Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Medica. Monographia最新文献

The Sarmatian are one of the most characteristic people of the Great Hungarian Plain between the 1st and 5th centuries AD. The main purpose of our study was paleodemographical and paleopathological analysis of Sarmatian osteological samples originating from the southern part of the Great Hungarian Plain. During the analysis classical anthropological methods were used. However, we have to note that the fragmentary state of preservation of skeletons caused some incertainty during the examinations. The examined Caucasoid osteological series (skeletal remains of 97 individuals) contains mixed male and female skeletons, the distribution of which is nearly the same. Among pathological lesions, beside the bony symptoms of joint alterations and non-specific infections, traumatic and hematological lesions and developmental alterations can also be seen.

Unlike traditional methods of examining past diet, carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis of bone collagen (delta13C, delta15N) can be used to examine diet at the level of the individual and make interpretations based on differences observed between individuals and groups. This method, which reflects the overall protein intake of the last 10-30 years of an individual's lifetime, can be used to examine trophic level, the relative contribution of marine foods, and also the relative contribution of plant foods following the C3 and C4 photosynthetic pathways. Interim data from two La Tène inhumation cemeteries in Bohemia (Kutná Hora and Radovesice II) and four Hallstatt tumulus burials from northern Austria (Stadlau, Gosinfürth bei Amstetten, Slemschek and Rohrendorf) suggest that during the La Tène in Bohemia, overall diet was based on animal protein and plant foods following the C3 photosynthetic pathway with at least some input of plant foods following the C4 photosynthetic pathway (millet). At both Kutná Hora and Radovesice II differences in delta15N values can be seen between males buried with and without items of iron weaponry, suggesting a dietary difference based on "warrior" status. This data can be combined with stable isotope data from the four Hallstatt sites in northern Austria and previously published data from a Hallstatt site at Magdalenska gora in Slovenia (Murray and Schoeninger 1988) to trace the spread of millet in prehistoric Europe.

Three agricultural village homesteads (farmsteads) have been used to describe social development in the course of the 20th century. Distribution of the work, including stratification of prestige and power, is described in detail for the social group living at the farmstead before the World War I and by its end. We used this first period (1901-1918) at the beginning of the 20th century as a model for the social relations outlasting long from the Middle Ages. In the period from the establishment of the First Republic till the end of the World War II (1918-1945) we can witness the replacement of anterior members of the working team (ploughman and senior maid). Due to the lack of farm-hands they are replaced by immigrants from Slovakia. Since 1945 till 1948 the larger family and German prisoners are engaged in the distribution of the work at the farm. In this period of social changes the farmsteads are gradually abolished, which brings about also decomposition of the social group, which was earning its living from the farm. In the development period between 1948 and 1990 we can see the collapse and destruction of the social groups at smaller agricultural farmsteads including larger estates and their replacement by social organisation of agricultural co-operative farms. In the development period lasting from 1990 till the end of the 20th century the agricultural system of smaller farmsteads was partially restored. Thanks to the introduction of new agricultural machines the family alone is able to cultivate the arable land belonging to the farmstead. Specialised companies performing partial works are employed for occasional works. At the majority of farmsteads the traditional farming has not been restored any more.

Harris lines have been recognised as an indicator of the stress since the thirties of the last century, when the work of dr. H. A. Harris was published. Despite seventy years of interest, the aetiology of this marker remains unclear. The lines are generally interpreted as being the consequence of a temporary interruption or arrest of bone growth during ontogenesis. Various factors as a trauma, malnutrition and protein deficiency can be the cause of HL's development [e.g. 1]. Clinical studies, have not confirmed these connections unequivocally [e.g. 2, 3]. The lines form in the region of the metaphyses, where the bones grow. Their position vis-a-vis the bone enables to deduce, more or less, the time of their formation [e.g. 4, 5, 6]. The aim of our research was to study the Harris line's formarion in the non-adult population of the Great-Moravian settlement agglomeration at Mikulcice-Valy. We focused only on the non-adult population because it is impossible to rule out the possibility of re-modelling (obliteration) of these lines in adults [e.g. 7]. We recorded the incidence of these markers using X-rays of the long bones of the upper (Hu) and lower (Fe, Ti) extremities. We evaluated a total of 132 individuals. In the first phase, we calculated the intra-observer and inter-observer errors [e.g. 8]. After determining the incidence of these markers on individual bones, we observed the difference in the incidence of markers among individual bones, as well as differences in the distribution of lines in the proximal and distal parts of the bone under study. We also studied the intensity of line formation, which, together with the density of the lines themselves, could indicate the degree of intensity and duration of the stress [e.g. 9]. Finally, we evaluated, the period in the child's life when bone growth was most frequently disrupted [e.g. 6].

On the archaeological finds, written reports and in the composition of the bone tissue, we can suppose that social evolution in Hallstatt--La Tène period proceeded through the three following stages. In the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt period) with funerary furnishings of barrows, seldom, also, of burial grounds, we can distinguish only two groups: a ruler and his court with women and servants. Elements of nomadic and pastoral traditions can be distinguished in the ruling stratum. The second class of people living in bondage has agricultural features. At this first stage of social evolution (approximately between the 7th and the 5th centuries B.C.), in the period of princes, we can distinguish only two social groups--the king (prince) with his court on one side and peasants on the other side. This social stratification determines access to land and, at the same time, ownership of mobile wealth--cattle. The elite accumulates wealth coming also from other sources, for example, in an eponymic locality it mines salt and controls its distribution, other elites of the Hallstatt society control key points of trade, in the first place the trade in amber, being the trade proper provided by foreign merchants. In an archaeological context there appear the settlements of the elite of the refugium. The second social stage with military democracy (in the 4th and the 3rd centuries B.C.) is characterised by several factors: 1st Cheaper weapons, due to their manufacture using products with ensured sources of raw material, 2nd overproduction of foodstuffs, 3rd increase of population. Access to the sources has a larger spectrum, this is why the social stratification of the structured unevenness in this period is taking the form of a pyramid. This social pyramid is confirmed by written reports and also appears in the funerary furnishings. Not only are the ruler and his "court" put in the graves, but also all the members of the clan. We suppose that the new social group of priests, who gained a high social prestige both in wartime and in peacetime, took part in this change of mentality and opinions. Due to the rich admission of the dietary elements Sr and Zn, we suppose that it could be garniture 600 in the burial grounds that represents this group. From the result it can be deduced at 5% significance level (p = 0.0519) that also the relations between the garnitures within the social stratification differ consistently with the region. When strontium content in social groups was statistically tested regardless of the region, differences are found at the 5% level of significance (p = 0.0402) between the group II (males with weapons, females with anklets and with 2 bracelets, 54 skeletons with mean content of 198 microg Sr/g of bone) and group IV (males without funerary furniture, children and exceptions, 31 skeletons with mean content of 154.9 microg Sr/g of bone). Also at statistical testing of lead content, regardless of the region, there are differences at the 5%

The Madaras cemetery is the only one totally excavated Sarmatian site on the Great Hungarian Plain. The cemetery contained 623 graves from the Sarmatian period (from the second century till the middle of the fifth century AD). The preservation of the skeletons are very poor and fragmentary. The ratio of males is 30%, the ratio of skeletons belongig to females is 41%, while the children took 29%. Among pathological cases severe coxarthritis and in one case a metastatic carcinoma of a skull were found. At four individuals artificial deformation of the skull was diagnosed. On the basis of the metric and taxonomic analysis the Madaras population was heterogeneous, wich can be explained by the fact, that this population was diverse or mixed.

Although most of us are more or less familiar with the term "cholesterol", the world of sterols is far more complicated and interesting. Apart from cholesterol, many non-cholesterol sterols can be found in human plasma and these sterols serve many important functions in human organism. They are either derived from endogenous biosynthesis of cholesterol or they come from dietary sources (phytosterols). The sole cholesterol molecule is used for keeping our cell membranes fit, for signalization purposes as well as a precursor for bile acids and steroid hormones. The compounds prior to cholesterol in its biosynthetic pathway were identified as vitamin D3 precursor, meiosis activating sterols and nowadays it seems that they could play a role in cholesterol homeostasis. The sterols from ingested vegetable sources, the phytosterols, are expelled from enterocytes and thus indirectly help our gut in coping with abundant cholesterol in the lumen. Higher plants synthesize many phytosterols, but in marine organisms, we can find other innumerous sterol molecules. The diversity of sterol molecules produced and resistance of their tetracyclic core to enzymatic activities implies crucial importance of sterols during the ontogenesis of multicellular organisms. First oxygen appeared on the Earth app. 2.7 billion years ago and since that time, every new life form took the advantage of oxygen needed also for build-up of sterol molecules. The last decades changed our view to the sterol molecules on almost at all levels of their appearance in human body. In the gut, the absorption of sterols was proven to be protein dependent and the quest for the transporter was successful. The general concepts of intracellular homeostasis of cholesterol have been described including the covalent interaction unbelievable so far - cholesterol and a protein. The clinical importance of non-cholesterol sterols rises with the effort to discover underlying facts about the causes of atherosclerosis. The compound in question, cholesterol, seems to be involved, but it sounds not to be crucial per se. The fact that the accumulation of phytosterols in sitosterolemia enhances the probability of early atherosclerosis onset further supports the hypothesis about some sterol (or steroid) compound being responsible on the molecular level for triggering the pathobiochemical cascade of events leading to atherosclerosis. Understanding the processes taking place in the enterocyte during the absorption of sterols resulted in synthesis of selective inhibitors at the level of sterol translocation into the enterocyte, sterol esterification and chylomicron packing, which are in different phases of clinical testing. The studies in the last part of the monograph represent the clinical potential of the analyses of non-cholesterol sterols. In well-defined groups, these analytes enables us to assess the changes in the homeostasis of cholesterol, which can be reflected in the concentration of total cholestero

Modern trends in psychology and cognitive neuroscience suggest that applications of nonlinear dynamics, chaos and self-organization seem to be particularly important for research of some fundamental problems regarding mind-brain relationship. Relevant problems among others are formations of memories during alterations of mental states and nature of a barrier that divides mental states, and leads to the process called dissociation. This process is related to a formation of groups of neurons which often synchronize their firing patterns in a unique spatial maner. Central theme of this study is the relationship between level of moving and oscilating mental processes and their neurophysiological substrate. This opens a question about principles of organization of conscious experiences and how these experiences arise in the brain. Chaotic self-organization provides a unique theoretical and experimental tool for deeper understanding of dissociative phenomena and enables to study how dissociative phenomena can be linked to epileptiform discharges which are related to various forms of psychological and somatic manifestations. Organizing principles that constitute human consciousness and other mental phenomena from this point of view may be described by analysis and reconstruction of underlying dynamics of psychological or psychophysiological measures. These nonlinear methods in this study were used for analysis of characteristic changes in EEG and bilateral electrodermal activity (EDA) during reliving of dissociated traumatic and stressful memories and during psychopathological states. Analysis confirms a possible role of chaotic transitions in the processing of dissociated memory. Supportive finding for a possible chaotic process related to dissociation found in this study represent also significant relationship of dissociation, epileptiform discharges measured by typical psychopathological manifestations and characteristic laterality changes in bilateral EDA in patients with schizophrenia and depression. Increased level of psychopathological symptoms indicates close relationship to the right-left EDA asymmetry and asymmetry of information entropy calculated by non-linear recurrence quantification analysis of EDA records. Because epileptiform activity has specific chaotic behaviour and calculated information entropy from EDA records reflects the complexity of the deterministic structure in the system there is a relevant assumption that unilaterally increased complexity may produce interhemispheric disbalance and increased chaoticity which hypothetically may serve as a dynamic source of epileptiform discharges related to trauma induced kindling mechanism. Specific form of chaotic inner organization which cannot be explained only as a consequence of external causality support also psychophysiological data that lead to the so-called self-organizing theory of dreaming by Kahn and Hobson. This study suggests that self-organizing theory of dreaming is p