In order to identify polymorphic sites and to find out their frequencies and the frequency of haplotypes, the complete D-loop of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 93 unrelated Czech Caucasians was sequenced. Sequence comparison showed that 85 haplotypes were found and of these 78 were unique, 6 were observed twice and 1 was observed three times. Genetic diversity (GD) was estimated at 0.999 and the probability of two randomly selected sequences matching (random match probability, RMP) at 1.2%. Additionally these calculations were carried out for hypervariable regions 1, 2 (HV1, HV2), for the area between HV1 and HV2 and for the area of the hypervariable region HV3. The average number of nucleotide differences (ANND) was established to be 10.2 for the complete D-loop. The majority of sequence variations were substitutions, particularly transitions. Deletions were found only in the region where HV3 is situated and insertions in the same place and in poly-C tracts between positions 303 and 315 in HV2. A high degree of length heteroplasmy was found especially in the regions of poly-C tracts between positions 16184 and 16193 in HV1 and between positions 303 and 315 in HV2. Position heteroplasmies were found in two cases.

A population study on 11 nuclear and 1 mitochondrial short tandem repeats (STR) (CSF1PO, TPOX, THO1, F13A01, FESFPS, vWA, D16S539, D7S820, D13S317, LPL, F13B and mitochondrial (CA) n repeat (mtCA)) was performed, and allele frequencies together with other forensic genetics characteristics, were estimated from a sample of 111-253 unrelated individuals living in the area of South Bohemia, Czech Republic. All loci, except F13B, meet Hardy-Weinberg expectations. Significant differences of allele frequencies were found in three (vWA, D16S539 and F13B) or two loci (vWA, D16S539) when compared with reference or known Czech data, respectively. An allele frequencies comparison of the mitochondrial marker shows significant differences only in the case of the African population.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of psychotropic drug use in active participants in traffic accidents who died during the accident or shortly after it due to injuries resulting from the accident. Methods: A special mortality register containing data of all forensic autopsies was analysed. The studied sample consisted of persons who died during traffic accidents and were active participants in those ones (pedestrians, cyclists, or drivers), and were toxicologically tested during the forensic examination. Results: The sample consisted of 1,213 cases, 1,039 (85.7%) males and 174 (14.3%) females who died in 2003-2005. Ethanol was found in 34.7% of cases, however a significant declining trend over the years was noted. The proportion of positive detections for any psychotropic drug other than alcohol was 7.2%; benzodiazepines were found most frequently (3.6%), followed by cannabis (2.2%), and stimulants (1.7% of the sample). Positive findings of ethanol were significantly more common among males, whereas positive benzodiazepine tests were more frequent in females. Positive cases were significantly younger than negative ones for ethanol, volatile substances, stimulants, and cannabis; in cases of positive medicaments tests, the positive cases were significantly older than the negatives.

Ligation of both common carotid arteries produces stagnant hypoxia (oligemia) in the brains of rats. The character and the intensity of the hypoxic metabolic changes depend directly on the developmental maturity of the nerve tissue, which is also true of the activity of the enzymes, LDH, aldolase, SDH, MDH, G-6-PDH, GDH, GPT, and GOT. In the 5-day-old rat after 4 hr of oligemia, enzyme activity either did not change or increased. In the 12-day-old rat the activity of LDH, MDH, and GPT increased and the activity of GDH, aldolase, and G-6-PDH decreased. At the age of 25 days and in adulthood, the activity of SDH, MDH, aldolase, and GOT decreased. The changes in enzyme activity are related to changes in proteosynthesis and appear t o support the concept of a "metabolic adaptive reaction" of the immature nervous system in response to changes of the inner milieu.The metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, and proteins in nerve tissue is altered by stagnant hypoxia (oligemia) of the brain. The character of these changes is

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