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Popularization of the manipulation hypothesis
BIERLOVÁ, Tereza
This bachelor thesis deals with popularization of manipulation hypothesis among children attending elementary school and general audience in the form of short stories. In the literary part were chosen ten examples of manipulation by a parasite from scientific literature. In the research part was examined the topic of manipulation theory in the current biological textbooks for elementary school. Subsequently were created five short stories of manipulation by a parasite to help the reader understand the relationship in the examples in an easy way.
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Teaching of parasitism in elementary and secondary schools
Čiháková, Kateřina ; Mourek, Jan (advisor) ; Ehler, Edvard (referee)
Main aim of this master thesis is to map the situation of parasitism teaching in elementary and grammar schools. Thats why it contains analysis of reachable elementary and grammar school textbooks - it informs about various kinds of rating the textbooks, which can help both - current and future teachers of biology - to better know and identify reachable textbooks and choose the right ones for the parasitism teaching. It also contains test results of students parasitism knowledge, which are generally very good. Anyway they should learn much more about parazite's manipulation of their host behavior. Other part of my master thesis shows the results of grammar school teachers-filled questionnaires. All questionnaire results (teachers' and students') show that there can be an improvement in parasitism teaching. In next section you can find the Framework Education Programme analysis, own educational programme draft - workbooks, didactic games and powerpoint presentations. Thanks to the realization of teaching the parazites manipulation of their host behavior I found out that students' interest in the topic is quite big so it would be a shame not to share this newly explored area of parasitism with them. Key words: parasite, host, manipulation hypothesis, questionnaires, parasitism teaching
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Influence of latent toxoplasmosis on human fertility
Hlaváčová, Jana ; Kaňková, Šárka (advisor) ; Calda, Pavel (referee)
Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most widespread parasitic protozoa in humans in developed countries. It has a wide range of hosts including various warm-blooded animals and humans. Recent studies suggest that it could influence the fertility of humans. The aim of this work was to find out, what is the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in groups of women and men with fertility problems and whether Toxoplasma gondii has an effect on specific fertility parameters. In women, Significant positive correlation between toxoplasmosis and the percentage of oocytes in the follicles was found among women. Group of men with semen pathology diagnosis revealed a statistically significant negative association between toxoplasmosis and the percentage of morphologically normal sperm. It seems that latent toxoplasmosis in men can also worsen the negative effect of tobacco smoking on fertility. The impairment of fertility in men could be the result of the manipulation activity of Toxoplasma gondii, which leads to more frequent sexual intercourse due to decreased ability to conceive. This could increase the likelihood of sexual transmission, which is currently suggested as one of the possible ways of transmission of toxoplasmosis.
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Teaching of parasitism in elementary and secondary schools
Čiháková, Kateřina ; Mourek, Jan (advisor) ; Ehler, Edvard (referee)
Main aim of this master thesis is to map the situation of parasitism teaching in elementary and grammar schools. Thats why it contains analysis of reachable elementary and grammar school textbooks - it informs about various kinds of rating the textbooks, which can help both - current and future teachers of biology - to better know and identify reachable textbooks and choose the right ones for the parasitism teaching. It also contains test results of students parasitism knowledge, which are generally very good. Anyway they should learn much more about parazite's manipulation of their host behavior. Other part of my master thesis shows the results of grammar school teachers-filled questionnaires. All questionnaire results (teachers' and students') show that there can be an improvement in parasitism teaching. In next section you can find the Framework Education Programme analysis, own educational programme draft - workbooks, didactic games and powerpoint presentations. Thanks to the realization of teaching the parazites manipulation of their host behavior I found out that students' interest in the topic is quite big so it would be a shame not to share this newly explored area of parasitism with them. Key words: parasite, host, manipulation hypothesis, questionnaires, parasitism teaching
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Úleková reakce u osob s latentní toxoplasmosou
Příplatová, Lenka ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Havlíček, Jan (referee)
Possible connection between latent toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia is a very interesting and medically important topic. In this thesis I tried to map current state of knowledge in the interdisciplinary research of schizophrenia and Toxoplasma gondii and their possible connections as well as to show differences in responses between Toxoplasma-positive and Toxoplasma-negative subjects using simple computer-administered tests of prepulse inhibition of startle reaction (PPI). Such differences would suggest another similarity between schizophrenia patients and subjects with latent toxoplasmosis as the sensorimotor gating responsible for PPI was found to be disrupted in schizophrenia patients. Side goal of the study was to test newly developed PC software for testing PPI and to determine its applicability in further research. Subjects for the tests were recruited among adepts of professional military service; 409 subjects completed the test of acoustic PPI and 276 subjects completed the test of visual PPI. All the subjects were tested on presence of specific anti-Toxoplasma IgG in their blood serum. Both tests revealed significant (p<0.001) differences between responses on prepulse-preceded stimuli and plain stimuli without prepulse, no significant results were, however, gained for the effects of latent...
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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...
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The effect of Toxoplasma gondii on the intermediate host
Vosátka, Martin ; Chaloupková, Helena (advisor) ; Hradec, Michal (referee)
Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite, which has a wide spectrum of warm-blooded hosts, human included. It has worldwide occurrence. The most important role for it has a feline, which serves like a definitive host and allows it to proliferate. The aim of this bachelor thesis was to sum up all identified information so far about the possibilities of relationship between protozoan parasite and its intermediate hosts mainly in area of behavior. Laboratory mouse, the most examined animal associated with behavioral changes, was chosen as an intermediate host. This thesis was also aimed on affecting of human behavior by Toxoplasma gondii in general and about problems connected with it, for example connection with mental diseases and higher risk of traffic accidents. Manipulation of mice by Toxoplasma leads to change in basic instincts necessary for survival. It is especially about attraction to feline odour, when the degree of attraction depends on the dose of stimulus. Area of learning and memory was examined at mice model as well. Worsen ability of learning and memory was demonstrated in most cases (Flegr et al., 2014). Also relationship between number of cysts in the brain and worse results were observed (Vyas et al., 2007). Another important area was human reaction time. Infected individuals had slower reactions, which indicates worsen long-term concentration (Havlíček et al., 2001). Worsen concentration plays an important role and it is connected with a chance of susceptibility to accidents and riskiness for drivers. The individuals with latent Toxoplasma had 2,65 times higher chance for traffic accident (Flegr et al., 2002). T. gondii plays an important role in mental diseases, especially in link with schizophrenia. Effective medication of schizophrenia can inhibit T. gondii (Yolken et al., 2009). Schizophrenia often results in suicide attempt. That is why possible link between suicide attempts and presence of the parasite was researched. The study shows connection between antibody levels of T. gondii and suicide attempts, but just in a subgroup of patients younger than 38 years. It is probably because of risk of suicide attempts in schizophrenia appears in earlier phase of the disease (Okusaga et al., 2011).
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