Informal support for the elderly in the context of their living arrangements in selected European countries

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the informal support for the elderly experiencing problems in everyday life connected with physical, mental or emotional fitness. The analysis covers groups of countries chosen from the participants of SHARE project. The multinomial logit model has been used in order to verify the hypothesis that such problems determine the living arrangements of the elderly. The binomial regression model has been used in order to answer a question if informal support from outside the household obtained by the people experiencing problems in everyday life is determined by the type of the household and by social and demographic characteristics of the individuals receiving the support. In conclusion we state that the occurrence of difficulties in everyday life does not affect the chance of living in a one-person household. For the other types of the households the aforementioned influence turns out to be significant only for selected countries. In all investigated countries, for people experiencing difficulties in everyday life, a significant influence of the type of the household on receiving help from outside the household has been observed. In future research, a closer attention should be paid to elderly people living alone and to incorporating various types of limitations in everyday life separately for men and women. For better explanation of the differences between post-transitional and the other European countries the formal and institutional supports should be introduced

The Pyrolytic Profile of Lyophilized and Deep-Frozen Compact Part of the Human Bone

Background. Bone grafts are used in the treatment of nonunion of fractures, bone tumors and in arthroplasty. Tissues preserved by lyophilization or deep freezing are used as implants nowadays. Lyophilized grafts are utilized in the therapy of birth defects and bone benign tumors, while deep-frozen ones are applied in orthopedics. The aim of the study was to compare the pyrolytic pattern, as an indirect means of the analysis of organic composition of deep-frozen and lyophilized compact part of the human bone. Methods. Samples of preserved bone tissue were subjected to thermolysis and tetrahydroammonium-hydroxide- (TMAH-) associated thermochemolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Results. Derivatives of benzene, pyridine, pyrrole, phenol, sulfur compounds, nitriles, saturated and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, and fatty acids (C12–C20) were identified in the pyrolytic pattern. The pyrolyzates were the most abundant in derivatives of pyrrole and nitriles originated from proteins. The predominant product in pyrolytic pattern of the investigated bone was pyrrolo[1,2-α]piperazine-3,6-dione derived from collagen. The content of this compound significantly differentiated the lyophilized graft from the deep-frozen one. Oleic and palmitic acid were predominant among fatty acids of the investigated samples. The deep-frozen implants were characterized by higher percentage of long-chain fatty acids than lyophilized grafts

Podstawy statystyki

Ze wstępu: "Studenci, podejmując studia na wybranym kierunku i zapoznając się z ich programem, często zastanawiają się, w jakich sytuacjach będzie im przydatna wiedza z zakresu dyscyplin naukowych występujących w planie studiów. Przemyślenia te odnoszą się również do statystyki. W podręczniku przedstawimy wzorcowe przykłady odnoszące się do sytuacji, w których posiadanie wiadomości z tego zakresu może okazać się użyteczne."(...

The Chemical Composition of Endotoxin Isolated from Intestinal Strain of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans

Desulfovibrio desulfuricans anaerobes are constituents of human alimentary tract microflora. There are suggestions that they take part in the pathogenesis of periodontitis and some gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Endotoxin is one of Gram-negative bacteria cellular components that influence these microorganisms pathogenicity. Endotoxin is a lipid-polisaccharide heteropolymer consisting of three elements: lipid A, core oligosaccharide, and O-specific polysaccharide, also called antigen-O. The biological activity of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is determined by its structure. In this study, we show that rhamnose, fucose, mannose, glucose, galactose, heptose, and 2-keto-3-deoxyoctulosonic acid (Kdo) are constituents of D. desulfuricans endotoxin oligosaccharide core and O-antigen. Lipid A of these bacteria LPS is composed of glucosamine disaccharide substituted by 3-acyloxyacyl residues: ester-bound 3-(dodecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic, 3-(hexadecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic acid, and amide-bound 3-(tetradecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic acid

Społeczno-ekonomiczne uwarunkowania procesów ludnościowych i kształtowania się potrzeb

Ze wstępu: "Pierwszy numer naszego rocznika składa się z artykułów naukowych, które łączy zastosowanie metod ilościowych w badaniach zjawisk społeczno-ekonomicznych. Materiały te są efektem zadań badawczych wykonanych w ramach badań własnych Krakowskiej Szkoły Wyższej im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego w 2007 roku. Problematyka badawcza obejmuje dwa obszary a mianowicie: • kształtowanie się wydatków gospodarstw domowych z uwzględnieniem społeczno- ekonomicznych uwarunkowań rozważanych zjawisk; • specyfikę rynku pracy w kontekście problemu starzenia się społeczeństwa. W pracy łączy się warstwa poznawcza z warstwą metodologiczną. Pozwala to ukazać możliwości i zakres zastosowania metod ilościowych w analizie różnorodnych prawidłowości występujących w zjawiskach masowych. Warstwa poznawcza ma dwa wymiary: • dydaktyczny, skierowany do studentów i osób zainteresowanych zastosowaniem metod ilościowych do badań procesów, których masowy charakter i ujęcie liczbowe pozwala na wykorzystanie prezentowanych w pracy metod; • objaśniający rozpatrywane obszary rzeczywistości."(...

Chemical composition of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans lipid A

Lipopolysaccharides also called endotoxins are an integral component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. When released from the bacterial surface, they interact with a host immune system, triggering excessive inflammatory response. Lipid A is the biologically most active part of endotoxin, and its activity is modulated by the quantity, quality and arrangement of its fatty acids. Desulfovibrio desulfuricans is sulfate-reducing, Gram-negative bacterium that is supposed to be opportunistic pathogens of humans and animals. In the present study, chemical composition of lipid A from various strains of D. desulfuricans was analyzed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. It was found that the fatty acid component of the lipid A contains dodecanoic, tetradecanoic, 3-hydroxytetradecanoic and hexadecanoic acids, and its carbohydrate core is composed of glucosamine. The analysis of 3-acyloxyacyl residue of the lipid A revealed the presence of amide-bound 3-(dodecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic and 3-(hexadecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic acids and ester-bound 3-(tetradecanoyloxy)tetradecanoic acid. It was concluded that both fatty acid and 3-acyloxyacyl residue profiles of the lipid A from the studied bacteria were similar to those of E. coli and S.enterica