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Influence of practical courses on the upper secondary school students' motivation to study biology
Janštová, Vanda ; Pavlasová, Lenka (advisor) ; Čížková, Věra (referee) ; Stuchlíková, Iva (referee)
The reasons for the decline in students' interest in science have been studied for the last decades. The key question is how to stimulate this interest and motivate students and pupils to study science. Part of this thesis was testing the influence of practical courses on upper secondary school students' motivation toward studying biology. To start with, it was found out how many practical courses were taught for each biology topic at Czech upper secondary schools. Molecular biology and genetics emerged as one of the topics with the lowest number of practical courses. Therefore, molecular biology practical courses have been proposed and tested. It was shown that these practical courses can increase students' motivation scores. The possible influece of age, gender and number of practical courses during biology lessons on motivation was tested as well. Motivation of Czech students was compared to motivation of New Zealand students. Younger students and boys were more motivated to study biology in both countries. New Zealand students were more motivated than Czech students. Motivated students like the participants in the Biology Olympiad, Students' Professional Activities, biology summer course and optional biology courses were used to describe the origin of their motivation toward biology.
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Methods of molecular and cell biology in the frame of secondary school education
Blaha, Milan ; Ehler, Edvard (advisor) ; Pavlasová, Lenka (referee)
Teaching of cell and molecular biology is often restricted by financial and material limitations as well as a lack of expertise. These problems may be overcome by cooperation with scientific institutions and universities. Some scientists teach select courses under the auspices of high school. Others allow students to fulfill internships at their workplaces. The first aim of this thesis is to describe the characteristics of summer school, wherein the participants are integral for providing feedback on what matters most to them. The second goal of the study is to perform four molecular biology lab lessons in the advanced placement genetics course. The results of a qualitative research conducted among summer school participants have shown the benefits present due to contact that occurs between people of the same genuine interest. Student evaluation of molecular biology lessons performed in the advanced placement course revealed that the lab lessons are feasible and positively accepted by students. The thesis also highlights the importance of cooperation between high school and academia. Key words: molecular biology, DNA, secondary schools, gifted students
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Naegleria: from free-living protist to brain eating deadly pathogen
Matějková, Magdalena ; Mach, Jan (advisor) ; Marková, Lenka (referee)
N. fowleri is mostly a free-living amoeboflagellate which, in favorable conditions, can occasionally adopt a parasitic lifestyle. In such cases, the amoeba becomes causative agent of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, a severe and largely fatal disease occurring in several mammals including humans. The treatment of this disease is complicated by many unwanted side-effects of available drugs and a lack of prompt diagnostic methods. Within the Naegleria genus, N. fowleri is the only human pathogen. According to up-to-date knowledge, the pathogenicity of this species is due to its metabolic properties as well as to a particular set of proteins expressed by this protist. Besides a wide scale of enzymes, some of these proteins participate in the formation of cellular structures which are crucial for the pathogenesis. All these particularities should be targeted in a search for a better treatment. The thesis is focusing on a comparison of N. fowleri with related species N. gruberi and N. lovaniensis, stressing out the differences of N. fowleri from these non-pathogenic species. Key words: Naegleria fowleri, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis, immune response, pathogenesis, facultative parasitism
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Early cancerogenesis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Kastner, Jan ; Betka, Jan (advisor) ; Salzman, Richard (referee) ; Smilek, Pavel (referee)
Squamous cell carcinoma is the most frequent malignant tumour of head and neck. Prognostic and predictive information as an individual imprint of molecular-genetic analysis of HNSCC will help to determine the best indivicual treatment. And in case of surgical appraoch the optimal resection with adequate quality of life and long-term survival. Study of early cancerogenesis in our project is based on knowledge, that histological normal mucosa next to tumor shows preneoplastic molecular alterations. Molecular genetic changes in a histological normal mucosa harbouring a tumor may play a principal role in revealing of early cancerogenesis process. Molecular-genetic analysis of cancerogenesis in HNSCC reveals prognostic and predictive factors, which are necessary for evaluation and decission for the best individual treatment. This is the concept of tailored medicine The text summarizes current knowledge of early cancerogenesis in HNSCC and presents molecular-biological trends, which are necessary to discover details of early cancerogenesis and thus to get a tool for better detection as well as treatment of malignant disease. The study is based on fragment analysis of microsatelites lesions in tumor tissue in comparison to adjacent mucosa and the healthy mucosa. Results show significant molecular-biological...
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Genetics and molecular basis of spina bifida
Kim, Alice ; Krylov, Vladimír (advisor) ; Hovořáková, Mária (referee)
Spina bifida is a neural tube defect that evolves during neurulation when the neural folds fail to fuse and result in an open neural tube. New studies have shown that our understanding of neural tube closure might be wrong and suggested a single site neural tube closure in humans. Various factors like nutrition, genetics, and environment lead to the formation of a neural tube defect. Folic acid and Vitamin B12 have been shown as effective supplements when it comes to lowering the risk of developing NTD and. Genetic mutations of MTHFR, CUBN, CHKA, SARDH, MTRR, Grhl-3, which are all involved in methylations are considered important risk factors for NTD's. Wrong methylation or hypomethylation of Hox and Vangl genes have shown to be also playing a role in NTD's. Par1/Par2 mutations in mice have shown to cause Spina Bifida. Keywords: Spina Bifida, NTD, Neural tube defects, Myelomeningocele, Neurulation
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Ecology of yeasts in forest soils
Mašínová, Tereza ; Baldrian, Petr (advisor) ; Marečková, Markéta (referee) ; Kolařík, Miroslav (referee)
Microbial communities inhabiting upper soil horizons represent an important component of forest ecosystems. However, despite the evidence that yeasts represent an integral part of topsoil fungal communities, their role in forest ecosystems received so far little attention. The aims of my PhD thesis were to describe yeast communities in soil and litter of a temperate forest using high- throughput sequencing of environmental DNA, identify dominant yeast species and to explore how the composition of yeast communities reflects the biotic and abiotic factors of the environment. I also aimed to isolate yeasts from forest topsoil, describe novel yeast taxa abundant according to the environmental DNA survey and screen representative isolates for the traits relevant to their involvement in organic matter transformation. I have demonstrated that in forest topsoil, yeasts represent a substantial proportion of fungal communities with higher relative abundance in soil than in litter. In litter, yeast communities differ significantly among beech, oak and spruce-dominated stands. Drivers of community assembly are probably more complex in soils and comprise the effects of soil chemistry and vegetation. Even though there are similarities in the response of the communities of yeasts and filamentous fungi to...
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