Heart transplantation is performed in patients with end-stage heart failure, in whom all other methods of treatment failed. The most common causes of end-stage heart failure are dilated cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease. The destiny of these patients is highly variable. Prediction of long term survival in patients after heart transplantation is not satisfactory and up to now has not been found reliable marker. Most of the patients die after heart transplantation due to cardiovascular disease. This thesis is focused on molecular genetics and statistical analysis of four single nucleotide polymorphisms, namely rs17817449 (16q12.2, FTO gene), rs2943634 (2q36.3; intergenic region), rs6922269 (6q25.1; MTHFD1L gene), and rs10757274 (9p21.3; intergenic region). According to genome wide association studies are these SNPs assosiated with cardiovascular diseases. We genotyped DNA samples of 364 heart donors and 364 heart recipients. The results were statistically compared (using OR and Pearson's χ2 test) with the control group, which consisted of samples of individuals from the general population MONICA study. We examined the genotype in patients whose hearts failed due to dilated cardiomyopathy or coronary artery disease and then in patients with cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Furthermore, we focused on...

This diploma thesis serves as a constructional study of an axial pump with a tandem arrangement of impellers. It may also be perceived as proposal of possible constructional variants that could be used as cardiac replacements. The thesis offers several conceptual variants, while the selected ones are elaborated in detail. Drawing documentation and 3D models are included in the attachment. The components were dimensioned according to the parameters necessary for proper heart function.

This diploma thesis deals with urban studies on the territory of Svitavy river in Brno-Husovice. Part of the solved territory is defined as a brownfield - specifically, it is a former Zetor site. New backbone roads are proposed in the defined area, new residential complexes that integrate the area into the surrounding area. In the north of the proposed area, I propose the Park & Ride Park House at the large city ring road in Brno. The proposal also includes the creation of recreational areas - near the embankment, a city park is set up near the Provazníkova road. An interesting feature is the creation of a public space shielded from traffic.

The diploma thesis deals with the design of an artificial heart based on the principle of gas accumulators. The introductory part describes the anatomy and physiology of the human cardiovascular system, mechanical heart replacement and the basic properties of pneumatic mechanisms. Furthermore, there is shown the procedure of pneumatic circuit design and its simulation in the program Simulink. The experimental part contains verification of the functionality of the pneumatic circuit, designed the positive displacement pump, and the measured characteristics of both ventricles. The last part of the work deals with the reduction possibilities of dimensions and weight of the whole mechanism. There is also included computational modelling of the pneumatic circuit using helium as a working medium.

The diploma thesis is aimed at the constructional design of diaphragm pumps with a linear motor. This pump is supposed to be used in medicine for pumping the blood or as an artificial heart. The basic facts, which are focused on the function of the heart and artificial heart, are mentioned in the first parts of the thesis. The next parts describe the diaphragm pumps and the constructional ways of their diaphragm fixation. Furthermore, the basic calculations, describing the function of the pump, are derived there. The basic parameters of the pump are also calculated. The thesis also contains the description of the body pump construction, whose working room is optimized by CFD calculation before the pump is manufactured. The final part of the thesis is concentrated on the measurement evaluation of produced pump model.

This thesis describes design and implementation of method, which determines beginning of heart beats in echocardiographic record. Design of this method is built around pyramidal Lucas-Kanade algorithm and fast Fourier transform. This method is implemented in C++ language with OpenCV and FFTW libraries. Analysis of the implementation has shown, that this method is sensitive to anomalies in echocardiographic record. This method is developed as a part of the project for an analysis of echocardiographic records for st. Anna hospital at Brno.

he thesis deals with proposal of an algorithm and implementation of a program that tracks a motion of the heart muscle in the captured ultrasound video of the heart. The point position estimation is calculated by optical flow method. The Active Shape Model method is used to confirm the accuracy of point's position tracking. The user annotates desired structure of the heart arch first and the application displays new points which represent a new deformed heart shape.

This thesis aims to determine the impact of slowed myocardial conduction velocity and depressed myocyte contractility on the duration of isovolumic contraction time (ICT) of the left ventricle by carrying out simulations using finite element method. A 3D finite element model enabling to simulate both physiological and pathological states of myocardium was created. The model is based on simplified ellipsoidal geometry and accounts for anisotropic behavior of myocardium, its asynchronous contraction and variations in the arrangement of muscle fibers. Slowing of conduction velocity to a half of its physiological value resulted in prolongation of ICT by 27 %; slowing of shortening velocity of myocytes by the same percentage prolonged ICT by 73 %. It is therefore concluded that ICT can be much more prolonged due to depressed contractility than due to conduction slowing. The presented results give an idea of the extent to which ICT can be prolonged due to depressed contractility and conduction slowing and therefore can be useful in identifying the causes of decreased myocardial performance in heart disease.

Acclimation to cold or hardening is known for many decades through its beneficial effects on human health. In contrast, sudden exposure to cold, cold shock, is a great risk of cerebral and cardiac injury, especially in the elderly. There is very little published data on the cellular and molecular mechanisms induced by cold adaptation in heart and brain. The aim of this work was to describe and compare different properties heart, liver, brain and brown adipose tissue mitochondria of rats housed at 25 ± 1 řC and at mild cold (9 ± 1 řC, 5 weeks). The high-resolution oxygraphy, spectrophotometry and Western blotting analyses were used. We found differences in the respiratory control between the heart and liver. Cold acclimation decreased activity of the Krebs cycle enzymes. Fatty acid contribution to the respiration reached the maximum in brown fat and the minimum in the hippocampus. However, further study is necessary.

Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. The effects of ischemic heart disease are usually attributable to the detrimental effects of acute myocardial ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. The aim of the thesis was to contribute to current effort to clarify the basis of mechanisms that could save the heart from I/R injury. The whole thesis is based on four studies; while the first three are published, the fourth one has been under revision. In the first study, we proved the involvement of nitric oxide (NO) in the cardioprotective mechanism of chronic hypoxia (CH). We described that exogenously increased availability of NO as well as inhibition of phosphodiesterase type 5 led to increased myocardial tolerance of normoxic and chronically hypoxic rats. The effects of both interventions were not additive, suggesting that NO is included in cardioprotective signaling of CH. Second study continued in investigating molecular mechanisms underlying cardioprotection induced by CH. We showed that infarct size-limiting effect of adaptation to CH was accompanied by increased myocardial concentration of tumor-necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and TNF-α receptor R2. In the third study, we examined the effect of dexrazoxane (DEX), the only clinically approved drug against...