Capacities of African-oriented Polish NGOs: a quantitative approach

The aim of the paper is to investigate the capacity of Polish non-governmental organisations implementing development projects in Africa. In drawing on an integrated systemic perspective of capacity that recognises internal and external factors, this paper focuses on internal factors. Using a quantitative approach to operationalise capacity, the study suggests that those non-governmental organisations implementing the Polish development policy in Africa is highly polarised and can be divided in two groups. Whilst the first group comprises two large organisations with long track records and ability to fundraise internationally, the second group consists of smaller NGOs of different capacities and working strategies. Most Polish NGOs operate within independent networks – Catholic and secular ones. The study identifies a research gap related to the lack of comprehensive study of religious organisations’ contribution to development assistance in Africa

Dissociative or psychotic disorders? : stupor in a 23-year old female patient

Stuporowi, czyli osłupieniu objawiającemu się ilościowym zaburzeniem aktywności ruchowej połączonym ze zmniejszoną reakcją na bodźce zewnętrzne i utratą czynności fizjologicznych, często towarzyszy mutyzm. Stupor może być wywołany chorobami psychicznymi, somatycznymi czy różnymi lekami i substancjami toksycznymi. Jest on jednym z objawów katatonii, która najczęściej towarzyszy schizofrenii i zaburzeniom afektywnym. Innym przykładem chorób przebiegających ze stuporem są zaburzenia dysocjacyjne, najczęściej wywołane traumatycznymi przeżyciami z przeszłości. Przedstawiono przypadek 23-letniej pacjentki, przyjętej w stuporze, u której w diagnostyce i leczeniu brano pod uwagę te dwa zaburzenia.The stupor — manifested by quantitative disorder of motor activity, reduced responses to exterior stimuli and loss of physiological functions – is often accompanied by mutism. It may be caused by various mental or somatic disorders, or by different drugs and toxic substances. As one of the symptoms of catatonia, it is usually associated with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Another example of the diseases concurrent with the stupor are dissociative disorders, which are most often caused by the traumatic events of the past. This article presents the case of a 23-year-old female patient, who was admitted to the hospital in stupor. In her diagnosis and treatment these two disorders were taken into account

Dissociative or psychotic disorders? Stupor in a 23-year old female patient

Stuporowi, czyli osłupieniu objawiającemu się ilościowym zaburzeniem aktywności ruchowej połączonym ze zmniejszoną reakcją na bodźce zewnętrzne i utratą czynności fizjologicznych, często towarzyszy mutyzm. Stupor może być wywołany chorobami psychicznymi, somatycznymi czy różnymi lekami i substancjami toksycznymi. Jest on jednym z objawów katatonii, która najczęściej towarzyszy schizofrenii i zaburzeniom afektywnym. Innym przykładem chorób przebiegających ze stuporem są zaburzenia dysocjacyjne, najczęściej wywołane traumatycznymi przeżyciami z przeszłości. Przedstawiono przypadek 23-letniej pacjentki, przyjętej w stuporze, u której w diagnostyce i leczeniu brano pod uwagę te dwa zaburzenia.The stupor — manifested by quantitative disorder of motor activity, reduced responses to exterior stimuli and loss of physiological functions – is often accompanied by mutism. It may be caused by various mental or somatic disorders, or by different drugs and toxic substances. As one of the symptoms of catatonia, it is usually associated with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Another example of the diseases concurrent with the stupor are dissociative disorders, which are most often caused by the traumatic events of the past. This article presents the case of a 23-year-old female patient, who was admitted to the hospital in stupor. In her diagnosis and treatment these two disorders were taken into account

Gene expression profile comparison between bone metastatic and non-metastatic prostate cancer cell lines

Astronauts suffer from cardiovascular deconditioning during space flight where they are exposed to microgravity. Alterations under real and simulated microgravity have been found e.g. in the cytoskeleton and apoptosis in endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs)1, 2. P2 receptors play an important role in a variety of vascular functions of ECs and SMCs. However, the functional role of purinergic signalling in ECs and SMCs under microgravity is still unclear. In this study primary ECs and SMCs were isolated from bovine aorta and characterized using specific markers. Additionally, EC growth medium collected during culture under normal gravity was used as conditioned medium for SMCs and vice versa to mimic a co-culture model. Here we show for the first time that the P2-receptor expression pattern is altered in ECs and SMCs under simulated microgravity achieved by a clinostat. Interestingly, conditioned medium compensated the alterations in the expression of specific P2-receptors. P2X7 was down-regulated in ECs after 24h clinorotation but recovered to the gene and protein expression level found under normal gravity when cultured in conditioned medium from SMCs. Our results showed an altered P2-receptor expression pattern under simulated microgravity. The paracrine effect between ECs and SMCs seems to be an important regulator of cell behaviour under altered gravity conditions. Several artificial P2-receptor ligands are already utilized as drugs. Thus it might be reasonable to consider them for drug development for astronaut treatment of cardiovascular deconditioning in the future

Combined treatment with Sigma1R and A2AR agonists fails to inhibit cocaine self-administration despite causing strong antagonistic accumbal A2AR-D2R complex interactions: the potential role of astrocytes

Previous studies have indicated that acute treatment with the monoamine stabilizer OSU-6162 (5 mg/kg), which has a high affinity for Sigma1R, significantly increased the density of accumbal shell D2R-Sigma1R and A2AR-D2R heteroreceptor complexes following cocaine self-administration. Ex vivo studies using the A2AR agonist CGS21680 also suggested the existence of enhanced antagonistic accumbal A2AR-D2R allosteric interactions after treatment with OSU-6162 during cocaine self-administration. However, a 3-day treatment with OSU-6162 (5 mg/kg) failed to alter the behavioral effects of cocaine self-administration. To test these results and the relevance of OSU-6162 (2.5 mg/kg) and/or A2AR (0.05 mg/kg) agonist interactions, we administered low doses of receptor agonists during cocaine self-administration and assessed their neurochemical and behavioral effects. No effects were observed on cocaine self-administration; however, marked and highly significant increases using the proximity ligation assay (PLA) were induced by the co-treatment on the density of the A2AR-D2R heterocomplexes in the nucleus accumbens shell. Significant decreases in the affinity of the D2R high- and low-affinity agonist binding sites were also observed. Thus, in low doses, the highly significant neurochemical effects observed upon cotreatment with an A2AR agonist and a Sigma1R ligand on the A2AR-D2R heterocomplexes and their enhancement of allosteric inhibition of D2R high-affinity binding are not linked to the modulation of cocaine self-administration. The explanation may be related to an increased release of ATP and adenosine from astrocytes in the nucleus accumbens shell in cocaine self-administration. This can lead to increased activation of the A1R protomer in a putative A1R-A2AR-D2R complex that modulates glutamate release in the presynaptic glutamate synapse. We hypothesized that the integration of changes in presynaptic glutamate release and postjunctional heteroreceptor complex signaling, where D2R plays a key role, result in no changes in the firing of the GABA anti-reward neurons, resulting in no reduction in cocaine self-administration in the present experiments

Many Labs 2: Investigating Variation in Replicability Across Samples and Settings

We conducted preregistered replications of 28 classic and contemporary published findings, with protocols that were peer reviewed in advance, to examine variation in effect magnitudes across samples and settings. Each protocol was administered to approximately half of 125 samples that comprised 15,305 participants from 36 countries and territories. Using the conventional criterion of statistical significance (p < .05), we found that 15 (54%) of the replications provided evidence of a statistically significant effect in the same direction as the original finding. With a strict significance criterion (p < .0001), 14 (50%) of the replications still provided such evidence, a reflection of the extremely highpowered design. Seven (25%) of the replications yielded effect sizes larger than the original ones, and 21 (75%) yielded effect sizes smaller than the original ones. The median comparable Cohen’s ds were 0.60 for the original findings and 0.15 for the replications. The effect sizes were small (< 0.20) in 16 of the replications (57%), and 9 effects (32%) were in the direction opposite the direction of the original effect. Across settings, the Q statistic indicated significant heterogeneity in 11 (39%) of the replication effects, and most of those were among the findings with the largest overall effect sizes; only 1 effect that was near zero in the aggregate showed significant heterogeneity according to this measure. Only 1 effect had a tau value greater than .20, an indication of moderate heterogeneity. Eight others had tau values near or slightly above .10, an indication of slight heterogeneity. Moderation tests indicated that very little heterogeneity was attributable to the order in which the tasks were performed or whether the tasks were administered in lab versus online. Exploratory comparisons revealed little heterogeneity between Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) cultures and less WEIRD cultures (i.e., cultures with relatively high and low WEIRDness scores, respectively). Cumulatively, variability in the observed effect sizes was attributable more to the effect being studied than to the sample or setting in which it was studied.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Sociales::Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas (IIP

Capacities of African-oriented Polish NGOs: a quantitative approach

The aim of the paper is to investigate the capacity of Polish non-governmental organisations implementing development projects in Africa. Drawing on an integrated systemic perspective of capacity that recognises internal and external factors, this paper focuses on internal factors. Using a quantitative approach to operationalise capacity, the study suggests that those non-governmental organisations implementing the Polish development policy in Africa are highly polarised and can be divided in two groups. Whilst the first group comprises two fairly large organisations with long track records and the ability to fundraise internationally, the second group consists of smaller NGOs of different capacities and working strategies. Most Polish NGOs operate within independent networks – Catholic and secular ones. The study identifies a research gap related to the lack of comprehensive study of religious organisations’ contribution to development assistance in Africa

Biofilm Formation by Methicillin-Resistant and Methicillin-Sensitive Staphylococcus aureus Strains from Hospitalized Patients in Poland

Biofilm-mediated infections in the hospital environment have a significant negative impact on patient health. This study aimed to investigate biofilm production in vitro and the presence of icaABCD genes in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) strains isolated from hospitalized patients. MRSA (73) and MSSA (57) strains were evaluated for biofilm production by the microtiter plate method. The presence of ica operon was investigated by PCR. Out of 130 strains, 99.2% were biofilm producers. Strong biofilms were formed by 39.7% of MRSA and 36.8% of MSSA strains. The highest percentage of strong biofilm producers was found among the strains isolated from sputum and tracheostomy tube (66.7%), nose and catheter (50%), throat (44.4%), and bronchoalveolar washings (43.8%). The strains isolated from bronchoalveolar washings produced significantly more biofilm than strains isolated from wound and anus. The ability of biofilm forming by fecal strains was significantly lower compared to strains from other materials. MRSA strains had significantly higher ability of biofilm formation than MSSA strains (P = 0.000247). The presence of ica operon in MRSA was detected in all strains. Comparison of strong biofilm biomass of the strains with icaABCD, icaABD, and icaAD revealed that strains with icaABCD and icaABD produced highly significantly more biofilm than strains with icaAD. Biofilm forming by both MRSA and MSSA strains indicates high ability of theses strains to persist in hospital environment which increases the risk of disease development in hospitalized patients