Use of marijuana in pharmacy students (2000-2005)

In 2000-2005, a survey on the consumption of legal and illegal drugs of abuse was conducted in 1571 students of Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Charles University in Prague. The availability of cannabis and the prevalence rates of its use in university students were investigated. A standardized anonymous questionnaire was employed for the survey. The average age of respondents was 20 years. The number of females was higher (82.8 %) than that of males. Marijuana was the most available and the most commonly used illegal drug of abuse in the group of pharmacy students. Its offer and the life-time prevalence increased over the 5 year period of the survey from 55.8 % to 72.9 % and from 30.3 % to 48.4 %, respectively. There was a predominance of the male users over the female ones, mainly in a category of high frequency of marijuana consumption ("used more than five times"). Almost three quarters of marijuana consumers admitted more than one experience with marijuana. Our data provide worrying statistics and support the need of continuous education also in university students to advise them on the risks of drug misuse.     

Treatment of statin adverse effects with supplemental Coenzyme Q10 and statin drug discontinuation

Fifty consecutive new cardiology clinic patients who were on statin drug therapy (for an average of 28 months) on their initial visit were evaluated for possible adverse statin effects (myalgia, fatigue, dyspnea, memory loss, and peripheral neuropathy). All patients discontinued statin therapy due to side effects and began supplemental CoQ(10) at an average of 240 mg/day upon initial visit. Patients have been followed for an average of 22 months with 84% of the patients followed now for more than 12 months. The prevalence of patient symptoms on initial visit and on most recent follow-up demonstrated a decrease in fatigue from 84% to 16%, myalgia from 64% to 6%, dyspnea from 58% to 12%, memory loss from 8% to 4% and peripheral neuropathy from 10% to 2%. There were two deaths from lung cancer and one death from aortic stenosis with no strokes or myocardial infarctions. Measurements of heart function either improved or remained stable in the majority of patients. We conclude that statin-related side effects, including statin cardiomyopathy, are far more common than previously published and are reversible with the combination of statin discontinuation and supplemental CoQ(10). We saw no adverse consequences from statin discontinuation.     

Enantioselective metabolism of trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal by brain mitochondria

Trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (HNE) is a product of lipid peroxidation with many cellular effects. HNE possesses a stereogenic center at the C4 carbon that influences the metabolism and alkylation targets of HNE. We tested the hypothesis that rat brain mitochondria metabolize HNE in an enantioselective manner after exposure to racemic HNE. The study of HNE chirality, however, is hindered by the lack of facile methods to chromatographically resolve (R)-HNE and (S)-HNE. We used a chiral hydrazine, (S)-carbidopa, as a derivatization reagent to form diastereomers with (R)-HNE and (S)-HNE that were separated by reverse-phase HPLC. After exposure to racemic HNE, rat brain mitochondria metabolized HNE enantioselectively with a higher rate of (R)-HNE metabolism. By using the purified enantiomers of HNE, we found that this enantioselective metabolism of HNE was the result of higher rates of enzymatic oxidation of (R)-HNE by aldehyde dehydrogenases compared to (S)-HNE. Conjugation of HNE to glutathione was a minor metabolic pathway and was not enantioselective. These studies demonstrate that the chirality of HNE affects its mitochondrial metabolism and potentially other processes in the central nervous system.     

A2144G is the main mutation in the 23S rRNA gene of Helicobacter pylori associated with clarithromycin resistance

To detect point mutations A2115C, A2143G/C, and A2143G in the 23S rRNA gene of Helicobacter pylori associated with resistance of the microorganism to clarithromycin, a new powerful way of analysis was used. This method involved the reaction of minisequencing followed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry of reaction products. In ten analyzed clarithromycin-resistant clinical isolates of H. pylori obtained in Russia, the resistance was found to be mediated only by mutation A2144G in the 23S rRNA gene.     

Der Einfluss von Humussäure auf Wachstum und Veränderungen des freien Zuckergehaltes bei Winterweizenpflanzen,die im Dunkeln kultiviert wurden

1. 1.
   Humusová kyselina (Humussäure Riedel—de Haën A., G Seelze—Hannover ve formě K soli) stimulovala ve tmě, stejně jako na světle (?in?erová 1962), nejvíce ?erstvou váhu, suchou váhu a délku nadzemní ?ásti p?enice v kulturách s destilovanou vodou. R?stová stimulace byla zde stejně jako na světle spojena s pr?kazně ni??í hladinou jednotlivých volných cukr?.     

Identification of the hereditary variants of skin melanoma

The identification of hereditary variants of cutaneous melanoma and analysis of the role of hereditary factors and syndromes predisposing to cutaneous melanoma were carried out. The involvement of individual nevus phenotypes in the development of this disease was determined. Based on a survey of recent molecular biological data and our studies, the etiological and genetic heterogeneity of cutaneous melanoma is reported. In relatives of patients with cutaneous melanoma and persons with multiple pigmented nevi, the malignant tumors proved to be differentiated in the direction of the neural crist tissues and/or derivatives of cutaneous mesenchyma. Based on the evidence obtained, the approaches have been developed to formation of risk groups for the purpose of early diagnostics of cutaneous melanoma.     

Multidrug-resistant tumor cells with decreased malignancy: a role for integrin alphavbeta3

We studied whether acquisition of multidrug resistance (MDR) by tumor cells can alter their integrin profile and malignant behavior. Hamster fibroblast cell line HET-SR-2SC-LNM was selected for MDR, yielding the 2SC/20 subline. Compared with the parental cells, the 2SC/20 subline weakly adhered to denatured collagen (dCol) which correlated with decreased expression of alphavbeta3, a dCol receptor. Importantly, 2SC/20 subline demonstrated significantly decreased activity of collagenase MMP-2, lower ability to invade Matrigel, and attenuated metastasis in syngeneic animals. We provide evidence for the first time that selection for MDR can be associated with down-regulation of alphavbeta3 integrin, supporting our recent proof of the pro-apoptotic role of this integrin (Oncogene 20 (2001) 4710). Lack of alphavbeta3 expression may link cell survival under toxic conditions with decreased malignancy of the resulting drug resistant tumor.