Mapping Digital Media: Poland

The Mapping Digital Media project examines the global opportunities and risks created by the transition from traditional to digital media. Covering 60 countries, the project examines how these changes affect the core democratic service that any media system should provide: news about political, economic, and social affairs.Digital switch-over of terrestrial broadcasting in Poland may still be almost a year away, but the lead-up and preparations to it have shed light on the most entrenched problems facing the country's public service broadcasters.This study of the impact of digitization on Polish media highlights the delays in digitization caused by political infighting; the lack of technical and financial assistance to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society benefit from digitization and new media; and the funding crisis afflicting public broadcasting. The political and economic position of the public broadcaster is critical in the digitization of broadcasting in Poland, both because of its continued—albeit diminishing—role in the media market, and because of its extensive involvement in the preparations for the switch-over.The authors of this report assess that the initiatives to inform the public about how digitization will affect them have been insufficient. Appropriate provisions should swiftly be put in place. Other major recommendations include a revision of spectrum allocation criteria to improve access for those "third way" broadcasters such as religious, educational, civil society or local government outlets, and the need for a durable solution to the public broadcasting funding crisis

Combined treatment for tumours of the base of the skull

AimTumours situated in the region of the base of the skull are at the limits of possibility for radical resection and in patients with malignant tumours it is necessary to use combined methods of treatment. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the early results of combined treatment tumours of the base of the skull.Materials/MethodsBetween 1994 and 2004 68 patients with malignant tumours of the base of the skull and 10 with benign tumours were treated by an interdisciplinary group. Treatment included surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy.ResultsAfter a period of post operative observation (median length 19 months), 32 patients with malignant tumours were without recurrence of disease, 8 lived with the tumour, 21 died as a result of disease progression and 4 died of other causes. Information was unavailable for 3 patients. Among 10 patients with benign tumours, 5 lived without symptoms of disease and 5 with the tumour.ConclusionsBecause of the limited possibilities regarding radical removal of malignant tumours in the region of the base of the skull, combined treatment using radiotherapy, surgery and, in some cases, chemo therapy is standard. Use of aggressive treatments gave local control in about half the patients though further observation is necessary in order to assess later oncological results

Thoraco-omphalopagus twins: different perinatal circumstances, different outcome

Two pairs of omphalopagus twins were encountered at the Polish Mother's Health Institution in Lodz, Poland during the past 15 years. In the first set the prenatal diagnosis was not established and the delivery of the twins in a regional hospital was a complete surprise. Both babies died. In the second case the conjoined twins were diagnosed prenatally, surgical separation was successful, and both twins survived. The prenatal identification of conjoined twins is of cardinal importance for the planning of delivery and possible separation

Badania modeli aeroelastycznych przewodów linii wysokiego napięcia dla różnych przypadków ich ośnieżenia i oblodzenia

In the first part of this paper, similarity criteria were elaborated for investiga-tions of aeroelastic sectional models of high voltage line wires. These criteria consider wire vibrations caused by aeroelastic phenomena: vortex excitation, wake galloping and interfer-ence between the wires causing vibration in aerodynamic trace of other wires. Second part of the paper describes the tests conducted in Wind Engineering Laboratory of Cracow Univer-sity of Technology. The subject of this set of tests was identifi cation of aeroelastic vibrations caused by aeroelastic interference of wires, mainly determination of critical velocity of wires galloping and wake galloping for selected cases of snow and ice covers on the wires.W pierwszej części pracy wyprowadzono kryteria podobieństwa dla badańmodeli aeroelastycznych odwzorowujących przewody linii wysokiego napięcia. Kryteria te uwzględniają drgania przewodów przy występowaniu zjawisk aeroelastycznych: wzbudzenia wirowego, galopowania oraz interferencji i drgania w śladzie aerodynamicznym innych prze-wodów. Druga część pracy przedstawia przeprowadzone w Laboratorium Inżynierii Wiatrowej Politechniki Krakowskiej badania modeli aeroelastycznych wiązki trzech przewodów linii wy-sokiego napięcia. Badania te miały na celu identyfi kację drgań aeroelastycznych spowodowa-nych wzajemną interferencją przewodów, a w szczególności wyznaczenie prędkości krytycznej dla galopowania przewodów dla wybranych przypadków ośnieżenia i oblodzenia przewodów

Prenatal ultrasonographic diagnosis of congenital epulis – two case reports and literature review

Abstract The following work presents prenatal ultrasonographic examination of two rare fetal cases of epulis, among 13 792 fetuses referred to our unit due to suspected fetal anomalies by obstetricians (estimated prevalence 1/7000 among fetuses with different anomalies). Sonographic differential diagnosis, value of fetal nasal amniotic fluid flow assessment by color Doppler and the probability of EXIT procedure have been described

Does apoptosis occur in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? TUNEL experience from human Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) tissues

The role that apoptosis plays in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still unclear. From our autopsy samples, we have undertaken an effort to verify if apoptosis in ALS really occurs or if can at least be detected. The study was performed using TUNEL method for screening the apoptotic changes in the autopsy samples from 8 ALS cases compared with 16 control cases. No features of apoptosis (DNA cleavages) were noted in any of the investigated regions of the central nervous system in ALS cases as well as in controls. These preliminary results seem to support the reports, which deny the role of apoptosis in human ALS. The following investigations using additional methods will be performed for detection the apoptotic signals in ALS

An association between genetic variation in the glutamatergic system and suicide attempts in alcoholâ dependent individuals

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138265/1/ajad12571_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/138265/2/ajad12571.pd

The strategies to support the COVID-19 vaccination with evidence-based communication and tackling misinformation

COVID-19 vaccinations are about to begin in various countries or are already ongoing. This is an unprecedented operation that is also met with a loud response from anti-vaccine communities—currently using all available channels to manipulate public opinion. At the same time, the strategy to educate on vaccinations, explain their mechanism of action, and build trust in science is subdued in different world parts. Such actions should go much beyond campaigns promoting the COVID-19 vaccines solely on the information provided by the health institutions and national authorities. In this paper, actions provided by independent expert groups needed to counteract the anti-vaccine propaganda and provide scientific-based information to the general public are offered. These actions encompass organizing groups continuously communicating science on COVID-19 vaccines to the general public; tracking and tackling emerging and circulating fake news; and equipping celebrities and politicians with scientific information to ensure the quality of messages they communicate, as well as public letters, and statements of support for vaccination by healthcare workers, recognized scientists, VIPs, and scientific societies; and no tolerance to false and manipulated claims on vaccination spread via traditional and social media as well as by health professionals, scientists, and academics. These activities should be promptly implemented worldwide, regardless of the current status and availability of the COVID-19 vaccine in a particular region. If we are about to control the pandemic for the sake of public benefit, it is high time to collectively speak out as academic and medical societies with support from decision-makers. Otherwise, the battle will be lost to those who stand against scientific evidence while offering no feasible solution to the problem

The correlation of protein peroxidation with morphological changes in experimental oestradiol-induced carcinogenesis

Oestradiol-induced male Syrian hamster carcinogenesis is a well-known experimental model of human cancer of the breast, ovary and uterus. The pathomechanism postulated in this model is 4-hydroxylation of oestradiol and further free radical formation. The same process is suspected in human breast cancer. Dynamic changes in protein peroxidation were reported during the tumour induction. In this paper we try to correlate the protein peroxidation markers with the histopathological progression of the changes. The biochemical and histopathological evaluations were performed after 1, 3, 6 and 9 months of the hormone exposition. Significant protein peroxidation was observed as soon as after 1 month and increased further until the 6th month. After 9 months however, it was not significantly different from the control. The discrete histopathological changes after 1 month, progressed into tubular and interstitial hyperplasias after 3 and 6 months. After 9 months several dysplastic areas, sometimes with features of carcinoma in situ, were observed. The severe 9-month histopathological changes did not correlate with the protein peroxidation