Cell Viability Measurement

Tato diplomová práce se zabývá způsoby určování životaschopnosti buněk a jejího měřením. V první části práce je stručný úvod do teorie životaschopnosti buněk, jsou popsány metody měření buněčné viability a typy fluorescenčních sond. Dále práce obsahuje stručný popis metod obrazového zpracování, je popsán fluorescenční mikroskop a použité filtry. V praktické části je popsán systém realizováný v grafickém programovacím prostředí LabVIEW pro vyhodnocení viability buněk, jsou vysvětleny funkce jednotlivých použitých bloků, program je ověřen na modelových datech.This master's thesis deals with the ways of cell viability determination and its measuring. The first part of this thesis has a brief introduction into the theory of cell viability, also the methods of cell viability measurement and different types of fluorescent probes are described. The thesis further includes a brief description of the image processing methods, as well as the fluorescent microscope and applied filters are described. In the practical part the system implemented at a graphical programming environment LabVIEW used for the cell viability evaluation is described, functions of applied units are explained. The program is checked on model data.

AFM imaging of natural optical structures

The research in this field is focused to the investigation of biological structures with superior optical features. The study presents atomic force microscopy of biological optical structures on butterfly wings. The bright blue and dark black color scales exhibit the different topography. These scales were compared to the visually the same color scales of other two species of butterflies. The histograms of heights distribution are presented and show similar results for the scales of one color for different species

Ecological and morphological features of Rhodiola rosea L. in natural populations in the Altai Mountains

The paper presents the results of the comprehensive study of Rhodiola rosea L. in natural populations in the Altai Mountains. The phytocoenotic confinement, demographic structure, and morphological characters of 9 coenopopulations of Rh. rosea were studied in different ecological and coenotic conditions in the Chemal and Kosh-Agach regions of the Republic of Altai. Correlation between the morphometric parameters and their calculated values for the shoot and sex of the studied individuals, as well as environmental factors, was revealed. Rhodiola rosea L. is a valuable medicinal plant used for functional diseases of the central nervous system. At present, the natural reserves and areas of natural growth of the golden root have decreased significantly. The species is included in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation (2008) and many regional Red Data Books of Siberia. In the Altai Mountains, Rh. rosea is widespread throughout the highlands, where it has occupied a wide range of habitats. The study showed that the highest values of ecological and effective density are characteristic of coenopopulations which are part of various hygrophytic variants of alpine and subalpine miscellaneous herbs with a high total projective cover of the herbaceous layer (CP 1, 2, 3, 4). The lowest values were found for coenopopulations growing in communities with a scarce herbaceous layer or dense shrub layer, and on steep gravelly slopes with crumbling soil and nonuniform moisture distribution (CP 5, 6, 8, 9). The studied coenopopulations are normal, full-membered, or incomplete-membered (some of them lack postgenerative individuals). In terms of the ontogenetic spectra, they are mainly left-sided, with a predominance of young generative individuals (CP 4, 5, 7) or bimodal, with an additional peak for old generative individuals (CP 2, 3, 6, 8). Male and female individuals Rh. rosea differ in many morphometric characters of the generative shoots. In some coenopopulations (CP 2, 3, 6, 9), male and female individuals show multidirectional deviation of characters compared to the totality, which indicates that in different environmental conditions these characters are not only genetically determined but can also be related to the sex of individuals

Experimental Infection Using Mouse-Adapted Influenza B Virus in a Mouse Model

Every year, influenza B viruses (IBVs) contribute to annual illness, and infection can lead to serious respiratory disease among humans. More attention is needed in several areas, such as increasing virulence or pathogenicity of circulating B viruses and developing vaccines against current influenza. Since preclinical trials of anti-influenza drugs are mainly conducted in mice, we developed an appropriate infection model, using an antigenically-relevant IBV strain, for furtherance of anti-influenza drug testing and influenza vaccine protective efficacy analysis. A Victoria lineage (clade 1A) IBV was serially passaged 17 times in BALB/c mice, and adaptive amino acid substitutions were found in hemagglutinin (HA) (T214I) and neuraminidase (NA) (D432N). By electron microscopy, spherical and elliptical IBV forms were noted. Light microscopy showed that mouse-adapted IBVs caused influenza pneumonia on day 6 post inoculation. We evaluated the illness pathogenicity, viral load, and histopathological features of mouse-adapted IBVs and estimated anti-influenza drugs and vaccine efficiency in vitro and in vivo. Assessment of an investigational anti-influenza drug (oseltamivir ethoxysuccinate) and an influenza vaccine (Ultrix®, SPBNIIVS, Saint Petersburg, Russia) showed effectiveness against the mouse-adapted influenza B virus

Remodeling the Public System of Child Protection in Russia: Implementing American Experience into the Russian Practice

Nowhere is the gulf between economic stability and social impoverishment in the region more apparent than in the growing numbers of children in public care. For the last 2-3 decades the Children Protection Sector became an integrated part of administrative sciences and an area of significant public concern. Today most of the literature on this topic reveals problems and dilemmas facing the Public Child Protection System. Much has been said both on the non-capacity of Government to provide the adequate protection to catch up with the growing public needs as well as inefficiency of its support policies, yet often unnoticeable remains the rendered support and effectual help, primarily being the result of the system operation. For Russia the situation is especially devastating with the numbers of children deprived of parental care exceeding the numbers after the Great Patriotic War, and still constantly growing. The genuine interest of the present study is to reveal the underlying paradigms of the system ineffectiveness, while looking for optimal alternatives to further its successful operation. The problem seems to be set deeply within the country’s organizational and administrative structure. The Aim of this study is to elaborate a more coherent Model on the Children Administration that could be applicable to the Russian system of organization and development and responsive to problem of Children Orphanhood in the country. Analysis of the previous failures and mistakes, consideration of the new developments and international experience exchange are laid into the model’s elaboration. By introducing the model of organization of the USA in comparison, for the Russian system the necessity of proposed structural changes, together with the revision of principles of cooperation at both vertical and horizontal levels of authority become evident. Comparing certain elements of both systems, further consideration is given to the applicability of particular elements of the American system to the system of Russia that may become essential for its operational improvement. In this context, together with organizational and structural reforms, significant attention will be given to resources redirection and development of services and standards of care. Elaboration of the Improved Model on Child Protection may contribute to objective understanding of the processes’ flows within the system, more circumspectly to control operations and allocate the tasks at all the levels of authority, and to bring the reasoned cooperation and resource interchange among the authorized agencies. The visualization of operation of the whole system of child protection both on horizontal and vertical levels of authority may facilitate to envisage results and occurrence of certain events, to avail of possibilities for planning and to conceive changes for situation improvement.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

The Influence of the Type of Electrodes on the Biological Impedance Measurement

Electric impedance during meat storage can be affected by various processes: microbial growth, changing of ions mobility, structural changes, etc. Impedance of biological tissues is frequency dependent. The aim of current study is to determine and evaluate the impedance properties of pork meat using two types of electrodes. Measurements were performed during three days in frequency range 100 Hz ÷ 1 MHz

The Influence of the Type of Electrodes on the Biological Impedance Measurement

Electric impedance during meat storage can be affected by various processes: microbial growth, changing of ions mobility, structural changes, etc. Impedance of biological tissues is frequency dependent. The aim of current study is to determine and evaluate the impedance properties of pork meat using two types of electrodes. Measurements were performed during three days in frequency range 100 Hz ÷ 1 MHz

Алгоритмы медиативной восстановительной работы территориальной службы примирения по сложным случаям

The article presents the experience of the Territorial Reconciliation Service of the Kemerovo Region in the development and testing of algorithms for mediation resolution of complex school and family situations of minors based on the principles of the restorative approach. For restorative work with multi-level conflicts in the escalation stage in educational organizations, as well as difficult life situations of minors and their families, registered in the juvenile affairs departments, special social technologies have been developed that have a comprehensive design and include various restorative programmes (restorative mediation, community circle, school-parent council, family group conference, family mediation). An analysis of the results of pilot empirical testing of the technologies developed by the authors shows their effectiveness in relation to complex school and family conflict situations. If there is special training in restorative technologies and an organizational structure uniting trained restorative practitioners (Territorial Reconciliation Service), these algorithms can be applied by specialists in the social sphere, education system, juvenile delinquency prevention and neglect systemВ статье представлен опыт Территориальной службы примирения Кемеровской области по разработке и апробации алгоритмов медиативного разрешения сложных школьных и семейных ситуаций несовершеннолетних на основе принципов восстановительного подхода. Для восстановительной работы с многоуровневыми конфликтами в стадии эскалации в образовательных организациях, а также с трудными жизненными ситуациями несовершеннолетних и их семей, состоящих на учете в отделениях по делам несовершеннолетних, были выработаны специальные социальные технологии, имеющие комплексный дизайн и включающие различные восстановительные программы (восстановительная медиация, круг сообщества, школьно-родительский совет, семейная групповая конференция, семейная медиация). Анализ результатов пилотной эмпирической апробации разработанных авторами технологий показывает их результативность в отношении сложных школьных и семейных конфликтных ситуаций. При наличии специальной подготовки по восстановительным технологиям и организационной структуры, объединяющей обученных восстановительных практиков (Территориальной службы примирения), данные алгоритмы могут применяться специалистами социальной сферы, системы образования, системы профилактики правонарушений и безнадзорности несовершеннолетни

Anti-Influenza Activity of Medicinal Material Extracts from Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

To discover sources for novel anti-influenza drugs, we evaluated the antiviral potential of nine extracts from eight medicinal plants and one mushroom (Avena sativa L., Hordeum vulgare Linn. var. nudum Hook. f., Hippophae rhamnoides Linn., Lycium ruthenicum Murr., Nitraria tangutorum Bobr., Nitraria tangutorum Bobr. by-products, Potentilla anserina L., Cladina rangiferina (L.) Nyl., and Armillaria luteo-virens) from the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau against the influenza A/H3N2 virus. Concentrations lower than 125 μg/mL of all extracts demonstrated no significant toxicity in MDCK cells. During screening, seven extracts (A. sativa, H. vulgare, H. rhamnoides, L. ruthenicum, N. tangutorum, C. rangiferina, and A. luteo-virens) exhibited antiviral activity, especially the water-soluble polysaccharide from the fruit body of the mushroom A. luteo-virens. These extracts significantly reduced the infectivity of the human influenza A/H3N2 virus in vitro when used at concentrations of 15.6–125 μg/mL. Two extracts (N. tangutorum by-products and P. anserina) had no A/H3N2 virus inhibitory activity. Notably, the extract obtained from the fruits of N. tangutorum and N. tangutorum by-products exhibited different anti-influenza effects. The results suggest that extracts of A. sativa, H. vulgare, H. rhamnoides, L. ruthenicum, N. tangutorum, C. rangiferina, and A. luteo-virens contain substances with antiviral activity, and may be promising sources of new antiviral drugs