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Myrrh and opopanax has been used throughout history in incense and as a perfume. Since Bible times it has been used for the treatment of wounds. The first attempts to identify content compounds were almost 100 years ago. In this review we discuss the present state of knowledge in the chemistry of substances of Commiphora spp.

Myosin light chains-1 (MLC-1) have been recently associated with the markers of heart function (NYHA, LVEF, NT-proBNP). Verification of the relationship between markers of heart function (New York Heart Association classification (NYHA), left ventricle ejection fraction determination (LVEF), N terminal prohormone of natriuretic peptide B type BNP (NT-proBNP) and concentrations of myosin light chains-1 (MLC-1) was assesed. Patients examined for dyspnea without signs of acute coronary syndrome. All patients underwent echocardiography (calculation of left ventricle ejection fraction - LVEF) and in the serum of all subjects NT-proBNP (ELEIA) and MLC-1 (ELISA) were determined. In the 38 patients (21 men, 17 women), mean age of 58 years (±12 years as 1 SD), a significant negative correlation was found between NT-proBNP and LVEF (r = - 0.47; p = 0.02, Spearman). The median levels of NT pro-BNP were closely associated with NYHA classification (type II - 584 ng/l, type III - 2792 ng/l, type IV - 6400 ng/l; p < 0.05). Individuals with clinical NYHA IV differed significantly in median MLC-1 concentrations from persons with clinical NYHA classification II and III (type II - 5.7 ng/l, type III - 8.9 ng/l, type IV - 17 ng/l; p < 0.05). A significant negative correlation between MLC-1 and LVEF (- 0.35; p < 0.03) and significant positive correlations between MLC-1 and NT-proBNP (- 0.42; p < 0.012) were found. In conclusion MLC-1 cannot be used as a diagnostic marker in differential diagnosis of dyspnea.

In this report, we present the case of a 64-year-old woman who sustained a Burch-Schneider cage fracture. Prior to this event, she underwent repeated acetabular reconstructions, but in the end prosthesis removal was performed as a salvage procedure. We believe that the primary cause of the fracture was metal fatigue facilitated by intraoperative re-contouring of the flange, as well as reuse of the cage. Based on this case we caution against repetitive or excessive flange bending during implantation of Burch-Schneider cages and do not recommend their reuse.

The aim of our study was to assess the accuracy and limitations of ultrasound guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of thyroid nodules. Methods: The usg-FNAC results of 245 patients with thyroid nodules, who afterwards underwent thyroid surgery or who died, and autopsies were carried out, and compared retrospectively with cytologic results. Patients with malignant cytologic conclusion without histological confirmation after surgery or autopsy were excluded from the study (9 persons). The usg-FNAC results were divided as follows: group 1: diagnosis of malignancy (n = 30), group 2: suspicion of malignancy (n = 28), group 3: benign (n = 126), group 4: inconclusive (n = 29). Results: Assuming the cytologic results of group 1 and group 2 were interpreted as being malignant and those of group 3 as being benign, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of usg-FNAC were 90 %, 85 % and 86 % respectively. Comparing the cytologic conclusions between a group of patients with follicular lesions and a subgroup of other lesions a statistically significant difference (p < 0,01) between both subgroups using Fisher's test was found. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy in subgroup of follicular lesions were low (71 %, 63 %, 67 %), while in the subgroup of other lesions were high (94 %, 86 %, 88 %). FNAC can specify the nature of focal lesion with high sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy in the cases of non-follicular lesions. Histological evaluation is required to specification of the nature in cases in which cytology is indicative of follicular proliferation.

The aim of this paper is to prove the possible reproducibility of measurement with a new developed device for artery elasticity monitoring and determining the standard of major pulse wave parameters. As a measurement sensor, a conic probe with thin convex membrane was used. This technique allows setting an arbitrary pressure to a measured surface artery. We measured pulse waves on the radial arteries of 108 individuals. We expected similar features in arterial wall elasticity. We concentrated primarily on the amount of subcutaneous fat. For the measured waves we evaluated five following pulse wave parameters: relative crest time, elasticity index, dicrotic wave attenuation, dicrotic wave time and interwave distance. There were no significant differences in measured pulse wave parameters among the tested groups of subjects.

A double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was performed to investigate the effectiveness of a herbal-based dentifrice in the control of gingivitis. Forty volunteers completed the 84-day study. All subjects were balanced for parameters measured - plaque index (PI), community periodontal index of treatment needs (CPITN) and papillary bleeding index (PBI). The dentifrice was effective in reducing symptoms of gingivitis as evaluated by the CPITN and PBI indexes.

The aim of our work was the detection of c- and N- myc proteins in the developing kidney of human fetuses especially in the neogenous zone. These proteins being localized in nucleus and encoded by the cellullar oncogene myc function as transcriptional factors. Myc gene represents the key control gene in the course of cellular proliferation and differentiation. It also participates in the regulation of apoptosis and the origin of some cancers. Both proteins have been proved to be inevitable for proper nephrogenesis in mice. Considering the dearth of studies dealing with human embryonic tissues, we attempted to map the localization and spatiotemporal relations of the expression of these proteins during human nephrogenesis. In addition, issuing from our previous observations, we tried to compare their ways of expression with those of Bcl-2 (antiapoptotic effect) and Bax (proapoptotic function) proteins. Histologically normal kidneys were collected from eight human fetuses ranging from the 10^th- 30^th week of IUD. Tissue samples were fixed in methacarn and processed by routine paraffin technique. Standard indirect three-step immunohistochemical method was applied for the detection of N- and c-myc proteins. In the neogenous zone both proteins are markedly present in metanephrogenic blastema with declining intensity with the increasing age of fetus. Branches of ureteral bud are almost negative. Such localization is also typical for Bcl-2 protein whereas Bax positive cells are present mostly in branches of the ureteral bud. It is not clear if all these proteins collaborate in the course of regulation of apoptosis in human metanephros.

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), a cytosolic protein belonging to the family of nuclear receptors, controls transcription of a wide range of structurally unrelated genes. To date, the most potent AhR ligand is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Exposure to TCDD leads to a number of toxic effects, in particular to tumor promotion and immunosuppression. The function of AhR in cells and living organisms therefore seems to be of paramount importance. Its absence in AhR null mice, results in severe phenotypic abnormalities, such as liver half size with fibrosis, accumulation of retinoic acid and immune system insufficiency. An important role of AhR inheres in its transcriptional control of several biotransformation enzymes (CYP1A1/2,1B1). Hence AhR is the crucial factor in the regulation of xenobiotic metabolism. Under pathophysiological conditions, such as inflammation, the level and activity of the AhR target gene CYP1A is decreased. Thus it is likely, that mediators and/or products of inflammation affect AhR function. This review deals with the role of AhR in xenobiotic metabolism under normal and pathophysiological conditions, with respect to inflammation in particular.

The glycaemic index (GI) is a measure of the food power to raise blood glucose (B-glucose) concentration after a meal. For healthy eating, foods with low GI are recommended. However, for many foods in the European Union the GI has not been defined yet. The aims of this prospective open-label study were: (1) to determine the GI of white bread and juicy cereal bars FIT (Úsovsko, Czech Republic) by means of the glucometer Optium (Abbott/Medisense); (2) to compare the GI of tested foods determined in the morning and in the evening hours; (3) to compare the GI of tested foods in men and women and (4) to assess the variability of the GI. Methods: To determine the GI, measured portions of food containing 50 g of carbohydrates were eaten by 11 healthy volunteers. B-glucose curves were constructed from B-glucose values at time 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 60, 120 min after the meal. The GI was calculated by dividing the incremental area under the curve (IAUC) for the tested food by that for the standard food (IAUCS). In each volunteer each food was tested 5 times so that 5 GI's was obtained and the average was calculated. The GI for each tested food was calculated as the mean from the respective average GI's of the 11 volunteers. MS Excel and the statistical program SPSS v. 10.1 were used to analyze the data. Results: (1) The mean values of the GI for white bread was 70.3 % and for juicy cereal bars was 101.0 %, as determined in a total of 139 tests in the whole group of 11 volunteers. There was a difference when comparing white bread vs. glucose (p = 0.012) and white bread vs. cereal bars (p = 0.026) but no difference between glucose and cereal bars. (2) There was no significant difference between the GI determined in the morning and in the evening hours either for the total of 139 tests or for the individual tested foods. (3) No significant difference could be seen between the GI in men and women when comparing glucose, cereal bars and white bread. (4) There was a wide variability of GI in all tested foods: the standard deviation of GI for white bread was 30.7 %, for juicy cereal bars 38.0 %. Conclusions: The GI's for white bread and juicy cereal bars were determined. There was no difference either between the GI values determined in the morning vs. the evening hours or between the values in men vs. women. The results show wide variability. An accurate standard method for the determination of GI needs to be defined, carefully used and re-evaluated to enable a comparison of the results with various methods of other working groups.

This issue of Biomedical Papers (Vol. 146, No 1) contains abstracts of the scientific papers to be presented at the 1st Central European Congress on Intensive Care Medicine.1 The abstracts appear in order of presentation from Thursday 13 through Saturday 15 June 2002. This abstract book would have been impossible to produce without the help of several people from organizing and scientific committee, special thanks must be given to the Editorial Board of Biomed. Papers, which provided immense help toward successful completion of accepted papers. Our thanks also must go to people from Publishing Centre of Palacky University. On behalf of Organizing and Scientific Committee of 1st Central European Congress on Intensive Care Medicine we wish you a pleasant stay at Olomouc.

From 1995 to 2002 we monitored a group of 127 patients who had undergone kidney transplantations in the Olomouc transplantation centre. The aim of our study was to assess the function of the kidneys after the transplantation, which were rinsed during the removal from cadaverous donors and afterwards were treated by different preservative dilutions. We divided the patients into three groups of approximate similar size, according to the used dilution - EC (Eurocollins), HTK (Custodiol) and UW (Viaspan). In the first three weeks we assessed in each group, the immediate function of the kidneys as primary, belated and afunction. The EC group showed the primary function in 51.2 % of cases, belated in 46.8 % of cases and afunction in 2.1 % of cases. In the HTK group, primary function was found in 73.7 %, belated 23.6 % and afunction 2.7 %. The results of the UW group came to primary function 71.5 %, belated 26.2 % and afunction 2.3 %. The criteria of the immediate but also the long-term function (five year investigation) was a serum creatinine figure. The lowest decline of creatinine in three weeks after the transplantation was noticed in the EC group (the average figure = 429 µmol/l). In contrast the HTK group (the average figure 279 µmol/l) and the UW group (the average figure 288 µmol/l) had comparable figures and there was no significant difference between them from the statistical point of view. It means later in the first, the third and the fifth year after the transplantation the figures levelled out: EC 154 µm/l, HTK 182 µm/l, and UW 133 µm/l. There was statistically a minimum significant difference between the HTK group and the UW group. Another criteria was to determine the amount of functional grafts in alive donees. The Assessment was carried out always in each year after the transplantation, altogether five years. The amount of the functional renal grafts in EC and HTK group was 100 %, in the UW group 76.9 %. Conclusion: HTK and UW gave better immediate functionality results, but there were no differences found among EC, HTK and the UW group from the long-term point of view.

Defective pronunciation of one or more mother language phones, i.e. dyslalia, represents the most frequent speech impairment both in children and adult people. Cases of persisting speech disorder need professional approach and help. The aim of the study was to obtain a model of physiological articulation of the sibilant "s" in children. The method of FFT spectral analysis was made use of. Results will serve for further use in evaluation of speech impairment.

In epidemiological studies there exists the evidence of relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health. The suspicious cause of these differences is life-style. The aim of the presented study was to identify the relationship between SES, demographic characteristics and the life-style in an industrial region. A structured questionnaire was distributed to a random sample of some 3,000 aged 25-70 and collected by postal delivery. The SES and demographic factors being analysed were sex, age, education, marital status and economic situation of the family in the relationship with a wide range of information on life style. The data was analysed using the chi-square test and logistic regression. The total number of analysed questionnaires was 634. The lowest response-rate was in the group with the basic education. Significant differences were found by sex in education (less women with university degree) and household income (more women in the lowest income category, men in the highest one). A detail analysis of the aggregated variables (adjusted for all SES variables) found: passivity and contentment were in adverse correlation with the level of education and economic situation; psychical well-being was correlated with family status and economic situation, risk behaviour was correlated with all SES factors except sex and education. Among the analysed factors economical situation of respondents, family and education were the most significant determinants of the differences in life-style.

Smallanthus sonchifolius (yacon) and Lepidium meyenii (maca) were the traditional crops of the original population of Peru where they are also still used in folk medicine. These plants are little known in Europe and Northern America although at least yacon can be cultivated in the climatic conditions of these regions. This article deals with the botany and the composition, the structure of main constituents, biological activity of these plants and the cultivation of yacon in the Czech Republic. The potential of yacon tubers to treat hyperglycemia, kidney problems and for skin rejuvenation and the antihyperglycemic and cytoprotective activity of its leaves seems to be related mostly to its oligofructan and phenolic content, respectively. Maca alkaloids, steroids, glucosinolates, isothicyanates and macamides are probably responsible for its aptitude to act as a fertility enhancer, aphrodisiac, adaptogen, immunostimulant, anabolic and to influence hormonal balance. Yacon and maca are already on the European market as prospective functional foods and dietary supplements, mainly for use in certain risk groups of the population, e.g. seniors, diabetics, postmenopausal women etc.

OLOMOUC, 2 – 4 OCTOBER 2003

Changes in the oral cavity resulting from the loss of teeth and the ensuing reconstruction of a set of teeth by dentures (partial or complete) may cause changes in the speech and voice of the patient. The aim of the present investigation was to study the changes in speech and voice in patients suffering from teeth loss and the degree of speech improvement using dentures. Voice and speech parameters of a set of tested syllables were analysed in 10 patients at the 2nd Clinic of Stomatology. The analysis was carried out by means of an FFT, SoundForge 5.0 programme. Differently expressed acoustic changes in both consonants and vowels were ascertained in a percentage of the patients under examination. These concerned especially the sibilant ("s", "š"), labiodental ("f", "v") and vibrating ("r", "ř") consonants. Changes in the FFT spectrum and air leakage in constrictive consonants were also found. In some patients the vowels, especially the closed ones ("i", "u"), may change their fundamental frequency and show noise admixture manifested as a blurred delimitation of the formants. A denture should, inter alia, render it possible for the patient to produce the same articulation to which he/she had been accustomed before the loss of teeth. For the construction of dentures the most important factors from a phonetic point of view appear to be the following: overbite, overjet, the height of the plate, the thickness of the palatal material, the incisor position, and the modelling of the ruga palatina on the hard palate. In case of wrong denture construction the acoustic changes may continue, resulting in the patient's stress load dependent upon sex, age, psychic condition and seriousness of the problem.

At present surgery in comparison with other medical fields does not fulfil our ambitions and we are not happy with this state. Surgery is not developing as fast as oncology, haematology, immunology and other branches, which are based on rapidly developing molecular biology. Surgeons are aware of this situation and they do not want to lose. We want to play a part in this new development without losing our position and distinctive surgical goals. To seek these new ways is a goal of the Petřivalský – Rapant Day and we are proud that in our country we are one of the first who want to make this historical change. Therefore in this conference we include topics that should increase our knowledge of malignancies and influence their therapy according to the newest molecular-biological findings.

Aim of study was determine if a correlation exists between bone mass density and concentration of osteoprotegerin.We examined the group of 199 patients of mean age of 63 years. Of the group under study, 31 patients hadnormal bone density (T score >–1 and <1) and 168 probands had osteopenia or osteoporosis (T < –1).Persons with normal BMD values had median values of OPG 60.8 ng/l, while patients with reduced bone densityhad median values of 73 ng/l OPG. Cut-off for reduction of bone density was 128 ng/l OPG.We demonstrated that OPG concentrations vary inversely with bone density values (correlation coefficient –0.31).These results suggest that determination of OPG could allow discrimination of individuals with normal bonedensity and those with reduced bone density.

The paper presents a simplified (but not trivial) mathematical model of the interaction between the urine flowand the male urethra and bladder, respectively. Urine is assumed to be a Newtonian fluid. The flow is considered tobe non-stationary, isothermal and turbulent. The urethra and bladder wall, featuring elastic properties, experiencelarge displacements and strains. The dynamic forces are included in the urethra wall motion. When fully extendedthe urethra attains the shape of an axisymetric tube. An iterative method based on the uncoupled approach isdeveloped.

There is a high prevalence and incidence of colorectal cancer in industrial countries. It is the commonest cancerin women after breast cancer and in men after prostate and lung cancer and one of the most common causes ofdeath from malignant disease. The cause of colorectal cancer is unknown, thus primary-prevention programs couldnot be elaborated and the only occasion to reduce mortality is the use of screening to detect this cancer early. Faecaloccult blood test (FOBT) was chosen for screening. Large population based trials included thousands of inhabitansof the United States and Europe to demonstrate:1. Screening with FOBT Hemoccult II reduced mortality from colorectal cancer.2. In the screening group the incidence of advanced stages of colorectal cancer decreased (Dukes’ D stage).3. The ideal balance between sensitivity and specificity revealed HemeSelect (immunodiagnosis of humanhaemoglobine) and combined test (Hemoccult II Sensa + HemeSelect). These two screening tests for colorectalcancer have not been verified by large population trials.4. More sensitive guaiac tests decrease their own specificity and also lead to increase rate of expensive colonexaminations.5. The high-risk population for colorectal cancer ought to be submitted to screening. The problem is the detectionof this group.6. Patients’ compliance to screening differs in various trials, but the percentage of patients undergoing FOBTevaluation decreases as the number of screenings increases.Therefore faecal occult blood test could be recommended for national programs of the screening for colorectalcancer.