Methodical instructions for roadway driving and rescue service in difficult microclimatic conditions

Methodology provides instructions for safe and economic way for design of mine works at high level of air temperature for miners and mine rescue workers in conditions of the Czech part of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB). Methodology covers areas of design of roadway support and application of the new health limits and thermal loading in specific conditions of great depth in the USCB as well as instructions for mine rescue service

Characteristics of the process of coal spontaneous combustion in the re-opened, previously sealed heating areas

W artykule omówiono podstawowe zagadnienia realizowanego projektu ČBÚ 55-07 „Otwieranie pól pożarowych i ocena wskaźników dla bezpieczeństwa robót w obszarach dotkniętych pożarem“. W części pierwszej podane są wyniki badań analitycznych poszczególnych zjawisk samozapalenia węgla w otwieranych wyrobiskach ścianowych w kopalniach Zagłębia Ostrawsko-Karwińskiego. Stwierdzono, że koniecznym warunkiem dla opanowania procesu ponownego samozapalenia w otwieranym polu pożarowym jest jego otamowanie (zamknięcie) na czas dłuższy niż 0,5 roku. Na podstawie badań laboratoryjnych porównywano zachowanie się węgla w procesie oksydacyjnym w polach nieobjętych pożarem i w polach objętych pożarem. Badania laboratoryjne wykazały, iż w obszarach z powtarzającym się otwieraniem pól pożarowych można oczekiwać wyższych koncentracji CO przy zachowaniu „jednakowej“ temperatury złoża pożarowego, aniżeli w obszarach z pierwszym zdarzeniem samozapalenia. Stwierdzono również, że węgiel z bliskich okolic (ugaszonego) ogniska samozapalenia ulega procesowi samozapalenia zdecydowanie łatwiej w porównywaniu z węglem, który nie był narażony na samozapalenie.This paper summarises basic results obtained during implementation of the ČBÚ Project 55-07 „Access to the coal mine district with spontaneous combustion process and assessment of indicators for safe work in these areas“. Findings of the analysis of the „spon-com” incidents in the re-opened sealed heatings are reported in the first part of the contribution. As a result, the necessity to seal an underground heating for at least 6 months was proved to manage successfully the possible self-heating process in the re-opened area. Moreover, possible changes in the oxidation behaviour of coal in the spontaneous combustion site were studied with two main conclusions being drawn: i) increased production of carbon monoxide can be expected at oxidation of coal in the re-opened sealed heating; ii) coal in the extinguished spontaneous combustion site gains increased susceptibility to the self-heating process

Treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementias with psychopharmaceuticals: a review

Jiří Masopust,1–4 Dita Protopopová,4 Martin Vališ,2,3 Zbyšek Pavelek,2,3 Blanka Klímová5 1Department of Psychiatry, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; 2Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Kralove and University Hospital, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; 3Department of Neurology, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; 4National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic; 5Department of Applied Linguistics, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic Abstract: Behavioral and psychological symptoms represent common complications in patients with different types of dementia. Predominantly, they comprise psychosis, agitation and mood disorders, disinhibited behavior, impairment of the sleep and wakefulness rhythm, wandering, perseveration, pathological collecting, or shouting. Their appearance is related to more rapid progression of the disease, earlier institutionalization, use of physical restraints, and higher risk of mortality. Consequently, appearance of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia leads to higher costs of care provided and greater distress for caregivers. Clinical guidelines recommend nonpharmacological approaches as the first choice in the treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms. Pharmacological therapy should be initiated only if the symptoms were not the result of somatic causes, did not respond to nonpharmacological interventions, or were not caused by the prior medication. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, memantine, antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, mood stabilizers, and benzodiazepines are used. This review summarizes the current findings about the efficacy and safety of the treatment of the neuropsychiatric symptoms in dementias with psychopharmaceuticals. Recommendations for treatment with antipsychotics for this indication are described in detail as this drug group is prescribed most often and, at the same time, is related to the highest risk of adverse effects and increased mortality. Keywords: dementia, behavioral and psychological symptoms, treatment, psychopharmaceuticals, adverse effect

Acupuncture in migraine prophylaxis in Czech patients: an open-label randomized controlled trial

Frantisek Musil,1 Jitka Pokladnikova,1,2 Zbysek Pavelek,3 Bo Wang,4 Xin Guan,4 Martin Valis3 1Czech-Chinese Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine, University Hospital Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; 2Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Kralove, Charles University, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; 3Department of Neurology, University Hospital Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic; 4Shuguang Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China Background: Adjuvant acupuncture for the symptomatic treatment of migraine reduces the frequency of headaches and may be at least similarly effective to treatment with prophylactic drugs.Methods: This article describes an open-label randomized controlled clinical trial with two groups: the intervention group (n=42) and the waiting-list control group (n=44). This study occurred at the Czech-Chinese Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University Hospital Hradec Kralove between October 2015 and April 2017.Results: After 12 weeks of acupuncture, the number of migraine days was reduced by 5.5 and 2.0 days in the acupuncture and the waiting-list control groups, respectively, with a statistically significant inter-group difference of 2.0 migraine days (95% CI: -4 to -1). A significantly greater reduction in the number of migraine days per 4 weeks was reached at the end of the 6-month follow-up period in the acupuncture vs. control groups (Δ -4.0; 95% CI: -6 to -2). A statistically significant difference was observed in the number of responders to treatment (response defined as at least a 50% reduction in average monthly migraine day frequency) in the acupuncture vs waiting-list control groups (50% vs 27%; p<0.05) at the end of the intervention. A significantly greater percentage of responders to treatment was noted in the intervention vs control groups at the 6-month follow-up (81% vs 36%; p<0.001).Conclusion: Acupuncture can reduce symptoms and medication use, both short term and long term, as an adjuvant treatment in migraine prophylaxis in Czech patients. Keywords: acupuncture, effectiveness, migraine, prophylaxis, Traditional Chinese medicine, treatmen

Supplementary Material for: Interferon beta-1a vs. glatiramer acetate: changes of innate immunity in a group of women with multiple sclerosis

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune demyelinating disease that secondarily leads to the axonal loss and associated brain atrophy. Disease-modifying drugs (DMDs) have previously been studied for their ability to affect specific immunity. This study investigates the effect of interferon beta-1a (INF) and glatiramer acetate (GA) administration on changes in innate immunity cell populations. Methods: Sixty Caucasian female patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis undergo blood sample testing for 15 blood parameters at baseline, 1M, 3M and 6M after treatment by GA or IFN (started as their first line DMD). Results: A statistically significant difference in the change after 6 months was found in the parameter monocytes (relative count) in the group of patients treated with IFN. The median increase was 27.8%. Changes in many of the other 15 parameters studied were 10-20%. Conclusion: Innate immunity has long been neglected in MS immunopathology. The findings of this study show that innate immunity cells, especially monocytes may contribute significantly to MS immunopathology

Essential Features and Use Cases of the Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteome Resource (CSF-PR)

Every year, a large number of published studies present biomarkers for various neurological disorders. Many of these studies are based on mass spectrometry proteomics data and describe comparison of the abundance of proteins in cerebrospinal fluid between two or more disease groups. As the number of such studies is growing, it is no longer straightforward to obtain an overview of which specific proteins are increased or decreased between the numerous relevant diseases and their many subcategories, or to see the larger picture or trends between related diseases. To alleviate this situation, we therefore mined the literature for mass spectrometry–based proteomics studies including quantitative protein data from cerebrospinal fluid of patients with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease and organized the extracted data in the Cerebrospinal Fluid Proteome Resource (CSF-PR). CSF-PR is freely available online at http://probe.uib.no/csf-pr, is highly interactive, and allows for easy navigation, visualization, and export of the published scientific data. This chapter will guide the user through some of the most important features of the tool and show examples of the suggested use cases