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Maternal adaptations to pregnancy depending on the sex of the fetus
Nekolová, Denisa ; Kaňková, Šárka (advisor) ; Roberts, Kateřina (referee)
For the mother, pregnancy is a period of significant physical changes and transformations. The mother's physiological adaptations, including hormonal and immunological changes, and behavioural adaptations serve to ensure a successful pregnancy. However, different manifestations of these changes can be observed depending on the sex of the fetus. While human chorionic gonadotropin reaches higher levels in pregnancies with a female fetus, testosterone concentrations are higher in the presence of a male fetus. At the same time, increased levels of pro-inflammatory interleukins have been detected in the presence of a male fetus. However, inconsistent results regarding the sex of the fetus can be observed when focusing on the levels of cortisol and progesterone. Adaptive protective mechanisms play an equally important role in embryo protection. In line with the expectation that the more vulnerable male fetus would require increased protection, higher levels of disgust sensitivity were observed in mothers pregnant with boys. In the case of pregnancy-related nausea, however, increased levels were repeatedly reported in mothers expecting girls. Thus, a deeper understanding of these mechanisms should be the subject of further studies.
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Influence of latent toxoplasmosis on intelligence of infected subjects
Chvátalová, Veronika ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Lindová, Jitka (referee)
There remain inconsistencies in the literature concerning the intelligence of subjects infected with latent toxoplasmosis. The main goals of this work are to find out whether, a) latent toxoplasmosis influences the intelligence of infected subjects and b) whether Rh negative and Rh positive subjects respond to the infection in different ways. In this work we used a complex test of intelligence, The Structure Intelligence Test I-S-T 2000 R. We were able to statistically control for the confounding variable the size of the place of residence in childhood. This had benefits when compared to previous studies. The differences in intelligence were measured in students of The Faculty of Science. The sample used included 46 toxoplasma-infected and 188 toxoplasma-free individuals. Using nonparametric tests we found lower numerical, fluid and general intelligence in toxoplasma-infected subjects compared to noninfected subjects. In addition, these tendencies were also observed in the results of parametric tests. Further to these components of intelligence there was also found to be a lower component of numerical knowledge in toxoplasma-infected males. By contrast, no differences between infected and noninfected individuals was found to occur in the female test subjects. No statistically significant...
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Factors contributing to interindividual differences in olfactory abilities and odour awareness
Nováková, Lenka ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Lukavský, Jiří (referee) ; Vodička, Jan (referee)
The main body of the thesis deals with selected factors underlying the considerable variability in human olfactory abilities and some odour awareness-related measures, addressed in samples ranging in age from middle childhood to young adulthood. The thesis consists of two parts. The first part (Chapter 1), first presents the major advances and developments that brought about something of a renaissance of scientific interest in the human sense of smell, including the recent proliferation of psychophysical studies, both basic research and clinical. Next, an outline of olfactory psychophysical measures and related olfactory abilities that are of relevance to the studies presented in this thesis is provided. Subsequently, the selected factors contributing to interindividual differences in olfactory abilities, that have been addressed by this thesis, are reviewed, namely the effect of sex (or gender), which is approached from a developmental perspective, childhood gender nonconformity, and personality. Finally, intraindividual fluctuations in olfactory performance are also mentioned in brief. Next, the focus shifts to odour awareness by first introducing the various approaches that can be adopted to get closer to the real-life context as opposed to laboratory setting (where most olfactory studies continue to be...
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Study of metabolic syndrome in mice model: roles of dietary lipids, adipose tissue and AMP-activated protein kinase
Medříková, Daša ; Kopecký, Jan (advisor) ; Houštěk, Josef (referee) ; Novotný, Jiří (referee)
Obesity and associated metabolic disorders, e. g. metabolic syndrome, represent a considerable health threat for modern society. Due to sedentary lifestyle, high caloric intake and changes in composition of diet, prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. One of the possible causes contributing to higher prevalence of obesity in recent population could be the change of fatty acids (FA) composition of dietary lipids, with the shift in the content of n-6 and n-3 FA toward n-6 FA. In contrast to n-6 FA, n-3 FA are known for their anti-atherogenic, anti-obesogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. In our experiments in mice, the capability of naturally occurred and chemically modified n- 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in prevention and reversal of specific parts of metabolic syndrome was demonstrated. A specific chemical derivative of docosahexaenoic acid was proven to be very effective in preventing and improving metabolic conditions of animals exposed to high-fat (HF) diet challenge. Further, the involvement of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), a master regulator of lipid metabolism, in skeletal muscle thermogenesis induced by HF-feeding was investigated. Activation of AMPK in the HF-fed mice is most possibly caused by increased leptin levels and represents an important link...
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Relationships among characteristics perceived from photos of faces
Machová, Kamila ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Děchtěrenko, Filip (referee)
Estimating others characteristics from facial cues plays an important role in our everyday lives. People usually agree in these estimates well and many of these estimates correlate. Majority studies consider one or few character- istics only and their respondents usually are in narrow ranges of ages. This study is partly based on rating of 13 characteristics of 80 men's and women's faces by respondents of various ages. These data were originally collected within yet unpublished study of Jaroslav Flegr, Amy E. Blum and Šebastian Kroupa. In this study I most strikingly found out that: i) older respondents of both genders rates photos of women as more attractive, ii) respondents spend more time by rating faces considered by themselves as more attractive or nice, iii) men rate people with different eye color as more attractive and women rate others with the same eye color as nicer, iv) preferences computed by two methods do not differ much. 1
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Influence of experience with infidelity on setting the bottom limit of infidelity tolerance in a partner relationship
Kočvarová, Bohumila ; Klapilová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Štěrbová, Zuzana (referee)
The thesis "Influence of experience with infidelity on setting the bottom limit of infidelity tolerance in a partner relationship" deals with the issue of determining the bottom limit of partner exclusivity and its possible association with a previous infidelity experience. The main thesis of this work is that setting the limits of infidelity tolerance between partners in a relationship is quite individual and each person may perceive these limits very differently. This work is divided in two parts. The theoretical part focuses on analyzing selected findings about infidelity that have been so far collected in research studies or therapeutic sessions, and methodological shortcomings that arise from these findings. The practical part is a description of the research itself, and its goal to find out if infidelity experience affects the setting of tolerance limit in a relationship. It was examined whether it was an experience with the person"s own infidelity or infidelity if its partner, if it was an experience from a former relationship or a current one and if there is a difference between men and women in being influenced by the experience. Semi-structured interviews with a total of 26 people were conducted for this purpose and then analyzed in a qualitative way. The final part presents results and...
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Factors contributing to interindividual differences in olfactory abilities and odour awareness
Nováková, Lenka ; Havlíček, Jan (advisor) ; Lukavský, Jiří (referee) ; Vodička, Jan (referee)
The main body of the thesis deals with selected factors underlying the considerable variability in human olfactory abilities and some odour awareness-related measures, addressed in samples ranging in age from middle childhood to young adulthood. The thesis consists of two parts. The first part (Chapter 1), first presents the major advances and developments that brought about something of a renaissance of scientific interest in the human sense of smell, including the recent proliferation of psychophysical studies, both basic research and clinical. Next, an outline of olfactory psychophysical measures and related olfactory abilities that are of relevance to the studies presented in this thesis is provided. Subsequently, the selected factors contributing to interindividual differences in olfactory abilities, that have been addressed by this thesis, are reviewed, namely the effect of sex (or gender), which is approached from a developmental perspective, childhood gender nonconformity, and personality. Finally, intraindividual fluctuations in olfactory performance are also mentioned in brief. Next, the focus shifts to odour awareness by first introducing the various approaches that can be adopted to get closer to the real-life context as opposed to laboratory setting (where most olfactory studies continue to be...
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