Search

The article provides a comprehensive review of Czech psychology-its history and its current state. It enumerates significant psychologists who were Czech, born in Bohemia or who were instrumental for the development of psychology in the region. The article also enumerates Czech psychological associations along with their main representatives, journals, and academic facilities involved in education and research in psychology. It is pointed out that the origins of psychology as a science are in the Central Europe-the first laboratory of W. Wundt was in Leipzig, Germany; S. Freud was born in Bohemia, in the Moravian city of Příbor and he practiced in Vienna, Austria. The Czech capital Prague will also become the capital of the psychological science in 2020 when it will be hosting the 32nd International Congress of Psychology (ICP 2020)., (© 2019 International Union of Psychological Science.)

The treatise "De structura nervorum" by Jirí Procháska was published in 1779 after his appointment as a professor in Prague. This work is remarkable not only for its anatomical and histological findings, but also for its historical introduction, which contains a very detailed bibliographical review of previous knowledge about the structure of the nervous tissue. The treatise "De structura nervorum" has never been translated from the Latin language, but as a historical document about the level of neuroscience research conducted by a famous Czech researcher, it deserves further analysis. The present article includes a historical overview of knowledge about the structure of nervous tissue up to the late 18th century from the perspective of today, a translation of the historical introduction about the medieval knowledge of the structure of the nervous tissue and documenting the way in which Jirí Procháska processed his bibliography, a translation and interpretation of his neurohistological observations and an analysis of the results in the light of current knowledge.

The Czech anatomist and physiologist of the 18th century, Jirí Procháska (1749-1820), ranks among the major figures of Czech cultural history. Due to historical circumstances, the works of Jirí Procháska were published mostly in Latin and only some in German. However, given that only two of his works have been translated into Czech and one of them also partially into English, the results of his extensive research activities are currently unavailable not only to the international scientific community, but also to the Czech scientific community. Although his research reflected the time in which he lived and thus has been re-evaluated by later researchers, his achievements undoubtedly belong to the major intellectual heritage of Czech science and certainly deserve attention as such. It is therefore our duty not only to remember the work and legacy of Jirí Procháska, which significantly influenced the development of our knowledge, but also to try to critically assess his contribution in terms of today. The article surveys the important biographical events of Jirí Procháska's life, taking into account the importance of his research and teaching.

The beginnings of the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery in the Czech Republic date back to the period immediately after the end of World War II. Its protagonists were Prof. Emerich Polák from the Surgical Clinic in Prague, Vinohrady, Prof. Jan Bedrna from Surgical Clinic in Hradec Kralove, Prof. Vladislav Rapant from Surgical Clinic in Olomouc and Prof. Václav Kafka from the Second Surgical Clinic in Prague. They started with operations of the patent ductus arteriosus, the Blalock-Taussig shunt in cyanotic heart defects and resection of coarctation of the aorta. Operations of congenital heart defects, on the open heart were elaborated namely by cardiosurgeons in Brno, under the leadership of Professor Jan Navrátil. On the extension of those methods participated Professor Jaroslav Procházka in Hradec Kralove and Prof. Václav Kafka at the newly opened department of Paediatric surgery in Prague. In the next period, attention of paediatric cardiac surgery was directed at operations of critical congenital heart defects in the smallest children. Palliative operations of the critical heart defects in newborns and infants were first introduced at the clinic of paediatric surgery of the Paediatric University Hospital in Prague. Radical operations of infants and newborns with extra-corporal circulation were elaborated in the Children's heart centre in Prague, Motol. Initiative in the further development of paediatric cardiac surgery was taken over by the Children's heart centre in Prague since its founding in 1977. There was concentrated all medical care of children born with a congenital heart defect in the Czech Republic. This concentration of specialized care at one institution allowed to accumulate extremely large experience with the diagnostics and surgical treatment of congenital heart defects in all age groups with the decrease of patients mortality after operations to 1% even for the smallest children and enabled continuously monitor the quality of life of patients treated for congenital heart defect up to adulthood. It was followed by a system of care for adults with congenital heart defect in cooperation with cardiac surgery departments for adults. Excellent level of paediatric cardiac surgery in the Czech Republic is currently confirmed by comparison of the results in the global database operations of congenital heart defects, led by the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery (EACTS).

With his experiments and findings J. Ev. Purkyne influenced 34 scientific disciplines; in some of them he is assumed to be their founder (embryophysiology, histology, pharmacological physiology, biophysics, comparative physiology). He was the pioneer in the field of neuroscience not only due to his neuroanatomical descriptions but namely due to his neurophysiological experiments. Beside the description of "Purkyne cells" and cells of other regions of the brain, Purkyne studied also the structure of neuronal processes and it is possible to attribute him the first description of dendrites. Existing material shows that Purkyne studied also the structure of hippocampus. Those and other papers prove that Purkyne recognised possible functional differences between various types of neurons and he speculated about their mutual relations. Only contemporary particularly detailed knowledge on the structure of hippocampal neuronal circuits, description of the mediator interaction and modulation together with the identification of neuroplastic processes in the hippocampus enable to accomplish the Purkyne's attempt to correlate the structure and function.

A Czech family with three individuals carrying a novel mutation, 290 A-->T (Glu97Val), in the myelin protein zero gene (P0) is reported. The two eldest carriers developed progressive sensorineural hearing loss and abnormal pupillary reaction at age 18. These preceded the onset of the classic signs of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) by more than a decade. Sural nerve biopsy and nerve conduction studies were compatible with the axonal type of CMT. The authors show that progressive hearing loss can be the first symptom in P0 mutation carriers.

Two criticality dosimetry systems were tested by Czech participants during the intercomparison held in Valduc, France, June 2002. The first consisted of the thermoluminescent detectors (TLDs) (Al-P glasses) and Si-diodes as passive neutron dosemeters. Second, it was studied to what extent the individual dosemeters used in the Czech routine personal dosimetry service can give a reliable estimation of criticality accident exposure. It was found that the first system furnishes quite reliable estimation of accidental doses. For routine individual dosimetry system, no important problems were encountered in the case of photon dosemeters (TLDs, film badge). For etched track detectors in contact with the 232Th or 235U-Al alloy, the track density saturation for the spark counting method limits the upper dose at approximately 1 Gy for neutrons with the energy >1 MeV.

Aircrew exposure represents one of the recent subjects of occupational individual dosimetry. Since 1991 many new results have been found; there is however a need to gather further data on this exposure and its variation with geomagnetic position, solar activity and flight route parameters. Since 2001, many individual and six long-term monitoring programmes have been conducted onboard aircraft of Czech Airlines (CSA). In these programmes, a Si-diode spectrometer was fixed in an aircraft. Together with it, passive dosemeters thermoluminescent detector, track-etch based neutron dosemeter linear energy transfer and spectrometer) were exposed. More than 700 regular commercial flights were monitored in this manner. CSA supplied us also with full navigation data, which allowed us to calculate the exposure levels using EPCARD 3.2 and CARI6 codes. Direct experimental readings obtained with the detectors mentioned above were interpreted on the basis of calibrations in on-Earth reference fields and compared with calculated data. A satisfactory correlation between all sets of data was observed.

A method of accelerated eradication of bovine brucellosis was developed and applied in the Czech Republic, where livestock was reared primarily in large-scale units. Before this method was adopted, annual economic losses were about US dollars 20 million and thousands of people were estimated to suffer from brucellosis (e.g. 32.4% of tested veterinarians were positive). Initial mass serological testing confirmed 654 outbreaks with 99,787 intrafocal bovines distributed in half of the regions of the Republic. Disease incidence was 213 with a prevalence of 676 per 100,000 bovines. Systematic investigations detected all affected herds, including 91 new outbreaks. A depopulation policy was applied on farms and ranches with brucellosis-infected cattle, with the aim of totally eradicating the disease by a fixed deadline. Breeding on diseased ranches was temporarily discontinued and affected herds were replaced by healthy cattle from brucellosis-free regions. Since then, the incidence of the disease in cattle and humans has been maintained at level zero. Eradication without recurrence was achieved within five years, without reducing the cattle population, the rate of cattle production, or the income of farmers. Ten years after the eradication of the disease, the cumulative benefit/eradication cost ratio reached 7:1. Post-eradication surveillance has confirmed a brucellosis-free status. The eradication of bovine brucellosis has resulted in an increase in cattle production and trade. By 2000, eradication had averted losses of approximately US dollars 700 million and saved more than two thousand people from becoming affected with this zoonosis.

The authors describe the beginnings of development of electrocardiography at the Prague Medical Faculty of Charles-Ferdinand and Charles University resp. The first results of the new method came from the physiological laboratory of Ewald Karl Konstantin Hering (1834-1918), who contributed to electrocardiography by explaining the mechanism of atrial fibrillation and to Richard Hans Kahn (1876-1941) who was the first to publish electrocardiographic changes after temporary block of coronary artery blood flow in the dog. Clinical application and the promotion of electrocardiography in this country is among others in particular from Václav Libenský (1877-1938), Klement Weber (1890-1971) and Frantisek Herles (1900-1991) whose name became for half a century the synonym for electrocardiography.

The argument between the municipality of Olomouc and the provincial government in Brno was caused by diverse opinions, if an epidemic hospital for the large region of the North-Eastern Moravia should have been built in Olomouc. The Czechoslovak health care laws needed rehabilitation and unification of norms and conditions for building, financing and managing hospitals, as well as modernization of institutions concerning infectious diseases. The Moravian authorities quarrelling on the financial issues of the projected hospital, and later on the technical aspects of it, had to ask the Ministry of Public Health and Physical Training in Prague to unravel the problem, but without an effect. The solution was not easily achievable until the era of antibiotics and buckshee and compulsory inoculation after the World War II came. Microbiologist Professor Jan Kabelík took part in both the battles--for the new hospital in Olomouc in the pre-war period as well as for the immunization of the whole populace after the war.

During fifties there were at most few tens of persons in this country who believed in the future of computers and cybernetics. One group of such enthusiasts, headed by Antonín Svoboda, was working at a construction of the first Czech computer SAPO. The other group tried to analyse, anticipate, and prepare in advance various applications for the new systemic conceptions and for the information processing machines. Members of both groups met for discussions which opened prospects to the future and influenced many of other activities for a long time. At the early sixties, the Czechoslovak Cybernetic Society was established at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences and in 1962 the Main Problem Committee for the Medical Cybernetics was founded at the Department of Health. It coordinated majority of the research programmes in the medical cybernetics and informatics. In 1967-1969 the Committee prepared an extensive project of a medical information system (ZIS), but its accomplishment was finally blocked by the then authorities. However, interests for that topics kept growing and the new working places equipped with available computer technology were formed at the health and clinical centres. The first tentative lectures in medical cybernetics and biocybernetics at our faculty were introduced into the students curricula in the late sixties. Thematically, medical cybernetics subsequently differentiated into the medical informatics, simulations of biological and medical systems, and the biosignal analysis. The growing interest enabled to hold conferences since the middle of seventies, some of which were held periodically, sometimes with international participation. It is not possible in brevity to include the whole spectrum to those goal-directed activities nor to appraise adequately their future significance.

Pulsed magnetotherapy has been used in Czechoslovakia for more than one decade. It has been proved that this type of physical therapy is very efficient mainly in rheumatic diseases, in paediatrics (sinusitis, enuresis), and in balneological care of patients suffering from ischaemic disorders of lower extremities. Promising results have also been obtained in neurological diseases (multiple sclerosis, spastic conditions) and in ophthalmology, in degenerative diseases of the retina.

Work which preceded contemporary sports medicine remains in the shadow of major discoveries made by J. E. Purkynĕ. The author draws therefore attention to some of Purkynĕ's original ideas and methods which quite rightly can be considered the basis of sports medicine. Purkynĕ was probably the first who followed up the response to exercise manifested in the circulation and other functions of the organism. He was also the author of some examination procedures which together with modern laboratory technique are the basis of functional diagnosis. In Purkynĕ's work we find also suggestions for the solution of problems of prevention, so frequently discussed nowadays. He considered advisable physical exercise an integral part of the perspective of good health of man. It is remarkable how much foresight he had more than 150 years ago not only in theory but also from the practical aspect as regards the lifestyle of modern man.

They authors present an interim report on the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis and the effectiveness of control measures as regards tuberculosis in the Czech Republic in 1991. The data are compared with previous years. The incidence of tuberculosis of all forms was 19.9/100,000 population, TB of the respiratory organs 16.2/100,000 and the incidence of bacteriologically confirmed respiratory TB 11.5/100,000 population. As compared with previous years, no statistically significant differences were found. Extrapulmonary TB accounted for less than 10% of the incidence, the position was similar also as regards mycobacterioses other than TB. The incidence of TB in children was 1.3/100,000 children under 15 years, after a transient increase in 1990 (microepidemic in gypsy children), a marked decline was recorded. The TB mortality rate was low (1.1/100,000 population), the prevalence to the date of Dec. 31 1991 was 21.7/100,000 population. On account of complaints 76% new cases were detected, the majority within 1 month, antituberculous treatment was effective, the mean period of treatment was reduced to less than 8 months. However, long in-patient treatment persists usually at the beginning of antituberculous treatment (3 months).

The authors submit a report on the establishment and activities of new advisory organs which developed in hospitals and at medical faculties and bear the name of ethical commissions. Their task is to approve grants, advisory activities as well as organizing public discussions of ethical problems. The basis of the report are data obtained by means of questionnaires completed by 62 respondents. At present there are 20 ethical commissions in the Czech Republic, 19 local ones and one central one.

The submitted paper analyzes the treble increase of the annual incidence of salmonelloses in the Czech Republic in 1989-1991. It deals with the seasonal distribution of notified morbidity (it is highest in August, September, October), the age distribution (it is highest in 0-4-year-old children) and the geographical distribution (the most affected areas are the eastern Bohemian, southern Moravian and northern Moravian regions). The authors emphasize the high ratio of S. enteritidis in this rise (the ratio of S. E. increased from 55% in 1988 to 84% in 1991). They analyze the notified mass incidence of salmonelloses, where one third is accounted for by catering establishments of the so-called closed type; in 1989-1991 the highest ratio of salmonelloses was in works canteens. The authors confirm that the epidemic rise of salmonelloses in 1989-1991 is associated with the consumption of contaminated eggs, similarly as in other parts of the world. The most frequent vehicle of infection revealed in the Czech Republic are eggs, their products, in 1991 in particular confectionery and fancy cakes.

The authors present an account of lymphocytic CD signs in adult men (mean age 34 years) and women (mean age 29 years) of the Czech population. Mean values and standard deviations (s.d.) are given for men/women: CD2: 79.6% (6.6)/86.4% (5.3), CD 3: 71.5% (7.4)/81.1% (7.4), CD4: 42.4% (6.3)/48.4% (8.5), %CD45RA+ v CD4+: 41.7% (14.1)/47.3% (13.9), CD5: 69.5% (7.0)/76.00% (6.5), CD8: 33.9% (9.3)/29.8% (6.8). CD10: 1.9% (1.3)/2.5% (1.6), CD11c: 8.3% (4.7)/10.9% (4.4), CD16: 8.3% (3.8)/4.4% (2.3), CD19: 11.5% (4.0)/8.8% (3.2), CD20: 14.7% (4.7)/11.3%, CD22: 10.6% (9.2)/8.9% (3.5), CD45RA: 56.7% (7.6)/61.7% (7.8), CD56: 15.1% (5.7)/16.0% (6.5), CD57: 13.7% (7.9)/8.5% (6.3), CD71: 1.9% (1.3)/3.5% (1.7) a HLA DR: 22.1% (6.4)/19.6% (7.1), DP: 16.3% (7.1)/13.5% (4.9), DQ: 10.9% (5.8)/7.2% (3.2), BJK: 2.6% (2.2)/2.1% (1.1), BJL: 1.8% (1.2)/2.1% (1.3), ratio CD4/CD8 1.35 (0.49)/1.75 (0.69). The examination were made on an apparatus FACScan (Becton Dickinson).

The author reviews the problem of pneumocystic pneumonia from the paediatric aspect. Assessment of the cause of interstitial plasmacellular pneumonia is in the author's opinion one of the greatest discoveries of our medicine and parasitology in this century. Pneumocystic pneumonia is in recent years of special importance in particular in treatment of impaired immunity.

The major Czechoslovak cohort of uranium miners (S-cohort) is surveyed in terms of diagrams illustrating dependences on calendar year, age, and exposure to radon and radon progeny. An analysis of the dose dependence of lung cancer mortality is performed by nonparametric and, subsequently, by parametric methods. In the first step, two-dimensional isotonic regression is employed to derive the lung cancer mortality rate and the relative excess risk as functions of age attained and of lagged cumulated exposure. In a second step, analytical fits in terms of relative risk models are derived. The treatment is largely analogous to the methods applied by the BEIR IV Committee to other major cohorts of uranium miners. There is a marked dependence of the excess risk on age attained and on time since exposure. A specific characteristic of the Czechoslovak data is the nonlinearity of the dependence of the lung cancer excess risk on the cumulated exposure; exposures on the order of 100 working level months or less appear to be more effective per working level month than larger exposures but, in the absence of an internal control group, this cannot be excluded to be due to confounders such as smoking or environmental exposures. A further notable observation is the association of larger excess risks with longer protraction of the exposures.

The prevalence was assessed in a randomized group of 18-year-old and older inhabitants of Prague 8. A total of 8458 internationally tested questionnaires were sent out to a population of 90,458; information was obtained on 7605 (89.9%), 1274 were given a detailed examination by standardized methods. Cumulative prevalence of bronchial asthma (B): 2.3% +/- 0.3% (same in M and F). The highest values at the age of 18-20 years were 3.5%; 3.6% in the age group 21-30 years, the absolutely highest values--4.6%--were recorded in 18-year-old men. Contemporary prevalence of BA: 1.99%. In BA bronchial obstructions were found in 51%, bronchial hyperreactivity in 75%, positive skin tests in 71%, an increase of IgE in 36%. Prevalence of chronic bronchitis (CHB): 14.1%; men 17.6% women--11.3%, highest value--18.9%--in the age group 70-80 years; absolutely highest values were recorded in men aged 70-80 years--20.9%. In CHB there was a bronchial obstruction in 55% and this obstruction was reversible in 40%. In the group CHB bronchial asthma was recorded in 20%. Prevalence of bronchial hyperreactivity (BHR) was estimated from results of broncho-provocative tests and from the calculation according to prevalence of BHR in respiratory diseases. The thus calculated figure was 13.7%. The incidence of bronchial asthma in chronic bronchitis in 1/6 and of bronchial hyperreactivity in more than 1/10 of the adult population are striking facts. It is essential to find the causes of these findings and make effective provisions to counteract them.

It is generally accepted that cigarette smoking is the most important lung cancer risk factor to which 80-90% of lung cancer mortality in advanced countries with a high tobacco consumption is ascribed. In the Czech Republic the increase of tobacco consumption since the end of the Second World War was arrested at the end of the sixties. Since the beginning of the seventies the cigarette consumption did not change substantially and varied close to 2500 cigarettes per inhabitant above 15 years. No reliable data are so far available in the Czech Republic on the development of the prevalence of smoking in different age groups of the population. According to several non-representative surveys in different districts it may be assumed that in men aged 25-64 years in the course of the last 20 years the ratio of male smokers declined probably, while it increased in female smokers. Due to the long "latency" between exposure to noxious substances and the manifestation of lung cancer which amounts to two, three or more decades, we have to evaluate the present mortality rate from lung cancer as a reflection of carcinogenic factors (above all cigarette smoking) in the more remote past. When evaluating the trend of mortality from lung cancer in the Czech Republic during 1953-1989, throughout that period the values were much higher in men that in women and the trend in the two sexes was quite different. In men the mortality rate from lung cancer increased in 1953-1967 to three times the initial value, while in women the levels remained low.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Eighty percent of all diabetic patients in Prague, incl. those with IGT, are overweight. There are 4.6 times as many obese female diabetics, as compared with normal weight type 2 diabetics. Among type 2 male diabetics there are 1.9 times more obese ones. A familial incidence of diabetes is reported by 42% type 1 diabetics and 36% type 2 diabetics. In 64.7% of type 2 diabetics diabetes was detected accidentally. In the group of type 1 diabetics in 92.1% diabetes was detected from clinical manifestations incl. coma.

Roe deer (Capreolus capreolus L.) is a representative of the new host of an intestinal flagellate of the genus Giardia. Giardia spp. was found during autopsy in three dead head of roe deer (roe deer calf 7-8 months, doe, buck) sent for examination to the State Veterinary Institute, Praha, from three different localities of the Czech Republik. Localization of the Giardia spp. was studied in the intestinal tract of the roe deer calf in native preparations in the intestinal contents and in the smears of intestinal mucosa stained after Giemsa (at a distance of 30-40 cm along the whole length of the small intestine). Giardia trophozoites were found in the small intestine in the section of 280-770 cm from the caudal part of duodenum. The trophozoites occurred most intensively within the section of 350-420 cm. The trophozoites showed active, motility in this part of the small intestine as late as in more than 48 hours after the death of the row calf. Their size (obtained by measuring 30 trophozoites) was from 12.4-16.2 to 8-11.5 microns with the mean of 14.5 to 9.4 microns. In the contents of the caeca and colons of all three animals after death numerous Giardia cysts were found, in the caecum of the roe calf trophozoites were detected rarely. Most of the cysts were of ovoid shape. Their size, by measuring 50 cysts from each of the animals, was from 11.2-14.4 to 8-10.4 microns with the mean of 13.3 x 9.1 microns. Sporadically, nearly spherical cysts occurred (12.8-13.6 to 9.6-10.4 microns).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

In a review of psychiatric problems of the Vietnamese population in particular experiences with refugees to the USA are mentioned where with regard to the great influx it was necessary to resolve rapidly in particular problems of the mental health. The group is formed by 20 Vietnamese subjects (11 men and 9 women) who were hospitalized in 1979-1988 at the Prague Psychiatric Clinic, Charles University and who had various jobs in Prague. In six men psychosis was diagnosed (3x schizophrenia or schizoaffective psychosis, 2x depressive phase and 1x manic phase of manic depressive psychosis). In women the psychopathological symptoms were evaluated as neurotic, in 6 of them there were attempts of suicide, while in men suicidal behaviour was recorded only once. Regardless of sex, the suicidal attempts were made with great determination. Aggressive behaviour focused on the environment was found in three men. The authors describe cases of somatizing depression and hysterical manifestations. In the development of symptoms participated psychogenic factors such as separation from the home country, partnership conflicts, incl. unwanted pregnancy and unsatisfactory work. Some psychopathological symptoms reminded of experience with the so-called Gastarbeitersyndrom.

The results of questionnaires given to 673 male and female physicians, pertaining to smoking habits, were compared with the Czech population with a similar age distribution according to results of the MONICA study. Male doctors smoke less frequently than men of the Czech population (24.2% vs. 44.9%). Female doctors smoke more frequently than male doctors, and what is worse, more frequently than women in the Czech population (27.4% vs. 26.6%). Specialists in internal medicine smoke least frequently (17.4%), surgeons smoke most frequently (32.3%). Partners of male and female smokers smoke more frequently than partners of non-smokers. Husbands more frequently than wives. Smokers are more frequently ignorant of their other risk factors. The authors present also data from some European and overseas countries. In countries where the number of smokers among medical doctors declines, there is also a decline of smoking in the general population. In the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland, Norway and Sweden smoking habits declined among physicians during the past 30 years 3-6x.

During a longitudinal survey of 5154 children under one year the morbidity was investigated and the influence of some psychosocial, socioeconomic and oecological factors which influence morbidity. These are partial results of a long-term research project.

The submitted paper deals with one of the possible aspects of the investigation of nosocomial infections, i.e. investigations of the properties of hospital strains, their importance and possible use. The incidence of bacterial hospital strains was investigated in a surgical department of a district hospital of the North Bohemian region in October 1990; at the time of the survey 29 nosocomial infections (36.1%) were revealed by the prevalence method. Bacterial hospital strains were isolated from patients with a nosocomial infection, from the attending staff and the hospital environment. The following markers were investigated: biotyping, phagotyping, serotyping, toxin production, sensitivity to antimicrobial substances and sensitivity to disinfectants. Based on results of marking of hospital strains 7 incidences with a possible epidemiological association were detected where the hospital strain of equal or very similar properties dominated. The results of the investigation confirmed the important participation of the attending staff in the spread of nosocomial infections, in particular via contaminated hands, and drew attention to shortcomings as regards adherence to the hygienic and epidemiological regime in the investigated department.

The first finding of body lice in Czechoslovakia since year 1945 is demonstrated. The determination of the species is based on the location of the louse on the body of the infested person and on the significant differences in the length of tibia of middle legs in these lice and those collected from the head of children. Local eradication was achieved by using formulation containing permethrin, against head lice.

To evaluate the incidence of natural foci of tick-borne encephalitis in the Slovak Republic data of the hygiene service on the morbidity from tick-borne encephalitis during the period from 1961-1988 were used as well as data from the literature and results of the author's field studies on the incidence of the common tick. The main foci of tick-borne encephalitis are in the West Slovakian region, in the Záhorské lowland, in the Váh valley up to the distrikt of Povázská Bystrica, in the area of the Low Carpathian mountains, Tribec, Vtácnik, the Nitra and Hron hills, and Kovácov hills, in the Central Slovakian region in the Krupin hills and in the East Slovakian region in the Slovak karst and Slanské hills. The incidence of common ticks and foci of tick-borne encephalitis is linked to the original oak grove communities. In Slovakia the latter comprise hornbean and oak forests, oak groves and thermophile oak forests. Areas of original communities of beech woods and spruces which grow in higher altitudes do not provide favourable conditions for the development of the common tick. Rare foci of tick-borne encephalitis of a mountainous type found in Slovakia survive probably due to the extremely favourable microclimatic conditions in these areas. Also the hygrophilous communities of alders, moorlands and dry steppes, original as well as cultivated ones, are not suitable for the common tick. This is why ticks are not found in central, northern and northeastern Slovakia, in the Rye island and lowland along the Tisa river.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Based on reports of the hygiene service on the morbidity from tick-borne encephalitis during the period of 1953-1987, data in the literature and results of the authors' field research on the incidence of ticks, the authors defined foci of the disease. In Bohemia there is an extensive important focus of tick-borne encephalitis in the Central Bohemian region in the Krivoklát area, along the Berounka river, along the mid Vltava river and lower Sázava river, in the area of the Brdy mountains and Czech Karst, linked in the South along the Vltava river to foci in the South Bohemian region in the districts of Písek and Ceské Budĕjovice and in the West linked along the Berounka river with the focus in the central part of the West Bohemian region. In the North Bohemian region and East Bohemian region, only minor separate relict foci of tick-borne encephalitis were found. In Moravia there are extensive foci of tick-borne encephalitis in the North Moravian region in the districts of Opava and Bruntál, in the South Moravian region in its central and southern parts. The foci in Bohemia are separated from foci in neighbouring countries, foci in Moravia are continuous with those in Poland and Austria. It was proved that ticks and the revealed foci of tick-borne encephalitis in the Czech Republic are in areas of original oak groves. Areas of beech woods, even those which are below areas where ticks are found, i.e. lower that 700 m above sea level, do not offer favourable conditions for ticks andare not foci of tick-borne encephalitis. Assessment of areas with regard to the prevailing flora and fauna proved a useful method of prediction of the occurrence of ticks and foci of disease they transmit.

An account of reported undesirable effects of Spophyllin Spofa Retard based on the register of the Commission for monitoring undesirable effects of drugs of the Scientific Council of the Ministry of Health between December 1987 and November 1990. It is surprising that no undesirable effects of Syntophyllin and Spophyllin were reported from paediatric practice. The author submits questions associated with the discrepancy of notifications of undesirable effects of Spophyllin in adults and children.

Forty years ago Czech scientists, J. Vanĕk and O. Jírovec, diagnosed Pneumocystis carinii as the agent of interstitial plasmocytic pneumonia in weak infants. At present it is the most frequent pulmonary pathogenic organism in patients suffering from AIDS. In the submitted paper the author summarizes experience and recent findings on the aetiopathogenesis, pathology, clinical picture, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of pneumocystis pneumonia.