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Development of prostate cancer radiotherapy from the 80s to the present day
SUCHANOVÁ, Markéta
Prostate cancer (CaP) remains the most common cancer diagnosed in men. This desease has worldwide increasing incidence. In the Czech Republic incidence has tripled during the last 20 years. The increase of the mortality is much more slower, but CaP is still the third leading cause of cancer-related death in men. CaP treatment management options may include active surveillance, radical prostatectomy, brachytherapy and external beam radiation therapy. The radiotherapy occupies an irreplaceable position. It is used as a curative therapy for clinically localized CaP with a low and intermediate risk. In the case of high risk CaP and locally advanced tumors are often treated with the addition of the hormonal therapy, which enhances tumor control and overall patient's survival. The radiotherapy is also used in some cases as an adjuvant treatment following a radical prostatectomy, as well as a salvage therapy in a biochemical relapse or as a palliative treatment if the cancer progresses. The aim of this study is to provide an overview of the development of CaP radiotherapy from the 80s till the present day. The specific objective of the study is to assess the incidence of the radiation-related complications (RRC) in patients with CaP treated with IMRT and PT. Among the methods of processing this thesis was using secondary data analysis. Practical information were obtained during the visits to the Department of the Radiation Oncology at the Hospital Ceske Budejovice a.s. (NCB) and the Proton Therapy Center Czech s.r.o. (PTC). During these visits was observed the radiotherapeutic treatment of the patients with CaP and valuable information were obtained through interviews with Mrs.Vančurová, MD and Mr. Vítek, MD., Ph.D., MBA This study analysed the incidence of the acute and late RRC in patients with CaP treated in these facilities. The acute and late side effects was assessed for GU and GI toxicity using RTOG / EORTC score. The specific problems were measured with the CTCAE v.4.0 scale. The overall incidence of the RRC was subjected to the statistical hypothesis testing using a two-sample unpaired t-test. The examined sample consisted of the 30 patients with CaP irradiated at NCB and the 30 patients from PTC with low, intermediate and high risk CaP. It was found that for the patients from NCB the rectum mean dose was 40,7 Gy and the mean dose of bladder was 39,4 Gy. For the patients treated at PTC the mean dose to the rectum was 13,2 Gy and to the bladder 11.1 Gy. This is related to the incidence of the RRC. Acute GU and GI toxicities Grade 2+ occurred in 33 % and 23,3 % of the patients treated in NCB. With a median follow-up of 22 months there was late GU toxicity Grade 2+ in 13,3 %. Late GI toxicity Grade 2+ occurred in 26,7 %, which exceeds incidence of the RRC described in the literature. Incidence of late GI toxicity Grade 3 and 4 was also increased, it appeared in 10 % (3 patients). Furthermore in one case cancer reoccurred and metastasized one and half year after the radiotherapy. In PTC no acute or late Grade 3+ toxicities were observed. Acute GU and GI toxicities Grade 2 occurred in 13,3 % and 6,7 %. After median follow-up of 21,5 months there was incidence of late GI toxicity Grade 2 3,3 %, late GU toxicity appeared only Grade 1 in 13,3 %. There was found statistically significant difference in occurrence of RRC in patients treated in NCB and PTC. The hypothesis that PT reduces the incidence of the radiation side-effects compared to the IMRT technique in the patients with the prostate cancer was confirmed. The prostate can move greatly during the day. It is recommended using CBCT, which is part of new linear accelerators at NCB, to check the position of the prostate before each irradiation. This study provides an overview of the treatment of CaP and may serve to increase of awareness of the RRC. The main contribution can be seen in the comparison of a standard approach with a promising alternative.
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The Space of Prayer - Ethnography of a Monastic Community
Horská, Kateřina ; Zandlová, Markéta (advisor) ; Spalová, Barbora (referee)
The presented work deals with certain aspects of catholic monastic life; it has been elaborated on the basis of a field research carried out in a female monastic community of an active order in the Czech Republic. In the work, I focus primarily on the topic of prayer and I am trying to answer the following questions: what is the nuns' attitude towards prayer like, which activities we can consider a prayer in the monastic community and what is the influence of these activities on actors in this setting? On theoretical level, the thesis is based especially on the concept of total institutions by E. Goffman and on Pierre Bourdieu's conception of habitus. The text consists of four major parts. In the first, introductory part I describe methodological and ethical issues relevant to my research. In the second part, I concern myself briefly with monastic life in general, its origins and development, and also with stages of monastic life of an individual. The following empirical part based on ethnographic data from my field notes is presented as a description of "a common day" in the monastic community. The last part is theoretical and analytical at the same time; here I deal with the main topic of the thesis. Firstly, I present Goffman's concept of total institutions and I explain how according to this...
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Integrated library system in libraries of ČVUT in Prague
Jílek, Josef ; Buřilová, Marcela (advisor) ; Stöcklová, Anna (referee)
Bakalářská práce popisuje a hodnotí Integrovaný knihovní systému Aleph 500 (IKS Aleph) v systému knihoven Českého vysokého učení technického v Praze (ČVUT). Úvodní část stručně pojednává o vývoji automatizace. Druhá část charakterizuje současný stav systému knihoven ČVUT, organizační strukturu, poskytované služby a zkušenosti s automatizací knihovních procesů a softwarem Automatizovaná knihovna. Následuje popis IKS Aleph a základní vymezení jeho funkcí. Čtvrtá kapitola je věnována hodnocení IKS Aleph jako automatizovaného knihovního systému pro vysoké školy. Závěrečná část popisuje proces implementace IKS Aleph v knihovnách ČVUT a vymezení specifik této implementace.
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Parameters of Communication Systems Based on OFDM-CDMA
Blumenstein, Jiří ; Kocur,, Dušan (referee) ; Baudoin, Genevieve (referee) ; Fedra, Zbyněk (advisor)
Cíl disertační práce leží v oblasti modelování a vyhodnocení bezdrátových komunikačních systémů s dvojrozměrným rozprostíráním signálu a jejich klíčových parametrů v závislosti na vybraných vlastnostech moderního bezdrátového komunikačního řetězce. Výzkumné metody použité v této práci spočívají především ve vývoji softwarového simulátoru pro prostředí Matlab, s jehož pomocí, a s využitím statistického přístupu, jsou navržené algoritmy ověřeny. Dále je použit simulátor fyzické vrstvy dle 3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE), vyvinutý na Technické univerzitě ve Vídni. Tento představuje ideální platformu pro implementaci metody dvojrozměrného (2D) rozprostírání a její vyhodnocení s přihlédnutím k současným bezdrátovým komunikačním systémům. Zjištění prezentovaná v této práci představují především ověření účinnosti systému nazvaného jako Variable Spreading Factor - Orthogonal Code Frequency Division Multiplex (VSF-OFCDM), který využívá principu 2D rozprostírání signálu a zjištění, že VSF-OFCDM systém překonává systémy využívající Orthogonal Division Frequency Multiplex (OFDM), nebo Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). Dále byla navržena metoda 2D rozprostírání signálu v systému LTE, kde se též potvrdila její účinnost. Díky účinnějšímu potlačení vlivu rychlé variace přenosového kanálu v závislosti na frekvenci a čase, dosahuje systém VSF-OFCDM znatelně vyšší datové prostupnosti.
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The course of microsporidiosis caused by Encephalitozoon cuniculi in experimental model
VOTOČKOVÁ, Tereza
Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites causing disease called microsporidiosis. The infectious strategy is a spore - a highly organized cell which gives a rise to the infection of the host. This bachelor thesis records the progress of microsporidiosis provoked by the infection of the experimental model of the species of microsporidia Encephalitozoon cuniculi, namely of the genotype ECIII. The theoretical part includes the familiarization with microsporidia. In this part, there are first records leading to paying more attention to them and initiating their closer examination. This section describes both the biological characteristics and the systematic categorization of microsporidia and the description of a spore as the infectious stage of life cycle, which enables get into the host body where microsporidia reproduce and cause diseases. The sources of microsporidia are mentioned as well as the ways of transmission and microsporidia species most commonly detected in human whose attention is devoted mainly to Encephalitozoon cuniculi - its history and development, the infectious progress in hosts, the detection, and the treatment. The practical part describes the methodical process of the way of monitoring of microsporidiosis on experimental models in a form of laboratory mice of inbred immunocompetent BALB/c and the mice with severe combined immunodeficiency SCID. The mice were orally infected with spores of Encephalitozoon cuniculi genotype ECIII, which was isolated from steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus). The progress of infection was monitored both on the basis of coprological examination of mouse feces and on the basis of the examination of tissue and body fluid samples. The processing of individual samples was carried out with the aid of molecular diagnostics in the parasitological laboratory AV ČR in České Budějovice. The DNA from individual tissues and body fluids was isolated by using a commercially supplied kit, QIAamp DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit ( QIAGEN), the feces were treated with a commercially supplied QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (QIAGEN). The principle was to destroy the individual spores and to obtain the pure DNA which was suitable for further processing. Subsequently, the two-step polymerase chain reaction was carried out. providing rapid multiplication of DNA. The next step was a gel electrophoresis which arouses the division of the DNA into individual fragments on the basis of different molecular weights due to the effect of unidirectional electrical current. The fragments were visualized by UV transilluminator at a wavelength of 312 nm linked to a computer. The part of the research was the albendazole treatment of BALB/c mice. The drug was orally administered in the range from 28th to 42nd day after the infection. The results on progress of microsporidiosis through various organs and tissues, including the involved treatment, were recorded in well arranged tables. At the end of this bachelor thesis, there is a summary of the research and its comparison with previous studies. The results showed that microsporidia may be a threat not only for people suffering from immune deficiency, but thanks to their successful survival in the organs of immunocompetent hosts and their ability of activation from the undetectable level, they emphasize the danger of latent microsporidiosis as a risk and life-threatening factor for groups of people undergoing chemotherapy or organ transplantation where the patients can receive inflected graft from a donor.
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Advanced Materials for Organic Photonics
Ouzzane, Imad ; Táborský,, Petr (referee) ; Lukeš,, Vladimír (referee) ; Weiter, Martin (advisor)
V oblasti nových nízkomolekulárních organických materiálů patří deriváty difenyldiketopyrrolopyrrolu (DPP), používané dříve jako barviva a pigmenty, k objektům vysokého zájmu pro jejich potencionální aplikace v moderních technologiích. Studium jejich optických vlastností ve vztahu k jejich chemické struktuře umožní využití jejich vysokého potenciálu ve vývoji pokročilých inteligentních materiálů. Přehled chemických a fyzikálních vlastností DPP derivátů a zhodnocení současného stavu řešené problematiky jsou uvedeny v teoretické části této práce. Tři hlavní procesy studované v této práci jsou: klasická absorpce a emise, dvoufotonová absorpce (TPA) a zesílená spontánní emise (ASE). Výsledky budou diskutovány a shrnuty ve dvou částech: první zahrnuje první dvě výše zmíněné oblasti a druhá problematiku zesílené spontánní emise.
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Global financial crisis and its impacts on the economy of the Russian Federation
Bolotov, Ilya ; Štěrbová, Ludmila (advisor) ; Petříček, Václav (referee) ; Baláž, Peter (referee) ; Fingerland, Jaroslav (referee)
The thesis describes and analyses the problem of the global financial and economic crisis and its influence on the Russian economy. It constitutes a synthesis of main approaches to the crisis' examination from the years 2008-2011 and develops its own theoretical model for explaining the crisis' emergence and spreading in an open economy, and also analyses in detail the state of the Russian economy and anti-crisis measures. The thesis is based on assumptions that the crisis could have been explained and foreseen theoretically with the help of macroeconomic models, that the anti-crisis policy was in majority of cases inefficient, and that the problems of the Russian economy were caused not only by the global recession, but also by its internal imbalances. On the methodological side, the thesis is based on the ideas of the Austrian and Keynesian economics (the Austrian business cycle model and post- and neo-Keynesian branches) and the financial crises economics and partly on selected thoughts of the Marxian economics, and is divided into four chapters. In the first chapter, the attention is given to the four main heterodox theoretical approaches to explaining financial and economic crises and to the development of a synthetic model. In the second chapter, the reasons, course and main previsions of the U.S. and global crisis are examined and the synthetic model from the first chapter is empirically tested. In the third chapter, the degree of the crisis' influence on different groups of countries is estimated, followed by a description of its main transmission channels and an analysis of anti-crisis measures at the global level. The fourth chapter is dedicated to the specifics of the Russian economy, its development during the crisis and to the anti-crisis policy of the Russian government and of the Central Bank of Russia. The thesis attempts to fill the gap in the existing economic literature by presenting new findings in the above-mentioned areas.
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Measles - possibilities of managing unsatisfactory epidemiological situation in Europe
MERVARDOVÁ, Eliška
This thesis focuses on the epidemiological situation in the incidence of measles in the Czech Republic and possibilities of influencing their unfavourable situation in Europe. Measles is a highly contagious disease of viral origin, which has a significant impact on the health of the child population in particular. The most effective protection against the measles is vaccination. The introduction of measles vaccination positively affected the epidemiological situation in the world. Priority of the WHO (World Health Organization, WHO, hereinafter) is elimination of the measles. The long term goal of the WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC hereinafter) was the elimination of measles in the European region by 2010. This goal was not achieved. The cause was low immunization coverage of certain population groups in several European countries. The prerequisite of achieving elimination of measles is that the vaccination coverage in the population is high. Many countries, thanks to effective vaccination strategy, succeeded in reducing the incidence of measles. In the years 2007- 2009 the historically lowest incidence, of less than 10 measles cases per million inhabitants, in the European region was achieved. In subsequent years, there was again a rise in measles morbidity. A repeated rise in cases of the disease is attributed to the expansion of social groups where vaccination coverage was inadequate in terms of achieving herd immunity. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part is divided into four main chapters. The first chapter describes the history of measles, the origin of the name of the disease and the first mention of it. The second theoretical chapter is devoted to the clinical characteristics of measles. In subchapters it describes the clinical picture of the disease, possible complications of the disease, how the infection is diagnosed and what treatment options there are. The third chapter defines the epidemiological characteristics of the disease. The subheads are aimed at the cause of the disease, possible ways of transmission, incubation period, period of communicability, susceptibility and incidence of this disease. At last, the fourth chapter of the theoretical part desribes possible epidemiological measures, which include measles surveillance, preventive and repressive measures and vaccination. The practical part of the thesis was elaborated through quantitative research - secondary data analysis. Analysed data were obtained from the information system for reporting and recording infectious diseases EPIDAT on Regional Hygiene Station of South Bohemian Region, based in Budweis and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The data on population, in terms of age groups and individual regions, were drawn from the demographic yearbooks, which are available on the website of the Czech Statistical Office. The resulting data were subsequently processed in tabular and graphical forms in Microsoft Excel. The research objectives were: 1) to set charting trends in the incidence of measles in the Czech Republic and Central Europe over the period 2004-2013, 2) to compare the incidence of measles in the individual regions of the Czech Republic, and 3) to identify the reasons for gaps in vaccination coverage against measles in the South Bohemian Region. Based on the above stated objectives, the five research questions were defined. The results are intended to highlight the issues of possible adverse influence on the epidemiological situation in the incidence of measles in Europe. This thesis can be used as a source of information on trends in incidence, vaccine development and immunization status for measles.
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Information Modules Supporting Bluetooth Communication
Knytl, Marek ; Tříska, Vít (referee) ; Mičulka, Lukáš (advisor)
This bachelor thesis describes the creation of two information modules, which are controlled by microcontroller and command using keyboard and display. These devices communicate with server, running on PC, using Bluetooth technology and they are designed for mutual transmission of short text messages. The introduction is devoted to the Bluetooth theory, than goes to the core of this bachelor thesis, which is the design and implementation of information module hardware and its firmware development. Developing server application for the PC is mentioned at the end of this document.
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Design and Realization of the Second Generation Imaging Reflectometer and its Application in Optical Analysis of Thin Films
Vodák, Jiří ; Držík,, Milan (referee) ; Klapetek, Petr (referee) ; Ohlídal, Miloslav (advisor)
The work deals with a technique of imaging spectroscopic reflectometry developed at The Institute of Physical Engineering, Brno University of Technology. The technique is well suited for characterization of samples non–uniform along their surfaces. The technique is primarily used for optical characterization of thin films. First part of the work is focused on basic physical principles of the technique and on ways in which measurement data are obtained. It contains a basic description of evaluating methods and a basic concept of an imaging spectroscopic reflectometer with a description of main parts of such a device. The main part of the work is focused on a description of two devices which were built at The Institute of Physical Engineering together with a description of some of upgrades which were implemented to these devices during their development. A description of measurements done with the two devices is also included. Last part of the work is then focused on further development of the technique. Intention of possible evolution of the technique to imaging spectroscopic ellipsometry is proposed.
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