Publications by authors named "Kovalcikova J"

Biogenesis of FF ATP synthase, the key enzyme of mitochondrial energy provision, depends on transmembrane protein 70 (TMEM70), localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane of higher eukaryotes. TMEM70 absence causes severe ATP-synthase deficiency and leads to a neonatal mitochondrial encephalocardiomyopathy in humans. However, the exact biochemical function of TMEM70 remains unknown.

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Metformin is widely prescribed as a first-choice antihyperglycemic drug for treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and recent epidemiological studies showed its utility also in cancer therapy. Although it is in use since the 1970s, its molecular target, either for antihyperglycemic or antineoplastic action, remains elusive. However, the body of the research on metformin effect oscillates around mitochondrial metabolism, including the function of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) apparatus.

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TMEM70, a 21-kDa protein localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane, has been shown to facilitate the biogenesis of mammalian F1Fo ATP synthase. Mutations of the TMEM70 gene represent the most frequent cause of isolated ATP synthase deficiency resulting in a severe mitochondrial disease presenting as neonatal encephalo-cardiomyopathy (OMIM 604273). To better understand the biological role of this factor, we generated Tmem70-deficient mice and found that the homozygous Tmem70-/- knockouts exhibited profound growth retardation and embryonic lethality at ∼9.

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Aims: Iron replacement improves clinical status in iron-deficient patients with heart failure (HF), but the pathophysiology is poorly understood. Iron is essential not only for erythropoiesis, but also for cellular bioenergetics. The impact of myocardial iron deficiency (MID) on mitochondrial function, measured directly in the failing human heart, is unknown.

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Mitochondrial ATP synthase, ADP/ATP translocase (ANT), and inorganic phosphate carrier (PiC) are supposed to form a supercomplex called ATP synthasome. Our protein and transcript analysis of rat tissues indicates that the expression of ANT and PiC is transcriptionally controlled in accordance with the biogenesis of ATP synthase. In contrast, the content of ANT and PiC is increased in ATP synthase deficient patients' fibroblasts, likely due to a post-transcriptional adaptive mechanism.

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The authors characterize girls in youth Training Centres in Slovakia from the medical anthropometric, somatotypological and locomotor aspect and recorded the time of menarche and course of the menstrual cycle. 1. The group comprised 107 girls, mean age 13.

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Within the framework of the research task on the physical fitness of apprentices the author assessed the standard of somatic and functional development: 1. By means of a questionnaire which was completed with the probands. After consultation with the school medical officer it was revealed that secondary school students are more resistant to intercurrent diseases than apprentices.

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Within the framework of the research programme MZ-SSR 08-8106 the authors examined in 1986 three groups of top level volleyball players: A)--representatives of the CSSR, B)--volleyball players Slavia UK Bratislava, C)--volleyball players TSM Bratislava, with regard to general health, gynaecological, anthropometric and somatotypological status. They investigated also the development of secondary sex signs, age of menarche and course of the menstrual cycle. The results were evaluated statistically and the parameters were mutually compared and confronted with data in the literature.

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