Institutional Changes in Financial Systems of Poland and the Czech Republic

Over the past 23 years the financial sectors in both Poland and the Czech Republic have changed beyond recognition. The process of transformation was a tough and challenging task in both countries. There were significant differences in the initial conditions, as well as approaches to the transformation process, in Poland and the Czech Republic. It seems that according to the classification of Knell and Srholec (2005), the two countries represent different types of capitalism. In this article we try to demonstrate that the organization and development level of the financial systems in these seemingly similar countries are different as well. The primary objective of the study is to compare the path of development and today’s performance of the financial systems in Poland and in the Czech Republic.Przez ostatnie 23 lata systemy finansowe w Polsce i w Czechach zmieniły się nie do poznania. Proces transformacji był ciężkim i trudnym zadaniem w obu krajach. Pomiędzy krajami istniały znaczące różnice w warunkach początkowych jak i podejściu do procesu transformacji. Zgodnie z klasyfikacją Knell i Srholec (2005) kraje te reprezentują różne typy kapitalizmu. W artykule staramy się pokazać, że organizacja i poziom rozwoju systemów finansowych w tych z pozoru podobnych krajach są również istotnie różne. Głównym celem pracy jest porównanie ścieżek rozwoju i obecnego funkcjonowania systemów finansowych w Polsce i w Czechac

Role of vegan and vegetarian diets in type 2 diabetes

Significant benefits could be achieved in diabetes management with vegetarian and vegan diets. Many reports in literature indicate that both, vegetarian and vegan diet bring a potential benefits in a treatment of type 2 diabetes. What is more vegetarian and vegan diets have a positive effect on anti-atherogenic process. Observational studies indicate that risk of developing diabetes is reduced by half in people during a vegetarian diet, compared to non-vegetarian

Major causes of insuline resistance

Causes of insulin resistance can be divided into innate and secondary. There are many reasons for insulin resistance, including genetic mutations like insulin receptor mutations, hormonal and pharmacological or immunological. However insulin resistance is most commonly associated with obesity. Obesity is associated with a low-grade inflammation of white adipose tissue (WAT) resulting from chronic activation of the innate immune system and which can subsequently lead to insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes

Patophysiology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Clinically, NAFLD is the most common cause of asymptomatic increases in transaminases. NAFLD is also currently the most common liver disorder in developed countries, affecting 24% of the world's population. The prevalence of NAFLD in European societies is estimated in the range of 17-46% and shows an upward trend with the increasing incidence of obesity and type II diabetes. NAFLD occurs in about 7% of people without excess weight, however, they are usually people with impaired insulin sensitivity, leading a sedentary lifestyle, having an increased cardiovascular risk, with higher levels of hepatic lipids as a result of reduced fat accumulation and reduced mitochondrial activity in adipose tissue and increased de novo hepatic lipogenesis

The symptomatology of aneurysmal bone cyst : the value of diagnostic imaging

Background: An aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC) is a benign lesion occurring mainly in children. Generally it is found in the metaphyses of long bones and in flat bones. Osteolysis, bone expansion, thinning of the cortex, osseous septa and fluid levels belong to the typical imaging findings in ABC cases. The purpose of the study was to determine the value of imaging methods: plain x-ray films, US, CT and MRI for the diagnosis of aneurysmal bone cyst and to work out the diagnostic algorithm for an ABC suspected on plain radiograms. Material/Methods: The material consists of 72 patients (44 boys, 28 girls) aged 2-23 years (mean age 12 yrs) with bone lesions diagnosed as aneurysmal bone cysts on pathologic examination. In all patients, plain radiographs were performed, in 26 - sonography (US), in 41 - computed tomography (CT), in 8 - magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). All the examinations were analyzed according to own system of evaluation of typical presentation in the particular methods. The histopathological diagnosis was established after biopsy or surgery. Results: The aneurysmal bone cysts were most frequently located in the long bones of the lower limbs (43%), in the long bones of the upper limbs (26.4%) and in flat bones (25%). The localization was mainly in the bone methaphyses (56.6%). On pathological examination, primary ABC was diagnosed in 65.3% of cases, secondary ABC in 23.6%, ABC and concomitant osteitis in 7%, ABC and giant cell tumor in 2.7%, ABC and chondrosarcoma in 1.4%. The application of four methods resulted in 72.2% consistency between diagnostic imaging and pathological examination. In case of only one method used the consistency was 75% for MRI, 63% for CT, 55.4% for plain films and 50% for US. In 100% of misdiagnosed cases there were no septa within osteolytic lesions on plain films, whereas in 43.8% features of malignancy were found. In 53% of misdiagnosed cases no fluid levels were observed on CT and in 69% on US. Conclusions: 1. The diagnosis of aneurismal bone cyst based on plain radiography is possible in cases with typical radiological signs. 2. Application of other methods significantly increases the percentage of correct diagnoses. 3. Lack of fluid levels does not exclude the diagnosis of ABC. 4. Imaging features of malignancy do not exclude the diagnosis of ABC

THE METHODOLOGY OF TERRITORY ZONING OF THE UKRAINIAN RIGHT-BANK POLISSIA FOR THE GASTRONOMIC TOURISM DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES

Scientific research is devoted to the problem of the gastronomic zoning methods of the Ukrainian Right-bank Polissia. The authors use the scientific facts of landscape, ethnographic, and soil science approaches to the gastronomic zoning of the Ukrainian Right-bank Polissia. The methodological basis of the scientific research is the methods of analysis and synthesis, information, classification, cybernetics, and geographic information mapping. The systematic approach is applied in the course of the scientific development, which presents a designed cartographic model of zoning for the purposes of gastronomic tourism. A territory zoning algorithm is created for the gastronomic tourism development, based on the gastronomic potential indicator of physical and geographical areas, taking into account the selected principle s. The developed areas are combined on the principle of neighborhood as a result of integrated zoning, and are mostly homogeneous. A synthetic cartographic model of recipe territory zoning of the Ukrainian Right-bank Polissia has been created according to the level of gastronomic tourism development in the scale of 1: 3,500,000

Paraoxonase 1 as an important antiatherogenic agent

The inverse relationship between High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) level and risk of ischaemic heart disease was proved by many epidemiological studies. Although the main mechanism of antiatherogenic activity of HDL is a reverse transport of cholesterol from peripheral tissues to the liver, HDL additionally carries some antioxidative enzymes like Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) which protects LDL and HDL lipoproteins from oxidative modification. A lot of antiatherogenic activities of HDL depends on PON1 activity

Circle of Willis abnormalities in children with neurofibromatosis type 1

Background and purpose The aim of the study was to assess anatomical variants and abnormalities in cerebral arteries on magnetic resonance angiography in 67 children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Materials and methods The study included 67 children aged 9 months to 18 years (mean 6.6 years). Control group comprised 90 children aged 2–18 years (mean: 11.8 years). All patients were examined at 1.5T scanner. Results We found cerebral arteriopathy (moyamoya disease) in one child (1.5%) in the study group. No aneurysms were found. Twenty-nine NF1 children (43.3%) had arterial anatomical variants. In 13 of them, more than one variant was diagnosed (44.8% of group with variants, 19.4% of study group). In control group, 19 children (21.1%) had variants, including four children with more than one variant (21% of group with variants, 4.4% of control group). Arterial variants were more common in NF1 patients compared with control group (p=0.026, binomial test for two proportions). Percentage of multiple variants was higher in study group than in control group, but this difference was not significant. Variants were more frequent on left side than on the right one (significant difference in control group; p=0.022, McNemara test). In study group, the number of left-sided anomalies (25) was similar to that of right-sided ones (22). There was no correlation between gender and variants, unidentified bright objects and variants or between optic gliomas and variants. Conclusions Occurrence of arterial variants in NF1 patients was twofold higher than in control group. Multiple variants were more frequent in the study group although the difference did not reach statistical significance. Features of cerebral arteriopathy were found in one child with NF1