Choosing the lesser evil? : English Sunni e-fatwas on abortion

There has been an academic interest in fatwas regarding abortion since the 1980s (Anees 1989; Rispler-Chaim 1993, 2003; Faúndes, Barzelatto 2006). With the globalisation of ummah – the Islamic community – and the expansion of the internet, online fatwas have started to provide normative answers to inquiries from Muslims from all over the world. Van den Branden and Broeckaert researched non-voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide expressed in English e-fatwas (2009, 2011). Using their approach and framing e-fatwas in the context of Roy’s view on the virtual Islamic community (2000, we have selected and analysed eighty English Sunni e-fatwas on abortion. On the level of structure, these e-fatwas are very similar – often rooted in the Quran and Sunna but not classical jurisprudential discussions on the subject. On the level of content, they do not deviate from Islamic jurisprudence, which does not encourage abortion but permits it in particular circumstances during specific stages of fetal development – generally, before four months or 120 days of gestation. In the light of our study, English Sunni e-fatwas on abortion constitute an important part of Islamic bioethical teachings and thus deserve further research

(Re)inhaling the joy of life : interjection and expressiveness

A particular nature of the interjection is that it refers principally to the emotional dimension of discourse. As a purely expressive phenomenon, it embodies both verbal construction and expression of emotional states in perfect fashion. It can also be related to the enunciative subjectivity. Therefore, in this paper, we attempt to examine the interrelation between emotion and interjection in order to determine the role that this grammatical category plays in a discourse based on the affective component and, more specifically, in the expression of joy. We focus mainly on the functional and pragmatic values of interjections. On the one hand, this approach will allow us to make some remarks on the importance of context in decoding the semantic content of interjections; on the other, it will enable us to reflect on the effects that the use of ejaculatory utterances can produce. Our study is based on the written language corpus derived from the contemporary French comic strips and webcomics published after the year 2000

Modern Assyrian/Syriac Diaspora in Sweden

The original version of this book entitiled Współczesna diaspora asyryjsko-aramejska w Szwecji (ISBN 978-83-8142-360-1, e-ISBN 978-83-8142-361-8) was published by the Lodz University Press (WUŁ) in 2018, http://hdl.handle.net/11089/26643The monograph discusses up-to-date issues concerning the acculturation of a Middle Eastern group in a European country. The book is based on research conducted by the Author in 2014 in the Assyrian/Syriac diaspora in Sweden, within the framework of the “Defining and Identifying Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe” project. Assyrians/Syriacs (Assyrier/Syrianer) began to arrive in Scandinavia in the late 1960s, fleeing the wars and meagre economic prospects in Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon. Today, they constitute an active diaspora which contributes in various ways to the development of its new homeland and numbers around 150 000 people. The Author describes Swedish migration and integration policies, the history of the Assyrian/Syriac community in the Middle East, the phases and forms of institutionalisation in Sweden, internal dynamics as well as the group’s relations with external actors and its transnational links. One of the main findings of the book is that the ethno-national identity of this community was largely constructed in the Swedish diaspora and is considerably more complex than it had previously been described in research. The identity in question is not a single construct, but rather a few – if not a few dozen – variants, although polarisation resulting from the divide between Assyrians and Arameans/Suryoye/Syriacs is visible.This project received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 291827. The project Defining and Identifying Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe was financially supported by the HERA Joint Research Programme (www.heranet.info). The translation of this book into English was co-financed by the Dean of the Faculty of the International and Political Studies, University of Lodz, and the Head of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa, University of Lodz

Słowo wstępne

Książka traktuje o wydarzeniach i konsekwencjach „Arabskiej Wiosny”, a także o historycznych i współczesnych relacjach Polaków z mieszkańcami Bliskiego Wschodu, o prawie i bioetyce muzułmańskiej, arabskich społecznościach i muzułmańskich mniejszościach w Europie Zachodniej oraz w rosyjskojęzycznym kręgu kulturowym. To publikacja prawdziwie interdyscyplinarna, a jednocześnie przystępna dla niespecjalistów. Powinni po nią sięgnąć zainteresowani muzułmanami i regionem Bliskiego Wschodu, zwłaszcza ci, których celem jest poszerzenie już posiadanej wiedzy na ten temat. Z jednej strony tradycjonalizm widoczny jest w życiu społecznym na Bliskim Wschodzie, zwłaszcza w odniesieniu do ról kobiet i mężczyzn, ale i w relacjach panujących między członkami rozszerzonych rodzin, klanów. Z drugiej strony trudno ukryć fakt, że Arabowie chętnie korzystają z obcych wynalazków: anten satelitarnych, telefonów komórkowych, smartfonów i tabletów, zaś młodzież arabska ogląda zachodnie seriale i słucha zachodniej muzyki. Właśnie obyta z technologiami młodzież była siłą napędową „Arabskiej Wiosny”, która wybuchła na Bliskim Wschodzie w 2011 roku i przez wielu europejskich komentatorów została przywitana z entuzjazmem, widzieli w niej bowiem wyraźne opowiedzenie się arabskich społeczeństw po stronie nowoczesności (padały przecież hasła „demokratyzacji”). Szybko jednak nastąpił zwrot ku tradycji – vide casus Egiptu czy Tunezji. Ujawnili się fundamentaliści różnej proweniencji, którzy pogłębili destabilizację regionu. Napięcie pomiędzy tym, co religijne i świeckie, dawne i nowe, rdzenne i zapożyczone, ujawniło się z całą mocą. W Syrii chaos i przemoc pochłonęły tysiące ofiar, zaś miliony osób zmusiły do ucieczki. W Europie odżyły dawne lęki przed islamem. To sprawiło, że nasiliła się potrzeba mówienia o muzułmanach, ich historii i dążeniach w sposób spokojny i merytoryczny.Udostępnienie publikacji Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego finansowane w ramach projektu „Doskonałość naukowa kluczem do doskonałości kształcenia”. Projekt realizowany jest ze środków Europejskiego Funduszu Społecznego w ramach Programu Operacyjnego Wiedza Edukacja Rozwój; nr umowy: POWER.03.05.00-00-Z092/17-00

HUMAN NEUROPSIN GENE IN DEPRESSION

Background: Neuropsin (NP, kallikrein 8, KLK8) - a kallikrein gene-related (KLK) endoprotease - plays a key role in neuroplasticity processes, since intracellular signal cascades and regulation of gene expression are engaged in long-term synaptic plasticity. The main aim of this paper is to compare expression of the human neuropsin gene on the mRNA level in a group of patients diagnosed with depression and in a group of healthy subjects who have never been treated psychiatrically. Subjects and methods: 291 people, aged 18-67, were qualified to participate in the experiment: major recurrent depression group (MRD) and the control group (CG). Designations were carried out for the human NP gene (hNP). Results: For hNP gene expression at the mRNA level was higher in patients with depression than in the CG (p<0.005). A Spearman\u27s rank correlation analysis did not reveal any statistically significant relationship between the intensity of the disease measured using the HDRS scale and expression on the mRNA level for the hNP gene. Expression for the hNP gene in the entire group analysed increased with age of the examined individuals (p<0.005). Conclusion: Expression of the hNP gene on the mRNA level, evaluated based on peripheral blood, is significantly higher in the patients with MRD than in the healthy subjects

Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis - A Comparison of Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Activities of Standardized Fruit Extracts in Human Neutrophils and Caco-2 Models

Fruits of Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis are representative plant materials traditionally used in Europe and Asia, respectively, in the treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related complications, which are often mediated by pathogenic inflammatory agents. Additionally, due to the fact of mutual infiltration of Asian and European medicines, the differentiation as well as standardization of traditional prescriptions seem to be crucial for ensuring the quality of traditional products. The objective of this study was a comparison of biological activity of extracts from fruits of C. mas and C. officinalis by an assessment of their effect on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in human neutrophils as well as cytokines secretion both in neutrophils (tumor necrosis factor α, TNF- α; interleukin 8, IL-8; interleukin 1β, IL-1β) and in human colon adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 (IL-8). To evaluate the phytochemical differences between the studied extracts as well as to provide a method for standardization procedures, a quantitative analysis of iridoids, such as loganin, sweroside, and loganic acid, found in extracts of Cornus fruits was performed with HPLC-DAD. All standardized extracts significantly inhibited ROS production, whereas the aqueous-alcoholic extracts were particularly active inhibitors of IL-8 secretion by neutrophils. The aqueous-methanolic extract of C. officinalis fruit, decreased IL-8 secretion by neutrophils to 54.64 ± 7.67%, 49.68 ± 6.55%, 50.29 ± 5.87% at concentrations of 5, 50, and 100 µg/mL, respectively, compared to LPS-stimulated control (100%). The aqueous extract of C. officinalis fruit significantly inhibited TNF-α release by neutrophils at concentrations of 50 and 100 µg/mL. On the other hand, the aqueous-ethanolic extract of C. mas fruit showed the propensity to increase TNF-α and IL-1β secretion. The modulatory activity of the Cornus extracts was noted in the case of secretion of IL-8 in Caco-2 cells. The effect was comparable with dexamethasone. The content of loganin in aqueous and aqueous-methanolic extract of C. officinalis fruit was higher than in the aqueous-ethanolic extract of C. mas fruit, which was characterized by a significant quantity of loganic acid. In conclusion, the immunomodulatory effect observed in vitro may partially confirm the traditional use of Cornus fruits through alleviation of the development of diabetes-derived inflammatory complications. Loganin and loganic acid are significant markers for standardization of C. mas and C. officinalis fruit extracts, respectively

Single-nucleotide polymorphisms of genes involved in repair of oxidative DNA damage and the risk of recurrent depressive disorder

BACKGROUND Depressive disorder, including recurrent type (rDD), is accompanied by increased oxidative stress and activation of inflammatory pathways, which may induce DNA damage. This thesis is supported by the presence of increased levels of DNA damage in depressed patients. Such DNA damage is repaired by the base excision repair (BER) pathway. BER efficiency may be influenced by polymorphisms in BER-related genes. Therefore, we genotyped nine single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in six genes encoding BER proteins. MATERIAL AND METHODS Using TaqMan, we selected and genotyped the following SNPs: c.-441G&gt;A (rs174538) of FEN1, c.2285T&gt;C (rs1136410) of PARP1, c.580C&gt;T (rs1799782) and c.1196A&gt;G (rs25487) of XRCC1, c.*83A&gt;C (rs4796030) and c.*50C&gt;T (rs1052536) of LIG3, c.-7C&gt;T (rs20579) of LIG1, and c.-468T&gt;G (rs1760944) and c.444T&gt;G (rs1130409) of APEX1 in 599 samples (288 rDD patients and 311 controls). RESULTS We found a strong correlation between rDD and both SNPs of LIG3, their haplotypes, as well as a weaker association with the c.-468T&gt;G of APEXI which diminished after Nyholt correction. Polymorphisms of LIG3 were also associated with early onset versus late onset depression, whereas the c.-468T&gt;G polymorphism showed the opposite association. CONCLUSIONS The SNPs of genes involved in the repair of oxidative DNA damage may modulate rDD risk. Since this is an exploratory study, the results should to be treated with caution and further work needs to be done to elucidate the exact involvement of DNA damage and repair mechanisms in the development of this disease

Functioning of Public Sector as Client-Fronted Organizations

Transformacja systemu społeczno–gospodarczego, procesy globalizacji oraz integracji Polski ze strukturami Unii Europejskiej miały bezpośredni wpływ na przemiany społeczeństwa polskiego i zmiany w zarządzaniu organizacjami publicznymi. Podstawą do zadowolenia klienta obsługiwanego przez sektor publiczny jest prężnie działająca administracja „otwarta na klienta”, która umie identyfikować potrzeby i dąży do jego zadowolenia. Istotnym elementem transformacji gospodarczej, był rozwój nowoczesnych koncepcji zarządzania i marketingu w administracji publicznej, która jak wiemy charakteryzuje się odmienną specyfiką działania (nie jest zorientowana na zysk) i obsługuje klienta - odbiorcę dóbr publicznych. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie zagadnień związanych z funkcjonowaniem sektora publicznego, który poprzez wdrażanie i upowszechnianie instrumentów/narzędzi nowoczesnego zarządzania publicznego przyczynia się do sprawnego i skutecznego działania administracji publicznej oraz podniesienia jakości oferowanych usług.The transition of the socio-economic system, the processes of globalization and Poland’s integration with the EU structures have had a direct impact on the Polish society transformations and changes to the management of public organizations. The basis for client’s satisfaction, who is dealt with by the public sector, is an effective, ‘client-fronted’ administration, able to identify needs and attempting to live up to his satisfaction. An essential part of the economic transition was the development of modern marketing and management concepts within the public administration, which, as we know, has different operational features (it is not profit-oriented) and handles the client – a recipient of public goods. The aim of this article is to demonstrate the issues connected with the functioning of the public sector, which through implementation and popularization of tools/instruments of the modern public management contributes to the efficient and efficacious operation of the public sector, as well as to raising the quality of the services on offer

REALISATION POSSIBILITIES REGARDING PUBLIC SERVICES WITHIN THE PROCESS OF COMPETITION IMPLEMENTATION IN INFRASTRUCTURAL SECTORS

A univocal determination of the function of public services and of their addressee is one of necessary conditions of implementation of the market mechanism in the sectors of economic infrastructure the status of which is of public nature. Within hitherto existing solutions the public powers were not obliged to determine these functions in a precise manner because they have been themselves owners of the enterprises which were compelled to assume the functions in question under a form of some generally formulated tasks. After having given short definitions of several fundamental notions the Author characterises the specificity of monopoly in infra-structural sectors of public order, next - internal sources of financing these services within the framework of the State monopoly and, finally, problems of identification and operationalisation of the tasks of public nature of usefulness. When discussing all these questions the Author has recourse to a series of examples spooned out of highly developed countries

The accounting system as a book-keeping information database being the basis for the process of decision-making and rational public finance management

Istotnym elementem dla zarządzania finansów publicznych i poprawy efektywności gospodarki finansowej jest baza informacji księgowych, dlatego od sposobu i sprawności działania systemu rachunkowości zależy czy uzyskamy szybką i dobrze przekazaną, rzetelną informację. Wprowadzenie jednolitych zasad rachunkowości i dostosowanie ich do europejskich i światowych standardów pozwala na wykorzystanie sprawozdań finansowych jako podstawowych i rzetelnych źródeł informacji, bowiem jak wiemy rachunkowość: • operuje miernikiem pieniężnym dla gromadzenia i prezentacji danych księgowych (o działalności jednostki, jej sytuacji majątkowej i finansowej), • przetwarza informacje o zdarzeniach gospodarczych (generuje sprawozdania, raporty) wykorzystywane w zarządzaniu oraz wypełnianiu obowiązków sprawozdawczych, dlatego też wzrost użyteczności rachunkowości dla potrzeb zarządzania powoduje ewolucję jej zadań i dominację funkcji informacyjnej. Artykuł koncentruje się na teoretycznych rozważaniach, których celem jest przybliżenie specyfiki rachunkowości budżetowej i potwierdzenie tezy, iż prawidłowo działający system rachunkowości zaspokaja potrzeby informacyjne konieczne do podniesienia efektywności i racjonalnego gospodarowania finansami publicznymi.The key element for the public finance management and improvement of the efficiency of financial economy is a book-keeping information database, hence the way and performance of the accounting system are responsible for quick, properly transferred and plausible information. The introduction of uniform principles of accountancy and their adjustment to European and world-wide standards let us use financial reports as basic and reliable information since we know that accounting: • utilizes pecuniary/financial measure for collecting and presenting accounting data (on the activity of the proper unit, its financial situation and assets), • processes information on economic events (produces statements and reports) for management purposes and meeting auditory obligations. this is why the increase of the usability of accounting for the needs of management contributes to the evolution of its tasks and dominance of the informative function. The article concentrates on theoretical considerations which aim to familiarize with the specifics of budget accounting and to corroborate the thesis that the properly working system of accounting meets the informative needs indispensable to increase the efficiency and for the rational management of public finances