Kidney temperature measurement. Thermistors for temperature measurement.

During a study of the protective effects of cold on kidney cells under conditions of interrupted blood circulation, it was found that attention must be paid to the temperature of kidney tissue in order to prevent cell damage caused by an excessively reduced temperature. The authors correspondingly developed an instrument for the measurement of kidney tissue temperature where thermal sensors located in a needle are able to measure deep temperature in live tissue under conditions of external hypothermia. Thermal sensors were also placed in a hypothermal coil for contact measurement of surface temperature of a cooled kidney and in a duct for supply of cooling medium into a coil.

A comparison of various methods for cooling the kidney.

Various methods for achieving preoperative renal hypothermia were tested and evaluated. A kidney immersed in an oil bath solution at 4 degrees C resulted in the highest rate of contact hyperthermia at a determined safe temperature of cooling medium. The acquired basic temperature curve served as a model for the comparison of other methods tested.

The effect of soil fertilization on the formation and the amount of cannabinoid substances in Cannabis sativa L. in the course of one vegetation period.

The study followed the effect of the soil fertilization on the growth of plants and on the formation and the amount of extractible substances as well that of two main cannbinoid substances (CBD, delta-9-THC) in the Czechoslovak variety of hemp, Rastislavice, cultivated in Czechoslovakia for fibre production in the course of the vegetation period of 1988. In fourteen various vegetation stages of the plant growth, the samples of the plant tops, cultivated on five fields with different soil fertilization, were collected and analyzed in the dried state.

EMS induced morphological and thermo-sensitive mutants of Aspergillus fumigatus.

The sensibility of the strain As-F2 Aspergillus fumigatus to EMS was determined by using the scale of doses. Seventeen thermo-sensitive or thermotolerant morphological mutants with decreased sporulation and growth rate as compared with a wild strain was isolated. Their more detailed characteristic will be a contents of our further paper.

Descriptive epidemiology of tetanus in the Czech Republic in the period of 1960-1993.

Tetanus represented a serious health problem in the Czech Republic until 1974 with a substantial number of deaths. In the period of 1974 to 1976 a mass vaccination campaign was implemented, covering almost all adult population in both sexes. Since that time the incidence of tetanus has sharply decreased and during recent years only sporadic cases of tetanus were reported.

Unsaturated fatty acids incorporated in HDL in hypo- and hyperalphalipoproteinemia--relation to the HDL-cholesterol level.

Proportions of unsaturated fatty acids of high density lipoprotein (HDL) lipids and their relationships to the HDL-cholesterol level were compared in hypo- and hyperalphalipoproteinemic subjects. Both groups did not differ in the level of serum cholesterol. However, hypoalphalipoproteinemia was associated with hypertriglyceridemia, higher HDL-triacylglycerol level, and higher proportion of HDL-18:1 (oleic acid) and lower proportions of HDL-18:2 (linoleic acid) and 20:4 (arachidonic acid) than hyperalphalipoproteinemia.

Ultrastructure of mice Leydig cells at chronic lead intoxication.

In the present paper we report on the study of the ultrastructure of Leydig cells of male mice after application of various doses of Pb(NO3)2 in drinking water for 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 11 weeks. The increasing dose and time interval lead to formation of numerous concentric lamellar systems, accumulation of fatty vacuoles, vacuolization of mitochondria, pronounced surface differentiation, and changed shape of the nucleus of Leydig cells. The ultrastructural picture corresponded with an enhanced metabolic activity in some cells; in other cells dystrophic changes were observed in other.

Effect of ketoconazole on potassium pool, c-AMP-release and ergosterol synthesis in resistant mutants of Microsporum gypseum.

The effect of ketoconazole (KK) on chosen biochemical indexes was studied in three mutants of dermatophyte Microsporum gypseum (MG-155 wild strain) resistant to KK. Fungistatic concentration of KK added to liquid cultivate medium increases significantly ergosterol pool and nonsignificantly demethylation activity, potassium content, cAMP release in three days old mycelium of mutants when compared to the cultivation without KK. On the contrary, there is a significant suppression of ergosterol level and demethylation activity followed by highly significant increasing of potassium content and cAMP release in the case of wild strain MG-155.

Morphological and colour mutants of Aspergillus fumigatus.

By using the scanning electron microscope the morphological deviations of 17 colour mutants of Aspergillus fumigatus were characterized. These mutants originated by genetic blocks in various stages of conidiophores and conidia differentiation. The complementation test was carried out with the light-pigmented mutants.

Contribution to the social importance and the epidemiology of osteoporosis.

It as concluded, we could state the fact that the occurrence of the osteoporosis--caused fracture of the vertebrae and of the proximal femur has the tendency to increase. The total number of osteoporotic fractures in the Czech Republic is close to that in the developed western countries. This illness causes people immense suffering and requires considerable financial expenses both during the hospital treatment immediately after the trauma and during the rehabilitation treatment and the nursing care.

The preheparin and postheparin lipids of high density lipoprotein subfractions: relation to the serum insulin and postheparin plasma lipase activities in normal human.

The preheparin and postheparin lipoprotein lipids (cholesterol C and triacylglycerols TAG) were related to the serum insulin and to the postheparin plasma activities of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and hepatic lipase (HL) in normolipemic human. The positive correlation, although not statistically significant, of insulin level of the LPL activity was found, while no correlation to the HL activity was seen. Under preheparin conditions: 1) both insulin level and LPL activity were negatively related to the VLDL-C/TAG ratio indicating an enrichment of VLDL with TAG, 2) moreover, the LPL activity was positively related to the HDL-C and HDL3-C, 3) the HL activity predominated in relation to the HDL, and particularly to the HDL3, as indicated by negative correlations to the both lipids and to the lipid/apoA-I ratios of HDL and HDL3.

Genetics of dermatophytes.

By the end of 60s a team of scientists has started at Medical Faculty of Olomouc the research of micromycetes pathogenic for both the humans and animals. In this study, the appropriate results are summarized as concerned with the genetics of dermatophytes. Among these results, those significant in deeper assessing the biology of dermatophytes and etiopathogenesis of dermatophytoses have been selected.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori in some patients undergoing upper endoscopy.

The group of 156 patients undergoing upper endoscopy at the Department of Central Endoscopy, University Hospital in Olomouc was followed up for determination of HP status by means of the methods of culture, microscopic examination and determination of specific IgG antibodies by ELISA method. Prevalence of HP was determined in individual groups of the series under study (peptic gastroduodenal lesion, antral gastritis of type B, duodenitis) and in subjects with normal endoscopic finding. The most frequent HP positivity was established by the method of specific antibodies determination by ELISA, then microscopic evidence of HP and finally culture.

Lymphocyte migration through the wall of postcapillary venules in the fetal development of human palatine tonsil.

Migration of lymphoid cells through the wall of postcapillary venules was studied in the palatine tonsils of five human fetuses. The direction of the migration of lymphoid cells as observed in the early fetal period seems to be mostly from the lumen of the venule into the tonsillar parenchyma. Migration starts with the adherence of the lymphocyte by means of a cytoplasmic projection to the cellular surface of a high-endothelial cell.

High-endothelial postcapillary venules in the fetal palatine tonsil.

Postcapillary high-endothelial venules were studied in the palatine tonsils of 48 fetuses and 19 children aged from the 10th gestational week to the end of the first year of life. Light microscopy was used to study their localization and distribution in extrafollicular lymphatic tissue in histological sections. The anlage of the venules was detected as early as in the 14th gestational week.

Histochemistry of enzymes in the pancreas of human embryos.

12 human embryos and fetuses (in weeks 4 to 20 of the intrauterine life) were studied using the methods according to Lojda for the activity of the following enzymes: alkaline and acid phosphatases (AlP, AcP), acid nonspecific esterase (AE), ATP- splitting enzymes (ATP-ase), beta-glucuronidase, aminopeptidases A and M (APA, APM), dipeptidylpeptidase IV (DPP IV), gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), succinate dehydrogenase (SDH), and glycero-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (alpha-GPDH). Glycogen content was determined by PAS method. In the youngest embryos, a high activity of DPP IV was recorded in the epithelium of differentiating primitive glandular tubules.

Guidelines for and possibilities of safe handling of cytostatics.

Effects of antineoplastic substances on the human organism are discussed. Stress is laid on the hazards to the health personnel occupationally exposed to cytostatics when preparing and diluting them and when caring for the patients under cytostatic treatment. The hazards are particularly great when cytostatics are handled inappropriately.

Analysis of the health condition of the children born to the personnel exposed to cytostatics at an oncology unit.

The health condition of the children born to the health personnel exposed to cytostatics at a specialized oncology unit, Faculty Hospital, Olomouc, was analyzed. Questionnaires and interviews were used to examine on the whole 44 workers (23 nurses, 7 physicians, 8 auxiliary nurses and 6 cleaners). The average age of the group was 34.

An analysis of the health condition of personnel exposed to cytostatics at an oncology unit.

Attention was paid in this study to the evaluation of the health condition of the hospital personnel exposed to cytostatics at a specialized oncology unit, Faculty Hospital in Olomouc. Questionnaires and interviews were used to examine 44 exposed personnel of the oncology unit and a control group of 32 partners of these workers who held no risk jobs. The questionnaires were focused on personal, family and occupational histories.

Metoclopramide test in women with PCO syndrome after ovarian wedge resection.

Afternoon serum PRL levels and PRL responsiveness to metoclopramide (MCP) were determined in 36 women, aged 30.5 +/- 4.5, with normoprolactinemic anovulation.

Initial rise of progesterone in spontaneous, stimulated and pathologic cycles.

We followed 124 cycles and compared the preovulatory rise of progesterone in the groups of spontaneous ovulation and stimulated ovulation with those of ovulation of small follicles and cycles with LUF syndrome. No significant differences were found between normal and abnormal cycles.

Monitoring of ovulation by ultrasound.

Ovarian growth was monitored by ultrasound and plasma hormonal levels (E2, LH, FSH, progesterone) in 124 cycles of 71 patients. Providing a direct view of follicular maturation, ultrasound can help in the determination of the best time for the induction of ovulation. Examining the speed of follicular growth we can predict some ovulatory dysfunction.

The features of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy.

Features of 10 patients with hypertrophic osteoarthropathy are described. Seven patients suffered from lung disease. Joint symptoms preceded the symptoms of primary disease in four cases.

Malignant lymphoma involving the heart.

In a group of 116 patients with different types of malignant lymphoma, the frequency, type and clinical manifestations of heart involvement are evaluated. A case of primary cardiac lymphoma is demonstrated. Along with this, clinical and pathological findings in 15 further subjects with secondary lymphomatous infiltration of the heart are discussed; attention is being paid also to indirect factors causing cardiovascular damage, including radio- and chemotherapy.