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Effects of chemopreventive compounds on cytochrome P450s
Křížková, Jitka ; Hodek, Petr (advisor) ; Helia, Otto (referee) ; Václavíková, Radka (referee)
CHARLES UNIVERSITY IN PRAGUE Faculty of Science Department of Biochemistry Effects of chemopreventive compounds on cytochrome P450s Summary of Ph.D. Thesis RNDr. Jitka Křížková Supervisor: prof. RNDr. Petr Hodek, CSc. Prague 2010 Introduction 1 Introduction According to the World Health Organization statistics, cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the human population worldwide for more than 50 years. Moreover, colorectal and gastrointestinal tract cancers are one of the main types of cancer leading to overall cancer mortality. Prevention consisting in a healthy lifestyle and a natural diet is suggested to be one of the main approaches to reduce cancer risk. In recent years, the consumption and use of dietary supplements containing concentrated chemopreventive phytochemicals increased dramatically. Flavonoids, as the most popular representatives of chemopreventive compounds, present in foods (fruits, vegetables, herbs, beverages) and dietary supplements have the potential to modulate the activity of xenobiotic-metabolizing enzymes [Hodek et al., 2002]. Among proteins interacting with flavonoids, cytochrome P450s (CYPs), monooxygenases metabolizing xenobiotics (e.g. drugs, carcinogens), play the most prominent role. The two members of CYP1A subfamily, CYP1A1 and CYP1A2, are involved in the...
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Genus Apodemus (Mammalia: Rodentia) in the Quaternary fossil record of Central Europe.
Knitlová, Markéta ; Horáček, Ivan (advisor) ; Macholán, Miloš (referee) ; Čermák, Stanislav (referee)
Wood mice of the genus Apodemus rank among the most common extant mammals throughout Europe. A history of its species and their distributional ranges is to be looked upon as a serious topic relevant also for general concepts on current setting of European biotic diversity. Nevertheless, despite several phylogeographic studies on that subject and a rich fossil record of the genus, many details of that issue remains only very poorly comprehended. This state is essentially caused by enormous complications with phenotype discrimination of individual species, their extensive variation and broad between-species overlaps in all phenotype traits. The present project was intended to establish the techniques enabling reliable species identification applicable to fragmentary fossil materials and to use them for retrieving information on range dynamics and phylogenetic history of individual species during the Quaternary past. It begun with detailed morphometric analyses of extant populations, using the characters available in fossils, and with establishing a concept of alternative parataxonomic classification covering the complete phenotype span of the genus. The respective techniques were applied onto an extensive set of well-dated records from the Late Pleistocene-Holocene sedimentary series from diverse...
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Fylogeneze vybraných druhů letounů Afriky na základě cytogenetického a molekulárního přístupu
Koubínová, Darina ; Zima, Jan (advisor) ; Macholán, Miloš (referee) ; Martínková, Natália (referee)
Phylogenetic relationships of a sample comprising 248 bats belonging to 19 species and four families (Hipposideridae, Rhinolophidae, Molossidae and Vespertilionidae) from Senegal (Western Africa) were investigated with the use of multi-locus sequence data and non- differentially stained chromosomes. The karyotypes of Hipposideros ruber, H. tephrus, H. jonesi and H. cyclops were described for the first time. The standard Hipposideros formula was recorded in H. tephrus, H. jonesi and H. ruber (2n = 32, FNa = 60, FN = 64). The karyotypes of H. cyclops (2n = 36, FN = 66) and H. gigas (2n = 52, FN = 64) substantially diverged from this typical chromosomal complement. Rhinolophus landeri and R. fumigatus shared the same diploid number (2n = 58), but differed in the chromosome morphology (R. fumigatus - FNa = 60, FN = 64; R. landeri - FNa = 64, FN = 68). Rhinolophus landeri was found karyotypically distinct to other African populations, thus signalling a possible presence of cryptic forms within this species. The karyotypes of Chaerephon pumilus and Mops condylurus had a 2n = 48, FN = 54 and were similar to other previously studied species of this chromosomally conservative family. Chromosomal, Bayesian, maximum likelihood and genetic distance analyses revealed an indication for the existence of cryptic...
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Ecology of butterflies in anthropogenic landscape
Kadlec, Tomáš ; Jarošík, Vojtěch (advisor) ; Prach, Karel (referee) ; Kuras, Tomáš (referee)
The dissertation thesis contains six original papers dealing with an influence of isolation, fragmentation and habitat loss on present cultural and urban landscape. Conclusions are based from studies of one species to those of whole butterfly communities. The first two papers deal with autecology of The Hermit (Chazara briseis) from its last viable population in the Czech Republic. During the last 20 years, it retreated from the republic, and recently it is classified as nearly extinct. The papers point to reasons of the rapid decrease: specialized life strategy and habitat losses. Due to high mortality of long-lived females, this species requires the compensation by high population size in large habitats. The next paper refers to habitat requirements of The Hermits' caterpillars. Local habitat conditions at study sites were noticeably similar to the conditions at German localities, at which this species is now practically extinct. Following two papers study an influence of urbanization on butterfly communities in 25 Prague reserves and parks. The first paper points to diversity changes during 30 years and their causes. Average number of species per site remained the same, but there were detected changes in species composition. Remarkable switching of species composition was observed mainly at large...
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Programmes of monitoring of bird occurrence and abundance as a source of ecological data
Mourková, Jindra ; Fuchs, Roman (advisor) ; Reif, Jiří (referee) ; Bejček, Vladimír (referee)
5 regionálních atlasech (Flousek & Gramsz 1999, Hromádko et al. 2005), umožňuje lépe zachytit proměnlivost výskytu a početnosti ptáků, která je daná mozaikovitostí studovaného území. Kromě údajů o prokázanosti hnízdění v jednotlivých kvadrátech síťových map přináší také odhad početnosti v celém území CHKO, charakteristiku výskytu a prostředí využívaného druhem na daném území a údaje o hnízdních hustotách v různých typech prostředí. Kvantitativní mapy pro jednotlivé druhy nejsou bohužel dosud zpracovány. SUMMARY OF THE THESIS In the thesis, regional data on bird communities were studied in terms of species richness and occurrence of bird species in dependence on habitat and, in case of wintering birds, also on climatic conditions. The regional grid atlas of Prague (Fuchs et al. 2002), records from Wintering waterbird census in Central Bohemia, own data on the breeding population of the Mute Swan in the Třeboň region and data from individual marking of Mute Swans provided by the Bird Ringing Centre of the National Museum were used as the sources of data on the occurrence and abundance of bird species. The thesis also includes a part of the text of the prepared Atlas of breeding distribution of birds in the Třeboň region. The first contribution (Mourková J., Fuchs R., Sedláček O., Janovský Z., Exnerová A.,...
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Formulation of extemporaneous paediatric liquid preparations in the hospital pharmacy
Klovrzová, Sylva ; Šklubalová, Zdeňka (advisor) ; Dittrich, Milan (referee) ; Masteiková, Ruta (referee)
Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradci Králové Department of: Pharmaceutical Technology Candidate PharmDr. Sylva Klovrzová Supervisor doc. PharmDr. Zdeňka Šklubalová, Ph.D. Title of Doctoral Thesis: Formulation of extemporaneous paediatric liquid preparations in the hospital pharmacy In the paediatric population, oral solutions and/or suspensions represent a suitable alternative to preparation of hard capsules in the pharmacy. This thesis aims at formulation of stable liquid oral preparations with cardiologic drugs, propranol- hydrochloride, sotalol-hydrochloride and furosemide, for the children aged from newborn to approximately 6 year. At the formulation of the preparation compositions, the simple routine preparation in a pharmacy was the main target as well as the use of excipients safe for paediatric population in the minimal necessary amount. Using a high performance liquid chromatography, chemical stability of the active ingredient and, simultaneously, the preservative was determined in all formulated preparations stored at two different temperatures at time points over minimum 180 days. In order to achieve this, the specific analytical methods were developed and validated at the department of Analytical chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové. However, the...
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How the Yellowhammer became a Kiwi: stories hatched at the field margins of bioacoustics and invasion ecology
Pipek, Pavel ; Pyšek, Petr (advisor) ; Slabbekoorn, Hans (referee) ; Sol Rueda, Daniel (referee)
The presented thesis exploits the introduction of the yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) to New Zealand to study the cultural evolution of birdsong dialects in exotic populations after 140 years of complete isolation from the original source populations in Great Britain. The data are interpreted with detailed knowledge of yellowhammer past in New Zealand and of the global (Europe) and regional (Czech Republic) distribution of yellowhammer dialects. Yellowhammer song is simple and males have very limited repertoire. Since the 19th cen- tury it is known that despite its simplicity the song exhibits fascinating geographical variation; the males share the terminal notes to create mosaic-like distribution of dialects. Although this phenomenon has been known for decades and thoroughly studied, many questions remain. One of them is a suspected border between "western" and "eastern" groups of dialects. By combining information about the dialect distributions obtained from works of previous researchers with recordings from online repositories and archives we demonstrate that these groups do not create macrogeographical patterns (Chapter 6). The citizen-science project "Dialects of the Czech Yellowhammers" involved Czech cit- izens in mapping the distribution of yellowhammer dialects in the Czech territory....
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Posterior Dentition of Modern Humans: the Course of Ontogenesis and its Effect on Size and Shape of a Tooth
Uhlík Spěváčková, Petra ; Merglová, Vlasta (advisor) ; Hovořáková, Mária (referee) ; Králík, Miroslav (referee)
Introduction: The morphological variability of human dentition constitutes an important source of information about biological affinity in evolution and in modern human populations, development of an individual or his health. The variability of upper permanent molars is analyzed consistently with current theorethical model of tooth morphogenesis. The variability of molars is studied here through metameric variation and sexual dimorphism. Most of the morphological variates is placed on the occlusal area of the tooth crown, what makes this area very complex. It is difficult to find suitaible method of analysis for this complexity. We expect geometric morphometrics and dental topogtaphy to deal with this complexity. Material and Methods: We have analyzed dental casts of 160 individuals (F = 74, M = 86), of which we have studied 607 teeth. The morphology of teeth was analyzed in virtual space with the procedures of geometric morphometrics and dental topographical analysis. We have analyzed the variability of occlusal tooth area with landmarks in 2D and 3D space. In the dental topographic analysis we used the RFI and OPCR variables. Results: 2D-GMA and 3D-GMA results were different. 2D-GMA variables were not sexually dimorphic, the only exception was the upper first molar. 3D-GMA variables were all...
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Elderly people on the labour market: Why work in post-productive age? Why not
Jandová, Pavlína ; Kotrusová, Miriam (advisor) ; Čabanová, Bohumila (referee)
In connection with adverse demographic characteristics of western societies and with growing expenses of states, linked with sufficient economic security of the oldest individuals in the post-productive age, the age limit of leaving into the old age pension in Czech Republic is being permanently prolonged in as well. Is the labour market able to adapt on the new situation and to accept the increasing proportion of elderly people amongst employees? And are the Czech senior citizens willing to take part in economical activities? This bachelor's work is focused on finding the elderly people's motivation to remain on the labour market and on studying the obstacles which they encounter. The resultant findings are mainly based on the performed research survey on the targeted population, which was carried out with the method of qualitative interviews. These findings are supplemented and supported with previously realised researches. The identified motivational factors of elderly people to work can be divided into three groups: influence of the state and its policies, influence of lifestyle socio-demographic characteristics, which affect the lifestyle and the influence of individual dispositions. All the factors are described further and their positive or negative impact on the economic activity of elderly...
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Detection, distribution, diversity and phylogeny of the crayfish plague pathogen Aphanomyces astaci (Oomycetes)
Kozubíková, Eva ; Petrusek, Adam (advisor) ; Dunn, Alison M. (referee) ; Füreder, Leopold (referee)
My Ph.D. thesis deals with various aspects of research of the crayfish plague pathogen, Aphanomyces astaci (Oomycetes). Crayfish plague decimates whole populations of European crayfish; therefore, it is one of the main problems for conservation of these species endangered from other reasons as well. The infection is transmitted by invasive North American crayfish, which are much less susceptible to the disease and are apparently original hosts of A. astaci. The core of this thesis consists of six studies. Four of them have been already published, the remaining two are manuscripts under review. The main linking motive among the presented studies is not only the crayfish plague pathogen itself, but also the use, development and verification of the reliability of molecular detection methods of A. astaci and its genotypes. This core of the thesis is further divided into two parts. The first one contains four studies that deal with the distribution of A. astaci in North American crayfish populations in the Czech Republic (Chapter 1) and Hungary (Chapter 2), and factors influencing this distribution. Two North American crayfish species can be found in the wild in these countries, the spiny-cheek crayfish (Orconectes limosus) and the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus). The first two chapters show...
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