Aspartate-β-hydroxylase and hypoxia marker expression in head and neck carcinomas: implications for HPV-associated tumors.

Background: A proportion of head and neck carcinomas (HNSCCs) are induced by high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and are associated with better patient outcomes compared to patients with HNSCCs related to tobacco and alcohol abuse. In the microenvironment of solid tumors, including HNSCCs, oxygen levels are often reduced, and a hypoxic state is induced. This can lead to a poor treatment response and a worse patient prognosis.

A 24-h activity profile and adiposity among children and adolescents: Does the difference between school and weekend days matter?

Background: Twenty-four-hour movement behaviours are gaining attention in the research community. However, no study has addressed how 24-h activity profiles vary between structured and less structured days and whether an unfavourable activity profile is associated with childhood obesity. We aimed to analyse differences between school day and weekend day 24-h activity profiles and their associations with adiposity indicators among children and adolescents.

Outcomes After Human Papillomavirus Vaccination in Patients With Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis: A Nonrandomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a rare benign chronic disease of the larynx etiologically linked with the infection of low-risk human papillomavirus (HPV). Combination of surgical and immunomodulatory therapy has limited success. Possible use of prophylactic HPV vaccine that includes HPV-6 and HPV-11 antigens has been studied.

ARG1 mRNA Level Is a Promising Prognostic Marker in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinomas.

Head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC) can be induced by smoking or alcohol consumption, but a growing part of cases relate to a persistent high-risk papillomavirus (HPV) infection. Viral etiology has a beneficial impact on the prognosis, which may be explained by a specific immune response. Tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) represent the main immune population of the tumor microenvironment with a controversial influence on the prognosis.

Exploratory drilling: how to set up, carry out, and evaluate a seroprevalence study.

Seroprevalence studies represent a very important tool to find out what fraction of population has already met with the new type of coronavirus (e.g. SARS-CoV-2).

Prevalence and correlates of adherence to the combined movement guidelines among Czech children and adolescents.

Background: There are limited studies on the prevalence of adherence to the combined guidelines for physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior, and sleep in children and adolescents. Moreover, little is known about correlates of adherence to the guidelines. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to examine the prevalence and identify the correlates of adherence to the combined movement guidelines among children and adolescents.

Bayesian approach for analysis of time-to-event data in plant biology.

Background: Plants, like all living organisms, metamorphose their bodies during their lifetime. All the developmental and growth events in a plant's life are connected to specific points in time, be it seed germination, seedling emergence, the appearance of the first leaf, heading, flowering, fruit ripening, wilting, or death. The onset of automated phenotyping methods has brought an explosion of such time-to-event data.

Bayesian multiple hypotheses testing in compositional analysis of untargeted metabolomic data.

Clinical metabolomics aims at finding statistically significant differences in metabolic statuses of patient and control groups with the intention of understanding pathobiochemical processes and identification of clinically useful biomarkers of particular diseases. After the raw measurements are integrated and pre-processed as intensities of chromatographic peaks, the differences between controls and patients are evaluated by both univariate and multivariate statistical methods. The traditional univariate approach relies on t-tests (or their nonparametric alternatives) and the results from multiple testing are misleadingly compared merely by p-values using the so-called volcano plot.

Prognostic value of posttreatment HPV-specific antibodies in patients with oropharyngeal tumors.

Background: The presence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-specific antibodies in patients with head and neck cancer at enrollment has prognostic significance. In cervical carcinoma patients, the decrease of HPV E6/E7-specific antibodies appears to be associated with a better prognosis.

Methods: This prospective study with follow-up focused on the persistence and prognostic value of antibodies specific for HR HPV-derived VLPs and HPV16 E6/E7 oncoproteins in patients with oropharyngeal cancers.

Analysis of the seasonal incidence of acute respiratory infections including influenza (ARI) in the Czech Republic - possible contribution of the functional data boxplot in epidemiology.

Aims: The detection of an epidemic outbreak is possible only if the baseline incidence level of a given disease is well defined. The determination of the baseline is complicated by the presence of epidemic outbreaks in historical data. The aim of the paper is to provide a new way of determining the baseline.

Specific and combined subjective responses to noise and their association with cardiovascular diseases.

Introduction: Noise is one of the most extensive environmental factors affecting the general population. The present study is focused on the association between discomfort caused by noise and the incidence of certain diseases (ischaemic heart disease, stroke and hypertension).

Materials And Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire study, conducted in 10 cities in the Czech Republic, comprises two stages with 3592 obtained questionnaires in the first phase and 762 in the second phase.

Can renal ultrasonography and DMSA scintigraphy be used for the prediction of irreversible histological lesions of the upper pole in duplex system with ureteroceles or ectopic ureters?

Aim: To assess of the role of renal ultrasonography (US) and DMSA renal scintigraphy in the prediction of irreversible histological lesions of the upper pole in duplex system.

Methods: A prospective cohort study based on data collected between 2005 and 2012 at our institution. The cohort consisted of 23 patients with ureteroceles and 28 patients with ectopic ureters who underwent upper pole nephrectomy.

Development of 5' LTR DNA methylation of latent HIV-1 provirus in cell line models and in long-term-infected individuals.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) latency represents the major barrier to virus eradication in infected individuals because cells harboring latent HIV-1 provirus are not affected by current antiretroviral therapy (ART). We previously demonstrated that DNA methylation of HIV-1 long terminal repeat (5' LTR) restricts HIV-1 reactivation and, together with chromatin conformation, represents an important mechanism of HIV-1 latency maintenance. Here, we explored the new issue of temporal development of DNA methylation in latent HIV-1 5' LTR.

Analysis of the integration of human papillomaviruses in head and neck tumours in relation to patients' prognosis.

Integration, which leads to the disruption of the circular HPV genome, is considered as a critical, albeit not obligatory, step in carcinogenic progression. Although cervical carcinomas with extrachromosomal HPV plasmid genomes have been described, the virus is integrated in 70% of HPV16-positive cervical tumours. Limited information is available about HPV integration in head and neck tumours (HNC).

When less is more: a simple predictive model for repeated prostate biopsy outcomes.

Objectives: To present a new predictive model for repeated prostate biopsy outcomes. Several practical problems are described that arise when searching for a proper model among those that already exist. A new model is developed with only two explanatory variables and a simple graphical output.