On the learning of vague languages for syntactic pattern recognition

The method of the learning of vague languages which represent distorted/ambiguous patterns is proposed in the paper. The goal of the method is to infer the quasi-context-sensitive string grammar which is used in our model as the generator of patterns. The method is an important component of the multi-derivational model of the parsing of vague languages used for syntactic pattern recognition

Doctor-patient confidentiality - right and duty of a doctor in law regulations

Physician’s professional secrecy is one of the most important duties of a doctor and should be provided with confidentiality regarding his or her health. Generally speaking, there is no legal definition of "physician’s professional secrecy" in Poland, although this concept already appears in the oath of Hippocrates: ‘I will keep secret anything I see or hear professionally which ought not to be told’. The issue of medical confidentiality (physician’s professional secrecy) has been regulated in several legal acts such as: The Patient Rights and Patients Ombudsman Act, The Constitution of the Republic of Poland, The Medical Profession Act, The Civil Code Act, The Criminal Code Act and Code of Medical Ethics which is not considered as a legal act. The patient has the right to require confidentiality of the information concerning him and the obligation to keep medical confidentiality will apply to every representative of the medical profession, who obtained certain information by various professional activities

Premature termination in couple therapy as a part of therapeutic process. Cross case analysis

Aim of the study: The paper presents the qualitative study of premature termination in couple therapy. The aim of the research was to answer why couples drop-out from couple therapy at the early stage of treatment. Subject: To understand the complexity of this event the researchers decided to examine the phenomenon of early drop-out from three different perspectives, that is: from therapists and both spouses point of view. Methods: The therapists and couples that ended the therapy prematurely were interviewed. Among examined drop-out cases, there were selected three which fulfilled the criteria for early drop–out. Data were analyzed according to the method of cross-case analysis. Results. As a result common categories were singled out which were characteristic for those three cases of drop-out. Discussion: The distinguished categories of ‘the split of the working alliance’ and ‘the split of the therapeutic bond’ show that the conflict which the couple brought to the therapy was reflected in their experience of the therapy and the therapist. Conclusions: Premature termination in couple therapy is a part of therapeutic process

Drop-out in the systemic therapy from the family's perspective

Aim of the study: The problem of premature ending of therapy is a common phenomenon and is taken under consideration as closely related to effectiveness of therapy. The crucial aim of presented study was to investigate how members of a family interpret this phenomenon. Subject and methods: The research was based on interviews with drop-out clients who had participated in systematic couple therapy. The qualitative data was analyzed using the four stages methodology of grounded theory. The program used to code the data was Weft QDA. Results: The result pointed out, that drop-out from therapy is a procesual phenomenon and is connected with: a context of application, a kind of relationship between partners, an assessment of therapy. It was confirmed in the research group that the level of satisfaction from effects of therapy was related to premature termination. Discussion: The research indicated how consequences of drop-out can affect the family system. Conclusions: The high frequency of positive emotions and opinions occurring in drop-out context shows that drop-out phenomenon should not be considered only as a therapeutic failure

Definition of medical error and physicians’ interest in changes in the law

The main purpose of the paper is to discuss the definition of medical error. Moreover, the statistical analysis was aimed at demonstrating at what level is the legal knowledge of the professional group of doctors, in relation to the performed profession. The research group consisted of doctors of different specializations, of different ages, with diverse work experiences, performing their profession in the Lubelskie voivodeship. These were people working on the basis of contract of employment, civil law contracts or individual medical practice, employed in provincial hospitals, clinics, district hospitals, outpatient’s clinics, ambulances or medical centers. The author's questionnaire survey consisted of questions and answers for 298 doctors. Damage resulting from a widely understood medical error can be caused not only by the physician but by all medical staff or due to the organizational failure of the medical establishment. It must be stated with all conviction that the formulation of the concept of medical error is still ongoing and will evolve with the development of medicine as well as the law, which will strive to delineate the framework of its occurrence. The majority of doubts, which results from the obtained research, raises the issue of provision of medical help without the consent of the patient and the right to refuse treatment, but above all, what is quite surprising is the question of accepting gifts from pharmaceutical companies. The most frequently cited reasons influencing the lack of updating legal knowledge in the field of the performed profession were lack of time and a large number of duties, whereas the research group, in order to deepen their knowledge on that matter, most frequently used the Internet resources, industry articles, and on the third place was the training related to the subject matter of the medical law

The grieving process after child loss from the perspective of the continuing bonds theory : a systematic case study

The authors present the grief of a mother after the loss of her child. This case study is an illustration of the research problem of the mourning process from the perspective of the continuing bonds theory and the ability to mentalize. According to the theory, the bond with the deceased is initially manifested by a strong need for physical closeness, stress associated with separation and a psychological protest that evolves over time into despair. In the situation of a proper mourning process, the people who experience the loss move on to the reorganization phase, consisting in the establishment of a psychological bond. Therefore, the aim of the research analysis was to determine which topics related to the description of death and experiencing grief refer to physical, specific ways of coping (characteristic of the first stages of mourning), and which refer to mental states indicating the reorganization of the experience of loss. This case study is part of a larger project investigating parents after their child’s death.Autorki opisują przeżycia matki związane z żałobą po stracie dziecka. Opis przypadku jest ilustracją problemu badawczego, jakim jest proces żałoby z perspektywy teorii kontynuowania więzi oraz zdolności do mentalizacji. Zgodnie z teorią kontynuowania więzi, więź ze zmarłym jest początkowo manifestowana silną potrzebą fizycznej bliskości, stresem związanym z separacją oraz psychologicznym protestem przekształcającym się z czasem w rozpacz. W sytuacji prawidłowego przebiegu procesu żałoby osoby przeżywające utratę przechodzą do fazy reorganizacji polegającej na ustanowieniu więzi psychologicznej. Dlatego celem analizy badawczej było ustalenie, które poruszane tematy związane z opisem śmierci i przeżywaniem żałoby odnoszą się do fizycznych, konkretnych sposobów radzenia sobie (charakterystycznych dla pierwszych etapów żałoby), a które do stanów mentalnych wskazujących na reorganizację doświadczenia straty. Prezentowany opis przypadku jest częścią szerszego projektu badań rodziców po śmierci dziecka

Family context of decisions on the deceased relative's organ donation : research review

Autorzy artykułu przedstawiają psychologiczne i kulturowe czynniki wpływające na rodzinę osoby zmarłej, w sytuacji rozmowy o pobraniu organów od ich krewnego. Ukazują również perspektywę personelu medycznego jako ważny element kontekstu tej rozmowy. Odnoszą się także do uregulowań prawnych i sytuacji rodzin dawców w PolsceThe authors present a critical review of perspectives on organ donation postmortem. The review contains cultural and family determinants of organ donation decisions and health-care personnel life saving issues, i.e. those who contacts with donor families directly as well. The important part of this article is also the feeling of loss of the patient during the operation and the medical staff opinions on transplantation. The way of talking with families about donation after death of their relatives and the personnel’s attitudes present during contact are very significant factors in the decision process. Research on the meaning of mourning seems to be fundamental in understanding how difficult it is to make a decision too

Awareness of cervical cancer prevention among patients of gynecological outpatient clinic

Abstract Introduction: Improvement of cervical cancer statistics in Poland is believed to be one of the main goals of all medical services. Cervical cancer is an easily preventable neoplasm thus effective strategies for its prophylaxis should be proposed and introduced to the whole population of Polish citizens. Objectives: The aim of the study was to measure the extent of knowledge of females about cervical cancer and its prevention. Material and methods: 250 female patients of gynecological clinic at the Medical Centre in Krakow, Poland, aged 18-60, were included into the retrospective study. The research was based on an original questionnaire designed by the authors containing questions concerning general socio-epidemiological status, as well as cervical cancer epidemiology and HPV infection prevention methods. Results: The majority of respondents (68%) rated their knowledge on cervical cancer prevention strategies as medium. The main sources of information on that prophylaxis were: women’s magazines (59% of respondents), media (47%) and Internet (38%). Additionally, only one in three women acquired that information from gynecologist. The main reason for performing the Pap smear test was the request of the respondent (43% of cases). Only 3% of them attended the test as a result of a personal invitation sent by National Health Service. The main reasons for not attending Pap smear test were: fear of pain (39%), lack of any symptoms (18%), carelessness (15%) and embarrassment (12%). Conclusions: 1. Knowledge on HPV infections and cervical cancer prevention among women attending gynecological outpatient clinic is insufficient. 2. Education, especially in the field of cervical cancer main risk factors as well as the course of pap smear collection, seems to be necessary in order to reduce the cervical cancer morbidity and the fear of performing pap smear tests

Genetic polymorphisms in DNA base excision repair gene XRCC1 and the risk of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The genes of base excision repair (BER) pathway have been extensively studied in the association with various human cancers. We performed a case-control study to test the association between two common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of <it>XRCC1 </it>gene with human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The genotype analysis of Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln gene polymorphisms for 92 HNSCC patients and 124 controls of cancer free subjects, in Polish population were performed using the PCR-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) with endonuclease <it>Msp</it>I.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No altered risk has been found individually for these SNPs, however haplotypes analysis showed high association with head and neck cancer. The highest frequency, according to wild-type of Arg194Arg and Arg399Arg genotypes, was identified for Arg194Trp-Arg399Arg haplotype (OR, 2.96; 95% CI, 1.01–8.80).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Finally, we identified the combined Arg194Trp-Arg399Arg genotype of base excision repair gene <it>XRCC1 </it>that was associated with HNSCC and may have an impact on identification of a high-risk cancer population.</p

Risk of left atrial appendage thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation and chronic kidney disease

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with an increased risk of ischemic stroke. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics, the incidence of left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus and its predictors, and spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) in a population of patients with AF depending on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) values. Methods: This study included 1962 patients who underwent transesophageal echocardiographic examination (TEE) prior to cardioversion or ablation in the years 2014–2018 in three cardiac centers. Results: More than a quarter of AF patients had decreased eGFR ( &lt; 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) and were characterized as a high-risk population, with more comorbidities, higher thromboembolic and bleeding risk compared to those with normal renal function. Oral anticoagulation (OAC) was prescribed in 97% and 93% of patients with decreased and normal eGFR, respectively, with a higher prevalence of prescribed non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs). The incidence of LAA thrombus (24%, 9% and 4%) and SEC (25%, 25% and 19%) increases simultaneously with a decrease in eGFR ( &lt; 30, 30–59 and &gt; 60 mL/min/1.73 m2, respectively). Among patients prescribed reduced doses of NOAC, those with decreased eGFR were more often observed with LAA thrombus (10% vs. 2.5%). Non-paroxysmal AF, heart failure and previous bleeding were predictors of LAA thrombus, irrespective of eGFR value. CKD was the predictor of LAA thrombus in all patients including those with non-paroxysmal AF, males, without diabetes, without hypertension and with CHA2DS2-VASc &lt; 2. Conclusions: Despite OAC, patients with concomitant AF and CKD remain at high risk for LAA thrombus formation