Fulltext search in archive

At the present time heavy demands are put on the articular cartilage due to unremitting pressure and shearing forces. Repeated microtraumas or acute large defects in the cartilage, along with the hyalinne cartilage’s small capacity for regeneration are reasons for the possible progression to a chronic stage and post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Treatment of these complications is difficult and very expensive. The surgical treatment of defects before the progression that leads to the chronic stage, above all full-thickness defects in the load-bearing areas of the large joints, is a recent development. No method of this development trend is permitted in general due to the bad quality of newly-formed cartilage, although these methods have clinical benefits. Excellent and long-term eflects of treatment are possible to accomplish only with hyalinne-like cartilage of high quality. The authors present a description of a newly developed method — chondrocyte application in the Tissucol-Kit Immuno^® fibrin glue as a chondrograft application. This method is a modification of autologous chondrocyte transplantation (ACT). The chondrocytes obtained from an articular cartilage are cultured. After their multiplication the cells are cast in fibrin glue. Then the chondrograft is applied in the defect’s area. The cell’s viability in the chondrograft is intact.

The article defines the specific characteristics and problems of the work of a psychologist in a military unit - a field hospital abroad. The author states his experience with the treatment of mental disorders of patients affected by the humanitarian crisis during the Kosovo conflict. At the same time, he compares and states the results of psychotherapy in homeless persons who lost their property and relatives due to the earthquake in Turkey.

ESRD treatment ranks among the highest cost of health care procedures. Presently in the Czech Republic there are about 4000 patients in the continuous dialysis programme and 2600 surviving patients after transplantation. It has been shown that assessment of the quality of life is different between patients with dialysis and transplanted patients. Our research confirmed a variety in the application of different methodologies for quality of life. The methodologies vary not only in the methods but also in the groups which participated in the questioning. The non-existence of a unified methodology at least at the national level creates great obstacles in comparison to the outcomes of different studies. We can state as confirmed fact that the highest quality of life was reported by the transplanted group of patients, then the CAPD, and then the hemodialysis patients. The lowest score was reported by patients who had lost their graft.
Cost assessment was based on the experience of American and British studies. It has been shown that in spite of mildly increasing costs during the first year after transplantation it is in fact transplantation which in other periods is connected with lower costs. The differences between CAPD and hemodialysis were not significant. This supports the idea that transplantation is the dominating modality in ESRD treatment as far as cost and effects are concerned.

This paper concerns the results of the 12-years prospective scientific and practical researches on the problem of the Long-Term Health Consequences (LTHC) of exposure to dioxins. The results were obtained while solving the tasks of revealing, characterizing and identification of the LTHC of the war chemicals application in Vietnam, and the most prominent of them is “Agent Orange” (AO) — the dioxin—contaminated phytotoxicant used by the US Army during the 2^nd Indochina War [IOM, 1994].

Francisella tularensis is the ethiological agent of tularemia, an infection of humans and other mammals. The laboratory diagnosis of human tularemia is based on serological tests. However, there is a lack of information about the Francisella tularensis antigens inducing antibody response to date. Except for the complex antigen preparations as sonicated whole bacteria [Viljanen 1983], only the Francisella lipopolysaccharide [Carlsson 1979] and the partially purified fraction containing outer membrane antigens [Bevanger 1988] have been described as immunogens suitable for diagnostic purposes. Proteome technology, based on two-dimensional (2D) gel electrophoresis followed by immunoblotting and identification of protein spots by peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), is the current method of choice for analysis of antigenic repertoire in bacterial pathogens. In the case of F. tularensis, 2D-immunoblotting approach has the potential to reveal new Francisella specific markers suitable for diagnostic purposes as well as potentially protective antigens useful for the construction of subunit vaccine.

The presented OWC suggestion results from ballistic experiments completed in our place of work. This woundability criterion is based on particular fire channel dimension characteristics along with investigated projectiles within the AM block. The shape and dimensions of the experiment fire channels testify to projectile behaviour while penetrating through the alternative tissue. The value of OWC itself is highly dependent on projectile stability while penetrating through the AM block.

This paper presents fundamental knowledge concerning Bacillus anthracis and its potential misuse by terrorists. The basic clinical forms are resumed with emphasis on inhalation infection from B. anthracis spore inhalation. The AVA vaccine licenced in the United States, primary vaccination, the protective efficacy of the vaccine, and adverse events are characterised. Stress is laid on the pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis of anthrax.

In spite of the enormous quantity of information from genomic and proteomic analysis the data do not mirror precisely in vivo situation in respect to functional profile of cellular system studied. Generally, the function of molecular entities is strictly associated with their tertiary structure, subcellular localization inside individual cell compartments andbasically on the consensual sequences, which compose the functional domains of protein molecule. Moreover, the metabolic and signaling cellular cascades rely on the protein-protein interactions, which are alsoout of the scope of, so called “expression proteomics”. To overcome this gap, the construction of virtual proteome using the algorithms of bioinformatics and the systematic study of protein-protein interactions through the isolation of protein complexes called “cell-maps proteomics” precedes the creation of real bacterial proteome. Moreover, the proteomic study of isolated individual cellular compartments can bring more precise information of function-related protein expression.

Besides the Prague Military Hospital and pharmacy, the Josefov Military Hospital and its pharmacy ranked among the biggest facilities in the military medical support system of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the Czechoslovak Republic (which came into existence in 1918). Together with the construction of a military fort (1780-1789), the military hospital was. built from 1786 to 1789 with the military pharmacy caming into existence after 1802. The military hospital treated not only wounded and sick soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, but also prisoners of war during the First World War. The military hospital and pharmacy played a significant role in the Czechoslovak Republic military health service system. Many military pharmacists have been employed at the military pharmacy in Josefov since its inception. One of them, Arnošt Heidrich, born in Jaroměň ranked among its greatest personalities. He was not only a pharmacist but also a well-known military historian.

An organism’s interactions with the external environment are mediated through the epidermis and through a few different keratized and non-keratized epithelia. The epidermis is not directly vascularized but it is nourished from the blood vessels of the dermis. A human keratinocyte isolated from the skin creates in vitro colonies and each colony comes from one keratinocyte which is a stem cell of the epidermis. The absorption of UV radiation in the skin is primarily manifested in the epidermis keratinocytes and causes DNA and protein damage. This DNA damage is generally understood as a basic effect of irradiation leading to cellular death, chromozomal aberrations and oncogenic transformation. Sensitivity to irradiation is not dependent only on the extent of initial damage, but also on the capacity of cells to repair this damage. In contrast to UV irradiation which damages above all the epidermis, ionizing radiation is able to damage not only the epidermis but the whole skin, including the adnexa and the tissues lying beneath it.

Enzymes capable of degrading highly toxic organophosphate (OP) esters are emerging as safe and efficient means for destruction of nerve agent stockpiles, remediation of contaminated areas, decontamination of materials. Stoichiometric and catalytic biological scavengers are also promising alternative medical countermeasures against poisoning by nerve agents. Different OP-degrading enzymes are potential candidates for pretreatment, decontamination of skin, mucosa and open wounds or for treatment as supplement to current therapy. Here we will focus on human butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE, EC.3.1.1.8). Our goal is to engineer cholinesterase-based enzymes, having high OP-hydrolyzing activity, stable on storage and, stable in the bloodstream and immunologically compatible tobe injected in humans...

The Overall aim Of this study was to analyze the phenotypic changes of the host cells that can occur during the primary interaction of Francisella tularensis microbes with professional phagocytes. The cell line J774.2, derived from female BALB/c mouse (ECACC, No. 85011428), Was used as a model of host cell, which can represent first line of defense in host tissues infected with intracellular bacterial pathogens. Francisella tularensis live vaccine strain (Francisella tularensis LVS, ATCC 29684, American type culture collection, ManasSas, .Va, USA) Was used for infection in vitro. Detection and identification of the changes induced by infection was done by flow cytometry. For all selected markers the commercially available specific monoclonal antibodies (Immunotech, BD Pharmingen or Serotech) including negative isotypic controls were used. All of them were directly conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) or phycoerythrine (PE) fluorochromes. After standard staining procedure the flow cytometric analysis using flow cytometer Coulter^R Epics^R XL (Coulter, Fullerton, USA) equipped with software version Epics XL Flow Cytometry Work Station — System II^TM ver. 3.0 was performed under standard operating procedure. Only identification of intracellular marker MOMA-2 required two additional steps during staining procedure — fixation and permeabilization. The flow cytometric phenotyping of J774.2 cells was monitored before and during 24 hours of infection in vitro With Francisella tularensis LVS, each 6 hrs and than after 48 hrs....

The lungs are organs that are constantly under the attack of ubiquitous inert particles and micro—organisms. The lungs represent the natural site of entry for micro-organisms into the body and understanding the innate and adaptive immune response mechanisms after aerogenic infection is of great importance. The non-adaptive immune response is created by several basic defence mechanisms. Physical lung defence includes the removal of inhaled material by mucociliary clearance, physiological defence (mediated by soluble proteins, immunoglobulin A or complement factor C3) and bacteriostatic or bactericidal protein activity. The cell mechanisms include the activity of macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, mast cells, dendritic cells and epithelial cells. All these cells are able to directly eliminate some of the micro-organisms and can induce an adaptive immune response in which mainly activated macrophages and T— and B-cells participate. Such a response is antigen-specific and its aim is to eliminate encapsulated and intracellular micro-organisms and to establish a resistance to re-infection.

Protection against nerve agent-induced convulsive activity is a very important problem which is not solved yet. Pretreatment usually consists of reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, such as pyridostig-mine or physostigmine, alone or associated with centrally acting antimuscarinic compound. Biperiden is a tertiary amine antimuscarinic compound with strong atropine-like bloking eflects in the central nervous system. It possess anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) activity as well. It is well known. that biperiden is very effective against soman-induced lethality and convulsions. In the present study, biperiden (1.25 mg/kg i.m.) was combined with difierent types of cholinesterase reactivators — HI-6, VT-89 (2,3) and VT-93 (2,3) (2 x 10⁴ mol/kg i.m.). The drug combinations were administered 15, 30 and 60 min prior to exposure to 2 LD₅₀ Soman and their antilethal and anticonvulsive activity were studied in rats. The studies showed that biperiden + HI-6 protected all animals from lethality and convulsive/subconvulsive activity especially when given 15 and 30 min before the challenge. The pretreatment regimen consisting of biperiden and VT-89 (2,3) was notable to prevent soman-induced lethality and convulsions. The third combination tested — biperiden + VT-93 (2,3) provided the Same anticonvulsive protection as biperiden + HI-6 when given 60 min prior to exposure to 2 LD₅₀ Soman.

The aim of this work is to analyze the expression of eukaryotic genome of the phagocytic cell after infection with microorganism, in particular after infection with Francisella tularensis. Mouse macrophage cell line J774 is used in experiments as a model of phagocytic cell. The first part of activities which should lead to reach the aim was selecting of suitable markers of the infection. The expression of these markers should be affected by the infection of phagocytes. We chose some cytokines, chemokines and also enzymes....

This paper deals with the physical model application to a ballistic experiment as an integral part of the evaluation of the woundability effect of small calibre ammunition. The model was made from a 75:25 % petrolatum — parafin mixture which we designed ourselves. This physical model makes it possible to catch the entire fire channel; its application, according to the suggested methodology, is of crucial importance considering the expected bullet wound prediction, the fire channel shape and the typical size for ranging.

The study pays attention to toxinogenic fungi producing mycotoxin ochratoxin A. Its toxicity, the method of exposure evaluation, health risks and the danger to the population are mentioned. Patients with chronic renal insuficiency, who in a significant way accumulate OTA in the blood serum and probably in the kidneys, are considered the risk group. The method of OTA determination in the kidneys with the aim of investigating OTA concentrations in the ordinary population and also in people who died due to chronic renal insuficiency has been worked Out.

Lyme borreliosis (LB), the most common vector-borne disease in Europe, North America and parts of Asia, is caused by the tick-bome Spirochete Borrelia species. In 1982, the bacterium that causes LB was first isolated by Willy Burgdorfer and colleagues from the hard tick Ixodes dammini collected On Long Island, N. Y. [1]. The isolate was subsequently identified as a new species of the genus Borrelia and was named Borrelia burgdorferi in 1984 [2]. In the past years classification of Lyme disease borreliae has been investigated intenSively. More than 20 Species have been identified within the genus Borrelia so far [3, 4]. These species are usually categorized into two major groups, the relapsing-fever borreliae and the Lyme borreliosis borreliae, that differ their ecological and genetic characteristics [3]....

Behavioral tests were employed in the study of central effects of the selected neurotoxins mescaline, FAZ-4 and DSP-4 at stereotactical administration into three cerebral structures (ventriculus cerebri Iateralis, ncl. basalis Meynerti and nc. septi medialis).
The results have confirmed the assumed negative action with cholinergic and monoaminergic dysfunctions, manifested by a disorder in the recall from animal memory immediately after their administration and with latency of several weeks. Different effects of individual neurotoxins on animal behaviour were observed also in dependence on the structure of administration.

Epibatidine, the natural alkaloid isolated from the skin of the Ecuadorian rainforest poison-dart frog, Epipedobates tricolor and some of its synthetically prepared analogs are strong selective agonists of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. All of these substances have an analgesic effect and could be used in medical practice. This is very promising for medicine in the fight against pain as well as against dementia, because nicotinic agonists have been found to improve the performance of a variety of memory tasks in rodents and they are probably beneficial in Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

This article summarizes the results obtained by monitoring ochratoxin A in the blood serum of blood donors in 1994, 1995 and 1997 and the results of the IGA MZ Č NK/4576-2 grant project „Study of Ochratoxin A Accumulation in Patients with Chronic Renal Insufliciency“.
It has been shown that, unlike in the control group of blood dnonors, the retention of mycotoxin ochratoxin A is significant in patients with stabilized chronic renal insufficiency on the grounds of chronic renal lesíon and in those in the terminal stage of chronic renal insufficiency who are regularly treated by dialysis. It has also been found that a standard dialysis does not lead to the decrease of ochratoxin A serum levels.

The 1st Conference of the Society Of Military Physicians was held on the occasion of the 75^th anniversary of the establishment of the Czechoslovak military medical educational System and the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Purkyně Military Medical Academy in Hradec Králové. The aim of this conference was to present to the military medical public and other people interested the principles of carrying out medical care in field conditions according to NATO standards. The main specialists of the Czech Army Medical Service presented their contributions from the fields of military medical service organization and management, surgery, orthopaedics and traumatology, opthalmology, stomatology, anaesthesiology, internal medicine and haematology, otorhinolaryngology, neurology, dermatovenereology, communicable diseases, psychiatry, toxicology, radiobiology, military hygiene, epidemiology, medical evacuation, radiodiagnostics, clinical biochemistry, the transfusion service, physiatry, balneology and physiotherapy, military pharmacy and aeromedicine. Contributions concerning the BATLS/BARTS courses and compressive dressing were also presented. A number of the Slovak Army Medical Service specialists also participated in this conference.

Botulinum toxin A (BTX) is the most toxic compound known to man. An overview of its proved, presumed or prepared deployment as a biowarfare agent is presented. In case of BTX it can be shown just how difficult it is to distinguish its research, production and storage for purely medical purposes from its abuse for waging biological warfare or for bioterrorism. An additional protocol to the Biological Weapons Convention of 1972 created during the long-term negotiations should make this possible.

The study states the possibilities of testing of regression dependence mutual relations. It it possible to test by these methods whether two aproximatelly parallel dependences are equal or unequal in any point, in any interval or the whole extent of measurement. It holds true for the evaluation of regression dependences that the testing of unequality has a few times higher information validity than the testing of equality.

7-methoxytacrine (MEOTA) is a reversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase and it belongs to a group of drugs, which are known as activators of cognitive functions and could be useful in the therapy of some neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. The lower toxicity is its advantage in comparison with tacrine. L-carnitine (CRT) was used to increase penetration of MEOTA through the blood brain barrier in rat. ³H-MEOTA was administered intravenously (5 mg/kg), orally (5 and 0.5 mg/kg) or intramuscularly (100 mg/kg) to rats in order to evaluate its pharmacokinetic properties. The intramuscular administration was chosen for the biodistribution study, where MEOTA was administered in two groups of rats: one group was administered only with MEOTA and the second group was administered CRT (300 mg/kg) orally for 3 consecutive days before MEOTA. Levels of MEOTA Were assessed in blood and in the brain tissue samples. In the next experimental step it was evaluated inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in separate brain areas following administration of MEOTA in interaction with CRT. The results showed that MEOTA crossed blood brain barrier and its levels in the brain were weakly increased after CRT repeated administration. On the other hand the repeated administration of CRT enhanced significantly the inhibiting effect of 7-MEOTA on the brain AChE activity. A comparison of the brain tissue levels of MEOTA under the influence of CRT with the inhibiting eflect on the AChE activity in the brain showed that the higher inhibiting effect of MEOTA on AChE activity with CRT is not caused by a global increasing of its concentration in the brain tissue, but it is probably due to an interaction of MEOTA and CRT on active centre of the corresponding enzyme.

The article summarizes the syntheses of organophosphate inhabited cholinesterase reactivators published from 1980 to I992. Synthetic procedures used and the evaluation of antidotic effectiveness are mentioned for individual types of reactivators. It follows from the specification of prepared coumpounds that the main attention was paid to reactivators derived from pyridine carbaldoxime and imidazole carbaldoxime.