Ksiądz Jerzy Pawlik - życie i działalność (1919-2009)

Priest Jerzy Pawlik was a fascinating person. A lot of interests, knowledge, contacts, journeys, experiences, activity - this all makes a character worth familiarising with, above all in the context of its activity for the Church and society. He was a particularly intriguing character for a historian because in the life of priest Pawlik there were many unexplained dependencies - a perfect search area for historians. The author of this dissertation emphasised three main stages in the life and activity of priest Jerzy Pawlik based on which he constructed his deduction. At the first stage he examined the origins of priest Pawlik, the conditions in which he grew up, learnt and developed. Religiousness, curiosity of the world and eagerness to acquire knowledge after completing a general school and a grammar school - interests acquired at home, he continued in the priestly formation. The first years of the priestly ministry of priest Pawlik took place in the times of regime, Nazi and communist, which usurped the right to control all the fields of human lives, including faith. The second stage of the life of priest Pawlik was his pastoral, catechism and social activity in Katowice diocese, in the period of extermination activities on the part of German occupant authorities, times very difficult for the Upper Silesian Church, and then the activity of communists eliminating the Church from the public life. Priest Pawlik was then a charity activist, tutor of the youth and organiser of pilgrimages. A particularly important area for him, apart from a didactic activity in the Silesian Theological Seminary in Kraków and journalistic activity, was influencing the youth, which he reached through scouting and tourism. He also practised his own interests, gained more licences and extended his book collection. In that time he was within the interest of the Security Services of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL), initially as a person dangerous to the system, then as a candidate for a position of a secret collaborator. The third stage in the life of priest Pawlik was the time when with the consent of primate Stefan Wyszyński he was a pastor of Poles in the Eastern Europe and an expert of the Polish Episcopate concerning economic migration of Poles to German Democratic Republic, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Romania, while staying under constant invigilation by the Security Service. The life and activity of priest Jerzy Pawlik was researched by the dissertation’s author by means of a biographic method, typical for historical studies. He mainly used the resources collected in the Archdiocese Archives in Katowice - those were documents selected by the author called “heritage after priest Jerzy Pawlik”, a personal portfolio of priest Pawlik, correspondence with the Primate of Poland Stefan Wyszyński and reports directed to bishops in Poland and various institutions. The other significant research source was a collection of registering and observational files, including formal documents, cipher texts and notes; working portfolios of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, a personal portfolio TW “Polakowski” passport files and miscellaneous materials referring to priests from the terrain of former Katowice voivodeship, collected in the Institute of National Remembrance in Katowice. The author used in his work also documents from the Institute of National Rememberance in Warsaw, as well as from the Archives of the Catholic Lublin University (KUL). For research purposes the author tried to get to the documents gathered by the Government Plenipotentiary Office for the Documents of Secret Services of the former German Democratic Republic in Berlin. The author also used the materials from the Family Archives, obtained from the discovered personal documents, and also interviews conducted with the family of priest Pawlik as well as the correspondence exchanged with the bishops and clergymen from Katowice archdiocese, which allowed for detailed presentation of many events from his life. Thus, the erudite biography of priest Pawlik was created, based on the sources. The analysis of various documents, in some cases examined for the first time, allowed for explaining unfamiliar or insufficiently interpreted facts from the life of the priest. The author also exchanged correspondence with the Archives of the Conference of the Episcopate of Poland, the Museum of Polish Scouting in Warsaw and conducted a search query in the Archives of the Parish named after Saint Wojciech in Radzionków. In preparing this dissertation the author also used the studies and articles about priest Jerzy Pawlik, as well as his own chronicle notes concerning priesthood in the eastern bloc countries. Selected documents from the Archdiocese Archives in Katowice and the Family Archives of priest Jerzy Pawlik are presented in the annex to the dissertation. The intention of the dissertation’s author was to depict the character of priest Jerzy Pawlik in wide interpersonal relations, in the context of an epoch in which he lived. Based on those relations the dissertation’s author examined the relationships of priest Pawlik with the Security Service in PRL, in particular his frequent foreign journeys and passport formalities and he tried to find out whether priest Pawlik decided on collaboration. The author attempted to explain the activities and motivations of priest Pawlik: Was the direct cooperation with the Episcopate of Poland related to migration priesthood undertaken by him as a “bishop of RWPG countries”? Was the historical knowledge held by priest Pawlik in priesthood contacts genuinely objective or was it a colourful narration? How did scouting and pilgrimage affect the character of priest Pawlik? Owing to a reliable search query the author was able to reconstruct the most important events from the life and activity of priest Pawlik both in the Upper Silesian Church and in Poland. The materials researched demonstrated high involvement of priest Pawlik in his priesthood: scouting, pilgrimage, the youth group, and later in the organisation and functioning of migration priesthood. The interests and passions of priest Pawlik affected greatly the development of his priesthood activity, which enabled his development in various circumstances. The priesthood experiences with the youth familiarised him with the problems of people who decided to emigrate. Describing priest Pawlik as a “bishop of RWPG countries” was only a convention, as a respect to his priesthood activity and merits for the issues of the youth and migrants. On the basis of the analysis of the documents collected in the Institute of National Remembrance and church and family documents, the author claims that priest Pawlik did not collaborate with the Security Services. His contacts with the Security Services was only occasional, connected mostly with a passport procedure. He refused to collaborate and in the interviews his answers were careful and evasive. The research material did not confirm collaboration but it helped in depicting measures which the Security Services used to exert pressure, impede activities and attempt to gain a collaborator. The author of the dissertation believes that priest Pawlik will become inspiration not only for acquiring knowledge on the region, but also for searching for one’s own active place in the Church. In the life and activity of priest Pawlik there are still unexplored areas, in particular his activity in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and USSR, which are worth studying. It would also be worth comparing the priesthood activity of priest Jerzy Pawlik with the activity of Bishop Szczepan Wesoły, bishop of Polish migration, and also extend the documents researched with foreign materials

Income inequality in Eastern Europe: Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century

This article provides novel estimates of long-term income inequality in Bulgaria and Czech Lands/Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century. Relying on newly-constructed datasets and the social tables approach, we measure inequality between salient social strata. We find that Czechoslovakia was significantly more unequal than Bulgaria before 1945. Inequality converged to similarly low levels under socialism. Decomposition analysis by social classes reveals that different levels of inequality in the first half of the century were principally driven by higher within social-class inequality in Czechoslovakia, owing to a more stratified industrial society; whereas a low dispersion within the dominant agricultural sector held down the within social-class component in Bulgaria. A dramatic fall in total inequality after 1945 was a result of the social revolution that encompassed the virtual disappearance of between social-class inequality and a marked reduction in within social-class inequality. Our findings point to the critical role of institutional and political factors in driving inequality in Eastern Europe throughout the twentieth century

Klasyfikacja molekularna gruczolaków przysadki: w poszukiwaniu kryteriów przydatnych do badań wysokoprzepustowych

  Introduction: The mechanism of pathogenesis of pituitary adenomas is still unknown, and it shows differences in pituitary cells of different origin. The aim of our study was to analyse the gene expression profile of pituitary hormones and their precursor genes: PRL, GH, POMC, TSHb, LHb, FSHb, and CGA by QPCR in particular types of pituitary adenomas, and to evaluate the results in the context of sample selection for microarray studies. Material and methods: Analysis of the gene expression profile was performed in 84 samples of pituitary adenomas, by real-time quantitative PCR (QPCR). Results: As expected, expression of GH gene was significantly higher in somatotropinomas than in prolactinomas (p < 0.05). For POMC gene we noticed lower expression in all pituitary adenomas, except adrenocorticotropinomas (p < 0.05). In the case of PRL gene, the highest expression was observed; PRL+ adenomas were in third place. LHb and FSHb genes showed the highest expression, respectively, in LH-producing and FSH-producing pituitary adenomas; however, our analysis did not show statistically significant differences between LH-producing and FSH-producing adenomas. Conclusions: Our study showed that GH is a characteristic gene for somatotropinomas. We drew a similar conclusion for POMC gene and adrenocorticotropinomas. However, the results that we obtained for PRL, TSHb, LHb, FSHb, and CGA genes indicate that evaluation of gene expression is not sufficient for classification of particular subtypes of pituitary adenomas. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (2): 148–156)    Wstęp: Mechanizm odpowiedzialny za patogenezę gruczolaków przysadki nie został jeszcze w pełni wyjaśniony i wykazuje różnice w różnych typach komórek przysadki. Celem badania była analiza profilu ekspresji genów kodujących hormony przysadkowe i ich prekursory: PRL, GH, POMC, TSHb, LHb, FSHb, CGA w poszczególnych typach gruczolaków przysadki oraz ocena uzyskanych wyników w kontekście wyboru próbek do badań mikromacierzowych. Materiał i metody: Analizę ekspresji genów przeprowadzono za pomocą ilościowej reakcji PCR w czasie rzeczywistym (QPCR) na materiale 84 gruczolaków przysadki. Wyniki: Ekspresja genu GH była znamiennie wyższa w gruczolakach somatotropinowych (GH+) w porównaniu z prolaktynowymi (PRL+). Zaobserwowano również wzrost ekspresji tego genu w guzach GH+ w stosunku do gruczolaków immunohistochemicznych ujemnych. Dla genu POMC wykazano niską ekspresję we wszystkich badanych grupach gruczolaków, z wyjątkiem gruczolaków kortykotropinowych (ACTH+). Najwyższą ekspresję genu PRL zaobserwowano w gruczolakach somatotropinowych; gruczolaki prolaktynowe były na trzecim miejscu. Dla genów LHb i FSHb nie zaobserwowano statystycznie znamiennych różnic pomiędzy gruczolakami LH+ i FSH+. Wnioski: W niniejszym badaniu potwierdzono, że gen GH jest charakterystyczny dla gruczolaków somatotropinowych, podobnie jak gen POMC dla gruczolaków kortykotropinowych. Jednakże, wyniki uzyskane dla genów PRL, TSHb, LHb, FSHb i CGA wskazują, że ocena ekspresji genów nie jest wystarczająca dla prawidłowej klasyfikacji poszczególnych podtypów gruczolaków przysadki. (Endokrynol Pol 2016; 67 (2): 148–156)

Effective Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty in a Patient with Chronic Thromboembolic Complications after Ventriculoatrial Shunt for Hydrocephalus in von Hippel–Lindau Disease

Von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) disease along with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a unique and unusual severe complication of ventriculoatrial (VA) shunt implantation in the treatment of hydrocephalus. To the best of our knowledge, this can be the first reported case of an effective treatment with balloon pulmonary angioplasty in a patient with VHL after VA shunt placement. The patient underwent six balloon pulmonary angioplasty procedures. All invasive procedures resulted in haemodynamic and functional improvement

Income inequality in Eastern Europe: Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century

This article provides novel estimates of long-term income inequality in Bulgaria and Czech Lands/Czechoslovakia in the twentieth century. Relying on newly-constructed datasets and the social tables approach, we measure inequality between salient social strata. We find that Czechoslovakia was significantly more unequal than Bulgaria before 1945. Inequality converged to similarly low levels under socialism. Decomposition analysis by social classes reveals that different levels of inequality in the first half of the century were principally driven by higher within social-class inequality in Czechoslovakia, owing to a more stratified industrial society; whereas a low dispersion within the dominant agricultural sector held down the within social-class component in Bulgaria. A dramatic fall in total inequality after 1945 was a result of the social revolution that encompassed the virtual disappearance of between social-class inequality and a marked reduction in within social-class inequality. Our findings point to the critical role of institutional and political factors in driving inequality in Eastern Europe throughout the twentieth century.</p