Teodoryk Strabon

The article is the first monograph devoted to Theodoric Strabo, one of the most important Goth chieftains who lived in the 5th century C. E. At fi rst the author tries to provide answers to three fundamental queries: firstly, whether Theodoric was an Amal? The author comes to the conclusion that he was a representative of another ruling family which had led the Goths in Thrace, whereas he was only related to the Amals. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of contemporary historians, the author comes to the conclusion that Theodoric Strabo became the ruler of the Goths only in the 70’s of the 5th century. The question regarding the background of his father remains unanswered. In the subsequent part of the article, the author tries to present the history of Theodoric Strabo’s struggle with Emperor Leo whose aim was to recognize the former one’s authority over the Thracian Goths in 473. In the effect of the struggle, Strabo had for the first time become magister militum praesentalis. After Leo’s death it was emperor Zeno who seized power in Constantinople; as the latter had been rather adverse to the Goths, Strabo gave his support to usurper Basiliscus who had seized power for a year and a half in Constantinople. The years 478–479 brought about Strabo’s victory in the struggle with Theodoric Amal for the position of the empire’s chiefally. In the year 481 Theodoric Strabo died in a tragic accident. After his death, the majority of the Balkan Goths became united under the rule of Theodoric Amal

Group Membership Management Framework for Decentralized Collaborative Systems

Scientific and commercial endeavors could benefit from cross-organizational, decentralized collaboration, which becomes the key to innovation. This work addresses one of its challenges, namely efficient access control to assets for distributed data processing among autonomous data centers. We propose a group membership management framework dedicated for realizing access control in decentralized environments. Its novelty lies in a synergy of two concepts: a decentralized knowledge base and an incremental indexing scheme, both assuming a P2P architecture, where each peer retains autonomy and has full control over the choice of peers it cooperates with. The extent of exchanged information is reduced to the minimum required for user collaboration and assumes limited trust between peers. The indexing scheme is optimized for read-intensive scenarios by offering fast queries -- look-ups in precomputed indices. The index precomputation increases the complexity of update operations, but their performance is arguably sufficient for large organizations, as shown by conducted tests. We believe that our framework is a major contribution towards decentralized, cross-organizational collaboration

The alimentary tract of arostrate, dwarfish males of the aphid genus Stomaphis (Insecta, Hemiptera)

Dwarfish males are a relatively common phenomenon in animals, occurring in various taxa, most often when females conduct a sedentary life mode. Such males, beside smaller size, exhibit a series of morphological and anatomical alterations, mostly structural reductions. Here we present the case of the alimentary tract of dwarfish males of the aphid genus Stomaphis where, despite it being structurally normal, it does not serve its original function due to a lack of mouthparts. Cross-sections through mounted specimens revealed also that nervous and reproductive systems are fully developed. The question arises as to whether such a system may be considered vestigial, or an exaptation with secondary function shifted to play new primary function. Because the aphid genus Stomaphis is known from the fossil record to have existed for at least ca. 14 My and all of its species have dwarfish, arostral males, this indicates that it may be too short a period for reduction of the whole system. It also raises questions about the mechanisms of loss of the primary functionality of the whole physiological unit, and the influence of such modification on the evolution of its phylogenetic successors. Secondary functions of the tract are speculated to be responsible for its endurance

Human ADSC xenograft through IL-6 secretion activates M2 macrophages responsible for the repair of damaged muscle tissue

Background: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (ADSCs) are multipotent stromal cells. The cells secrete a number of cytokines and growth factors and show immunoregulatory and proangiogenic properties. Their properties may be used to repair damaged tissues. The aim of our work is to explain the muscle damage repair mechanism with the utilization of the human adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hADSCs). Methods: For the hADSCs isolation, we used the subcutaneous adipose tissue collected during the surgery. The murine hind limb ischemia was used as a model. The unilateral femoral artery ligation was performed on 10–12-week-old male C57BL/6NCrl and NOD SCID mice. The mice received PBS− (controls) or 1 × 106 hADSCs. One, 3, 7, 14 and 21days after the surgery, we collected the gastrocnemius muscles for the immunohistochemical analysis. The results were analyzed with relevant tests using the Statistica software. Results: The retention time of hADSCs in the limb lasted about 14 days. In the mice receiving hADSCs, the improvement in the functionality of the damaged limb occurred faster than in the control mice. More new blood vessels were formed in the limbs of the mice receiving hADSCs than in limbs of the control mice. hADSCs also increased the infiltration of the macrophages with the M2 phenotype (7-AAD−/CD45+/F4/80+/CD206+) into the ischemic limbs. hADSCs introduced into the limb of mice secreted interleukin-6. This cytokine stimulates the emergence of the proangiogenic M2 macrophages, involved, among others, in the repair of a damaged tissue. Both macrophage depletion and IL-6 blockage suppressed the therapeutic effect of hADSCs. In the mice treated with hADSCs and liposomes with clodronate (macrophages depletion), the number of capillaries formed was lower than in the mice treated with hADSCs alone. Administration of hADSCs to the mice that received siltuximab (human IL-6 blocker) did not cause an influx of the M2 macrophages, and the number of capillaries formed was at the level of the control group, as in contrast to the mice that received only the hADSCs. Conclusions: The proposed mechanism for the repair of the damaged muscle using hADSCs is based on the activity of IL-6. In our opinion, the cytokine, secreted by the hADSCs, stimulates the M2 macrophages responsible for repairing damaged muscle and forming new blood vessels

Difficulties in funding of VA-ECMO therapy for patients with severe accidental hypothermia

Background: Severe accidental hypothermia is defined as a core temperature below 28 Celsius degrees. Within the last years, the issue of accidental hypothermia and accompanying cardiac arrest has been broadly discussed and European Resuscitation Council (ERC) Guidelines underline the importance of Extracorporeal Rewarming (ECR) in treatment of severely hypothermic victims. The study aimed to evaluate the actual costs of ECR with VA-ECMO and of further management in the Intensive Care Unit of patients admitted to the Severe Accidental Hypothermia Centre in Cracow, Poland. Methods: We carried out the economic analysis of 31 hypothermic adults in stage III-IV (Swiss Staging) treated with VA ECMO. Twenty-nine individuals were further managed in the Intensive Care Unit. The actual treatment costs were evaluated based on current medication, equipment, and dressing pricing. The costs incurred by the John Paul II Hospital were then collated with the National Health Service (NHS) funding, assessed based on current financial contract. Results: In most of the cases, the actual treatment cost was greater than the funding received by around 10,000 PLN per patient. The positive financial balance was achieved in only 4 (14%) individuals; other 25 cases (86%) showed a financial loss. Conclusion: Performed analysis clearly shows that hospitals undertaking ECR may experience financial loss due to implementation of effective treatment recommended by international guidelines. Thanks to new NHS funding policy since January 2017 such loss can be avoided, what shall encourage hospitals to perform this expensive, yet effective method of treatment

Totally implantable central venous access ports

Całkowicie implantowane systemy dożylnego podawania leków (tzw. porty dożylne) stanowią niezwykle dogodne rozwiązanie u chorych poddanych chemioterapii. Metoda ta znajduje coraz szersze zastosowanie. Rocznie 700-1000 dorosłym chorym w Polsce wszczepia się port donaczyniowy. Z inicjatywy krajowego konsultanta w dziedzinie onkologii klinicznej odbyło się spotkanie uzgodnieniowe w celu ustalenia zasad bezpiecznego stosowania portów w Polsce. W spotkaniu uczestniczyło 26 ekspertów z 17 ośrodków onkologicznych. Rezultatem spotkania stało się uzgodnienie zasad przedstawionych w formie standardów i zaleceń. Uzgodnienia dotyczyły wskazań do zastosowania portów, kwalifikacji chorych, warunków technicznych implantacji i okresu obserwacji po zabiegu, zapobiegania i leczenia powikłań infekcyjnych i powikłań zakrzepowych, szkolenia personelu obsługującego porty, informacji przekazywanej chorym.Totally implantable central venous access ports are very useful in chemotherapic treatment. It gains wider application. In Poland they are implanted in 700-1000 patient annually. National Consultant in Clinical Oncology at meeting with 26 experts from 17 oncologic centers established the principles of safe implantation of ports in Poland. The meeting resulted in report on standards and recommendations containing: recommendation on ports application, patients’ qualification, implantation technics and follow-up observation, prevention and treatment of infection and thrombotic complication, professional staff training and information for patients

Theodoric Strabo

The article is the fi rst monograph devoted to Theodoric Strabo, one of the most important Goth chieftains who lived in the 5th century C. E. At fi rst the author tries to provide answers to three fundamental queries: fi rstly, whether Theodoric was an Amal? The author comes to the conclusion that he was a representative of another ruling family which had led the Goths in Thrace, whereas he was only related to the Amals. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of contemporary historians, the author comes to the conclusion that Theodoric Strabo became the ruler of the Goths only in the 70’s of the 5th century. The question regarding the background of his father remains unanswered. In the subsequent part of the article, the author tries to present the history of Theodoric Strabo’s struggle with Emperor Leo whose aim was to recognize the former one’s authority over the Thracian Goths in 473. In the effect of the struggle, Strabo had for the fi rst time become magister militum praesentalis. After Leo’s death it was emperor Zeno who seized power in Constantinople; as the latter had been rather adverse to the Goths, Strabo gave his support to usurper Basiliscus who had seized power for a year and a half in Constantinople. The years 478–479 brought about Strabo’s victory in the struggle with Theodoric Amal for the position of the empire’s chief ally. In the year 481 Theodoric Strabo died in a tragic accident. After his death, the majority of the Balkan Goths became united under the rule of Theodoric Ama

Teodoryk Strabon

The article is the first monograph devoted to Theodoric Strabo, one of the most important Goth chieftains who lived in the 5th century C. E. At fi rst the author tries to provide answers to three fundamental queries: firstly, whether Theodoric was an Amal? The author comes to the conclusion that he was a representative of another ruling family which had led the Goths in Thrace, whereas he was only related to the Amals. Contrary to the opinion of the majority of contemporary historians, the author comes to the conclusion that Theodoric Strabo became the ruler of the Goths only in the 70’s of the 5th century. The question regarding the background of his father remains unanswered. In the subsequent part of the article, the author tries to present the history of Theodoric Strabo’s struggle with Emperor Leo whose aim was to recognize the former one’s authority over the Thracian Goths in 473. In the effect of the struggle, Strabo had for the first time become magister militum praesentalis. After Leo’s death it was emperor Zeno who seized power in Constantinople; as the latter had been rather adverse to the Goths, Strabo gave his support to usurper Basiliscus who had seized power for a year and a half in Constantinople. The years 478–479 brought about Strabo’s victory in the struggle with Theodoric Amal for the position of the empire’s chiefally. In the year 481 Theodoric Strabo died in a tragic accident. After his death, the majority of the Balkan Goths became united under the rule of Theodoric Amal