Financial Analysis of Major Australian Real Estate Development Companies in Relation to Czech Property Developers

katedra ekonomiky a řízení stavebnictv

Economy of Healthcare: Grossman's Model of Demand for Healthcare

Grossman's model of demand for healthcare has been developed by separating health capital from theory of human capital. According to this model, everybody is an active producer of his or her own health (capital) using purchased healthcare and his/her own time as inputs. People with higher income demand greater amount of health capital to reduce number of sick days. Therefore they invest in healthcare more. On the contrary, people with higher education need to invest less in healthcare, because they are more effective producers of health capital. Data obtained from CZSO (Czech Statistic Office) confirm the validity of Grossman conclusions also in the Czech Republic, although it is a country with compulsory part of investments into health capital - health insurance. People with higher income do try to minimize the outage in income in such a way, that they spend less time on sick leave as people with lower income

Economy of Healthcare: Grossman's Model of Demand for Healthcare

Grossmanův model poptávky po zdravotní péči vznikl vyčleněním zdravotního kapitálu z teorie lidského kapitálu. Dle tohoto modelu je každý člověk aktivním výrobcem svého zdraví (zdravotního kapitálu) a jako vstupy pro výrobu používá nakoupenou zdravotní péči a svůj čas. Lidé s vyšší mzdou požadují vyšší stav zdravotního kapitálu, aby omezili počet ztracených pracovních dní díky nemoci. Proto investují do zdravotní péče více peněz. Naopak lidé s vyšším vzděláním potřebují menší investici do zdravotní péče, protože jsou efektivnějšími producenty zdravotního kapitálu. Data získaná z ČSÚ potvrzují platnost Grossmanových závěrů i v ČR, přestože se jedná o zemi s povinnou složkou investic do zdravotního kapitálu - zdravotním pojištěním. Lidé s vyšším platem se skutečně snaží minimalizovat výpadek příjmů tím, že jsou v průměru kratší dobu na nemocenské dovolené, než lidé s nižšími příjmy.Grossman's model of demand for healthcare has been developed by separating health capital from theory of human capital. According to this model, everybody is an active producer of his or her own health (capital) using purchased healthcare and his/her own time as inputs. People with higher income demand greater amount of health capital to reduce number of sick days. Therefore they invest in healthcare more. On the contrary, people with higher education need to invest less in healthcare, because they are more effective producers of health capital. Data obtained from CZSO (Czech Statistic Office) confirm the validity of Grossman conclusions also in the Czech Republic, although it is a country with compulsory part of investments into health capital - health insurance. People with higher income do try to minimize the outage in income in such a way, that they spend less time on sick leave as people with lower income

Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome Leads to Impaired Semen Parameters, Increased Sperm DNA Fragmentation and Unfavorable Changes of Sperm Protamine mRNA Ratio

Background: Chronic Prostatitis/Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CP/CPPS) is a frequent disease affecting men of every age and accounting for a great number of consultations at urology departments. Previous studies suggested a negative impact of CP/CPPS on fertility. As increasing attention has been attributed to additional aspects, such as sperm DNA integrity and sperm protein alterations, besides the WHO standard semen analysis when assessing male fertility, in this prospective study, we aimed to further characterize the fertility status in CP/CPPS patients with a focus on these parameters. Methods: Sperm DNA fragmentation measured by sperm chromatin structure assay (SCSA) and protamine 1 to protamine 2 mRNA ratio assessed by RT-qPCR were analyzed along with conventional ejaculate parameters and inflammatory markers in 41 CP/CPPS patients and 22 healthy volunteers. Results: We found significant differences between the groups concerning multiple conventional ejaculate parameters. A significant increase in sperm DNA fragmentation was shown in CP/CPPS patients with association to other sperm parameters. The majority of CP/CPPS patients exhibited protamine mRNA ratios out of the range of regular fertility. Conclusions: This is a pioneering study with a strong practical orientation revealing that CP/CPPS leads to increased sperm DNA damage and changes in sperm protamine levels, emphasizing an unfavorable impact of CP/CPPS on fertility

Functionalizable Antifouling Coatings as Tunable Platforms for the Stress-Driven Manipulation of Living Cell Machinery

Cells are continuously sensing their microenvironment and subsequently respond to different physicochemical cues by the activation or inhibition of different signaling pathways. To study a very complex cellular response, it is necessary to diminish background environmental influences and highlight the particular event. However, surface-driven nonspecific interactions of the abundant biomolecules from the environment influence the targeted cell response significantly. Yes-associated protein (YAP) translocation may serve as a marker of human hepatocellular carcinoma (Huh7) cell responses to the extracellular matrix and surface-mediated stresses. Here, we propose a platform of tunable functionable antifouling poly(carboxybetain) (pCB)-based brushes to achieve a molecularly clean background for studying arginine, glycine, and aspartic acid (RGD)-induced YAP-connected mechanotransduction. Using two different sets of RGD-functionalized zwitterionic antifouling coatings with varying compositions of the antifouling layer, a clear correlation of YAP distribution with RGD functionalization concentrations was observed. On the other hand, commonly used surface passivation by the oligo(ethylene glycol)-based self-assembled monolayer (SAM) shows no potential to induce dependency of the YAP distribution on RGD concentrations. The results indicate that the antifouling background is a crucial component of surface-based cellular response studies, and pCB-based zwitterionic antifouling brush architectures may serve as a potential next-generation easily functionable surface platform for the monitoring and quantification of cellular processes

Elevated CCL2 causes Leydig cell malfunction in metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome (MetS), which is associated with chronic inflammation, predisposes males to hypogonadism and subfertility. The underlying mechanism of these pathologies remains poorly understood. Homozygous leptin-resistant obese db/db mice are characterized by small testes, low testicular testosterone, and a reduced number of Leydig cells. Here we report that IL-1β, CCL2 (also known as MCP-1), and corticosterone concentrations were increased in the testes of db/db mice relative to those in WT controls. Cultured murine and human Leydig cells responded to cytokine stress with increased CCL2 release and apoptotic signals. Chemical inhibition of CCL2 rescued Leydig cell function in vitro and in db/db mice. Consistently, we found that Ccl2-deficient mice fed with a high-energy diet were protected from testicular dysfunction compared with similarly fed WT mice. Finally, a cohort of infertile men with a history of MetS showed that reduction of CCL2 plasma levels could be achieved by weight loss and was clearly associated with recovery from hypogonadism. Taken together, we conclude that CCL2-mediated chronic inflammation is, to a large extent, responsible for the subfertility in MetS by causing damage to Leydig cells

Copolymer Brush-Based Ultralow-Fouling Biorecognition Surface Platform for Food Safety

Functional polymer coatings that combine the ability to resist nonspecific fouling from complex media with high biorecognition element (BRE) immobilization capacity represent an emerging class of new functional materials for a number of bioanalytical and biosensor technologies for medical diagnostics, security, and food safety. Here, we report on a random copolymer brush surface - poly­(CBMAA-<i>ran</i>-HPMAA) - providing high BRE immobilization capacity while simultaneously exhibiting ultralow-fouling behavior in complex food media. We demonstrate that both the functionalization and fouling resistance capabilities of such copolymer brushes can be tuned by changing the surface contents of the two monomer units: nonionic <i>N</i>-(2-hydroxypropyl) methacrylamide (HPMAA) and carboxy-functional zwitterionic carboxybetaine methacrylamide (CBMAA). It is demonstrated that the resistance to fouling decreases with the surface content of CBMAA; poly­(CBMAA-<i>ran</i>-HPMAA) brushes with CBMAA molar content up to 15 mol % maintain excellent resistance to fouling from a variety of homogenized foods (hamburger, cucumber, milk, and lettuce) even after covalent attachment of BREs to carboxy groups of CBMAA. The poly­(CBMAA 15 mol %-<i>ran</i>-HPMAA) brushes functionalized with antibodies are demonstrated to exhibit fouling resistance from food samples by up to 3 orders of magnitude better when compared with the widely used low-fouling carboxy-functional oligo­(ethylene glycol) (OEG)-based alkanethiolate self-assembled monolayers (AT SAMs) and, furthermore, by up to 2 orders of magnitude better when compared with the most successful ultralow-fouling biorecognition coatings - poly­(carboxybetaine acrylamide), poly­(CBAA). When model SPR detections of food-borne bacterial pathogens in homogenized foods are used, it is also demonstrated that the antibody-functionalized poly­(CBMAA 15 mol %-<i>ran</i>-HPMAA) brush exhibits superior biorecognition properties over the poly­(CBAA)