Journal of Applied Biomedicine, 2003 (vol. 1), issue 3

Editorial

Nuclear impressionism: how the active genome creates the very canvas on which gene expression is painted

Thoru Pederson

J Appl Biomed 1:113-116, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.025  

This paper concerns the functional architecture of the cell nucleus. Though it is DNA that carries our literal blueprint, our ancestry includes the nucleus itself, passed down through the 2.5 billion year evolutionary history of the Eukarya. Nuclear structure is presented here as two contrasting possibilities. In one case, the nucleus is envisioned as being built upon a backbone of protein filaments, analogous to the cytoskeleton. In this conceptual framework, the chromosomes are considered to passively adopt locations that are dictated by their attachments to the imagined skeleton, and their activity is postulated to be the result of such attachments....

Original Research Article

Microscopic image analysis of elastin network in samples of normal, atherosclerotic and aneurysmatic abdominal aorta and its biomechanical implications

Zbyněk Tonar, Stanislav Němeček, Radek Holota, Jitka Kočová, Vladislav Třeška, Jiří Moláček, Tomáš Kohoutek, Šárka Hadravská

J Appl Biomed 1:149-159, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.029  

The aim of our work was to prepare part of the input data for a computational biomechanical model of both the active and passive elements of the tunica media of an aortic aneurysm. We analyzed tissue samples of the anterior wall of the normal, atherosclerotic and aneurysmatic subrenal abdominal aorta. We assessed the proportions of smooth muscle cells, elastin and collagen in histological sections of these samples and studied the morphological characteristics of the elastin network in the tunica media. Selected photomicrographs were studied, representing relatively well preserved areas without artifacts, ruptures, corrupted integrity of the tunica...

Effects of genistein on insect haemocytes

Josef Berger, Sylvia Walczysko, Jitka Pávková, Herwig O. Gutzeit

J Appl Biomed 1:161-168, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.030  

We evaluate the possibility of using insects as a haematological biomodel and we test phytoestrogen isoflavanoid, genistein, in Schistocerca gregaria, Periplaneta americana and Dysdercus cingulatus. Various reactions of haemocytes were found in these three species, both stimulation and inhibition of haemocyte concentration. The observed data reflected well the possible effects of soy products described in published studies on human subjects and it seems that future studies on the sensitivity of insect haemocytes could lead to an alternative haematological biomodel.

Biological activity of binary mixtures of 2,4-D with some aminophosphonates

Janusz Sarapuk, Dorota Bonarska, Halina Kleszczyńska

J Appl Biomed 1:169-173, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.031  

A series of cyclic and acyclic aminophosphonates was synthesized for agrochemical application. The compounds differed in the substituents at the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus atoms. Their potential biological activity was checked by studying their hemolytic potency, since hemolysis of erythrocytes by various compounds was found earlier to be a good indicator of their pesticidal efficiency. A series of hemolytic experiments permitted us to check the pesticidal efficiency of aminophosphonates and to determine what structural features of aminophosphonates are responsible for it.Parallelly, we studied the hemolytic efficiency of binary mixtures of...

Assessment of the effect of non invasive laser on the process of healing of an extraction wound by infrared thermography: preliminary study

Hana Fikáčková, Blanka Navrátilová, Ivan Dylevský, Leoš Navrátil, Radek Jirman

J Appl Biomed 1:175-180, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.032  

The purpose of this preliminary, double-blind, placebo-control study was to evaluate the effect of GaAlAs diode laser on wound healing and pain reduction in patients after extraction of impacted lower third molars by infrared thermography. Material and methods: The study population of two patients was divided into group A treated by GaAlAs diode laser with a wavelength 830 nm and maximal output power of 100 mW and group B treated by placebo laser. Therapeutic Schedule: The energy density per point was 12 J, treatment time 2 minutes, the total energy density for one treatment session was 36 J. Treatment intervals were 10 minutes after extraction, 1...

Review Article

The cultured primary hepatocyte and its application in toxicology

Peter M. Eckl, Nikolaus Bresgen

J Appl Biomed 1:117-126, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.026  

The liver is the main organ involved in the metabolism of xenobiotic (foreign) compounds. The responsible enzymatic systems are the cytochromes P450 (mixed function oxidases or phase I reactions) and enzymes coupling larger water soluble groups to the substrate (phase II reactions). Especially during phase I reactions, highly reactive metabolites can be formed capable of interacting with DNA and causing mutations. On the other hand reactive xenobiotics may be detoxified. Therefore, the primary parenchymal liver cell (hepatocyte) appears to be the optimal and most reliable in vitro system for the determination of mutagenicity/genotoxicity. Since...

Amiodarone - excellent antiarrhythmic drug? (Happy end after 40 years of problems)

Petr Petr, Miroslav Verner, Chris J. Van Wyk, Hendrik A. Koeleman, Pavel Svítil, Hana Kalová

J Appl Biomed 1:127-139, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.027  

Amiodarone, discovered forty years ago and in general use as an anti-anginal drug, has become a wide-spectrum anti-arrhythmic, used as the drug of preference in cardiac failure and after myocardial infarction, where it is the only drug (besides some betablockers) which does not increase overall mortality. It is successfully used in therapy and prophylaxis for life threatening arrhythmias, even when electro physiological testing has failed to disclose the detailed mechanism of arrhythmia. In cases of myocardial infarction it should be regarded as the anti-arrhythmic drug of first choice. Amiodarone is a drug which is capable with high probability of...

Plant toxic proteins and their current significance for warfare and medicine

Jiří Patočka, Ladislav Středa

J Appl Biomed 1:141-147, 2003 | DOI: 10.32725/jab.2003.028  

Abrin, ricin, viscumin, modeccin, and volkensin are very potent toxins derived from plants. They are glycoproteins composed of two polypeptide chains linked by a disulphide bridge. The A-chain is the enzymatic toxic moiety and B-chain is responsible for bonding to the target cell and internalization of toxin. The toxic part of the toxin molecule removes an adenine from a specific adenosine residue in ribosomal RNA and block proteosynthesis. That is the reason of extreme toxicity of these compounds and their capacity to be used as biological warfare agents or terrorist weapon. Therefore all these compounds are in the schedules of controlled biological...