5 SUMMARY Context: Acute methanol poisoning is a life-threatening condition. Methanol is metabolized in the organism to formaldehyde and than to formic acid, which inhibits cytochrome c oxidase in mitochondria and thus contributes to the development of oxidative stress. Aim: To study the role of oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of acute neuronal damage to the central nervous system (CNS), in the development of long-term sequelae of methanol poisoning and chronic neurodegenerative processes in the years following acute methanol exposure. Material and Methods: Methanol intoxication was confirmed analytically in 55 patients included in he d ; hei age a he ime f i ning a 46.7 3.6 ea (9 female and 46 male ). All a ien , together with 41 control subjects, were examined in a prospective longitudinal cohort study. At admission, during hospitalisation, and at regular intervals after discharge during the follow-up, the patients were sampled for serum concentrations of lipid oxidative damage markers 4-hydroxy-trans-2- hexenal (HHE), 4-hydroxynonenal (HNE), malondialdehyde (MDA), and 8-isoprostane, for nucleic acids oxidative damage markers 8-hydroxy-2 -deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), 8-hydroxyguanosine (8- OHG), 5- (hydroxymethyl) uracil (5-OHMU), for proteins oxidative damage markers ortho-tyrosine (o- Tyr),...

In this thesis, we present the investigation of influence of methanol crossover, which significantly decreases the performance of DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell). Additionally the poisoning effect occurs on the cathode side. The durability of cathode catalyst exposed by methanol vapor is studied. Moreover, the regene- rative behavior after exposition has been found. The comparison of commercial catalyst with our own sputtered Pt and PtCo and PtRu thin layers as cata- lyst is presented. Obtained results have shown that PtCo is reasonable compro- mise between pure Pt, which has high performance, and PtRu, which is tolerant to methanol poisoning. Future research should further evaluate the advantages of PtCo cathode catalyst prepared by standard procedures and its market poten- tial in comparison with PtRu. 1

Background: Methanol poisoning is a life-threatening condition which induces acute toxic optic neuropathy with possible long-term visual sequelae in survivors. Aim: To study the prevalence, character, dynamics, and key determinants of chronic morphological and functional visual pathway changes during 4 years after methanol-induced optic neuropathy. Methods: A total of 55 patients with confirmed methanol poisoning with mean age 46.7 ± 3.6 years (46 males and 9 females), and 41 controls were included in this prospective longitudinal cohort study. The patients were examined 4.9 ± 0.6, 25.0 ± 0.6, and 49.9 ± 0.5 months after discharge. The following tests were performed: visual evoked potential (VEP), optical coherence tomography with retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurement, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), complete ocular examination, biochemical tests, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) genotyping. Results: Of 42/55 patients with all three consecutive examinations, abnormal RNFL thickness was registered in 13 (31%) and chronic axonal loss during the observation period was found in 10 (24%) patients. The risk estimate of chronic global RNFL loss for arterial blood pH<7.3 at admission was: 11.65 (1.91-71.12; 95% CI) after adjusting for age and sex. The patients with chronic axonal degeneration demonstrated...