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Biology of the soldier caste in the termite genus Prorhinoterme (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae)
Hanus, Robert ; Štys, Pavel (advisor) ; Žďárek, Jan (referee) ; Korb, Judith (referee)
Ontogeny of soldiers in Prorhinotermes simplex The soldiers were found to develop from larvae of the second up to the eighth instar, via a short (13-17 days) presoldier stage. The early soldier instars were found exclusively in incipient colonies while the mature colony contained late instar soldiers only. The first soldiers occur early in the incipient colonies; as soon as one year a er the establishment of these colonies a high proportion of soldiers was observed, which is comparable to that in mature colonies. The abrupt change in the external anatomy occurs in two steps. During the larva-presoldier moult, the head increases in length but only slightly in width. During the presoldier-soldier moult, both the length and width of the head increase markedly and the typical cordate shape is attained; the relative size of the pronotum increases considerably. The long falcate mandibles develop mainly during the larva-presoldier moult. One antennal segment is added during these two moults. With increasing instar age of soldiers a relative increase of the pronotum and the head size in its posterior region was observed. No functional differences in external anatomy were found among the six soldier instars. The composition of the frontal gland secretion is similar in the six soldier instars, an...
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Guardians of the Public Interest: Frame Delimiting of watchdog Activism in the Context of Social scientific Discourse and in the Perspective of its Representatives
Beránková, Petra Alexandra ; Frič, Pavol (advisor) ; Kotlas, Petr (referee)
The work deals with the phenomenon of so called watchdog organizations. The increasing number and influence of these organizations indicates a creation of new social movement. The authoress defines them as a type of public benefit nongovernmental organizations focused on the controlling of the public sphere or advocating and asserting a "public interest" in relation to the democratization of society. The authoress target is to understand this type of action, so she asks herself the question: Which frameworks are used by watchdog activists for the interpretation of their acting? At first there is briefly presented the concept of watchdog in the context of wider reflections of contemporary society, mainly in the context of reflexive modernity, monitory and participatory democracy and information society. Secondly there is introduced Goffman's framework analysis and the related conceptualization of framework of social movements by Benford and Snow. The authoress highlights a definition of frames as the principles of selection, emphasis and presentation about what happens, and what matters. In the next part of this work, there are presented the methodology and results of the qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with watchdog activists. The research is settled in the area of...
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Psychosocial intervention for women with perinatal loss
Borůvková, Klára ; Hoskovcová, Simona (advisor) ; Šivicová, Gabriela (referee)
This dissertation is focused on mapping the needs and development of experiencing the prenatal loss integration process in mothers, whose child died during the second or the third pregnancy trimester or suffered stillbirth. The goal of this dissertation is to suggest optimal intervention, which would prevent the progress of complications in terms of psychological disorders (PTSD, PAS). The theoretical part describes prenatal loss from the aspect of incidence and etiology and the loss of a close relative in general. It also focuses on the specifics of prenatal loss, the topic of crisis and its experience, phases of crisis, definition of the term "psychosocial intervention" and demarcation of its existing forms. This part also offers several perspectives and attitudes to the topic of grief as a process of hard life experience integration. It also describes several phases and problems connected with their fulfillment. The empirical part focuses on surveying the experiences and needs of women, who have suffered with prenatal loss. It also follows the approaches and circumstances, means of support, which helped women to cope with such an experience. It also tries to identify such aspects, which hindered this acceptation or made it more complicated. Research inquiry involves 13 depth interviews, which...
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Anticancer immunity in animal models and experimental immunotherapy with glycodendrimers specific for the lectin-like receptor NKR-P1
Vannucci, Luca Ernesto ; Fišerová, Anna (advisor) ; Bubeník, Jan (referee) ; Apte, Ron Nathan (referee)
5 SUMMARY Anticancer immunity is a complex network in which innate immunity play an critical role. The immune system can control the onset of tumors by recognizing the changed phenotype of the transformed cells as a non-self phenotype. The active control against cells not presenting self characters is defined by the paradigm of immune surveillance. In recent years, various studies have shown that the immune response against transformed cells start as a localized acute inflammatory response. The cooperation of natural-killer cells (NK) and phagocytes attracted by so-called "danger signals" (pro-inflammatory molecules and chemo-attractants delivered by stressed cells) can lead to total ablation of the harmful cell clone. If the intervention is not completely efficient, immunoediting of the tumor can follow with stimulation of chronic inflammatory responses, mainly mediated by macrophages. The systemic immunity attempt to terminate the uncontrolled inflammation stimulates the intervention of regulatory T lymphocytes and the shift from an antitumor cytotoxic Th1 response to a Th2 inhibitory response. This regulatory mechanism paradoxically assists the tumor development. All the described events needs the interplay and cooperation of both tumor cells and host cells and stromal elements, that altogether form the...
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Drug Interactions with Nuclear Receptors in the Regulation of Drug Metabolizing Enzymes and Drug Transporters
Nová, Alice ; Pávek, Petr (advisor) ; Skálová, Lenka (referee) ; Souček, Pavel (referee)
Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department: Pharmacology and Toxicology Candidate: Alice Nová, MSc Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PharmDr. Petr pávek, Ph.D. Title of Doctoral Thesis: Drug interactions with nuclear receptors in the regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters Drug metabolizing enzymes play a key role in metabolism, elimination and detoxification of xenobiotics exposed to the body and protect the organism from potentially harmful effect of xenobiotics as well as certain endobiotics. Phase I and II drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters are expressed in most tissues in basal level or may be induced after exposure to xenobiotics. Affecting of expression or activity of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters may result in unpredictable tissue and systemic drug distribution, to side effects or therapy failure. Up-regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters mediates mainly orphan nuclear receptors - pregnane X receptor (PXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) and transcription factor aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). This doctoral thesis presents the results of three studies dealing with the gene regulation of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters via nuclear receptors. In the first part of...
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Study of physiological functions of betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase and betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase 2
Mládková, Jana ; Jiráček, Jiří (advisor) ; Šulc, Miroslav (referee) ; Kožich, Viktor (referee)
Betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase (BHMT) and betaine homocysteine S-methyltransferase 2 (BHMT-2) are mammalian cytosolic metalloenzymes. They both participate in the metabolism of homocysteine (Hcy), specifically Hcy remethylation, mainly in liver and kidney cells. BHMT catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from betaine to L-Hcy, yielding L-methionine and dimethylglycine (DMG). BHMT-2 catalyzes the transfer of a methyl group from S-methylmethionine (SMM) to L-Hcy as well, yielding two molecules of L-methionine. Disorders in Hcy metabolism could lead to the so called hyper- homocysteinemia and homocystinuria, which can be connected with several pathological conditions. BHMT is already relatively well characterized enzyme. Its crystal structure and reaction mechanism have been described and a series of BHMT inhibitors have been prepared. The specific inhibitors enabled further in vivo studies and, recently, Bhmt-/- mice model has been successfully developed. In contrast, the research of BHMT-2 is still at the beginning and physiological functions of the enzyme are unknown so far. The reason is that BHMT-2 is a highly unstable enzyme and also there is a lack of selective BHMT-2 inhibitors. BHMT and BHMT-2 are very similar enzymes which have 73% amino acid identity. This thesis provides new...
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Plasma-membrane alkali-metal-cation transporters involved in salt tolerance of pathogenic Candida species
Krauke, Yannick ; Sychrová, Hana (advisor) ; Malcová, Ivana (referee) ; Heidingsfeld, Olga (referee)
of Ph.D.Thesis Conclusions All the aims of the thesis were achieved.The toleranceto alkali metalcationsof four pathogenic Candida species was studied in detail and revealed differencesamong the yeasts. These differences in sall tolerance remained the same under various growth conditions.For the first time, the internalsodium and potassiumconcentrationsof several Candidaspecieswere estimatedunder highsalt-stressgrolvth.The internalK./Na* ratiowas not in relationwith the salt tolerancerevealingdifferentadaptationmechanismsto salt stress in Candida species. A first study on combinatoryuse of fluconazoleand NaCl revealed severe synergisticeffects of both compounds, leading to grovvthinhibitionand increased internalNa* concentrationsin C. albicans.The molecularbasis of this synergismremainsto be established. Ihe C. dubliniensis, C. glabrata and C. parapsilosis Cnhl NalH- antiporters were cloned and functionallycharacterizedupon heterologousexpression in S. cerevlslae to understandthe mechanismsinvolvedin the differentsalttolerancesof Candidaspecies.The three antiportersdifferedin theiractivityfor alkalimetalcations,which roughlycorrelatedwith the observed differences in salt tolerance among the species. Additionally,during the characterizationof heteroiogouslyexpressed antiporters,two antiporter chimeras...
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Taxation of income from employment: Real Impact of Legislative Changes - case study
Marková, Diana ; Kemény, Irena (advisor) ; Hollmannová, Monika (referee)
This paper discusses the development of income tax of employees. The aim of this work is to model the real impact of legislative changes in the Czech Republic on the actual tax burden of employees with different incomes and propose optimal solution of tax calculation. The modelling is based on data containing gross salary, applicable tax allowances and tax reliefs for each employee of concrete production company in 2012. For the other years, the data are modelled from the given set using inflation. For comparison of the actual tax burden I use the effective tax rate, implicit tax rate and net implicit tax rate. The results of the calculations show that the tax deductions and the minimum and maximum base for social and health security contributions have the biggest effect on the tax rate. In the absence of tax deductions, the real tax burden for most employees according to the effective tax rate would have been almost constant over time. In fact, in terms of the effective tax rate the tax burden has declined slightly thanks to an increase in tax deductions. The results also show that the biggest differences in tax burden among employees are due to the (non) application of tax deductions.
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Palaeoecology of selected localities of the Whetstone Horizon
Libertín, Milan ; Kvaček, Jiří (advisor) ; Teodoridis, Vasilis (referee) ; Cleal, Christopher J. (referee)
Palaeoecology of selected localities of the Whetstone Horizon In frames of the present thesis taphonomical and paleoecological processed were described in selected localities of whetstone horizon. Fossil plant assemblage known from the locality Štilec represents plant community buried in situ by volcanic ash after volcanic explosion (Pennsylvanian, Bolsov). Plant community exhibits relatively low diversity assemblage of herbaceous and subarborescent plants. This unique taphocoenose was interpreted as pioneer assemblage growing in partly drained lake. In the locality Ovčín the peat bog of Lower Radnice Seam was buried during the same volcanic eruption by volcanic ash. Up to now 5 excavations were recovered of the area of seats over 150 m 2 on two sites which are approximately 40 m distant from each other. In this area 27 morphotaxa of fossil plant was recorded. They represent 20 whole plants. Fossil plant remains represent fossil plant assemblage dominated by lycopod plants of planar (rheotrophic) swamp situated in narrow palaeovalley with active fluvial system. Second part of the thesis is focused on systematic descriptions of fossil plant taxa from localities of the Whetstone horizon. A monotypic genus Huttonia and species Huttonia spicata from Class Sphenopsids was emended. Further there were described...
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