Sequence anatomy of mitochondrial anion carriers

AbstractTwo hundred and eighty-four genes of eight eukaryotic genomes for mitochondrial anion carriers were sorted into 43 (+18 single protein) subfamilies. Subfamilies differ by the number, nature, and locations of charges and polar residues in the transmembrane α-helices. Consequently, these residues and the rarely unique residues of the matrix and cytosolic segments most likely determine the different molecular phenotypes (functions). ‘Common ancestral hydrophilic segments’ were found in matrix and cytosolic segments, with interchangeable polar residues. Thus the hydrophobic microstructures of hydrophilic carrier parts are supposed to predetermine structure/conformation, whereas polar and charged microstructures should predetermine function, namely in the transmembrane spanning α-helices

Measurement of career-specific parental behaviors perceived by Czech adolescents

Parents are considered to be the main stakeholders for adolescents, helping them in their educational and career choices. Although theoretical and empirical studies have pointed out the links between career-specific parental behaviors and the career development of adolescents, there has been a lack of research in this area in the Czech Republic. One of the reasons is the absence of an instrument that would enable measurement of parental behaviors. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to provide a tool for measuring career-specific parental behaviors in the Czech environment—the Parent Career Behavior Checklist (PCBC)—to verify its psychometric properties and explore the associations between career-specific parental behaviors and selected demographic and school-related variables. The data collection took place in June 2017 and the participants were students in the Vysočina Region in vocational upper-secondary schools finishing with school-leaving examinations or apprenticeship certificates (N = 501). Participant age ranged from 15 to 21 years (M = 17.19, SD = 1.10). The results show that the Czech version of the PCBC is an internally consistent and structurally valid tool for measuring two dimensions of career-specific parental behavior—(psychosocial) support and (instrumental) action. It was confirmed that mothers were more engaged in educational or career choices than fathers were; mothers having tertiary education was an advantage for adolescents, which is reflected in increased support and action; and lower levels of support and action were perceived by adolescents who for various reasons were living exclusively with their fathers.Rodiče jsou považováni za hlavní partnery adolescentů, kteří jim pomáhají při volbě vzdělávací a profesní dráhy. Přestože teoretické a empirické práce poukazují na souvislosti mezi kariérově-specifickým rodičovským chováním a kariérovým rozvojem adolescentů, v českém prostředí výzkum v této oblasti chybí. Jednou z příčin je absence nástroje, který by umožňoval rodičovské chování měřit. Cílem současné studie proto je do českého prostředí přinést nástroj pro měření rodičovského chování Parent Career Behavior Checklist (PCBC), ověřit jeho psychometrické vlastnosti a prozkoumat asociace kariérově-specifického rodičovského chování s vybranými demografickými a školními proměnnými. Sběr dat proběhl v červnu 2017 u žáků maturitních a výučních oborů odborně orientovaných vyšších sekundárních škol v Kraji Vysočina (N = 501). Věk participantů se pohyboval v rozmezí od 15 do 21 let (M = 17.19; SD = 1.10). Výsledky ukazují, že česká verze PCBC-CZ je vnitřně konzistentním a strukturně validním nástrojem měření dvou dimenzí kariérově-specifického rodičovského chování – psychosociální podpory a instrumentální pomoci. Bylo potvrzeno, že se v záležitostech volby vzdělávací a profesní dráhy v rodině více angažují matky nežli otcové; terciární vzdělání matky představuje pro adolescenty výhodu, která se projevuje ve vyšší psychosociální podpoře a instrumentální pomoci; nižší míru psychosociální podpory a instrumentální pomoci vnímají adolescenti, kteří žijí z různých důvodů výhradně se svým otcem

The Role of Mitochondrial NADPH-Dependent Isocitrate Dehydrogenase in Cancer Cells

Isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) is located in the mitochondrial matrix. IDH2 acts in the forward Krebs cycle as an NADP+-consuming enzyme, providing NADPH for maintenance of the reduced glutathione and peroxiredoxin systems and for self-maintenance by reactivation of cystine-inactivated IDH2 by glutaredoxin 2. In highly respiring cells, the resulting NAD+ accumulation then induces sirtuin-3-mediated activating IDH2 deacetylation, thus increasing its protective function. Reductive carboxylation of 2-oxoglutarate by IDH2 (in the reverse Krebs cycle direction), which consumes NADPH, may follow glutaminolysis of glutamine to 2-oxoglutarate in cancer cells. When the reverse aconitase reaction and citrate efflux are added, this overall “anoxic” glutaminolysis mode may help highly malignant tumors survive aglycemia during hypoxia. Intermittent glycolysis would hypothetically be required to provide ATP. When oxidative phosphorylation is dormant, this mode causes substantial oxidative stress. Arg172 mutants of human IDH2—frequently found with similar mutants of cytosolic IDH1 in grade 2 and 3 gliomas, secondary glioblastomas, and acute myeloid leukemia—catalyze reductive carboxylation of 2-oxoglutarate and reduction to D-2-hydroxyglutarate, which strengthens the neoplastic phenotype by competitive inhibition of histone demethylation and 5-methylcytosine hydroxylation, leading to genome-wide histone and DNA methylation alternations. D-2-hydroxyglutarate also interferes with proline hydroxylation and thus may stabilize hypoxia-induced factor α

Ways of managing coordination risks on the construction site

JEŽEK, Petr. Způsoby řízení koordinačních rizik na staveništi, Ostrava, 2021.s. 49 Diplomová práce. VŠB-TU Ostrava. Vedoucí práce prof. Dr. Ing. Aleš Bernatík Tato diplomová práce se zabývá způsoby řízení koordinačních rizik na staveništi. Cílem diplomové práce je navrhnout vhodný způsob koordinace, jakým budou jednotliví dodavatelé na staveništi provádět své stavební práce tak, aby nedošlo během prací k závažnému porušení pravidel bezpečnosti a ochrany zdraví při práci na staveništi. Dalším cílem je navrhnout vhodný časový harmonogram kontrolních dnů BOZP, pomocí něhož se zjišťují závažné nedostatky BOZP při provádění stavebních prací.JEŽEK, Petr. Ways of managing coordination risks on the construction site, Ostrava, 2021. 49 p., Diploma thesis. VŠB-TU Ostrava. Supervisor prof. Dr. Ing. Aleš Bernatík This diploma thesis deals with ways of managing coordination risks on the construction site. The aim of the diploma thesis is to propose a suitable way of coordination by which individual contractors on the construction site will perform their construction work so that there is no serious violation of safety and health rules at work on the construction site during the work. Another goal is to propose a suitable time schedule of health and safety inspection days, which is used to identify serious health and safety deficiencies in the implementation of construction work.040 - Katedra bezpečnosti práce a procesůdobř

ECMO AMBULANCE AND ADVANCED EMERGENCY MEDICAL SYSTEM

In our article we propose a way to improve outcomes for out-of-hospital patients suffering from cardiac and circulatory arrest. The quality in providing emergency medical care for these patients varies from state to state, from city to the city. There are cities where the emergency medical system (EMS) personnel declares the death in the patients with circulatory arrest without knowing the real reason of death, after a certain time of cardiac massage, after unsuccessful defibrillations, out of the hospital, on the street. On the other hand, there are cities where the patient is resuscitated on the street/at home, during the time of transport to the hospital, at the hospital and the death is declared only after all, albeit unsuccessful attempts to save patients (at the hospital). From the above it is evident, that we need an interdisciplinary clinical pathway, which helps everyone who is participating in the life saving of these patients. We want to meet our goals of the project using high-tech medical knowledge. VA ECMO implemented by experienced specialists outside the hospital for ensuring oxygenation and blood circulation with the help of a device situated outside the patient regardless of the activity of his heart and lungs, represents the most up-to-date technology

Driving locus of control : The Czech adaptation

Objectives. This study attempts to introduce the Driving Locus of Control (DLoC), a method focused on the internal or external source of attribution of the driving behaviour, to the Czech context. This study also relates DLoC to attitudes towards autonomous vehicles (AVs). Participants and setting. Out of the general population, 59 inquirers personally interviewed (CAPI) 1 065 respondents (49% women) in the age range between 15 and 92 years (M = 50, SD = 17). The respondents were sampled via multistage random sampling procedure, based on the list of addresses in the Czech Republic. Hypotheses. The authors hypothesised to replicate the original two-factor structure of the DLoC Scale and that the higher levels of internal DLoC result in not considering the improvement in traffic safety as the AVs replace human drivers. Statistical analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to analyse the factor structure of DLoC Scale. Hypotheses related to the empirical validity of the method were assessed via structural equation modelling. The reliability of DLoC Scale was calculated in terms of internal consistency (McDonald coefficient). Results. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed reasonably good support for structural validity of the one-dimensional DLoC-CZ15 factor model (χ2 = 426.967, df = 90, CFI = 0.964, TLI = 0.958, SRMR = 0.066, RMSEA = 0.065). In addition, the one-dimensional DLoC-CZ15 factor model showed acceptable internal consistency - ω = 0.9 (95% CI [0.89, 0.91]). The structural equation modelling found a relationship between DLoC and some of the items capturing attitudes towards AVs, too. Study limitations. The analysed data were obtained via interviews between respondents and inquirers. As a result, the study does not contain indicators of empirical validity measured by a methodologically different approach, such as an observation of driving behaviour

Aglycemic HepG2 Cells Switch From Aminotransferase Glutaminolytic Pathway of Pyruvate Utilization to Complete Krebs Cycle at Hypoxia

Human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells are forced to oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), when cultured in aglycemic conditions at galactose and glutamine. These Oxphos cells represent a prototype of cancer cell bioenergetics with mixed aerobic glycolysis and OXPHOS. We aimed to determine fractions of (i) glutaminolytic pathway involving aminotransferase reaction supplying 2-oxoglutarate (2OG) to the Krebs cycle vs. (ii) active segment of the Krebs cycle with aconitase and isocitrate dehydrogenase-3 (ACO-IDH3), which is typically inactive in cancer cells due to the citrate export from mitochondria. At normoxia, Oxphos cell respiration was decreased down to ~15 and ~10% by the aminotransferase inhibitor aminooxyacetate (AOA) or with AOA plus the glutamate-dehydrogenase inhibitor bithionol, respectively. Phosphorylating to non-phosphorylating respiration ratios dropped from >6.5 to 1.9 with AOA and to zero with AOA plus bithionol. Thus, normoxic Oxphos HepG2 cells rely predominantly on glutaminolysis. Addition of membrane-permeant dimethyl-2-oxoglutarate (dm2OG) to inhibited cells instantly partially restored respiration, evidencing the lack of 2OG-dehydrogenase substrate upon aminotransferase inhibition. Surprisingly, after 72 hr of 5% O2 hypoxia, the AOA (bithionol) inhibition ceased and respiration was completely restored. Thus in aglycemic HepG2 cells, the hypoxia-induced factor (HIF) upregulation of glycolytic enzymes enabled acceleration of glycolysis pathway, preceded by galactolysis (Leloir pathway), redirecting pyruvate via still incompletely blocked pyruvate dehydrogenase toward the ACO-IDH3. Glycolytic flux upregulation at hypoxia was evidently matched by a higher activity of the Leloir pathway in Oxphos cells. Hypoxic Oxphos cells increased 2-fold the NADPH oxidase activity, whereas hypoxic glycolytic cells decreased it. Oxphos cells and glycolytic cells at 5 mM glucose decreased their reduced glutathione fraction. In contrast to aglycemic cells, glycolytic HepG2 cells decreased their respiration at hypoxia despite the dm2OG presence, i.e., even at unlimited respiratory substrate availability for 72 hr at 5% O2, exhibiting the canonical HIF-mediated adaptation. Nevertheless, their ATP content was much higher with dm2OG as compared to its absence during hypoxic adaptation. Thus, the metabolic plasticity of cancer cells is illustrated under conditions frequently established for solid tumors in vivo, such as aglycemia plus hypoxia. Consequently, a wide acceptance of the irreversible and exclusive Warburg phenotype in cancer cells is incorrect

Leader traits, transformational leadership and leader effectiveness : A mediation study from the Czech Republic

This study explores the mediation effect of transformational leadership in the relationship between leaders’ personality characteristics and effectiveness. Data from 210 students in a managerial role, and from 3,766 students in a subordinate role, were obtained during a four-month-long Management Simulation Game and analysed using multilevel structural equation modelling. Transformational leadership mediated the effect of leaders’ agreeableness and conscientiousness on group performance, perceived leader effectiveness, and leadership emergence. Extraversion, openness to experience and neuroticism were not linked to transformational leadership or any indicator of leader effectiveness. Intelligence predicted neither transformational leadership, nor group performance and leadership emergence. Along with other studies, this study emphasizes conscientiousness as the personality characteristic that influences leadership and leaders' effectiveness in various cultures and situations. Agreeableness may be an important leader trait in specific conditions and its influence may be moderated by context. The results must be interpreted with the knowledge that they were obtained in a simulation game environment on a sample of students