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Effect of caloric restriction on neuroplasticity
Sonina, Alisa ; Málková, Petra (advisor) ; Kolář, David (referee)
Calorie restriction has been shown to have a wide range of beneficial effects on health and longevity, although its effects on brain function are not as well known. This paper reviews the current state of research on the effects of calorie restriction on neuroplasticity, including studies examining the molecular, structural, and behavioral effects of dietary restriction in animal and human models. Overall, the evidence suggests that caloric restriction promotes neuroplasticity. However, further research is needed to fully understand the mechanisms underlying these effects and to determine the optimal duration and intensity of caloric restriction. Key words: Caloric restriction, neuroplasticity, diet, cognition, neurogenesis, metabolism
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Depressive rumination: testing the analytical rumination hypothesis in patients with depressive disorder
Janíčková, Petra ; Preiss, Marek (advisor) ; Dymešová, Gabriela (referee)
Depression is commonly viewed as a pathology. Depressive rumination, one of the key symptoms of depression is thought to be a maladaptive cognitive style that contributes to worse and longer depressive episodes. Here I present an alternative approach called the analytical rumination hypothesis (ARH). ARH proposes that depression is an evolved response to complex analytical problems. In a study on inmate patients of the National institute of mental health in Klecany with diagnosed depression we tested the validity of the ARH through assessing the influence of depressive rumination on mood, cognitive performance and electrophysiological correlates. Rumination was experimentally induced by expressive writing. In the control condition we used the distractive writing method. The results show a corresponding effect of rumination on the mood of our patients as expected. However, we were not able to see the proposed effects on cognitive abilities. KEY WORDS Depression, rumination, adaptation, cognition, affective state, neural correlates
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Sociolinguistic analysis of communication of men and women
Servusová, Carolina ; Jančík, Jiří (advisor) ; Suková Vychopňová, Kateřina (referee)
he Bachelor thesis deals with the topic of interpersonal communication. The bachelor's thesis aims to focus on communication and expression differences between male and female genders. It summarizes the most important findings from this field, from literature and scientific articles. Our focus is also in contextualising our work in socio-linguistic fields, dealing with society, language and communication processes. A secondary objective is also to determine whether any expressive differences are innate or learned. The Bachelor thesis is divided into Chapter 7 chapters. In the first chapter, we deal with language and communication. We outline the first differences in communication. In the next three chapters, we focus on scientific disciplines dealing with the differentiation of society, but also with language and communication. These are sociolinguistics, psycholinguistics and anthropolinguistics. In other chapters, we are dealing with language production and the gender heterogeneity of speech. We look for differences and influences that affect our speech and communication. In the last chapter we focus on qualitative research, observation, which is focused on several dozen communication situations mostly from French backgrounds. We are trying to find the differences that we have searched in the...
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Human Perception in Condition of Uncertainty: The Visual, Auditory and Embodied Responses to Ambiguous Stimuli
Boschetti, Silvia ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Palanza, Paola (referee) ; Pfaus, James (referee)
In order to orient ourselves in the environment our senses have evolved so as to acquire optimal information. The optimization, however, incurs mistakes. To avoid costly ones, the over-perception of patterns (in humans) augments the decision making. I tested the decision- making in two modalities, acoustic and visual. A set of stimuli (using computer-generated graphics, based on output from a very good pseudo random generator) was produced: masks with a random pattern with varying degree of transparency over geometrical figures were used, followed by similar task that involved black and white high-contrast patterns. In both cases, I was able to find, using a Bayesian statistical approach, that the ability to detect the correct pattern presence (or lack thereof) was related to respondents' thinking styles, specifically Rationality and Intuition. Furthermore, I used ambiguous facial expressions, and accompanying vocalizations, of high-intensity affects (pain, pleasure and fear) and low- intensity (neutral and smile/laughter). My findings evidenced that the high-intensity facial expressions and vocalizations were rated with a low probability of correct response. Differences in the consistency of the ratings were detected and also the range of probabilities of being due to chance (guessing). When...
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Biofluid biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and Lewy body disease and their relationship with cognitive and structural markers
Jurášová, Vanesa ; Veverová, Kateřina (advisor) ; Chmátalová, Zuzana (referee)
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease is based on the determination of specific proteins in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or their imaging using positron emission tomography. Both methods are invasive and can expose the patient to risk and discomfort. Blood biomarkers, therefore, represent hope for early diagnosis and monitoring of individuals at increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The diploma thesis aimed to determine biomarkers in blood using the ultrasensitive Simoa TM (Single molecular assay) technology and to verify their relationship to the values in CSF. The second aim was to track the relationship between blood biomarkers and cognitive markers of Alzheimer's disease. We demonstrated a positive relationship between serum, plasma, and CSF p-tau 181 concentrations. A negative correlation was observed between the concentrations of p-tau 181 in blood and the results of the MMSE test, which is considered a standard cognitive assessment tool. These findings suggest that plasma and serum p-tau 181 may greatly help the clinical identification of neurodegenerative diseases in primary care. The negative correlation of plasma and serum p-tau 181 with MMSE test results suggests that blood p-tau 181 could be used in population-based studies to detect individuals at high risk of developing...
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Multiple Sclerosis - Neuropsychological markers for monitoring disease activity
Friedová, Lucie ; Uher, Tomáš (advisor) ; Holštajn Zemánková, Petra (referee) ; Libertínová, Jana (referee)
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system that generates a wide range of clinical symptoms. These include cognitive impairment, a set of symptoms closely associated with the quality of life, which also serves as one of the most important predictors of limited ability to work. This doctoral thesis presents the output from four studies divided into three areas focusing on neuropsychological markers in connection to other manifestations and effects of MS. The first researched area is the link between speech characteristics and the information processing speed by patients with MS. Our study has proven a profound association between lower speed of articulation and below-average performance in terms of information processing speed. We have proven that acoustic quantitative speech analysis has the potential to identify patients with below-average cognitive performance. Another goal of this doctoral thesis was to ascertain the predictive value of serum neurofilament light chain levels in recently diagnosed patients with MS for the development of cognitive disorder within nine years of observation. During the period of observation, we uncovered only a loose link between high levels at the onset of the disease and the deterioration of cognitive functions in...
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The impact of nature on human health and development
Antošová, Eliška ; Vomáčko, Ladislav (advisor) ; Turčová, Ivana (referee)
Title: The Impact of Nature on Human Health and Development Objectives: The main aim of this bachelor thesis was to do a detail research of foreign scientific articles concerning effects of nature on human health and development of individual. Methods: To do the desk research of academic literature, the databases of foreign scientific articles such as PubMed, Medline, Scopus have been used. Results: There are studies which focus on influence of environment on people and examine this influence on three levels: physiological, psychological and cognitive. Results show a potential effect of natural environment on people on all researched levels. Studies describe this effect of environment as restorative and is commonly explained by two major theories: 1) Attention Restoration Theory explains this restorative effect by regeneration of directed attention capacity. 2) Stress Recovery Theory explains the restorative effect like a positive influence on emotional state of an individual. This has a positive consequence in lowering stress levels of the individual and it also induces desired physiological processes which lead to relaxation, regeneration and release. Furthermore, the studies show that there is significant role of environment in the overall development of an individual and they mention negative...
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Beneficial Effects of 11β-HSD1 Inhibition on Cognitive Performance in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
Červinková, Tereza ; Červený, Lukáš (advisor) ; Musílek, Kamil (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology Candidate: Tereza Červinková Supervisor: PharmDr. Lukáš Červený, Ph.D. Title: Beneficial Effects of 11β-HSD1 Inhibition on Cognitive Performance in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease The increased life expectancy goes hand in hand with ageing-related cognitive impairments. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia being an irreversible and progressive brain disorder with loss of cognitive functions. Recent studies suggest that excess of glucocorticoid (GC) action exerts deleterious effects on the hippocampus and causes impaired spatialmemory. In addition, it has been demonstrated that aged mice with cognitive deficits show increased gene expression of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) in the hippocampus and parietal cortex. The Senescence-Accelerated Mouse Prone 8 (SAMP8) strain is a spontaneous animal model of accelerated ageing. Many studies indicate that SAMP8 harbour the behavioural and histopathological signatures of AD. In the present study, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of 11β-HSD1 inhibition by a potent pyrrolidine-based compound RL-118 and/or effects of diet on cognitive performance in different groups of SAMP8 by conducting behavioural and...
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Beneficial Effects of 11β-HSD1 Inhibition on Cognitive Performance in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease
Červinková, Tereza ; Červený, Lukáš (advisor) ; Musílek, Kamil (referee)
Charles University Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology Candidate: Tereza Červinková Supervisor: PharmDr. Lukáš Červený, Ph.D. Title: Beneficial Effects of 11β-HSD1 Inhibition on Cognitive Performance in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease The increased life expectancy goes hand in hand with ageing-related cognitive impairments. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia being an irreversible and progressive brain disorder with loss of cognitive functions. Recent studies suggest that excess of glucocorticoid (GC) action exerts deleterious effects on the hippocampus and causes impaired spatialmemory. In addition, it has been demonstrated that aged mice with cognitive deficits show increased gene expression of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) in the hippocampus and parietal cortex. The Senescence-Accelerated Mouse Prone 8 (SAMP8) strain is a spontaneous animal model of accelerated ageing. Many studies indicate that SAMP8 harbour the behavioural and histopathological signatures of AD. In the present study, we evaluated the neuroprotective effects of 11β-HSD1 inhibition by a potent pyrrolidine-based compound RL-118 and/or effects of diet on cognitive performance in different groups of SAMP8 by conducting behavioural and...
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How children solve word problems in mathematics containing traditional and non-traditional gender content
Nováková, Veronika ; Smetáčková, Irena (advisor) ; Páchová, Anna (referee)
The goal of my thesis is to find out how school children react to word problems in mathematics that defy traditional distinction of gender roles in a typical household. This Bachelor Thesis compares in which word problems (with traditional or nontraditional gender content) children score higher and whether boys/girls in 2nd or 6th grade are more successful in solving them. It also differentiates if there are any noticeable differences between girls and boys. The research was carried out by mixed methodology and I used sequential progression of data. Firstly, I handed out the forms, then came the investigation of previously mentioned forms which granted me a better insight on the research of this particular phenomenon in the field. After the quantitative collecting of data came the qualitative investigation using half-structured interviews.
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