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The role of infection of HPV and EBV in the etiology of nasopharyngeal and cervical carcinoma
Machů, Jakub ; Vojtěchová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Španielová, Hana (referee)
Human papillomaviruses (HPV) and Epstein-Barr viruses (EBV) are common DNA viruses that contribute to the development and progression of tumours. These two groups of viruses are associated with more than 600,000 cases of newly diagnosed tumours of different anatomical locations annually. However, carcinogenesis is not a part of their normal productive life cycle. High risk HPV infections are mainly associated with head and neck tumours and anogenital cancers. EBV infections are associated with a range of acute or chronic diseases and tumours, with Burkitt's lymfomas (BL), Hodgkin's lymphomas (HL) and nasopharyngeal carcinomas (NPC) being the most prominent. In recent years, it has been hypothesized that EBV infections may be involved in the development of cervical cancer in woman and that HPV infections may play a role in the development of NPC. The aim of this thesis is to characterize above mentioned groups of DNA viruses and to summarize currently available information about the potential role of these viruses in nasopharyngeal and cervical carcinomas. Key words: human papillomavirus, Epstein-Barr virus, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, cervical carcinoma
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Dispersal and personality
Rišová, Slavomíra ; Frynta, Daniel (advisor) ; Sedláček, František (referee)
Dispersal of animals is an important area of ecology, the study of which is crucial for understanding population composition and dynamics. The acquired knowledge has broad applications in various fields, whether in the efforts to introduce endangered species or, conversely, to suppress the spread of invasive ones. However, dispersal begins at the individual level, so it is first necessary to determine which traits dispersing individuals possess. One possible aspect in which dispersers may differ from residents is their personality. This bachelor thesis provides a summary of literature that focuses on personality predictors of dispersal, comparing personality traits among each other, both within and across three selected taxa: fish, birds, and representatives of mammals - rodents. The literature suggests that in the context of individual personality, besides others, three main types of dispersal exist. In the first type, primarily observed in early stages of life, dispersal of more submissive individuals of territorial fish and rodents is enforced due to aggression from more dominant individuals. However, in birds, it is necessary to secure suitable territory as quickly as possible, leading to the opposite dependence - earlier dispersal of dominant individuals. The second type involves voluntary...
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Employment experiences among people with schizophrenia
Nykl, Matěj ; Zábrodská, Kateřina (advisor) ; Šípová, Ivana (referee)
This master's thesis deals with the issue of work experiences and employment of individuals with schizophrenia. Research indicates that engagement in work activities can have a positive impact on the course of the illness, but employment is significantly more challenging for individuals with schizophrenia compared to the general population. Although most individuals with schizophrenia are interested in being employed, only a small proportion of them succeed in the long term. In the Czech context, this is a relatively unexplored issue, therefore there is a lack of knowledge about how people with schizophrenia experience their employment and what difficulties they face. The aim of this master's thesis is to further explore the work experiences of individuals with schizophrenia and to determine what specific factors they perceive as supportive or limiting for their involvement in paid employment. The theoretical part of the thesis is divided into two main chapters, with the first one focusing on schizophrenia itself including its symptoms, prognosis, diagnosis, and the impacts of stigma. The subject of the second chapter is the possibilities of employment for individuals with schizophrenia, particularly the benefits associated with work, support mechanisms for this group, and their needs. The...
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Juniper pastures in the Wallachia area and predictors of their preservation
Mizera, Ondřej ; Křenová, Zdeňka (advisor) ; Mudrák, Ondřej (referee)
Common juniper (Juniperus communis), as a species of predominantly open habitats, used to be part of semi-natural grassland communities, such a pastures. In the area of Moravian Wallachia (eastern part of the Czech Republic) this type of grassland is known as juniper pasture, however as in the whole of Europe, it is a type of habitat that is disappearing rapidly from the landscape, among other reasons due to the absence of juveniles in the population. A total of 20 potentially preserved juniper pastures were identified within nine cadastral areas in the Moravian Wallachia (Beskydy Protected Landscape Area) and visited during the vegetation period. The total number of J. communis individuals was recorded, including their dendrometric (crown height and radius) and descriptive characteristics (sex, vitality, developmental stage, sociability, form). Characteristics of vegetation cover and type of site management were also recorded to define the main factors influencing the vitality and proportion of juvenile individuals in the population of J. communis. Field research was supplemented by analyses of orthophotos and topographical data processed in a GIS environment. In total 2,896 juniper were recorded at 20 locations, while the population of J. communis in the area of interest can be characterized by...
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Semi-automatic approach to secondary sex diagnosis Rdss (Santos, 2021): Applicability in an archaeological sample
Galovičová, Tereza ; Brůžek, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Galeta, Patrik (referee)
The new R package rdss (Santos, 2021) aims to facilitate and fast track secondary sex diagnosis in large archaeological assemblages. This thesis is focused on evaluating the applicability of this new package in a real burial site dataset, as it has not yet been evaluated in this way. The applicability of the package was evaluated by comparing the results of sex diagnosis of a set of 307 adult individuals from the burial site at the 3rd church of the Great Moravian settlement in Mikulčice with the results of evaluation of the same set of individuals in previous studies by Stloukal (1967) and Zazvonilova and colleagues (2020). Using four methods of primary sex diagnosis, sex was estimated at a posterior probability level of 0.95 for 234 individuals (76.2% of the evaluated population). Secondary sex diagnosis using the rdss package estimated sex at a posterior probability level of 0.95 for 37 individuals (12.1% of the evaluated population). The total number of estimated individuals was 271 (88.3% of the evaluated population). This yield of sex diagnosis was comparable to the yield in the previous two studies. The three studies were compared using the masculinity index, which showed the same trend of male predominance over female in the population in all three cases. The agreement of the frequencies of...
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Amylase gene variability in human populations
Vosmíková, Veronika ; Černý, Viktor (advisor) ; Daňková, Pavlína (referee)
Amylase is a starch-digesting enzyme produced by the pancreas and salivary glands in humans. Genes for the salivary isoenzyme (AMY1), located on chromosome 1p21.1, show remarkable variability in their copy numbers (CNV). Their count is positively correlated with the final amount of the produced enzyme. This variability could be the result of positive selection during human evolution, depending on the amount of starch consumed by various populations. Starch pre-digested by salivary α-amylase is absorbed more effectively, resulting in a greater gain of energy in later stages of the metabolizing process. Thus, it could have been one of the factors for rapid brain growth in humans and, significantly later, even for the agricultural transition. It could belong to a group of other known subsistence-based evolutionary changes in the human genome, such as those resulting in lactase persistence or slow acetylation of xenobiotics. Nowadays, the number of copies and the amount of produced α-amylase can influence the glucose level in the blood and insulin production after consumption, as well as the incidence of certain civilization diseases, such as obesity or type II diabetes. The influence of salivary α-amylase on the composition of the microbiome, cardiovascular diseases, and the pro-inflammatory profile...
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Curent state of knowledge about migration of vultures between Europe, Asia and Africa
Váhala, Jáchym ; Lučan, Radek (advisor) ; Kauzál, Ondřej (referee)
1 ABSTRACT This study aims to summarize the current knowledge about the spatial activity of Old World vultures with main focus on their seasonal migration. Vultures are one of the most endangered guilds of birds in the world. Their decline is caused by the loss of their natural environment and food resources, targeted and untargeted poisoning, hunt for traditional medicine and widespread use of veterinary drugs poisonous to them. Vulture migration is a relatively poorly documented phenomenon. The best studied species are Neophron percnopterus, Aegypius monachus and Gyps fulvus, i.e., species found in Europe, but even so, these species are mostly not that well studied within their populations outside of Europe. The remaining species, particularly those found in India and sub-Saharan Africa, are poorly studied in terms of migration, and are thought to be mostly resident. Keywords: Gyps fulvus, Aegypius monachus, Neophron percnopterus, migration, telemetry
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Global phylogeography of the deep-sea fishes
Knězů, Tereza ; Musilová, Zuzana (advisor) ; Vukićová, Jasna (referee)
Phylogeography of deep-sea fish remains poorly explored, largely due to the extreme conditions in which these organisms live and limited technological capabilities for researching these species. The aim of this thesis is to summarize the information known about the phylogeography of deep-sea fish, identify factors influencing population distributions, and connect them on a global scale. The distribution of deep-sea fish populations is influenced by physical, topographic, and hydrographic factors. Their connectivity is driven by the migratory abilities of fish and the utilization of marine currents for their dispersion. Migration is divided into vertical and horizontal. The vast majority of deep sea fish undergo some form of migration, at least during ontogenetic development. The most common is diurnal vertical migration, where fish regularly move to shallower depths at night for feeding. Molecular methods, mainly mitochondrial DNA markers, were used for research to determine the phylogenetic tree of species. The results suggest that the topography of the seafloor is rarely a barrier to the flow of genetic information. Furthermore, the results often refute the hypothesis of isolation caused by the distance between populations. They often exhibit a relatively high rate of panmixia. When speciation...
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Methods of Biomedical Informatics in the study of inflammatory bowel disease in children
Čopová, Ivana ; Hradský, Ondřej (advisor) ; Ďuricová, Dana (referee) ; Krupička, Radim (referee)
METHODS OF BIOMEDICAL INFORMATICS IN THE STUDY OF INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE IN CHILDREN Abstract Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are a group of chronic, polygenic diseases primarily affecting the gastrointestinal tract, with an increasing incidence in both adult and paediatric populations globally. These diseases include Crohn's disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC) and so-called IBD unclassified (IBD-U). Faecal calprotectin (FC) is a marker of inflammation in IBD and its levels correlate with disease activity as defined by clinical parameters, endoscopic findings and histology. Current medical practice is associated with the availability of a large amount of clinical data and the desire to apply it effectively in the medical decision-making process in such a way as to achieve the maximum possible reduction in the risk of adverse disease course and the occurrence of disease- and/or treatment-associated complications. The primary goal of this dissertation is to apply biomedical informatics methods to paediatric IBD in the process of validating FC in predicting disease activity and response to treatment, searching for additional potential predictive factors, and developing prediction models for specific clinical situations. We found that the development of FC levels in the early phase of induction therapy...
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Gene therapy for neurogenetic diseases
Staneková, Tereza ; Uhrová Mészárosová, Anna (advisor) ; Paulasová - Schwabová, Jaroslava (referee)
Gene therapy is a revolutionary approach to treating diseases, targeting the genetic basis of disease. In the future, it could become the predominant therapeutic approach for many diseases. Current approved gene therapies target immunodeficiencies, cancers, hereditary haematological and neurological diseases, thus presenting hope for patients suffering from rare and previously untreatable diseases. At present, gene therapy is primarily intended for the treatment of monogenic diseases, but in the future its use could extend to the field of acquired diseases. In this way, gene therapy may provide new treatment options and improve the quality of life of patients. Advances in this field are due not only to the development of genetic diagnostics, but also to the improvement of techniques for the application of nucleic acid to target sites, which allows genetic defects to be addressed precisely and effectively. The bachelor thesis focuses on the use of gene therapy in the field of hereditary neurological diseases, the prevalence of which is increasing in both the pediatric and adult population. The thesis also summarizes the historical events leading to the discovery of gene therapy, the methodological possibilities of gene therapy and the risks associated with it. The last chapter is devoted to the...
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