracts different types of cells such as fibroblasts and keratinocytes to the wound. This supports angiogenesis and re-epithelialization. To monitor biological efficacy, dressings were tested on an acute excision wound model in a laboratory rat. The wound size was recorded at 2, 7 and 14 days after surgery. Selected biomarkers were measured in the tissue - levels of proinflammatory cytokine IL-6, growth factors TGF beta and VEGF. Presence of inflammatory infiltrate, granulomatous reaction and re-epithelialized area were evaluated histologically.

Novichoks are a set of militarily abused substances from the group of nerve agents. The mechanism of their action is the covalent binding to Ser203 of acetylcholinesterase and inhibition of acetylcholine degradation. Any in vitro or in vivo experimental studies of novice-inhibited acetylcholinesterase reactivation have not been published yet (1). However, the possibilities of reactivation can also be investigated computationally. For this study, we used the methods of molecular docking in combination with molecular dynamics.
We hypothesized that reactivation of novichok-inhibited acetylcholinesterase is not possible for steric reasons. In the molecular modeling study, we investigated whether the oxime group of reactivators can get close enough to the active site to make the nucleophilic attack. Calculations were performed for commercial oximes (HI6, obidoxime, pralidoxime etc.) and also for new experimental ones, in total 60 reactivators.
We have found out that some of the reactivators can adopt a position close to the active site and the nucleophilic attack is possible. Our original hypothesis was refuted.

Both molecular docking and molecular dynamics was used to visualise the active or blocked site of AChE, and to determine affinity values in silico modelling. Selection of 60 ligands (including commercially available reactivators, e.g. trimedoxime, asoxime) from peer-reviewed articles (2) were docked into into proximity of AChE-A230 complex bond using software AutoDock Vina (v. 1.1.2). The most promising 32 ligands docked in AChE were evaluated by molecular dynamics (GROMACS 2020.4 software).
Evaluation of specified simulations using Visual Molecular Dynamics (VMD) software has shown that the closest distance between the oxime group of the Z03-labeled ligand and the phosphorus of A230 was 3.14Å proposing theoretical successful reactivation regarding the near–attack conformation (NAC) criterion. The results of this study provide a rational basis for the synthesis of proposed reactivators and their consecutive in vitro evaluation.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a transmissible infectious disease caused by the intracellular bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtB), (1) which is currently one of the top 10 leading causes of death in low and middle-income countries (2). During 2020, 5.8 million patients were diagnosed with TB, 1.5 million of them died. In that year, 150 thousand patients were infected with drug-resistant TB strain.1 M. tuberculosis can quickly develop resistance against anti-TB regimens, and if not cured adequately, it can evolve into MDR-TB (multidrug resistant TB) and XDR-TB (extensive-drug resistant TB) (1). Therefore, there is a critical need to develop new chemotherapeutic agents with new mechanism of action to fight against a growing public health menace caused by cross-resistant TB strains (3).

We screened our in-house library of small molecules for their potential antimycobacterial properties identifying compound K1827 with excellent antimycobacterial in vitro activity against M. Kansasii (MIC₉₉ = 0.25 μM, which is more than 100 times more efficient that INH) and moderate activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv (MIC99 = 32 - 64 μM, for comparison MIC99 of INH = 0.5 μM). This core scaffold of K1827 is pyrimidine that was functionalized to develop derivatives with higher activity against M. tuberculosis, better safety profile, and to determine the structure-activity relationships in the series. The effect of individual structural fragments on in vitro antimycobacterial activity, toxicity and selectivity of action have been evaluated and will be discussed within our contribution.

Background: Renal transplant patients show a high incidence of anemia, which is often responsible for cardiovascular morbidity and graft rejection. Anemia reportedly impacts the health-related quality of life (HRQoL); however, only a limited number of related studies have been conducted on renal transplant recipients. In this study, we estimated the prevalence of anemia and its effects on QoL of renal transplant patients in Saudi Arabia.Methods: Seventy-four patients were recruited in this study. They were asked to fill a self-reported EuroQoL instrument (EQ-5D-5L). We measured the hemoglobin levels (Hgb) of the patients to assess their anemia status. Anemia and severe anemia were defined as Hgb < 12 g/dL and Hgb < 10 g/dL, respectively.Results: Of the 74 recruited patients, 53 patients (71.6%) were anemic. Around 33.7% patients were reported to be completely healthy, with a 5-digit of 11111. With respect to EQ-5D-5L, the responses of anemic and non-anemic patients did not differ significantly. However, the response to anxiety-related questions for patients belonging to severe and mild-to-moderate anemia groups differed significantly. The final multivariate logistic model analysis revealed that the gender of patient was significantly associated with incidence of anemia postoperatively [OR: 6.72, 95% CI: 1.7 - 25.6, P-value = 0.000; (25 males, 47.2%) vs. (28 females, 52.9%)]. The use of intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin in the induction phase was significantly associated with incidence of late anemia [P-value = 0.012].Conclusions: Interestingly, our findings revealed a higher prevalence of anemia among the Saudi kidney patients compared to those of other nations. The incidence of anemia was shown to be significantly associated with renal function, female gender, and IV immunoglobulin use at the induction phase. Furthermore, multicentric prospective studies are warranted to elucidate other clinical factors that are associated with anemia and the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms.

Society, as much as an individual, has a certain capacity to cope with issues. The preparedness of the society for the issue significantly enhances the ability to overcome the issue with minimum possible harm. This article considers psychological consequences of climate change, the major challenge for society, from the perspective of European security. It proposes an increasement of aggressive behavior and intergroup hostility as a direct and indirect psychological consequence of climate change. In the final section, crisis intervention and de-securitization of climate change debate are considered to serve as mitigating factors for future development.

The ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a congenital lesion characterized by the presence of an opening between cardiac chambers. The treatment might involve medical therapy to control symptoms or in certain cases, surgical resuscitation might be required.Objectives: The study was conducted to establish a database about the prevalence and pattern of VSD and their prognosis in children referred to by echocardiography in Ibn-Sena Teaching Hospital over the period of March 2019 to January 2020. Method: The present study is a prospective descriptive study conducted on all patients diagnosed with cardiac lesions revealed by echocardiography. The sample included in the study involves newborns (day 1) to 14-years-old children.Result: Out of 500 children included in the study; most of these cases were cyanotic congenital heart lesions and out of which two-third were perimembranous defects.Conclusion: The study concluded a higher prevalence of non-cyanotic lesions and peri-membranous type is the commonest VSD lesion.

Background: There are scarce data on disease characteristics and severity of coronavirus 2019(COVID - 19) among Iraqi patients with rheumatic diseases (RDs). In this study, we aimed to report the disease characteristics and variables associated with COVID-19 outcome among patients with RDs.Methods: Between October 2020 and April 2021, rheumatic diseases (RDs) patients with COVID-19 were registered from different centres in Iraq. The patient's demographics, rheumatological history, COVID-19 symptoms, severity, and management, if any, their disease progress and outcome have been assessed. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictors of disease severity.Results: 253 patients were included in the study, and most were females. The commonest rheumatic disease was rheumatoid arthritis (RA), followed by systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS) (95, 52 and 20 patients respectively). It has been found that 50.6% of patients had mild COVID-19, and 49.4% had moderate disease; 18% of patients required oxygen support, no patient was treated in hospital, and there was no reported death. Patients with moderate COVID-19 had significantly higher age than mild type (p= 0.022); with more BMI (p=0.03), more in the number of comorbidities (p<0.001), more steroids users (p=0.012), higher steroid dose (P=0.034), had longer steroid duration,   longer duration of conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) (p=0.018), and biologic Disease-modifying Antirheumatic Drug (bDMARDs) in months (p=0.025). Increasing body mass index (BMI), duration of biological DMARDs use, and an increasing number of comorbidities were significant independent factors that increase the risk of having more severe COVID-19, (p<0.05).Conclusion: COVID-19 infection rheumatic patients tend to have mild-moderate disease course; BMI, duration of biological DMARDs use, and many comorbidities were significant independent factors that increase the risk of having more severe COVID-19.

Introduction: The novel corona virus (SARS-CoV-19) is mainly accountable for the disease outbreak infection, which began in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Numerous modest research has been carried so far to ascertain the risks of smoking on the magnitude, consequence, and morbidity of patients with COVID-19, but the findings have been incomplete.Aims: This study assesses the effects of current smokers on the magnitude and consequence in patients with COVID-19 infectious disease in Mosul, Iraq.Materials and Methods: A total of 160 patients (80 active smokers and 80 non-smokers) who were confirmed with COVID-19 infection using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test were enrolled in this study. A detailed history was obtained from of the subjects, as well as a thorough clinical evaluation and laboratory tests. The intensity of illness, biomarkers, D-dimer, liver enzymes (LFT), oxygen consumption, hospitalization, and outcome were all documented and analyzed between a two groups.Results and conclusion: The symptoms of COVID-19, measured laboratory markers were significantly higher in the sample of smokers compared to non-smokers. There has been no significant difference in the use of oxygen, hospitalization, ICU admission, death, or post-recovery problems. Serious clinical COVID-19 infection was much more prevalent in current smokers, and inflammatory markers such as D-dimer and LFT appeared greater in non - smokers than in smokers. There was no statistically significant difference in O2 usage, hospitalization, ICU admittance, death, or persistent morbidity.

Many natural (poly)phenolic compounds including flavonoids are able to chelate biological trace metals such as iron, copper and cobalt. On the other hand, they are also frequently reducing these metals to lower oxidation states. Although this later reduction process is commonly understood as an antioxidant effect, it might be also associated with recovery of the catalyst in the known metal-catalyzed Fenton chemistry and can hence paradoxically lead to a tissue damage (pro-oxidation). For this reason, the final biological outcome ensuing from (poly)phenol-metal interaction varies from compound to compound depending on the individual differences in chelation and reduction toward the selected metal, and abilities to directly scavenge reactive oxygen species such as hydroxyl radical. Firstly, chelation properties of a row of flavonoids toward iron, copper and cobalt will be discussed. This will be followed by comparison of their ferric and cupric reducing capacity, ability to inhibit or potentiate iron, copper and cobalt triggered Fenton reaction and to block or stimulate metal-based red blood cell lysis. Also limited in vivo pro-oxidation data from rats will be mentioned.

Organophosphorus compounds (e.g. nerve agents - sarin, VX or tabun) cause deleterious intoxications via inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) leading to cholinergic crisis or even death of intoxicated person. Their causal treatment is managed by oxime reactivators (e.g. pralidoxime, obidoxime, asoxime), which are primarily restoring function of AChE via nucleophilic oximates and thus safe a life.
Recently, we have proved that nucleophilicity of oxime reactivators may be improved by using other substituents attached to the close proximity of the oxime moiety. Such modifications are leading to the increased formation of oximate nucleophile and thus to the increased reactivation of phosphylated cholinesterases. In particular, the substitution by chlorine atoms led to the powerful and rapid reactivation of sarin, cyclosarin or VX-inhibited AChE in vitro (1) or in vivo (2). On the other hand, the substitution by fluorine atoms led to even higher nucleophilicity, but also rapid depletion of oximes into isoxazole degradation products (2-3). Interestingly, some further modified reactivators were proved to be effective in vitro to simultaneously restore function of AChE and BChE.

The mercury is a persistent and whidespread heavy metal with neurotic effects in wildlife. To determine the overall mercury exposure in the locality Zastávka u Brna (Czech Republic), total of 71 great mouse-eared bats (Myotis myotis) building demolition casualties (23 male and 48 female) were examined. Bats were classified as juvenile or adult. The 71 samples of fur, muscle and wing membrane were collected for analysis to determine total mercury concentrations (THg). The THg was determined by cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometry using AMA 254 analyzer (Altec Ltd., Dvur Kralove nad Labem, Czech Republic) in the fresh weight. The THg measured values ranged from 1.7 to 20.0 mg.kg-1, from 0.05 to 0.25 mg.kg^-1 and from 0.03 to 0.19 mg.kg^-1 in the fur, muscle and wing membrane, respectively. The mean THg content in the fur, muscle and wing membrane was 6.2±4,03 mg.kg^-1, 0.1±0.041mg.kg^-1 and 0.084±0.03 mg.kg^-1, respectively. There was no difference between THg values in males and females as well as in the study by Åkerblom et al. (2017). The positive correlation between THg content in analyzed tissues were found (fur and muscle p=0,000; r_s= 0.5501; muscle and wing membrane p=0.000, r_s=0.5567; wing membrane and fur p=0.000 r_s=0.9997). According to Zukal et al. (2015) the bats are suitable trophic guild as an indicator of general environment condition.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a pathological state characterized by the excessive accumulation of triglycerides in hepatocytes without alcohol consumption. NAFLD ranges from simple steatosis to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which can further progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (1). Xanthohumol (XN), a hop-derived prenylflavonoid, has been reported to ameliorate steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in murine NAFLD models (2). This study aimed to investigate the effect of XN on the expression of antioxidant enzymes in an in vitro model of NAFLD. For this purpose, fat accumulation was induced in murine precision-cut liver slices (PCLS) with a medium containing fatty acids (mixture of oleic and palmitic acid), fructose, and citrate. PCLS were treated with 10 µM XN in the presence or absence of 1 µM insulin for 24 and 36 h. The mRNA expression, specific activity of the main antioxidant enzymes, and triglyceride content were determined. Specific activities of glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase (GST) were decreased after 24 and 36 h in PCLS treated with the steatotic medium and only a slight increase in response upon XN treatment was observed. In steatotic PCLS, XN caused significant increase in the mRNA expression of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1, GSTA1/2, and GSTM3 after 36 h. The influence of XN on the protein expression of these enzymes will be further studied.