Hematopoiesis has been for many years seen as a straightforward process based on sequential restriction of cell fate potential leading to production of mature blood cells. In the last decade, however, several works documented an unexpected plasticity of hematopoietic cells with expanded potential of myeloid development from lymphoid progenitors and vice versa. Under physiologic conditions hematopoiesis is tightly controlled and the definite cell fate is denominated by multiple factors that all lead to changes in regulatory networks that include transcription factors, epigenetic changes and post-transcriptional modulations. Any disruption of this strict regulation, caused by mutations or other events, affects the proliferation and lineage fidelity of hematopoietic precursors. This may lead to clonal growth of variable significance or leukemogenesis and may possibly affect the treatment sensitivity of the hematological malignancies. For better understanding of hematopoietic regulation we described gene expression changes during physiological development of lymphoid and myeloid lineages and in leukemic specimens using our own simplified real-time PCR based platform. We investigated expression of 95 genes connected with lymphoid and myeloid differentiation or with leukemogenesis in sorted hematopoietic...

The master's thesis deals with the connections between the experience in the primary family and the differentiation phase of the partnership in the period of young adulthood. In the literature review part, the basic areas of this work are gradually defined - primary family, young adulthood and partnership. When describing the primary family, I focus mainly on the important developmental tasks of the child to successfully manage the transition to adulthood and the formation of a lasting relationship. The chapter about young adulthood describes the characteristics of this phase from different angles. At the end of the theoretical part, I focus on defining the partnership, including the mechanisms of partner selection and description of the phases of the partnership. The empirical part is conceived as a qualitative research, which aims to map the differentiation phase of the partnership of young adults and the activities of the primary family. The main method of collecting data on couples is a semi-structured interview, which is further expanded by questionnaire methods and the technique of mental maps. The information obtained through semi-structured interviews is processed using the method of thematic analysis. The outputs reflect important areas of the primary family and characterize the...

The doctoral thesis has primarily a theoretical character and outcomes. The focus of interest is formed by a detailed investigation of the actor concept in key theoretical approaches to contemporary public policy; the results are subsequently applied on the example of education policy, particularly on teachers as a specific actor category. The goals of this thesis are: 1) to describe how the words "actor", "agent" and "stakeholder" (which all translate as "aktér" in the Czech language) are used in public policy articles; 2) to introduce and compare selected public policy approaches working with actors; 3) to model how these approaches are used in the case of teachers (as actors) and the policy of tracking; 4) to create a comprehensive conceptual framework for the public policy research on actors. The analytical part of the doctoral thesis is based on a summative content analysis of public policy texts published in four extensive handbooks of public policy.

The topic of the dissertation is a development of geobiocoenology and geobiocoenological system of classification and their possible application in landscape management. The thesis is structured into four thematic blocks or case studies and is composed of reviewed and published works. The first part introduces the application of biogeographical differentiation of the landscape by a geobiocoenological approach in the development of the concept of ancient coppice forests, estimation of their distribution in the Czech Republic and description of their state. The second study deals with the testing of empirically defined units of the Czech Forest Ecosystem Classification based on the evaluation of 11,885 geobiocoenological relevés stored in the Database of Czech Forest Ecosystem Classification and containing a series of accurately measured environmental data. The last two studies are operational applications of geobiocoenology. In the first one, geobiocoenology was used for the construction of a regional forest development plan in the Ukrainian Carpathians. In the second one was geobiocoenology used for the differentiation of the peak positions of Hrubý Jeseník, because of which, besides other things, was predicted the development of biotopes in case of removing allochthonous stands of mountain pine. This dissertation demonstrates the multifaceted use of geobiocoenology, contributes to its development and enriches it also at the level of operational applications.

miR-17-92 cluster (Oncomir1) encodes seven microRNAs (miRNA, miR) regulating many biological processes including proliferation, differentiation or apoptosis. Overexpression of microRNAs encoded by miR-17-92 cluster is found in a number of tumors including acute and chronic myeloid leukemias (Dixon-McIver et al., 2008; Li et al., 2008; Venturini et al., 2007). Myeloid progenitors express miR-17-92 cluster at a high level, while macrophage differentiation associates with its downregulation. Our laboratory found, that miR-17-92 cluster is repressed by transcription factor Early growth response 2 (Egr2) upon differentiation of primary myeloid PUER progenitors, induced with transcription factor PU.1. Aim of this thesis is to further test the abovementioned data by preparing a reporter vectors set, carrying various fragments of miR-17-92 putative promoter, which enables us to study regulation of transcription of miR-17-92 cluster. This task complicated by presence of increased GC content of the miR-17-92 promoter was successfully accomplished resulting in amplification of eight fragments containing the various parts of miR-17-92 promoter including region -3.3 to 0 kb relative to the start of miR-17-5p sequence, that were inserted into pGL3 reporter vector. Transfection of pGL3 reporter vector carrying...

Lens development and differentiation are strictly regulated processes. Various disturbances of these processes can lead to vision-limiting pathologies. The vertebrate lens is composed of epithelial cells and terminally differentiated fiber cells. Differentiation of fiber cells is connected with expression of fiber cell specific proteins (such as crystallins), cell cycle exit, and finally with the degradation of cell nucleus and organelles. Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays important roles during early eye development as well as later during the lens differentiation. To investigate the consequences of constitutive activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in lens fiber cells transgenic mouse strain, called CLEF, was created. Constitutive activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in fiber cells of CLEF mouse is achieved by transgenic protein CLEF that contains C-terminal activation domain of β-catenin fused to the amino terminus of full-length protein Lef1. The expression of CLEF transgene is under the control of αA-crystallin promoter. As a result of constitutive activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling in fiber cells, adult CLEF mice develop cataracts and microphthalmia, and the morphology of adult mutant lenses is disrupted. Transgenic CLEF mRNA is expressed starting from E13.5 and by E16.5 transgenic CLEF protein is...

1 Abstract Migration has been an inherent part of population development, and due to its role in shaping settlement system and societal changes also one of the key research interests of social geography. Due to the political regime and the limited movement across state borders, attention was predominantly given to internal migration in Czechia in the second half of the 20th century. Conversely, international migration has only been coming to the fore of academic debate since the 1990s. Despite the broad diversity of aspects of international migration in Czechia and the fact that the city has traditionally been the environment associated with the majority of immigrant population, little consideration has been given to the deeper understanding of the relationship between international migration, the presence of foreign citizens and the urban environment, especially foreigners' influence on socio-spatial differentiation and on social environment of particular urban locales. Czechia is a specific case: a country which was isolated from international migration for four decades became one of the main immigration countries in the post-socialist Central Europe after 1989. It represents a unique occasion to investigate the connection between international migration and the city in a previously unexplored environment...

The demographic revolution in developing countries and Africa with special regards to Zimbabwe Abstract This dissertation aimed to examine the demographic revolution in developing countries, Africa and Zimbabwe. The decline of mortality and fertility everywhere in the world demonstrates the importance of the demographic revolution as a global process. While this universality was central to classic revolution theory, for many decades, it was questioned by demographers because fertility and mortality in Africa did not seem to follow the expected pathway. In sub-Saharan Africa the demographic revolution has been characterised by lagging, discontinuation and is occurring at a faster pace against low levels of socioeconomic development than observed in Europe, which has consequences for population dynamics. Questions have emerged if Africa is indeed different and a homogenous continent regarding demographic processes? However, empirical studies that have explored the unique demographic revolution starting from developing countries, Africa and Zimbabwe are lacking. The first part of the thesis on developing countries showed variations in the reaction of fertility to mortality decrease with historically small gaps and extended gaps in more recent revolutions, plus the much faster decrease in vital rates in many...

TITLE: Methods and Forms of Educating Gifted Students AUTHOR: Zuzana Staňková DEPARTMENT: Department of Primary Education of the Faculty of Education of the Charles University in Prague SUPERVISOR: PaedDr. Nataša Mazáčová, Ph.D. ABSTRACT: The aim of this dissertation is to analyze all significant components entering the process of educating gifted students, with the objective to positively influence and develop their potential, in a complex manner. These components are the initial theoretical pieces of knowledge that should be incorporated into specialized competence of each educator. Among the components are, in particular, characteristics of a gifted student, defining the terms talent and aptitude, specification of a gifted student's motivation, talent models analysis, description of educational and psychological diagnostics of talent, and legal documents related to working with gifted students at schools. Principal part of the theory section focuses on the issue of adjusting the education and training process to the needs of gifted students. It summarizes current educational approaches to training and raising gifted students. It also provides close analysis of individual education strategies and their modifications, based on the principle of individualization and differentiation of the...

5 Abstract Although yeasts are unicellular microorganisms, they form complex multicellular formations such as biofilms and colonies under natural conditions. Within these structures, processes such as cell differentiation, specialization by particular cell populations and cell signalling, which are typical of multicellular organisms, take place. The literature introduction to this thesis summarizes current knowledge regarding the development of biofilms and colonies, in particular those of the model organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and some selected regulations that are important for the formation of multicellular structures. In the results section, I focus on two lines of research. The first is directed towards mechanisms, involved in the formation of multicellular structures. In studying the formation of SLI biofilms (biofilms at the solid/liquid interface), we have documented the antagonistic role of the regulators CYC8 and TUP1 in their formation and have also described the effect of the presence of glucose on the development and stability of SLI biofilms of strain BR-F. During this study we[D1] have developed an imaging method that allows us to prepare and observe the internal structure (vertical cross-section) of SLI biofilms, as well as the growth of unattached cells, under physiological...