Two new species of Tardigrada from moss cushions (Grimmia sp.) in a xerothermic habitat in northeast Tennessee (USA, North America), with the first identification of males in the genus Viridiscus

Background. The phylum Tardigrada consists of over 1,300 species that inhabit terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments throughout the world. In terrestrial habitats they live primarily in mosses, lichens, leaf litter and soil, whereas tardigrades in freshwater and marine environments are mainly found in sediments and on aquatic plants. More than 65 species have been previously reported in the state of Tennessee, USA. Methods. Tardigrades present in moss cushions (Grimmia sp.) collected from a xerothermic habitat on the East Tennessee State University campus, Johnson City, TN, USA, were extracted, mounted on slides, identified, and counted. Additional samples of fresh dried moss were used for integrative analyses, including morphological analysis with phase contrast (PCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as molecular analyses of COI, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and ITS-2 of the Macrobiotus and Milnesium species. Results. Five species were found, including two species new to science: Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. and Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. differs from other members of the genus mainly by having a different type of dorsal cuticle and some other, more subtle, morphometric characters. In addition to the two new species, Viridiscus perviridis and Viridiscus viridissimus were present, and males of Vir. viridissimus were found for the first time, the first record of males in the genus Viridiscus. Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. is most similar to Macrobiotus nelsonae, but it differs from Mac. nelsonae mainly by the stylet supports being situated in a more anterior position, shorter and narrower egg processes, and a smaller number of areoles around the egg processes. Moreover, the identification of Milnesium inceptum was confirmed as the first record for the USA by analysis of COI

Two New Species of Tardigrada From Moss Cushions (Grimmia sp.) in a Xerothermic Habitat in Northeast Tennessee (USA, North America), With the First Identification of Males in the genus Viridiscus

Background. The phylum Tardigrada consists of over 1,300 species that inhabit terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments throughout the world. In terrestrial habitats they live primarily in mosses, lichens, leaf litter and soil, whereas tardigrades in freshwater and marine environments are mainly found in sediments and on aquatic plants. More than 65 species have been previously reported in the state of Tennessee, USA. Methods. Tardigrades present in moss cushions (Grimmia sp.) collected from a xerothermic habitat on the East Tennessee State University campus, Johnson City, TN, USA, were extracted, mounted on slides, identified, and counted. Additional samples of fresh dried moss were used for integrative analyses, including morphological analysis with phase contrast (PCM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as molecular analyses of COI, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, and ITS-2 of the Macrobiotus and Milnesium species. Results. Five species were found, including two species new to science: Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. and Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. Viridiscus miraviridis sp. nov. differs from other members of the genus mainly by having a different type of dorsal cuticle and some other, more subtle, morphometric characters. In addition to the two new species, Viridiscus perviridis and Viridiscus viridissimus were present, and males of Vir. viridissimus were found for the first time, the first record of males in the genus Viridiscus. Macrobiotus basiatus sp. nov. is most similar to Macrobiotus nelsonae, but it differs from Mac. nelsonae mainly by the stylet supports being situated in a more anterior position, shorter and narrower egg processes, and a smaller number of areoles around the egg processes. Moreover, the identification of Milnesium inceptum was confirmed as the first record for the USA by analysis of COI

Concordance between coronary computed tomography angiography and coronary angiography in assessing the significance of coronary artery stenosis in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease

Wstęp. Choroba wieńcowa jest jednym z najczęściej występujących problemów kardiologicznych zarówno w Polsce, jak i na świecie. W przypadku wielonaczyniowej choroby wieńcowej (MVD) kwestia dalszego postępowania i leczenia jest jeszcze bardziej skomplikowana. Nieinwazyjne metody obrazowania są powszechnie stosowane w diagnozowaniu choroby wieńcowej. Celem niniejszej pracy była analiza porównawcza wyników tomografii komputerowej tętnic wieńcowych (CCTA) i koronarografii w odniesieniu do zmiennych demograficznych i klinicznych u pacjentów z MVD. Materiał i metody. Badanie przeprowadzono u 106 pacjentów z MVD hospitalizowanych w Klinice Kardiologii Centralnego Szpitala Klinicznego w Łodzi. Analizie poddano dostępne wyniki CCTA i koronarografii, porównując wyniki pod kątem istotności zwężeń w tętnicach wieńcowych w obu badaniach. Przeprowadzono również charakterystykę demograficzną oraz kliniczną analizowanej grupy pacjentów. Wyniki. Znaczną większość pacjentów stanowili mężczyźni (n = 69,8%). Średnia wieku pacjentów wynosiła 69,42 ± 8,28 lat. Czynniki ryzyka choroby wieńcowej były rozpowszechnione w dużym stopniu w badanej populacji. Całościowa zgodność w ocenie istotności zwężeń w tętnicach wieńcowych w badaniu CCTA w porównaniu z koronarografią wynosiła 73% (κ = 0,47). Największa zgodność w ocenie dotyczyła pnia lewej tętnicy wieńcowej 78% (κ = 0,5), a najmniejsza — gałęzi okalającej 69% (κ = 0,34). Wnioski. U pacjentów z MVD występuje umiarkowana zgodność pomiędzy opisem istotności zwężeń w tętnicach wieńcowych w badaniu CCTA w porównaniu do koronarografii. Tomografia komputerowa tętnic wieńcowych, jako metoda nieinwazyjna, jest jednym z narzędzi w początkowej diagnostyce przy podejrzeniu choroby wieńcowej. Czynniki ryzyka choroby wieńcowej są szeroko rozpowszechnione i stanowią istotny problem w analizowanej populacji pacjentów.Introduction. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the most common cardiovascular problems in Poland and worldwide. In the case of multivessel coronary artery disease (MVD), the matter of further management and treatment is even more complicated. The non-invasive diagnostic methods are commonly used in the initial diagnostics of CAD. The following study aimed to perform a comparative analysis of the results of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) and coronary angiography in relation to the demographic and clinical variables in patients with MVD. Material and methods. The study was performed on 106 patients with MVD hospitalised in the Cardiology Department of the Central Clinical Hospital in Lodz. The available results of CCTA and coronary angiography were analysed and compared with regard to the significance of coronary artery stenosis in both examinations. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the analysed group of patients were also performed. Results. The vast majority of the participants were male (n = 69.8%). The average age of the patients was 69.42 ± 8.28 years. Coronary artery disease risk factors were highly prevalent in the study population. The overall concordance in the assessment of the significance of coronary artery stenosis by coronary computed tomography angiography compared with coronary angiography was 73% (κ = 0.47). The highest concordance in the assessment was noted for the left main coronary artery 78% (κ = 0.5) and the lowest for the circumflex branch 69% (κ = 0.34). Conclusions. In patients with MVD, there is a moderate concordance between the description of the significance of coronary artery stenosis in CCTA compared to coronary angiography. Coronary computed tomography angiography as a non-invasive imaging is one of the methods in the initial diagnostics of a suspected CAD. The risk factors of CAD are widespread and represent a significant problem in the analysed patient population

Human Practice. Digital Ecologies. Our Future. : 14. Internationale Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2019) : Tagungsband

Erschienen bei: universi - Universitätsverlag Siegen. - ISBN: 978-3-96182-063-4Aus dem Inhalt: Track 1: Produktion & Cyber-Physische Systeme Requirements and a Meta Model for Exchanging Additive Manufacturing Capacities Service Systems, Smart Service Systems and Cyber- Physical Systems—What’s the difference? Towards a Unified Terminology Developing an Industrial IoT Platform – Trade-off between Horizontal and Vertical Approaches Machine Learning und Complex Event Processing: Effiziente Echtzeitauswertung am Beispiel Smart Factory Sensor retrofit for a coffee machine as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance use case Stakeholder-Analyse zum Einsatz IIoT-basierter Frischeinformationen in der Lebensmittelindustrie Towards a Framework for Predictive Maintenance Strategies in Mechanical Engineering - A Method-Oriented Literature Analysis Development of a matching platform for the requirement-oriented selection of cyber physical systems for SMEs Track 2: Logistic Analytics An Empirical Study of Customers’ Behavioral Intention to Use Ridepooling Services – An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model Modeling Delay Propagation and Transmission in Railway Networks What is the impact of company specific adjustments on the acceptance and diffusion of logistic standards? Robust Route Planning in Intermodal Urban Traffic Track 3: Unternehmensmodellierung & Informationssystemgestaltung (Enterprise Modelling & Information Systems Design) Work System Modeling Method with Different Levels of Specificity and Rigor for Different Stakeholder Purposes Resolving Inconsistencies in Declarative Process Models based on Culpability Measurement Strategic Analysis in the Realm of Enterprise Modeling – On the Example of Blockchain-Based Initiatives for the Electricity Sector Zwischenbetriebliche Integration in der Möbelbranche: Konfigurationen und Einflussfaktoren Novices’ Quality Perceptions and the Acceptance of Process Modeling Grammars Entwicklung einer Definition für Social Business Objects (SBO) zur Modellierung von Unternehmensinformationen Designing a Reference Model for Digital Product Configurators Terminology for Evolving Design Artifacts Business Role-Object Specification: A Language for Behavior-aware Structural Modeling of Business Objects Generating Smart Glasses-based Information Systems with BPMN4SGA: A BPMN Extension for Smart Glasses Applications Using Blockchain in Peer-to-Peer Carsharing to Build Trust in the Sharing Economy Testing in Big Data: An Architecture Pattern for a Development Environment for Innovative, Integrated and Robust Applications Track 4: Lern- und Wissensmanagement (e-Learning and Knowledge Management) eGovernment Competences revisited – A Literature Review on necessary Competences in a Digitalized Public Sector Say Hello to Your New Automated Tutor – A Structured Literature Review on Pedagogical Conversational Agents Teaching the Digital Transformation of Business Processes: Design of a Simulation Game for Information Systems Education Conceptualizing Immersion for Individual Learning in Virtual Reality Designing a Flipped Classroom Course – a Process Model The Influence of Risk-Taking on Knowledge Exchange and Combination Gamified Feedback durch Avatare im Mobile Learning Alexa, Can You Help Me Solve That Problem? - Understanding the Value of Smart Personal Assistants as Tutors for Complex Problem Tasks Track 5: Data Science & Business Analytics Matching with Bundle Preferences: Tradeoff between Fairness and Truthfulness Applied image recognition: guidelines for using deep learning models in practice Yield Prognosis for the Agrarian Management of Vineyards using Deep Learning for Object Counting Reading Between the Lines of Qualitative Data – How to Detect Hidden Structure Based on Codes Online Auctions with Dual-Threshold Algorithms: An Experimental Study and Practical Evaluation Design Features of Non-Financial Reward Programs for Online Reviews: Evaluation based on Google Maps Data Topic Embeddings – A New Approach to Classify Very Short Documents Based on Predefined Topics Leveraging Unstructured Image Data for Product Quality Improvement Decision Support for Real Estate Investors: Improving Real Estate Valuation with 3D City Models and Points of Interest Knowledge Discovery from CVs: A Topic Modeling Procedure Online Product Descriptions – Boost for your Sales? Entscheidungsunterstützung durch historienbasierte Dienstreihenfolgeplanung mit Pattern A Semi-Automated Approach for Generating Online Review Templates Machine Learning goes Measure Management: Leveraging Anomaly Detection and Parts Search to Improve Product-Cost Optimization Bedeutung von Predictive Analytics für den theoretischen Erkenntnisgewinn in der IS-Forschung Track 6: Digitale Transformation und Dienstleistungen Heuristic Theorizing in Software Development: Deriving Design Principles for Smart Glasses-based Systems Mirroring E-service for Brick and Mortar Retail: An Assessment and Survey Taxonomy of Digital Platforms: A Platform Architecture Perspective Value of Star Players in the Digital Age Local Shopping Platforms – Harnessing Locational Advantages for the Digital Transformation of Local Retail Outlets: A Content Analysis A Socio-Technical Approach to Manage Analytics-as-a-Service – Results of an Action Design Research Project Characterizing Approaches to Digital Transformation: Development of a Taxonomy of Digital Units Expectations vs. Reality – Benefits of Smart Services in the Field of Tension between Industry and Science Innovation Networks and Digital Innovation: How Organizations Use Innovation Networks in a Digitized Environment Characterising Social Reading Platforms— A Taxonomy-Based Approach to Structure the Field Less Complex than Expected – What Really Drives IT Consulting Value Modularity Canvas – A Framework for Visualizing Potentials of Service Modularity Towards a Conceptualization of Capabilities for Innovating Business Models in the Industrial Internet of Things A Taxonomy of Barriers to Digital Transformation Ambidexterity in Service Innovation Research: A Systematic Literature Review Design and success factors of an online solution for cross-pillar pension information Track 7: IT-Management und -Strategie A Frugal Support Structure for New Software Implementations in SMEs How to Structure a Company-wide Adoption of Big Data Analytics The Changing Roles of Innovation Actors and Organizational Antecedents in the Digital Age Bewertung des Kundennutzens von Chatbots für den Einsatz im Servicedesk Understanding the Benefits of Agile Software Development in Regulated Environments Are Employees Following the Rules? On the Effectiveness of IT Consumerization Policies Agile and Attached: The Impact of Agile Practices on Agile Team Members’ Affective Organisational Commitment The Complexity Trap – Limits of IT Flexibility for Supporting Organizational Agility in Decentralized Organizations Platform Openness: A Systematic Literature Review and Avenues for Future Research Competence, Fashion and the Case of Blockchain The Digital Platform Otto.de: A Case Study of Growth, Complexity, and Generativity Track 8: eHealth & alternde Gesellschaft Security and Privacy of Personal Health Records in Cloud Computing Environments – An Experimental Exploration of the Impact of Storage Solutions and Data Breaches Patientenintegration durch Pfadsysteme Digitalisierung in der Stressprävention – eine qualitative Interviewstudie zu Nutzenpotenzialen User Dynamics in Mental Health Forums – A Sentiment Analysis Perspective Intent and the Use of Wearables in the Workplace – A Model Development Understanding Patient Pathways in the Context of Integrated Health Care Services - Implications from a Scoping Review Understanding the Habitual Use of Wearable Activity Trackers On the Fit in Fitness Apps: Studying the Interaction of Motivational Affordances and Users’ Goal Orientations in Affecting the Benefits Gained Gamification in Health Behavior Change Support Systems - A Synthesis of Unintended Side Effects Investigating the Influence of Information Incongruity on Trust-Relations within Trilateral Healthcare Settings Track 9: Krisen- und Kontinuitätsmanagement Potentiale von IKT beim Ausfall kritischer Infrastrukturen: Erwartungen, Informationsgewinnung und Mediennutzung der Zivilbevölkerung in Deutschland Fake News Perception in Germany: A Representative Study of People’s Attitudes and Approaches to Counteract Disinformation Analyzing the Potential of Graphical Building Information for Fire Emergency Responses: Findings from a Controlled Experiment Track 10: Human-Computer Interaction Towards a Taxonomy of Platforms for Conversational Agent Design Measuring Service Encounter Satisfaction with Customer Service Chatbots using Sentiment Analysis Self-Tracking and Gamification: Analyzing the Interplay of Motivations, Usage and Motivation Fulfillment Erfolgsfaktoren von Augmented-Reality-Applikationen: Analyse von Nutzerrezensionen mit dem Review-Mining-Verfahren Designing Dynamic Decision Support for Electronic Requirements Negotiations Who is Stressed by Using ICTs? A Qualitative Comparison Analysis with the Big Five Personality Traits to Understand Technostress Walking the Middle Path: How Medium Trade-Off Exposure Leads to Higher Consumer Satisfaction in Recommender Agents Theory-Based Affordances of Utilitarian, Hedonic and Dual-Purposed Technologies: A Literature Review Eliciting Customer Preferences for Shopping Companion Apps: A Service Quality Approach The Role of Early User Participation in Discovering Software – A Case Study from the Context of Smart Glasses The Fluidity of the Self-Concept as a Framework to Explain the Motivation to Play Video Games Heart over Heels? An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Emotions and Review Helpfulness for Experience and Credence Goods Track 11: Information Security and Information Privacy Unfolding Concerns about Augmented Reality Technologies: A Qualitative Analysis of User Perceptions To (Psychologically) Own Data is to Protect Data: How Psychological Ownership Determines Protective Behavior in a Work and Private Context Understanding Data Protection Regulations from a Data Management Perspective: A Capability-Based Approach to EU-GDPR On the Difficulties of Incentivizing Online Privacy through Transparency: A Qualitative Survey of the German Health Insurance Market What is Your Selfie Worth? A Field Study on Individuals’ Valuation of Personal Data Justification of Mass Surveillance: A Quantitative Study An Exploratory Study of Risk Perception for Data Disclosure to a Network of Firms Track 12: Umweltinformatik und nachhaltiges Wirtschaften Kommunikationsfäden im Nadelöhr – Fachliche Prozessmodellierung der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation am Kapitalmarkt Potentiale und Herausforderungen der Materialflusskostenrechnung Computing Incentives for User-Based Relocation in Carsharing Sustainability’s Coming Home: Preliminary Design Principles for the Sustainable Smart District Substitution of hazardous chemical substances using Deep Learning and t-SNE A Hierarchy of DSMLs in Support of Product Life-Cycle Assessment A Survey of Smart Energy Services for Private Households Door-to-Door Mobility Integrators as Keystone Organizations of Smart Ecosystems: Resources and Value Co-Creation – A Literature Review Ein Entscheidungsunterstützungssystem zur ökonomischen Bewertung von Mieterstrom auf Basis der Clusteranalyse Discovering Blockchain for Sustainable Product-Service Systems to enhance the Circular Economy Digitale Rückverfolgbarkeit von Lebensmitteln: Eine verbraucherinformatische Studie Umweltbewusstsein durch audiovisuelles Content Marketing? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Konsumentenbewertung nachhaltiger Smartphones Towards Predictive Energy Management in Information Systems: A Research Proposal A Web Browser-Based Application for Processing and Analyzing Material Flow Models using the MFCA Methodology Track 13: Digital Work - Social, mobile, smart On Conversational Agents in Information Systems Research: Analyzing the Past to Guide Future Work The Potential of Augmented Reality for Improving Occupational First Aid Prevent a Vicious Circle! The Role of Organizational IT-Capability in Attracting IT-affine Applicants Good, Bad, or Both? Conceptualization and Measurement of Ambivalent User Attitudes Towards AI A Case Study on Cross-Hierarchical Communication in Digital Work Environments ‘Show Me Your People Skills’ - Employing CEO Branding for Corporate Reputation Management in Social Media A Multiorganisational Study of the Drivers and Barriers of Enterprise Collaboration Systems-Enabled Change The More the Merrier? The Effect of Size of Core Team Subgroups on Success of Open Source Projects The Impact of Anthropomorphic and Functional Chatbot Design Features in Enterprise Collaboration Systems on User Acceptance Digital Feedback for Digital Work? Affordances and Constraints of a Feedback App at InsurCorp The Effect of Marker-less Augmented Reality on Task and Learning Performance Antecedents for Cyberloafing – A Literature Review Internal Crowd Work as a Source of Empowerment - An Empirical Analysis of the Perception of Employees in a Crowdtesting Project Track 14: Geschäftsmodelle und digitales Unternehmertum Dividing the ICO Jungle: Extracting and Evaluating Design Archetypes Capturing Value from Data: Exploring Factors Influencing Revenue Model Design for Data-Driven Services Understanding the Role of Data for Innovating Business Models: A System Dynamics Perspective Business Model Innovation and Stakeholder: Exploring Mechanisms and Outcomes of Value Creation and Destruction Business Models for Internet of Things Platforms: Empirical Development of a Taxonomy and Archetypes Revitalizing established Industrial Companies: State of the Art and Success Principles of Digital Corporate Incubators When 1+1 is Greater than 2: Concurrence of Additional Digital and Established Business Models within Companies Special Track 1: Student Track Investigating Personalized Price Discrimination of Textile-, Electronics- and General Stores in German Online Retail From Facets to a Universal Definition – An Analysis of IoT Usage in Retail Is the Technostress Creators Inventory Still an Up-To-Date Measurement Instrument? Results of a Large-Scale Interview Study Application of Media Synchronicity Theory to Creative Tasks in Virtual Teams Using the Example of Design Thinking TrustyTweet: An Indicator-based Browser-Plugin to Assist Users in Dealing with Fake News on Twitter Application of Process Mining Techniques to Support Maintenance-Related Objectives How Voice Can Change Customer Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis between E-Commerce and Voice Commerce Business Process Compliance and Blockchain: How Does the Ethereum Blockchain Address Challenges of Business Process Compliance? Improving Business Model Configuration through a Question-based Approach The Influence of Situational Factors and Gamification on Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Evaluation von ITSM-Tools für Integration und Management von Cloud-Diensten am Beispiel von ServiceNow How Software Promotes the Integration of Sustainability in Business Process Management Criteria Catalog for Industrial IoT Platforms from the Perspective of the Machine Tool Industry Special Track 3: Demos & Prototyping Privacy-friendly User Location Tracking with Smart Devices: The BeaT Prototype Application-oriented robotics in nursing homes Augmented Reality for Set-up Processe Mixed Reality for supporting Remote-Meetings Gamification zur Motivationssteigerung von Werkern bei der Betriebsdatenerfassung Automatically Extracting and Analyzing Customer Needs from Twitter: A “Needmining” Prototype GaNEsHA: Opportunities for Sustainable Transportation in Smart Cities TUCANA: A platform for using local processing power of edge devices for building data-driven services Demonstrator zur Beschreibung und Visualisierung einer kritischen Infrastruktur Entwicklung einer alltagsnahen persuasiven App zur Bewegungsmotivation für ältere Nutzerinnen und Nutzer A browser-based modeling tool for studying the learning of conceptual modeling based on a multi-modal data collection approach Exergames & Dementia: An interactive System for People with Dementia and their Care-Network Workshops Workshop Ethics and Morality in Business Informatics (Workshop Ethik und Moral in der Wirtschaftsinformatik – EMoWI’19) Model-Based Compliance in Information Systems - Foundations, Case Description and Data Set of the MobIS-Challenge for Students and Doctoral Candidates Report of the Workshop on Concepts and Methods of Identifying Digital Potentials in Information Management Control of Systemic Risks in Global Networks - A Grand Challenge to Information Systems Research Die Mitarbeiter von morgen - Kompetenzen künftiger Mitarbeiter im Bereich Business Analytics Digitaler Konsum: Herausforderungen und Chancen der Verbraucherinformati

C jak COVID-19 — powikłania układu sercowo-naczyniowego u młodego pacjenta

The authors present the case of a 27-year-old patient with cardiovascular complications after undergoing severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2 infection. The first symptoms included muscle aches and somnolence, severe sore throat, and enlargement of submandibular and cervical lymph nodes, followed by dyspnoea and chest pain with body temperature 37.5°C. Because of the medical profession, the patient underwent a routine reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction test for coronavirus infection, which was positive, before returning to work. In an electrocardiogram, it was observed pathological Q waves in II, III, aVF, V6, and 1 mm of ST elevation in V1–V3. The laboratory tests showed normal levels of cardiac troponin T, creatine kinase MB fraction, and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed the hypokinesis of the middle and apical segment of the anterior and lateral wall with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) — 54%. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed the normal volume and global left ventricular systolic function (LVEF 52%) with segmental wall motion abnormalities. Subepicardial banded foci of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), located in the lower right and left ventricular segments of the basal, central and apical segments of the inferior wall suggested inflammatory aetiology of changes found. It may be assumed that the suspected myocarditis was caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Since LGE was present in the inferior wall, the patient may be considered having a low risk of major cardiac events and heart failure hospitalizations, referring to the ITAMY study. In patients without a history of cardiovascular diseases with COVID-19, cardiac MRI may reveal preserved, mid-range, or reduced LVEF. The patient requires further follow-up. The coronavirus is the most dangerous for the elderly, but it can also affect the hearts of otherwise healthy people, including young adolescents.Zaprezentowano opis przypadku 27-letniego pacjenta z powikłaniami sercowo-naczyniowymi po przebytym zakażeniu SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus 2). Pierwsze objawy obejmowały bóle mięśni i senność, silny ból gardła, powiększenie podżuchwowych i szyjnych węzłów chłonnych, a następnie duszność i ból w klatce piersiowej z temperaturą ciała 37,5°C. Ze względu na wykonywany zawód medyczny,przed powrotem do pracy chory poddał się rutynowemu testowi reakcji łańcuchowej polimerazy z odwrotną transkrypcją w kierunku zakażenia koronawirusem, którego wynik był pozytywny. W elektrokardiogramie obserwowano patologiczne załamki Q w odprowadzeniach II, III, aVF i V6 oraz uniesienia odcinka ST w odprowadzeniach V1–V3 o 1 mm. W badaniach laboratoryjnych stwierdzono prawidłowe stężenia troponiny T, frakcji MB kinazy kreatynowej oraz N-końcowego fragmentu propeptydu natriuretycznego typu B. W przezklatkowym badaniu echokardiograficznym uwidoczniono hipokinezę środkowego i koniuszkowego segmentu ścian przedniej i bocznej z zachowaną frakcją wyrzutową lewej komory (LVEF) — 54%. W rezonansie magnetycznym (MRI) stwierdzono prawidłową objętość i globalną funkcję skurczową lewej komory (LVEF 52%) z odcinkowymi zaburzeniami kurczliwości. Podnasierdziowe pasmowate ogniska późnego wzmocnienia pokontrastowego (LGE), zlokalizowane w dolnych segmentach połączenia prawej i lewej komory w segmentach podstawnym, środkowym i koniuszkowym, sugerowały zapalną etiologię stwierdzonych zmian. Można przypuszczać, że przyczyną zapalenia mięśnia sercowego było zakażenie COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). Ze względu na obecność LGE w ścianie dolnej uznano, że chorego cechuje niskie ryzyko wystąpienia poważnych zdarzeń sercowo-naczyniowych i hospitalizacji z powodu niewydolności serca, powołując się na badanie ITAMY. U chorych, u których dotychczas nie występowały choroby układu sercowo-naczyniowego, a przebyli COVID-19, MRI serca może ujawnić zachowaną, pośrednią lub obniżoną LVEF. Opisany przypadek wymaga dalszej obserwacji. Koronawirus jest najbardziej niebezpieczny dla osób w podeszłym wieku, ale może również wpływać na serca praktycznie zdrowych osób, w tym młodych dorosłych

Advances in studies of thermal degradation of polymeric materials Part II. The influence of various factors on the thermal degradation of polymeric materials during their processing

Omówiono czynniki wpływające na degradację termiczną materiałów polimerowych. Szczególną uwagę poświęcono zależności przebiegu procesów degradacyjnych w polimerach i właściwości otrzymywanych tworzyw od warunków przetwórstwa. Przedstawiono możliwości monitorowania lotnych produktów wydzielających się w procesach przetwórczych za pomocą zaawansowanych metod instrumentalnych, takich jak: chromatografia gazowa (GC), spektrometria masowa (MS) lub techniki łączone. Stwierdzono też, że zastosowanie standardowych analiz lotnych produktów rozkładu tworzyw polimerowych może być przydatne w planowaniu i optymalizacji warunków przetwórstwa.Part II of the literature review discusses various factors affecting the thermal degradation of polymeric materials. Particular attention was paid to the impact of processing conditions on the degradation processes in polymers and the properties of the materials obtained. The focus was on the ability to monitor products generated in plastic processing using advanced instrumental methods, such as gas chromatography (GC), mass spectrometry (MS) and combined techniques. The use of standard analyses of volatile polymer degradation products may be useful for planning and optimization of processing conditions

Advances in studies of thermal degradation of polymeric materials. Part I. Literature studies

Przedstawiono bieżące kierunki badań stabilności termicznej polimerów, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem nowatorskich układów polimerowych: kompozytów i nanokompozytów, polimerów biodegradowalnych, biocydowych i do zastosowań specjalnych. Opisano ogólny mechanizm degradacji termicznej zachodzącej podczas przetwórstwa i podstawowe aspekty kinetyczne tego procesu. Omówiono przykłady badań właściwości termicznych wybranych tworzyw na bazie poliuretanów, żywic epoksydowych, kopolimerów kwasu akrylowego i poliestrów.The article presents current trends in the studies of thermal stability of polymers, with particular emphasis on novel polymeric systems: composites and nanocomposites, biodegradable and biocidal materials as well as polymers for special applications. The general mechanism of thermal degradation occurring during polymer processing and the basic kinetic aspects of this process are briefly described. Exemplary studies of thermal properties of selected plastics based on polyurethanes, epoxy resins, copolymers of acrylic acid and polyesters are also discussed