Treatment of degenerative cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy. Clinical practice guidelines endorsed by The Polish Society of Spinal Surgery

Introduction Degenerative cervical spondylosis (DCS) with radiculopathy is the most common indication for cervical spine surgery despite favorable natural history. Advances in spinal surgery in conjunction with difficulties in measuring the outcomes caused the paucity of uniform guidelines for the surgical management of DCS. Aims The aim of this paper is to develop guidelines for surgical treatment of DCS. For this purpose the available up-to-date literature relevant on the topic was critically reviewed. Methods and results Six questions regarding most important clinical questions encountered in the daily practice were formulated. They were answered based upon the systematic literature review, thus creating a set of guidelines. The guidelines were categorized into four tiers based on the level of evidence (I–III and X). They were designed to assist in the selection of optimal and effective treatment leading to the most successful outcome. Conclusions The evidence based medicine (EBM) is increasingly popular among spinal surgeons. It allows making unbiased, optimal clinical decisions, eliminating the detrimental effect of numerous conflicts of interest. The key role of opinion leaders as well as professional societies is to provide guidelines for practice based on available clinical evidence. The present work contains a set of guidelines for surgical treatment of DCS officially endorsed by the Polish Spine Surgery Society

Treatment of lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy. Clinical practice guidelines endorsed by The Polish Society of Spinal Surgery

Introduction Herniated lumbar disc (HLD) is arguably the most common spinal disorder requiring surgical intervention. Although the term is fairly straightforward, the exact pathology and thus the clinical picture and natural history may vary. Therefore, it is immensely difficult to formulate universal guidelines for surgical treatment. Aim The aim of this paper is to organize the terminology and clear the inconsistencies in phraseology, review treatment options and gather available published evidence to address the clinical questions to create a set of clinical guidelines in relevant to the topic. Methods and results Twelve queries, addressing optimal surgical treatment of the HLD have been formulated. The results, based on the literature review are described in the present work. The final product of the analysis was a set of guidelines for the surgical treatment of symptomatic HLD. Categorized into four tiers based on the level of evidence (I–III and X), they have been designed to assist in the selection of optimal, effective treatment leading to the successful outcome. Conclusions The evidence based medicine (EBM) is becoming ever more popular among spinal surgeons. Unfortunately this is not always feasible. Lack of uniform guidelines and numerous conflicts of interest introduce flaws in the decision making process. The key role of experts and professional societies is to provide high value recommendation based on the most current literature. Present work contains a set of guidelines for the surgical treatment of HLD officially endorsed by the Polish Spine Surgery Society

The Mona Lisa Gallery. Its History and Ideology

The text The Mona Lisa Gallery – its history and ideology is an attempt at looking at the Polish avant-garde art of the 1960s from the point of view of the institution presenting it – an author's gallery. In The Mona Lisa Gallery managed by Jerzy Ludwiński twenty exhibitions were shown that well illustrate the direction of changes in Polish art of the decade. In that period we encountered a particular crisis of the autonomous and integral structure of the work of art. At the same time there was an increasing activity of artistic circles during group performances at plein-air painting sessions, artistic symposiums and when organising independent author's galleries. These galleries, among them being The Mona Lisa Gallery, took on a special role: they both witnessed the disintegration of the work of art and stimulated the process of breaking up the traditionally understood work. Exposing such an uncertain status of it was presumed by Ludwiński in the text about the Gallery's programme. He planned exhibitions of works that exceeded what their authors had created before. He also obliged them to enter a discussion with the public in the Gallery as well as to publish self-commenting texts in The Odra monthly. Parallel to an article of the given artist a text was to be printed by the critic who had invited him to the Gallery. The next exhibitions were a consistent attempt at a new definition broadening the scope of the concept of “work of art” against the ever more reduced artistic form. The first three exhibitions of works by Zdzisław Jurkiewicz, Wanda Gołkowska and Henryk Stażewski illustrated, in Ludwiński's opinion, a tendency to leave the closed, autonomous structure of the painting towards stressing the creative process and the artistic conception. The subsequent presentations of works by Jerzy Rosołowicz, Jan Chwałczyk and Stanisław Dróżdż were defined by an attitude of posing the problem of the status of a real phenomenon or object in the space of the Gallery. On the other hand, Włodzimierz Borowski's and Feliks Szyszko's actions were to shake the traditional relations between the artist, work of art and recipient. In the face of these changes in the art of the 1960s Ludwiński in his article Sztuka w epoce postartystycznej (Art in the post-artistic epoch) postulated introduction of the term “impossible art” to define the form of activity eliminating the borderline between the artistic fact and reality. The institution that would stimulate development of this “post-artistic activity” was supposed to be Centrum Badań Artystycznych (The Centre for Artistic Studies) that formulated its programme during Sympozjum Plastyczne Wrocław '70 (Visual Symposium Wrocław '70). With its developed structure it was to exceed the limitations of the exhibition centres that had existed until then. The Centre was to co-ordinate the movement of artistic ideas, their permeation and exchange among various artistic circles. The decade of the 1960s was characterised by a particular tension between the work of art and the artistic institution. The “minimalist” reduction of the form was conducted in the well-recognised context of the exhibition space. In the 1970s the artistic institution was subjected to a peculiar “autonomisation”. Apart from the work of art it developed the idea of a “network” in which it distributed utopian project of incessant development of art. However, the plan concerning the Centre was not put into effect. It remained a witness to the period of the turn of the 1960s when there was the intention to situate the concept of work of art outside the gallery walls

Plein Air Events in Osieki and Limits of Modern Painting

Artykuł podejmuje refleksję nad wczesnymi plenerami w Osiekach, organizowanymi od 1963 roku przez Jerzego Fedorowicza i Mariana Bogusza. Impreza zinterpretowana została jako rozwinięcie projektu kolekcji sztuki nowoczesnej, inicjowanej przez Mariana Bogusza w warszawskiej Galerii Krzywego Koła. Przekazanie części kolekcji Muzeum w Koszalinie zapoczątkowało spotkania w Osiekach, jednocześnie oferując możliwość przemyślenia zróżnicowanych konwencji artystycznych okresu odwilży. Kolejne edycje spotkań w Osiekach, prezentując prace w naturalnym krajobrazie, wyznaczały proces kwestionowania modernistycznej formy, poprzez eksponowanie form przestrzennych oraz akcji i działań artystycznych. Plenery mieszcząc się w generalnej ramie polityki kulturalnej PRL wobec tzw. Ziem Odzyskanych, doprowadziły do głębokich przemian sztuki nowoczesnej, oferując refleksję nad obrazem, który łączy się z miejscem i czasem działania, anektując i ukazując fragmenty rzeczywistości, reinterpretując kategorię „realizmu”. Taka praktyka stała się bezpośrednim impulsem dla twórczości konceptualnej na przełomie dekad, ale stała się także elementem głębszej transformacji nowoczesnego dzieła, w złożoną awangardową strukturę montażu - dzieła wobec otoczenia

Bidirectional light-emitting diode as a visible light source driven by alternating current

Abstract Gallium nitride-based light-emitting diodes have revolutionized the lighting market by becoming the most energy-efficient light sources. However, the power grid, in example electricity delivery system, is built based on alternating current, which raises problems for directly driving light emitting diodes that require direct current to operate effectively. In this paper, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept device that addresses this fundamental issue – a gallium nitride-based bidirectional light-emitting diode. Its structure is symmetrical with respect to the active region, which, depending on the positive or negative bias, allows for the injection of either electrons or holes from each side. It is composed of two tunnel junctions that surround the active region. In this work, the optical and electrical properties of bidirectional light emitting diodes are investigated under direct and alternating current conditions. We find that the light is emitted in both directions of the supplied current, contrary to conventional light emitting diodes; hence, bidirectional light-emitting diodes can be considered a semiconductor light source powered directly with alternating current. In addition, we show that bidirectional light-emitting diodes can be stacked vertically to multiply the optical power achieved from a single device