|
|
Toxoplasma and Host's Reproductive Function
Hlaváčová, Jana ; Kaňková, Šárka (advisor) ; Kodym, Petr (referee)
Toxoplasma gondii (Apicomplexa) is probably one of the most common human parasite in developed countries. It has a wide range of hosts including a variety of warm-blooded animals as well as humans. In this bachelor thesis you can find review of literature focusing on an influence of T. gondii on host's reproductive functions. Toxoplasmosis is accompanied by hormonal changes which may be one reason for the negative effect on host's fertility. Throughout the thesis are mentioned immunosuppression and reduced quality control of embryos associated with T. gondii. Both of these phenomena probably affect pregnancy, prenatal and postnatal development of the offsprings of mothers with latent toxoplasmosis. And these also play a role in shifting of sex ratio in infected hosts.
|
|
|
Pathophysiologic aspects of myelodysplastics syndromes in relation to the effect of targeted imunomodulation and demetylation therapy
Jonášová, Anna ; Stopka, Tomáš (advisor) ; Maisnar, Vladimír (referee) ; Faber, Edgar (referee)
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) represent a group of clonal stem cell disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, peripheral cytopenia, morphological dysplasia and the risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MDS belongs to one of the most common hematological diseases in patients over 60 years old. MDS incidence is still increasing. Appropriate therapy of MDS remains challenging. There is no curative approach besides peripheral stem cells transplantation, which is regretfully appropriate only for a small group of patients due to a higher median age of the MDS population. This is why the search for therapeutic alternatives remains paramount. MDS treatment was rather frustrating until the recent introduction of two new therapeutic approaches: immunomodulation therapy with lenalidomide and epigenetic or demethylating therapy with 5-azacytidine. Both new drugs have significantly higher effect than standard therapy. However, the precise mechanism of this effect remains unknown. As a result, we decided to initiate several research projects while introducing this promising treatment to our patients. Our aim is to investigate the mechanism of both agents in relation to disease pathogenesis by examining changes of certain occurrences and factors prior to and during the course of...
|
|
|
NURSING CARE OF PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES IN THE INTESIVE CARE UNIT
Dolinská, Michaela ; Hošťálková, Monika (advisor) ; Kukol, Václav (referee)
NURSING CARE OF PATIENTS WITH HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES IN THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT Michaela Dolinská, DiS. ABSTRACT Overall survival and quality of life of the patients with malignant diseases, especially with hematological malignancies, have improved significantly in the last years. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment, including the hematopoietic stem cell (bone marrow) transplantation modality, have led to the increase survival rate of such patients. Simultaneously, these opportunities generate increasing number of individuals requiring the intensive care due to various complications of malignant disease and/or its treatment. This bachelor thesis is designed as theoretical-empirical study. The theoretical part provides the review and analysis of current literature and discusses particular specifics of nursing care of patients with hematological malignancies in the intensive care setting. Pancytopenia- associated immunosuppression and infection risk, the need of barrier-approach principles of nursing care will be described. Next, bleeding conditions and restricted transfusion politics, telling unfavorable information to the patients and their families and last but not least the palliative care principles are reviewed too. The empirical part of the thesis is processed as the qualitative research in...
|
|
|
Modelovanie ochorenia a štúdium regeneračných procesov v Huntingtonovej chorobe a ALS in vivo
Hruška-Plocháň, Marián
Neurological disorders affect more than 14% of the population worldwide and together with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries represent major health, public and economic burden of the society. Incidence of inherited and idiopathic neurodegenerative disorders and acute CNS injuries is growing globally while neuroscience society is being challenged by numerous unanswered questions. Therefore, research of the CNS disorders is essential. Since animal models of the CNS diseases and injuries represent the key step in the conversion of the basic research to the clinics, we focused our work on generation of new animal models and on their use in pre-clinical research. We generated and characterized transgenic minipig model of Huntington's disease (HD) which represents the only successful establishment of a transgenic model of HD in minipig which should be valuable for testing of long term safety of HD therapeutics. Next, we crossed the well characterized R6/2 mouse HD model with the gad mouse model which lacks the expression of UCHL1 which led to results that support the theory of "protective" role of mutant huntingtin aggregates and suggest that UCHL1 function(s) may be affected in HD disturbing certain branches of Ubiquitin Proteasome System. Traumatic spinal cord injury and Amyotrophic Lateral...
|
|
|
Huntington's disease modeling and stem cell therapy in spinal cord disorders and injury
Hruška-Plocháň, Marián ; Motlík, Jan (advisor) ; Bjarkam, Carsten (referee) ; Roth, Jan (referee)
Neurological disorders affect more than 14% of the population worldwide and together with traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries represent major health, public and economic burden of the society. Incidence of inherited and idiopathic neurodegenerative disorders and acute CNS injuries is growing globally while neuroscience society is being challenged by numerous unanswered questions. Therefore, research of the CNS disorders is essential. Since animal models of the CNS diseases and injuries represent the key step in the conversion of the basic research to the clinics, we focused our work on generation of new animal models and on their use in pre-clinical research. We generated and characterized transgenic minipig model of Huntington's disease (HD) which represents the only successful establishment of a transgenic model of HD in minipig which should be valuable for testing of long term safety of HD therapeutics. Next, we crossed the well characterized R6/2 mouse HD model with the gad mouse model which lacks the expression of UCHL1 which led to results that support the theory of "protective" role of mutant huntingtin aggregates and suggest that UCHL1 function(s) may be affected in HD disturbing certain branches of Ubiquitin Proteasome System. Traumatic spinal cord injury and Amyotrophic Lateral...
|
|
|
Impacts of chemotherapy on imunoregulatory gene expression in the tumor microenvironment
Paračková, Zuzana ; Reiniš, Milan (advisor) ; Zajícová, Alena (referee)
Tumor microenvironment is an area, where the local immunosuppressive effects dominate and prevents the immune system to perform its physiological functions. The cells infiltrating the microenvironment have an important function among many cell types since they produce a large quantity of factors suppressing the immune response. In our work, we monitored the immune changes in the microenvironment during tumor growth and chemotherapy. For these purposes, we utilized the methods for analysis of the proportion and phenotype of the distinct populations of immunocytes and for analysis of the total level of expressions of selected genes associated with immunosuppression or with distinct populations of immunocytes. The aim of our work was to discover, using two types of mouse tumors (TRAMP-C2 and TC-1/A9), how 5-azacytidine (5AC), a cytostatic drug with epigenetic activity, affects the proportion of leukocytes infiltrating the tumor microenvironment and, further, whether these changes are accompanied by decreased expression of immunosuppressing genes. In addition, we have also focused on the changes of relative expression of genes encoding markers of lymphoid lines and, on other immunoregulating genes, encoding IL-6, IL-10, IL-12, IL-4 and IFNγ cytokines, in the microenvironment of these tumors....
|
|
|
Interaction between NKT and myeloid derived suppressor cells and antitumour immunity
Straňavová, Lucia ; Reiniš, Milan (advisor) ; Holáň, Vladimír (referee)
Myeloid- derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are a heterogeneous population of cells, which plays an important role in the suppression of anti-tumor immune responses. NKT cells represent an additional heterogeneous cell population that plays a crucial role in the regulation of immune responses. It shows that MDSCs and NKT cells may be similar to other populations imunoregulatory cells interact with each other and influence their functions. These interactions are important regulatory factor that may contribute to activation and to suppress anti-tumor immunity. Through interactions with type I NKT cells could differentiate these immunosuppressive MDSCs to immunogenic APC, which could form the basis for immunotherapeutic vaccine. All interactions between the NKT and MDSCs but have a positive effect of imunoregulatory. Interaction between MDSCs and CD4 + NKT cells II. type are immunosuppressive and may subsequently suppress the activity of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL). In some tumor models it was found that the immunosuppressive nature may also be interactions between MDSCs and type I NKT cells He had, however, alleviate the use of all-trans-retinol acid (ATRA), which induces differentiation of MDSCs.
|
|
|
The role of macrophages in immunosuppression mediated ny regulatory T cells
Kadlecová, Kristýna ; Holáň, Vladimír (advisor) ; Stříž, Ilja (referee)
Regulatory T cells (Treg) represent one of the most important mechanisms of immunoregulation. Treg suppress immune reactions and prevent overactivation of the immune system. There is a lot of ways of Treg action described, here we have focused on Treg interference with macrophages. The suppressor capacity of a highly purified Treg population was demonstrated in proliferation assays. The level of suppression of effector T cell proliferation differs depending on the presence of macrophages in the culture. Treg suppression has been significantly higher in the presence of macrophages. These observations led to hypotesis that Treg affect directly macrophages. However, using flow cytometry, reduction of expression of costimulatory molecules on macrophages after culture with Treg was not observed. Macrophages precultured with Treg showed a comparable functionality as macrophages cultured alone. Neither flow cytometry nor live cell imaging revealed any cytotoxic activity of Treg towards macrophages. Despite the presence of macrophages, Treg did not suppress effector cell proliferation in a model, where stronger activation of effector cells was induced. Therefore, a new hypothesis was presented - initially observed higher suppression in the presence of macrophages was probably caused by a qualitatively or...
|
|
|
Influence of latent toxoplasmosis on sex ratio and pregnancy progression - search for proximate cause
Kaňková, Šárka ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Votýpka, Jan (referee) ; Calda, Pavel (referee)
The boy-to-girl ratio at birth (secondary sex ratio) is around 1.06 in most populations. The sex ratio may be influenced by many factors, such as stress and immunosuppression, age of parents, parity and sex of preceding siblings. The most common human protozoan parasite in developed countries, Toxoplasma gondii (prevalence 20% - 80%), is known to change the behaviour of its intermediate hosts, thereby increasing the probability of transmission to its definitive host (the cat) by predation. The results of our retrospective cohort study suggest that the presence of Toxoplasma gondii, can influence the secondary sex ratio in humans. Depending on the antibody concentration, the probability of the birth of a boy can increase up to a value of 0.72, which means that for every 260 boys born, 100 girls are born to women with the highest concentration of anti-Toxoplasma antibodies. In accordance with results on human subjects, laboratory mice with toxoplasmosis produced a higher sex ratio than controls, in the early phase of latent infection. Our further results showed that mice in the early phase of latent infection exhibited temporarily increased production of interleukin (IL)-12 and decreased production of IL-10. The mice showed decreased production of IL-2 and nitric oxide and decreased proliferation...
|
|
|
Possibilities pregnancy after transplantation of the heart
CHVOJKOVÁ, Lenka
The thesis deals with the possibilities of pregnancy of women in fertile age after the heart transplant. The aim was to find out, whether there are women after the heart transplant in the Czech Republic, who got pregnant, delivered a baby, or are trying to get pregnant, or are interested in pregnancy, at least. The qualitative research utilizes a survey method, which was aimed at physicians, who are looking after patients after the heart transplant. Furthermore a non standardized interview was held with the physician of the Outpatient{\crq}s department for the Transplants at IKEM and with her patient, who is currently trying to get pregnant. Personal documents of the patient trying to get pregnant were used, in order to make the research more specific. It is apparent from the results that there is a small group of women after heart transplant in fertile age. Thus, for ascertaining the result, the foreign literature was used, which describes already successful pregnancies after the heart transplants in such women. Pregnancy risks must be divided into risks for a mother and for a fetus. The pregnant woman after the heart transplant is most endangered by hypertension and further to that there is a danger of implant rejection, infection, as well as premature delivery. The fetus is most endangered by infection and premature delivery. A majority of newborns are delivered with a low delivery weight. The abortion rate is relatively low compared to a number of successful deliveries. In the event that a woman desires to get pregnant, she is always informed of the risks associated with the pregnancy after transplant. The risks, which endanger a mother and a fetus, can be decreased to a minimum through a well monitored pregnancy. The thesis can be used for increasing awareness of women, who want to get pregnant after heart transplant.
|
guest ::
