Mila Rechcigl

Last updated
Miloslav Rechcigl
Miloslav Rechcigl.jpg
Mila Rechcigl
Born30 July 1930 (1930-07-30) (age 91)
Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia
Education Cornell University
Occupation biochemist, nutritionist, cancer researcher, writer, editor, historian, bibliographer, genealogist
Spouse(s)Eva Rechcigl
ChildrenJack Rechcigl
Karen Rechcigl
Parent(s) Miloslav Rechcigl, Sr.

Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr., or Mila Rechcigl, is a trained biochemist, nutritionist and cancer researcher, writer, editor, historian, bibliographer and genealogist. He was one of the founders and past President for many years of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences.

Contents

Biography

He was born on July 30, 1930 in Mladá Boleslav, Czechoslovakia. [1] His father, Miloslav Rechcigl, Sr., was a prominent politician in the pre-World War II Czechoslovakia, having been elected as the youngest member to the Czechoslovak Parliament and who held the position of President of the Millers Association of Bohemia and Moravia. [2] After the communist takeover, he escaped from his native country and in 1950 immigrated to the United States, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1955. [3] He studied at Cornell University from 1951–58, receiving his B.S., M.N.S., and Ph.D. degrees there, specializing in biochemistry, nutrition, physiology, and food science.

He then spent two years conducting research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Subsequently, he was appointed as research biochemist to the staff of the Laboratory of Biochemistry at the National Cancer Institute. [4] During 1968-69 he was selected for one year of training in a special USPHS executive program in health administration, research management, grants administration, and science policy. [5] [6]

This led to his appointment as Special Assistant for Nutrition and Health in the Health Services and Mental Health Administration. [7] In 1970 he joined the US Agency for International Development, which was originally a part of the US Department of State, as nutrition advisor and later was put in charge of research program. [8] [9]

Research activities

In his research, [10] [11] [12] he initially specialized in amino acid metabolism, including the utilization of D-amino acids and non specific forms of nitrogen. He then studied the relationship between protein and vitamin A which led to the finding that the amount, as well as biological value, of dietary protein are important in the process of converting carotene to vitamin A. Other studies dealt with metabolic changes during cachexia of tumor-bearing animals. One of the most striking effects of tumor on the host was the depression of enzyme catalase in the livers and in the kidneys which some investigators thought was due to a hypothetical substance, referred to as toxohormone. This was disproved by finding significant levels of the enzyme in liver tumors.

A number of his studies dealt with the question of enzyme turnover in vivo. Using specific metabolic inhibitors, he evaluated relative rates of synthesis and degradation of the enzyme catalase under a variety of physiological, pathological and pharmacological conditions. These studies led to the conclusion that the rate of synthesis rather than the rate of destruction may be the preferential way of the mammalian organism to control its enzyme levels.

His finding of greatly different levels of catalase activity in certain substrains of mice, which were under genetic control, provided an excellent model for pursuing fundamental research in biochemical genetics in the mammalian system. The analyses of the first, the second the backcross generations between high-enzyme and low-enzyme mouse substrains showed that the difference was due to a single autosomal gene pair with low dominant to high. Using specific metabolic inhibitors, it was subsequently found that the genetic difference between the two substrains lies primarily in the markedly increased rate of the enzyme destruction in the liver of one of the substrains. This was a unique finding since in all normal rats and mice studied previously the rates of enzyme destruction seemed to be almost constant. Although transient alteration in the rate of enzyme degradation has been observed under certain physiological conditions with other enzyme systems, the observation on catalase iwas believed to be the first demonstration of such regulatory mechanism under genetic control.

Other studies dealt with the morphology, biochemistry and physiology of microbodies, on which he collaborated with Prof. Z.. Hruban of the University of Chicago, that led to the monograph Microbodies and Related Particles (1969).

Scientific publications

He is the author or editor of over thirty monographs and handbooks [13] in the field of biochemistry, physiology, nutrition, food science and food technology, agriculture, and international development, in addition to a large number of scientific articles and book chapters, including:

Monographs

Handbooks

Czech-American activism

Apart from his purely scientific endeavors as a researcher and science administrator, Dr. Rechcigl devoted almost 50 years of his life to the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences (SVU), an international organization, with headquarters in Washington, D. C. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] He was responsible for the first two Society's World Congresses, both of which were a great success and which put the Society on the world map. He also edited the Congress lectures and arranged for their publication, under the title The Czechoslovak Contribution to World Culture [22] and Czechoslovakia Past and Present [23] The publications received acclaim in the American academic circles and greatly contributed to the growing prestige of the Society worldwide.

Dr. Rechcigl was also involved, one way or another, with most of the subsequent SVU World Congresses, including the recent SVU Congresses in Prague, Brno, Bratislava, Washington, D.C., Plzeň, Olomouc and České Budějovice. Prior to his last term as the SVU President (2004–06), [24] he held similar posts during 1974-76, 1976–78, and again in 1994-96, 1996–98, 1998–2000, 2000–02 and 2002-04. [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30]

In 1999, in conjunction with President Václav Havel's visit to Minnesota, he organized a memorable conference at the University of Minnesota on "Czech and Slovak America: Quo Vadis?"

Together with his wife Eva, he published eight editions of the SVU Biographical Directory, the last of which was printed in Prague in 2003. [31] He was instrumental in launching a new English periodical Kosmas. Czechoslovak and Central European Journal. He also proposed the establishment of the SVU Research Institute [32] and the creation of the SVU Commission for Cooperation with Czechoslovakia, [33] and its Successor States, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, which played an important role in the first years after the Velvet Revolution of 1989. Under the sponsorship of the SVU Research Institute, together with his colleagues, he conducted a series of workshops [34] about research management and the art of "grantsmanship" for scientists and scholars, as well as for the administrators and science policy makers, at Czech and Slovak universities, the Academies of Sciences (Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Slovak Academy of Sciences) and the Government.

He established the National Heritage Commission with the aim of preserving Czech and Slovak cultural heritage in America. [35] Under its aegis, he had undertaken a comprehensive survey of Czech-related historic sites and archival materials in the US. [36] Based on this survey, he has prepared a detailed listing, Czech-American Historic Sites, Monuments, and Memorials which was published through the courtesy of Palacký University of Olomouc (2004). [37] The second part of the survey, bearing the title Czechoslovak American Archivalia,. [38] was also published by Palacky University (2004). [39]

Among historians, Dr. Rechcigl is well known for his studies on history, genealogy, and bibliography of Czech Americans and Slovak Americans. [40] A number of his publications deal with the early immigrants from the Czech lands and Slovakia, including the immigration of Moravian Brethren to America. In the last few years he has been working on the cultural contributions of Czech Americans and Slovak Americans. [41] A selection of his biographical portraits of prominent Czech Americans from the 17th century to date has been published in Prague, under the title Postavy nasí Ameriky (Personalities of our America). [42] On the occasion of his 75th birthday, the Society published a collection of his essays, under the title Czechs and Slovaks in America [ permanent dead link ], as a part of the East European Monographs series, distributed by the Columbia University Press. [43]

Recognition

Dr. Rechcigl is a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, member of the Scientific Research Society of the Sigma Xi, member of the Cosmos Club, Honorary Member of the International Honor Society of Delta Tau Kappa and Honorary Member of the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences. He was also elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Fellow of the Washington Academy of Sciences and Fellow of the American Institute of Chemists (AIC) and Fellow of the International College of Applied Nutrition.

In 1991, on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences awarded him the Hlavka Memorial Medal. [44] In 1997 he received a newly established prize "Gratias agit" from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. [45] In 1999, on the occasion of President Václav Havel's visit to the US, President Havel presented him, on behalf of SVU, the Presidential Memorial Medal. [46] More recently, he was given an honorary title Nebraska Admiral ("Admiral of the Great Navy of the State of Nebraska")by the Governor of Nebraska Mike Johanns and the key to the Capital of Nebraska by the Mayor of Lincoln and the SVU Prague Chapter awarded him the 2002 Prague SVU Award. In 2005, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic Cyril Svoboda honored him by awarding him the Jan Masaryk Medal [47] for his contributions in preserving and fostering relations between the Czech Republic and the United States. In 2006 he received Comenius Award from the Czech Cultural Center in Houston.

Mila Rechcigl lives with his wife Eva in Washington, D.C. area. They have two children, Jack and Karen, who live in Florida. Jack Rechcigl is a professor of soil and water sciences at University of Florida and Director of Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma.

Related Research Articles

Tomáš Masaryk First Czechoslovak president

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was a Czechoslovak politician, statesman, sociologist, and philosopher. Until 1914, he advocated restructuring the Austro-Hungarian Empire into a federal state. With the help of the Allied Powers, Masaryk gained independence for a Czechoslovak Republic as World War I ended in 1918. He co-founded Czechoslovakia together with Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Edvard Beneš and served as its first president.

Arabinose Chemical compound

Arabinose is an aldopentose – a monosaccharide containing five carbon atoms, and including an aldehyde (CHO) functional group.

Agrophysics is a branch of science bordering on agronomy and physics, whose objects of study are the agroecosystem - the biological objects, biotope and biocoenosis affected by human activity, studied and described using the methods of physical sciences. Using the achievements of the exact sciences to solve major problems in agriculture, agrophysics involves the study of materials and processes occurring in the production and processing of agricultural crops, with particular emphasis on the condition of the environment and the quality of farming materials and food production.

Hexachlorobenzene, or perchlorobenzene, is an organochloride with the molecular formula C6Cl6. It is a fungicide formerly used as a seed treatment, especially on wheat to control the fungal disease bunt. It has been banned globally under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

Kytice z pověstí národních, also known by the short title Kytice, is a collection of ballads by the Czech author Karel Jaromír Erben. The collection was first published in 1853 and was originally made up of 12 poems. Lilie was added to the second edition in 1861.

  1. Kytice
  2. Poklad (Treasure)
  3. Svatební košile
  4. Polednice
  5. Zlatý kolovrat
  6. Štědrý den
  7. Holoubek
  8. Záhořovo lože
  9. Vodník
  10. Vrba (Willow)
  11. Lilie (Lily)
  12. Dceřina kletba
  13. Věštkyně (Seeress)

James A. Duke was an American botanist. He was the author of numerous publications on botanical medicine, including the CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. He was well known for his 1997 bestseller, The Green Pharmacy. He developed the Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases at the USDA.

Czech Americans, known in the 19th and early 20th century as Bohemian Americans, are citizens of the United States whose ancestry is wholly or partly originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority of the traditional lands of the Bohemian Crown, namely Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. These lands over time have been governed by a variety of states, including the Kingdom of Bohemia, the Austrian Empire, Czechoslovakia, and the Czech Republic also known by its short-form name, Czechia. Germans from the Czech lands who emigrated to the United States are usually identified as German Americans, or, more specifically, as Americans of German Bohemian descent. According to the 2000 US census, there are 1,262,527 Americans of full or partial Czech descent, in addition to 441,403 persons who list their ancestry as Czechoslovak. Historical information about Czechs in America is available thanks to people such as Mila Rechcigl.

Keith H. Steinkraus (1918–2007) was an American food scientist who was well known in food fermentation which led to the growth of soy-based foods. He also was involved in bacterial diseases used in the control of European chafer and Japanese beetles in New York state.

Miloslav Rechcigl Sr. (1904–1973) was a Czech politician, miller, business executive and editor for Radio Free Europe. He was born in Chocnějovice, a municipality in the Mladá Boleslav District of the Kingdom of Bohemia on May 13, 1904. Rechcigl was an active member of the Agrarian Party in Czechoslovakia before the World War II. In 1935 he was elected to the Czechoslovak Parliament as its youngest member. In this capacity, he devoted his energies to economic problems, and served on several committees, relating to agriculture, industry and commerce, and international relations. He was a reporter for trade agreements for a number of countries, and for agricultural trade issues, in general.

Radio atmospheric signal Broadband electromagnetic impulse

A radio atmospheric signal or sferic is a broadband electromagnetic impulse that occurs as a result of natural atmospheric lightning discharges. Sferics may propagate from their lightning source without major attenuation in the Earth–ionosphere waveguide, and can be received thousands of kilometres from their source. On a time-domain plot, a sferic may appear as a single high-amplitude spike in the time-domain data. On a spectrogram, a sferic appears as a vertical stripe that may extend from a few kHz to several tens of kHz, depending on atmospheric conditions.

Kalidas Shetty was a noted food scientist and professor of food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a recipient of the Jefferson science fellowship. Currently he serves as Associate Vice President for International Partnerships and Collaborations and Professor Plant Metabolism and Food Security at North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND. He is the author of a significant number of books on food science. He holds at least four patents and has been editor of several reputed agricultural publications.

2-Methyl-1-butanol Chemical compound

2-Methyl-1-butanol is an organic compound with the formula CH3CH2CH(CH3)CH2OH. It is one of several isomers of amyl alcohol. A colorless liquid, it occurs naturally in trace amounts and has attracted some attention as a potential biofuel, exploiting its hydrophobic (gasoline-like) and branched structure. It is chiral.

2-Pentanol Chemical compound

2-Pentanol is an organic chemical compound. It is used as a solvent and an intermediate in the manufacturing of other chemicals. 2-Pentanol is a component of many mixtures of amyl alcohols sold industrially. 2-Pentanol is chiral and thus can be obtained as either of two stereoisomers designated as (R)-(−)-2-pentanol and (S)-(+)-2-pentanol.

3-Hexanol Chemical compound

3-Hexanol is an organic chemical compound. It occurs naturally in the flavor and aroma of plants such as pineapple and is used as a food additive to add flavor.

Michael J. Kennish

Michael J. Kennish is an American marine scientist and a research professor in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He is best known for his work on the effects of human activities on estuarine and marine environments.

Czech Mexicans are citizens of Mexico who are of Czech descent. Czechs originate from the Czech lands, a term which refers to the majority of the traditional lands of the Bohemian Crown, namely Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. These lands of have been governed by a variety of states, including the Kingdom of Bohemia, a crown land of the Austrian Empire, the Czechoslovak Republic, and, now, the Czech Republic.

References

  1. ↑ Mladoboleslavsko v promenách casu (Prague & Mladá Boleslav: Nakladatelství Libri & Okresní muzeum, 1997
  2. ↑ Ottuv Slovník Naucný Nové Doby. Prague: "Novina", 1938, vol. V. 1, p.496
  3. ↑ "A 'B' for Behavior for the Miller's Son", Welcome to the Heart of Europe, vol. 2, No. 1 (1995), p. 38.
  4. ↑ Who's Who in Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, 1962-.
  5. ↑ NIH Record, June 11, 1968, p. 7
  6. ↑ DRG Personal Items (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD), No. 5 (May 1968), p. 2.
  7. ↑ ."Appointment of Dr. Miloslav Rechcigl. Jr. as Special Assistant for Nutrition and Health", Regional Medical Programs Service News Information Data 4, No.1 (January 7, 1970), pp. 1-4
  8. ↑ The Biographical Register, US Department of State, July 1974, p. 282
  9. ↑ Dictionary of International Biography, 1969-
  10. ↑ American Men and Women of Science, 1960-
  11. ↑ World Who's Who in Science. From Antiquity to the Present. Chicago, Illinois: Marquis-Who's Who, 1968, p.1401
  12. ↑ Leaders in American Science, Hattiesburg, MS, 1968-69
  13. ↑ Contemporary Authors, Gale Res. Co., Detroit, MI, 1976, vol. 17-20, pp. 600-601
  14. ↑ Jaroslav Nemec, "Important Anniversary of SVU Officer", Ceskoslovenský týdeník (New York), August 2, 1990
  15. ↑ "Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr.", SVU Bulletin 11, No. 3 (August 1990), p.17
  16. ↑ Jan Tríska, "Dr. Miloslav Rechcigl, Jr. The Man for All Seasons", News SVU 37, No. 4 (July–August 1995), p. 7-8
  17. ↑ Informacní Bulletin CSUZ 0998, September 30, 1998, pp. 7-8
  18. ↑ Zdenek Slouka, "Rechcigl -Septuagenarian", Americké Listy 2000, p. 4
  19. ↑ "Profile: Miloslav Rechcigl", Czech the News, vol. 9, No. 8 (September 2000), p. 9
  20. ↑ Ceskoslovenský biografický slovník (Prague: Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, 1992), p. 589
  21. ↑ Josef Tomes et al., Ceský biografický slovník XX. století (Prague: Paseka, Petr Meissner, 1999), vol. 3, pp. 27-28
  22. ↑ The Hague - London - Paris: Mouton & Co., 1964. 682 p.
  23. ↑ The Hague - Paris: Mouton, 1968. 2 vols., 1889 p.
  24. ↑ SVU News, vol. 46, No. 5 (September-Oct. 2004), pp. 1-2.
  25. ↑ "Miloslav Rechcigl -New SVU President", News SVU, vol. 16, No. 4 (Nov. 1974), pp. 1-2
  26. ↑ "SVU Elects New President", SVU Bulletin, vol. 25, No. 4 (Nov. 1994), pp. 1-3
  27. ↑ "SVU Inducts New President", News SVU, vol. 38, No. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1996), pp. 1-3
  28. ↑ "Rechcigl again at the Helm of SVU", News SVU, vol. 40, No. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1998), pp. 1-3
  29. ↑ "Rechcigl Reelected SVU President to Unprecedented 6th Term", News SVU, vol. 42, No.6 (Nov.-Dec., 2000), pp. 1-3
  30. ↑ SVU News, vol. 44, No. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 2002), pp. 1-4
  31. ↑ SVU Directory 2003. Washington, D.C.: SVU Press, 2003.368 p.
  32. ↑ "From the SVU Research Institute", SVU Bulletin vol. 13, No. 3 (August 1992), p. 5
  33. ↑ "News from the SVU Commission for Cooperation with Czechoslovakia", SVU Bulletin, vol. 11, No. 3 (August 1990), pp.6-7
  34. ↑ Interim Report. Workshops on US Practice in Research Management. Prague: SVU Research Institute, December 1991
  35. ↑ "SVU New Initiative", News SVU, vol. 40, No. 1 (January–February 1998), pp. 7-8; "Preserving Czech and Slovak American Archival Material", Kosmas 17, No. 2 (Spring 2004), pp.95-96.
  36. ↑ Survey of Czech and Slovak Historical Monuments in America", News SVU 41, No. 6 (November–December 1999), 20-21
  37. ↑ Czech-American Historic Sites, Monuments, and Memorabilia (Olomouc-Ostrava: Centrum pro ceskoslovenská studia pri Katedre historie Filozofické fakulty Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, 2004), 142 p.
  38. ↑ Czechoslovak American Archivalia", News SVU 43, No. 1 (January–February 2001), pp. 17-19
  39. ↑ Czechoslovak American Archivalia. Vol.1. Government Repositories, University-Based Collections, Collections Maintained by Public Museums and Libraries, Collections of Ethnic and Other Related Organizations (Olomouc-Ostrava: Centrum pro ceskoslovenská studia pri Katedre historie Filozofické fakulty Univerzity Palackého v Olomouci, 2004), 206 pp; Vol. 2. Personal Papers and Collections, Repositories Abroad Bearing on the Subject, Virtual Archives on the Internet, Appendixes. 368 p.
  40. ↑ Scholars of Bohemian, Czech and Czechoslovak History Studies. (Prague: Institute of History, 2005), Vol. 3, pp. 8-15
  41. ↑ See: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2008-02-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  42. ↑ Postavy nasí Ameriky. Prague: Prazská edice, 200. 355 p.
  43. ↑ Czechs and Slovaks in America. Boulder, CO and New York: Columbia Unibversity Press, 2005. 317 p.
  44. ↑ ."Agency Official Receives Czech Science Award", AID Front Lines, July 1991, p. 14
  45. ↑ Ceský Dialog, No. 8, 1998
  46. ↑ "In the Limelight of President Havel's Visit", News SVU, vol. 41, No. 4 (July–August 1999), pp. 1-3
  47. ↑ "Medal to SVU President - Mila Rechcigl", News SVU, vol. 48, No. 1 (January–February 2006), pp. 17-19
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.