Significance Analysis of Tourist Sports Events

Import 04/11/2015Cílem této bakalářské práce je popsání významu sportovních akcí v cestovním ruchu. Práce je rozdělena do dvou částí. První část představuje teoretická východiska zaměřená na cestovní ruch, sportovní událost, sportovní marketing a metody použité v práci. Druhá část práce obsahuje analýzu mezinárodních sportovních událostí v podobě olympijských her, Mistrovství světa ve fotbale. Podrobněji analyzuji sportovní události v České republice v roce 2015, Mistrovství Evropy ve fotbale do 21 let, Světový pohár v Biatlonu, Halové Mistrovství Evropy v Atletice a nejdůkladněji zkoumám Mistrovství světa v ledním hokeji 2015. Dotazník směřovaný pro návštěvníky hokejové sportovní události zkoumá dopady na turismus a cestovní ruch.The aim of this bachelor thesis is to describe significance analysis of tourist sports events. This thesis is divided in two parts. The first part presents the theoretical basis of tourist, sports events and sports marketing and methods used in work. The second part contains an analysis of international sporting events as the Olympic games and FIFA World Cup. I explain the influence of significant sport events in Czech republic in 2015, European Football Championship under 21 years, Biathlon World Cup and European Athletic Indoor Championships. I analyze in detail IIHF Hockey World Championship 2015. Questionnaire was made with questions focused on impact of tourism destinations and tourism.115 - Katedra managementuvýborn

A Disease-Associated MicroRNA Cluster Links Inflammatory Pathways and an Altered Composition of Leukocyte Subsets to Noninfectious Uveitis

PURPOSE. The cause of noninfectious uveitis (NIU) is poorly understood but is considered to be mediated by a complex interplay between genetic, environmental, and-relatively unexplored-epigenetic factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are noncoding small RNAs that are important epigenetic regulators implicated in pathologic signaling. Therefore, we mapped the circulating miRNA-ome of NIU patients and studied miRNA perturbations within the broader context of the immune system.METHODS. We designed a strategy to robustly identify changes in the miRNA profiles of two independent cohorts totaling 54 untreated patients with active and eye-restricted disease and 26 age-matched controls. High-resolution miRNA-ome data were obtained by TaqMan OpenArray technology and subsequent RT-qPCR. Flow cytometry data, and proteomic data spanning the cellular immune system, were used to map the uveitis-miRNA signature to changes in the composition of specific leukocyte subsets in blood.RESULTS. Using stringent selection criteria, we identified and independently validated an miRNA cluster that is associated with NIU. Pathway enrichment analysis for genes targeted by this cluster revealed significant enrichment for the PI3K/Akt, MAPK, FOXO, and VEGF signaling pathways, and photoreceptor development. In addition, unsupervised multidomain analyses linked the presence of the uveitis-associated miRNA cluster to a different composition of leukocyte subsets, more specifically, CD16(+)CD11c(+)HLA-DR- cells.CONCLUSIONS. Together, this study identified a unique miRNA cluster associated with NIU that was related to changes in leukocyte subsets demonstrating systemic changes in epigenetic regulation underlying NIU

Social Patterning of Screening Uptake and the Impact of Facilitating Informed Choices: Psychological and Ethical Analyses

Screening for unsuspected disease has both possible benefits and harms for those who participate. Historically the benefits of participation have been emphasized to maximize uptake reflecting a public health approach to policy; currently policy is moving towards an informed choice approach involving giving information about both benefits and harms of participation. However, no research has been conducted to evaluate the impact on health of an informed choice policy. Using psychological models, the first aim of this study was to describe an explanatory framework for variation in screening uptake and to apply this framework to assess the impact of informed choices in screening. The second aim was to evaluate ethically that impact. Data from a general population survey (n = 300) of beliefs and attitudes towards participation in diabetes screening indicated that greater orientation to the present is associated with greater social deprivation and lower expectation of participation in screening. The results inform an explanatory framework of social patterning of screening in which greater orientation to the present focuses attention on the disadvantages of screening, which tend to be immediate, thereby reducing participation. This framework suggests that an informed choice policy, by increasing the salience of possible harms of screening, might reduce uptake of screening more in those who are more deprived and orientated to the present. This possibility gives rise to an apparent dilemma where an ethical decision must be made between greater choice and avoiding health inequality. Philosophical perspectives on choice and inequality are used to point to some of the complexities in assessing whether there really is such a dilemma and if so how it should be resolved. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ethics of paternalism

Data from: Demography and social dynamics of an African elephant population 35 years after reintroduction as juveniles

1. Given their vulnerability to local extinction, the reintroduction of megafauna species (often long-lived, ecologically-influential and highly-social) is an increasingly relevant conservation intervention. Studies that evaluate past megafauna reintroductions are both critical and rare. 2. Between 1981 and 1996, 12 cohorts of a total of 200 juvenile (10 years old) composed 30% of the population in 2016. The population remains relatively young and forecasts suggest high potential for sustained growth over the next decade. 4. The first calf was born to a reintroduced female in 1990 and since then mother-calf units have gradually developed into semi-independent multi-generation families (7-15 individuals in size in 2016). The size of observed cow-calf groups was highly variable (mean=21.4 individuals, range: 7-109), with repeat observation of individual collared females revealing fusion and fission among different family groups through time, as is typical of more natural elephant populations. 5. Synthesis and applications: The development of normal elephant demography and sociality from an irregular founder population may be an encouragement for the reintroduction of other megaherbivores. The potential for rapid population growth must however be carefully considered, especially when ecologically-influential species are introduced to closed systems. The observed age class distribution and the estimated potential for future growth over the next decade have implications for the park’s contraception strategy. Finally, our study provides key long-term insights for elephant translocations, which are becoming an increasingly common and necessary management intervention (due to overpopulation in some areas and local extinction in others).04-Jun-201

Cytokine Expression in Keratoconus and its Corneal Microenvironment : A Systematic Review

Keratoconus (KC) is a progressive corneal ecstasia characterized by thinning and weakening of the cornea that leads to a cone-like appearance, scarring, and decreased vision. Despite the well-described clinical signs, the cause of KC is unknown. Nevertheless, various genes, proteinases, and environmental factors (eye-rubbing, contact lens wear, tear film composition) have been implicated in its etiology. Although classically defined as a predominantly degenerative disease, with mechanically induced trauma accelerating its course, accumulating evidence suggests a pivotal role for inflammation in the pathophysiology of KC. Several reports have linked various inflammatory mediators (cytokines) with KC, but with contradictory findings. The methods and materials used in these studies vary considerably and warrant critical evaluation to decipher the role of inflammatory mediators in KC. We performed a systematic review of current literature on cytokine expression studies in KC and discuss critical soluble and cellular inflammatory mediators that are implicated in its pathogenesis

Aberrant leukocyte telomere length in Birdshot Uveitis

PURPOSE: Birdshot Uveitis (BU) is an archetypical chronic inflammatory eye disease, with poor visual prognosis, that provides an excellent model for studying chronic inflammation. BU typically affects patients in the fifth decade of life. This suggests that it may represent an age-related chronic inflammatory disease, which has been linked to increased erosion of telomere length of leukocytes. METHODS: To study this in detail, we exploited a sensitive standardized quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction to determine the peripheral blood leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in 91 genotyped Dutch BU patients and 150 unaffected Dutch controls. RESULTS: Although LTL erosion rates were very similar between BU patients and healthy controls, we observed that BU patients displayed longer LTL, with a median of log (LTL) = 4.87 (= 74131 base pair) compared to 4.31 (= 20417 base pair) in unaffected controls (P<0.0001). The cause underpinning the difference in LTL could not be explained by clinical parameters, immune cell-subtype distribution, nor genetic predisposition based upon the computed weighted genetic risk score of genotyped validated variants in TERC, TERT, NAF1, OBFC1 and RTEL1. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that BU is accompanied by significantly longer LTL

Aqueous Humor Analysis Identifies Higher Branched Chain Amino Acid Metabolism as a Marker for Human Leukocyte Antigen-B27 Acute Anterior Uveitis and Disease Activity

Purpose: Human leukocyte antigen-B27 (HLA-B27)–positive acute anterior uveitis (AAU) has a higher recurrence rate and shows more anterior chamber cell infiltration compared with HLA-B27–negative patients, suggesting distinct etiologies of these clinically overlapping conditions. To advance our understanding of the biology of AAU, we characterized the metabolic profile of aqueous humor (AqH) of patients with HLA-B27–associated AAU (B27-AAU) and noninfectious idiopathic AAU (idiopathic AAU). Design: Experimental laboratory study. Methods: AqH samples from 2 independent cohorts totaling 30 patients with B27-AAU, 16 patients with idiopathic AAU, and 20 patients with cataracts underwent 2 individual rounds of direct infusion mass spectrometry. Features predicted by direct infusion mass spectrometry that facilitated maximum separation between the disease groups in regression models were validated by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry–based quantification with appropriate standards. Results: Partial least square-discriminant analysis revealed metabolite profiles that were able to separate patients with B27-AAU from those with iodiopathic AAU. Pathway enrichment analysis, based on metabolites on which separation of the groups in the partial least square-discriminant analysis model was based, demonstrated the involvement of branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, ascorbate and aldarate metabolism, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, and glycolysis-diverting pathways (eg, serine biosynthesis) across all investigated cohorts. Notably, the metabolite ketoleucine was elevated in B27-AAU across all 3 runs and moderately—but robustly—correlated with anterior chamber cell count (correlation coefficient range 0.41–0.81). Conclusions: These results illustrate metabolic heterogeneity between HLA-B27–positive and HLA-B27–negative AAU, including an increase of branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, that reflects disease activity in AAU

Zinc-binding to the cytoplasmic PAS domain regulates the essential WalK histidine kinase of Staphylococcus aureus

WalKR (YycFG) is the only essential two-component regulator in the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus. WalKR regulates peptidoglycan synthesis, but this function alone does not explain its essentiality. Here, to further understand WalKR function, we investigate a suppressor mutant that arose when WalKR activity was impaired; a histidine to tyrosine substitution (H271Y) in the cytoplasmic Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain of the histidine kinase WalK. Introducing the WalK mutation into wild-type S. aureus activates the WalKR regulon. Structural analyses of the WalK PAS domain reveal a metal-binding site, in which a zinc ion (Zn) is tetrahedrally-coordinated by four amino acids including H271. The WalK mutation abrogates metal binding, increasing WalK kinase activity and WalR phosphorylation. Thus, Zn-binding negatively regulates WalKR. Promoter-reporter experiments using S. aureus confirm Zn sensing by this system. Identification of a metal ligand recognized by the WalKR system broadens our understanding of this critical S. aureus regulon