Emigration From Post-Communist Central Europe After 1989 Interpreted Within the Aspirations/Capabilities Framework

In the period of post-communist transition, Central Europe witnessed complex and multifaceted mobility processes; permanent outmigration, of an ethnic or labour-related nature, coexisted with temporary, seasonal, or cross-border movements and an increasing influx of foreigners. To study these complex processes, we have chosen to apply a holistic and comprehensive approach, rather than limit conceptual considerations to one theory of migration determinants. We focus on eleven post-communist countries that joined the European Union (EU-11) and on the period extending from around 1989, covering the EU's eastward enlargement, to the present. The aim of this study is twofold: first, we propose a general conceptual framework, based on the aspirations/capabilities approach, to present the main determinants of emigration from this part of the European continent. Second, in relation to each determinant, we formulate research questions postulated by selected theories of international migration and present the evidence, based on existing empirical studies, that addresses these questions. The paper contributes to the literature by providing a broad interpretation of post-transition mobility and pointing to commonly overlooked explanatory factors. We highlight the importance of economic factors that have enhanced and directed the outward migration from the EU-11 to selected EU member states and selected economic sectors; in particular, as regards capabilities, these factors include the lifting of labour market restrictions, high demand in the secondary sector of labour markets, and the roles of migration networks and the migration industry. Emphasis is also placed on aspirational factors, such as labour market failures and the substantial aspirational gap resulting from improvements in high educational attainment in the countries of origin. The aspirations/capabilities approach serves well as a general framework of migration determinants, but its explanatory power is enhanced by reference to other, more specific theories of migration. We show that a combination of the complementary approaches provides a more refined and in-depth picture of migration from the region

BIOMASS ENERGY PLANTATIONS TOGETHER WITH SLUDGE AND SEWAGE UTILIZATION AS A FACTOR OF SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEYELOPMENT

EU targets on increasing the share of renewable energy in total energy generation from the present 7% to 12% in 2010 reąuires an additional annual production of 53 million tons of wood by 2010 (if the present trend is continued only 10 million additional tons will be produced annually). Europe’s common agricultural policy [CAP, 2004] is shifting towards development and diversification of economic activities, enabling multiple activities and alternative income. These two goals can bereached by biomass production on short rotation plantations (SRPs). Biomass cultivated in order to generate energy, can be used in a wide variety of biomass conversion products and processes, which fali into four major categories: combustion, gasification, hydrolysis and fermentation, which can produce electricity, heat, combined heat and power and ethanol, respectively [Ciechanowicz, 2003; Szlachta, 2005; Nowicki, 2003], The economic advantages of using SRPs for energy production are also very important eg. decreased emissions of CO2 into the atmosphere [Karaczun and Kassenberg, 2001]

Rola brzozy w wierzeniach ludowych oraz w medycynie ludowej i współczesnej fitoterapii

The article presents ways of using herbal materials obtained from the genus Betulae: leaf (Betulae folium), bark (Betulae cortex), birch buds (Betulae gemmae), charcoal (Betulae carbo), tar (Betulae pix), xylitol, sap (Betulae succus), as well as birch sap, i.e sap, secreted from the tree trunk, and fungi: chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) and birch polypore (Piptoporus betulinus). The article also includes a description of their significance in folk beliefs, and the role they played in folk herbalism. Based on the review of selected scientific publications, the effectiveness of therapies used over the centuries, and the healing effects of the above-mentioned raw materials – were confirmed. At the same time, it was shown that contemporary research projects and scientific experiments, are looking for new applications for them, e.g. by combining active substances and combination therapies with synthetic drugs.W artykule przedstawiono sposoby wykorzystywania surowców zielarskich pozyskiwanych z rodzaju Betulae: liść (Betulae folium), korę (Betulae cortex), pączki brzozowe (Betulae gemmae), węgiel drzewny (Betulae carbo), dziegieć (Betulae pix), ksylitol, sok (Betulae succus), a także oskołę, czyli sok wydzielający się z pnia oraz grzyby: błyskoporek podkorowy (Inonotus obliquus) i białoporek brzozowy (Piptoporus betulinus). Opisano ich znaczenie w wierzeniach ludowych oraz rolę jaką odgrywały w ziołolecznictwie ludowym. Na podstawie przeglądu wybranych publikacji naukowych potwierdzono skuteczność terapii stosowanych na przestrzeni wieków oraz lecznicze działanie wspomnianych surowców. Jednocześnie wykazano, iż współczesne projekty badawcze i eksperymenty naukowe poszukują dla nich nowych zastosowań np. poprzez łączenie substancji aktywnych i terapie skojarzone z lekami syntetycznymi

First insight into microbiome profile of fungivorous thrips Hoplothrips carpathicus (Insecta : thysanoptera) at different developmental stages : molecular evidence of Wolbachia endosymbiosis

Insects’ exoskeleton, gut, hemocoel, and cells are colonized by various microorganisms that often play important roles in their host life. Moreover, insects are frequently infected by vertically transmitted symbionts that can manipulate their reproduction. The aims of this study were the characterization of bacterial communities of four developmental stages of the fungivorous species Hoplothrips carpathicus (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), verification of the presence of Wolbachia, in silico prediction of metabolic potentials of the microorganisms, and sequencing its mitochondrial COI barcode. Taxonomy-based analysis indicated that the bacterial community of H. carpathicus contained 21 bacterial phyla. The most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacterioidetes and Firmicutes, and the most abundant classes were Alphaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria, with different proportions in the total share. For pupa and imago (adult) the most abundant genus was Wolbachia, which comprised 69.95% and 56.11% of total bacterial population respectively. Moreover, similarity analysis of bacterial communities showed that changes in microbiome composition are congruent with the successive stages of H. carpathicus development. PICRUSt analysis predicted that each bacterial community should be rich in genes involved in membrane transport, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, replication and repair processes

Mol-CycleGAN: a generative model for molecular optimization

Designing a molecule with desired properties is one of the biggest challenges in drug development, as it requires optimization of chemical compound structures with respect to many complex properties. To improve the compound design process, we introduce Mol-CycleGAN—a CycleGAN-based model that generates optimized compounds with high structural similarity to the original ones. Namely, given a molecule our model generates a structurally similar one with an optimized value of the considered property. We evaluate the performance of the model on selected optimization objectives related to structural properties (presence of halogen groups, number of aromatic rings) and to a physicochemical property (penalized logP). In the task of optimization of penalized logP of drug-like molecules our model significantly outperforms previous results

Time-Dependent Changes of Plasma Concentrations of Angiopoietins, Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, and Soluble Forms of Their Receptors in Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer Patients Following Surgical Resection

Even when patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer undergo surgical resection at an early stage, recurrent disease often impairs the clinical outcome. There are numerous causes potentially responsible for a relapse of the disease, one of them being extensive angiogenesis. The balance of at least two systems, VEGF VEGFR and Ang Tie, regulates vessel formation. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of surgery on the plasma levels of the main angiogenic factors during the first month after surgery in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients. The study group consisted of 37 patients with stage I nonsmall cell lung cancer. Plasma concentrations of Ang1, Ang2, sTie2, VEGF, and sVEGF R1 were evaluated by ELISA three times: before surgical resection and on postoperative days 7 and 30. The median of Ang2 and VEGF concentrations increased on postoperative day 7 and decreased on day 30. On the other hand, the concentration of sTie2 decreased on the 7th day after resection and did not change statistically later on. The concentrations of Ang1 and sVEGF R1 did not change after the surgery. Lung cancer resection results in proangiogenic plasma protein changes that may stimulate tumor recurrences and metastases after early resection

Quantitative RT-PCR based platform for rapid quantification of the transcripts of highly homologous multigene families and their members during grain development

BACKGROUND: Cereal storage proteins represent one of the most important sources of protein for food and feed and they are coded by multigene families. The expression of the storage protein genes exhibits a temporal fluctuation but also a response to environmental stimuli. Analysis of temporal gene expression combined with genetic variation in large multigene families with high homology among the alleles is very challenging. RESULTS: We designed a rapid qRT-PCR system with the aim of characterising the variation in the expression of hordein genes families. All the known D-, C-, B-, and γ-hordein sequences coding full length open reading frames were collected from commonly available databases. Phylogenetic analysis was performed and the members of the different hordein families were classified into subfamilies. Primer sets were designed to discriminate the gene expression level of whole families, subfamilies or individual members. The specificity of the primer sets was validated before successfully applying them to a cDNA population derived from developing grains of field grown Hordeum vulgare cv. Barke. The results quantify the number of moles of transcript contributed to a particular gene family and its subgroups. More over the results indicate the genotypic specific gene expression. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative RT-PCR with SYBR Green labelling can be a useful technique to follow gene expression levels of large gene families with highly homologues members. We showed variation in the temporal expression of genes coding for barley storage proteins. The results imply that our rapid qRT-PCR system was sensitive enough to identify the presence of alleles and their expression profiles. It can be used to check the temporal fluctuations in hordein expressions or to find differences in their response to environmental stimuli. The method could be extended for cultivar recognition as some of the sequences from the database originated from cv. Golden Promise were not expressed in the studied barley cultivar Barke although showed primer specificity with their cloned DNA sequences

Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms Predispose to Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Severity of the Disease in Polish Population

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic cholestatic liver condition characterized by the immune-mediated damage of the intrahepatic bile ducts. Polymorphisms of vitamin D receptor (VDR) are considered to contribute to its pathogenesis however their incidence varies in different populations and their potential association with the course of the disease has not been studied. In this paper we investigated the incidence and correlation of three VDR polymorphisms (BsmI, ApaI or TaqI) with various clinical, biochemical, and serological factors in a homogenous group of 143 Caucasian patients with PBC. Control group comprises 306 DNA samples from umbilical cord blood of healthy newborn children. When compared to controls, we observed a significant dominance of the b allele in the BsmI (OR = 1.69 [1.27–2.24]; P = 0.0003) and t allele in the TaqI (OR = 0.62 [0.47–0.82], P = 0.0001) in patients with PBC. Moreover the BsmI and TaqI polymorphisms were associated with the presence of advanced fibrosis/liver cirrhosis at the diagnosis of PBC. Pairwise linkage disequilibrium (LD) calculations proved that the analyzed SNPs are within an LD block (100% of LDs were D'>0.9). Our study showed, for the first time, that the analyzed polymorphisms of VRD may exert an effect on a natural history of PBC

Evaluation of quality of life in women with breast cancer, with particular emphasis on sexual satisfaction, future perspectives and body image, depending on the method of surgery

Introduction. Both because of the large number of women undergoing surgery and a high cure rates, psychological rehabilitation of the consequences of breast cancer and side effects of their treatment is a major challenge of modern psycho-oncology. Aim. The study analyzed the quality of life in women with breast cancer, with particular emphasis on indicators of sexual satisfaction, future perspectives and body image, depending on the method of surgery. Method. The study included 42 women aged 35–70 years, 3 months after surgery due to early breast cancer, treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. The following research tools were used in the study: two EORTC questionnaires: QLQ-C30, BR23, and sexual function questionnaire: PL-FSFI. Results. There was no significant difference in the overall quality of life, depending on the type of surgery. The greatest local complaints were reported by patients after breast conserving surgery (BCT) with axillary lymphadenectomy. A higher level of cognitive functioning but a greater severity of systemic side effects was found in women undergoing mastectomy compared to BCT-patients. Women who underwent surgery of the right breast reported increased problems in sexual functioning (p = 0.034). Multiple regression analysis showed a positive correlation of the emotional functioning variable with the assessment of future perspectives (p = 0.01) and body image (p = 0.007). Conclusions. The type of surgical technique does not affect the overall quality of life and sexual satisfaction. Problems with memory and attention do not correlate directly with the side effects, and as such require an independent diagnostics. Women undergoing treatment of the dominant-side breast should be the candidates for sexology consultation. There is a risk of disturbances in the body image and in the assessment of future perspectives in patients with emotional disorders observed within 3 months after surgery