Changes in immunological and physiological parameters in urine duringAntarctic Scientific Expedition( Short Communication )

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of extreme climatic conditions on certain immunological and physiological parameters in urine in participants of the 9th Czech Antarctic Scientific Expedition, January – February 2015. The studied parameters were pH, number of leukocytes in 1 µl urine and the amount of proteins, nitrites, blood and haemoglobin in urine. A total of 45 urine samples were collected during 3 series of sampling (first pre-departure, second during the first 2 weeks of the stay in Antarctica, and third in the last 2 weeks of the stay). Paired t-test was used for comparison of the data from the Czech Republic and the Antarctica. We have found statistically significant decreases in pH and in the number of leukocytes in urine during the stay in Antarctica. The other parameters showed no changes. We conclude that several factors of the Antarctic environment (with lack of stress, pathogenic microorganisms and pollutants) may have positive effects on certain aspects of human health, and discuss the likely causes and mechanisms

Variations of flow in human airways as a consequence of lung diseases

The efficiency of drug delivery administered by inhalation depends, among other factors, such as size and shape of aerosol particles, significantly also on the flow in the airways. As many lung diseases change both the breathing pattern and the shape of airways, we focus in this study on the influence of several selected diseases on the distribution of flow between the lung lobes and on changes the diseases induce on the course of flowrate. First, we present results of a literature survey focused on the published records of pathological breathing patterns. In the second part, we describe the newly designed breathing simulator and the implementation of the patterns into it. The last part is focused on the experimental verification of fidelity of the simulated breathing patterns