Bacterial properties changing under Triton X-100 presence in the diesel oil biodegradation systems : from surface and cellular changes to mono- and dioxygenases activities

Triton X-100, as one of the most popular surfactants used in bioremediation techniques, has been reported as an effective agent enhancing the biodegradation of hydrocarbons. However efficient, the surfactant’s role in different processes that together enable the satisfying biodegradation should be thoroughly analysed and verified. In this research, we present the interactions of Triton X-100 with the bacterial surfaces (hydrophobicity and zeta potential), its influence on the enzymatic properties (considering mono- and dioxygenases) and profiles of fatty acids, which then all together were compared with the biodegradation rates. The addition of various concentrations of Triton X-100 to diesel oil system revealed different cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH) of the tested strains. The results demonstrated that for Pseudomonas stutzeri strain 9, higher diesel oil biodegradation was correlated with hydrophilic properties of the tested strain and lower Triton X-100 biodegradation. Furthermore, an increase of the branched fatty acids was observed for this strain

Polish pharmacy professionals' beliefs about homeopathic medicines - a survey.

Introduction: Homeopathy is an alternative therapeutic metod based on the principle of similarity, which was developed by Samuel Hahnemann in the 18th century. This method involves administering substances that may produce symptoms similar to the patient's reported ailment, in high dilutions. Despite scientific evidence speaking against this method, homeopathic products are defined as medicines by European law and undergo a special, simplified authorization procedure. In Poland, patients can only purchase homeopathic medicinal products at a pharmacy. Therefore, the recommendation obtained there may influence whether the patient decides to use a homeopathic medicine or not. Materials and methods: The study aimed to analyse the attitude of Polish pharmacists and pharmacy technicians towards homeopathic medicines. An anonymous questionnaire was conducted among professional pharmacy staff to assess their knowledge, beliefs, and recommendations regarding homeopathic medicines. Between January and April 2023, 298 respondents - 279 pharmacists and 19 technicians - completed the survey. The collected responses were statistically analyzed using STATISTICA v. 13.3. Statistical significance was checked using Pearson's χ2 test of concordance, assuming a p-value ≤ 0.05 as the level of significance. PCA principal component analysis was used to assess global relationships between the key variables analyzed regardless of scale. The constructed PCA model was estimated using the NIPALS iterative algorithm. Results: Out of the 298 survey respondents, 285 worked in community pharmacies. More than two-thirds of the respondents had personal experience using homeopathic medicines, and about one-third of them recommended such medicines to their patients. The willingness to recommend homeopathic medicines correlated with the respondent's history of positive effects of homeopathic medicines. Homeopathic medicines were most often recommended by women and people over 50 years of age. More than half of the professional pharmacy staff considered homeopathic medicines to be ineffective and to show only a placebo effect. When asked which conditions they recommended homeopathic medicines for, pharmacists and technicians most often indicated cold and flu symptoms, painful teething, and bruises and hematomas. Conclusions: The results of the survey suggest that most members of the professional pharmacy staff do not recommend homeopathic medicines to their patients. The problem of evaluating preparations with no proven therapeutic effect as effective mainly affects women over 50 and respondents from small towns. It is worth deepening the following study in the future, focusing on these groups of respondents. The knowledge gained in this way will make it possible to assess the extent to which this group of workers relies on scientific evidence and whether they are aware of making decisions based only on their own beliefs

Level of economic security of NATO Eastern flank countries

In the modern world an undoubted increase in the economic factor of maintaining the security of states is observed. Economic security is an important element of the functioning of national economies, including the states of the eastern flank of NATO. Perceiving economic security as a balance of development needs of these states we can identify several areas of activity of its quantifiers, which can include development, infrastructure and balance opportunities and needs. To determine the levels of these quantifiers, we must use a carefully selected set of meters. One of them is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which clearly describes the measurable features present in the analyzed national economies. The objective of this article is to attempt to indicate the level of the economic security of NATO’s eastern flank states in terms of the level of economic growth measured by GDP. From an autonomous perspective, this meter does not give grounds for expressing value judgments in the context of the widely understood level of economic security, but it constitutes their necessary component and basis for further analyzes and evaluations. For the needs of the elaboration, an assumption was made, being a simplification of the economic reality, indicating that changes in annual GDP will show the level of the economic security of NATO’s eastern flank states. Hence, an increase in GDP growth lower than 1.9% in a period, which the analysis refers to, is a sign of a decrease in the level of economic security of a given state and vice versa. In all the states of NATO’s eastern flank, an improvement in its level was observed, where in 2017 in all the states of NATO’s eastern flank the rate of GDP growth was higher than the assumed critical threshold level of 1.9%. Years 2014–2016 also constitute a period of improvement in the level of the economic security of the analyzed states, except for Bulgaria in 2014, Estonia and Lithuania in 2015 and Estonia in 2016. While the period from 2008 to 2013 is a period when the level of the economic security of the states of NATO’s eastern flank is diverse and there are no indications that it improved. In the context of the analyzed problem, the best years were 2008 and 2011, for which GDP growth was the highest. In 2008 Estonia, Latvia and Hungary were those that did not reach the critical threshold (decline in economic security). The other six states were characterized by an increase in the level of economic security. The following year is a period when all the states (except for Poland) did not register any improvement. This resulted from a general economic recession, which was observed in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. Considering the number of years for which the assumed critical threshold level of 1.9% was not reached, we can claim that the economy of Poland (2 periods: 2012–2013), and then Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia (3 periods), Romania (4 years) and Bulgaria, Estonia and Hungary (5 years) were characterized by the highest level of economic security in the analyzed period

MEASURING ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE VISEGRAD GROUP COUNTRIES

Niniejsza publikacja przedstawia problematykę pomiaru bezpieczeństwa ekonomicznego państw krajów Grupy Wyszehradzkiej. Bezpieczeństwo ekonomiczne stanowi istotny element funkcjonowania gospodarek narodowych, które dążą poprzez płaszczyznę gospodarczą do stabilizacji politycznej w regionie, co przyczynia się do ograniczenia ryzyka konfliktu zbrojnego. W kontekście bezpieczeństwa ekonomicznego należy wskazywać także na problemy nierówności ekonomicznej państw. To ich scentrowany dostęp do kapitału, rynków czy innych kategorii ekonomicznych, a także znajdowanie się na określonym etapie rozwoju systemowego może nasilać to zjawisko, jak i wpływać na zachwianie poziomu suwerenności ekonomicznej państw. Celem artykułu jest próba wskazania poziomu bezpieczeństwa ekonomicznego państw Grupy Wyszehradzkiej w aspekcie poziomu wzrostu gospodarczego mierzonego wskaźnikiem PKB oraz oceny ratingowej i relacji długu publicznego do PKB. Autorka artykułu jest świadoma, iż mierniki te nie dają podstaw do wyrażania sądów wartościujących w kontekście szeroko rozumianego poziomu bezpieczeństwa ekonomicznego, ale stanowią ich niezbędne składniki i podstawę do dalszych analiz i ocen.Economic security is an important element of the functioning of national economies, including the countries of the Visegrad Group. By perceiving economic security as a balance of the developmental needs of these countries, we can identify several areas of activity of its quantifiers, which may include development, infrastructure and possibilities of balance and needs. To determine the levels of these quantifiers, we must use a carefully selected set of measurements. One of these is gross domestic product (GDP), the rating and the ratio of public debt to GDP. The purpose of this article is to attempt to indicate the level of economic security of the Visegrad Group countries. The proposed measures do not provide grounds for expressing value judgments in the context of the broadly understood level of economic security, but constitute their necessary component and the basis for further analysis and evaluation

Defense Spending as a Determinant of Poland’s Military Strength

The purpose of the study is to analyze the level of Poland’s defense spending in the years 2008–2018, in the context of their impact on the military strength of the state. The research question of this study is whether the amount of defense spending included in the state budget is a determinant of Poland’s military strength. In accordance with the methodology adopted by NATO, the analysis includes the following aspects: total planned and executed defense spending, the share of defense spending in the state budget spending, the relation of defense spending to the GDP growth rate, and the share of defense spending in GDP. In analyzing Poland’s military strength, a world military strength ranking, Global Firepower, was used. The result of the research is that the most important factors that impact the military strength of individual state economies include the amount of budget spending incurred for the functioning and modernization of the armed forces

Conditions of the Russian Federation’s Strategic Culture and Its Impact on Russia’s Foreign Policy

Over the last thirty years, the importance and interest in cultural factors in international relations and in international security has increased. The links between culture and security, and in particular the impact of culture on security, are issues whose importance is growing and which are being increasingly studied. They are regarded as a multifaceted problem, as cultural differences have become the cause of conflicts and wars, and tendencies of cultural domination have led to the destruction of cultures and entire civilizations. It therefore seems interesting to reflect on the process of developing an independent strategic culture of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the article is to discuss the process of shaping the independent strategic culture of the Russian Federation and to address four basic research problems: the sources of Russian strategic culture; the indication which of them are primary and which are secondary ones; determining whether Russian strategic culture underwent evolution; and determining whether then Cold War influenced the shape of today’s strategic culture of the Russian Federation. To achieve the intended purpose of the article, critical analysis of literature is applied, which allowed to find answers to the research questions

Effects of Non-Opioid Analgesics on the Cell Membrane of Skin and Gastrointestinal Cancers

Skin and gastrointestinal cancer cells are the target of research by many scientists due to the increasing morbidity and mortality rates around the world. New indications for drugs used in various conditions are being discovered. Non-opioid analgesics are worth noting as very popular, widely available, relatively cheap medications. They also have the ability to modulate the membrane components of tumor cells. The aim of this review is to analyze the impact of diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, acetylsalicylic acid and paracetamol on skin and gastrointestinal cancers cell membrane. These drugs may affect the membrane through topical application, at the in vitro and in vivo level after oral or parenteral administration. They can lead to up- or downregulated expression of receptors, transporters and other molecules associated with plasma membrane. Medications may also alter the lipid bilayer composition of membrane, resulting in changes in its integrity and fluidity. Described modulations can cause the visualization of cancer cells, enhanced response of the immune system and the initiation of cell death. The outcome of this is inhibition of progression or reduction of tumor mass and supports chemotherapy. In conclusion, non-opioid analgesics may be used in the future as adjunctive therapy for the treatment of these cancers

The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mental Well-Being of College Students

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an overall increase in stress and depression in society. The aim of the present research was to evaluate the psychological condition of college students during the COVID-19 pandemic and explore factors influencing their daily functioning. The study focused on four main aspects such as mental well-being, sexuality, concern about financial status, and trust in medical authorities. The study was based on a specially designed survey. The questionnaire was created using Google Forms and shared on social media sites. A total of 630 students participated in the survey, 17 surveys were excluded due to incomplete data and 613 surveys (97.30%) were considered for the final analysis. During isolation, 68.0% of students experienced fear of missing out (FOMO). A total of 73.4% were frustrated due to spending a lot of time in front of a computer. A significant decrease in motivation to study was reported by 78.1% of the respondents. Students showed significantly different attitudes towards sexuality. Concern about the financial situation was reported by 48.7% of respondents. The state of the Polish economy was of concern to 86.4% of respondents. A total of 74.5% of students declared concern about their career development. During the pandemic, 59.0% of respondents became concerned about their health. The attitude towards vaccination was described as positive by 82.5% of the respondents. The percentage of respondents experiencing negative psychological effects relative to the overall epidemiological situation of COVID-19 is troubling. Given the unexpected length and severity of the pandemic, we suggest that students’ concerns be more thoroughly understood and addressed