Unknown buildings of modern architecture of the 1920s and 1930s in Śródborów

Budynki, o których mowa w artykule, to nieznane dotąd dzieła architektury nowoczesnej z lat 20. i 30. XX w., z których trzy są dziełem wybitnych awangardowych architektów warszawskich: Szymona Syrkusa, Jerzego Gelbarda i Romana Sigalina oraz Lucjana Korngolda i Jerzego Bluma. Projektowali je dla zamożnej inteligencji warszawskiej wznoszącej domy pod Warszawą, w Śródborowie mieście - ogrodzie, nieopodal Otwocka. Korzystając z wcześniejszej popularności tego rejonu jako letniska i uzdrowiskowych zalet klimatu, na początku lat 20. XX w. rozpoczęto realizować plan utworzenia miasta - ogrodu. Nie udało się zrealizować tego planu, ale na parcelach kupionych przez lekarzy, finansistów, prawników, ludzi wolnych zawodów z Warszawy zbudowano wiele pensjonatów i kilka willi w formach nawiązujących do modernistycznych kierunków architektury lat 20. I 30. XX w., do form Bauhausu, "stylu międzynarodowego" i streamline'u. Na skutek II wojny światowej i eksterminacji ludności żydowskiej stanowiącej znaczny procent mieszkańców tego rejonu skończyły się czasy prosperity, a domy popadły w zapomnienie. Nieznane literaturze dzieła widoczne są na współczesnych fotografiach i reprodukcjach oryginalnych projektów i planów. Autorski artykuł identyfikuje ich twórców, zleceniodawców, czas powstania i adresy oraz opisuje je na podstawie badań archiwalnych i terenowych.The buildings referred to in the articles are till now unknown structures of modern architecture dating back to the twenties and thirties of the 20th century, of which three were built based on the designs of famous Warsaw architects: Szymon Syrkus, Jerzy Gelbard and Roman Sigalin, and Lucjan Korngold and Jerzy Blum. The architects designed them for wealthy Warsaw intellectuals erecting houses in the suburbs of Warsaw, in Śródborw garden city, in the neighbourhood of Otwock. Taking advantage of the earlier popularity of this region as a summer resort and its climate, the plan to develop a garden city started to be executed at the beginning of the 1920s. This plan was not been fulfilled however many guest-houses and several villas were built on plots bought by doctors, financiers, lawyers and freelancers from Warsaw. These building referred to modernistic directions of architecture in the 1920s and 1930s, the forms of Bauhaus, "international style" and streamlining. Due to the second world war and the extermination of the Jewish community, which represented a decided percentage of citizens of this region, the time of prosperity was over and the houses fell into oblivion. These masterpieces, unknown in literature, are visible on contemporary photos and reproductions of original designs and plans. The authors of the article identify their creators, clients, time of erection, and addresses, and describe them base on archive and in-field research

Health care spending in the US vs UK: The roles of medical education costs, malpractice risk and defensive medicine

We analyze how two key factors contribute to the high cost of healthcare in the US relative to the UK: (i) the higher private cost of medical education, and (ii) the higher risk of malpractice litigation. To assess the role of these factors we formulate, calibrate and simulate an equilibrium model of physician wages and the supply of medical graduates, work hours and treatment decisions of practicing physicians, and malpractice risk and malpractice insurance pricing. Consistent with prior work, we find direct costs of malpractice fines and insurance explain little of the high cost of healthcare in the US. However, the high private cost of medical education interacts with high malpractice risk in an interesting way: It leads doctors to (i) demand high wages and (ii) use excessive diagnostics to mitigate risk (“defensive medicine”). The agency problem that arises because patients cannot judge the efficacy of tests allows them to be over-prescribed. Together, these factors increase costs far more than direct malpractice costs. Specifically, physician salaries plus diagnostic tests comprise 4.04% of GDP in the US, compared to only 2.3% in the UK. The mechanisms emphasized in our model can largely explain the difference. Our policy simulations imply that more generous medical education subsidies would lead to both improved patient welfare and reduced overall health care costs in the US system (a Pareto improvement). We also find policies to (i) reduce malpractice risk, or (ii) induce doctors to internalize a small part of diagnostic costs, would have similar efficacious effects

Body mass analysis in patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis

Introduction: Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) is one of the most common autoimmune thyroid disorders and o the most common cause of hypothyroidism, but the relation between TSH and body mass is still unclear. Material and methods: The group studied consisted of 53 patients with HT in euthyreosis and 28 healthy individuals. All the patients underwent thyroid ultrasonography and body mass analysis with the use of a medical analyzer INBODY 200. Blood samples were also analyzed for TSH and anti-thyroid antibodies. Results: The patients with HT had higher body mass (p=0.008), body mass index (BMI) (p=0.02), Waist-Hip Ratio (WHR) (0.01) and fat mass (p=0.02) than had the controls. In HT group increased body mass was observed in 72% of the patients (overweight in 38% and obesity in 35% of them), as compared with 38% of overweight/obesity in the control group. Thyroid volume was significantly lower (p=0.01) and anti-peroxidase antibodies level was two times higher in the group with the treatment period > 2 years, but the patients with relatively short treatment period were 7 kg heavier and their fat mass was 6 kg higher than in the subjects treated longer than 2 years. Conclusions: Our results suggest that the patients with HT, even in euthyreosis, have significantly higher body mass, BMI, WHR and fat mass than healthy individuals, which is probably associated with previous disturbances that led to the increase in fat mass at the stage of hypothyroidism. The observed changes tend to normalize during L-thyroxine replacement therapy

EurEnDel – Technology and Social Visions for Europe’s Energy Future

EurEnDel is the first Europe-wide Delphi study on future developments in the energy sector. The ultimate objective of the project was to provide advice on energy R&D priorities, based on sound expert knowledge. With a time horizon of 2030, this expert survey not only provides a useful perspective on long-term developments of energy technologies, but also evaluates these technologies against different sets of social values or 'visions'

Novel dinuclear platinum(II) complexes targets NFkappaB signaling pathway to induce apoptosis and inhibit metabolism of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Four novel dinuclear platinum(II) complexes of formula [Pt2L4(berenil)2]Cl4 (Pt1-Pt4) where L is piperazine (Pt1), 4-picoline (Pt2), 3-picoline (Pt3) or isopropylamine (Pt4) were compared to cisplatin in respect to collagen biosynthesis, beta1- integrin receptor, IGF-I receptor, phosphorylated MAP-kinases (ERK1/ERK2 and p38), phosphorylated Akt kinase expression and appearance of apoptosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. It was found that Pt1-Pt4 were more active inhibitor of collagen biosynthesis than cisplatin. The expression of IGF-I and beta1 integrin receptor, as well as phosphorylated MAPK, (ERK1 and ERK2 and p38) was significantly increased in cells incubated for 24 h with 20 muM Pt1-Pt4 compared to the control, not treated cells. The phenomenon was related to the increase expresion of NFkappaB by Pt1-Pt4 as shown by Western immunoblot analysis. Experiments made with annexin V-FITC and detection of apoptosis by a fluorescent microscopy assay revealed that novel dinuclear platinum(II) complexes (Pt1-Pt4) inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells by increasing the number of apoptotic and necrotic cells