Nowa Biała and Sromowce Niżne : Late Palaeolithic Central Carpathian sites with arched-backed points

This article may be viewed as an attempt of summarizing research results of two Late Palaeolithic sites from the Central Western Carpathians located in the following places: Sromowce Niżne on the Dunajec river in the Pieniny Mts. and Nowa Biała on the Białka in the Podhale region. The discovery of these sites in the late 70s and 80s of the last century changed the common view that mountains areas located north of the Tatras were settled relatively late and that the settlement began in the Late Medieval. Both sites were excavated shortly after having been discovered. Although rich inventories of stone remains obtained during excavations are typical for technocomplex with arched-backed points but they differ with respect to stone processing technology, typology and raw materials structure. A thesis about the existence of very classical relations between them and the so-called Witów-complexes as well as typical connections with the Federmesser enviroment is proposed in this article

Magdalenian figurine from Obłazowa Cave

Obłazowa Cave was first excavated in 1985, and is best known for the discoveries of remains of settlement from the time of Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. The traces of most recent settlement in the cave, found in the uppermost part of the stratigraphy can be attributed to Magdalenian settlement. Results of latest excavation brought more precise date this occupation face. In years 2016 and 2017 in layer III of the cave a series of artifacts, and a small sandstone female figurine were found

Psychologiczne aspekty zakończenia czynnego uprawiania sportu

Age and injury may be the reasons of the sport career termination. Depression and prolonged stress are also factors of termination. After finishing the sport’s career, sportsmen’ life depends on cultural aspects, education and preparations to other type of activity. Psychological aid may be very helpful

How malnutrition affects quality of life outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer

Rak jelita grubego stanowi poważny problem zdrowotny, którego głównymi przyczynami (powstawania) są: predyspozycje genetyczne, otyłość oraz nieprawidłowe nawyki żywieniowe. Celem pracy była ocena jakości życia i stanu odżywiania pacjentów z rakiem jelita grubego. Ocenę stanu odżywienia badanej grupy (n = 60) dokonano poprzez analizę wybranych parametrów antropometrycznych i biochemicznych. Kwestionariusz ankiety dostarczył informacji na temat stanu odżywienia i jakości życia. Pacjenci z rozpoznanym i leczonym RJG stanowili grupę cechującą się nadmierną masą ciała w przeszłości (średnie wartości BMI w całej badanej grupie wyniosło 32,2). Średni ubytek masy ciała przez pierwsze 6 miesięcy choroby od rozpoznania i wdrożenia leczenia wyniósł 22% w całej grupie badanej. W podgrupie, która na początku badania cechowała się właściwą zawartością tkanki mięśniowej, średni ubytek masy ciała był niższy i wyniósł 13% w porównaniu z podgrupą z obniżoną zawartością tkanki mięśniowej, gdzie wynik był wyższy i wyniósł aż 21%. Stan odżywienia jest bardzo istotnym elementem rokowniczym dla pacjentów onkologicznych, a jego stabilizacja koreluje z częstotliwością powikłań septycznych oraz tempem gojenia ran pooperacyjnych.  Stan odżywienia pacjentów korelował z poziomem jakości życia pacjentów w sposób istotny statystycznie. W grupie badanej niska jakość życia była spowodowana głównie czasem trwania choroby i w miarę postępu choroby pogarszającego się stanu odżywienia. Zarówno stan odżywienia, jak i poziom jakości życia powinny być przedmiotem systematycznego monitorowania w celu redukcji powikłań niedożywienia, mogących podwyższać ryzyko zgonu pacjenta.Colorectal cancer poses a serious health threat and its aetiology is chiefly through being genetically predisposed, obesity and inappropriate dietary habits. The study aim was to evaluate patients’ quality of life for those suffering this disease. A nutritional assessment was performed on a study group of 60 patients undergoing treatment for colorectal cancer according to chosen anthropometric and biochemical parameters from medical histories. Subjects were also surveyed by questionnaire to further determine nutritional status and quality of life. Patients were found to have excess body mass but a previously average BMI, the study group BMI being on average 32.2. Mean weight loss over the first 6 months since diagnosis and treatment was 22%. In a sub-group of patients that had correct body muscle tissue content, the mean weight loss was lower at 13% compared to those with reduced body muscle tissue content, who showed a weight loss of 21%. Nutritional status is vital in predicting outcomes in cancer patients, where its stability is correlated with rates of both septic complications and post-surgical healing. Indeed, a patient’s quality of life is significantly associated with nutritional status. Our results showed that a low quality of life was mainly due the duration of illness as well as a deteriorating nutritional status accompanying the progression of disease. Both quality of life and nutritional status should therefore be systematically monitored to reduce nutritional complications that increase patient mortality risk

Hučivá Cave: a Magdalenian hunting camp in the Tatra Mountains

This article discusses the objectives of the Stone Age Man in Caves of the Tatra Mountains project, which aims to explain the mysterious absence of evidence for the Palaeolithic in the Tatra Mountains of Eastern Europe. We present preliminary work from Hučivá Cave, which demonstrates clear traces of Magdalenian settlement within this region

Co-administration of angiotensin II and simvastatin triggers kidney injury upon heme oxygenase-1 deficiency

Kidneys are pivotal organ in iron redistribution and can be severely damaged in the course of hemolysis. In our previous studies, we observed that induction of hypertension with angiotensin II (Ang II) combined with simvastatin administration results in a high mortality rate or the appearance of signs of kidney failure in heme oxygenase-1 knockout (HO-1 KO) mice. Here, we aimed to address the mechanisms underlying this effect, focusing on heme and iron metabolism. We show that HO-1 deficiency leads to iron accumulation in the renal cortex. Higher mortality of Ang II and simvastatin-treated HO-1 KO mice coincides with increased iron accumulation and the upregulation of mucin-1 in the proximal convoluted tubules. In vitro studies showed that mucin-1 hampers heme- and iron-related oxidative stress through the sialic acid residues. In parallel, knock-down of HO-1 induces the glutathione pathway in an NRF2-depedent manner, which likely protects against heme-induced toxicity. To sum up, we showed that heme degradation during heme overload is not solely dependent on HO-1 enzymatic activity, but can be modulated by the glutathione pathway. We also identified mucin-1 as a novel redox regulator. The results suggest that hypertensive patients with less active HMOX1 alleles may be at higher risk of kidney injury after statin treatment

The impact of major warming at 14.7 ka on environmental changes and activity of Final Palaeolithic hunters at a local scale (Orawa-Nowy Targ Basin, Western Carpathians, Poland

There is a widespread belief that the abrupt warming at 14.7 ka had a profound impact on the environment. However, the direct correlation between the global climatic event and changes in local environments is not obvious.We examined faunal succession in an intra-mountain basin of theWestern Carpathians to assess the potential influence of the climatic change between Greenland Stadial-2a and Greenland Interstadial-1e on the local environment.We investigated three vertebrate assemblages (total number of identified specimens = 18,745; minimumnumber of individuals = 7515; 138 taxa) from Obłazowa Cave (western entrance) and a Rock overhang in Cisowa Rock, radiocarbon dated to the period before and after the global warming, between ca. 17.0 and 14.0 ka. Our data revealed that the major abrupt warming that occurred 14.7 ka had little impact on the local environment, which could suggest that ecosystems in Central Europe were resilient to the abrupt global climate changes. The increase in fauna population sizes and species diversities in local biotopes was gradual and began long before the temperature increase. This was supported by the analysis of ancient DNA of Microtus arvalis, which showed a gradual increase in effective population size after 19.0 ka. The results of palaeoclimatic reconstruction pointed out that the compared sites were characterized by similar climatic conditions. According to our calculations, the differences in the annual mean temperatures did not exceed 0.5 °C and mean annual thermal amplitude changed from 22.9 to 22.4 °C. The environmental changes before 14.7 ka had no impact on the activity of Final Palaeolithic hunters in the studied area

Propozycje standardów w zakresie edukacji użytkowników polskich bibliotek medycznych.

The document of Information Literacy Competency Standards for Users of Polish Medical Libraries was formulated in the Main Library of Medical University of Gdańsk in 2006as a proposition for all health libraries in Poland. The document was presented during XXV Conference of Polish Medical Libraries in Lublin in the same year. The main reason of creating these standards was to inspire Polish medical librariansto find the best training model of developing users' information literacy skills', what is so important in the time od IT domination and various electronic sources of medical information. This paper presents prepared standards as a proposition for discussion not only between medical librarians

Szkolenie biblioteczne online jako nowoczesna forma zajęć dla studentów I roku Akademii Medycznej w Gdańsku

Users’ education is one of the most important part of academic library work. For us first-year student is a special library user, who during obligatory Library training lessons has a possibility to get a basic knowledge about Alma Mater’s library. After this course he should know how to use library different collections and services, what is very important during not easy medical studies. In Main Library of Medical University of Gdańsk between 2003 and 2005 were provided three years research and development work on effectiveness of already existing trainings in library. As the result of that work obligatory library training via Internet was prepared by librarians from BG AMG and introduced in 2005. The aim of the following paper is to show the Library training online, to present preparing and implementing works done by librarians and also to give some analyses of training effectiveness